Austria: Vienna, Prague, Hungary, Bohemia, and the Danube (2024)

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

{{Template}}Austria: Vienna, Prague, Hungary, Bohemia, and the Danube by Johann Georg Kohl.

PREFACE.

THE following pages consist chiefly of a condensed translation of a work in five volumes, published by Mr. Kohllast year, under the title of " A Hundred Days in Austria,"comprising an account of a tour through Bohemia, Austria,Hungary, and the Military Frontier. To this has beenadded the concluding volume of that gentleman's work onRussia, containing his remarks on the Bukovina, Galicia,and Moravia; which, as not referring in any way to Russia,were omitted in the two first parts of the Foreign Library;but which, on account of their intrinsic value, have beendeemed a fitting sequel to the Austrian tour.

FROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ.

To travel or not to travel, was once more the question. To wander, tostroll through the world, or to remain and shoot out roots like a tree.Whether ' twas nobler in a man to tend his own little garden, or to armhimselfa*gainst a sea of troubles, and plough his way round our terrestrialplanet? A house, or a tent? A warm room, or a windy seat in a postcoach? Ashady tree, or a budless staff? One friend, or a thousand friendly faces?66-I must own I had heard in a quiet little farm on the banks of the Elbe,the cackling of hens and the crowing of co*cks; I had visited the peacefulchambers, and the cozy garden with its circling wall; had seen the contented cattle fattening in their stalls, and the tempter had said to me,Might not all this be thine? and mightst thou not find here all thatthou seekest in the wide world, and bearest thou not in thy own breast aworld that cannot come to a birth for want of repose?"- “ Yes, if a wishcould command repose, who would fardels bear, and groan and sweat beneath a load of travelling troubles?" I replied to my advising friend,whispered many other things into his ear that were not intended for thecrowd, and concluded with these words: " Look, my dear friend, thus itis that necessity makes brave men of us, and enterprises that seem full ofgreat pith and moment, with this respect lose much ofthe merit ascribedto them." So saying, I once more took leave of him, and stepped intothe Saxon Postwagen that had been standing for some time ready harnessed in the courtyard of the Diligence office at Dresden. I was aboutto start for Teplitz, there to consign myself to the keeping of a Bohemianvehicle, by the aid of which I hoped to reach the deep-rolling Danube,where I fully intended to embark on a steamer that should convey me toVienna. After that I contemplated intrusting my person to a HungarianBauerwagen, and alternately by land and by water, sometimes with theaid of a living steed, and sometimes by that of the many- horsed power ofthe unquiet steam-engine, to press forward to the confines of Turkey, andwhen I had done all this, my purpose was to return quietly to my native land.Such was my plan, but in the execution of it I was delayed for full fiveminutes, by a countryman of the gallant Falconbridge. "Aproper man's picture, " as Portia says; i. e. an Englishman, came rushing into the courtyard, just as the horses were starting. His appearance was striking enough. His collar, I believe, had been bought in Italy, his trousers in B2 FROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ.France, his cap in Germany, and his manners had been picked up everywhere. It did not rain, nevertheless he carried a huge umbrella to shieldhim against the sun. He was out of breath, placed himself right beforethe horses, and having slightly adjusted his cravat and dusted his coat, hebegan a series of pantomimic demonstrations, addressed by turns to thehorses, the postilion, and the conductor. The horses whom he had graspedbythe bridle, were the only part of his audience who seemed to understandhim; for he spoke neither Latin, French, nor Italian, and not one mortal word of German. We made him out to be a passenger who had overstaidhis time, and the diligence was stopped. He ran immediately into theoffice, where he paid the remainder of his fare, and then again, in mutedespair, he rushed through the crowd of spectators, to gaze out into thestreet. The conductors took him by the arm to lead him back to the carriage, but he broke from them and ran into the street again, where hestood gazing to the right and to the left, in evident anxiety. No one couldguess the meaning of all this, and in a little time we should have left himalone with his despair, if at the critical moment a valet- de-place, whocame panting into the yard, with a hatbox in his hand, had not affordeda solution to the enigma. My Englishman now took his place by myside, and related to me that he was setting out with a determination tovisit and inspect all the provinces of the Austrian empire. He appeared tome like one who had gone forth to till a field, but had forgotten his plough at home. Even in English he was not very talkative. " Who can converse with a dumb show?" as Portia says; so I found I had abundant timeto meditate further on the theme with which I started-to travel or not totravel.All the charming vineyards, and all the comfortable country-boxes thatsmiled over to us from the other side of the Elbe; all the cheerful Saxonvillages of the Dresden plain; all the 80,000 peaceful townsfolk of Dresden,whom we were leaving behind us-all seemed to be reproaching me forleaving them; and every time that a labourer by the roadside looked upat our wandering vehicle, he looked as though he would say to me,Friend, stay at home, and earn thy bread like an honest man. " Perhapswhen Napoleon retreated over the same ground, after the battle of Culm,the Saxon villages may have spoken to him in the same strain. He mightstill be reigning in France, had he known better how to stay at home.66After passing Pirna, indeed all the way from Dresden to Teplitz, youpass over a succession of fields of battle. The War of Liberation, theSeven Years' War, the Thirty Years' War, and the Hussite War, have allcontributed to make memorable the mountain passes of Bohemia; atCulm, at Pirna, at Maxen, again and again at Culm, up to that battle ofCulm which the German king Lothair lost to the Bohemian, Sobieslav, in1126, when Albert the Bear was taken prisoner by the Bohemians, muchin the same way in which Vandamme was taken 700 years later by the Cossacks.At Peterswalde, we come to the Austrian frontier. This frontier runs,for the most part, along the highest summit of the Erzgebirge; but,strange as it may seem on a frontier of such ancient standing as thatbetween Saxony and Bohemia, there exists to this day a boundary dispute,the existence of which, by the by, was only recently discovered, in con- sequence of the surveys rendered necessary for the magnificent map ofSaxony lately executed. The Saxon surveyors came to a frontier village,FROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ. 3which they took to belong to their own country, but the inhabitants declared they were Austrians, and drove the strangers away. In the sameway these villagers are said constantly to have repelled the visit ofthe Austrian tax-collector, by declaring themselves Saxons. Upon the Saxon map the village has, in consequence, been marked by a white spot,and will continue so till the labours of diplomatists have determined underwhat royal wings these mountaineers are to have a shelter assigned them.The Erzgebirge must not be supposed to be a series of mountain pyramids placed side by side. It is rather a huge extended mound, slopingaway to the north into Saxony, but rising abruptly on the Bohemian side.Seen from Saxony the chain presents nothing very striking, but from theBohemian side it looks like a huge wall girting the land. In the sameway, the views from the summit are tame, looking towards Saxony, butmagnificent when the eye wanders over the Eger and Bila valleys of Bo- hemia."Heavens! what beautiful country is that?" exclaimed one of our ladypassengers, as we reached the summit; " only look, deep precipices andmountain ravines; a wide plain, with towns and villages scattered over it,while in the distance again, mountains rise to close in the horizon!"—" Thisportion of our resplendent planet," we replied, " presents itself to theastronomers of the moon as a bright square enclosed by a dark rim, andmay be known to those learned personages as the territory of Alpha,or the land of Psi. Perhaps they may inform their students that the saidterritory is an island, and that the dark frame by which it is bounded is amass of light absorbing water. Here upon earth we call the tract Bohemia, and if we knew how to impart it to them we might inform thesages of the moon that the dark circling mass is caused by light absorbingforests, and by yawning ravines. No doubt, in the same way in which weterrestrials often talk of the man in the moon, do the learned there speakof the virgin of the earth. The square piece of surface which we callBohemia, as it corresponds very nearly with the virgin's girdle, may passfor her buckle; and when the country, covered with clouds and mist, seemsdarker than on those days when the sunbeams are immediately reflectedfrom the surface, the mooners perhaps say, ' The virgin's buckle looks dullto-day; or, in the contrary case, ' The virgin has brightened up herbuckle this morning.' Be this as it may, upon one point the Bohemiansmay fully rely-namely, that the boundaries of their country must be apparent to the very schoolboys in the moon, to whom the limits of Saxony,Prussia, and of other merely politically-bounded countries , must be utterly unknown.999The piece of Bohemia which first becomes visible to the enraptured eyeof the traveller, from the heights of Nollendorf, is the valley of the Bila,and so lovely is the view that there presents itself, that every one who seesit for the first time, however he may have been prepared beforehand, willbe likely to exclaim with our fair companion, " Heavens! what beautifulcountry is that?"Along winding roads the diligence descends gradually into the valley,accompanied the whole way by a troop of children, who, in exchange forraspberries and strawberries, levy a little frontier-tribute on the traveller,and greet him on his entrance into a new country with the pious salutation, "Blessed be Jesus Christ." The three eagles, whose wings uponthese heights fluttered so fatally around the French legions, have erected B 24 FROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ.three monuments upon the field of battle, and weather-beaten veterans arestationed there as sentinels. English travellers, on passing the place, arewont to note down very conscientiously how many hundredweight of metalhave gone to the composition of each monument. Our Englishman wroteamong his memoranda that the Austrian was large and solid, the Prussianvery small, and the Russian remarkable for its elegance.In Teplitz, not only the inns and public-houses, but even private buildings have each a distinguishing sign. Thus one house is called the Lyre,another the Angel, and a third the Golden Ring. It is, if not more convenient, at all events a much prettier and more picturesque way of markingthe houses, than our fashion of numbering them, and prevails throughthe greater part of Bohemia, and even in some of the adjoining countries.To become well acquainted with Teplitz, one should endeavour to wanderabout the place with one of the regular annual visiters. There are certain sufferers from the gout who arrive there at fixed seasons, and may be lookedfor as confidently as a stork at her last year's nest, or as certain humanfixtures may be reckoned on in their accustomed coffee-rooms. Such people gradually conceive for Teplitz almost as much interest as for their ownhomes, and when they arrive, can have no rest till they have satisfied themselves that Clary Castle stands where it did, and that all the public walksare in due order. They hasten to the bath-rooms to receive the obsequious salute of each well-remembered attendant, and enter the glass magazinesto admire the new colours and fashions; for every year is as certain tobring its new colours into the Bohemian glass manufactories, as to usher in its old ones to the Bohemian meadows.The invalid who visits the baths of Teplitz passes the first few days atan inn; and, during this time, he abandons himself to the delights of reviewing the old scenes, till he is able to find a private lodging at the ThreeCossacks, or at the Paradise, or at the Palm-tree, or at the Prince of Ligne.Then he calls in his physician, and delivers himself over to the prescriptionsof the place, rises early, and drinks most scrupulously his allotted portionof sulphur water, which glides through his lips to the enchanting accompaniment of a band of music; he is careful not to miss the promenade atnoon in the garden of the Castle of Clary, even though he should not beable to participate in its pleasures otherwise than in a rolling chair; andeats, drinks, sleeps, and reposes, accordingly as his doctor directs him, in whose hands he is even as a watch-wound up, regulated, and made to go.From the castle hill the view is most beautiful and comprehensive, extending over nearly the whole valley to the sources ofthe tributary streams.I made a pilgrimage to the summit, in company with some Poles. In asmall village, on our way, we met with some Polish Jews, who are frequently to be seen in Bohemia. They carried in their boxes a variety oflittle ornaments for sale among the peasants; needles, pins, beads, &c.They called such an assortment of merchandise Spindliki, a word halfPolish and half German; and they told us they had been to Riga, BrodyWarsaw, and Cracow. They spoke Bohemian, Polish, German, and Russian, and were a fair sample of the jew pedlars that generally wander about the Slavonian countries of Eastern Europe. In Russian Poland,they told us, they used formerly to gain most money, but the governmentdid not allow them to go there any longer.Like the whole country round Teplitz, the castle hill is evidently ofvolcanic origin. It is a tolerably regular cone, rising 1600 feet in heightFROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ. 5from the surrounding plain. A girdle of beautiful oaks encircles themiddle, and the summit, an extinct crater, is crowned by the ruins of thecastle which was destroyed by fire. From among the oaks may be discovered the most beautiful landscapes, charmingly framed by the spreadingbranches of the stately trees; but all that the pen can do to convey anidea of pictures such as these is idle and impertinent, and even the pencilmay timidly shrink from the task. On fine days the hill is swarming withvisiters, who form for themselves a temporary settlement, in the corners,under the porches, and on the terraces of the ruins, and watch the sun ashe describes his marvellous course, till he vanishes behind the Carlsbad mountains.The wondrous effects of the light at sunset, with the endless gradationsof its colours , and all the glories of the evening we had spent together,had excited our Poles to such a degree, that, as we passed through thegirdle of oaks, the place was made to ring again with the national songsof Jescze Polska nezginala (yet is Poland not forsaken) , and Gdy nawybrzezech. The latter is one of the most beautiful of all the patrioticmelodies of Poland. The words run nearly as follows: -" Whenthou seest a ship by the sea-shore, tost about by the storm,and cast upon a treacherous shoal, less by the fury of the waves than bythefault of the pilot; oh, then, deign to shed a tear for that poor ship, for itwill remind thee ofthe fate of unhappy Poland." When thou beholdest a volcano, a giant among mountains, pouringforth lava, and emitting smoke, while in its bosom is burning an eternalfire: oh, then, remember, that such is the love of his country that burns in the bosom of the Pole. "The Milleschauer, three thousand feet high, is the loftiest among theCentral mountains, the whole of which may be seen at ease from its summit.These central mountains are all extinct volcanoes, and all of a tolerablyregular conical form. The Elbe breaks here in quick succession throughtwo chains of mountains; the Central mountains and the Erzgebirge, andit is remarkable that just at this point, where the water forced its waythrough the hills, the violence of the fire should likewise have been sogreat. When Bohemia was still a lake, these central mountains musthave borne some resemblance to the Lipari islands, a group of volcanoes crowded together, and surrounded by water. The Milleschauer is alsocalled the Donnersberg, or Hill of Thunder. May not this name refer toa remote period, when loud detonations were yet heard within the mountain's womb? Are not many hills that bear the name of Donnersbergextinct volcanoes?It is difficult to imagine a more delightful prospect than that from thesummit of the Milleschauer. The distant blue lines that bound the horizon,belong on one side to the Riesengebirge, or Giant Mountains; on the other,to the nearest hills of the Bohemian forest, while towards the south theplains of central Bohemia lay spread out before you, so that you may yield to the flattering belief of having more than half the kingdom at your feet,and of contemplating at one glance, the scene of the joys and sorrows ofseveral millions of human beings. You behold the vessels that dot thesurface of the Elbe, but of whose presence the dwellers by the Eger, whomyou comprehend in the same glance, have no suspicion. You see thecarriages that roll forth from the little town of Lobositz, unknown to thosethat dwell in the valley of the Bila. The weather was remarkably favour-6 FROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ.able when we reached the summit of the Milleschauer, the air was clearand transparent, and the eye roamed unconstrained over the most distantobjects. Afew clouds indeed were flying about, and a thunder-storm wasexpending its fury on a distant portion ofthe landscape. The whole dukedom of Schlan and Munzifay, for instance, was overcast for a while withgrey clouds that menaced with thunder and hail. The fowls there werescudding with ruffled feathers before the storm, the dogs were creeping intotheir holes, and the men as they barred their doors, and made their housesfast, seemed to say:- -" Heaven be merciful to us! Is the last day come?""Ye fools of Munzifay," thought we on our Olympian thrones, " bewarned by this of the shortness of earthly sufferings!" and then we lookedinto the county of Teplitz, and into the circles of Leitmeritz and Bunzlau,smiling in the tranquil light of sunshine, and enjoying themselves in thecheerfulness of the atmosphere. Seven thousand human beings dwell there upon every square mile, * and from every square mile seven thousandvoices rise in praise of the beautiful weather. Without umbrellas they walkforth, and in uncovered carriages do they take their diversion! Short-sightedmortals that they are! Oh that they could but see the clouds that aregathering behind the Krkonorski hills, as the Bohemians call the Giantmountains. That mischievous wight Rübezahlt is preparing to blow overtowards them a mass of vapour that will spoil their diversion, by pouringdown some millions of drops of rain.On the summit of the most elevated peak of the Donnersberg stands awooden chair under a roof, said to have been erected for his own convenience by the late King of Prussia. Here he was wont to abandon himself for hours together to the enjoyment of the glorious landscape. It isa throne fit for a king, nay for a god, and I am surprised that the ancientKings of Bohemia should not have chosen this spot for their coronationinstead of the Vissehrad, on the banks of the Moldau. Here on the Donnersberg, within sight of the whole kingdom, while invested with crownand sceptre, they might have received the homage of all their subjects at once. The eye ranges to the eastern mountain frontier, from behind whichrises the Bohemian sun, and follows the glorious orb in his course till hesinks again behind the western rampart ofthe kingdom. Here the nobles,while uttering the oath of allegiance, might have been impressed with thevastness of their fatherland, and the littleness of its minute parts. AsSocrates once said to Alcibiades, though he, like the Prince of Schwarzenberg,had his ninety-nine lordships-even so the King of Bohemia, before receiving the homage of his magnates, might have taken them each by thearm, andhave said to them:-" Look, magnate, what you seebefore you is ourcommon fatherland Bohemia, but that little misty point which you seeyonder, marks the extent ofdirt with the possession of which Heaven hasblessed you, and of which you are so immoderately proud. You, Duke ofFriedland, will find your dukedom hidden in the valley behind yon hill;and you, Imperial Prince, bythe grace of God, of Schlan and Munzifay,

• Whenever a mile is spoken of in the course ofthe present work, a German mile is understood. The German mile is equal to about 4 3-7th English miles, and conse- quently a German square mile is equal to rather more than 21 English square miles,

or to about 13,680 acres .† Rübezahl is the name of a goblin supposed to inhabit the Riesengebirge. Thelegendary lore of Germany is full of tales, in which Rübezahl plays a part.FROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ. 7we must wait a little before we can find out your principality, for a passingcloud conceals it for the moment. As to you, combative gentlemen oftheBeraunerthal, there is your home, a small clear streak beyond the cloud;cut the streak up into little pieces, and each piece will be the territory ofone of you, save only two of the pieces that belong to the high wise councilmen of Beraun and Rakonitz. Be advised, gentlemen, and live peaceably together, like good neighbours, instead of cutting each other's throatsfor a fragment of the streak. And now, honourable gentlemen and councillors, look round upon the whole. Look at the spires of Raubnitz, ofLobositz, of Trebnitz, of Brozan, and of Anscha; and there on those ofBilin, Brux, and Dux; see how cozily the smoke curls up from amongyonder cottages, or from among those, or those, or those. See how lifenestles in every corner, and how the mountains girdle the whole picture,and how the rivers run sparkling through the landscape. All this is ourgreat and beautiful fatherland. The whole is great, the fragments trivial.Let us then stand faithfully and firmly for the whole, and now, gentlemen,come and set me my crown upon my head."Should the King of Bohemia then have had the wit to select for themoment of his coronation, the period of a rainbow such as we had thepleasure of greeting, the splendour of the solemnity would be complete. Agroup of clouds, that seemed to have detached itself from the main armywhich had been moving over the country the whole day, and that nowpoured down its abundance close before the summit of the mountain,afforded us the glorious spectacle. The golden pearls were dropping downalmost within reach of us, and as the sun had almost set, the rainbow wasstretched out right above our heads. Gradually, however, we became morenearly acquainted with the damp materials whereof the bow was constructed, and, moistened by the liquid seven-coloured gems, we were gladto find a shelter among the mossy huts of the Donnersberg, that form aboutas curious an hotel as a traveller might wish to see. A number of small, lowhuts, built of stone and draperied with moss, form a close circle around asmall open space. In the centre is a kind of orchestra for Bohemianmusicians, who play every day during the Teplitz season. Some ofthesemossy huts are refreshment rooms, others are fitted up as sleeping apart- ments, and in one there is even a museum to illustrate the natural curiosities of the mountain. Each door is decorated by some metrical inscription, from the pen of the poetical host, whose daughter presents to eachguest on his departure, a neat little nosegay composed of flowers of themountain.It had rained heavily while we were sheltered in the mossy cabinets onthe mountain, and when we issued forth on our downward journey, ourguides told us the peasants near Trzeblitz would be certain to find great quantities of garnets; not that the garnets came down from heaven in therain, but because, after a rain, they were more easily detected when turnedup by the plough. Trzeblitz is a village at the foot of the Central Mountains, where garnets are not merely found thus by accident, but are likewise carefully dug for. "The corn, however, will have suffered from therain, " added my guide.--" Why so?"- " Because it fell through a rainbow. The rain that falls through a rainbow always breeds a mildew, andif it falls on a newly sown field, it burns the corn away."-" Why this isdownright witchcraft," said I.--" Ay, ay," resumed the guide, " we havewitches and devils enough here. On yonder hill, where you see the ruins,8 FROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ.there's a cave called the Devil's Cave, that is full of them." I had totranslate this to my French companion, who philosophically exclaimed,"Partout on parle plus des démons que des anges. En France c'est la même chose." And to say truth, it is strange, that throughout Christian Europe,so many beautiful and picturesque objects should be pointed out to us asDevil's Caves and Devil's Bridges, Devil's Rocks and Devil's Leaps. Whydoes not fancy sometimes attribute the workmanship to angels? The Greeks would at least have talked to us of Bacchus' Caves and Diana'sBridges; and how much more pleasing and cheerful are the images calledforth by such names, than by constant allusions to a dirty, ugly, black,lanky-tailed devil! And then, how abominable a superstition must that be, which announces woe to the land over which the lovely Iris has sweptwith her many- coloured, train! From what perverse imagination can sucha notion have sprung? Is it that there is something peculiarly gloomy in our northern blood? Does not the Bible itself teach us to hail the rainbowas aheavenly messenger of peace?Amid such discourse, my Frenchman and I had lost sight of our party,and suddenly found ourselves alone. He became all at once afraid heshould have to pass the night on the mountain, and commenced a series oflamentations on the shortness of German beds, and the scanty dimensionsof German quilts; on the bad teeth of the German ladies, and on the incapacity of the Germans to prepare so simple an article of food as a lait aupoulet, which insipid decoction, it seems, is to be had nowhere, save in the" Capital of Civilisation. " In proportion as the night grew darker, hebecame more and more eloquent on German superstitions, and on the absurdtales of ghosts and goblins, in which the people believed so firmly. Iconsoled my companion, however, by assuring him I would lead him theright way; nor did we miss it, but arrived safely at the little village wherewe had left our carriage prior to our ascent, and where we now found therest of our party awaiting our arrival.The following morning was again bright and cheerful, and we omittednot to avail ourselves of it for another excursion to the environs of Teplitz.In addition to that of an esteemed friend, I had the company of two Bohemians from Prague, who told us much of the national efforts now makingin Bohemia, of the learned societies at Prague, and of the patriotic ballsthat had been given there during the preceding winter, when the ball rooms were each time decorated with white and red, the national coloursof Bohemia. No German, nothing but Bohemian, was allowed to bespoken at these balls, and the guests were saluted, on their entrance, bythe stewards, in the Bohemian dialect, which, not many years ago, was universally looked upon as a mere peasant's patois. The public announce- ment of the balls was to have been also made in Bohemian; but to this thepolice refused their consent, permitting, however, by way of compromise,that the balls should be announced at once in both languages; a planvery generally adopted for other announcements, besides those of patriotic balls.Our first visit was to the convent of Osseg, one of the most ancient inBohemia, several portions of the building dating back as far as the year1196. In thepassages and corridors of convents, you may generally meetwith a number of pictures, illustrative of the history of the religious orderto which the convent belongs. Sometimes a pedigree of all the convents ofthe order, sometimes pictures of miracles performed by former monks andFROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ. 9abbots, and sometimes portraits of the popes that have been members oftheorder. Here at Osseg, accordingly, I made the acquaintance of the sixpopes who had belonged to the Cistertian order.Among the large paintings in this monastery, there were three thatparticularly interested us. One represented a learned Frenchman, of thename of Alanus, sitting as a shepherd among his sheep, in a solitary partofthe wood. This worthy Parisian, the quintessence of all learning andscience, had discovered that it was only in the simplest occupations that aman enjoyed real happiness, and impressed with this belief, he had laidaside his doctor's cap and gown, to take up the crook of a philosophicalkeeper of sheep. The second represented the Abbot Erro of Armentaria,wandering away into the forest, to reflect upon what appeared to him anunintelligible verse in the Bible, that " before the Lord years pass awaylike moments, and centuries like thoughts. " Coming into the wood, a birdrises, and so charms the abbot with its song, that he follows deeper anddeeper into the recesses of the forest. When the bird ceases, the abbot,regretting the shortness of the melody, turns again homeward, but is surprised to find his convent in ruins, and a new one erected by its side. Themonks, however, who dwell there, are all strangers; and, on inquiry, helearns that he is now in the year 1367, whereas it was in 1167 that hestarted on his walk, so that he has been listening to a bird for 200 years.Satisfied now of the truth of holy writ, he prays God to take him up into Heaven. On a third picture was another Cistertian of the name ofDaniel, who studied and read so indefatigably in his solitude, that theflames of his holy zeal issued forth at his fingers' ends, so that he couldhold them, at night, like so many little tallow candles before his book.This allegory is a beautiful one; for no doubt there is within the humanbreast a self-illuminating power, that enables the possessor to read the mysteries of God without the aid of a teacher; but in the way thepainter has placed his subject before us, it loses all dignity, and looksrather as if the artist had designed to turn the matter into ridicule.In the picture gallery, in the upper rooms of the convent, we weremuch interested by two portraits of Luther and Melancthon. They are painted on wood, and marked with the initial of Albrecht Dürer. Luthergave them to his sister, a nun in a Lusatian convent, who remained trueto Rome to her end. The Lusatian nunnery was, and still is, a dependency of Osseg, and thus it was that the pictures came hither.In the beautiful park of the Cistertians we enjoyed magnificent views ofthe Bila valley, and, on going to the carp ponds in the garden, a fewcrumbs of bread brought hundreds of lusty carp to the surface in a minute.The monk who showed us over the place, told us these were only the smallreservoirs, to furnish the daily supply; the large fishponds, he said, were farther away. He told us also, that the convent possessed twenty- fourvillages, besides a separate estate of six villages for the abbot's private use.As soon as we pass the Erzgebirge we find things of which the name onlyis known farther north. With us these wealthy almsgiving convents aremere things of romance, but here in Bohemia you see them and feel them.The present abbot of Osseg, Mr. Salesius Krüger, is spoken of as a highly distinguished and amiable man. Wee were sorry not to be able to makeany nearer acquaintance with him, than was afforded us by his portrait,painted by Professor Vogel.The convent of Osseg lies immediately at the foot of the Erzgebirge,10 FROM DRESDEN TO TEPLITZ.whence you drive down into the plain to the Castle of Waldstein, and the small dependant town of Dux. The artistical treasures of this castle areof the highest interest, and may be enjoyed with the greater satisfaction,as they are not arranged with any view to system or completeness like thecollections of a German university. The paintings decorate the customarysitting-rooms of the owner of the castle, and sofas and ottomans seem toindicate the leisure and comfort with which the pictorial representationsare daily enjoyed. The museum of natural history is chiefly illustrativeof the natural peculiarities of Bohemia. The salle d'armes is connected with the castle, and the library adjoins the owner's cabinet. A beautifulpicture in most of our public collections has to me an abandoned and orphanlike look, while the statues and antiques are crowded together withoutharmony or connexion. In a private mansion, on the contrary, everythingseems to have found its own place, and to harmonize with the building,with the men that dwell there, and with the scenes by which they are sur- rounded.It is to the portraits of the celebrated Duke of Friedland, by Van Dyk,that our attention is naturally first directed, and should even the host ofNetschers, and Dows, and Rubenses, by which they are surrounded, beconfounded in the traveller's mind with the Netschers, Dows, and Rubenses,which he has had elsewhere to pass in review, yet never, I am satisfied, willthe features of Wallenstein be effaced from his recollection -featureswhich he will nowhere be able to look upon as here. There are twoportraits here of the duke. In the one he is painted as a young man;and in the other, as a gray-headed warrior. The comparison between thetwo pictures is highly interesting. There the youth stands before you,with his light curly hair, of which a lock falls coquettishly upon the forehead, while a small neat moustache is carefully turned up at the end, withan evident view to effect. The face is a lengthened oval; the nose ishandsomely formed, and the eyes, beautifully expressive, are, if I remem- ber rightly, blue. An azure cloudless sky forms the back ground. Thesame noble features, but hardened and stern, mark the second portrait.The smooth skin is furrowed by innumerable lines that seem to bear testimony to violent passions and chequered fortunes . The hair of the headhas grown thin, while the moustache, having lost its graceful curl, ischanged into a wilderness of bristles, many of them standing stiffly out,like those with which Retzsch has often known how to give such expressive effect to his outlines. The old weather-beaten countenance looksangrily and imperiously down upon us, like the wrinkled bark of a sturdyold oak. The sword is half drawn, as about to give the signal for battle.Gloomy scattered clouds are sweeping over the back ground remnants of arecent storm, or tokens of fresh levies that are to expend their electricityin new battles. The azure sky of peace that smiled upon the youth neverreturned for the duke, as it has often done for the aged and retiring warrior when his battles are over; it was among the gloomy agitations of hiscareer that Wallenstein fell. A portion of his skull is preserved at theCastle of Dux, and has been duly examined by phrenologists. The protuberances discovered there have been carefully numbered and ticketed.Among them may be seen No. 6, Firmness; No. 7, Cunning; No. 18,Boldness; No. 19, Reflection; No. 20, Vanity; No. 21 , Pride and Loveof Glory. The partizan with which he was stabbed is likewise shown, andhis embroidered collar, stained with the blood that flowed from the deadlyFROM TEPLITZ TO PRAGUE. 11wound. Also a letter written by his own hand, commanding the execution of some citizens who had served against the emperor.The picture of his first wife hangs by the side of that of the youthfulduke. The expression of her face is beautiful. So much so, that thebeholder finds it difficult to tear himself from the painting. It is quite atype of Bohemian beauty, and as such ought to be studied and got byheart by every ethnologist. As he advances farther into the country, hewill constantly meet with similar large dark eyes, a similar oval head,black hair, and melancholy cast of countenance.Among the family portraits, our guide called upon us to notice somescenes in the Spanish War of Sections, as he very innocently characterisedthe War of Succession. A remarkably pretty picture was pointed out byhim as that of the Princess of Something, who, he said, had " lost herself very much" since it was painted, in saying which, he simply meant toinform us, in his Bohemian- German, that Time had not failed to leave histraces upon the lady's countenance. As we were taking leave, we wereadvised to seek another opportunity of paying our respects to the presentowner of the castle, our guide assuring us that the Count was very " for- ward" to strangers.FROM TEPLITZ TO PRAGUE.On leaving Teplitz you have to pass the Mittelgebirge, or CentralMountains. ABohemian bird takes three minutes to do this, a Bohemiancoachman three hours. From these hills you descend into the marshy country, in which the Elbe and the Eger unite their waters. Even as thewaters mingle here, so also do the elements of population; for there arehere three famous Bohemian towns lying close together: Lobositz, Leitmeritz, and Theresienstadt. The first, through which the traveller passes,is a comfortless city of Jews; the second, seen only at a distance, has the appearance of a thriving manufacturing place; the third, examinedat greater leisure, is the most important fortress of Bohemia, and theusual breakfasting station for those who start from Teplitz at anearly hour.The building of Theresienstadt was completed, not by Maria Theresa,but by Joseph, in honour of her memory. It is a strong fortress, surrounded by marshes, and still a virgin, though more than sixty years old.She was courted by Napoleon in 1813, and his bridal envoy Vandammewas, it must be admitted, received within the coy lady's walls. It was not,however, as a conqueror, but simply as a prisoner of war. The ancientmaiden's wardrobe must have cost a pretty penny in her time, and hermaintenance must still be expensive, for every thing about her is of thesmartest and the best; and so indeed it ought to be, for at her girdle shecarries the key of the whole of northern Bohemia, and the suitor that conquers her scruples, may have all her land along with her. Her collectionof pearls is ofinestimable value. We saw them in huge piles in the publicsquares, where they looked for all the world like so many bombs and can- non balls.Amongthe prisoners or convicts at Theresienstadt, I remarked the considerate care that had been taken to lighten the weight of their fetters.The thick iron rings which hang loose on the leg, were supported by abroad band of leather strapped round the thigh, so that the iron did not12 FROM TEPLITZ TO PRAGUE.press with its full weight upon the flesh. The arrangement is one thatdeserves to be imitated, wherever it is felt that a criminal is laden withchains for security's sake, and not merely for the infliction of incessanttorture. There are cases enough still in Europe, where no one inquireswhether the fetters, resting on the ancles, eat their way into the flesh or not.The valley of the Eger is the most beautiful part of Bohemia, and alsothe part best known to the rest of Europe. The population is chieflyGerman, and our proverb respecting Bohemian villages has no applicationhere, where there are many villages which no one must be ignorant of ifhe would pass for a travelled man. These are the villages of the circles ofLeitmeritz, Saatz, and Elnbogen, bordering on Saxony, and only projecting at their southern extremities into the country of the genuine Bohe- mians, or Stockböhmen. The whole of Bohemia is divided into sixteencircles, of which three border on Saxony, three on Silesia, three on Bavaria,and three on Moravia. Three are central, and border on nobody, andone, the circle of Budweis, borders on Austria. It is only the three central circles, the core of the kingdom, that are Stockböhmisch, or thoroughlyBohemian, in all the other circles a large portion of the population isGerman. The most populous are the three that border on Silesia. In thatof Koenigingrätz, there are as many as 6900 inhabitants to the ( German)square mile. The least populous is that of Budweis, where there are only2800 inhabitants to the square mile. The circles in the valley of theEger have from 4000 to 5000.The different parts of Bohemia differ quite as much in the quality as inthe quantity of their population. In the north and north-east, the Saxonand Silesian circles, the people are industrious, and the country is full ofmanufactories and commercial establishments of every kind. In the southand south-west there is more of grazing and tillage. How great thedifference must be, is shown by the difference in the rate of wages. Inthe north, in the circle of Leitmeritz, a common labourer earns fromfive to seven groschen a day; in the south, in the circle of Tabor, onlyfrom two to four groschen. * These were the current wages when I wasthere, and people assured me they might be looked on as a fair average ofordinary times.AllMy coachman was a genuine Bohemian. As we were passing throughthe gate of Theresienstadt, he told me that we should find no moreGermans between that and Prague. " At Koenigingrätz, however, youcome to the Germans again, and so you do at Budweis and Pilsen.round our country the Germans are everywhere peeping over the border. ”Hereupon I began to turn it over in my own mind, that this land belong- ed to the Germanic Confederation, and then I began to speculate uponwhat the people themselves might think of the said confederation. I foundit impossible, however, in any language, to make the people understandwhat I meant, and I believe there are very few of them that have any notion of what sort of thing the Germanic Confederation may be, of whichthey, nevertheless, form a part. Probably not one Bohemian in a hundredhas ever heard the confederation spoken of. I once saw a Bohemian mostimmoderately angry on reading in a German book this sentence: "Pragueis one ofthe handsomest cities in Germany."

• A grosch is rather more than an English penny.

FROM TEPLITZ TO PRAGUE. 13I need not attempt a description of the Bohemian villages through whichwe passed after leaving Theresienstadt, for though we Germans profess toknow so little about them, * yet we are all familiar with the lamentationsof those who have made a nearer acquaintance with them. I will not,however, repeat these melancholy ditties about dirt and disorder, for Iknow of places in Germany, ay of large districts, where the population live in quite as much dirt as the Bohemians do. What attracted myattention most in these villages were the characteristic little booths thatwe saw erected in every market place, with their German- Slavonic wares and inscriptions. A booth of this sort is called a Kramek, from the German word Kram, and in it are usually displayed for sale a pile or two of tasteless pears, a plate of sour cherries, and some wheaten rolls of variousforms, among which the bandoor and the rokhlitshek seem to be mostpopular. A few pots of flowers, by way of decoration, are seldom wanting, and in the dark background may usually be seen the guardian spiritof the place, in the shape of a little old man sitting silently, like a contemplative philosopher, waiting for customers.Passing through a dreary and badly cultivated country, in comparisonwith the neighbourhood of Leitmeritz, we arrived at Weltrus, situated onthe Moldau, the chief river of Bohemia. Melnik, at the mouth of theMoldau, we saw only at a distance. Melnik is celebrated for its wine andits hops, but the latter part of its celebrity is probably of the earlier date,for mel is the Bohemian word for hops, and the name of Melnik may betranslated into the City ofHops. The Emperor Charles IV. (the Bohemians call him Charles I. , ) is said to have first planted the vine here, butthis is scarcely credible, for in that case the vine must have been naturalisedon the Rhine and Danube, a thousand years before it was known on theElbe. The red wine of Melnik is the best of all the Elbe wines, butall the wines of the Elbe, in quality as well as in quantity, stand to those of the Rhine and Danube in about the relation of one to ten...Charles IV. ushered not only Bacchus but the Muses also into Bohemia,for he it was that planted the ancient university in Prague, where the venerable tree still flourishes. " Under him," say the Bohemian historians, "the Tshekhs laid aside their rude manners. They had amongthem the most learned scholars and the greatest statesmen, and were, in aword, the predominant nation of Europe, so much so, that to have beenborn a Bohemian was everywhere held to be an honour. "If this was so,times have altered strangely since then. For, be it prejudice or not, fewpeople nowadays will make it matter of boast, unless perhaps in Austria,that they are genuine Bohemians; not only in France and England, buteven in many parts of Germany, the name is held synonimous with that ofgipsy, and even now, our peasants when they hear the gipsy dialect spoken,are very apt to turn away with disgust, and tell you, " the creatures aretalking Bohemian. ”The lordship of Weltrus belongs to the Count of Chotek, a member ofwhose family occupies at present the highest post in Bohemia. There wasa bridge here formerly, but many years ago it was destroyed by a flood,since when the good people appear to have contented themselves with aferry or " flying bridge, " made fast by a cable fixed to one of the ruined

• The Germans have a saying: " Diess ist mir so unbekannt wie die böhmischenDörfer" (I know no more about it than I do of the Bohemian villages).

14 THE VISSEHRAD.piles of the former stationary one. This transition from standing to flying is any thing but " progressive," and it is really a marvel that on so frequented a road no measure should yet have been taken to repair the defect.It is no shortening of the road to cross the Moldau at Weltrus; but,on the contrary, a great round. It so happens, however, that more than one-fourth ofall the roads to Prague, including that from Dresden, uniteat the north-eastern gate, at which there enter more travellers and merchandise, than at all the other seven gates taken together. The reason is,that Prague is of easier access at this than at any other point, and the consequence has been that the quarter of the town which has been mostmodernised and improved of late years, is that which lies in the vicinity of the Porzizer Thor, or north-eastern gate.Attended, accordingly, by all the persons and things that happened tostream together at that point, exactly at 7 p.m., on the 23d of July, 1841,from northern and eastern Bohemia, from Saxony, Prussia, and Scandinavia, from Siberia, Poland, Russia, and Asia, did we, precisely at the timestated, hold our entry into Prague New Town, which having done, andhaving duly placed ourselves under the protection of the Burgomaster ofthe Old Town, we consigned ourselves for that night to the welcome repose of bed.THE VISSEHRAD.Every part of Prague is still verdant and blooming with the ruins andmonuments ofremote countries. Thestreets, the churches, and the buryinggrounds are full of eloquent appeals to the history of the land and thepeople. Palaces and countless steeples are trying to overtop each other intheir zeal to talk to you of times gone by. Even on the walls of theirtaverns, the townsmen may read the names of the first dukes of Bohemia,and thus familiarise themselves with their ancient annals. On the outsideof one large house of public entertainment, near the Vissehrad, on theplace where formerly the dukes were interred, there may yet be seen sixgrotesque fresco paintings of the six first Bohemian dukes, with their namesvery legibly inscribed: -Przemislus, -Nezamislus, -Mnata, -Vogen,-Vratislav, Venzislaus. The features of these redoubtable potentates haveeven been repaired and beautified within the last few years. Where, Iwould ask now, is there a place in all Germany, in which the ancient historyof the land is made palpable to hand and eye as here? Where is there atown where so much has been done for German, as here for Tshekhianhistory? Where the Germans do as much for their mighty emperors, asis here done for petty dukes?Bohemia is a piece of land wonderfully separated by nature from therest ofthe world. The magic circle which surrounds it, consists of stupendous hieroglyphics, traced by the hands of the primeval Titans, andfrom this mighty wreath depart a multitude of concentrating rays that jointogether in a vast central knot. These are the streams that flowfrom theeast, the west, and the south, the life-sustaining arteries of the land. In themiddle of this magic circle rise the hills of Prague, where every greatevent by which the country has been agitated has set its mark, either inthe shape of new edifices and enduring monuments, or of gloomy ruinsand wide-spread desolation. The central point of a country sharply cutTHE VISSEHRAD. 15off from the rest of the world, and witness constantly to new modificationsof its political life, Prague has become full of ruins and palaces, that willsecure to the city an enduring interest for centuries to come; and whilethe hills are singing sweetly to us the traditions of past ages, let it not besupposed that the whispers of futurity are not likewise murmuring mysteriously around them.The hill first spoken of in Bohemian chronicles, and upon which resided the first dukes of Bohemia, is the Vissehrad, whence the ProphetessLibussa announced to Prague her future glory, declaring that the city wouldone day become a sun among cities. The old chroniclers hence call theircity often the daughter of Libussa, exclaiming in their rapture: 0 termagna triurbs, triurbs teringens , o orbis caput, et decus Bohemiae!Pulchraefilia pulchrior Libussae! Such were the words with which thevenerable Hammerschmidt apostrophized the glorious city on her thousandth anniversary, in 1723, in his Prodromus Gloriae Pragenae, the cityofwhich Charles IV. was so enamoured, that he declared her hortumdeliciarum, in qua reges deliciarentur.The Vissehrad is a hill, abrupt on every side, but flat on the summit,presenting a plateau of some extent, convenient to build on, and easy ofdefence. The Hradshin is indeed more elevated, and has a more picturesque situation, but is commanded by other hills near it, and offered, onmany accounts, fewer inducements to the early rulers than the Vissehrad,to choose it as their place of residence. The steepest side of the Vissehradis towards the river Moldau, which seems to be compressed between thehill and the opposite meadows, rushing over its bed with greater rapidityhere than in any other part of its course. Here, probably, were the rapidsor poragi, to which the city is supposed to have been indebted for its name.Ifwe may believe what the historians and chroniclers of Bohemia relate tous of the former condition of the Vissehrad, the pomp and magnificencethat once dwelt there offer a strange contrast to the dust and rubbish thathave usurped their place. This, once the centre of a bustling city, is nowthe most remote point of the town; and the most wretched quarters aregrouped about the humbled Vissehrad, whose chief glories nowlive only inthe imagination of the Bohemian antiquary.On the northern side of this Acropolis -for such the Vissehrad may wellbe called-flows the little brook Botitz, now a dirty piece ofwater, but memorable in the songs of ancient bards, and witness to numberless bolddeeds and hard-fought battles. On the extreme point of the little penin- sula formed by the Botitz and Moldau, whence the finest view may be obtained of Prague, of the valley ofthe Moldau, and of its enclosing the hills,there we may suppose the bard to have stood, as he composed the favouriteold national ditty, Kde domofmug, of which the following is nearly a literaltranslation:Where is my house? where is my Streams among the meadows creeping,Brooks from rock to rock are leaping,Everywhere bloom spring and flowers,Within this paradise of ours;There, ' tis there, the beauteous land!Bohemia, my fatherland!home?Where is my house? where is my home?Know'st thou the country lov'd of God,16 THE VISSEHRAD.Where noble souls in well- shap'd forms reside?Where the free glance crushes the foeman's pride?There wilt thou find of Tshekhs the honour'd race,Among the Tshekhs be, ay, my dwelling place.For my own part I was twice on the Acropolis of Prague. Once withan honoured friend, a professor at the university, whose antiquarian loreenabled him to point out to me every fragment of the ruins, to which any historical associations attached. The second time I was there in the company of a couple of humble originals, who, equally learned in their way,found means, by the mingled simplicity and zeal of their narrative, tobreathe life into every bush and stone about the place. These were old Joseph Tshak, who has been for 52 years attached to the service of thechurch on the Vissehrad, and his daughter, herself past the meridian oflife. I had made a kind of acquaintance with this pair of living curiosities, on the occasion of my first visit, when I promised them if they wouldstop at home the following Sunday I would visit them again. Now,though I must own that I derived myself quite as much pleasure from thesociety of my esteemed and learned friend, yet I am inclined to believethat my reader may prefer seeing me in the company of old Joseph andhis daughter, and, to say truth, they were certainly the most originalguides by whom it has ever been my fate to be attended.Joseph Tshak was originally pullesant, i. e. bell-ringer, to the church on the Vissehrad. In course of time he obtained preferment to some moreexalted office on the ecclesiastical establishment, and since then, somewhatabout the close of the last century, he has been invested, as a mark of hispresent dignity, with a red coat, now faded and almost as gray as his once auburn locks. His daughter, since her mother's death, has succeeded tothe appointment of laundress to the eight venerable canons of the church,in addition to which she washes, starches, and irons the lace and linen of thealtar, and of all the "blessed saints" that dwell within the holy edifice. Thefather and daughter live together in a little house perched upon the summitof the hill, where they have ample elbow room, dwelling in completesolitude on a spot which, 500 years ago, was animated by the bustle of apopulous city. Here, amid relics of the olden time, the daughter wasborn and has grown old; while the father has for more than half a centurybeen the attendant cicerone of all the great and little people, from emperors and kings downward, who in the meantime have honoured theVissehrad with their visits. The ruins of the place are the only objectswith which the worthy pair have ever occupied themselves, and with thesethey have so completely identified themselves, that they have become intheir own persons almost as interesting to a stranger, as the scenes amongwhich they dwell. The " Bohemian Chronicle" of Hajek, Hammerschmidt's " Glory of Prague, " and a few other books ofthe same character,they may almost be said to have learned by heart. In addition to thelearning thus acquired, they have caught up and treasured in their mindsevery little tradition or anecdote about the Vissehrad that they happen tohave heard from the priests of the church, or from the strangers that visitit, and all this they have embellished and connected here and there by thehelping hand of their own imagination. In short, they have pursued thecourse usually followed by our own professors of history, and have retailedtheir medley tales to all the numerous listeners they have had around themTHE VISSEHRAD. 17during the last half- century. Their lectures have not indeed been takendown in shorthand, yet have their instructions extended far and wide, andnot only the citizens of Prague, but simples and gentles from the farthestlands have carried away with them the tales and legends of old Tshak, andwould be ready on occasion to stake their own honour on the old sexton'sveracity." Gracious me, your honour, and there you are indeed!" exclaimedJoseph's daughter, as I presented myself at their little dwelling on the promised Sunday. The day happened to be the festival of St. Anne, and allPrague was making merry in the taverns, at the public dancing-houses,and on the islands of the Moldau. The Vissehrad, as was its wont, laysolitary and forgotten. Upon its naked and desolate brow, sported a moistbreeze, and scattered clouds were sweeping over it, attended by sundryflights of ravens, who were winging their flight towards the city; foreven they have abandoned the old hill, and fixed their quarters in less elevated regions."" And there you are indeed, sir! Father and I were just sitting together, and this being St. Anne's day, we were thinking of my mother,whose name was also Anne. I was weeping a tear or two, and lookingout of the window. There father's eye caught the steeple of St. Jacob's,and said, ' Thou shalt go down to St. Jacob's to-morrow, and have a massread for Mother, Anne.' Ay,' said I, and then I thought to myself,'Mother is dead; father and she lived 45 years up here together; Father,too, is old now. Friends we have none in the world. If he dies thou'ltbe alone.' So, thought I, I'll have a prayer read for father too, and I'llpray God to spare him to me for many years. Not true, your honour,twill be well so? And look, just as I was thinking so, you come and climbup all this weary way to us. Gracious! you must be tired; pray sit down. "I did so with pleasure, for I was struck by the little domestic arrangements of the venerable sexton. The furniture was all of great antiquity,and the walls were hung with maps and pictures, one of which representedthe Vissehrad, as it may be supposed to have looked in the days of itsglory, when it must have had somewhat of the same appearance as theKremlin at Moscow. A bible was lying on the table, and I expressed mypleasure at seeing the book there. "Ay, ay," said the daughter, "weset great store by the book. AJew once offered us two florins for it, butfather said he would not give it him. Henry, my brother's son, has chil- dren, they may use it one day, when we can read it no more. Is it notso, father?" " Ay, ay," answered the old man, " I wouldn't part with thebook." I commended them for their good resolution, and we proceeded,all three, to go over the curiosities of the Vissehrad, which I longed to see,not only in its own form, but as modified through the medium of the fancyof my guides.r"There is but little left of what was once here, " began the old man,and of that little there is much of which we knowthe meaning no longer.Even old Hammerschmidt, in his time, could only tell us, that this wassupposed to be, and that was said to be, and we are not likely to know as much now as was known then; but we will show your honour nothingbut what is certain. First of all then we come to the church itself, formerly consecrated to St. Vitus, and afterwards to St. Peter. The war- с18 THE VISSEHRAD.riors that broke down the rest of the brickwork had some respect for God'shouse I suppose, and so it has remained standing somewhat longer."The trembling hands of the old man, as the keys clattered in his grasp,worked away for a few moments at the crazy gates, before we obtainedaccess to the interior of the church. The place has been sacred to religion from a very remote antiquity. Before the introduction of Christendom ,there stood on the same spot a temple dedicated to Svantovid, the God of War of the Slavonians. The emblem of this heathen divinity was aco*ck, and this bird was likewise the chosen bird of St. Vitus. This similarity of taste, and perhaps the similarity of their names (Svantovid andSanct Vit) may have facilitated the transfer of the property from the heathen to the saint. The church was built by Vratislav, the first kingof Bohemia, and was finished in 1088. It was afterwards rebuilt, havingbeen destroyed by the Hussites, who seem to have dealt even more hardly bythe sacred edifice than the devil himself, for his Satanic majesty, in his rage, contented himself with knocking a hole in the roof, which it waslong found impossible to repair. The memorable tale was told me in the following words, by my conductress:"-6" Once upon a time a poor man went into the forest. There he met asmart, jovial-looking huntsman; at least so he supposed, but in truth itwas no huntsman, but the devil in disguise. Now the huntsman spoketo the sorrowful man, and said, ' Art poor, old boy?'- Ay, miserablypoor, sir, and full of care, ' replied the other. How many children hastthou?' ' Six, noble sir,' answered the poor man. - Give me for ever thatchild of thine that thou hast never seen, and I'll give thee thy fill ofmoney. Willingly, sir, ' was the silly father's reply. Then come, andwe'll sign and seal on the bargain!'-The old man did so, and receivedcountless heaps ofmoney. When he got home, however, to his own house,to his surprise he found that he had seven children, for his wife had in themean time brought the seventh into the world. Hereupon, the fatherbegan to feel very uncomfortable, and to suspect that the devil hadtalked him out of his child. In his anxiety, he called his newborn son,Peter, and dedicated him to the apostle; praying St. Peter to take the boyunder his protection, and shield him against the devil's arts. Peter, whoappeared to the old man in a dream, promised to do what he was asked,provided the boy were brought up to the church; so, of course, the ladwas given to God's service, that he might be a priest when he grew up.Peter turned out a good, pious, and learned young man. When he wastwenty-four years old, and had been installed as a priest at the church onthe Vissehrad, the devil came one day to put in his claim to his reverence;but the holy apostle St. Peter interfered, and declared the deed whichthe devil produced was a forgery. The devil and the saint came to highwords at this; while the poor priest, frightened out of his wits, ran into thechurch, and betook himself to reading the mass. Now, as they could noway come to an understanding, St. Peter, by way of a compromise, proposed a new bargain. Do you fly to Rome!' said he to the devil, andbring me one of the twelve columns of St. Peter's church, and if you'reback with it before my priest has read to the end of the mass, he shall beyours; but else mine!' The devil, who thought he should have plenty oftime, accepted the proposal with pleasure; and in a few seconds, Petersaw him flying up full speed with one of the columns. The devil would"THE VISSEHRAD. 19have won, there's no doubt, if St. Peter had not quickly gone to meet him,and begun to belabour him with a horsewhip. The devil, in his fright,dropped the huge pillar, which fell plump to the bottom of the Mediterra- nean sea. He lost but little time in diving for it, and bringing it up again;but he lost quite enough, for when he arrived at the church, the priest hadjust said his Ita missa est, and so his mass was at an end. St. Peter laughed heartily; and the devil was so vexed, that in his rage, he flung down the big column, which went through the roof of the church, and fellupon the floor, where it was broken into three pieces. Many attempts were made to repair the hole in the roof, but they could never make the work hold, for it always fell in, and so at last they gave it up; and therethe hole remained for many hundred years, leaving a free way for rain andwind. The Emperor Joseph, however, insisted upon having the roofrepaired, so they carved the two keys of St. Peter in the centre stone of the vault, and since then the work has held."The cross-keys still remain, but I am inclined to think it was the priestsand not the emperor, who ordered them to be placed there, and that theydid so to save appearances. If they are now asked how the masonrycomes to hold, they have their answer ready, attributing every thing to the virtue of Peter's keys.As long as the hole continued in the roof, the fragments of the brokencolumn remained on the floor of the church; but, according to the oldsexton's account, " the Emperor Joseph said, people should pray to Godin the church, and not gossip about the devil and his wicked works. Thosewere his very words," continued the old man, " for I heard them fromhis majesty's own mouth, as I was showing him about the place, when hewas here and looked closely at every thing. And for my own part, I don'tknow that it would be a serious sin, if a man should not happen to believethe story."Since Joseph's time, a large painting representing St. Peter horsewhipping the Prince of Darkness, and the Mediterranean rolling its wavesbeneath them, has, I am sorry to say, found its way back into the church.The broken column, in three fragments, lies on the grass in front of thechurch. "The stone, " said my old guide's daughter, " is put together outof seven sorts of stones. One is very precious, one very hard, and onestinks detestably. When his majesty the blessed Emperor Francis washere, and my father told him the story, his majesty Francis said, thestone stinks, I suppose the devil has left something sticking to it.' Downbelow, you may see the stone is somewhat worn away, for that's wherefather knocks off bits for strangers to carry away as a remembrance. Thesoldiers also grind bits of the stone into powder, and have found it goodfor all sorts of complaints."6In addition to the painted and belaboured devil, I found a little miniature of his Satanic majesty, neatly cut in wood, and led by a chain, whichwas held by a St. Procopius, likewise carved in wood. Two celebratedmen of this name figure in the history of Bohemia; one a distinguishedleader of the Hussites, the other the first herald of Christianity in thecountry. The latter of these was the saint, and wherever he is representedin a Bohemian church, he never fails to have a few devils in chains, like somanygreyhounds in a leash. He was a great exorciser of devils, and thereis still a hole in the mountains near Prague, into which he fastened a vastnumber of them, where they fly about by hundreds to the present day.c 220. THE VISSEHRAD.uponThere is in this church another relic of great celebrity in Bohemianchristendom, namely the stone coffin of St. Longinus. This man, according to the legend, was a Roman centurion, and was present at the Crucifixion. He was blind, but some of our Saviour's blood having fallenhim, he recovered his sight, and immediately began praising the Redeemer,crying out, " This is Christ the Anointed!" The soldiers seized him andstoned him, and put him into a stone coffin, which they threw into the sea.The coffin, however, would not sink, but floated on the surface till it arrived at some Christian city, and in due time found its way to Bohemia.The Hussites threw him again into the water, namely, into the riverMoldau, and for a long time nobody knew where to look for the saint.One day, however, when the Hussite disturbances were at an end, somefishermen saw a flame burning on the surface of the water. They tried toextinguish the flame, but they could not, and it always continued preciselyat the same spot. A miracle was immediately presumed to be on the eveof birth. An ecclesiastical commission was appointed, and lo, before their eyes, the stone coffin of St. Longinus rose up from among the waves, andwas carried back with due honours to the Vissehrad."Whoknows whether it's all quite true or not?" observed my talkativeconductress " but one thing's certain. An arm of St. Longinus lies stillin the coffin. When their majesties the blessed Emperor Francis, theRussian emperor Alexander, and the Prussian king Frederick William,were up here, they were all alone with father and me. Only one soldierlike servant had they with them. Well, they made us show themthis coffinmost particularly, and we had to take two candlesticks from the altar, thatthey might see the better. The Russian emperor's majesty was mostanxious of all to know about it, and he crept in as far as he could, to feelafter the saint's arm, and when the emperor's majesty came out again, hewas all covered with cobwebs and dust. " Oh, your majesty, ' said I,you've made yourself quite dirty, ' and with that I knocked the dust off hisback with my hand. That'll do, child, that'll do, ' says he to me, andI was quite surprised to hear him speak such good German."In the year 1187 there lived in Bohemia a duke of the name of Frederick, who involved himself in a quarrel with the clergy, in consequenceofhaving applied to his own use the revenues of the village of Czernovitz,then the property of some convent or chapter. The priests imposed heavy penance upon him for this offence, and one ofthem seems to have had theaudacity to subject the duke to a scourging. Gregory VII. , who kept aGerman emperor waiting like a beggar in a courtyard, had not yet beendead a hundred years. The memory of this scourging, the priests soughtto preserve by a picture, in which the duke is represented receiving punishment from the hand of St. Peter. This picture, which still hangs in thechurch, bears the inscription, Flagellatus Fredericus, Dux Bohemiae, aS. Petro ob Pagum nomine Czernovitz abalienatum, 1187. Frederick,who died in 1190, was reconciled to the clergy before his death, for, itseems, he authorized the canons of the church on the Vissehrad, to adoptthe said flagellation as their coat of arms, and the reverend gentlemen stillpreserve it, representing the saint belabouring the duke with a cat-o'-nine- tails of most awful dimensions."When we showed this picture to his majesty Joseph the Second, " my old sexton continued, -" I believe it was in '84, and the emperor was uphere with Laudon, Lascy, and other great gentlemen, -I was a youngTHE VISSEHRAD. 21pullesant then, and had to stand modestly aside, but I saw and heardevery thing for all that. The fine Hungarian guard was drawn up on theVissehrad, and the carriages and servants waited below. Now when weshowed his majesty the picture, he looked vexed, and shook his head, saying, ' It was not civil for Peter to scourge a prince in that way, no, it wasvery uncivil.' Then he looked down for a moment, as if he was considering to himself, and after that he said, ' but the thing is old, so it may stopthere.' Laudon was standing by, and smiled."Another object that interested me in the church, was the tomb of aUtraquist or Calixtine. The ruling idea with those people was the winecup. They bore it as an emblem on their banners, and after death had itcarved on their tombs. Before these wild zealots drove Sigismund's troopsfrom the Vissehrad, no less than thirteen churches stood there. Only onenow remains, and the fragment of what was once the wall of another, and which seemed to me like a few odd lines of a lost poem. "Oh! it musthave been sad work here, " said my old sexton; "the Hussites had no mercyat all, but brought dogs and eagles with them, to fight against Christian men. "Behind the church lies a newly- erected arsenal, and several barracks forsoldiers, for the Vissehrad still preserves its character as a kind of citadel.On the edge of the rock, that overhangs the Moldau, may be traced someruined walls of great antiquity. These, according to tradition, belongedto the fortress of Libussa, and one part of the ruin is still pointed out as having been Libussa's bath-room. " But all that is mere vulgar talk, " resumed my conductress, " for nothing is known for certain. That QueenLibussa did once live up here in a fine palace, among these rocks andshrubs, -oh, that's certain enough. She was a heathen to be sure, but she was Queen of Bohemia, and a very good woman for all that. Shehad two sisters, Kasha and Theka. Kasha helped her to govern the land,but Theka was an apothecary, and knew all about plants, and the noblescame from far and wide to be cured by her. She also used to give medicines to the sick peasants, and she could prophesy, and gave good adviceto her sisters. Of course things changed when Libussa married Przemysl,who as king had a right to have his own way. Now, Libussa had a waiting- woman called Vlasta, a very beautiful maiden; and when the queenwas dead, Vlasta thought Przemysl would marry her, and make her Queenof Bohemia. He did not do so, however, which so enraged Vlasta, thatshe vowed vengeance, and resolved to make herself Queen of Bohemiawithout his aid. She went over the Moldau, -there was a bridge herethen, and she set up her kingdom right opposite the Vissehrad. Shegot together four hundred Bohemian maids and wives, who were at feudwith their husbands and lovers. There, beyond the meadow, inthe corner between the hills, your honour may still see the spot where Vlasta's castlestood. It was called Divin, and thence she used to sally with her maidens,and wage a cruel war against all the Bohemian men. She cut the rightthumb off of all the boys that fell into her hands, that they might not beable to draw a bow, and from all girls she cut off the right breast, that itmight not hinder their archery. She might not herself have been able todo what she did, but she had a sorceress in her service, who used to say toher, My gentle lady, when you go into battle, I will fly on before you.Observe my flight and my signals . I'll show you the ambush of your enemies, and advise you what you must do.' So, when she sallied forth,-22 THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN.the old witch always flew before her, and all the Amazons rushed on,crying, ' Yaya, yaya! baba, baba!' Not true, father, that was their cry?""Ay, ay, child, that was their cry."-" And then they lured the knights into their power, and cut off their noses and ears, or threw them from therocks, and captured all their castles hereabout. Up there, on that highhill, lay the castle of the Knight Modol, a true friend of Przemysl's. Thatthey captured too. Vlasta, with her own hand, cut Modol's head off, andthen (mad wench that she was) she got upon the wall, and blew hertrumpet, that Przemysl might hear her triumph here on the Vissehrad.She had her silver armour on, and her beautiful hair fell down to herelbows, and in her left hand she carried her banner. When Przemysl sawher and heard her trumpet, I warrant you he was vexed enough to thinkhe had not made her his wife at once, and spared all this turmoil. Hemade one more trial, however, and sent out his general Prostirad, whowent over with a countless number of knights, and took back Modol'scastle, and killed Vlasta, and brought back her beautiful round head. Therest of her women fled to Divin Castle, and defended themselves for awhile, but they were all taken at last, and all their heads were cut off.Not true, father?"—" Ay, girl, all their heads were cut off. "Amid these and many other legends ofthe same kind, evening crept on,and I could no longer distinguish the distant objects to which my talkativeconductress directed my attention. Her eloquence and animation investedher in the sober twilight, almost with the air of an ancient sibyl, or Druidprophetess, nor did her flow of words cease when I prepared to take my departure. On the contrary, still conversing of the antiquities of theplace, she accompanied me down the hill to the French Gate, where thecountrywomen and the Devi Slovanski ( Slavonian maidens) were enteringheavily laden with vegetables and other provisions for the market, at whichthey meditated to display their wares at an early hour on the followingmorning. For more than a thousand years has such been the accustomedevening-scene at that gate, and for a thousand years perhaps have the same old Tshekhian ditties been nightly sung by the fair rustics that havemeanwhile provided for the pantries of the townspeople.THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN.Even in the time of the last dukes, much of the glory of the Vissehradwas transferred to the rival hill, the Hradshin, which became the residenceof the sovereign in time of peace, while the Vissehrad was only an occa- sional retreat, in summer, or when the city was pressed by an enemy. Atpresent, much of the Vissehrad, that was once covered with houses, has beenconverted into arable land, or pasturage for cattle, while at the foot of thehill dwell the most wretched portion of the population of Prague. " Theyare poorer even than those behind the Hradshin," said a Prague friend tome one day. Thus to each of the castle crags has poverty clung, to shamethe luxury of wealth by the contrast ofmisery.High upon the Hradshin stands the glorious cathedral, the metropolitanchurch of Prague, dedicated to St. Vitus, and which, during the wars by which Bohemia has successively been desolated, has alternately suffered fromthe sacrilegious violations of Hussites, Catholics, and Protestants, Swedes,Germans, and Hungarians. The Hussites, on one occasion, stripped theTHE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN. 23church ofnearly every thing inthe shape of ornament. The Swedes, who,towards the close of the Thirty Years' War, made themselves masters of theHradshin by stratagem, plundered the church to such a degree, that theywere able to send whole shiploads of valuables down the Elbe to Stockholm, where they may still be seen among the public collections. Frederick the Great, too, when he besieged Prague, in 1757, seems to have sethis heart on the destruction of the cathedral, against which the fire of hisartillery was peculiarly directed. What his motive was, it would be difficult to say. He could scarcely think that the garrison of 50,000 menwould surrender to him, for the sake of saving the cathedral. It could notbe zeal for Protestantism that impelled Frederick to vowthe destruction ofan ancient Catholic church, without regard to its beauty, its antiquity, andthe numberless objects of art which it contained. I should like to knowwhether Frederick, in any of his works, has attempted to justify himself forthis barbarous treatment of the Hradshin church, or whether any one hasever cited him before the tribunal of public opinion on account of it. Theimpartial Bohemian historian, Pelzel, gives a very detailed enumeration ofall the balls, bombs, and shells, that were hurled against this admirablespecimen of ancient architecture, by the merciless order of Frederick. Onthe 5th of June the building served as a target for 537 bombs, 989 cannonballs, and 17 carcasses, of which, however, it must not be supposed, thatall, or indeed any thing like half of them, hit the mark they were fired at.On the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th, the town was complimented with 7144bombs, 14,821 balls, and 111 carcasses, of which the majority were aimedat the cathedral. During those four days the building was thirty times onfire, and each time it was saved from entire destruction by the vigilanceand exertions of the canon, John Kaiser. The roof was perforated by noless than 215 balls, and when, after the cannonade, the church was clearedof the rubbish that had meanwhile accumulated there, no less than 770balls were collected from different parts of the edifice. Napoleon, when heentered Moscow, sent a guard to protect the children in the great Foundling Hospital. Why did not Frederick, when he fired his first gun againstPrague, grant a similar protection to the cathedral on the Hradshin, byordering his artillerymen rather to fire on any object than that? Perhapsit was fortunate for Frederick that he did not succeed in entering the city.He, the friend and patron of the arts, would have grieved in very bitternessof soul, had he witnessed the destruction his own artillery had effected.The Gothic ornaments cast down, the graceful columns shattered, and thebeautiful statues mutilated in every imaginable way.Scarcely one of the many splendid tombs remained uninjured. Neitherthe beautiful marble monument, executed by Kolin of Nuremberg, anderected in 1589, by Rudolph II. , to the memory of Maximilian II . , Ferdinand I. , and Anne, his wife; nor the venerable statues, stretched on theirsarcophagi, of the old Bohemian dukes Spitignev and Brzetislav; nor thechapel of the tombs of the archbishops; nor the other chapel that containsthe monuments of twenty-four of the noblest families of Bohemia; indeedthe monument of Vratislaus von Bärenstein, the Chancellor of MaximilianII. , is almost the only one that escaped unscathed.Few churches in Germany surpass this cathedral in beauty, richness, and in the interest of its historical associations. There is none to which itseems to bear more affinity than to the metropolitan church of Cracow, in which reposes the dust of all the Polish kings. In both may be traced a24 THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN.similarity of architecture, and a similarity of fortunes. It is astonishinghow much there is about each to remind one of the other. Even the legendof Nepomuk has its companion at Cracow, so closely resembling it in allits details, that one cannot help wondering at the occurrence at places soremote from each other, oftwo series of events so perfectly alike.Nothing is there that a stranger in Bohemia is doomed to have morefrequently related to him than the history of St. Nepomuk, and next inimportance and frequency of repetition come the adventures of the twoimperial counsellors, Slavata and Martinitz, to whom it happened, in 1618,to be one day tossed out of a window. These two narratives may literallybe said to persecute a stranger from the day of his arrival till that of hisdeparture. However well you may have prepared yourself by historicalstudies with a knowledge of all the details of the Thirty Years' War,whose commencement, as your professors at Bonn or Gottingen will have toldyou, is to be dated from the day on which the two above-named personages were tumbled upon the dunghill under the Hradshin; yet rest assured thatin the first diligence you travel in, there will be some learned gentleman orother who will find or make an occasion to tell the story over again foryour especial benefit. And by the time your learned gentleman has got tothe end of his first story, it will go hard, but at the next bridge you crossthere will be a chapel, or an image dedicated to St. Nepomucene, and, ifso, you may rest equally assured that you will have related to you, with allits accompanying incidents, the whole legend of the saint, which, it is oddsbut you have heard and forgotten again sundry times before you set foot onBohemian ground. By the time the story is at an end, you are probably atthe next bridge, where, of course, your attention is called to anothereffigy of the bridge-protecting saint, when your charitable informant willbe likely to open again with " There, look there, sir; there you have theholy Nepomuk again; he is the same as the one I was telling you of,whom King Venzeslaus, &c. ," and how far the et cætera may extend willdepend on your patience under the infliction . Well, in due time the hillsof Prague present themselves to your view, the Hradshin towering proudlyabove the rest. Immediately your travelling companion will open againupon you with " There, look there, sir; there you may see the castle fromthe windows of which the two imperial counsellors , Slavata and Martinitz,&c." The next morning you are tempted to walk abroad, but ifto the Prague bridge, beware howyou stop to look at five golden stars that are erected there. If you neglect my caution, rely upon it your quality ofstranger will be discovered, and some kind self-elected cicerone willapproach and tell you, " This, sir, is the very spot from which St. Nepomukwas thrown into the water. He was a pious man, but King Venzeslaus,&c." Animated, no doubt, by this time, with a salutary dread of thesaint, you probably cut your interlocutor short, by praying him not to inflict upon you a legend which you have learned by heart during the fewdays you have been in the country. You fly to a neighbouring coffee- house, the windows of which, to your sorrow, look upon the Hradshin.You order a cup of bouillon perhaps, and while you sit sipping it, yourhost comes simpering up to you. In your unguarded innocence you mayallow some such question to escape you, as " What's the news?" If so,have sealed your fate. "Your honour were looking out of the window.Have your honour already had the condescension to go to the top of thehill? But you have from here a very good view of the two windowsyouyou comeTHE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN. 2599look, your honour, therethey are, at which manyyears ago a very remarkablecvent occurred . " "What, some romantic love- story?"-"No, sir; fromthose windows it was that the two counsellors of the Emperor Matthias- their names were Slavata and Martinitz- "Oh, heavens!" you exclaim. Your very bouillon turns to bitterness, and you snatch up hat andstick, and run to St. Vitus's church, in the hope that if any volunteer informant take you in hand again, he may make the patron of the edifice thetopic of his discourse. Idle hope! Of St. Vitus no one deems it neces- sary to say a word, but one of the attendants of the church will be sure to come up to you, with a face all radiant with the hope of a douceur, andthus his oration will begin: " The most remarkable object in our church,is this rich monument of silver, which contains no less than twenty- seven hundredweight of that metal. It was erected in honour of St. Nepomuk,whom the Emperor Venceslaus, &c. " My poor stranger! this is one ofthe discomforts of travel that thou must not hope to escape, and the sanctity of the place forbids thee the relief of a good set oath. Nay, wouldstthou even save thyself by sudden flight, the chances are that thy retreat iscut off by some venerable priest, who takes up the story at the point thatthy humbler attendant had just reached. In that case, patience is thyonly resource. Listen with resignation, and thou hast a chance that thestory will come all the sooner to an end. So, now having prepared thee for the infliction, hear and attend.Nepomuk, or more properly, Johanko von Nepomuk, was born about themiddle of the fourteenth century, in the little Bohemian town ofNepomuk.At his birth, it is said, bright rays of glory were seen to shine around hismother's house. He became a preacher in the ancient city of Prague,where his fame spread so rapidly, that he was raised to the office of almoner to the king, and became the queen's confessor. Now the king(Venzeslaus IV. , the celebrated German emperor, the son of Charles IV. ,who had also in his time been King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany) ,-the king, I say, was desirous of knowing what the queen, who had oftenmanifested great dejection of spirits, might have confided to her confessor.Venceslaus wished to know whether she made his own rude behaviour thesubject of complaint, or whether perhaps her melancholy were occasionedby a secret love-affair. Johanko, however, could never be prevailed on tobetray a syllable of what he had learned in the confessional. Sometimeafterward it so chanced that there was brought up to the royal table a veryfine capon, but which, on being carved, was found to be very much underdone. The king was hereupon in such a rage that he ordered the cook tobe spitted alive and roasted to death. Nepomuk did not fail to rate hismajesty roundly for so atrocious an act of barbarism, but the holy mantook nothing by his motion but a few days' solitary confinement, where hewould probably have been permitted to indulge for some time longer in hispious meditations, had not the king still hoped to draw from him some ofthe queen's secrets. Nepomuk remained firm, though he appears to havehad some foreboding of what the consequence would be, for he prophesiedone day that he would shortly die a violent death, and so saying took anaffectionate leave ofhis friends. The following morning, as he was passingby the castle, the king called him in, and renewed his former solicitations.Johanko was inflexible, whereupon the king had him seized, bound handand foot, and had him thrown that very evening from the bridge into theMoldau. The king thought nobody would have known any thing about26 THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN.the matter, but there he was mistaken, for not only were bright rays ofglory seen to shine over the spot where the body lay, but for three wholedays the bed of the river was dry, no water flowing over it. Miracles without number were performed at the saint's grave, and people observed that ifany man happened to express a doubt of the holy man's beatitude, or tostep slightingly or scornfully upon his tomb, the day never passed over without some disgrace or calamity to the sceptic. In due time the saintwas beatified by Pope Clement XI., and canonized by Benedict XIII.Since then, the veneration for St. Nepomucene has spread with marvellous rapidity through Bohemia, Moravia, and a part of Poland andAustria. In all these countries he is esteemed the patron saint of bridges,and the usual oraison addressed to him by his devotees is this, " O holySt. Nepomucene, grant that no such misfortune befall us on this bridge asonce befell thee."By the side ofthe silver monument of the saint, over which sundry silverangels are seen to hover, there hangs a golden lamp of immense value.This lamp has been stolen on three several occasions, and now, to protectthis and the other valuables of the church, a large fierce dog is nightlyshut up there as a guard to the gems and relics of the holy place. It iswell that the Turks but seldom visit the Hradshin, or this dog in charge ofa churchful of saints would be added to the already formidable catalogueof atrocities laid to the charge ofthe Christians. So unclean is this animalin the eyes of a Mahometan, that I believe he would greatly prefer to have a whole legion of devils shut up in his mosque.With the varying versions that have obtained currency of the saint'sadventures, I will not now detain the reader, that I may the sooner havedone with the other great national bore of Bohemia, which, as he is nowaccompanying me through the country, he is bound to endure, as I havedone many a time before him. So here goes for Slavata and Martinitz,and if we are to have the story, we could have it nowhere more opportunely than in this very church, in which we may at the same time admirethe monument erected to the memory of Counsellor Martinitz himself.Allons! Courage!Frightened by the daily increasing spread of Protestantism in Bohemia,a Catholic nobleman and a Catholic abbot had found means, in 1618, toshut up and destroy two newly-erected Protestant churches, alleging thatthey did so by order of the Emperor Matthias. All the Protestants andUtraquists of Bohemia, among whom were many of the first men in thecountry, were greatly excited , and held meetings, at which it was logically demonstrated that such treatment was in direct violation of the royalLetters of Grace that had been granted them. A deputation was sent to Vienna to remonstrate. The emperor, meanwhile, had taken seriousoffence at the stormy meetings of the Protestants and Utraquists, to whomhe sent a menacing epistle, which the states of the kingdom were summoned to the Hradshin to hear read. They assembled, listened to theformidable threats of the emperor, and promised to return an answer onthe following day. They assembled again, accordingly, at the time appointed, attended by bodies of armed men, when they found the royalgovernors, Slavata, Martinitz, Adam von Sternberg, and Diepold von Lobkowitz, waiting to receive them. Of these four men, the two last weregenerally popular; but the two first, bigoted Catholics, and tyrannicalrulers, were universally detested , and there were many among the statesTHE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN. 27who were of opinion, that religious freedom could never be firmly established in Bohemia, so long as those men continued in power, and thattherefore the best thing they could do, would be to get rid of them as soonas possible. Some opposed these violent counsels, but the majority applauded them, and crowded from the Green Chamber, where they hadbeen consulting together, into the Government Hall, where they addressedbitter reproaches to the governors, for attempting to deprive the Utraquistsof their Letters of Grace. The Oberstburggraf, Adam von Sternberg, addressed the tumultuous assembly in a conciliatory tone, and warned themagainst the commission of any act of violence. Kolon von Fels thereuponstepped forward, and said that they meant no harm to the Oberstburggraf,nor to his Lordship of Lobkowitz, with whom they were well contented,but that they were in no way satisfied with Messrs . Slavata and Martinitz,who were always seeking occasion to oppress the Utraquists. * Venzeslausvon Rapowa exclaimed, that the best thing they could do, would be tothrow them out of the window, according to the good old Bohemianfashion (po starotshesku). Some of the party now went up to Sternbergand Lobkowitz, tookthem by the arm, and led them civilly out of the room.Slavata and Martinitz began to be seriously frightened, made great protestations of their innocence, and demanded, if they had done any thingwrong, that they might be allowed a fair trial. The incensed feelings ofthe assembly could not, however, be appeased. William von Lobkowitzstepped up to Martinitz, and seized him by both his hands. This may besaid to have been the first revolutionary act of the Bohemian insurrection.Could William of Lobkowitz have foreseen the unspeakable misery thatwas about to overtake his country, he would probably have shrunk back and have cried, " I will not be the man to raise the first stone to thatfrightful avalanche." Not that it can be shown that the horrors of theThirty Years' War would have been averted if William of Lobkowitz hadkept his hands off Martinitz, or if the Calixtine States had been more moderate, and had tried to gain their ends by fair means, for great events are like streams fed by hundreds of sources, and the historian who argues thatif this or that incident had not occurred, some great political developmentwould not have followed, is like a certain Austrian, who fancied if he could

• To some of our English readers it may not be superfluous to explain that the Utraquists or Calixtines received their name in consequence of their demand that the calix or wine-cup should be given to laymen as well as priests in the communion.

Their demands were complied with by the Council of Basil in 1433, and after their victory at Böhmischbrod, in 1434, over the Emperor Sigismund, they obtained liberty of conscience, and after the Reformation manifested on various occasions theirsympathy for the Protestants. Their refusal to serve against the Protestants in the Smalkaldic war, drew upon them, at first, severe persecutions, but after 1556, Fer- dinand I. , who was not ill-disposed towards them, allowed them to share in the advantages conceded to his evangelical subjects. Maximilian II. granted to the Utra- quists a complete freedom of religious exercise. Under Rudolph II. , their situation was less favourable, and they had considerable difficulty in obtaining from him theMajestätsbrief, or Letter of Grace, alluded to above, which was granted on the 9th of July, 1609, and by which the Bohemian confession, handed in conjointly by the Utraquists, the Bohemian brethren, and the Evangelicals, was publicly recognised,and their ecclesiastical ordinances, by which their schools and churches were regulated, and by virtue of which they had had their own Consistorium at Prague, wereconfirmed. The repeated violations of the Majestätsbriefby Matthias, led to the tu- multuous scenes at the Hradshin, which are described in the text, and which are generally looked on as forming the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War.-Tr.28 THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN.stop the source of the Danube with his foot, he should be able to preventthe Danube itself from reaching Vienna.make any Four Be this, however, as it may, William of Lobkowitz, did not stop tosuch reflections. He seized Martinitz by both his hands.other nobles lifted the trembling governor from the ground, bore him tothe nearest window, and without ceremony pitched him out. It is said,that the assembly stood for several moments in dead silence, terrified appa- rently by what they had themselves done. A similar interval of silence issaid to have occurred in the Roman capitol, after the conspirators hadstruck Cæsar to the ground." Gentle- The first to interrupt this silence was the Count of Thurn.men, " he exclaimed, "there's another of them," pointing at the same timeto Slavata; who was immediately seized, and dealt with in the same way ashis colleague. Master Philip Platter, the private secretary, was alsoejected in the same unceremonious way as his masters. No record is leftus of what was said after the outrage, by those who remained in the room;nor how they looked at one another. They soon appear to have found theair of the place too close for them. In a little while we see them, particularly the Count of Thurn, riding down into the city, to appease the fears ofthe people, whom they told to be under no uneasiness, for that the entire responsibility of what had been done, would rest upon those who had done it.It was not till the third day after the scene of violence at the Hradshin,that the states met again. They then entered into a covenant, and electedthirty men, who, on the resignation of the royal governors, were to takeupon themselves the administration of public affairs. The Bohemian revolution was now proclaimed, that was to terminate, only two years later, bya counter-revolution, terrible in its consequences, and carried through witha cruel consistency. It was the last time that the Bohemians can be saidto have manifested a consciousness of their old Tshekhian political usages,for never since then have they again had an opportunity of exercising thepo starotshesku.Not the least remarkable part of this little political drama was the fact,that not one of the three gentlemen, who so unwillingly showed their agility,suffered any serious inconvenience from the compulsory leap, though the windowthroughwhichtheymadetheir exit, was at least sixty feet from theground.Master Philip was the first to get upon his legs again; whence it may beinferred, that the occupation of a secretary tends less to the promotion ofobesity than that of a royal governor, and the inference will generally befound to apply to the secretaries and governors of other countries as well asto those of Bohemia. Platter, as soon as he had scrambled out of thecastle-ditch, into which he had fallen, ran as fast as he could to Vienna,where he told the emperor what had taken place. How happy Plattermust have felt, to have thus the first telling of a story, in the repetition of which so many thousands continue, even to this day, to take such unspeak- able delight!Martinitz and Slavata found some kind Samaritans in the street, whohelped them into the house of the Chancellor Zdenik von Lobkowitz, wherethey found succour and protection . Count Thurn, indeed, at the head ofariotous multitude, appeared before the house, and demanded the delivery ofthe two obnoxious governors, but the lady of the mansion, Polyxena vonLobkowitz, pacified the count with fair words, and assured himthat both herguests were lying in bed in a miserable condition. Slavata had indeed aTHE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN. 29wound on his head, that obliged him to remain her guest for some time,longer, but Martinitz was able to leave the city in disguise. He went toMunich, where he died about six years afterwards.I trust the reader will not have forgotten, while we have been thus discoursing of tales of the olden time, that we are still in the metropolitanchurch of the Hradshin, where we have a multitude of curiosities to passin review. In the chapel of Venzeslaus I was curious to know the precisespot where the Bohemian regalia were preserved. My guide told me hedared not give me the required information, the place where they werekept being a profound secret. The entrance, he added, was by an irondoor secured by three separate locks, to each of which there was a separatekey, and these three keys were committed to the keeping of three of the first officers of state. I pressed him not the less to let me into the secret;telling him that I took especial delight in knowing myself to be in thevicinity of any object of historical interest, because I felt within myself aparticular susceptibility for the electrifying impressions emanating fromsuch objects. This, I added, was particularly the case with respect to crownsand sceptres, in whose poetical atmosphere I loved to bathe myself, and ofwhose influence, I felt assured, I should become conscious, even through theintervening impediment of a wall. Moreover, I told him, no crown couldhave more interest in my eyes than one that had been worn by so manyBohemian kings and German emperors, a crown for whose sake so manya bloody battle had been fought, a crown which Joseph II. had carriedaway with him to Vienna, and which Frederick of the Palatinate (thewinter king, as he is called in Bohemia) had carefully packed up whenabout to take his departure, but which, owing to the precipitancy of hisflight, was left standing with various other valuables, in the public marketplace of Prague.It had meanwhile struck one o'clock. A heavy rain was falling without,and detaining me a prisoner within the church. I was alone with my attendant, who imboldened by this circ*mstance, or moved by my eloquentappeals, manifested symptoms of relenting . He opened the Venzeslauschapel, and told me that, though he dared not on any account point out thespot to me, yet if I would keep my eye on him, he would slightly nod hishead when he came to the picture behind which was concealed the irondoor of the shrine where the regalia were kept. We proceeded accordinglyto inspect all the curiosities of the chapel. Firstly, the beautiful agates andjaspers with which the walls of the chapel are inlaid. Then the tombsof the first dukes of Bohemia, and lastly, the ring which Duke Venzeslausgrasped when he fell to the ground wounded by his brother. This brother,whose name was Boleslav, coveted the crown, and placed himself at thehead of a conspiracy of malcontents , in whose eyes Venzeslaus was toopious, too credulous, and too fond of the priests. Venzeslaus carried hispiety so far, that he planted and tended with his own hand the grapesand the corn of which was prepared the bread and the wine used for thecommunion, cutting, thrashing, and grinding the corn, baking the bread,and pressing the wine. What with these pious exercises, and his constantattention to the churches he was planning and building, he left himself notime to attend to state affairs. One day, having repaired to Bunzlau, toattend the consecration of a church, he became his brother's guest, and thisopportunity was looked on by the conspirators as favourable to the execution of their design. Onthe following morning, the 28th of September,30 THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN.936, Venzeslaus hastened, as was his custom, to church, in obedienceto the matin's chime. At the church-door he met his brother, whom hepraised for his hospitable entertainment of the preceding day. Boleslavthen said, in a bantering tone, "I will entertain thee better to-day," andwith that drew his sword and dealt the duke a heavy blow over the head.He did not wound him mortally, and Venzeslaus had strength enough leftto disarm his assassin and fling him to the ground. "May God forgiveyou for this, brother," he cried. Boleslav, meanwhile, having fallen,roared out for help as though he had not been the assailer but the assailed.His servants and several of the conspirators came to his assistance and attacked the duke, who defended himself stoutly while retreating to thechurch-door, where he fell, pierced by the swords of his enemies. Indyinghe grasped convulsively the iron ring of the door, and when his body wasbrought to the Hradshin, to be buried in St. Vitus's church, which he hadbuilt there, the ring, also, was brought thither, and has been preservedthere ever since, where every traveller may have the pleasure of graspingit in his turn, even though he should feel no avocation to earn the glory ofmartyrdom and canonization, after the fashion of Duke Venzeslaus.We came next to the tomb of Duke Brzetislav II . , then viewed some pictures of saints, including those of St. Ludmilla, St. Christopher, and sundryothers. I kept a sharp eye on my guide, and did not fail to notice at whichpicture it was that he nodded, however slight the gesture was. My readerand I are both in the secret as to the meaning of that nod; but at whichpicture was it? That is a secret, gentle reader, in which I must notlet thee participate, lest thou betray it to some designing revolutionist,from whom the crown and sceptre of Bohemia might be exposed to seriousperil.Every Bohemian loves to wander among these monuments of the ancientdukes and saints of the land, rich with a thousand associations with namesand things, the memory of which he has learned from infancy to love andvenerate; but the cathedral of the Hradshin has also its reverse, for at theopposite side of the church is a series of votive tablets, paintings, andcarvings in wood, intended to commemorate the victory on the WhiteMountain, a victory which, even at the present day, is an object of sorrow tothe Bohemians, and which certainly exercised a more permanent influenceover the fortunes of the country, than was ever exercised by any othervictory in Bohemia, either before or since, for it may be said to have decidedthe fate of the kingdom for the 220 years that have since elapsed.Rudely carved in wood may be seen a complete representation of thebattle of the entrance of the Duke of Bavaria, the Emperor Ferdinand'sgeneral, into Prague; of the poor Winter King's flight; of the tribunal that Ferdinand established. No German, no Austrian, no lover of hiskind can withhold his pity when he sees a Bohemian moving mournfullythrough this gallery. Who, in fact, can withhold a tear when he thinkswith what fearful throes Utraquism and the Reformation came into life inBohemia, and with what frightful reactions, after so painful a birth, theywere again annihilated?

Trulygratifying are the pictures presented to us by Bohemian historiansof the condition of the country under the mild emperors and kings towardsthe close ofthe sixteenth century. The arts and sciences flourished. Thechurches were adorned with paintings of rare merit; picture-galleriesTHE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN. 31were collected; Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and other eminent spirits of theage, studied, wrote, and taught in the capital of Bohemia. The schools,both in town and country were excellent, and even among the women ofthe land, there were many distinguished for their learning and information.Poets and orators rose and flourished, and the works then written still serveas classical models oflanguage. The several religious parties, the Utraquists,the Hussites, the Bohemian Brethren, the Catholics, and the Protestants,all lived in harmony with one another, and such was the spirit oftoleration, that often in one and the same village, three religiousparties, with their three several pastors, lived in peace and friendshiptogether.The angels in heaven must have rejoiced over such a state of things,but the Jesuits were grieved and offended by it. They held the hearts ofthe princes in their hands, and never rested till they had hurled the firebrand into the peaceful house, and when they had succeeded in setting itin a blaze, they sent princes and armies in to quench it, and utterly todestroy the burning edifice. The battle of the White Mountain, where theinsurgents under the Winter King, Frederick of the Palatinate, weredefeated by Maximilian of Bavaria, decided every thing. The imperialtroops occupied Prague, whence they commanded the whole land, and heldit like a victim bound to the stake, while Ferdinand II. , in obedience to the suggestions of his Jesuists, subjected the country to a series ofoperations that bore a striking similitude to the ordinances with whichPhilip II. had afflicted Belgium.A scaffold was erected at Prague, upon which the leaders of the insurrection suffered in quick succession. The sentence pronounced and executed upon those declared guilty of high treason, was a masterpiece of elaborate criminal adjudication. It was therein minutely determined, whoshould be executed with the axe and who with the sword, who should losehis right hand before and who after the execution, and who was to havehis tongue torn out. It was also specified how the bodies of such as werealready dead were to be disposed of; who were to be cut into four,who into eight pieces, and on what gates these several pieces were to beexposed to the public gaze.The establishment of this tribunal was followed by the commencementof a systematic counter- revolution. In every house of every Bohemiantown, not only the heads of families, but their wives, workpeople, and servants, in short all the inmates of each house, were called on to return acategorical answer to these questions:Are you by birth a Catholic?Have you been converted to the Catholic faith?Do you promise to become a Catholic?Whoever refused to embrace Catholicism, was declared incompetent toexercise any corporate trade, and was generally deprived of his property into the bargain, and expelled from the country. So far was the systemof persecution carried, that the Protestant poor and sick were turned outof the hospitals, and orders were given that none but Catholics should in future be admitted there.After this state of things, the details of which are frightful and revolting, had continued for seven years, the emperor came to Prague with hisfamily, and, having summoned a diet, had his son Ferdinand III.32 THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN.crowned as king. A few years before, the question had been gravelydiscussed by the states, whether it would not be better to erect Bohemiainto a republic, like Switzerland or Holland, than to elect Frederick ofthe Palatinate to the throne; in this new diet, no one even ventured toraise the question whether the crown was elective or hereditary. Ferdinand annulled the Letter of Grace, and all the privileges of the states,commanding at the same time, that the Bohemian language should nolonger be used in any of the law tribunals. The nobles readily adoptedthe German language, and the townspeople were obliged to learn it, forthe monks preached only in German. The burghers in the cities beganto be ashamed of speaking Bohemian, though, not long before, even thenobles had prided themselves on their national language, and had nothesitated to speak it at the court of the German emperors. The peasantonly continued to speak as his ancestors had spoken, and what had beenthe language of a nation, came to be considered the dialect of the vulgar.Distinguished as Bohemia had been, under the preceding emperors, forthe cultivation of science and art, she now sank rapidly into ignoranceand barbarism. That the people might be more easily ruled by beingkept in ignorance, the Jesuits went from house to house, as missionaries,and took away what books they could find, and burnt them. So effectuallydo they appear to have performed their mission, that to speak of a " Bo- hemian" book, or a "scarce" book, is now esteemed the same. Even thecostume of the people was changed, and gradually superseded by that of the conquerors." I must remind my hearers," says the historian Pelzel, at the close ofhis reflections on the consequences of the battle on the White Mountain,"that here the history of Bohemia closes, and the history of other nationsin Bohemia commences."Bohemia now stands like its metropolitan church, incomplete, weatherbeaten, and covered with scars, but like its church, also restored to peaceand order. We must read the resolutions of the Bohemian diet if we wishto know, to what extent, and according to what plans, the Bohemiansmeant to have constructed their state edifice; but the original plan of St.Vitus's church may more easily be studied, for all the drawings are stillpreserved in a small room over the vault of one of the chapels. In itspresent condition the church is evidently a mere commencement of thearchitect's design; if completed, the building would have been more thanthree times its present size.The treasury of the church is rich in a multitude of curious and valuableobjects. In one cabinet I counted no less than 32 golden mitres. I tookseveral ofthem in my hand, and observed to myguide that I thought themheavy. " And yet, sir," said the man, archly, " our gentlemen are sovery fond of wearing them! " In various drawers are preserved no lessthan 368 priestly vestments for the service of the mass, many of them ofastonishing richness and splendour. One of them was of a material thatmight have furnished a mantle, either for a beggar or a prince; it was ofcommon straw, but plaited and worked with such surprising art, that thewhole looked like elaborate embroidery. Most of these vestments are giftsfrom Bohemian nobles, and the history of some of these presents maycontribute to illustrate the character of the country. Thus, one vestmenthas been made up from the bridal dress of a Countess Tshernin, another ofTHE METROPOLITAN CHURCH ON THE HRADSHIN. 33the coronation robes of Maria Theresa. One of the richest of all, andwhich is only displayed on occasions of great solemnity, has been decorated by the Prince of Schwartzenburg, with a number of golden bunches of grapes and vine-leaves, and with all the buttons worn on his weddingcoat. Each of these buttons is a jewel of considerable value, fashionedinto the form of an animal, and set in gold. What wasteful profusion!and what a strange whim, to dedicate the wedding dresses of lords and ladies to the service of the church!One of the vestments was embroidered by the hand of Maria Theresa,but of all the embroideries, the most wonderful is one made in the beginning ofthe fourteenth century by Anne Queen of Bohemia ( Anna Karolevna Tsheska). She and her sister Elizabeth were the two last descendants of the ancient princely line of Przemysl, whom Libussa called to thethrone from the village of Staditz near Teplitz. Some of our youngladies who think they have attained no mean proficiency in the art ofembroidering, ought to come to Prague for the sake of looking at thework of the last princess of the house of Przemysl. It is a piece of white linen upon which are worked, with threads of gold, the most beautiful anddelicate flowers and arabesques. The pattern is precisely the same on eachside, and withal, so accurate and yet so fanciful, that one is never tired ofadmiring it. The pattern, moreover, is constantly varied by the invention of new figures and forms, though the whole piece is thirty-three ellsin length. The length of way which the little needle and the daintyfinger of the queen must have traced over the linen with golden thread, isestimated at about ten leagues, and to me it seems as if the labour of halfa life must have been devoted to the work, which was executed in exile,and sent to the Hradshin, as the parting gift of the last scion of a longrace of kings.Of religious relics the church has also an abundant supply. Amongothers, a neatly ornamented little hand, said to have belonged to one ofthe little children killed at Bethlehem, on the occasion of the massacre ofthe innocents; a piece of the tablecloth that served our Saviour and his disciples on the occasion of the last supper; and a nail taken from the realcross, and now shown in a splendid setting of pure gold. A piece ofthe sponge with which our Saviour's lips were moistened when on thecross, and a thorn from the real crown of thorns, are set in a crucifix,which crucifix, the kings of Bohemia respectfully kiss on the occasion of their coronation. In addition to these, there are several relics brought byGodfrey de Bouillon from the graves of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.In addition to the crown and sceptre, concealed in the secret cabinet ofwhich mention was made several pages back, there are other parts of theregalia respecting which less mystery is made, and upon which, accordingly, I was allowed to feast my eyes. There were, for instance, the fourgolden statues of the four ancient Bohemian saints: Adalbert, Venzeslaus,Vitus, and Ludmilla. These four statues are always carried in processionbefore the kings on the occasion of their coronation. I was also shownthe sword of state, with which the newly- crowned monarch always imposes the honour of knighthood upon the shoulders of a select number ofhis subjects. This sword is remarkably light. Some time ago, a littlerust was discovered about half way down the blade. That it might not,however, be said, Bohemia's sword of state had grown rusty, the offendingspot was cut or filed away, and the form of a cross was given to the Ꭰ34 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS.hole thus formed. The said hole I saw with my own eyes; its causeand origin I can only give upon the authority of my informant.PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS.The royal library is contained in the Great College Building ( Collegiumsgebäude) as it is called. My visit to the 100,000 volumes happened on a noiseless holiday afternoon. The reading-rooms that in themorning had been occupied by the studious, were now still and untenanted,like a deserted beehive. It was an unaccustomed time for a visit to thelibrary, but the goodnatured librarian made an exception on my account,and did not grudge the trouble to which I put him. When the lastheavy lock closed behind us, and I was able to let my eye wander throughthe long halls, I experienced that feeling of mingled awe and enjoyment,which I always experience on entering a large library, where the boardsare so richly decked with the produce of human intellect. Thick wallsand stout bolts shut out the rest of the world from us, and we wanderedlike hermits in a solitude, but a solitude where nearly all the fruits of mental speculation hung invitingly around us. I thought of Ulysses in the Cyclops' cave, examining the bright bowls full of rich milk, and the packagesof cheese and butter, and the casks of honey, all filled to the brim. Thedifference was, that Ulysses had been locked in by his Cyclops, whereas wehad just locked out our Cyclops, the great, noisy, busy, bustling world.TheAt a time when, according to the exaggerated accounts of some,60,000 students were assembled in Prague from all parts of Germany, *these rooms must have literally swarmed like a beehive, but if those timeswere to return again, the halls and reading-rooms of the library would stillbe found sufficiently spacious. Ofthe sixty-six deans, who were then at thehead of what was called the nations, only twelve were Bohemians.Germans were by far the most numerous. Even then there appears tohave existed something of the jealousy that still prevails between German and Bohemian. Huss was a zealous adherent to the Bohemianparty. To destroy the influence exercised by the Germans, he recommended that in all university affairs the Bohemian nation should have twovotes, and all the other nations together only one. This measure led, in1409, to the departure of the German students, and to the rapid declineof the university. Thus did the people of Prague strike a severe blow atthe prosperity of their city, and even in Bohemia there was at the time nolack of ridicule cast upon the Bohemian party; but the incensed Germanstudents and professors, it is still believed in Prague, addressed bitter remonstrances to the emperor and clergy, and the vindictive charges thusbrought against Huss, are supposed to have done more in exciting thepope and the emperor against the reformer, and to have contributed moreto bring about his melancholy fate, than any apprehension that was everentertained on account of his doctrines.

• The most moderate accounts say 20,000, a number still abundantly large, when we consider that even at the present day, all the German universities together do not contain a larger number. And yet there were then other universities in Germany, and many German students went to Italy. Besides Germany is at present much more populous, and must contain a great many more people than it did then,

who occupy themselves with learned pursuits.PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS, 35Unless the University of Prague had at that time more books than ithas now, the whole library must have been exhausted if only each studentoccupied one work at a time. On the 26th of July, 1841, the number ofvolumes was 99,888, and the catalogues are so arranged, that the sumtotal may every day be known with the greatest precision.Although much that was interesting has been removed to Vienna, thereare still books in the Prague library quite as well deserving of descriptionas any other curiosity, either in the town or its vicinity. One of the mostcurious is, perhaps, a Hussite hymn-book, which is written and illuminatedwith singular splendour. The book, which must have cost many thousands offlorins, was the joint production of a large portion of the inhabitants of Prague. Every guild and corporation of the city had a fewhymns written, and pictures painted to accompany them, and severalnoble families did the same, each family or corporation placing its arms orcrest before its own portion of the book. In most of the other cities ofBohemia similar hymn-books were composed during the ascendancy ofUtraquism, and I doubt whether of all the Christian sects that have atvarious times protested against the pope, there ever was one that producedhymn- books of such surpassing splendour. All the pictures in that ofPrague are of a superior order, and executed in a masterly style. Mostof them represent incidents from biblical history, or from the life of Huss,as for instance, his dispute with a popish priest, and his death at the stake.Bloated priests and monks, pope and emperor, are represented groupedaround the funeral pile of Huss, whomangels are comforting in his agony.Poor Huss raised a flame in which he himself was burnt, as well asmany that came after him, but from that flame posterity has derivedneither light nor warmth. The history of the Calixtines of Bohemia is asadder one than that of any other religious sect, for no doctrine ever made its way amid acts of greater violence, and none was ever annihilated by amore ruthless reaction. Lutheranism was also cradled amid fearful storms,but the tempests have spent themselves, and millions have become peace- ful participators in the blessings at which Lutheranism aimed. * TheHussites raised a mighty conflagration, of which the Austrians succeededin treading out the last spark; the Lutherans lighted a roaring fire ontheir own hearths, and their homes, in spite of pope and emperor, have beenwarmed by its genial influence ever since. Yet Huss, despite of hisheresy, lives in the affections of his countrymen. I have often observedin them a strange struggle, on this score, between religion and nationality.As Bohemians they love to take credit for all the great things that theHussites did, though as Catholics they cannot, of course, approve of them.Utraquism preceded the art of printing; hence the profuse adornment ofthe hymn-books I have described. The Hussites afterwards caused amultitude of books to be printed in Bohemia, and when this could nolonger be done in the country itself, their bibles were printed abroad,in Venice, for instance, whose printing-presses in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were at the disposal of almost every religious sect.In the Prague library are several bibles in the Bohemian language, thatwere printed at Venice. In one of the year 1506, is a picture of hell, inwhich the devil is treading down a whole host of monks and popes; tothis some zealous commentator has affixed a manuscript annotation, toinform us that the picture represents " Pope Julius II. in Hell. ”The best bible, however, in the Tshekhian language was of a muchD 236 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS.later date ( 1579-1593) when a Moravian nobleman called together anumber of learned Bohemians to his castle of Kralitz, where the sacredvolume was translated anew from the original text. This translation issaid to be the best: the Bohemians even maintain its superiority to anytranslation that has ever appeared in any language, a point which veryfew scholars are in a condition to dispute. This translation is knownunder the title of Biblia Czeska Braterska (i. e. the Tshekhian BrotherBible), and is still occasionally printed at Berlin for the use of the Moravian brethren.In the Prague library I found a copy of the first book ever printed in Bohemia. It's date is 1462. These old Bohemian books are well printed,and upon solid lasting paper, like our old German and Dutch editions,which look nothing the worse for the three or four centuries that have passedover their heads. Our modern paper is mere tinder in comparison. I tookup a new book that had come from the binder's only a few days before, and while I was turning over the leaves several of the corners broke off. Ifwe go on improving the manufacture of our paper, as we have done of lateyears, there will be nothing left in our public libraries, five hundred years hence, but the solid old incunabulæ and parchment manuscripts.In the halls of the library may be seen the portraits of several Jesuits ofPrague, and of other distinguished men. Among them are Campianus,the Jesuit, who was executed in England under Elizabeth, and Collin, thefriend of the last Palälogus, who was burnt in Rome by order of theinquisition. There is also a picture of Georg Plachy, who, at the head ofthe students of Prague, defended the city bridge so gloriously against theSwedes. The most interesting of all these worthies, to me, was a marblebust of Mozart, the greatest musical genius that Germany ever produced.This bust stands in a room, the shelves of which are filled only with theworks of the great master.66Mozart is one of the very few Germans for whom even the Bohemianpatriots express their respect without any arrière pensée; but then theyusually remind you, that though Mozart was born in Germany, they consider him to have been a Bohemian in all but the place of his birth. In thefirst place, they will tell you, he wrote all his best works, his " Don Juan, "Figaro," and a few others, in Prague, in the atmosphere of Bohemiansong. Then they will add, that nowhere out of Bohemia is Mozart pro- perly understood. In Vienna the people were at first quite unable toestimate him, and Mozart himself, they will assure you, would often say,that he had nowhere been comprehended but in Prague. " My father,'said a Bohemian once to me, 66 was one day looking for Mozart's grave inthe cemetery at Vienna, but the gravedigger was a long time before hecould make out whom my father meant by the divine Mozart. At lengththe man suddenly cried out, Oh, perhaps your honour means themusician that was drowned! " I thought the anecdote much more characteristic of the place where it was told me, than of that to which it referred.29The Bohemians in thus claiming Mozart because he lived among them,reverse the conduct of the Poles, who would rob us even of Copernicus, because he was born in a city subject to Poland, though his parentswere Germans, though he received a German education, and resided the greater part of his life in Germany. The Slavonians are apt to appropriate every German who comes among them, and assimilates himself totheir spirit. On the other hand, however, we are often disposed to lookPUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS. 37upon many a Slavonian author as a German, merely because he has chosenthe German language as the vehicle for giving his ideas to the world, inthe same way that many a German, because he happened to write inFrench, is always set down in France for a Frenchman. We often lookupon all the Western Slavonians as so many Germans, perhaps becausewe consider that those countries owe their education and enlightenment toGermany, but the Slavonians themselves are much more exact in these matters. For instance, before I came to Bohemia, I never dreamt oflooking on Huss but as a German. In Bohemia I was soon corrected onthis point, and learnt that Huss (the h must be pronounced with a stronggutteral intonation) is a genuine Tshekhian plebeian patronymic, andmeans neither more nor less than goose. Huss himself was born in aTshekhian village, and was the son of Slavonian peasants, and in proportion as I became acquainted more intimately with his history, among hisnative hills, I was made gradually aware that the Hussite wars were notmerely religious wars, but were in reality, a struggle on the part of the Bohemians to shake off the domination of the Germans; the emperor andhis priests were hateful rather as foreign rulers than on account of theirtheological errors.If I am not mistaken, I have heard it asserted at Prague that the firstinventor of gunpowder was likewise a Bohemian; that we owe the art ofprinting, not to a German, but to a Slavonian of Bohemia, has lately beenrepeatedly maintained, and many imagine they have demonstrated it in the most incontrovertible manner. The Bohemian version of the story isthis. There lived in the early part of the fifteenth century, in a Bohemiantown called Guttenberg, or Kuttenberg, a man of the name of Joseph Tshastni. He was a learned man, and after the fashion of the learnedmen of his time, he translated his Bohemian name into Latin, and calledhimself Faustus, for tshastni is the Tshekhian word for happy. At thesame time, according to a practice that also then prevailed among learnedmen, he added to his own name that of the place of his birth, and calledhimself Joannes Faustus Kuttenbergensis. In 1421 , about the commencement of the Hussite wars, he was driven from his country, and arrived asa fugitive at Strasburg, where he dropped the name of Faustus, and calledhimself simply Johann Guttenberg. There is an ancient manuscript towhich reference is made in support of this claim, and in which the followingsentence occurs: -" Posteaquam artem librorum imprimendorum isdemJoannes Kuttenbergensis Boëmus, patria Kuttenbergensis, priusJoannes Faustus nominatus, qui circa annum 1421 , bella Hussiticafugiens in Germaniam abiit Strassburgi se Kuttenbergium a patria (exmore ejus temporis et simul utpatriam suam ab inventione Typographiaecommendaret) appellavit."The house is still shown in Prague in which this Mr. Faustus is said tohave lived . He must have been in comfortable circ*mstances, for thehouse is a large one, and has since been fitted up for the reception of apublic institution, that of the Deaf and Dumb School, which I visited,partly for Faustus's sake, and partly for the sake of the pupils instructedthere. There were forty-one pupils residing in the house, besides twelvechildren who came merely as day scholars. Very few among them, Ifound, were completely deaf. The sound of the German (like theEnglish oo in proof) they could always distinguish, and when we spokevery slowly and distinctly, the children could understand the greater part38 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS.of what we said, by closely observing the movement of our lips; but, ofcourse, they understand their own language of signs much more fluently.Many of their signs were of their own invention. The sign for God andheaven was always accompanied by a pious look upward. I tried to tellthem something about a tower, and in doing so, endeavoured to imitatethe sign which the teacher had taught me as representing the word; butI saw evidently that they misunderstood me, and when the teacher cameto my assistance, it turned out that they had imagined I was telling themsomething about the pope, whom they picture to themselves as a kind ofmoral tower rising far above the rest of human kind.One of the most important public institutions of Prague is the lunaticasylum, which, though it may not " fulfil all that, at the present day, is expected from such an establishment," as one of the physicians belonging tothe house expresses himself, must yet be considered among the best of itskind, as I think my readers will themselves be ready to infer from theparticulars I am about to relate of it .The average number of patients yearly received into the house is 100,of whom about one half are dismissed cured. The number of patientsusually in the hospital is 190. The gardens are handsome and spacious,and distributed into different sections for the several gradations of madness . Those who are not considered dangerous meet every Sunday in theprincipal garden, on which occasion a band of music is always provided.The labour in the kitchen gardens is always performed by the patients,and beyond these gardens there are some fields of considerable extent,which are ploughed, sown, and reaped by the inmates of the house. Apiece of hop-ground even is attached to the establishment, that thosepatients who come from the circle of Bunzlau, where this species of cultivation prevails to a great extent, may find themselves engaged in theiraccustomed occupation. Constant occupation is looked upon as contributingmore than any other means to a cure. We saw no less than forty or fiftypoor lunatics engaged in mowing, digging, weeding, watering, planting, &c.With the exception of the straight-jacket, no species of corporal punish- ment is ever resorted to . Nearly all the work in the interior of the houseis likewise performed by the patients, such as cleaning the rooms, makingthe beds, chopping wood, cooking, carrying water, and the like. For myown part, I experienced sincere satisfaction, as I wandered about amongthe busy multitude, and thought of the principles by which such institutions were governed only 30 or 40 years ago, of the scenes whichwere then daily witnessed there, of human beings laden with chains,or strapped to benches, and frequently scourged with revolting cruelty.A lunatic asylum in those days was a place in which madmen were shutup that they might not inconvenience the rest of the world, now the object kept in view is to restore them to society.It is characteristic of music- loving Bohemia, that in the lunatic asylumof its capital, music should be considered one of the chief instruments forthe improvement of the patients. In addition to the garden concerts, inwhich all assist who can, there are quartettos every morning and eveningin the wards, and a musical director is appointed for the express purposeof superintending this part of the domestic arrangements.Among the patients there was none who excited my interest more thana gentleman of the name of Sieber, an accomplished scholar, who hadPUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS. 39spent some time in the East, had written several works of acknowledgedmerit, and had, at one time, been looked upon as a man of great naturalabilities, as well as of varied acquirements. On first entering the house,he continued for some time to devote himself to his accustomed avocations,but gradually he fell into a brooding melancholy, and thence into a state of sullen madness whence no man had been able to rouse him. I sawhimlying in his bed, quite motionless, with his eyes closed, and his arms crossedover his breast, more like a statue on a tomb than a human being. Inthis position, I was told, he lay almost always, no word ever issuing fromhis lips. His friends occasionally visit him and weep around his bed, but he seems unconscious of their presence. I was afterwards sorry to hearthat this gentleman's presence in the madhouse stood in some connexionwith his political opinions, which he had, perhaps, had the imprudence toproclaim somewhat too freely . *I was allowed to see the lists of the patients treated during several preceding years, from which I deduced two or three statistical inferences thatmay not be without value when compared with the results obtained at otherestablishments of a similar character. Among 517 patients, I found therehad been 206 women and 311 men; so that the men were in the proportion to the women of more than three to two. Wedlock seemed in somemeasure to be a preservative against madness, for of the 517 patients, 293had been unmarried, and 224 had been in the holy estate; the proportion,therefore, of the single to the wedded patients had been as 4 to 3. Themiddle stage of life would appear to be most liable to attacks of insanity,

• This expression might lead Mr. Kohl's readers to suppose the orientalist Sieber,

to have been a political victim of the Austrian government, whereas, in point of fact, during his stay in Paris, in 1830, he manifested such evident symptoms of insanity, as left his friends little hope of being able to preserve him to society muchlonger. Francis William Sieber was born at Prague, in 1785. At his own expense he travelled, in 1817, by the way of Vienna and Trieste, to the Archipelago, where he made the island of Candia the immediate object of his researches, and collected materials for a work which he published in 1822, under the title of Reise nach der Insel Kreta, which is accompanied by a number of valuable engravings executed from his own drawings. In 1818 he visited Egypt, ascended the Nile to Thebes,and afterwards travelled through Palestine and Syria, and during this journey his collections were so extensive and valuable, that, when on his return they were exhibited in Vienna, the public refused for a long time to believe that one man could have collected so much in, so short a time. His collection of Egyptian antiquities was afterwards purchased by the Academy of Sciences in Munich. In 1822, Sieber sailed from Marseilles on a voyage round the world, during which he visited the Isle of France, the Cape of Good Hope, New Holland, New Zealand, Cape Horn, andarrived in London in July, 1824. His collections in the department of natural history, during this voyage, were astonishingly extensive, and were exhibited to the public in Dresden in 1824. Here already symptoms of insanity began to manifest themselves. He was haunted by a belief that an eminent Austrian statesman aimed at his life, and this notion continued to engross him more and more. He imaginedhe had discovered an arcanum for the cure of hydrophobia, and offered to sell hissecret to the Emperor of Austria for a large sum of money. Neither the Austrian,however, nor any other government manifested a willingness to pay Sieber's price,which induced him to go to Paris, where in 1830 he published a Prospectus d'un nouveau systême de la nature, a work which betrays in every page sufficient proof of the melancholy condition into which its author had sunk, to say nothing of the remarkable signature affixed to the book: " François Guillaume Sieber, le plus grand sut du monde, la bête de l'Apocalypse." Among his other works may be mentioned the following: On the Radical Cure of Hydrophobia, Munich, 1820; On the Mum- mies of Egypt, their Origin, Object, &c. , Vienna, 1820; A Journey from Cairo toJerusalem and back, Prague, 1823.-Tr.40 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS.for of the 517 inmates there were 156 in whom mental alienation had manifested itself between the ages of 30 and 40.Of the 311 men, 148 had been servants and day labourers. Of agricultural labourers and gardeners there were only 4. Among the 206women there had been 11 sempstresses. Among the men, I also observed,as a remarkable fact, that there had been 8 schoolmasters, or 23 per cent ofthe whole.The blind-school is, comparatively speaking, unimportant, affording accommodation to only sixteen children, and remarkable only on account ofthe religious ladies (the Grey Sisters) under whose superintendence the house is placed. For this purpose four young ladies were sent fromPrague to Nancy, to pass their noviciate in the house of the Sœurs Grises,and prepare themselves for the charitable office of tending the sick. These four ladies on their return, with a French abbess at their head, foundedthe institution, to which has already been added, an asylum for the sickblind, in which I found twenty-eight patients. It is generally said thatthe sick are much better tended by these ladies, who devote themselvesto the cause from a motive of religious zeal, than by hired nurses who canseldom be influenced except by the fear of losing their places. We visited the French abbess, and found in her a stirring, bustling lady. She was writing at her table when we entered, and left her papers and accountbooks to receive us. She told us we must look upon the institution asonly in its infancy, but that it would gradually grow and become more extensive. I asked her whether she felt herself comfortable in a foreigncountry. At first, she answered, she had pined after home, and oneday, as she was sitting alone in her room, brooding over the manyinconveniences of a foreign residence, somebody knocked at her door.An elderly gentleman came in, who introduced himself as a landedproprietor, and began to inquire after the circ*mstances and prospects of the institution. " Ma chère mère," he said, you are a stranger here,and must have many difficulties to contend with. Your undertaking is still a young one, but it deserves universal sympathy. Allow me to handyou this parcel as a trifling contribution to the comforts of those underyour charge." Before she could thank him, the stranger was gone, andhad left a package containing a considerable sum of money in her hands.About three years afterwards she received a letter from a Prince L., who expressed a wish to establish a branch institution for the poor blind atMelnik. After some preliminary correspondence, she proceeded to Melnik, to superintend the formation of the new asylum, when in Prince L.she discovered the benevolent stranger, who had contributed so much by his benevolence, to dissipate the melancholy of the early part of her resi- dence in Prague.66She told me she often received visits from Protestants, like myself, outof Northern Germany, on which occasions she always enjoyed, in secret,the timid embarrassment, with which they entered a conventual house,their minds evidently full of prejudice and wicked thoughts. She neverallowed herself, she said, to be at all put out of her way by this, but spokewith them unreservedly, and seldom failed to have the pleasure of observing that her guests were gradually inspired with confidence, and departedwith better thoughts than those with which they came.And I must own,it went so, in some measure, with me. Some of the Protestant scales fellfrom my eyes, when two of the sisters entered the room and presentedPUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS. 41.themselves to me, not as pale, withered, hollow- eyed nuns, but active,healthy, busy housekeepers. One of them, in particular, was full of life and bustle, as she stirred about in the kitchen among the helpless inmatesof the house. She could hardly be said to have retired from the world,she said, for she rose early, and was hard at work all day long.The order of the Sisters and Brothers of Mercy-the grey, the brown,the black, the green, the blue, and the red-fill so important a blank inthe system of public charity in Catholic countries, that every one must wish for their continuance until a better organisation is substituted. Instriking contrast, however, with these, is an order that has not known sowell how to combine the labora with the ora, and was therefore abolishedby Joseph II. as useless, but has been restored since his death: I allude tothe order of Carmelite nuns, who claim for their sisterhood the distinctionof being more ancient than any other in Christendom, Mary, Anne,Magdalen, and all the other holy women of the New Testament havingbelonged to it. The Carmelite monks assert that their order was originallyfounded bythe Prophet Elias on Mount Carmel, in Palestine, and that allthe prophets andholy men, from Elias to Christ, had belonged to the order.In the proud feeling of a piety ennobled by such unsurpassed antiquity,and by their connexion with so many saints and prophets, the Carmelitesseclude themselves with greater strictness than any other order from theprofane world; subject themselves to severer rules, and hold themselves tobe entirely dispensed from the duty of doing any thing for the benefit ofthe rest of their fellow creatures. Joseph II. closed the convents belongingto this order in Prague and in other parts of his dominions, and sent the Carmelite nuns back into the world. The nuns, however, even afterleaving their convents, continued, as well as they could, to observe the rulesof their order, lodged generally two or three together, held little or no intercourse with the world, and lived on alms and on the work of theirhands. When the Emperer Leopold heard this, he was moved by the tale,and made over to them the Barnabite convent on the Hradshin, wherethe Carmelite nuns have immured themselves, and shut out the rest of theworld according to their ancient fashion.These Carmelite nuns never allow any but the meagrest food to pass theirlips; they pray night and day, and sleep but little. They never sleep onany other bed but naked boards, and their only pillow is a stone. Theywear a hair-cloth garment next the skin, and sometimes an iron chain,by way of girdle, with sharp prongs that run into their flesh. Into theinterior of their convent no living creature of the male sex is allowed topenetrate, and yet there are among them many delicate and young girls.Such was the account I generally heard of them at Prague, together witha multitude of marvellous and mysterious particulars . My curiosity was,therefore, excited, and I determined to penetrate, as far as I could, into themysterious recesses of the community, and to obtain for myself some authentic information on the subject. It was a monk of the convent ofStrahoff who lent me his aid and advice. He described to me a door ofthe nunnery where I might knock, and to the woman who came to inquirewhat I wanted, he bade me say, I was a stranger who wished to see the holyMary Electa. This holy Mary Electa, it seems, is the weak point of theCarmelites, who are very proud of having her among them, and seldomrefuse a stranger the favour of paying his devotions to her." But, reverend father," I replied, "I am a Protestant, so I hope I shall not be42 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS.called on to kiss the hands or feet of the saint, or to affect to pray at her shrine." "You will be asked no questions about your religion; but as Itell you, there is no other way by which you can obtain admittance."I went accordingly, found the door to which I had been directed, andknocked. The door was opened, and in a small vestibule I saw an elderlywoman, who belonged to the domestic attendants ofthe convent, and whoasked me what it was I wanted. I replied, as I had been taught, that Iwas astranger, and wished to see the Holy Mother, Maria Electa.In the wall, opposite to the door, was a small opening, and in thisopening was a kind of perpendicular valve, that turned round, and throughwhich small matters might be passed in and out of the convent. Here theattendant knocked, and shortly afterwards, a low voice was heard to inquire what was wanted. " It is a stranger, venerable sister, who wishes tosee our Holy Mother, Maria Electa, and requests the keys of the chapel."" Yes, yes, " was the reply, and in a fewminutes a heavy bunch of keys fellinto one of the compartments ofthe perpendicular valve, the old womanwho acted as myguide, took the keys, and we proceeded to the chapel. Isaw nothing very remarkable in the chapel on entering, except an ironrailing near the altar, behind which railing some black object appeared to be moving about. "What is that?" I asked. "Behind that railing,"answeredmyguide, " sits our Mother, Maria Electa, and one of our venerablesisters is now opening the shrine, that you may see it the better. Waithere a moment, and-" But I did not wait. On the contrary, I hastenedup to the railing, which consisted of thick iron bars, and in the gloombehind them, I saw a nun closely veiled, who was kneeling before an old,brown, dried up mummy, kissing its hands and feet, and repeating oneprayer after another. The mummy was the Maria Electa whom I was supposed to have come in search of. She sat upon a richly ornamented throne,and was adorned with a profusion of lace and tinsel . She was surroundedby a glass case, which the nun had opened, that I might see the better.The holy sister had been somewhat long over her work, or I had been somewhat quick, but at all events I found, in spite of the severe rules of theCarmelite order, that it was very possible for a young man to find himselftête-à-tête with a nun, and to converse with her with even less reserve thanis often imposed by the etiquette of the great world." Excuse me, venerable sister," said I, addressing her; " Is that the Maria Electa?"" Praise be to Jesus Christ!" she replied, after a few moments, and aftershe had completed her prescribed number of kisses and prayers; " Yes,this is our dear, holy, revered Mother, Maria Electa!”The nun was now standing upright before me, and though she waswrapped in a thick woollen garment, and her face was covered with a closeblack woollen veil, yet her form appeared to me handsome and graceful.Her voice was remarkably soft; indeed, she seemed to breathe and lisp,rather than to speak. This was at first pleasing, till I afterwards observedthat all the Carmelites have the same soft, lisping, melting voice, with akind of sentimental whine while speaking, the effect of a habit acquiredfrom their constant praying.In this softly breathing voice the nun told me the whole history of Maria Electa. " She was the principal of our order two hundred yearsago, and her pious and holy life will never allow us to forget her. Heavenhas miraculously preserved for us her cherished frame, which continues un-PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS. 43corrupted. She is just as she was when living. Her hands, arms, andfingers are still quite pliant. Our holy father the Pope will therefore probably canonize her, which has not yet been done. ”" You wish that he should do so, I suppose?"" Oh certainly, we wish it very much; and indeed the business has already been taken in hand. Should we succeed, it would be to the honourand to the profit of our convent. We have printed the history of Maria,and I will give you a copy of the book. "With that she handed me a little book, which I squeezed with somedifficulty between the bars, and observed at the same time that her handwas exquisitely white and delicate . Myimagination immediately picturedto me a countenance equally pleasing, and in harmony with the softnessand melody of her voice. Ibegan to relate of the other saints and churchesthat I had seen, and of my own erratic manner of life . She listened to me with evident interest, and I indulged her the more willingly, that I mighthave a right, in my turn, to question her a little about her customary way ofliving."Oh, our life, " said she, " is glorious, for it is devoted to praying to God. I have been here now for five years. I was born in Styria, andwhen I declared my determination to enter a convent, my parents wishedme to choose one of the less severe orders . But I preferred the Carmelitesto every other, for only those who renounce the world altogether, can belong altogether to Heaven. I readily submitted to the strict noviciate ofthree years, to which all must submit who wish to be received as sisters ofour order. During this time we must pass through several ordeals, oneof which is to abstain for a whole year from all speech, save to God andhis saints. Even our sisters, during this year, speak to us only by signs,and that as seldom as possible. Those who, during these three years, havenot constantly manifested a joyful devotion to their severe task, are notreceived into the order. Those who, before the expiration of the time, feeltheir resolution fail them, may retire, for we wish to have none for oursisters but such as freely and zealously long to renounce the world, thatthey may devote themselves to prayer, and to a communion with the saints.Nor is any allowed to take the vows before her 24th year, for when thevows have once been taken, all return to the world is impossible."From these premises, I calculated the age of my informant to be underthirty. Apretty age! thought I, and a marvellously long way off fromthat total benumbing of the flesh, which I observed in the third personageto our interview, the Mother Electa, who sat enthroned in her glass case.I inquired whether there were any novices at present in the house." Yes, four; and there are sixteen sisters of us."Sixteen marvellous, romantic, and very melancholy perversions of mind,thought I; a state of things, of whose existence, at this time of day, manyof our cold Northerns will find it hard to form a very clear conception."As sisters too, " she resumed, " we lead a life of constant self- denial,such as to you, no doubt, will seem very hard. Seven hours a day we invariably spend in prayer, besides which, on certain holidays, we haveprayers and masses to chaunt at midnight. During the day we seldomspeak to one another, and only in the morning and evening we have onehour of recreation. During these two hours we visit each other, and con- verse together. We make and mend our own clothes, and attend to other44 PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS.work in the convent, endeavouring to do as much of it as possible with our own hands."" Is it true," I asked, " that you wear nothing but this coarse garment of wool or hair?"" This is the only garment we wear, and our food is equally simple.Meat we never touch, but only vegetables, and fish, dressed either with oilor butter, and water is our only drink; but we are cheerful and contented,and it never occurs to us to covet any thing beyond that. We sleep onstraw, and a sack of straw serves us for a pillow. Some of us, however,impose, at times, additional hardships on themselves. They will sleep, forinstance, on the naked boards, or will save a portion of their scanty meals,and send it out to the poor in the world, or they will pass whole nights inprayer. In these exercises we often emulate each other, and think wecannot carry them too far; for, indeed, howcan we ever hope sufficiently tochastise and mortify our sinful flesh?"Good God! thought I; and these sacrifices, these ordeals, are imposedin a house surrounded by sumptuous palaces, and in the very centre of apopulous luxurious city. Almost unconsciously I exclaimed-" But whydo you not rather choose to live in some remote solitude, in some gloomyforest, or on some bleak heath?"" It would indeed be better, " resumed my nun, with her accustomedsweetness of voice, " and we would much prefer it, but we cannot removethe convent that has been assigned to us, and are not rich enough to buildone in a more suitable place. Besides, we may live here as elsewhere, freefrom all commerce with the world, happy and cheerful, in perfect concord,and devoted to God, and to friendship for each other." At this momentthere arose before my mind's eye, one of those crooked little black things that ask questions, and I began to think, that before my informant persuaded me of the cheerfulness and perfect concord of her little community,it would be necessary for her to admit me a little more behind the curtain."And you were right in your doubts," said a friend to me afterwards;"the concord, I am sorry to say, is not such as might be expected to prevail among beings devoted to such constant exercises of piety. Intriguesand cabals are of constant occurrence in this little state within the state,particularly on the occasion of electing their principal, who is chosen anew every third year."My gentle Carmelite, however, unconscious of my doubts, continued inthe same strain. "Oh, you cannot imagine how happily, how blissfully,we live here, without a wish or a want to gratify. It is only rules so severeas ours that make it possible to enjoy heaven already upon earth." Thussaying, she closed the glass case of Maria Electa, after she had once more kissed the hand of the withered mummy, and praying God to have me inhis keeping, she withdrew into the interior of the convent. Through the open door I discerned a long passage, and at the end of it a small piece ofground planted with trees, the only place whence these poor creatures areever able to gaze upon God's heaven. God be with thee, poor girl, thoughtI, as the end of her garment vanished round the corner, how grievousmakest thou life to thyself! and yet has not the Lord himself said—“ Myyoke is soft and my burden is light?" and then I thought of the many faithful, pious mothers that I had known without the convent walls, livinga life of godliness, and of daily usefulness to their fellow- creatures.PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTS. 45The great charm which convents, particularly nunneries, have for us,lies in the nature of the vows taken by those who retire there, and partlyin the unusualness of character and fortune which we presume in the inmates. Another cause of the great interest we take in these institutions,is the mystery which surrounds them. This charm, so irresistible to asober Protestant, attracted me once more to the Carmelites, but this timein company with a lady of rank of Prague, who went to pay a visit to theprincipal or Oberin Aloysia. We were received in the parlour, which isseparated into two divisions by a double grating, such as is placed in allCarmelite convents before every window or opening through which theprofane world might look into the dwelling of the holy sisters. Behindthis grating hung a dark curtain which was rolled up, and presented to usthe principal, and another nun, who had preceded her in office. Both wereclosely veiled, and my imagination was left at liberty to embellish themwith endless charms, of the existence of which I was not allowed to obtainany more satisfactory evidence. My companion offered indeed to ask theprincipal to unveil, and expressed a conviction that the request would becomplied with; but I prayed her, on no account to do so, for I feared, Iscarce know why, the dissipation of those agreeable illusions in which Ihad been indulging.My two visits convinced me, at all events, that the Carmelites did notlive in such complete seclusion from the world as I had been told. Theprincipal keeps up friendly relations with many ladies in Prague, receivesvisits from them, and accepts trifling presents. Nor do I believe, in spiteof the assurances of my first informant, that they would at all like to remove into a wilderness. They do not see the world, indeed, but it is something to know that the world is about them, and though they imagine theyhave renounced every feeling of vanity, still it is necessary to them to knowthemselves admired for their self-denial. They place their solitude amongthe princely palaces of the Hradshin, as Diogenes placed his tub oppositeto the palaces of the Athenians. The palaces that he despised were asnecessary to his self-importance as to the pomp of Pericles and Alcibiades.Had the Athenians all taken to living in tubs, Diogenes would have soonfound his way back into a decent house; and in the same way, I am convinced, the Carmelites would not be long in knocking away their gratings,if they were to hear one fine morning that all the fine ladies in Prague had immured themselves.In Vienna the Carmelite nuns have not been able to re- establish themselves since the days of Joseph, any more than the Jesuits. The latter,however, are tolerated in several of the provincial cities of Austria. Praguehas, indeed, far more convents and religious orders than Vienna, or thanother city in the Emperor's dominions. It would be much more easyto enumerate the orders that are not to be found in the Bohemian capital,than to count all the varieties of religious habits and uniforms that one encounters in every street.anyIt would be an interesting thing perhaps to observe all these monks intheir cells, but we satisfied ourselves with a visit to the most important ofthem, the white Premonstrants of the monastery of Strahof, which containsone of the most celebrated libraries in Bohemia. This convent, whosereal name is Strasha, which the Germans have corrupted into Strahof, wasfounded in 1140, or only twenty years after an angel had shown to St.Norbert, near Coucy in France, the field on which he was to build the first46 THE JEWS' QUARTER.convent of the order. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, theorder possessed two thousand monasteries. At present the number doesnot exceed one hundred, of which that of Strahof is probably by far thethe most wealthy.Like all the Prachtklöster or convents on a large scale in Austria,Strahof is only partially finished. The church is in a ruinous condition,and offers a painful contrast to the magnificence of the interior of thelibrary. The beneficial effects of this library must be inestimable, if allthe pious texts and moral precepts with which its walls and columns areso liberally inscribed, have not only served as architectonic decorations, buthave, at the same time, been duly impressed upon the hearts of the monks.The library contains fifty thousand volumes, arranged with exemplaryorder and elegance, which would be the more gratifying if there were notso few bees to collect the honey from so fair a garden. The thirty monksof the convent can enjoy but a small portion of the rich sweets consignedto their keeping, and the channels through which their fertilizing influencemight be made to flow over a wider space, require the bold hand of anotherJoseph to open them. Zisca, who preached in the name of Huss, andbaptised with fire where Huss had come armed only with water, -Ziskawhose name next to that of Joseph II., is oftenest heard in Bohemianmonasteries, instead of setting the garnered sweets free for the benefit ofmankind, would have stopped them up altogether, for he destroyed themonastery of Strahof as he had destroyed many others before. At present,however, his wild one-eyed countenance hangs in the picture gallery atStrahof, along with a multitude of other historical portraits; indeed I havefound the picture of this puller down of castles and convents, occupying aprominent and honorable place in the collections of the many Bohemianconvents and castles that I have had occasion to visit; and those who, if hewere still living, would move heaven and earth to bring him to the gallows,now that he is not likely to do them any more mischief, appear to be nota little proud of the privilege of counting such a dare-devil among theircompatriots.THE JEWS' QUARTER.The Jewish community of Prague, boasts of being the most numerousand most ancient of the Austrian monarchy, and indeed of all Germany.It consists of 10,000 individuals, so that it comprises about one-tenth ofthewhole population of the city. In the Galician cities only are the Jewssometimes found in a greater proportion. In Vienna, on the contrary, theyamount only to one-fifth of the number resident in Prague, and if thegreater population of Vienna is taken into account, the Jews of the Bohemian stand in numerical proportion to those of the Austrian capital, as twenty to one. All Bohemia is said to contain about 70,000 Jews; oneseventh ofthe whole, therefore, have their domiciles in Prague. All Bohemiacontains four millions of inhabitants; consequently, every sixtieth man inBohemia is a Jew, and in the capital every tenth. There are Austrian provinces in which no Jews are to be met with. These are Austria abovethe Ens, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. In the last-named province,within a few years, ten Jews have established themselves. In Styria onesolitary Israelite is said to hold his residence.THE JEWS' QUARTER. 47In the whole of the Austrian states there are at present 652,000 Jews;more than one-third of the whole, 265,000, being included within AustrianPoland, and nearly as many, 260,000, in Hungary. About one-sixth, or 110,000, inhabit Bohemia and Moravia, and the remainder are distributedin small portions, over the remaining provinces of the empire. Thus, inTransylvania there are 3,500; in Tyrol, 1,900; in Dalmatia, 500; inLombardy, 2,000; in Venetian Lombardy, 4,000; in the Military Fron- tier, 400, &c. Hence it would seem, that in ancient times, the Slavoniansand Magyars must have been most tolerant to the Israelites, while theGermans and Italians must always have been less willing to admit them asresidents. The purely German provinces of Austria contain only 5,000Jews, the purely Italian only 7,000; whereas in those provinces in which the Slavonian and Magyar elements of population preponderate, the Jewsnumber no less than 620,000. Moreover, in the German and Italian provinces, the Jews are yearly decreasing in numbers, although the populationgenerally is increasing; in Hungary, on the other hand, the Jews areincreasing at a far more rapid ratio than any other class of the population.The other question, that which refers to the antiquity of the Hebrewcommunity at Prague, will be less easy to solve; indeed, so wide a range is there between different authorities, that there is a difference of no lessthan a thousand years between the date assigned by one party, and thatcontended for by those of an opposite opinion. The Jews maintain thattheir settlement at Prague dates back at least to the year 632 of theChristian era, that date being inscribed upon the most ancient tombstone oftheir cemetery, while several tombstones are still to be found inscribedwith various dates from the 8th century. The Bohemians, however,refuse to recognise the claim of the Jews, and deny the authenticity of thestone altogether. The Jews, they say, have occupied their present quarteronly for a few centuries, having been removed to it, from the opposite sideof the river, by the express command of one of the kings of Bohemia, whoassigned to them the locality now known under the name of Judenstadt, or Jews' Town. One Bohemian antiquary told me that the inscription inquestion referred probably to the year 1632, and not to 632, it being still usual in many parts of Austria to abridge dates by leaving out the firstfigure, and to say for instance, 841, in speaking of the year 1841.If the Jews are correct in their chronology, their community must haveexisted as early as the reign of the celebrated Slavonian king, Samo, whounited Bohemia and Moravia into a powerful Slavonian empire; nor wouldthere be any thing very marvellous in supposing that this mighty sovereign,under whom commerce is known to have been actively carried on, shouldalready have had Jews among his subjects. It is not, however, known inwhat part of his dominions King Samo held his residence, and it is onlyhissuccessors Krok and Libussa to whom credit is given for having foundedPrague. Nevertheless, according to Ptolomæus, there is very little doubtthat Marobudum, the ancient capital of the mighty Marbod and his Markomans, stood on the same spot on which Prague was afterwards built, inwhich case it is very likely that Samo ruled over the whole land from thebanks of the Moldau. There would be nothing absurd therefore in supposing that the Jews may have dwelt for 1200 years where Prague nowstands, even though we may not feel disposed to receive their tombstonesas authentic evidence of the fact. Nay, it is quite possible, that Marbodhimself, the cotemporary of Augustus, as he adopted so many things from48 THE JEWS' QUARTER.the Romans, may, among other importations from Italy, have received aconsignment ofJews for the supply ofhis city of Marobudum. A Hebrewcolony may even have existed here at a still earlier period, when, previously to the Christian era, and before the invasion ofthe country by theMarkomans, the Celtic sovereigns held their court in their antique capitalBubienum, which must also have been situated very near to where Praguenow stands, and probably on the spot now occupied by the village of Bu- benetz. In this way the Jews may have dwelt in the country even beforeit was ruled either by Germans or Slavonians.Whether or no there be any foundation for these speculations, it is notthe less certain that the said Jewish cemetery has all the outward appearance of great antiquity, and belongs, as well as several of the synagogues,to the most interesting objects that a traveller can expect to look upon.The cemetery lies in the very heart of the Judenstadt, where it is encircled by buildings and narrow lanes. Its form is very irregular, winding,now broad and then narrow, amid the houses that overtop its lofty wall.This very irregularity of form seems to speak in favour of the high antiquity of the place, to which, through succeeding centuries, a fragmentseems now to have been added here, and now there. In the central partof the enclosed space, the tombstones are crowded together in a manner Inever saw equalled anywhere else. Close to the wall, on the inside, is afootpath, and a man must walk tolerably fast to be able to makethe roundin a quarter of an hour. The Jews do not, as we do, inter fresh corpses ingraves whose former tenants have mouldered into dust, but always placetheir dead either over or by the side of each other. This practice occasionsthe astonishing accumulation of tombstones, of which I am sure there areseveral hundred thousand in this cemetery. They have all a family resemblance, being four- cornered tablets with neatly- executed inscriptions.They stand literally as closely together as ears in a cornfield.All arecarefully preserved, though some have sunk more or less into the ground,so much so, that here and there you see a stone, of which only a small por→tion is still visible. The whole is overgrown with elder bushes, that stretchtheir knotty and confused branches from stone to stone. These elders arethe only trees that growthere, and some of them seem to be nearly as oldas the stones which they overshadow. The presence of the elder tree inburying-grounds is not, however, peculiar to this place, but prevails verygenerally throughout Bohemia.of Here and there a small path winds among the thicket of tombstonesand elder trees, and on following it you come to small elevated spacesground, that have been left unoccupied, and are now overgrown withgrass. If I were a painter, and wished to paint a picture of the Resurrection, I must confess, I should choose one of these little grass-grown knollsin the Jewish cemetery of Prague for the scene, in preference to any other.I can imagine no more picturesque spot from which to contemplate so vasta spectacle, and I wonder, when we have so many pictures of the celebrated burying-ground at Constantinople, that our artists should not alsohave taken that of the Jews at Prague as a subject for their pencils.The inscriptions are nearly all in Hebrew. Nowhere did I see a Bohemian inscription, and only here and there, on a stone of comparativelymodern date, has the German language been used. The year is alwaysat the top. The tombs of those of Aaron's race are distinguished by twohands graven into the stone, and those of the Levites by a pitcher, to markTHE JEWS' QUARTER. 49the office of the latter to pour water on the hands of the former, whenperforming their ablutions in the temple.The descendants of Aaron never visit the cemetery during their lives.Any contact with, or even a near approach to, a dead body, is a pollutionfor them. They may not, therefore, remain in a house in which a deadbody is lying. There is but one exception made to this law, namely, when the father of an Aaronite dies, in which case the son may come within threeells of the body, and follow it to the burying-ground, till within three ells of a grave. The Jewish laws even prescribe the distance at which anAaronite must keep when passing a burying-ground, which distance, how- ever, is not calculated from the outer wall, but from the nearest grave.Now, in Prague, it happens that one street passes close to this wall, andthat just in this spot the graves not only reach up to the very wall, butthat some are even supposed to lie under the pavement of the street.This would, consequently, be a forbidden road to every Aaronite, had notparticular arrangements been made to provide a remedy. This has beendone by undermining that part of the street, and the empty vaulted spacethus obtained, protects the Aaronite against pollution, for, according to thelaw, one hundred ells of vaulted space, are deemed equal to one thousand filled with solid earth.In Here, as in every other Jewish cemetery, a piece of ground has been setapart for the interment of children stillborn, or of premature birth.the course of time, this portion of the cemetery has grown into a hill ormound, eighty paces long, ten paces broad, and twelve feet high. Ephelis the Hebrew word for a child whose life does not extend beyond thefourth week, and Ephel is the name given by the Jews to this mound formed of infantine remains. Close to this Ephel are situated some oldhouses that seem to be on the point of falling in. They are propped up bybeams resting on the Ephel; thus the mouldering bones of deceasedinfants lend their support, perhaps, to the tottering dwelling- places of theirliving parents.When some sixty years ago, the Emperor Joseph prohibited all futureinterments within the walls of the city, the Jews had purchased a smallpiece of land, and consecrated it as an addition to their cemetery. Havingonce been consecrated, though not one body has been interred there, theground has become holy, and may not be sold again; but though it maynot be sold, it may be let for hire, and accordingly a dealer in wood hasbecome the tenant, and uses the place as a depot for his merchandise.The whole cemetery, since Joseph's time, has been only an interestingpiece of antiquity, still no portion of it can be sold or built upon.manyThe Hebrew community of Prague enjoys a high reputation among allthe Jews of Central Europe, and celebrated Hebrew scholars, manydistinguished women, and many eminent merchants and bankers, restwithin its cemetery. The community of Prague may even be lookedon as the parent hive, whence many an enterprising swarm departed forthe colonization of Poland and Hungary, and I had subsequent opportunities of satisfying myself of the influence which a Jew from Prague is able,even at the present day, to exercise among his co-religionaries of Hungary.In the cemetery of Prague, many a grave is pointed out to the strangeras that of a man high in renown among those ofhis own nation. Amongothers, I was called on to admire the beautifully-sculptured monument ofa fair Jewess, who had risen to be a lady of high rank, the wife ofa wealthyE50 THE JEWS' QUARTER.Polish Count. There were several tombs which, I was told, belonged toLevites and Rabbis of high fame and distinction, and to one my attentionwas directed, as that of a youth who died some centuries ago, atthe earlyage of eighteen. This youth had been, even in childhood, they told me,amiracle of learning, wisdom, beauty, and virtue. God had endowed himwith the most pleasing qualities, and Jehovah's spirit hovered unceasinglyover the boy's head. He was too virtuous, however, for this world, andhis Creator therefore called him away in his eighteenth year. At his deaththere were signs and miracles, and the heavens were obscured. The Kingof Bohemia who then reigned, observing this, sent over to the other sideof the river to demand of the wise men among the Jews, the cause of thissudden darkness, and was informed, in reply to his interrogatories, that anangelic soul had just departed from the earth.One tomb, erected early in the last century, was pointed out to me as that of a wealthy and benevolent Israelite of the name of Meissel. Hehad inherited nothing from his father, and continued, till death, to be adealer in old iron. He lived in the same modest and parsimonious manneras the majority of his nation; but with the money that he was thus ableto save, he built the Jewish council-house at Prague, and four synagogues.Six streets were paved at his expense, and sixty poor people wereweekly fed by him. No one knew whence his money came, or where heconcealed it, but it was supposed that he had found a quantity of goldamong some old iron that he had accidentally purchased.At present, the Jewish cemetery, like most old ruins or deserted places,serves as a refuge to a number of thieves and deserters, who are often ableto conceal themselves for a long time among the bushes and tombs. Amongthe immediately adjacent houses are an asylum for young children, an infirmary, and an hospital. For the accommodation of the children a doorway has been broken through the wall, and a small unoccupied space ofthe cemetery has been assigned to them as a playground, where a shed with benches and tables has been erected for their use. I own, when Isaw the little creatures sporting about in their little corner of a churchyard, and frolicking among the closely- crowded gravestones, I could nothelp asking myself what influence such a playground was likely to exerciseover the future development of their minds. They were plucking wildflowers from the graves, and wreathing them into garlands. There weremany pale, meager, helpless little creatures among them; and, as I lookedon them, I could not but think of the different fate of the little favouritesof fortune, whose first tottering steps are made among flowery parterres,or over the lawn of a park. A singular contrast to this scene presenteditself when I visited the infirmary, where I found a number of aged creatures of both sexes, who had completely sunk into the helplessness of asecond infancy. Among them was a Jewess more than a hundred yearsold, who had been bedridden for years. She lay crooked, blind, and almostmotionless, more like a vegetable than an animated being, and the onlysign of life manifested by her, was an occasional whining sound. Aboutforty old men and women were coughing, hobbling, and groaning aroundI was accompanied by a man of some consideration in the community.He was saluted by the inmates of the house in a completely oriental style.They came tottering up to him, kissed his garment, addressed him overand over again by the title of " Gracious Master," and wished him longlife, health, and the blessing of God. Many of these poor people had nous.THE JEWS' QUARTER. 51thing in this institution but a rude couch in a very uninviting corner of aroom; yet they were unceasing in their professions of gratitude for themercies vouchsafed to them, though there seemed to me to be little aboutthe house deserving of commendation except the fact of its existence. Ishuddered when I thought how wretched must be the dens, to be rescuedfrom which, was calculated to call forth such warm expressions of thankfulness. In fact, I believe, that in the Jews' quarter of Prague, many ahuman being breathes forth his spirit among scenes of such heart-rendingwretchedness that even an infirmary, such as that I was now visiting, maystill deserve to be deemed a beneficent institution, entitling its founders andsupporters to the thanks and esteem of every truly benevolent mind.Would that they were more powerfully seconded in their humane endeavours, that they might redeem a larger share from the floods of miserywith which the Judenstadt of Prague is at present overflowing!What a vast extent of moral desolation there must still exist in this city,was made evident to me bythe case of a human being whom I saw in thisinfirmary. He was a boy that had been found wandering about the streets of Prague. He appeared to me to be between ten and twelve years old.He was taken up by the police in the streets, a wild little creature, andunable to speak or understand any language. He was handed over to theJewish magistrates, who placed him in the infirmary, after having vainly endeavoured to obtain a clue to the child's family. The name of LebelKremsier was given him. We found him crouching in a corner betweena window and a large chest. "He is wild and ungovernable," said thesuperintendent of the house, " and though I have beaten him for it repeatedly, he will sometimes jump like a cat out of the window, and gohiding among the bushes and gravestones yonder. His delight is to huntthe cats, and if he catches them he kills them. His limbs are powerful,and his teeth remarkably strong and sharp. " So saying, the man pulledopen the boy's mouth, and showed us his teeth, much in the same waythata showman at a fair would have exposed the tusks of some wild animal," He will eat as much as two grown men," continued the superintendent,“ but he is not at all dainty, swallowing indifferently every kind of foodoffered him. Sometimes he is more than usually wild, and then he is dangerous, biting and scratching all who come near him; me, however, he neverventures to attack. He says nothing, and if any one speaks to him, he merely repeats the words like an indistinct echo. ” The countenance of thechild was regularly formed, and his eyes werefull of animation . I said tohim, "What is your name?" and he replied only by imperfectly articulatingthe two last words, " your name." Why have you no trousers on?"said I. "No-trow-on, ' was the echo that answered to my interrogatory. "Lebel Kremsier, are you not cold?" " Old" was the sound withwhich he replied. While he was thus repeating my words, his face wasdistorted by a kind of smile or grin that seemed to tremble over his features. I attributed this to embarrassment, but my guide told me itwas the effect of mere terror, and then, for the first time, I observed thatthe whole body of the child was trembling. After I had passed on, I lookedback, and saw that he still sat cowering, trembling, and grinning.وو66In desolate places, among forests or marshes, such wild abandonedbeings have sometimes been found; but how it was possible for a wretchedcreature like Lebel Kremsier to grow up in a populous city, is a riddle Iam unable to solve.E 252 THE JEWS' QUARTER.There are no less than twenty Jewish Bessa Mederesh, or houses of instruction, besides eight temples, the greater part of which are in the immediate vicinity of the cemetery. The oldest and most interesting is thatcalled the Altneuschule, whose internal arrangements interested me themore, as the ancient style of the architecture, and the order of divineservice still observed there, afforded me an opportunity of instituting a comparison with the reformed system of worship which is making rapid wayamong the modern Jews, and has already taken firm root at Prague,where it threatens to drive the old synagogues and the old schools completely out of the field. I scarcely believe that there is any thing likethe Altneuschule of Prague to be found, at the present day, in any otherpart of Germany.The outside of this synagogue looks like one of those old warehouses that may still be seen in some of our German cities, that have undergonebut little change since the middle ages. Within, the dust, dirt, gloom,and smokiness of the whole place, remind one of a catacomb. From theceiling hangs a large flag, so large indeed that it extends the whole lengthof the synagogue. This flag was given to the Jews by Ferdinand III.,after the termination of the thirty years' war, for the patriotism and gallantry they had displayed when Prague was besieged by the Swedes in the last year of the war. During this siege, all the citizens of Prague, eventhe students, the Jesuits, and the monks, had fought bravely on the walls,and had even made several sorties to attack the besiegers. In reward fortheir gallant behaviour, the emperor conferred the honour of knighthood ona number of the citizens, including all the city councillors, in addition towhich, various honours and immunities were conferred on several of thecorporations and convents.The Esoras Nashim (that portion of the synagogue set apart for thewomen) is partitioned off from the body of the temple by a wall a foot and a half in thickness. A narrow staircase, such as may be seen behind thescenes of a low theatre, serves as the only means of access for the women.In the narrow passages surrounded by walls, they have their chairs. Atregular intervals there are in the wall certain rents or apertures, about anell in length and an inch in breadth, and through these narrow holes comesall that the female members of the congregation are allowed to hear of the word of God. Here they crowd together, looking and listening down intothe temple, through an opening that would be abundantly small for one of them, if she had it all to herself. They will hear but little there, " I observed to the Israelite who conducted me down the stairs. " Oh, quiteenough for women, " was his ungallant reply.66On the tribune, in the centre of the synagogue, stood an old Rabbi andpreached. His listeners crowded around the tribune, and some had even intruded upon the tribune itself. Close before the preacher sat a whitehaired old man, who appeared to be hard of hearing, and stretched forth his ear in the effort to catch the words of the speaker. Near him was acrowd of boys. The preacher was not, as with us, confined within thelimited space of a pulpit, but moved freely about from one side of his stage to the other. There was much in this that would have been highly indecorous to our Protestant notions. As far as grouping and outward formare concerned, a highly interesting daguerreotype picture might have beenfurnished by the assembled congregation; but, however loudly the preachervociferated, the spirit that should have given warmth and life to his dis-THE JEWS' QUARTER. 53course was altogether wanting. His discourse was the strangest medley ofGerman and Hebrew that I had ever heard. Every text from the Biblewas first given in Hebrew, and then translated into German.At onemoment the speaker would be commenting upon Nebuchadnezzar, thenupon the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, then again he would enlarge upon the false lights of modern times, to elucidate which he wouldskip up the whole ladder of history to the days of Adam.The changes introduced into their temples of late years by the moreenlightened Israelites, have altered none of the essential parts of divineservice, which, in spirit and form, remains precisely such as it is prescribedbythe ancient law. It is only the innovations, that had crept in during thecourse of time, that have been reformed; and in complying with the letterof the law, they have endeavoured to avoid, as much as possible, whateveris calculated to offend the enlightenment of modern times. Thus, inthe reformed Jewish temples, the women still continue to be separated from the men;but by open railings, and not by thick walls. The ancient hymnshave been retained; but they are more carefully performed, and a suitablechoir of singers is maintained for the purpose. The doctrine of the sermon may be also little altered; but some oratorical ability is looked for inthe preacher, who is expected to cultivate a purer style, and to refrainfrom a perpetual repetition of Hebrew quotations.It was in Berlin and Hamburg that the first associations were formedamong the Jews, with a view to bring about these reforms, and the example was soon followed in every part of Germany. In Prague, about ahundred men joined together, built a new synagogue, and sent a deputation to Berlin and Hamburg, to obtain more complete information respecting the reformed mode of worship, and to select a preacher of learning,piety, and oratorical ability. The first selection was not a fortunate one;for the new teacher obtained but little favour in the eyes of his flock.The second, Mr. Sax, who, like his predecessor, came from Berlin, has,however, become so popular, that even Protestants and Catholics will oftengo to hear him preach. I went to hear him on the day kept in commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus; but, unfortunately,I arrived too late, the sermon being just over. The women, like the men,were sitting in the lower space of the temple, with this difference only,that the men occupied the centre, and the women the side aisles. Thechoir was composed of a number of young men and boys, in a black costume, with small black velvet caps. As they sung, they were accompanied by a small organ, and the psalms had been rendered into a pure and well-written German version.The reform in the Jewish temple took root in Vienna somewhat soonerthan in Prague, and is now extending its influence from those two centresto all the Hebrew communities of the Austrian empire. Schools, hospitals, and other institutions connected more or less with religion will notfail to be beneficially affected by the movement; which, indeed, they already feel, as I had subsequently more than once occasion to remark. The Austrian government has tolerated and even encouraged these reforms; themore readily, as they have not hitherto led to any religious cabals anddissensions. These indeed, the friends of reform and progress, are sedulousto avoid, and for that very reason they always protest against their beingcalled or treated as a separate party. Nevertheless, something like a feeling54 THE JEWS' QUARTER.of aversion shows itself between those of the old faith and the new. TheOld Jews look upon their innovating brethren, however cautious these maybe, as violators of the law, and murmur at their proceedings accordingly;but if the reformers continue to observe the same moderation, they willcarry their whole nation with them in time. " Our chief rabbi, Rappoport,is an enlightened man,” said one of the reformers to me, " and in his hearthe is certainly on our side; but he must not quarrel with either side,and therefore does not choose to pronounce himself too openly against the old ones."This Mr. Rappoport is at present one of the most eminent and mosthighly-considered men in the whole community of Prague, though it is butlately that he arrived there, and that from Poland, a country in which noone can say that enlightenment has as yet made any great progressamong the Jews. He resided formerly at Tornopol, in Galicia, but hisreputation for learning and liberality spread far and wide, and causedhim, a few years ago, to be promoted to the post which he now holds. Iwent to pay my respects to him, and found him surrounded by a circle oflearned scribes.The rabbis in this part of the world—I mean in Bohemia, Poland, andHungary-continue to live after the fashion of the wise men of the East.They allow the light of their wisdom to shine upon the world in a verydifferent way from our learned philosophers of Europe, who, unless whenaddressing a respectfully listening auditory from the rostrum, are seldom accessible to the multitude that stand so much in need of their instructions.Here the rabbis sit upon the open market-place, like the kings and judgesin eastern lands, and in their houses they sit with open doors, ready toreceive and answer all who come for consolation or advice. This is particularly the case on the solemn festivals, when the rabbis receive all whocome to them, their dwellings being looked upon, apparently, on thoseoccasions, less as private houses, than as places of assembly for the wholecongregation. The wife and daughters are generally found in an anteroom, where they receive the guest, and usher him into the inner apartment, into the presence of the rabbi, who, arrayed in his pontificals, generally sits at the end of a long table, encircled by a numerous assemblage ofvisiters, strangers, and friends.It was thus that I found the chief rabbi, Rappoport, whose acquaintance I was desirous to make. He had not yet laid aside the costume ofthe Jews of Eastern Europe, and sat in his arm-chair in a black silk caftanand a high furred cap. Israelites from Magdeburg, from Hamburg, fromWarsaw, and from Amsterdam, were sitting around him, and other visiterswere constantly arriving and departing, Mr. Rappoport is an Aaronite, adistinction that carries with it privileges far more burdensome than profitable. Of one of these I have already spoken. Another is, that everynewly-born child is brought to an Aaronite that he may bless it. Thereare also some Levites at Prague, but they are less numerous than the Aaronites. The same is observed to be the case in all the other Jewishcommunities of Europe; and this, I was told, was because Cyrus, when here-established Jerusalem, brought back to Palestine a greater number of Aaronites than of Levites.Mr. Rappoport told us that the Jewish Caraïtes of the Crimea andTurkey, had lately found a stone, from the inscriptions on which theyTHE JEWS' QUARTER. 55sought to show the very remote antiquity of their sect; but that he hadlately written an epistle to them to show that the stone could not be genuine, as it professed to be dated from the creation of the world, at a timewhen that was not the era by which the Israelites reckoned. In his letterhe said, he had proved to the Caraïtes, that the era from which the Jewsoriginally reckoned was the flight from Egypt, with which their politicalhistory commenced. This system of chronology they retained for aboutone thousand years, when they adopted the era of the Seleucidæ, whichprevailed among the Chaldeans, the Syrians, the Persians, and amongmost of the oriental nations. This system of computation was retained bythe Jews till about five hundred years ago, when the creation of the worldwas adopted.Religion among the Jews forms naturally a subject of constant andfamiliar conversation, as having been the element in which their politicaland moral relations have at all times been developed. We were led tospeak of the subject by an allusion to the cherub wings lately placed by the Israelites of Prague, over the holy shrine of the tablets of the law. Iobserved that these wings appeared to me very incomplete without thebodies of the angels. This they told me, one and all, was a remark that none but a Christian would have thought of making; that to them suchfigures of angels would be an abomination, and that whenever they entered a Christian church, with its pictures and statues, they felt much as their forefathers must have felt when they entered the temples of the heathens.From the rabbi's house my Jewish friends conducted me to their councilhouse, erected by the Israelite Meissel, of whom I have already spoken. Inthis building is preserved the ancient charter of the community, which hasbeen signed and confirmed by each of the emperors and empresses ofAustria. This charter is preserved as an invaluable treasure, and yet Ibelieve the only privileges granted by it are such as peaceful subjects oughtto enjoy, without requiring the security of the sign manual of their sovereigns -namely, the toleration of their religion, and the permission to exist. From the turret of this council-house the whole Judenstadt may besurveyed, bounded on one side by water, and on the other by a row ofChristian churches. From this turret may be seen all the Jewish streets,swarming with beggars, and all the wretched roofs under which so manyforms of wretchedness creep for shelter. As I gazed on what I knew tobe the scene of so much suffering, the words of the prophet Baruch cameinto my mind:1 Therefore the Lord hath made good his word, which he pronounced against us,and against our judges that judged Israel, and against our kings, and against our princes, and against the men of Israel and Judah,2 To bring upon us great plagues, such as never happened under the whole heaven, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that were written in the lawof Moses;3 That a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh of his own daughter.4 Moreover he hath delivered them to be in subjection to all the kingdoms thatare round about us, to be as a reproach and desolation among all the people round about, where the Lord hath scattered them.5 Thus we were cast down, and not exalted, because we have sinned against the Lord our God, and have not been obedient unto his voice.BARUCH, chap. ii.It is melancholy to think that this description has continued true through56 POPULAR SCENES IN PRAGUE.centuries, and applies even at the present day to the condition of theIsraelites in every hemisphere and in every land.POPULAR SCENES IN PRAGUE.The Austrians say of the Bohemians (that is to say, of the genuineTshekhs), that they are incapable of abandoning themselves to any thinglike a frank, cheerful gaiety, their temper being naturally gloomy andreserved, with a tendency towards melancholy. This judgment respectingthe Bohemians is so universally adopted by the Austrians, that there mustbe some foundation for it, for there is always some truth in the sentencewhich one nation passes on another. We will not at present inquire howthe Austrians came to adopt such an opinion, for our business is at presentrather with facts than speculations; and as far as the city of Prague isconcerned, the manners of the people have been so decidedly Germanized,or rather Austrianized, that the provincial distinctions at which I havehinted are not likely to appear very evident to a stranger. A Germanarriving at Prague feels himself in an Austrian city; he hears everywherethe Austro- German dialect; meets at every turn some specimen of Austrian goodhumour; and in the popular scenes that present themselves tohis notice, he will recognise the characteristic gaiety of the humbler classesof Vienna; nor will he, for some time, even detect the modificationswhich the manners of Vienna have undergone in their transplantation toPrague.I was one day passing through the streets of the latter city, and saw ahouse-door standing open. Music and song were sounding from within.I stopped, and saw in the courtyard a boy with a barrel- organ, playing aBohemian Polka, and two pretty girls were waltzing along the hall andaround the courtyard to the accompaniment which chance had thus pro- vided. Their dance was graceful and spirited, and I continued for sometime to look at and enjoy the scene. As I went away, I endeavoured in vain to remember having ever seen the like, from the street, in any othergreat city.Another day I went to the Färberinsel (Dyers' Island) , to close the dayagreeably by listening for a while to the evening music of the grenadiers.I came unfortunately, too late, for before I reached the Sperl garden, Imet the band on their return. They marched along the broad road of the island, playing a lively air. This already pleased me. I had elsewhereseen military bands break up, but they went home singly; here they weremarching homeward in military order, and giving one tune more for the benefit of the public. This made an agreeable impression on me. Butnow for the manner of their march. By their side went some five or sixboys with torches, and in front of the band, along the broad level path of the promenade, some ten or twelve merry couples were dancing away lustily. The band were playing one of Strauss's waltzes. These dancerswere not merely children, but grown people were among them, whirlingand tripping, in frolicsome mood, around the stiffly marching soldiers, likeflowery garlands wreathing themselves around the huge trunk of sometime-honoured monarch of the forest . The bearded grenadiers, meanwhile, seemed to enjoy the gaiety of their youthful attendants, and thePOPULAR SCENES IN PRAGUE. 57more merrily these danced, the more lustily the others blew away.Theyoung girls seemed indefatigable, for if one pair gave in, another was sureto issue from the accompanying crowd, and join the dancers. Thus themarch proceeded along the whole promenade of the Färberinsel, and overthe bridge which connects the island with the mainland, where theroughness of the pavement put an end to the ball. Here was anotherpopular scene that I thought well worthy of being engraven on my memory, and I would fain have had a painter at hand, to preserve a copy ofwhat afforded me so much pleasure to look on. " This is really a remarkable scene, " said I to my companion. "It is an every-day one here,"was his reply.That the Bohemians are passionately fond of music, dance, and song, isundoubtedly true. So far as music is concerned, the world has long beenaware of the fact, for Bohemian musicians are to be met with, not only inall parts of Europe, but some have even wandered with the Russians intoSiberia, to the very confines of the Chinese empire; others have of lateyears accompanied the French to Algiers; and even in Syria and EgyptBohemian bands are listened to with pleasure. Of their fondness fordance and song I had daily opportunities of convincing myself while atPrague. I met with dancers where I could never have expected them, andwhere I should not have met with them in other country; and songay, and well executed-I was daily hearing from cellars, from servants'halls, and upon the public street . As to music, not the lowest alehousein the city is without it.anyThese low alehouses again have quite a different air from those of thelarge cities that border on Bohemia, such as Dresden, Munich, Breslau,&c. Those of Prague have something more poetical about them. Letus enter for instance, one of the many beerhouses about the cattle- marketof Prague. They consist mostly of large rooms or halls on the groundfloor, and are nightly filled with merry guests. The entrance is generallytastefully adorned with branches of fir or other evergreens, and the wallsof the room are often tapestried in the same way. Here and there youmay see some neat arbours fitted up in the courtyards, which are illuminatedat night. Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays there is music in all thesehouses, and in many of them on the other days also, and music of so superior an order, that I often wondered where so much musical talent couldcome from . These itinerant orchestras of Bohemia, I was told, had muchimproved of late years, in consequence of the revolution effected at Viennaby Strauss, Lanner, Libitzki, and the other composers, so popular amongthe dancing world. The compositions of these gentlemen require to beplayed with remarkable firmness and precision; and though in some respects their influence may have operated very unfortunately, yet I believe it hashad the effect, by exciting emulation among the inferior class of musiciansin Bohemia, of rousing them to increased efforts to improve themselves.Nor is it an uncommon thing, in the beerhouses of Prague, to findsingers who accompany themselves on the harp. They have in general avery varied collection of songs and melodies, and a musical collector might discover many that would be new to the world at large. Their songs aresometimes German and sometimes Bohemian, and many that I heard wereevidently popular favourites, for I could see that the waiters and the guestsknew the words by heart, and frequently joined in chorus. Sometimes,the whole assembly would suddenly interrupt their conversation, and ac-58 POPULAR SCENES IN PRAGUE.company the singer with a sort of wild enthusiasm. The singer hadgenerally a table before him in the centre of the room, and on this tablethe little piles of copper kreuzers accumulated fast, for almost every guest,as he left the room, deposited his offering unasked. These are trifles, nodoubt, but I believe them to be peculiar to Prague, and they afford aninsight into that love of song and music which pervades all classes in Bohemia.It seems strange to me, that after Teniers and Ostade have immortalizedthe boorish dances, the broken bottles, the black eyes, the torn hair, andthe red Bardolph noses of the Dutch gin-shops, and that so delightfully,that princes think themselves happy in having one or two of these coarsebacchanalian pictures in their drawing-rooms, -it seems strange to me,I say, that none of our modern painters should have attempted the farmore poetical and characteristic scenes that are of daily occurrence in oneof these beerhouses of Prague. Imagine the crowded room transferredto canvass, the singer forming the central figure, the guests joining inchorus, the waiters with their mugs of beer snatching up a fragment ofthe song as they hasten from one customer to another; the jolly well-fedhost moving with dignity through his little world; nor must we forget thestalls at the door for the sale of bread and sausages, for the vender of beer supplies not these, he ministers only to the thirst of his visiters, and thosewho would satisfy their hunger must bring their viands with them.Even the coffee-houses, which are numberless in Prague, whereas inDresden there are none, have many peculiarities; but they are all fashionedafter Austrian models, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter.I, coming from the north, was struck by the brilliant manner in whichthese places were lighted. I could not at first persuade myself that therooms were not illuminated with gas. The fact is, the people here understand the management of oil lamps better than in any other part of Germany. Something of this, I believe, is owing to the superior quality of the oil." So, now we're to be bored about lamp-trimming!" methinks I hear some of my fair readers exclaim. " Pretty company you take us into!First you introduce us to girls that go dancing about the streets, heavenknows why; then to the beer-bibbers of the cattle-market, to the tobaccofumes of the coffee- houses, and—” No farther, my fair censor, pray.Does your name happen to be Anna, or Annette, or Annchen, or Annerl,Nancy, Nannette, Nannerl, or Nettchen? for so far as the Austrian eaglestretches its wings over the fair sex, these names all pass for one and the same. If any one of these names then belong to you, I congratulate you,for in that case you are most pressingly and kindly invited to the festival ofSt. Anne, celebrated this day in the charming Moldauinsel, and there itwill be my agreeable duty to introduce you into very well-bred and agreeable company, in which you will find all the pretty Annes of Prague,a crowd worthy of all admiration, and where you will find the popularmanners of Prague presented to you in a totally different point of view.St. Anne's day is one of the most distinguished popular festivals in allparts of the Austrian dominions, but nowhere are the Annes made moreof than in Prague. This holiday falls on the 26th of July, and on the preceding evening every street-corner is tapestried with urgent invitationsto festivities of every description. The tavern-keepers and other mastersof the revels are emulous in their descriptions of the brilliant preparationsPOPULAR SCENES IN PRAGUE. 59made by them for the entertainment of all the pretty Annes in Prague.One addresses himself simply to the " beautiful Annes," another to the"charming Annes of the Bohemian capital," a third heads his placardwith an invocation to the " highly respected Nannettes." Accordingly,when, on the all- important day, the rising sun sheds his illuminating rayson the corners of the streets of Prague, those pretty maidens for whomtheir godmothers have taken the necessary care, may behold their fêtedname made glorious in yellow, blue, and red letters, in Latin, Gothic, andGerman characters, and may see themselves invited to such a countlessnumber of dinners, suppers, breakfasts , rural excursions, balls, and illuminations, that it must sadly puzzle them to determine to which of so manykindly soliciting admirers they will extend their approving smiles.The beautiful Färberinsel is always the chief point of attraction on thisday. This island, perhaps one of the most beautiful places of public resortin all Germany, is not large, of an oval form, about 150 fathoms long, and100 fathoms broad, is surrounded by the rapid waters of the Moldau, andpresents its visiters with a complete Panorama of Prague and its hills. Tothe right you see from the Färberinsel the old city, to the left the Hradshin and the Kleinseite, behind rises the Vissehrad, and in front lies the oldMoldau bridge. In the centre of the island are some elegant buildings,which stand open all day long for the entertainment of strangers. In therear of these buildings, he who feels himself disposed for sedentary enjoyment, will find abundance of benches and tables laid out under the canopyofhuge spreading trees, and a tribune erected for the accommodation ofan orchestra will seldom be found unoccupied. On both sides are paths,which wind off among grassplots and bushes, and on St. Anne's day,every place is hung with wreaths and garlands, with here and there triumphant arches, illuminated at night, and decorated with colossal A's and N's.Early in the morning the host who farms the bridge that leads to thischarming little island, has already taken a more considerable toll than isreceived during the whole twenty-four hours on any other day in the year;for the music, on St. Anne's day, begins at sunrise, and closes not till themoon has vanished on the following night. The greatest throng isbetween five and seven in the afternoon, but the more aristocratic ofthe Annes generally retire on the first appearance of the moon andlamplight.The afternoon on which I found myself in the Färberinsel, in honourof the distinguished day, was favoured by the most delightful weather.The fair sex were in a majority of two to one, owing, no doubt, to the great number of Annes with whom Prague has from time immemorial beenblessed. The place was small and the crowd great, so great that thevisiters could do little else than move in slow procession along the broad walk which encircles the island."I can confidently say that I am not what is generally called an enthusiast, " said a friend who accompanied me, as we plunged from the little bridge over the Moldau, into this stream of life and beauty, " but it does seem to me as if in the whole course of my life I had never beensurrounded by so many angels' heads, by so many graceful forms, or byso beautiful faces.' " It is truly a bewitching spectacle," was my anWe now proceeded to stem the current, that we might admire the fair promenaders at greater leisure, and without making use of themany swer.60 POPULAR SCENES IN PRAGUE.slightest hyperbole, I was obliged to own that never in my life had I seenso magnificent a display of beauty. One lovely face followed another inquick succession, and even I, dull and unexcitable as I have often beenobliged to deem myself, could not resist the influence of the scene, andthe enthusiasm with which I felt myself inspired, was to me the best proofthat the spectacle was one of unusual beauty. Like Xerxes at the Hellespont, when contemplating his numerous array of soldiers, I could haveshed a tear at the thought, that all the loveliness before me was destined to be the prey of Time and Death.That the little ugly, squalling, red- faced creatures (for all newly-bornbabies are alike) should grow up in Prague into such remarkably beautifulgirls, is one of those phenomena of nature which I cannot take uponmyself to explain. Some have attributed the fact to the mingling of German with Slavonian blood, but this the Slavonians protest against mostloudly, telling you that in the villages of the interior, where no such mixture of the races has taken place, much finer specimens of female beautyare to be found, than in any ofthe frontier districts. The members of theBohemian Patriotic Association boast, moreover, that by far the richestdisplay of beauty is to be seen at their balls, where nothing but Bohemianis ever spoken, and where, consequently, the bulk of the company must begenuine Slavonian; nay, even the far-famed beauty of the Hungarianladies is attributed by these zealous patriots to the mixture of Slavonian blood with that of the original races. The theory is not one that I wouldat once reject as absurd. On the contrary, I often fancied, in the courseof my subsequent wanderings, that I saw reason to believe there was someground for it. Be this, however, as it may, Prague is decidedly a verygarden of beauty. For the young ladies of 1841, I am ready to give mytestimony most unreservedly, and many an enraptured traveller has left ushis books as living witnesses to the loveliness of the grandmothers and greatgrandmothers of the present generation . The old chronicler, Hammerschmidt, and his contemporaries, dwell with equal pleasure on the sweet faces that smiled upon them in their days, and the picture gallery of manya Bohemian castle is there to testify to the truth of their statements. Onewitness there is to the fact, whose right few will question to decide on sucha point. Titian, who studied the faces of lovely women for ninety-sixyears, and who, while at the court of Charles V., spent five years inGermany, tells us, it was among the ladies of Prague, that he found his idéalof a beautiful female head. If we go back beyond the times of Titian, wehave the declaration of Charles IV. that Prague was a hortus deliciarum,and whoever has read the life of that emperor, will scarcely doubt that beautiful women must have been included in the delights of acapital so apostrophized. Nay, the time-honoured nobility of the beauty ofPrague, may be said to go back even to the earliest tradition , where wefind it celebrated in the legends of Libussa and Vlasta, and the countlesssongs composed in honour ofthe Deviy Slavanske or Tshekhian damsels.Iown I am still at a loss to conceive how it was possible for Przemyslto reject the overtures ofhis fair Bohemians, and how he could find it in hisheart to wage against them the barbarous war that has since become sofamous in history. I am not at all surprised that his first enterprises againstthem should have been marked by such singular failure. I am sure thatifthe two thousand Nancies and Nannettes whom I saw assembled on theFärberinsel had taken it suddenly into their heads to get up an insurrec-THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT AMONG THE BOHEMIANS. 61tion, and intrench themselves within their little island, any army that theEmperor could have sent against them, would have been much more likelyto surrender at discretion to the besieged, than to turn their murderousartillery against such a garden of loveliness, or to flesh their bright swordsamong the Vienna shawls and French silks that were paraded so bewitchingly before my eyes.By the time that, stemming this tide of beauty, we had made the roundof the island some three or four times, night had stolen upon us, though todo himjustice, Helios was in no hurry to run away from so fair a scene,but seemed to linger long, unwilling to depart, before he could make up hismind to consign himself to the accustomed embraces of Thetis . The fire- works had to wait long before it was sufficiently dark for the proper display of the rockets and Chinese fire that were intended to blaze in honour of the day, and when they were let off, they turned out to be very littleworthy of being waited for; but the music of the Bohemian polkas andredovaks compensated for the failure ofthe fireworks. The whole festivityclosed with a " splendid supper, " at which I found it impossible, either formoney or fair words, to obtain the slightest particle of any thing to eat or drink.From the delightful promenade of the Färberinsel, I went to one of thepopular balls, given at the twelve dancing-rooms at Prague. These roomsare never closed on Sundays or holidays, but on this day they had recommended themselves to public favour with even more than wonted assiduity,I extended my patronage to an establishment of which the host recommended himself by a feeling of " Veneration for all Nannettes." Theclasses represented in this ball-room belonged to the humbler section ofthe middle orders, and I am sorry to be obliged to own that I found neitherthe Bohemian beauty nor the Austrian merriment that I had looked for.There is something repulsive in the impression produced by an assemblagein which we find the costume of the cultivated classes copied with greatprecision, but from which the manners and conversation of refined life areentirely excluded. In proportion as the fashions and habits of the greatare imitated by the little world, will all originality, cheerfulness, and fun,be extirpated from among us.THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT AMONG THE BOHEMIANS.One of my first walks in Prague was to a Tshekhian bookshop, and to theMuseum ofthe Patriotic Association. I was anxious to see what new blossoms the Bohemian tree had shot forth, and what ancient fruits it had garnered up. The shop in which the literary novelties of Bohemia are offered to apatronizing public, is situated in a narrow gloomy lane, and the man whoowns the shop, and is the chief publisher of modern Bohemian literature, is a German. His shop is small, but is often visited by the young patriots, -the advocates, the students, and the literati, —who go there to turn overhis Bohemian, Illyrian, Polish, and Russian books, and sometimes to buy them. All these Slavonian languages are at present studied with greatzeal by the Bohemian patriots; and it is a singular coincidence, that inRussia, also, there is at present quite a rage for the study of Bohemian,Polish, and Illyrian. For Russian books, I was told, there was a frequent demand, but they were difficult to obtain. It has long been customary62 THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT AMONG THE BOHEMIANS.among the young men at Prague to study Russian, which they acquirewith little trouble, and which many find of great advantage, numbers ofyoung Bohemian physicians emigrating yearly to Russia, where theirfamiliarity with the Slavonian languages facilitates their advancement. *

Bohemian literature works for the enlightenment of four countries: Bohemia, Moravia, a part of Silesia, and the country of the Slovaks inHungary. For this reason the Bohemian journals (the Vlastimil for instance) point to the four corners of the world, or more properly to the four corners of the paper, with the four words: Slezan, Czech, -Slovak, -Moravan,-(the Silesian, -the Bohemian, -the Slovak, -and the Moravian).Among the new publications of 1841, I was shown the Semski Sud, orthe Old Law of Bohemia. The Austrian censors were long before theycould be induced to accord the Imprimatur to this work, on account ofsomesevere articles which it contains against the Germans, but the censorshipis becoming more indulgent now, and, with a few omissions, the bookhas been allowed to walk forth into the world. The Bohemians, therefore,may again sing in the words of the famous old poem, the Judgment of Libussa:-Shameful ' twere from Germans' laws to borrow,Laws we have ourselves of holy statute Brought in days of yore by our good fathers To this land of blessing. †Twenty years ago, nay, fifteen years ago, the literature, that is theliving literature of Bohemia, was perfectly insignificant. At that timelittle was spoken or heard of the Slavonians living under German domination. Some of our travellers of the last century carried their simplicity sofar, as to express surprise in their printed books, at finding the countrypeople of Bohemia speaking a dialect altogether unintelligible to a German.Some very learned people had only an indistinct notion, that in some partsof Germany the population was of Slavonian origin. Bohemian literature,in the mean time, had sunk to a level about as low as that of the Lettes andEsthonians in the Baltic provinces of Russia, and was confined almost exclusively to popular ballads. Things have changed since then, and theBohemians go so far now as to take it very much amiss when they readin a German book, that " Prague is one of the most interesting towns inGermany." The cuckoo, they say, might just as well call the nest hisown, from which he has just expelled the linnet, as the Germanscall Prague a German city, seeing it was built by the Tshekhs; buthere I would humbly remark, that the cuckoo would play a less odiouspart in our books on natural history, if after taking possession of anotherbird's nest, he were to embellish and beautify it as the Germans have done

• The various Slavonian dialects (Russian, Polish, Bohemian, Illyrian, &c. ) bear

so strong a resemblance to each other, that the peasants of one of these countries can usually make himself understood to those of all the rest. The grammaticalacquirement of the Russian language must, therefore, be an easy task to a well- edu- cated Bohemian.-Tr.† Bohemian poetry, like that of most of the Slavonian languages, is destitute of rhyme, a deficiency the less felt on account of the distinct measure of time which pre- vails in the Bohemian words, and which makes it more easy to adapt the Romanand Greek rhythm to the versification of this than of any other modern lan- guage.-Tr.THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT AMONG THE BOHEMIANS. 63by Prague. The fact is, the whole of Bohemia is still a disputed territorybetween the Germans and the Slavonians. The Germans maintain it wasoriginally a German land, or, at least, that it was inhabited by the Germans four hundred years before the Tshekhs came into the country; butthe Tshekhs (see Palazky's History of Bohemia, ) say " You Germanstook the country from the Boyers, and held it by no other right than thatof the sword. By the sword you won it, and by the sword you lost itagain, and for eight hundred years we held it against you." To this weGermans may reply: -" But we have again won the mastery of the land from you with the sword, and we have triumphed over you yet more bythe energy of our civilization. Here are two swords for one, and asancient and modern lords we have the most perfect right on our side; sowe shall continue to call Bohemia a German land, in right of our sword,our civilization, and our industry, -a German land, in which the intrudingTshekhs are condemned to plough our fields. " *Till very lately, there had existed no good Bohemian dictionary; butthis want has now been supplied by Mr. Jungmann, who, though a German by name, is said to be a very zealous Bohemian patriot. His dictionary was the work of several years, and has been published at his ownexpense. He is even said to have sold a vineyard, to defray the cost ofhis undertaking. The publication commenced in 1836, and is now complete. I was not so much surprised at the sacrifices made bythe patriotscholar, as at the backwardness of other patriots, to assist him in hisundertaking. One might almost be led from this to believe what a Bohemian once said to me, in speaking of the great movement and excite- ment among the Bohemian patriots." It is a kind of luxury," said he, "in which a few idle young men indulge, and in which they are encouraged by the professors and antiquaries;but it is no movement originating in the wants, or emanating from thewishes, of the people. All that is eminent with us is German. Our menof education read Schiller and Goethe in preference to any other writers;every official man, down to the humblest clerk, writes and speaks German;and as every Bohemian feels that he cannot get on in the world withouta knowledge of German, he seeks to learn it himself, and teach it to hischildren, and has no time to trouble himself about the fantastic visions ofthe Tshekhian patriots. Besides, the German language is taught, ex- officio, in every school, and many of our gentry do not even understandthe patois of the country. With all these mighty agents at work, whatavail the efforts of a few enthusiasts? The government, meanwhile, feels itself strong enough to let the Tshekhian party go their own way Foreigners, moreover, are deceived, if they attribute to politics all that isdone here in the way of Slavonian investigation. The inquiring spirit of the time, the revived fondness of every thing that tends to the illustration of antiquity, has led to similar efforts in other countries, as well as inthose inhabited by Slavonians . Every province in Europe has been bur- nishing up its recollections; every city has been turning over the leaves of

• Bohemia can scarcely be said to owe much civilization to Germany. When the country passed under the domination of the house of Austria, there was no other country that stood higher in point of civilization. If the Bohemians have since

fallen into the rear of the " march of improvement," Austrian oppression, and par- ticularly the unrelenting barbarity with which the Protestant religion was extir- pated, must bear the blame.-Tr.64 THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT AMONG THE BOHEMIANS.its chronicles, and repairing its cathedral or its town-house. Not only theSlavonian provinces, but all the provinces of Austria, have been collectingtheir antiquities, dusting their records, and new binding their chronicles.The same has been done in the provinces of Prussia, and indeed in theprovinces of almost every European country. We have seen Ossian'sliterature rescued from its tomb in Scotland, and in Germany we haveseen Voss writing poems in Platt Deutsch; we have seen Westphalian,Saxon, and Brandenburg Associations, not to speak of hundreds of otherprovincial societies; and thus the fashion has reached Bohemia at last. Itis not any inclination on the part of the Western Slavonians to accept thefraternization offered them from the East, that has led to all these Slavonian journals, grammars, dictionaries, and poetical anthologies. In England, and even in France, books and newspapers have been printed in thelocal dialects, and so in Russia have works been of late published in Lettish and Esthonian, languages of which, some years ago, no cultivated man made use, unless perhaps in the pulpit. It is not to be denied thatthe provincial, literary, and patriotic movements in the Slavonian provincesof Austria, acquire a peculiar character from the spirit of Panslavismus, ofwhich so much has been heard of late years. No nation, while yet abreath of life is in it, becomes reconciled to the loss of its independence;and though the Bohemians, the Slovaks, and the other Slavonians, woulddo better to attach themselves more and more to the mild sceptre of Austria, than to stretch out their hands after the questionable independencewhich seems to be offered them from the East, yet nations, like individuals, are not exempt from acts of folly, prejudicial to others as to themselves; and for their own sake, therefore, as well as for Austria's, theBohemians must be watched. The classes, however, which have mostinfluence in the country, are the least disposed to sympathize with Russia.The clergy and the nobility know how little they would be likely to gainby exchanging the sovereignty of Austria for that of Russia. Recent events in Poland have likewise much contributed to cool the enthusiasmformerly manifested for Russia. The less instructed Bohemians, indeed,look upon much that they hear of Russia as mere German calumnies; but those among us who stand higher, have had opportunities, many of them,of seeing with their own eyes. In short, should it ever come to a strugglebetween the Slavonian and German elements, the Tshekhs, in spite of theirsympathies and antipathies, will be found fighting on the side of the Germans, and it will be for their own advantage to do so."In the museum of the Bohemian Patriotic Association, on the Hradshin,whither I went in company with a learned and highly esteemed Bohemian,nothing interested me more than the collection of coins. Though not socomplete as the Bohemian antiquaries wish, it is by far the richest Bohemian collection in existence, and consists exclusively of national coins,those merely put into circulation by the Boyers, the Markomans, and theRomans, being excluded. There are old Tshekhian coins of a period farantecedent to the Christian era; -these are rudely fashioned pieces of gold,somewhat in the form of modern buttons. In the early period of Christianity, when it was still uncertain whether Bohemia would be broughtwithin the influence of Byzantine or Roman civilization; the coins of thecountry seem to have had a decidedly Byzantine character. At a laterperiod, when the Hungarian invasions had cut Bohemia off from theByzantine world, the coinage assumed an Italian or rather a FlorentinePOPULAR SCENES IN PRAGUE. 65character. On the Florentine ducats coined in Bohemia, may be seen theFlorentine St. John, with a small Bohemian St. John by his side, in thesame way as during their revolution of 1831, the Poles coined Dutch ducats, on which a diminutive Polish eagle appears by the side of the Batavian knight.As we reach less remote ages we may observe alternate advances andretrogressions in the arts. The cultivated age of Charles IV. , and thefanatic century of the art- destroying Hussites, may be distinctly tracedin the little glittering denarii and ducats, dollars and bracteati. Coins maylikewise be seen here of all the great Bohemian families that, at varioustimes, have enjoyed the privilege. Among these families the most distinguished are the Schlicks, the Rosenbergs, and the Waldsteins, or Wallensteins, as Schiller, for the convenience of his rhythm, has thought properto call them. Of the Waldstein family, however, none have exercised theright of coinage since the days of their great ancestor, of whom some verybeautiful gold coins still exist. The Counts of Schlick exercised the privilege longer than any other of the old Bohemian families. Coins of avery recent date may be seen with their effigy. Their celebrated silvermines at Joachimsberg were so productive, that in the beginning of the16th century, they coined what were called Joachimsthaler, which weighed a full ounce, and which may still be found in circulation in Russia, wherethey are known sometimes by the name of Thaleri, and sometimes by thatof Yefimki.A peculiar kind of Bohemian coinage are the royal Rechenpfennige, orcounters. Among the various public departments of the Bohemian government, it seems to have been usual from the earliest period to have employed, for balancing public accounts, a certain coin which may be lookedon in the light of a copper representative of a certain amount of gold orsilver. These arbitrary coins circulated only from one public departmentto another. The noble families in Bohemia appear to have adopted thiscustom, and coined similar copper counters for the convenience ofthe variousdepartments of government on their estates. The collection of the Patriotic Association is richly provided with various specimens of these royaland lordly counters.The Bohemian lion, with a crown on his head, with his two tails, andwalking erect on his hinder feet, is to be seen on all Bohemian coins, evenon most of those struck by the sovereigns of the house of Habsburg.Under Maria Theresa the lion becomes less omnipresent. The latestducats that bear the effigy of the royal beast are those of 1780. It was on the large silver money that he first resigned his crown. On the smallersilver coins he continued to hold his state throughout the whole of JosephII.'s reign, but since then the whole coinage has been purely Austrian.Of all joyful and deplorable events in Bohemian history, there seems tohave been a desire to preserve the recollection by means of silver and goldmedals. Thus we have medals of Huss, who, as the inscriptions inform us,was burnt at Constance in violation of public faith. Frederick of thePalatinate has also not failed to leave golden and silver monuments of hisbrief and disastrous sojourn in Bohemia. Close to these, and adorned withominous inscriptions lie the medals struck by Ferdinand on the occasion ofhis sanguinary victory on the White Mountain. In honour of the victory,Ferdinand erected on the mountain a church, which he dedicated to theVirgin, and under the foundation-stone a very large gold medal was de- F66 POPULAR SCENES IN PRAGUE.proposited. At a subsequent period, Joseph demolished this church, and themedal, being found, was sent to Prague, and came, in due time, to themuseum of the Patriotic Association. On one side is a view of the conquered city of Prague, over which is seen hovering the image ofMaria deVictoria in albo Monte, with the inscription Reddite ergo quae sunt Caesaris Caesari, et quae sunt Dei Deo. Christ little thought, when henounced those words, that they would become one day in the mouth of animperious victor, a symbol of terror to millions of human beings. Ferdinand, as we are told, saw a vision the night before the battle. OurSaviour, it is said, appeared to him in a dream, and said to him, " Ferdinand, I will not forsake thee. " To this vision allusion is made on thereverse of the medal on which is represented a crucifix, whence rays of lightshine on the emperor, who kneels before it, and underneath are the words,"Ferdinande, ego te non deseram. " It seems strange that after he hadmade so unchristianlike a use of his victory, our Lord did not again appearto him in a vision, and say to him, Sed tu, Ferdinande, me et meos deseruisti.InAfter the Battle on the White Mountain, Germanism became so impressed on Bohemia, that many Bohemian families Germanized the Slavonian names they had borne till then. Thus the family from which hadissued the celebrated St. John of Nepomuk or Nepomucenus, bore originally the Slavonian name Hassil. Nepomuk is a small town in Bohemia,and the bishop, according to the fashion of his day, was called John Hassilof Nepomuk, and sometimes, for greater brevity, John Nepomuk. Afterthe battle of the White Mountain, the Hassils translated their name intoGerman, and called themselves Loeschner. Many ofthe nobles, however,had Germanized their names long before the catastrophe of the White Mountain. Instances of the kind occurred during the reigns ofCharles IV. and his son Venzeslaus . During their reigns, many castleswere built on mountains and rocks, according to the German fashion,whereas the ancient Bohemians had been accustomed to build for greaterstrength among marshes or on the banks of rivers . These castles, builtafter German fashion, received also German names, ending generally inberg or burg, and the families began to be called after their castles.this way the family of Vitkovy came to be the family of Rosenberg, thehouse ofDipolditz changed into the house of Riesenburg, Ransko was metamorphosed into Waldstein, and Divishovzi into Sternberg, and all thesefamilies became much more famous under their German than they had everbeen under their Slavonianfirmas. The Bohemian patriots claim all thesefamilies as genuine Slavonians; maintaining that a Slavonian is no more aGerman because he has taken to speaking German, than the Russiannobles can be said to be Frenchmen because they speak habitually French.The largest Austrian gold coins have the weight of twenty ducats. Tenducat pieces, I am told, are still coined, and are occasionally found in circulation. As myreaders are all honest people, there can be no harm in mytelling them that fifty of these seductive looking lumps of gold are to beseen in the collection at Prague. The largest gold medal in the museumweighs no less than one hundred ducats. The most modern medal is onestruck a few years ago, in honour of a visit paid by the Emperor Nicholasto Prague. The inscription is: Nicholaus I., Cesarsch Russki, &c.(Nicholas I., Russian Emperor, the Illustrious Guest in Prague. )I also found much that interested me in the library of the BohemianPOPULAR SCENES IN PRAGUE. 67Association, though I was not so fortunate as to have the learned andesteemed librarian, Professor Hanka, for my guide. The department ofBohemian literature is by no means complete, much having been taken by the Royal Library where a section is set apart for it. The collection onthe Hradshin is rich chiefly in Natural History. On the other hand,however, the kindred Slavonian literatures of Russia, Poland, Illyria, Servia,and Carinthia, have each its department. I was told that a Russiangrammar for the use of Bohemians would shortly be published, and couldnot but feel surprised that the relations between the great Russia and thelittle Bohemia should already have become so active, that the want of sucha work should have been felt. It is not many years that Germany hasbeen in possession of a usable Russian grammar.Of Bohemian Bibles many are to be seen here, as well the faithfulUtraquist version from the original languages, as that arranged for theCatholics from the Vulgate of Hieronymus. At present, Bohemia can be supplied with Tshekhian bibles only by contraband. There is not indeedany prohibition against their sale, but they are not allowed to be eitherprinted or imported. The smugglers on the Saxon frontier, however, arevery active, and keep the market supplied, though perhaps rathersparingly. The bibles are supposed to come from Berlin and from Eng- land. The Bible Society of Dresden, I was assured by the presidenthimself, did not themselves send a single copy into Bohemia, but the freetraders of the frontier, in the same way in which they receive orders forcoffee and sugar, receive orders probably from time to time for bibles.Two years ago, I was told, several waggon-loads of bibles fell into thehands of the Bohemian custom- house officers, by whom they are kept to thepresent day under lock and key.Autographs of men celebrated in the history of Bohemia are likewise tobe seen at this museum; among many others, those of Huss and Zizka.The latter usually added the place of his nativity to his signature, andsigned-Zizka von Trotznow. Some of his letters, however, are signedJan Zizka z'Kalichu, from a castle which he had built and to which he hadgiven the name of Kalich or the Chalice.In the cabinet of natural history on the Hradshin is shown what strangers are told was the last bear that ever existed in a state of nature in Bohemia.This animal is said to have been shot in 1817, but I had subsequently anopportunity of satisfying myself that the race of wild bears is not yet extinct in the country, for on the Schwarzenberg estates, near Budweis, Isaw at least a dozen of them. Lynxes and wild cats are also to be foundin the mountains, and beavers along the banks of the Moldau, and sometimes even in the immediate vicinity of Prague. Their unsuspected presence near the capital led, not long ago, to a singular lawsuit. A farmerwho owned a field near the river, observed that some trees and shrubs hadseveral times been cut down and carried away during the night. Hebrought an action, in consequence, against one of his neighbours. Thecourt appointed persons to visit the place and inspect the stumps that remained. These persons, on viewing the ground, declared immediately thatthe property had been carried away by fourfooted thieves, and after a closesearch, a little colony of beavers was discovered, supposed to have comedown the river from the neighbourhood of Budweis.In the mineralogical collection the most celebrated piece is the " accursedburgrave, " a meteoric stone weighing upwards of two hundred pounds, toF 268 THE BOOK OF LIFE ON THE MOLDAU.which popular tradition has attached a legend of a tyrannical noble, who,when his soul was taken away to hell, left this black metallic lump behindin the place of his body. Not as a natural curiosity, but as a visibleproof of the devil's potency, the stone was for many years preserved at thecouncil-house of Elnbogen, where miraculous powers were even attributedto it. Whoever lifted the " accursed burgrave," it was said, would be curedof sundry complaints, and many peasants frequently came to Elnbogen to test the healing powers of the stone. I have no doubt its effects were frequently very satisfactory, for a sick man who retained strength enough tolift such a weight, was not likely to be in a desperate condition, and might at the same time hope to derive benefit from a few gymnastic feats. Inlater times, when science encroached more and more upon the domains ofsuperstition , the Museum at Vienna laid claim to so rare a specimen ofaerial mineralogy. The counsellors of Elnbogen fought lustily for theirtreasure, and at last a compromise was agreed to: the burgrave was sawnin two, and one half went to Vienna, while the other half remained atElnbogen. The Bohemian Patriotic Association possesses only a model ofthe whole as it appeared before the ruthless partition was carried into effect.THE BOOK OF LIFE ON THE MOLDAU.InTo those who have read the history of Bohemia, it will be no matter ofwonder to be informed, that even at the present day there continues to beso much talk at Prague ofthe Herren Stände ( My Lords the States), ofwhom you will one day hear that they have been establishing an agricultural institution, on another that they have directed a suspension-bridge tobe built over the Moldau, or that they have advanced money for the construction or repair of some public building. There is as much attributed inPrague to My Lords the States, as there is in Rome to the Pope.ancient times they elected kings, and regulated the articles of public faith;at present their activity is limited to the less important sphere which I havejust indicated. Formerly the cities of Bohemia, particularly Prague andGuttenberg, had considerable weight in the assemblies of the States; atpresent the few deputies for the towns that are still admitted, are consignedto a single bench-a sort of stool of repentance-in an extreme corner ofthe hall, where the burgesses are effectually separated from the remainderofthe deputies, and that in such a way, that no civic representative, unlessof more than ordinary boldness, will be likely to have the assurance to intrude his opinions upon his august colleagues. " My Lords the States,"in Bohemia, are at present neither more nor less than the highest order ofnobility-namely, " the reigning" counts, princes, and barons. The headofthe family being in possession of the estate of the family, is always de- scribed as the " reigning" count, &c.The Bohemian nobility, owing to their great wealth, to the good education most of them receive, and to the distinguished abilities of someamong them, occupy a highly important position in the Austrian monarchy,and exercise a far greater influence upon the administration of the empire,than do the nobles of any other province. The highest office in Bohemia,after the king, is that of Oberstburggraf, a Bohemian dignity of veryremote antiquity. He is assisted by fourteen counsellors of governmentor Gubernialräthe, and by a vice-president, besides which the country isTHE BOOK OF LIFE ON THE MOLDAU. 69divided into sixteen circles, each circle having a captain and three commissaries to superintend its affairs. This graduated list of public officers,from the Oberstburggrafto the Kreiscommissär, or commissary of thecircle, is called the government of the country (die böhmische Landesregierung), and nearly all these offices are filled by members of the old noble families of Bohemia.This Bohemian government, like that of Galicia, Moravia, Austria, &c. ,stands under the control of what is called the United Court Chancery atVienna. At the head of this central department is a Superior Chancellor,assisted by a Chancellor of the Court, two Vice- Chancellors, and as manyAulic Councillors as there are provinces or governments subject to thiscourt chancery. Hungary and Transylvania have separate chanceries forthe control of their affairs. A singular circ*mstance connected with thiscourt chancery is, that it enjoys the title of Majesty, being addressed “ YourMajesty the Chancery of the Court. ” This is in some measure characteristic of Austria, where it is a common saying, that it is not the emperorwho reigns, but his officers.Not only over the administration of their own country, but over thewhole empire, the Bohemians exercise great influence, owing to the important posts to which they have raised themselves by their ability andofficial aptitude. In every office in Vienna you are sure to find Bohemians,and they are mostly the favourites of their superiors. In the Polish andItalian provinces it is the same, so that while the Bohemians are grumblingabout the state of dependance in which their country is kept on Austria,the other provinces might with more justice complain in their turn thatthey are subject to Bohemians. Two of the most distinguished membersof the Austrian government are at present Bohemians-namely, CountKolowrat and Count Mitrowski.To give an account of the picture-galleries, libraries, and museums, collected at the various castles of the Bohemian nobles would, no doubt, be ahighly interesting occupation, but would at the same time be found anherculean labour. At Prague, there are many private palaces well deserving the attention of a traveller, but I am sorry to say I was able to visitbut few of them. The only private picture- gallery I was myself able toinspect was that of the Nostitzi palace, but the palaces of the families ofWallenstein, Czerni, Lobkowitz, Schwarzenberg, and others, are all deserving of attention. What particularly interested me at the Nostitzi palace,was the model of a marble monument intended to be erected at Teplitz.It represents the Knight Przemysl labouring at the plough, at the moment when the envoys of Libussa arrive to offer him the crown. On anotherside is a group in which he is seen as King of Bohemia holding hisentrance into the palace of his consort. The Bohemians show quite apassion just now for illustrating the early periods of their history bymonuments, and many a name is brought to light, and becomes morefamous perhaps in these days, than it ever was during the life of its owner. There is in the same gallery, a beautiful group by Canova, ofCupid and Psyche. Schidone's Woman taken in Adultery is a charmingpicture, but there is one by Eyk that is most revolting. Christ is represented under a press, with blood spouting from different parts of his body.Astream of blood gushes from his breast, and is caught by priests , whodistribute it among the people. There is an exquisite picture by VonSchalken, of a girl eating a peach. The peach is such a soft, juicy, deli-70 THE BOOK OF LIFE ON THE MOLDAU.cate, velvet-clad fruit, that a painter can choose no more suitable viandon which to make a lovely maiden feast. To bite into an apple, shemust make an effort that distorts her features, but a peach may be enjoyedwith a kiss.InI spent but little time, however, in the Nostitzi Gallery, for there wereother objects in Prague that I was more anxious to see. Among others Iwent to visit the Tein Church, once the chief temple of the Hussites.their time the pictures and images were all destroyed, but at present the building is again amply provided with them. This church contains a multitude of monuments, but those that most attracted my notice were one ofTycho de Brahe, with a Latin inscription to the effect that neither wealthnor power, but only the works of science are immortal; and secondly, thetomb of a Jewish boy, on which was a Latin inscription, of which the following is a translation: " A little Hebrew boy (Hebraeolus) being inspiredby God, fled, in the year 1693, to the Clementinum, the College of theJesuits, that he might be baptized. After a few days he was treacherouslytaken away from his place of refuge. He was tortured by his parents, whoassailed him with caresses, menaces, blows, hunger, and other torments;nevertheless, he remained steadfast in the true faith, till on the 12th ofFebruary, 1694, he died, in consequence of the treatment he had received.His body was privately buried, but on the sixth day was dug up again,and, on being inspected by the magistrates, was found free from alloffensive smell, of its natural colour, and floating in rosy blood (roseo sanguine), whereupon it was carried from the townhouse in solemn procession,followed by an immense multitude of pious people, and was brought to thisspot. "It is strange what different answers you will receive in Prague, if youinquire whether there are still any Hussites in the place. Some say positively "yes," and others are quite as positive in saying " no. " Severalpersons assured me there was a Hussite house of prayer in Prague, butone, likely to be well informed, said there had been such a place, but it hadsince been converted into a warehouse. Most people will tell you, “ Oh,in the mountains there are Hussites enough, " but then the people of Praguedispose of a multitude of things by turning them over to the mountains."Yes there are Hussites, " another will add, " but they pretend to be ProtestIn point of fact, there are no Hussites officially recognised as such,but it is probable that many in secret still sympathize with their doc- trines. Of Protestants, according to the official census, there were81,000 in 1839, or about 24 per cent. of the entire population. In Moravia they are more numerous, amounting to 110,000 souls, or 6 per cent.of the population. Moravia excepted, however, the Protestants form alarger proportion ofthe population in Bohemia than in any other Austrianprovince.""Among the princely gardens of Prague, I visited those of Count Salm,and Prince Kinsky. In the count's garden I found twenty gardeners andassistant gardeners employed, with a court gardener (Hofgärtner) to superintend them. They told me they had no less than 350 kinds of ericas;and of these, as of the fine collection of Australian plants, there were manythat had been brought into Bohemia for the first time that year. Agreattrade in plants is carried on with the interior of Austria from Prague,where they can be had from England and Holland with tolerable facilityover Hamburg. In the Kinsky garden, I was too much taken up withTHE BOOK OF LIFE ON THE MOLDAU. 71the beauty of the place, to make many inquiries about its statistical details.The garden is arranged on a succession of terraces, that rise from the Moldau up the side of a hill, from the summit of which the eye revels in apanoramic view of Prague and its environs; one of those views on whichone dwells with lingering fondness, but of which the pen is powerless toconvey a description, and of which all we can say is, that it is beautiful.At my feet lay the isles of the Moldau, and the suspension-bridge.When this bridge and its approaches are finished, the aspect of Praguewill be materially improved. There was formerly no quay along the sideof the river. This want will now be supplied, a number of old and illlooking houses having been bought up and pulled down, with a view to theconstruction of a quay and of some handsome buildings calculated to form a more suitable frame to the stream. Numerous Schinakels (an Austrianword for boats) animated the water, along whose banks lay stretched abotanical and several private gardens. On the other side the desertedVissehrad seemed to mourn his departed glories; and on tracing the upward course of the river, the eye rested at length on the Brannik rock,from whose entrails had been torn the materials that had gone to the making up of the many houses that lay at my feet. The stone obtained fromthis rock is remarkably fine, and, in the time of Charles IV. , was known tohis Italian architects under the name of pasta di Praga. The rock itselfhas its legend. A valiant knight of the name of Brannik is said to havedwelt there, and to lie buried there with his brave companions. In oneof the caverns of the rock, the double- tailed Bohemian lion is said to holdhis residence, and watch over the graves of its former tenants.Once ayear he comes out and salutes the Moldau valley with a roar, and then,having received no answer, he creeps into his hole again, to take another twelvemonth's repose. Should he, however, one day receive an answer,there will be a mighty struggle in Bohemia, for the ghosts of the deceasedheroes rise from their graves, and are to secure the victory to their countrymen. This legend seems to live still in the full confidence of thepeople; but then in Bohemia there is no end to legends. You fall in withthem at the corners of the streets and in the depths of forests; they aboundand thrive amid the crowded thoroughfares of Prague, as in the silent soli- tudes of the country.Among the manufactures of Prague we must not forget to speak of thewarehouses of glass goods. The workshops are generally at some distancein the country; but the warehouses in Prague, for the greater part, arethe property of the manufacturers. These have chemists and artists intheir pay, who are constantly tasking their invention to extend the domainsof glass, by discovering new articles that may admit of being formed of sobrittle a material, and to give new colours and forms to those articles whichthe glass-cutters have long looked upon as belonging to their legitimatesphere. Of each new discovery or modification a drawing is made, and acopy sent to the manufactory. The drawing and the copy bear corresponding marks and numbers, so that if a sudden demand comes to the warehouse for any particular article, all that is necessary probably is to send anorder down to the country, to make up immediately so manydozens of B 288,or whatever else the number may be. I was allowed to look over a numberof these drawings, which were neatly bound up in folio volumes, and I wasastonished at the immense variety of designs and inventions for coffee, tea,and milk pots; at the endless modifications of form which so simple an72 FROM PRAGUE TO BUDWEIS.article as a glass stopper was made to undergo; and at the prodigality of ingenuity that had been expended on varying the conformation of a thing so unimportant as a lady's smelling-bottle. In the different shades ofcolour there was almost as much variety as in the form; yet the prevailing taste appears to be always, in the long-run, in favour of that which is mostsimple. The plain, pure, colourless, crystalline glass has always been infavour, and will maintain its supremacy in the end, however taste may sport for a while among the brilliant colours and variegated forms whichscience has found the means of imparting to this beautiful manufacture.All the bright " Leonore greens" and "Chrysopras" of 1840, and the "Anne green," the " gold glass," the " dead glass," and the " alabaster”of 1841, may hold their place in public favour for a time; but they willhave passed away when the pure crystal will be prized as much as ever.Even so man may surrender himself awhile to a chaos of absurdities andfancies; but the pure crystal of good taste, morality, and justice will, ere long, make its worth be felt, and carry away the prize ofpublic favour fromall its competitors.FROM PRAGUE TO BUDWEIS.Various as are the means by which a traveller may cause himself to beconveyed from Prague to Budweis, -by diligence, by mail post, by Stellwagen, or with a Lohnkutscher, or hired carriage and horses, yet none of these means of locomotion can be called excellent in their kind. * TheBohemian diligences are very inferior to those of northern Germany, and the Lohnkutschers are quite as slow in their movements as in any otherpart of our country. The Stellwagen had one powerful recommendationfor me, and that was that I had never travelled in one of them before.They are to be met with in all parts of the Austrian dominions, and serveas a means of communication between the several provincial towns, forthose who make but few pretensions to gentility. The Stellwagen, inconsequence, is rarely favoured by foreigners, and therefore all the more tobe recommended to those who are desirous of making acquaintance withprovincial peculiarities. Accordingly, one morning, as the watchmen ofPrague had just announced the important fact that it had struck fouro'clock, I was rolling, in one of these humble vehicles, through the Rossthor, and out upon the Budweis road, in company with a goldsmith ofPrague, an engraver, a forester, a farmer, and a young mother with her little boy upon her lap.I had an excellent opportunity here of studying the peculiarities of the Bohemian-German dialect, and I was not a little surprised at the systematic and consistent manner in which the good people modify our grammarand pronunciation to suit their own views. Sometimes Slavonian wordsare Germanized, and sometimes German words effectually disguised bySlavonian terminations, and at other times the strangest gibberish isproduced by the least cultivated classes, who frequently mix up their

• The railroad at present making from Vienna to Prague, and from Prague to Dresden, and which will probably be finished in 1844 or 1845, will effect a complete revolution in Bohemian travelling. At the time Mr. Kohl's work was published, the

arrangements between the Austrian and Saxon governments, relative to this railroad,had not yet been completed. -Tr.FROM PRAGUE TO BUDWEIS. 73German and Slavonian in so indiscriminate a manner, as to make theirmeaning unintelligible to any one not familiar with both languages. Theseremarks do not, of course, apply to the more educated classes, who claimfor themselves the honour of speaking the Austrian- German better andmore correctly than the Austrians themselves; a similar claim is set upbythe gentry of Hungary, Croatia, and Slavonia, in the same way thatthe Courlanders and Livonians maintain, -and not without reason, -thatthey speak the North German dialect more purely and correctly than theNorth Germans themselves.I spent the whole morning in the study ofthe various systems of tortureto which my mother-tongue was subjected by the Bohemian mouths of myfellow- travellers. We dined at Miltschin, and shortly afterwards we arrived at Tabor, the celebrated stronghold of the Hussites in the fifteenthcentury. Many have supposed that the Hussites named the town and thehill on which it stands after Mount Tabor in Palestine, but Tabor is agenuine Slavonian word, that occurs in all the Slavonian dialects, andsignifies a piece of ground surrounded by a paling, whence it is figuratively used for an intrenched camp.The usual road passes not through Tabor, but close by the side of it,so that few travellers ever see the inside of the town; we, on our part,however, ventured to deviate from the general rule, and proceeded to takea nearer inspection of so interesting a locality.The Lusnitza, a tributary of the Moldau, by describing nearly a circle,has isolated an oblong hill from the surrounding country. On three sidesthis hill is steep, and surrounded bywater; on the fourth side art has cometo the aid of nature, to strengthen the place. On this hill, at an earlyperiod of the religious disturbances, some of the Hussites were wont toassemble, and to receive the chalice in the communion; but when theroyalists began to raise the cry of " heretic, heretic" against the Bohemians,and to burn all that fell into their hands, and when the Hussites, by wayof retaliation, clapped their German prisoners into tarred beer-barrels,and set fire to these in the public market-places; in a word, when theHussite wars broke out, the persecuted race endeavoured to obtain possession of strong places; and as those in royalist hands could not always be had for the asking, it became necessary to build fresh ones. Zizka, *not the less sharp-sighted for having but one eye, soon saw how well thismountain was suited to be the site of a strong fortress, which he lost notime in erecting there; and from the fortress of Tabor he made his devastating excursions against convents and castles, his adherents, from theplace of their residence, being generally called Taborites.The little city is still most curious to see, bearing even now the mostcomplete stamp of the age in which it was erected. The gates are narrow, and the double walls and bastions, which remain from the days ofZizka, present a striking contrast to the peaceful Catholic cloth- weaversthat now shelter behind those formidable works. The streets, as in mostof the old Bohemian towns, radiate from an open space in the centre whichserves as a market, and many houses of an antique castellated shape, continue standing. In front of one of these, at the corner of the market-place,stands an antique balcony, which is still called Zizka's pulpit, from which

• The name should be pronounced Shishka, or rather more softly, the Bohemian

z having a sound like the French j in jardin.74 FROM PRAGUE TO BUDWEIS.mayhe is said frequently to have harangued his warlike scholars. The townhouse is the most ancient of all the buildings. Within it are still preservedZizka's shirt of mail, his arms, and a quantity of old books, but we wereunable to obtain a sight of these curiosities, in consequence of the Burgo- master, who had charge of the keys, being from home. Cannon-ballsmay be seen in the walls of many of the houses, but can hardly belong tothe times of the religious wars. In front of the church is a bust in stoneof Zizka, and the grim features of the one- eyed hero likewise be seenon the façade of a private house. Zizka was of a middling stature, ratherbulky in shape, with broad shoulders, and a high chest. His head waslarge, round, and inclining forwards; his beard black and bushy, his mouthlarge, his nose thick, and his complexion brown. So indelibly have thesefeatures impressed themselves upon the Bohemians, that even now, afteran interval of four hundred years, the people of Tabor continue to cut portraits of Zizka in wood, as knobs for walkingsticks. I, too, bought oneof these Zizka sticks, upon which the Hussite chief is represented with aplain helmet on his head, and a bandage over his right eye, which he hadlost early in life. His left eye he lost at the siege of Rabi castle, where,a javelin striking a tree near him, a splinter flew aside and completelyblinded him. Nevertheless, he retained his command as general, thoughhe had to be led into battle by a guide; and it was, in fact, after his blindness, that he attained the zenith of his power, when he gained his victoryover the people of Prague, who, though Hussites themselves, had gotteninto a quarrel with the devastator of their country. Hereupon, he concluded a treaty of friendship and alliance with them, and their electiveking, Korybut, and so great was at this time the power of the blind chief,that the Emperor Sigismund offered him the government of the kingdomand the command of its army, if he would consent to recognise the imperial authority. During the negotiations that followed, Zizka, at theheight of his power, died suddenly of the plague.Every thing about the man, even from his birth, appears to have beenextraordinary. His mother was suddenly attacked by the pains of childbirth while in a forest, and Zizka was born with no shelter but that of atree. In his character he was savage and cruel, as much as he was valiantand eloquent. Bohemian writers say that the peculiarities of his style areas difficult to render into German, as are the refinements of Cæsar's eloquence. He rose from a comparatively humble station, to supreme powerin his native land, and gained thirteen pitched battles, several of whichwere fought after the loss of his second eye. The manner of his death wasalso remarkable, and so is the memory preserved of him to this day by hiscountrymen. The place of his birth is still pointed out as an unblessedspot, and the ground where stood the tent under which he breathed his last,remains uncultivated to the present day. Just as the history of Napoleonis known to all Europe, so is that of Zizka, in all its details, familiar toevery Bohemian, and there is scarcely a castle or a convent in the land,in which his portrait is not to be found.After the death of Zizka, his soldiers called themselves his orphan children, and divided themselves into four parties: the Orphans, the Taborites,the Orebites, and the Praguers. Bohemia was denominated the PromisedLand, and the surrounding German provinces were declared to be the landsof the Philistines, the Moabites, and the Idumeans. It was at this time,no doubt, that the large lake near Tabor received the name of Jordan, andTHE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG. 75the hill behind Tabor, that of Horel. As Tabor was the chief city oftheHussites, so it now became the scene of their worst excesses, which at- tained their culminating point in the wild extravagance of the Hussite sect of the Adamites. At Tabor too, where the Hussite wars had commenced, they were likewise brought to a close, for it was the last city thatsubmitted to the Royal States. It is said, that a remnant of the Adamite sect still exists in Bohemia, and that other Hussite sects have maintainedthemselves under such denominations, as the " Red Brothers," and the "Brothers of the Lamb. "From the foregoing it will be seen, that we had turned our time to goodaccount during our short stay at Tabor. At the next stage, the name ofwhich I have forgotten, I had an opportunity to see a Bohemian pheasantpreserve. Therearing of pheasants in Bohemia is carried on upon an enormous scale, as may be judged from an advertisem*nt which I saw, and in whicha certain Count Schlick offered three thousand pair of living birds for sale in one lot. In these preserves the pheasants are divided into wild andtame; the wild are kept in large woods, the tame under roof or in enclosedyards.The night was already far advanced when we reached Budweis, but inthat city, for the consolation of travellers be it known, the sun never ceasesto shed his light upon the benighted stranger, for the inn so named has alarge lamp burning conspicuously, from evening till morning in front of the chief entrance.THE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG.The southern extremity of Bohemia, the country round Budweis, isdistinguished, even in a land so rich in stately mansions and princely estates,for the magnificence of its castles, and for the extent of territory held byindividuals. Here it was that formerly dwelt the family of the Rosenbergs,a race so powerful, that several of the Bohemian monarchs wooed thedaughters for their brides. The Lords of Rosenberg frequently contractedmatrimonial alliances with the sovereign houses of Germany, and on oneoccasion we find the name of Rosenberg among the candidates for the Polish crown. At present the family is extinct, a circ*mstance that cannotbut seriously have afflicted Charlemagne, the Trojan heroes, Noah, andsundry others of the ancestors of so illustrious a line. It is certainly asingular coincidence, that the branch of the Rosenberg family which had been planted and had taken root in Courland, should have died away muchabout the same time as the main family-tree in Bohemia. Similar coincidences, however, are on record respecting other families, of which differentbranches established in distant countries have all become extinct nearly atthe same time.In the cellar of the Senate at Bremen there is a wine that by its greatage has acquired such an odour (so exquisite a bouquet as the connoisseurs of wine express it) that you need only pour a few drops upon your pockethandkerchief, and you will have no occasion for eau de Cologne for severaldays afterwards. Nobility seems to be like this wine-the older it growsthe more it is prized, and if its origin is lost in the dark ages it becomesquite inestimable. The last of the Rosenbergs, according to all the thingsthat are related of him, seems to have thought his nobility just such ajewel76 THE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG.of priceless value, but dear as it was to him, he was unable to bequeath itto a successor; for nobility, like genius, virtue, and learning, is not to be disposed of in a man's last will and testament. Unblessed with an heir towhat he most esteemed, the last of the Rosenbergs went to his grave, buthis sublunary possessions, his broad lands and stately castles found an heirsoon enough in the family of the Schwarzenbergs, who are now the undisputed lords of all the lands in which the Moldau and its tributaries taketheir rise.The most important of their castles and estates are called Krummau,Wittingau, and Frauenberg, and all that I had heard of the charms ofthese castles excited too much curiosity in me to allow me to neglect anopportunity ofpaying them a visit. What I saw far exceeded what I hadexpected to see.I paid my first visit to the one that passed for the least important, anddrove with an hospitable friend, a resident of Budweis, down the verdantbanks of the Moldau to Schloss Frauenberg, which stands on a rock by theriver-side, where it forms a conspicuous object to all the surroundingcountry.Upon the said rock there stands an old castle, and a new one of muchgreater splendour is rising by the side of it. Over the entrance to the oldone stands the inscription, Fructus Belli, referring, I believe, to the giftwhich one of the Austrian emperors, Ferdinand II. , if I am notmistaken, made of this castle and lordship , to one of his Spanish generals,Don Balthasar Maradas, Count of Salento. Under the gateway of the castle may still be seen a tablet, on which this Don Balthasar is styledComes, Dominus in Frauenberg. At present, however, the gateway issurmounted by a Turk's head, from which a raven is picking out the eyes.This is the crest of the Schwarzenbergs, who, like many Austrian families,carry Turkish emblems and spoils in their shields. The view from thecastle is unspeakably beautiful. The fields and meadows of the Moldaulie atyour feet, and farther on lies a plain, from the midst of which rise thesteeples of Budweis. The whole is bounded by branches of the mountainrange of the Bohemian Forest, and over the landscape lie scattered a number of villages, all of which belong to the lordship of Schwarzenberg. Towards the east the eye travels on towards Wittingau, another Schwarzenberg lordship.When the French Marshal, Bernadotte, visited the castle in 1805, (bythe by, the French must have carried away more agreeable recollectionsfrom this southern extremity of Bohemia, which they visited leisurely asvisiters, than they did from the northen part of which they obtainedonly a few hasty glances through the sulphurous smoke of Čulm; ) butwhen the marshal visited the castle, as I was saying, and the intendantpointed out the magnificent prospect to him, and then asked him what hethought of it, the marshal answered, " What strikes me as most wonderful is, that your prince should be lord and master over all I see. " And, infact, without being a French marshal of the days of the empire, whosefingers would naturally be itching at the sight, it is difficult for any one tolet his eyes roam from village to village, and from field to field, withoutsome little sensation of envy, without some slight approximation to a wishthat he were able to step into the Schwarzenberg's place. All the whileI was there, I was thinking of the old fairy tale of " Puss in Boots,"where,as the king and his son-in-law are driving . through the country, the catTHE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG. 77keeps saying, "Every thing you see belongs to our lord and master theprince, your majesty's son-in-law. "I am not aware that the old castle is yet in so ruinous a condition, thatit might not have stood, and kept out the wind and rain for many yearslonger; but when a man has 4,000,000 florins (£400,000) a year, asPrince Schwarzenberg is said to have, he is not expected to take as muchcare of his pennies as might beseem a thrifty cobbler; and as the prince ispassionately fond of Gothic architecture, it is very excusable in him to haveset aside 500,000 florins to build himself a new house according to his favourite fashion. When this new building is finished, Frauenberg will beone of the handsomest castles in Bohemia. The sandstone for the Gothicornaments comes all the way from Vienna. We saw standing in the courtyard a quantity of these stones, packed up in chests with as much care asif they had been so many loaves of sugar.Frauenberg is celebrated throughout Bohemia for its wild-boar hunts,which are carried on here, probably, on a grander scale than in any otherplace in Europe, and are, indeed, unique in their kind, like the Esterhazystag-hunts on the Platten Lake in Hungary. The menagerie or Thiergarten, in which the wild boars are kept, covers a space of a (German)square mile and a half; and even of late years, as many as 300 boars(a kind of game growing every day more scarce in Europe) have beenkilled at one of these hunting- festivals. The sport is carried on withextraordinary pomp, and something after the following fashion:Near the park in which the animals are kept, is a small reedy lake,bounded on three sides by gently-rising heights. On the fourth side the bank is low and swampy. This lake is the scene ofthe yearly slaughterings. On the swampy side of the lake, a high and hollow dike has beenerected, resting upon vaults, in which are confined the animals intended tobe hunted. By the side of the dike projecting into the water, are smalltribunes or balconies, in which the lords of the chase take their places. Onthe dike, ready, if wanted to afford assistance , stand the foresters andhuntsmen of the prince; all, from the head forester to the whippers-in,in splendid uniforms. There are not less than twenty of the prince's foresters , and 150 of his huntsmen present on one of these occasions.Theanimals are let out of their vaulted prison about fifty at a time, and, drivenby a crowd of peasants collected for the purpose, they immediately take tothe water, to conceal themselves in the reeds, or to swim towards the opposite hills, where they hope to find shelter in the forest. On the waythither they seldom fail to find their death from the constant fire poured inupon them by the gentlemen stationed in the balconies.I observed to my companions that this kind of sport seemed to me merebutchering, and must be very insipid and monotonous; but they assuredme it was full of pleasure and excitement, on account of the pomp withwhich the whole was conducted. In the centre of the dike there wasalways a full orchestra, and behind it an amphitheatre for spectators, ofwhom numbers came from all parts of the surrounding country. Themoment, they told me, when the sport was about to begin, when thetrumpets sounded, and the gates were opened to set the wild boars free,was one of great suspense. Then the situations in which the creaturespresented themselves to the fire ofthe hunters, were very varied. Sometimes the game would hide itself among the reeds, whence it would haveto be driven by the rifles; sometimes it would swim as a mere black speck78 THE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG.upon the water. Now one would swim directly toward a balcony filledwith its foes, and often a few would gain the opposite shore, and put thebest marksman to the proof to prevent their escape. Then, an old established law among German hunters requires that the creature's head shouldremain uninjured, and the hunters are often put to it, to avoid the penalties which an infraction ofthis law draws after it.In the plain below Schloss Frauenberg, and not far from the lake I havejust described, lies an old castle erected for the express purpose of bear- baiting. Such castles existed formerly in many parts of Germany, but have all disappeared now, with few exceptions. The building I am now speaking of is an extensive one, with apartments below for the huntsmenand keepers, with dens for bears and kennels for dogs, and large suites ofrooms above for the prince and his guests. A balcony, for the accommo- dation of spectators, projects into the courtyard, which is surrounded byhigh walls, and in which beasts of all kinds were formerly baited. The last great bear-baiting that took place there, occurred only sixtyyears ago.The principal saloon of this castle is hung all round with beautiful pictures by the celebrated animal-painter, Hamilton, and I believe the col- lection contains the best paintings he ever made. Hamilton spent theyears 1710 and 1711 with a Schwarzenberg, who arranged sundry bearbaitings, deer-stalkings, and boar-hunts, for the painter's sake, and thelatter had thus an opportunity, under peculiarly favourable circ*mstances,of painting these beautiful pictures, which may now be said to waste theirsweetness on the wilderness, being but rarely seen by an eye capable of estimating their worth. The pictures are all of the natural size, and thesubjects mostly—a stag overpowered by dogs, a bear battling it with his assailants, wild boars surprised in a thicket by hunters, and other scenes ofa similar kind; and all so full of truth, that as formerly Hamilton becamefor a while a recluse here to study the physiognomy of the huge beasts ofthe chase, so a modern painter, profiting bythe labours of his predecessor,might shut himself up in the castle for a while, and pursue a similar courseof study with infinitely more ease and convenience. The dogs in thesepictures are all portraits of animals famous in their day, and deserving even greater fame now that they have been transferred to the canvass,When the French were here, in 1742, they would fain have carried away the whole collection, but for some reason or other contented themselveswith cutting the best head-that of a wild boar-out of the best picture.The damage was repaired as well as it could be, but the scar is evident atthe first glance, and so is the inferior workmanship of the modern artist.After leaving Frauenberg, our next visit was to Schloss Gratzen, another fructus belli. The battle of the White Mountain, which gave Bohemiaback to Ferdinand, and which lost Frauenberg for the house of Malowitz,deprived the Protestant Lords of Schwamberg of their castle of Gratzen,which they defended valiantly for a while against the imperial troops.With the castle went also their seven ( German) square miles of territory.The confiscated estate was conferred on a Frenchman, Charles Bonaventura Longueval, Count ofBucquoi, and Baron de Vaux, whose descendantsstill possess it. The estate is entirely unincumbered, and is said to bringin an annual revenue of 700,000 florins, or 70,000%.There are three castles at Gratzen. One is the old fortress that was sostoutly defended by the old Baron von Schwamberg, another is the sum-THE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG. 79mer residence of the Count de Bucquoi, and the third is intended for theaccommodation of the Count's officers of state, in whose hands is the administration of the lordship. This central government of the estate iscalled the " princely court chancery," at the head of which are four"princely court counsellors." These Bohemian nobles exercise in fact amultitude of rights, which in other countries we are accustomed to lookon as the exclusive attributes of sovereignty. They confer the dignity ofcourt counsellors, grant privileges to their cities, and compose coats of armsfor them. The magistrates, however, whom they appoint, are obliged togo through the same studies, and submit to the same examination as thoseappointed by the state.We found the officers of the Bucquoi household paying compliments toone another at the entrance to a concert-room. Here, as on many of thelarge estates of music-loving Bohemia, a private band is kept, to give occasional concerts, and on the fêtes of the lord or lady of the castle to ac- company the organ in the church. Several pieces from Norma and othermodern operas were performed, and were executed with tolerable brilliancy,the gentlemen of the household were loud in their applause, and resolvedthat the concert should be repeated on the following Sunday, the birthdayof the young heir, when the money taken at the doors was to be applied tothe relief of the poor.We supped at the castle, where the conversation turned chiefly on twosubjects, partly on the Austro- Bohemian frontier, and partly on the greatfishponds, the most interesting feature in an economical point of view, ofthe large plain between Wittingau and Gratzen.In Northern Germany, we understand under the name of Austrian everyone who comes from any part of the great Austrian conglomeration oflands, provided he speaks German; but every well-educated Bohemian,Hungarian, Croatian, or Slovak, speaks our language quite as well as dothe people of Vienna or Styria. Here on the mountain border, however,the contrast between the Bohemian and Austrian, and their mutual antipathies were forced upon my attention. Of sympathies between neighbouring nations there is seldom much to be said. In Paris or Berlin indeed, a Bohemian and an Austrian may sympathize with each other, but athome they know of no such feeling. Not merely the common people inBohemia, but even the higher classes, participate more or less in thisaversion to the Austrians, and even the German part of the populationagree with the Slavonians in this, with whom in other respects they arelittle in the habit of singing in unison. Our evening party at Gratzen consisted almost entirely of Bohemian- Germans, yet I observed upon thecountenances of all of them a certain half- suppressed sarcastic smile, whenI undertook the defence of the Austrians. 66 Ay, ay," said one of them atlast, " honest enough they are, no canting hypocrites like the Italians, andhardworking enough too; but good God! " and here he shook his headwith a smile of evident satisfaction, " what unlicked cubs they are! Howawkward, stupid, and helpless in every thing! In short,” added he, “ itis a perverse and wrongheaded people. "On their part, the Austrians reproach the Bohemians with insincerity."A false Bohemian," is a common expression, and the Austrian generallydescribes the Bohemian as a gloomy, melancholy, uncomfortable creature .The antipathy felt by the Bohemian, however, is decidedly marked by more bitterness.80 THE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG.Afat carp, served in black sauce, composed according to a national recipe, of grated gingerbread, blood, and onions, led our conversationnaturally to the great fishponds of the neighbourhood. Gratzen has sixtyponds, the Dukedom of Krummau seventy, Frauenberg one hundred andforty-five, and Wittingau two hundred and seventy. Among these is the celebrated Rosenberg pond, which occupies nearly twelve hundred yoke ofland, from which and the other Wittingau ponds, no less than four thou- sand cwt. of carp are yearly taken, and sent chiefly to Vienna.I cannot say I ever made myself so familiar with the complicated systemof management to which the Bohemian fishponds are subjected, as I didwith the manner in which the fish were usually brought to table, still, as Iam not aware that any ofthe travellers who have preceded me have spokenat all upon the subject, I will endeavour to give a concise account of what I learned about it.The main point, it seems, is to take care that at different ages and atdifferent seasons, the fish be provided with the depth of water suitable to them, and also that the kinds of fish that do not suit each other should notbe put together in the same pond. Now, as it is impossible that one pondcan satisfy all these demands, the Bohemian landowners have brought theponds on their estates into a sort of connected system, and have given toeach class of ponds its separate destination.Firstly there are the brood ponds, (Brut, or Satz-teiche, ) in which theyoung fish receive the rudiments of their education. These ponds are smalland contain but little food, that the rising generation may not injurethemselves by gluttonous indulgence. In proportion, however, as thefinny babes improve in size, they are removed to the Streck-teiche, orstretching ponds, where the interesting little ones are to begin to stretchthemselves. Thence the creatures are removed into the large reservoirs called Kammer or Haupt- teiche. In winter the water is warmest at thebottom, in summer at the top; young fish, therefore, who require warmth,must often be put into deeper ponds in winter.It would of course be as absurd to put old pike and young carp into thesame pond, as to shut up wolves and lambs in one stable. Accordinglythere are separate ponds for each. When the carp, however, grow older,they are apt to grow lazy, and bury themselves in the mud, which preventstheir proper development; and then, by way of making them more lively,a few young pike are put into the pond, for the purpose of keeping theyoung republic in a state of healthful excitement, like opposition men in arepresentative assembly.It may easily be supposed that all these removals and minglings necessitate a great variety of occupations. Usually the work is performed inspring or autumn, and great care and caution are necessary. If, for instance, snow were to fall on a fish, he must on no account be put back intothe pond, but must be sent to market and sold for what he will bring. Ifa sudden frost covers the ponds with ice, great mischief is done to the fish,if air-holes are not immediately opened. If this is not done, the fish swarm to the surface, and even if they are not suffocated, they "burn" their finsagainst the ice. A scarcity of water, also, in case of a dry summer, causesgreat destruction in the ponds.The intendants of the ponds require, of course, at all times, to knowhow much water there may be, and poles marked with feet and inches aretherefore fixed in each pond. A few inches too much may easily occasionTHE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG. 81inundations to the neighbouring fields, and then the damage must be madegood by the owner of the pond.Immense swarms of herons, wild ducks, and other waterfowl frequentthese ponds, and the consequence is, that all the surrounding peasantrybecome practised marksmen. The birds are particularly watchful for thetime when the water is to be let out of a pond, on which occasion they fail not to feast upon the frogs and upon such fish as may happen to have remained in the mud. These, however, they are not left in undisturbedpossession of, for it is customary, when the owner of the pond has securedthe main tribute by means of nets, to abandon what is left to thepeasants. The pond inspectors give the signal for the scramble as soon asthe noble's boxes are thought to be sufficiently filled. The signal is for theinspectors to cry out Horzi horzi ( It burns, it burns); whereupon the crowd rush with loud cries into the mud, and drive the geese and herons fromtheir prey. The peasants obtain a good deal of fish in this way, andpreserve a considerable quantity for the winter, by smoking them.The geese and herons are by no means the only plunderers of theseponds, in which otters and beavers likewise abound, though less now thanformerly.On the following morning we started for Krummau, the most famousof all the castles in the neighbouring country, and certainly one of the mostinteresting of all the princely mansions of the Austrian monarchy, with adependant lordship of fifteen German square miles, and fifty thousand in- habitants . The dukedom of Krummau is one of those half-sovereigntiesof which there have at all times been several in Bohemia, as the dukedomof Friedland, which was given to Wallenstein; the dukedom of Reichstadt,with which Napoleon's son was invested; and the dukedom of Raudnitz,which belongs to the Prince of Lobkowitz.You enter the first courtyard by crossing a drawbridge, and passingthrough a massive stone gateway. The castle ditch was formerly occupiedby a number of bears, but these have of late years disappeared. In thesecond courtyard stands the guard house of the Schwarzenberg grenadiersof the body-guard, a corps of forty men in splendid uniforms, all in theprince's pay, and commanded by an officer who holds the rank of captain.In this courtyard I paid my respects to one of the officers of the castle,and told him I wished to see as much as possible of the place. He askedme, with a smile, how many weeks I intended to devote to the inspection,and I soon found, particularly after I had had a glance at the archives,that the question implied by no means an exaggeration. Fromthe secondI passed into a third, a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth courtyard.The castle looks as if no part had ever been pulled down during thewhole time that it has been successively held by the Rosenbergs, the Eggenbergs, and the Schwarzenbergs. The whole summit of the hill onwhich it stands is covered by a labyrinth of turrets, walls, and other buildings, in every imaginable style of architecture, with noble suites of rooms,such as we are accustomed to look for only in imperial palaces, and littlepoking holes, fit only for the rock-built nest to some robber chief of the feudal times. That the oldest part of the old buildings must be very oldindeed, may be inferred from the simple fact, that the most modern portion, the New Castle as it is called, is mentioned under that name in thearchives, as much as three hundred and fifty years ago.Our first visit in the interior was to the picture-gallery, in which are G82 THE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG.preserved the numberless portraits of the various members of the threenoble families to whom the castle has successively belonged. What afamily party they would make, if they could all step from their canvassand join in a merry festival! There would be ample room in the castlefor all of them; but there is only one of them to whom it is still given towander through the old halls and corridors, and this is Bertha von Rosenberg, the celebrated White Lady of Neuhaus, of whom a portrait may herebe seen as large as life.This Bertha, or Brichta, was married to a Lichtenstein, a family withwhich the Rosenbergs, like their successors the Schwarzenbergs, often arranged matrimonial alliances, even before the bride and bridegroom hadbeen fairly emancipated from the cradle. There are still such things asfamily sympathies and antipathies among the great houses in Austria, asthere were in the earliest times of which a record has been preserved, andsome of the family feuds that have been retained to the present day tracetheir origin to the middle ages. Now this Lichtenstein, the husband ofBertha, was a monster, and treated his gentle wife little better than Bluebeard did his . Often in the morning, it is said, Bertha's pillow was foundsoaked with her tears, and sometimes even with her blood. Before hermarriage she is supposed to have been as fond of the pleasures of the worldas most young ladies, but when it pleased Heaven to release her from hertyrant, she retired to the castle of her brother the Lord of Rosenberg, whoabout the same time had lost his wife, and with whom she lived thenceforthas a pious widow and a notable housekeeper. Her chief delight was to doacts of kindness to the poor, whom she was in the habit of calling togetheron certain days, for the purpose of entertaining them with a sweet dish(dulce mus it is called in the archives of the castle), and which still continues to be distributed . Attempts have more than once been made tosubstitute a money distribution, but the peasants have always stoutlyresisted such an innovation, which they are afraid " Bertha might take amiss.'It is only in more recent times that black has been adopted in Bohemia,from France and Germany, as a mark of mourning. Bertha, like all widowsof her time, wore white, which she continued to wear till death, when shewas buried in her white widow's weeds. To this she owed her name ofthe White Lady, by which she was known during her life , and under whichshe is now almost worshipped as a saint. The people of the surroundingcountry firmly believe that she continues to wander through the castlesthen belonging to the house of Rosenberg, that she looks about to seewhether the houses are kept in good order, and whether the poor receivetheir dulce mus regularly. In general, in these her wanderings, she isinvisible to every eye, but sometimes she is seen, a circ*mstance alwayssupposed to announce some great calamity to the family. On such occa- sions the country-people whisper timidly into each other's ears-BrichtaRosemberka khodi (Bertha von Rosenberg is wandering about), and adeath in the family is then confidently looked for . At Schloss Wittingauthere is a corridor, and at Neuhaus another, which Bertha is supposed tohave particularly selected for her nocturnal promenade; and few of theinmates are hardy enough to visit either of these haunted passages, exceptunder good escort, and with a sufficient illumination.To be sure, bydaylight, they most of them speak of the whole story in a very rationalmanner, as apopular fable; but I have my doubts whether even the heads ofTHE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG. 83the family remain altogether unaffected when the whisper flies about thatBertha has shown herself again to mortal eyes.There are three portraits of the White Lady, one at each of the threecastles of Neuhaus, Wittingau, and Krummau, and the three pictures areso exactly alike that two of them are evidently copies, but at each castlethe people maintain that they possess the original. Her countenance ispale and meager, and her features full of melancholy, but with a remarkably sweet expression. Her whole person is enveloped in a white garment.My guide was the captain of the body-guard, who, as we passed fromone suite of rooms to another, apologized for his imperfect knowledge ofthe great labyrinth of masonry, by telling me he had only been a year inthe house. The present head of the house of Schwarzenberg is a youngman, * who has abandoned all these stately chambers of a bygone time, andhas had a set of rooms fitted up for him with modern simplicity and comfort, in a corner of the great house. Then why, will you say, is not therest of the place turned to account, and made habitable for those, of whomthere are so many, to whom the shelter of a roof would be a blessing?Why, you see, my good friend, a large useless house is indispensable to theproper dignity of a great family, and the terms of the entailment do notallow a single corner of the mansion to be neglected.If you wish to have a proper notion of the importance of the lords ofthe castle in former days, you must go and have a look at the armory,where you will find the whole rows of trumpets and kettle-drums that werewont to mingle with the family revelry when a Rosenberg was married.There you will see a collection of the coins and medals struck at varioustimes by the family. My companion assured me that the Rosenbergs wereaccustomed to keep ready at all times arms for twenty thousand men, andthat the arms now in the armory would suffice for the equipment of nearlythat number, provided the greater part would content themselves with halberds, partisans, and battle-axes.The subterranean dungeons of the castle have been carved out of the rock with an immense expenditure of labour. We descended with torchesas if we had been going down into a mine, and came to the main shaft,which was nothing else but a deep broad well, cut into the solid rock, downwhich the prisoners were let by means of ropes. We threw stones into the dark abyss, and heard them strike the bottom after a few seconds. Wethrew down some whisps of burning straw; but, even by these means, wewere unable to obtain a view of the bottom. There are other dungeons,less horrible than the one described, but quite ugly enough in their way;yet one of them served at one time as a lodging to the German emperorVenzeslaus, who was locked up there, in 1402, by Henry IV. of Rosenberg. The Henrys of Rosenberg seem, indeed, to have been sad fellowsfor about one hundred years afterwards, another Henry of Rosenberg putthree magistrates into one of these dungeons, for coming, in the name ofthe supreme tribunal of the country, to lay claim to a portion of his estatefor the Lord of Schwamberg. The claim was founded on the will ofHenry's predecessor; but Henry denied the validity of the will, and madethe magistrates eat the documents with which they had come armed.Every particle-seals, signatures, and all -were they obliged to devour;

• Hewas born in 1799, and is, consequently, about 44 years of age.-Tr.

G 284 THE CASTLES AND ESTATES OF SCHWARZENBERG.and when they had finished their meal, they were set free, and, by way ofaccelerating their retreat, the dogs were let loose upon them.The castle contains a theatre, with a wardrobe sufficient for a dozentheatres; a riding- school; and an agricultural institution, which, everythree years, turns out about thirty practical and scientific farmers, who aremostly appointed to offices about the Schwarzenberg estates. Then thereare collections of natural history, a chemical laboratory, the castle church,&c. English castles may be more comfortable to live in; but they havelittle of the interest that pertains to one of these ancient Austrian piles,where remote antiquity is seen connected with modern times by an uninterrupted chain. At Krummau alone, with its legends and reminiscences, a moderately fertile writer might find materials for twenty ro- mances.The steep rock on which the castle stands is separated by a deep ravinefrom the remainder of the rocky plateau. Over this ravine runs a coveredbridge, at the end of which you come suddenly upon a beautiful gardenterrace, whence the view is ravishingly beautiful; the bold position of thecastle, as it looks down upon the little town of Krummau at the foot ofthe hill, producing a most peculiar effect. The Moldau forms almost acircle in the landscape; rushing, with great rapidity, by the foot of therock, and nearly surrounding the little town, in which the chief buildingsall date from the time of the Rosenbergs; at whose cost the churches andconvents were erected, as well as an old arsenal and an hospital, and ahouse which served as a retreat for the widowed lady of the castle, whenever a new lord entered into possession.Towards evening, after having enjoyed the beauties of the garden, weretired into the castle to partake of the hospitality of the civil and accommodating officers of the establishment-thedirectors, foresters, stewards,&c. To those who know how well these gentlemen live upon the possessions of the Austrian nobles, it will be less matter of surprise to hear ofthe handsome suites of rooms occupied upon this castellated rock by suchfunctionaries as the director of the castle, or the captain of the bodyguard. There are no less than fifty small gardens (or deputatgärten)dependant on the park, and understood to belong to the officers of thecastle. These are so numerous, that they have a coffee- house within thewalls for their own accommodation; indeed, so numerous are the employés,of one sort or another, on the estates of the Schwarzenberg, that theprinted list of them forms a tolerably thick octavo volume.Awood near Krummau is the only place in Bohemia where bears areyet to be found in a state of nature. They are preserved with some care,defended against poachers, and occasionally fed with horseflesh, though ingeneral they require no other food than the berries and roots which theyfind in the forest. They are mostly harmless, and no one now living re- members the time when a human creature or tame animal was torn topieces by them. The last man in the neighbourhood who had come intocollision with the bears died lately. He was passing through the forest,and seeing a young cub tumbling about on a grassy glade, he took it intohis head to carry the creature home. Soon, however, he saw to his horrorthat the mother had seen him, and was coming after him in full pursuit.He set his prize down immediately; but the mother, after having smelt andcaressed her little one, for a few instants, resumed the chase. The poorFROM BUDWEIS TO LINZ. 85fellow ran for his life, and was just in time to reach the entrance to aneighbouring farm, where he fell down senseless; and when the servantscame out to his assistance, it was found that the anguish and terror ofthose few moments had been sufficient to whiten his hair.FROM BUDWEIS TO LINZ.Budweis is completely a German city, though in Bohemia, and has theadvantage of being the highest point to which any of the tributaries ofthe Elbe is navigable. Within twelve German miles of this point liesLinz on the Danube, and the approximation of two such important navigable rivers has at all times caused a very active commerce to be carried on between the two cities. This commerce has of late years been promoted by many improvements in the navigation of the Moldau; improvements for which the country stands mainly indebted to the exertions ofMr. Lanna, a shipbuilder, whose timber-yard at Budweis no stranger oughtto leave unvisited. It was he who built the suspension- bridge at Prague,and it is owing to him that no less than seventy vessels so constructed asto suit the navigation of the Elbe and Moldau, arrive now every year atBudweis, and that there is even a regular river communication kept upbetween the latter place and Hamburg.One of the consequences ofthe favourable geographical position of Budweis was, that one morning early, at five o'clock, I repaired to the office ofthe railroad, with the view of embarking my person in a train about to start for Linz.The Linz- Budweis railroad is the grandmother of all the railroads onthe European continent; and, taking this into consideration , we must notdeem it matter of surprise to find it manifesting occasionally some symptoms of the debility of old age. It was the coup d'essai of Baron vonGerstner, who afterwards laid down rails in Russia, and died in America.He had great natural difficulties to contend with in the mountainousregion over which his road had to be carried. To overcome these difficulties he was obliged to make his railroad take so circuitous a route, thatthough the distance between the two towns, in a straight line, is notmore than ten (German) miles, the railroad has a length of seventeen.After arriving at Linz, the railroad is carried ten miles further toGmünden, for the convenience of the government salt-works at thatplace.The railroad from Budweis to Linz cost 1,700,000 florins. It consistsof a single pair of rails, with arrangements at intermediate stations to enable two trains to pass each other. The rails are partly of Styrian, butchiefly of Bohemian, iron; partly cast and partly wrought. In many places they seem sadly in want of repair. Some have been completelyworn away, others have lost their nails, and stand up from the woodensleepers to which they were originally fastened. Sometimes a very sensiblejolt of the carriages reminds the passengers of a striking difference betweenthe respective altitudes oftwo succeeding rails; at other times a drag mustbe put upon the wheels, to prevent the train from rattling down the hill attoo rapid a pace. My journey was performed immediately after rainyweather, which had made the rails extremely dirty and slippery; and I find,from a memorandum in my journal, that our wheels occasionally sunk into86 FROM BUDWEIS TO LINZ.the soft earth. It is evident from all this, that this railroad must have beenleft in a very neglected condition; but its importance to the commerce ofthe Danube is so great, that the government will be obliged, before long,to step in, and, by a timely treatment, endeavour to save this grandmotherrailroad from an untimely fate.The trains on this railroad are drawn by horses, and owing to the inequalities ofthe ground over which it passes, there is little likelihood thatsteam locomotives can ever be introduced there. One horse generallydraws two or three carriages; but sometimes two or three horses are yokedon, in which case the train consists of six, seven, or even eight carriages.On an average, a horse is able to draw from seventy to a hundred cwt. , ata slow walk; the trains for passengers travel at a smart trot.common road, in this mountainous district, a horse cannot well draw morethan twelve cwt.On theThe rich kingdom of Bohemia has been sadly neglected by Nature withrespect to salt, one of the necessaries of life. Every particle consumedwithin the kingdom comes from beyond the Danube; and this salt trade,one of the chief supports of the railroad, has likewise led to an active commerce in other goods. Merchandise of various descriptions finds its wayfrom Trieste and Southern Italy to Gmünden, to be forwarded by railroad to Bohemia.The terminus at Budweis is in the centre of the town close to the imperial salt-magazines, and to these magazines the travellers and the salt- bagsmust alike repair. It was, as I said, five o'clock in the morning when Imade my appearance there, and I found our little one-horse trains ready tostart, as they did almost immediately, at an easy trot, each having aboutfifty passengers in charge. The coachmen sat on their boxes smokingtheir pipes, and the draught was evidently so easy, that had the horsesbeen in the habit of indulging in the poisonous weed, they too might haveamused their leisure by " blowing a cloud" as they went along.On a railroad where the trains are drawn by horses you travel withless noise than you do either on one where you are hurried along by steamengines, or on a common road. I was, therefore, soon engaged in anagreeable conversation with my fellow- travellers , and we were able to discuss undisturbed every object that presented itself within the reach of ourconstantly varying horizon. At Leopoldschlag we reached the highest level of the road, and were there two thousand feet over the sea, and onethousand over the plain of Budweis. At this point likewise we quittedBohemia to enter Austria, and soon perceived symptoms of our havingarrived among a more industrious population than that we had left, thoughthis part of the archduchy of Austria is far from being its most populous or best cultivated district. Detached farmhouses become more numerous,and though the estates are still large, you see no longer so striking andpainful a contrast, as in Bohemia, between the castle of the prince and thepeasant's hut. Many of the peasants, on the contrary, have houses quiteas comfortable as castles, and most of them have a well-to- do look aboutthem.The family of which one hears as much on the Austrian side, as onedoes of the Rosenbergs and Schwarzenbergs on the Bohemian side of thehills, is the family of the Starhembergs who, from time immemorial, havebeen men of might on the Danube, and, in the middle ages, were ofteninvolved in sanguinary feuds with the Rosenbergs. At present, three richFROM BUDWEIS TO LINZ. 87Starhembergs dwell close together, -a prince, a general, and a count, -whose castles we had an opportunity of admiring as we passed along.Many interesting and picturesque views present themselves on the road,though upon the whole it is much shut in by woods. Just before reachingLinz, however, as we were rolling down a zigzag line into the plain, amagnificent prospect opened suddenly upon us. The plain of Linz, thepicturesque banks of the Danube, and the distant Alps in the background,combined to form a glorious picture, and while we were yet descanting onits beauties, we rolled onwards through the gates of Linz to the imperial salt-magazines, here, as at Budweis, the terminus of the road.UPPER AUSTRIA.LINZ. THE CARPET MANUFACTORY.WHEN, in the middle ages, an individual presented himself before theeyes ofhis fellow-men, it was known immediately, by the colour and cut ofhis garments, to what rank he belonged, and what was his vocation; butin our times, when superficially, that is, as far as the dress is concerned, allare more or less equal, —although the real distinction of persons, accordingto position, dignity, and wealth, are as sharply defined as ever, -a travellerin a simple brown frock-coat, entering a Linz manufactory, may be takenfor,—what may he not be taken for? particularly if his German accent soundsomewhat foreign to an Austrian ear. He may be a Dr., a Professor, aPrivy Councillor, or a military officer of high rank in civil costume-or an"Excellency" or perhaps, what would perhaps not be among the leastwelcome, he may be a traveller for a great mercantile house, come to makelarge purchases. "Assuredly," thought I, as a crowd of obsequious persons met me on my entrance into a noted carpet-manufactory, greeted memost courteously and expectingly, and hastened to display their wares, —assuredly some such fancies are passing through their heads." I held ittherefore to be my duty to explain to them, that in leaving my home, I hadleft behind neither kingdom, nor nabobship, nor lands containing 10,000souls, nor a capital of 250,000 fr. rentes; but that I stood there simply acurious traveller, or, if they would have it so, a traveller desirous of information, without any design whatever of purchasing, or carrying off any thingmore than could be conveyed by the eye and ear; whereupon, to my admiration, these people seemed to hold it no less their duty not to abate a particleof their hospitable Austrian obligingness, but rather to assist me the morezealously in viewing their labours and productions. I was the more curious about them, as I knew how considerable a part the Linz fabrics playin the Austrian manufactories, and to what importance they have lately66risen.As late as the year 1783, or 4, the Linz woollen- manufactures werenearly the only ones of the kind in the Austrian states. They were founded,I believe, at the end of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenthcentury, by a citizen of Linz, and are the oldest in Austria. This citizenmade them over subsequently to the so- called Oriental Company, whichhad a privilege for the preparation of woollen stuffs of all kinds.THE CARPET MANUFACTORY. 89The bad economy which reigned in the affairs of the company, and theprofuse expenditure in the erection of superb and unnecessarily large buildings, threatened the undertaking with ruin. To prevent the injury whichthe stoppage must have caused to the many individuals interested, thegovernment took the business under their own management, reserving tothemselves the privileges before granted to private persons. The intervalbetween 1740 and the total abolition of these privileges, may be consideredto have been the period of the greatest splendour of the establishment:there were employed at times more than 20,000 workmen, spinners andweavers, in Bohemia; and in Linz alone not less than 2000. The greatmind from which nearly all the new life in the Austrian body politic emanated, Joseph, abolished the privileges by which these 20,000 men profited,at the cost ofmany millions; and since that time, the workmen, scatteredover all parts of the monarchy, have founded manufactories in Brünn,Vienna, and other cities, and have laid the foundation of the now considerable woollen-factories of Lower Austria and Moravia.Since then, the Linz factories have declined, and their great barracklike buildings, stand partially empty and seem awaiting another destination. Two branches alone of the woollen manufactory have again struck root and prosper: that of carpets, and the printing of woollen table- covers.So much taste is here displayed in these articles, the colours are so lively andso lasting, that the productions of the Linz manufactories have obtainedconsiderable celebrity in the shop and the drawing-room. They havewarehouses in Leipzig, Prague, Milan, Vienna, Pesth, &c. , and exportshave even been made to France and England. Their extraordinarycheapness will no doubt lead to a further demand for these goods. Forfive or six florins* a most artistical and magnificent bouquet of flowersmay be purchased; while one of the quickly-fading productions of thegarden would cost double the money. Establishments for woollen printingare still rare in the world, and it is therefore the more cheering to learn that the art has already been brought to such perfection here. It seems to me,however, that they have been partly indebted for their progress to the influence of France; the designers, at least, are in part French, and thenewest drawings are made from designs received from Paris, which city, inthe invention of new shades, and in the arrangement of tasteful wreathsand groups of flowers, is certainly not to be excelled . The person, too, atthe head of the carpet printing, is of French descent.The name of this man is Dufresne. He took the trouble to show meover the table- cover department, and, as I visit such establishments muchmore on account of the men than of their productions, he became to me,in a short time, an object of much interest and respect. He halted in hisgait, and in speaking of his infirm limb, related the history of his life. Hisfather, a French emigrant, had sought refuge in Vienna, and there endeavoured to gain a livelihood by the establishment of a small cotton-printingfactory. An Austrian nobleman, Count X., a great friend to theFrench, lent him a small capital, and a corner of his house. The businessturned out well, the father hoped for the re-establishment of his worldlyprosperity, and the son, who had been born subsequently to the flight ofThe Austrian florin is equal to about two shillings sterling. The Rhenish florin is worth rather less. Ten Austrian florins are equal to one pound, or to twelve Rhenish florins.90 THE CARPET MANUFACTORY.his parents from France, was destined for the military service; butHeaven willed it otherwise; his horse fell with him, his leg was broken,and thenceforward he made up his mind to follow his father's pursuit.Soon afterwards, his father died, less wealthy than he had hoped to be,and the son found the business necessary to the maintenance of his mother.He studied how to improve it, and having one day met with some Englishwoollen printing, he never rested till he had not only imitated, but surpassed it. Having thus grown up in adversity, and being endowed with anactive spirit, he had made himself what he was when I sawhim, " Imperialand Royal Inspector of woollen printing," with a good salary.The manufactory which I inspected in M. Dufresne's company was exceedingly well arranged, clean, light, and in good order. In the large roomwhere the colour setters were busied, I read on a board conspicuously placed these words written in chalk: " With God's aid." " You are surprised?"observed M. Dufresne, "but you will see this is the chief point. Our businessis very laborious and difficult, and requires not only clever and thoughtful,but also diligent and conscientious workpeople. When I give a pattern toa colour setter, I give him also some direction how to proceed. He mustlisten and apply this cheerfully, but he must also consider well with whatcolour it will be best to begin and end, and give to these matters zeal andattention, as a painter would do; for I cannot attend to the detail, andmust trust much to the conscientiousness of the workmen, who by a singlecareless step might occasion great damage. On their side they must havefull confidence in me, and apply to me in all difficult points. All this isbest obtained when a man keeps in mind the words you see written there.It is said that the inmost soul of all art is religion and the fear of God, and our work is a kind of art. I take no workman of whose character I amnot certain; I pay far more heed to this than to their skill. And when I .have taken one into my employ I observe him closely, and note whetherhe works in a pious spirit. Many a one have I dismissed solely on account of his want of conscientiousness, and I believe the chest of the imperial and royal manufactory has been the gainer by this policy. Webegin in the morning with a short prayer, and those words are never effaced from the board. I have a design of inscribing on a tablet over thedoor, those fine lines from Schiller's Song of the Bell:' And when with good discourse attended,The course of labour cheerful flows,' &c.*and I believe money so laid out will yield a good interest. Now you see,sir, you know my way of thinking," added M. Dufresne, smiling and clapping me on the shoulder in a friendly manner, as I applauded what he hadsaid, and he further entreated me to write my name in his pocket- book asa memorial.The manipulation of the wool is one of the prettiest operations that canbe seen, and I think there must be more pleasure in working at carpets ina manufactory animated by so good a spirit than in wearing out thefinished product in dull company. The workman has the large white woollenfabric spread out before him, and by it the design, the coloured drawing.The different tints are set singly with wooden types, and the workman has

• "Wenngute Reden sie begleiten,

So fliesst die Arbeit munter fort," &c.THE MADHOUSE. 91soon the satisfaction of seeing the picture unfold itself with tolerable rapidity before him. There are about two hundred and forty different designsfor covers in this establishment. This number may at first appear small,but the difficulty of working a new pattern is very great. A peculiar planmust be pursued with every one, and of course for every one a new set ofwooden types made. Some of the colours are set abruptly one by theother, and some are partially covered and gently shaded into each other.In this manner, with ten pots ofcolour, twenty or thirty tints are producedon the wool. It is particularly difficult to judge where the single coloursmay be best placed, in order to prepare the wooden types accordingly.The true life, spirit, tone and softness are given to the colours by the hotvapour to which the fabric is afterwards exposed for a time.THE MADHOUSE.Near the woollen manufactory, and like it, by the side of the Danube,stands this edifice, which was erected long since, although the city hasbut twenty-five thousand inhabitants. I was accompanied by the obligingoverseer of the house, which, at the period of my visit, contained abouteighty simply insane patients. Among these were some that especially awakened my sympathy.One was a painter, a Tyrolese, who had distinguished himself in the warof freedom, and had received, in consequence, a small sum of money fromthe government. As he had shown from his youth taste and talent fordrawing, and had already studied it in some degree in Vienna, he appropriated this money to the expenses of a journey to Italy. In Rome, however, on comparing himself with the great living, and greater dead, masters, he became aware of the little he was likely to accomplish with thegreatest exertion. His anxious labours, unsupported as it appeared bytrue genius, induced a degree of morbid excitement; his efforts could notsatisfy him, and the masterpieces of art, which he saw daily before him,appeared in his eyes so many reproofs of his own incapacity. He was nota bad draughtsman, and had he stuck to the pencil, he might have becomea good mathematical or architectural artist. Unfortunately he did notpossess the prudence so many want, that of contenting himself with hisown modest portion of talent, as God had given it him, and putting it tousury in the prescribed direction. In the exertion to become a distinguishedpainter, and reach a height unattainable to him, he destroyed himself.În despair he fled from Rome, and returned to his friends-a madman.He now fancies that oil- colours are baneful to him and full of poison.sight of an oil-painting causes him the greatest suffering, and every thingthat tends to remind him of brush or palette must be carefully kept out ofhis sight. He takes a pleasure in the use of the crayon and blacklead-pencil,and several of the patients have had their portraits sketched by him, very good likenesses, hanging up over their beds. I found him occupied indrawing a pretty little landscape, and he himself assured me, with a friendlysmile, that it was his peculiar misfortune to suffer so much from oil- coloursthat he should die on the spot if he only smelt them. Rome, Raphael,and Correggio he had quite forgotten. In madness itself there is a kindof happiness and tranquillity; the condition that precedes it, the struggleThe92 THE MADHOUSE.between reason and frenzy, must be infinitely more terrible . What chambers of torture must the studios and galleries of Rome have been for this man! The becoming mad must be like an active conflagration, but thebeing mad must resemble the condition of the burnt-out edifice, more fearful, perhaps, to the spectator, but far less frightful to the sufferer than the former convulsion.In another room a poor lunatic was busily rubbing a brass ring. Hetold us with great glee, that it was becoming brighter and brighter, andthat the gold would soon appear. The director told us, he had been rubbing that ring for weeks together, and every day asserting the same thing;a prize in the lottery had been the original cause of his calamity. He hadwasted his money in idle extravagance, and in a short time all was gone but a few hundred florins. These he made use of to purchase fifty moreshares. They came up all blanks, and the gulf of ruin he saw yawning before him deprived him of his reason. Since that time he has employedhimself in polishing brass rings in the expectation of their turning togold.In all the Austrian lunatic asylums, we hear wonders of the Douche orcold water cure, and, in Linz, accordingly, we were told of a striking cureperformed by the help of this remedy in the course of the preceding summer. A man labouring long under the deepest melancholy, and aprey to monomania of all kinds, which ended in periodical fits of perfectfrenzy, was completely cured in the course of three weeks by the Douche,and dismissed to his fellows as a reasonable being.Here also, behind an iron grating, we saw some poor wretches whosemadness had already cost the lives of several fellow-creatures. Among them were some of whom it was doubtful whether their deeds should beatoned for on the scaffold , or their correction sought for in the madhouse.The story of one was particularly horrible . This person was a citizen ofLinz, noted some ten years before for an unconquerable dread of spectres and witches. In every strange noise, and every unusual appearance, hefancied the presence of supernatural influences; even his own wife, if sheappeared unexpectedly before him, was sometimes taken for a spectre. Hiswife was accustomed to laugh at and ridicule her husband for these puerile terrors. On one wild and stormy evening, when all the vanes and windowshutters shook and rattled fearfully, she said to him, " There you foolishman, some of your witches will certainly come to fetch you to-night."The night came on, and the unhappy man became more silent and terror- stricken. At a late hour one of the children awoke, and the mother, unable to still it cried at last, " Sleep you witch's brat, or I'll kill you. "These thoughtless words acted like an electric spark on the dark fancies that lay brooding in the troubled brain of the miserable man. Armed withahatchet, he sprang to the cradle of the child, crying, " Yes, yes, witch's child! Kill it! Witches are all around us and about us! I'll kill ye all."His weeping wife and shrieking children were all murdered one after the other, and then a poor maid-servant. He then barred all the doors andwindows to keep out the evil spirits that might be without, and watchedthe whole night through, armed with his hatchet, by the bodies of the supposed witches. The sun was standing high in the heavens, when theneighbours saw him crossing the street bearing the corses of his children,dripping with their gore. He called out that they were witch's children,JESUIT SCHOOL. 93whom he was going to throw into the water. He was immediately seizedas a furious and mischievous maniac, and has been ever since confinedin the grated cell where we beheld him crouching before us in the straw.JESUIT SCHOOL.If the object of the Lunatic Asylum be the restoration of the crazed toreason, the Jesuit school may be held in some respects as one for rendering crazy those whom nature has made rational, at least if we share the opinionsof many of the enlightened of our times with regard to the Jesuits. Linzpossesses one of their schools, oddly enough installed in one of those celebrated towers or citadels which surround the city with their stronggirdles. The Archduke Maximilian, who planned and built these towers,gave the Jesuits one ofthose first built, for an experiment, and at his owncost, on the Freiberg. The Maximilian towers are large, round buildings,with thick walls, as great a portion of them being sunk under ground asappears above it. Below the level of the soil they contain several stories,while above it they rise but a few feet, and these are partly covered withturf, so that from without, by the additional shelter of a gradually elevatedwall, they are scarcely to be seen. The balls of the enemy must for themost part fly harmlessly over them, while their own, discharged from cannon rising but a few inches from the sod of the bulwark, and hidden besides in deep hollows in the walls, must burst quite unexpectedly out of the grass. All the towers, to the number of seventeen or twenty, stand ina certain regular connexion with one another, yet each is susceptible ofindividual defence, if the chain were broken, and could pour its fire on anadvancing enemy as well from one side as the other. Really, if the illustrious and deeply experienced inventor were not known, one might fancythis defensive system the invention of the Jesuits themselves.In these fortresses the fathers are now firmly established, after makingsuch changes as their own wants and taste dictated. On the thick bombproof ground-walls they have reared two additional stories; the interior ofthe fortress is laid out cheerfully, the exterior washed over with an agreeable red colour; every door bears the initials J. H. S., and every niche ofthe walls, where formerly cannon were lodged, is changed into a sleepingand sitting room for the accommodation of the pupils or the superiors, attainable by elegant winding staircases running round the interior of thebuilding. In addition to the towers a garden was bestowed on them,which is most diligently cultivated, and a second piece of ground on theforemost point of the Freiberg, where they have built an elegant smallchurch in the Gothic style.The most striking piece of furniture in this church is a magnificentthrone-like seat with a canopy, both so bedizened with gold, that one canscarcely believe it destined for a place of prayer, and for those who shouldset a conspicuous example to the flock, of humble devotion to God. But so itis. " It is the throne of the superior," answered the Jesuit lay- brother,who was in the church, and of whom I had inquired if this were destinedfor the emperor or any other illustrious person occasionally visiting them.The church is further decorated with several new pictures, representingscenes from the life of a newly-canonized Jesuit of the name of Hieronymus;one, representing him with the sacramental chalice in his hand on the seashore, and obtaining for the Neapolitan fishermen a miraculous draught;94 JESUIT SCHOOL.another depicting him, cross in hand, checking the fiery eruption of Vesuvius.These and other pictures were lighted, not by side windows, but from the roof,according to the new fashion. When such objects are found covered withdust in an ancient half-ruined cloister, or in a picture-gallery, from a longmouldered pencil, one finds nothing amiss in it; but I cannot deny that itmade a most disagreeable impression on me, to find them decorating thewalls of a modern temple, and purporting to be the events of our own day.I do not think, however, that the Jesuits have made any great progressof late in Austria. Complaints are certainly heard that the nobles are toomuch devoted to them, but that they should ever obtain their former position is almost impossible. All enlightened persons, of whom there are undoubtedly many in Austria, have decided against them; even the lowerclasses make zealous opposition . Nevertheless the Jesuits have begun tospin their strong yet subtle nets. They are most numerous in Galicia.In Hungary there are none at all; in the German provinces there are three"houses, " one in Gratz, one in Linz, and one at Inspruck. They haveacquired most influence in the latter city. Not long ago the Gymnasium there was given up to them, and teachers supplied from their body,and since that time many complaints have been heard, that it is no longerthe ability of the pupils, but the rank and credit of their parents which decide their advancement.Each of the " houses" has a superior, a " minister," the superior's deputy and assistant, several priests (seculars), and some lay- brothers tocultivate the garden, attend to household affairs, and be serviceable in many other ways. The superior of the Linz house was absent on a " journeyof business" at the time of my visit. The minister was in the confessionalchair, where I saw him with his features concealed, listening to a kneelingpenitent. I went afterwards, accompanied by a priest, who obliginglyoffered his services, to see the interior of the building. Wepassed throughthe schoolrooms and others appropriated to the pupils of the institution.They live two and two together, (in some of the rooms there were three, )agreeably to the principles of the Jesuits, that no member of their ordershall be left without the company and assistance of another. No brotherof the order ever receives permission to visit the city alone, he must alwayshave another brother, his " Socius, " with him. According to thisregulation no Jesuit can ever be entangled in a dispute or struggle of anykind without being sure of help. Hence, wherever there is a Jesuit he isdouble-headed and four-armed, and beyond a doubt this is one of the mostpolitic laws in their code. Even the lay-brothers have also each of themhis " Socius." They remind us of the Spartan legion, which was so unconquerable, principally because it consisted entirely of pairs of fraternalfriends linked together for life and death. Two men so bound to eachother, yield a much greater amount of power than two separate individuals; as two cannon-balls linked together by a chain produce a muchmore terrible effect than when fired singly. At present there are thirtyJesuits in the Linz house, nine of whom are priests, nine lay-brethren, andthe rest novices. They are nearly all Germans."We are recruited principally from German Bohemia, " said my attendant priest, as we stepped out on the broad and beautiful platform of the tower to enjoy the magnificent prospect; "thence come the greaternumber of our pupils. We have reason to rejoice so far, but this is not tobe compared with our progress in Belgium. There not less than eighty-JESUIT SCHOOL. 95four young, and several elderly men, entered our order in the course oflast year. We have fewor no Slavonians in our house. In Linz we havemade no great progress, hitherto; indeed we possess nothing here but thishouse provisionally. The Florians have still the Gymnasium. We aretherefore here only provisionally, and ad interim, and educate our pupilsadinterim," (is there no roguery concealed behind this ad interim? thoughtI, ) " in the hope that in time a wider sphere of influence will be opened tous. We employ ourselves ad interim with the sciences, yet we think that ifweform useful subjects, they must in time be made use of. The houses of ourorder in Austria do not form as yet an organized and individual province,but we hope it will soon take that form. In Vienna we have not yet received permission to establish ourselves; the cause may be the old prejudicesagainst us, and a lurking remnant of a belief in the disorders attributed toour order: but we hope that in the constantly increasing enlightenment ofthe times, these prejudices will die away. I have read all the bookswhich have been written for and against the Jesuits; for the order wasalways an object of great interest to me; and since I have myself belonged to it, I have been amazed at the unfounded accusations andbitter persecutions to which it has been exposed. God be praised, we havefallen on better times, and people have already begun to acknowledgetheir earlier injustice. When our order was dissolved, at the close of thelast century, the canonization of not less than eighty distinguished Jesuitsthen in progress was interrupted. In later times, seven of these causeshave been taken up again, and brought to an end. By the two last popes(the present and his predecessor), seven Jesuits have been canonized, orpronounced blessed. Among these was the celebrated Canisius, whoseservices in Germany have been so great. At this moment another isabout to be pronounced blessed, who suffered martyrdom on his missionto Poland. He was slain there by the barbarians in the middle of theeighteenth century. The cause has been long in hand; but as suchmatters are proceeded in with great circ*mspection, their progress is necessarily slow. The documents proving his purity of life, and his blessedand worthy end, are all forthcoming; but exact and authentic intelligenceof the death of his " Socius," who accompanied him on his mission andsuffered with him, are yet wanting; and these, according to our laws,are absolutely necessary to the canonization of a Jesuit. We hope, however, that these supplementary points will speedily be cleared up, when theHoly Father may follow the impulse of his heart, and bestow the crown ofmartyrdom upon this excellent man. ”full My Jesuit friend had pronounced the word hope, at least, four or fivetimes, whence I should conclude that the Jesuits of our day are veryof this agreeable feeling. Often, however, as the Jesuit appeared, I hadno fault to find with my companion; but as I looked on the turf-covered,bomb- proof, and cannon-bristling towers of Linz, and compared them withthe smiling, decorated building, in holiday attire, of which the Jesuits havetaken possession, I thought also how quickly such a smooth, friendly, andcourteous man of peace might be metamorphosed into a rude, hostileantagonist in times of strife and trouble, and how certainly we two friendlyinterlocutors would then find ourselves opposed to each other.From our lofty stand, we commanded an extensive view over the Austriaso rich in hope for the Jesuits. The city of Linz, with its black roofs, layat our feet; and in the distance, on the magnificent plains of Lower96 PROVINCIAL MUSEUM.Austria, gleamed the cloister of St. Florian. The noble Danube flowed,in its winding course, through this beautiful land to Vienna, attended, nodoubt, by many a longing sigh of the Jesuits, wafted towards the stately"Residenz." Towards the south, the plains swelled, by degrees, into hillsand eminences, which lay like shadows in the foreground, backed by the sharply-defined and majestic Alpine chain of Rhotia and Noricum.PROVINCIAL MUSEUM.Among the many national museums and collections of provincial rarities,which have arisen within the last ten years in all parts of the Austrianmonarchy, in Prague, Pesth, Gratz, Laybach, &c. , one has taken root inLinz, whose object it is to collect and preserve in a separate museum allthat can have reference to the history and natural productions of Austria.Formerly, all such things found in any of the provinces of the monarchywere sent without exception to Vienna. The provinces considered them- selves as the lawful possessors of such curiosities, and looked upon theirremoval as little better than robbery. No doubt jealousy ofthe all-grasping capital caused the neglect of much that might have been collected. Înfact, objects of this kind can only be properly estimated in the place oftheir nativity. Many have provincial value and significance alone, and are quite worthless and unnoted in an extensive general museum. Fewcitizens embrace the whole state in their patriotic sympathies; the interestof the greater part is limited to the narrow circle of their homes.The Linz museum has now six rooms filled with antiquities, coins, petrifactions, fossils, stuffed animals, minerals, books, and industrial productions, and in the treatise published every year a light has been thrown onmany a dark corner of Austrian history, which would probably not havebeen done if the bureau for the advancement of such purposes had remained at Vienna.None of the antiquities I saw here interested me more than the shield of a Roman warrior, and a Roman brick. The shield was from the celebrated shield manufactory which the Romans had at the mouth of the Ens,and from which the greater part of the legions on the Danube were sup- plied with arms. The Austrians have at present for the supply of theirDanube army, a similar manufactory in the city of Steyer, not far from theEns, where pikes, guns, and pistols are the weapons now made instead ofspears and shields. The brick attracted my attention from the traces ofdust and of straw, and the mark of the workman's fingers, which were still visible on its surface. An accidental puff of wind probably scattered thebroken straw upon the brick while it was yet soft, the workman kneaded it in, and thus the memorial of the unheeded motion of a careless hand hasremained undestroyed for centuries . In the invisible physical laboratory of the human world trifles are often perpetuated from analogous causes.The Romans had their principal station on the Danube, at Linz (Lentium); and in fact it is a position that will continue to be occupied so long as the land is inhabited. The Danube here issues from a narrow mountain-pass, into a rich and beautiful plain, in which roads branch off in everydirection, and traverse the broad valley of the Traim, joining that of theDanube, in the neighbourhood of Linz . The division even of the countryinto the province above, and that below the Ens, is old and of RomanTHE MONASTERY OF ST. FLORIAN. 97origin. The whole land was called Noricum ripense; all that lay below theEns, the Romans called the lower towns and castles, and those above, thetowns and castles of Noricum ripense.THE MONASTERY OF ST. FLORIAN.One morning, in company with a new acquaintance, I stepped into astellwagen bound for Ebelsberg, a small market-town at the mouth of theEns. Athick morning vapour covered the whole valley. My companionhad justly calculated the movement of the foggy particles, and said to meafter a time, "We shall have a most beautiful day;" and in fact, as we approached the more elevated neighbourhood of Ebelsberg, we left the fogbehind us, and had as he had prophesied, the finest weather we could have desired.These public carriages (stellwagen) have been introduced in Linz withinthe last ten years, and now run in every direction from that city. Tenyears ago, ifa person wished to go from Linz to Steyer, and was at all inhaste, he must have paid five florins, and given abundance of good wordsbesides. Now he can go for about forty pence, and the vehicle makesthe journey twice a day.66My object was to visit the renowned convent of St. Florian, and alsosome of its peasants so well known for their opulence. I left Ebelsberg,therefore, on foot, and, striking into a by-road, proceeded deeper into thecountry. A little countryman who had bought a nook of land from thelords spiritual, and had therefore some business to settle with them, went with me, and we soon came in sight of the stately abbey which stands ona hill. The fields and meadows, the orchards, and all around announceda system of careful cultivation. A storehouse, an apothecary's shop, atavern, and an hospital, all attached to the abbey, lay at the foot of thehill. I praised the arrangement of all these to my peasant companion.Ah, " said he, " yes, yes, the holy fathers, they are clever fellows, theylook after their affairs, and keep things under their own eye. " In thevillage stood two waggons with four horses, each laden with six- and-twentycalves. The poor creatures lay with their legs bound, and their headshanging down in a most painful position. Some had wounded themselvesagainst the ironwork of the high wheels, by the constant convulsive twitching of the mouth. I suppose there was no society in the abbey for theprevention of cruelty to animals. I looked from the poor calves to thepicture of the Madonna, which hung from the corner of the abbey tavern,and read beneath these words: "Blessed is the holy and immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. "I had heard much beforehand of the grandeur of the Austrian abbeys,standing like a magnificent chain of palaces, mostly on the right side of the Danube as far as Vienna; but I must confess that when I trod theinterior courtyards and chambers of St. Florian's cloistered palace, my expectations were far exceeded by the reality. The principal part is built ina most superb style, from a plan of the time of Charles the Sixth, and isalmost finished. To be almost finished has been the destiny of almost allthe stately erections of that ruler, who died ten years too soon, as the zealfor building in the Gothic style did by a hundred. However, in St.Florian's abbey, it is but little that is wanting.H98 THE MONASTERY OF ST. FLORIAN.Few monarchs in Europe can boast of being so grandly lodged, whetherin reference to the form or material of their dwellings, as the " regularAugustine chapter of St. Florian in Upper Austria." On either side ofthe lofty entrance, broad marble steps lead to the principal floor, and corridors above a hundred feet in breadth run round the various wings of thebuildings that surround the four quadrangular inner courts. The corridors,as well as the outer passages, and the floor of the great hall, are elegantlypaved with black and white marble, and everywhere the cleanliness is soperfect, that every atom of dust must be remorselessly pursued with brushand broom . As I paced these corridors , the water splashing in the midstof the courts, the rays of the sun playing through the countless archedpassages, casting rich lights and shades upon the polished marble beneath,I thought if the pleasure of a stranger in wandering here was so great,what must be that of the owners, the fathers of St. Florian? In the corridors are the little doors they should be, but they are lofty portals, leading to the monks' cells, to the apartments of the prelate, to the emperor'shall, the library, the cardinal's chambers, and others.I was really somewhat embarrassed which door to attack first, for I wasafraid of disturbing some personage of importance turn whither I would.At last, wiping the dust carefully from my feet, I chose a cell at random,and found, in the person of the father and professor Kurz, so celebratedthroughout Austria, for his learning and historical works, the very bestguide to lead me through this labyrinth that my good angel could have led me to.The great convents and abbeys in Austria have been, at all times, thenurses and cherishers of science and of art; in every one is to be found amuseum of natural history, a noble library, and, generally, a picture-gallery; and each boasts its celebrated names, either of those who have longdeparted from this world, and live only in the affection and respect ofposterity, or of those still living, and actively engaged in the service of their order. Of the latter class is the reverend Father Kurz, a kind and venerable old man of seventy- two, who now advanced to meet the intrusivestranger. He was for a long time professor of history in the Gymnasiumof Linz, and has written some learned works on Austrian history. At present, borne down by years and feeble health, he has retired to his cellwhere he busies himself with lighter literary labours, and the affairs of the convent. I found with him a couple of peasants, who had come to requesthis advice respecting a lawsuit, and a peasant-girl asking him for some medicine for her sick mother.I know not whether we North German protestants entertain very justnotions respecting the influence, the sphere of operation, or the businessand manner of life of the monks of the great Austrian Augustine and Benedictine convents; nor whether our opinion of them may not be too unfavourable; and I shall therefore permit myself a few remarks on the subject. It would be highly unjust to consider such establishments, simply as the retreats of lazy monks, whose sole employments are praying and eating.On the contrary, the manifold relations in which such a convent stands tothe external world, and the great sphere of activity connecting it, withnearly every phase of life, have opened the way for the cares, the business,and the vexations of humanity, and paved for them an easy entrance to thecells of these monks; these, consequently, are busy men of the world, rather than feasting and praying anchorites; and if they are worried some-THE MONASTERY OF ST. FLORIAN. 99what more at their ease than other people, they have to bend like other Christians under the common burden. It is only a small minority of themembers of such a house that are commonly resident within its walls.In St. Florian only twenty-one out of its ninety-two fathers were dwellers there at the time of my visit. The rest were almost constantly absent ondifferent employments and missions, some as parish priests in their respective parishes, some as instructors in schools, professors at the Gymnasia, oras stewards and overseers of the lands of the abbey, which must all be ad- ministered and overlooked.As teachers and professors, they must submit to examinations like otherpeople, and as agriculturists they are as responsible as others in similaremployments. Those who remain in the convent are either the old andfeeble, or those who have their employments in the abbey itself. One ismaster of the household, and has the kitchen, the stable, &c. , under hisdirection, another is master of the forest, a third, librarian and director of the museum. Some of the convents which possess observatories, have alsotheir own astronomers, who, as professors of astronomy, teach the science in the convent. The observatory of Kremsminster has long been celebrated, and almost every person here can tell which father is now at the head of it. Even the old and feeble find much in their cells to interestthem in the sayings and doings of the world without. They are the friendsand patrons of many far and near, who visit them frequently to ask counsel and assistance. The prelates, -—so are styled the heads of the great convents,—the prelates, if not princes by birth, live like princes, and have theusual allotment of business and influence, cares and crosses, that fall tothe share of princes. They have their banquet-halls like them, but alsotheir halls of audience and rooms for business, whence they overlook anddirect the affairs of the convent. They are also frequently members of theprovincial states, and hence, although monks, are entangled in some measure in the contest of politics. The whole range of great abbeys in thevalley of the Danube may be looked upon as among the most distinguishedpillars of the Austrian state edifice; and not only its supporting pillars,but also the foundation and corner-stones of that edifice. These religiousfoundations, founded in the earliest ages of the Austrian sovereignty, werethe very strongest elements in the formation of the future archduchy.the middle ages, the abbots of those convents often furnished the most considerable reinforcements to the Austrian armies, and at a later period, oneof them contributed as large a sum as eighty or a hundred thousand florins to the expenses of a war. At the commencement of the reign of MariaTheresa, she could obtain from the bank of Genoa the three millions sherequired, only on condition, that the Austrian abbeys would be her security.On almost every house-wall in Austria a St. Florian is painted, emptying a pail of water over a burning house, as its protecting saint; piousverses are sometimes inscribed beneath, recommending the house to hisguardianship, and sometimes verses any thing but pious, as the fol- lowing:" House and home trust I to Florian's name;If he protect it not, his be the shame."InBut of late, the signs and tokens of the Vienna and Trieste Fire AssuranceCompanies have made their appearance by the side of St. Florian, whose credit appears to sink as theirs rises. St. Florian was a heathen, and aH 2100 THE MONASTERY OF ST. FLORIAN.Roman centurion in the time of Olim. Here in the camp by the Danube,his mind, bent on serious matters, and withdrawn from the frivolities ofRome, may have been duly prepared for the seed of the Christian religion;but how it fell, and how it germinated, the legend says not. EnoughFlorian became a zealous Christian, confessed and preached the new doctrine, and was in consequence condemned as a rebellious and franticinnovator by his general, Aquilius, and beaten to death with clubs on theshores of the Danube. His body was thrown into the water, where it remained till the princess Valeria, the daughter of the emperor Dioclesian,withdrew from the embraces of the river nymphs the remains of a saintknown and honoured as far as the Turkish frontier, and in theyear 304, buriedthem in the place where now the abbey stands. His long acquaintancewith the water nymphs of the Danube, it may be, which has rendered himso peculiarly fit for a fire extinguisher." You may believe what you please of this story" said my guide to me," but you will find it not only in black and white in our old chronicles, butalso in bright colours in our picture-gallery, where we have the wholehistory represented in a series of twenty paintings." The In the library of the convent there are forty thousand volumes.hall is large and beautiful, a hall worthy of the muses, as is always the casein the Austrian convents of the first rank. Except Gottingen, I know noGerman university which has so splendid an apartment for this purpose asSt. Florian's . With respect to the collection itself, it is naturally somewhat different. The chief part, of course, is composed of theology. Thefathers are in full force, some of them in the splendid Paris editions . Otherbranches of knowledge have not, however, been neglected. The censorship of the press affects this convent but little. For them there is no forbidden fruit, and the convents are exactly the fittest asylums for writingspersecuted by the censor; works, which in any other library, or in a bookseller's shop, would be seized by the police, are frequently to be found incloisters where such unquiet productions are held to be in the quietest place.The monks know how to arrange these matters, only taking the precautionsometimes of placing such writings on the second row, behind others, or onthe topmost shelves. The influence of these fine collections cannot begreat, as they are the private property of the convents, and the books arenever lent out. Nevertheless, they are interesting with a view to thefuture; it is well to know where such literary materials are to be lookedfor; doubtless, the day will come when another Joseph will throw thesenoble halls open to the public, and declare their contents the property of the state. On this account I was glad to find everywhere a goodly assemblage of our German historians, down to Luden, Menzel, and Pfister.The Monumenta Germanorum are also not wanting. An historical-geographical work on Lower Austria, in thirty volumes, put me in a terriblefright. If this work, like Meidinger's Grammar, should arrive at a twentieth edition, one might cover a good portion ofthe three hundred ( German)square miles of Lower Austria with the paper. If we were to use all thewaste paper of this kind in Germany we might cover the whole surface ofthe globe, and perhaps paper up the sun besides.The Florian convent owns not less than seven hundred and eighty- sevenhouses and farms, or, as they express it here, so many " numbers, " and yetit is only a " three- quarters" cloister. The greater number of the convents are only " half" or 66 quarter. " Kremsminster is one of the few " entireTHE MONASTERY OF ST. FLORIAN. 101be acloisters." I never could learn from what measure these expressions ofhalf and whole, &c. , which are in constant use among the people, are taken,nor could the fathers themselves give me any information. Perhaps itmay mode of speech, remaining from the times when the convents wererated for military contributions; Florian must then have paid fifty thousandflorins, where Kremsminster paid eighty thousand. In those times, an archduke of Austria sometimes resided as a guest at St. Florian's, withfour hundred and fifty horsem*n and horses; the present emperors comemuch more modestly attended. The convent is in constant readiness for such visits. Here, and in all other Austrian convents, there is a suite ofrooms called "the imperial apartments. " The number of illustriousguests that have visited the Augustine lords spriritual, from the emperorArnulph the child, downwards, is countless -among them was PrinceEugene, the high-hearted conqueror of the Turks. He slept here, duringhis stay, on a splendid bedstead, at each of whose four corners a Turkishprisoner was chained in effigy. Pictures of the battles of Zenta, Mohacs,and Belgrade, adorned the walls, and every wax light in the antechamber,was borne by the figure of a Moor, carved in wood.All these are preserved as memorials to the present day. Pope Pius VI. , on his memorable journey to Vienna, was entertained at St. Florian's Abbey, and fromthe balcony of his chamber, bestowed his blessing on not less than thirty thousand people.Emperors, princes, and popes, are not the only visiters: travellingstudents usually halt here in the vacations; some may always be found inthe rooms below, appropriated to their service. In one of them I foundan enigmatical-looking piece of furniture, whose use I was at a loss to divine. My companion directed my attention to an inscription on the front,which displayed the following spiritual reference to a stove: " Hoc in tumulo hiems arida æstatis ossa consumit. "In almost all the conventual churches I found multitudes of redbreastsas regular inhabitants. In the splendid church of St. Florian, their pleasant chirpings were the only praises to God I heard during my visit. Thechurch servitor told me that, in the brooding season, their numbers wereso great, that the preacher's voice was often overpowered by their song.The sparrows keep to the outside of the roof; swallows come sometimesfor years together, and then disappear again.Carlo Carlone was the architect of this church. This man's ear musthave been well opened to the harmonies that lie in numbers, and grandproportions, for the height, breadth , and length of the church, the placeand proportions of the windows, the stalls, corridors, and choir, the archesand pillars, form a whole so exquisitely symmetrical, that the musical impression, received on entering the place, is irresistible. The principal linesof the building are covered with the most solid, rich, and tasteful stuccoes.Round all the galleries, cornices, and ceilings, hundreds of angels are wreathed and grouped. Curtains, executed in the most masterly mannerin plaster, hang in rich profusion over every door and passage; and themost beautiful garlands, wreaths of flowers, and arabesques, wind anddroop in lavish abundance, and in the most graceful forms throughout.I must confess that I learnt, for the first time, here to know what stuccowas, and what might be made of it.The church has three organs; the largest is in the background, opposite the high altar, and two smaller ones are in the choir. The largest,102 VISIT TO THE HOUSE OF AN AUSTRIAN PEASANT.the masterwork of an Austrian of the name of Christmann, has 5230pipes, and the strongest of these, cast in the finest English tin, is thirty- twofeet high, four feet and a half in circumference, and weighs five hundredweight. The " organ-basket, " which supports the seat of the organistand the singers, displays the most beautiful and inimitable workmanship in carved wood. It has the figure of a giant basket, or balcony, formedof the thickest bush of acanthus-leaves. Below, the woodwork of this balcony is intermingled with that of the stalls and prayer- desks. Thepillows of those seats and their canopy, consist partly of black frettedwoods, and partly of speckled beech- wood, of which the massive blocks arein themselves curiosities. The whole range of stalls for the chapter exhibit the finest architectural drawing, and the greatest solidity of construction, and yet the minutia are executed with a neatness and elegancesuch as are usually bestowed only on boxes destined for the reception ofladies' jewels or gentlemen's snuff. On a closer examination, every littleknot and edge is found to be most artistically and laboriously put together, and exquisitely polished.In one word, present arms and show honour due to the Austrian monks,all ye who so often contemn, without even knowing them. I must confess, that I desired nothing more than that Father Kurz and the othergentlemen might accept my farewell pressure of the hand as it was meant,as a token of the most sincere goodwill and esteem.VISIT TO THE HOUSE OF AN AUSTRIAN PEASANT.The peasants of Upper and Lower Austria have, with the exception ofsome of the peasants of Lombardy, certainly reached a higher degree ofwealth and freedom than any other peasants in the Austrian empire.Those of Galicia, Bohemia, and Hungary, are, on the whole, still serfs;the inhabitant of Illyria and the Tyrol is poor. There are parts, indeed,of all these provinces where the land is better cultivated, and the peasantsmore free and opulent. Hanna, in Moravia, is celebrated for this, so isZips, in Hungary; Saxonland, in Transylvania; Egerthal, in Bohemia;and many rich Alpine valleys, are also remarkable exceptions. Neitherought we to pity or despise the peasants of other parts of the monarchyas mere slaves, without duly estimating many alleviating circum- stances. To take them all in all, however, it is not less certain that thepeasants of the Danube, in reference to mental cultivation, solidity ofcharacter, firmness of position , and a recognition of their rights as men,surpass the majority of their fellow-subjects, as far as they do in agricultural knowledge and opulence. Among the richest and best known arethose in the neighbourhood of St. Florian's Abbey. Some of them, indeed, are so distinguished, as to have had the honour, more than once, of receiving their emperor, and one of these is the much-talked - of " Meierin der Tann." Accompanied by a guide from the Abbey, I made myway, by a narrow footpath, through beautiful woods, over luxuriantmeadows, and through well- cultivated fields and orchards to the farms of this wealthy peasant.The Florian and Austrian peasants in general, although more thoseabove than below the Ens, live more frequently in solitary farm- houses in the midst of their lands, than in villages . The peasants haveVISIT TO THE HOUSE OF AN AUSTRIAN PEASANT. 103all a double name; in the first place, a family name which is inheritedby their children, and secondly, one as possessor of the farm, whichpasses to their successors only. These official names are no doubt extremely old, as old perhaps as the farms themselves. " Lehner, inFohrenbach. " " Meier im leeren Busch." 66 Zehnter, near Gommering.""Meier in der Tann. " " The Schildhuber. " " The Dindelhuber, " and theentire name of such a peasant sounds quite long and stately; for example,"John Plass, Meier in der Tann," "Joseph Fimberger, the Schildhuber. "In ordinary life the designation from the land is much more usual than the family name. It is more usual to say "the Schildhuber was hereto-day," than " Joseph Fimberger was here. " The women are generally called by the family name, but in a manner differing from ours. A feminine termination is attached, as Maria Fimbergerin, the Moserin, in- stead of Frau Fimberger, Frau Moser, as we should say. " Meier in derTann, ah, he has a house like a castle, " said every one to me, and infact the majority of these great farmhouses are built like castles withfour wings forming a quadrangle. The foot- passenger enters the dwellinghouse in one wing by a narrow doorway, and the loaded waggons enter atanother through a wider gate, and drive into the inner court. The stabling,cartsheds, granaries, barns, &c. , are in the other wings. The buildinghas two stories and has a stately exterior. The house is well furnishedwith pious sentences over the doors, both within and without, and all thehousehold utensils down to the plates, are garnished with verses and passagesfrom the Bible. At the house of " Meier in der Tann, " I found a floursack, speaking in the first person, and where we less poetical NorthGermans would have placed simply a stamp, or have contented ourselveswith the name, Fritz Meier, the flour- sack had it:"Be it known to every man I belong to Meier in the Tann."It is The principal chamber in the house is called " Meier's room. "the usual place of assembly of the members of the family, and also theeating-room; here the women sit at their spinning in the winter, or atany other of the minor domestic occupations. Near it are the bedchambersof the heads of the family and their children, and opposite, on the other side of the passage those of the maids and the men. " Meier in derTann" has, moreover, his private room of business.On the second story were the best rooms for guests, and the storerooms. In these " Sunday rooms" many have the portraits of their progenitors. Those of " Meier in der Tann, " were all clothed from headto foot in raven-black, and looked like so many Venetian nobles. Hereare always a number of beds with magnificent mountains of feathersand gay-coloured quilts, for any visiters who may happen to come.In these " Sunday rooms, " in presses, chests, and drawers, the bridal finery,the treasures of linen, metal, and the holiday clothes of the wife, a blackspencer, a black silk kittel (so they call the best gown) , and a pretty capotter-skin, surmounted by a star of pearls, are stowed away, all thingswhich in form and material remind us of Bavaria, whence there is littledoubt this part of Austria was colonised. Then there is the kastl (room)for fruit, in which are kept whole chests full of dried apples, pears, andplums; and a harness- room, where the abundance, order, and simple ornament, please more than all the brilliant show and rigid accuracy of a suiteof104 VISIT TO THE HOUSE OF AN AUSTRIAN PEASANT.of royal stables. In many peasants' houses in this part of the country,there are not less than forty rooms.The most celebrated race of horses in all the countries between Munichand Vienna, south of the Danube, is the Pinzgauer. These are large,magnificent animals, brought here as colts, and reared on the fine meadowsof the Danube. They are used awhile for agricultural labours, and thensent to Vienna, where these huge animals are met with in the service ofthe butchers and brewers.The stock of horned cattle on the Danube is constantly supplied fromthe mountain pastures, where the breeding of cattle is often the only possible occupation. From Pinzgau, Pongau, and the Styrian Alps, the cattledescend to the plains to fill up the gaps made by death and the butcher,and which the smaller cattle production of the plains cannot sufficientlysupply. The most remarkable of the arrangements for stall-fed animals are the pigsties. The lodgings for swine in Austria are lofty spaces filledwith long rows of chests, shut in on all sides and left open at the top.Each of these chests is the dwelling- place of a pig. In general they aremade of thick beams, but some of the richer farmers have them of solidsmooth hewn blocks of freestone. Every pig has his food in his ownstall. In this manner each animal enjoys constantly fresh air, and yet isclosely enough shut up to grow fat at his leisure. This system of solitaryconfinement protects them from each other, and the greatest cleanliness ispreserved among these unclean brutes. More perfect swinish accommodations are not, I believe, to be found in Europe. Circe could have had nobetter for Ulysses and his companions.The cider presses in an Austrian farmhouse are also worth seeing. Thevine is not cultivated in Upper Austria, but cider is made on a very largescale, and an intoxicating drink is prepared from pears as well as apples.The fruit is first crushed under a large stone, put in motion by a horse, andis then put into the presses to complete the operation. In a large household there are sometimes ten or twelve such presses. Little as we esteemthis acid beverage, it is here an absolute necessity, and " Zehnter im Gommering," or " Meier im leeren Busch " would lose all his men- servants tomorrow, ifthey did not get their due portion of " apple wine." Furtherup the Danube, in the land of beer- drinking Bavarians, the use of cider declines. Lower down the river the sour Austrian wine comes into use,and further on the sweet Hungarian."Meier in der Tann," including his children, has not less than fortypeople in his house. He related to me many anecdotes of the emperorFrancis and the archduke Maximilian, who had often stopped at his house.His wife and children, in the mean time, were making dumplings for themorrow's holiday. Strict order and discipline were kept in the house, and behind the picture ofthe Saviour, on the wall , I saw stuck up that educationalauxiliary which we generally hide behind the piece of furniture that repeatsto us daily and hourly, the most agreeable, or disagreeable, truths.As " Meier in der Tann" accompanied me over his farmyard, andshowed me his abundance of good things, I said to him, " You sell thisrich produce in the city no doubt?" "Nay," was his answer, " why shouldI sell it in the city? I can eat it myself; it is better so. " I afterwardslearnt that this was a usual answer of the wealthy Austrian peasants tosuch questions. "I can use it myself, it's better so.Two blooming, goodhumoured children accompanied us, and gave mePUBLIC LIBRARY. 105a friendly "God be with you, God be with you," when we reached thegreat trees surrounding the yard (every one of the yards, as usual, wassurrounded with old trees); which I acknowledged in the same style, andreturned to Edelsberg through all the rich lowlands, on which therude,bleak mountain range casts down such black and envious looks. Therichest peasant in Upper Austria is supposed to be Stedinger. I hadoccasion to visit him also, subsequently; but all these farms are as like each other as so many eggs.The personal service which the peasants are held to render to theirsuperior lord, is trifling in real amount. It is, for the most part, commuted for money. But the tithes, which are levied by the lords of thesoil, the billeting of soldiers, the military conscription, to which thenobles are not subject, and the many imperial and seigneurial taxes, pressheavily on the peasants . As the land, however, is, on the whole, fertile,the people sober and diligent, and the law, despite its oppressive enactments, is administered in a spirit so favourable to the subject, that theemperor Francis sometimes complained he could not obtain justice in hissuits against his own peasants, agriculture, with all its disadvantages, isin the flourishing condition I have above described.An odd law prevails in this class—namely, that the farm descends to theyoungest son instead of the eldest, on the death of the father. It is supposed that by that time the elder sons are otherwise provided for, while the youngest may often need an inheritance. With us the more rationalnotion prevails that the eldest son, as the ablest and most natural guardianof the younger branches, must first be enabled to supply effectually theplace of the parent.PUBLIC LIBRARY.The water of the Danube is of the colour of aqua marine, that of the Rhine emerald green. The waters of the Danube are thick, those of theRhine transparent; the colour of the former may probably be affected bythe slime it brings with it, and which is of a milky green as if a quantityof serpentine stone dust were mingled with the quartz sand. This slimeis deposited in the cold baths which are erected along the banks of the river. The waters of the Danube seemed to me much colder than thoseof the other great rivers of Germany, and a bath in its green waters iscertainly one of the most refreshing enjoyments that can be offered to the wearied body.I had just come out of such a one, and was taking my last walk throughthe streets of Linz, when I came upon the Bibliotheca publica of theLyceum, whereon stands the beautiful Greek inscription, vxns larpeîov (thehouse for the healing and refreshment of the soul). What could be moreopportune? I entered; the first name I heard here, as in nearly every public institution in Austria, was that of Joseph the Second. He was thefounder of this and many other libraries. He induced or compelled thewealthy convents to furnish books, and thus formed in the principal citiesof the monarchy, collections accessible to all, from treasures that had before been hidden.I found here, as in all other Austrian libraries, Rotteck's History of theWorld, and the " Semplice Verita opposta alle menzogne di EnricoMisley,” a work written by an Italian, in answer to a book published by106 THE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.the Englishman, in condemnation of the Austrian system of governmentin Italy.In many Austrian libraries the forbidden fruit is enthroned high abovethe vellum-bound volumes of theology; it is placed there purposely, lestthe grown children should over -eat themselves: the same arrangement Iobserved here; and moreover, the ladder by which it was to be reached,was so short, that it was at the risk of my life, standing on the topmoststep, that I succeeded in obtaining a glance into these regions. I remarked there, " The Triumph of Philosophy," Moser's " Patriotic Fan- tasies," his " Political Truths, " and similar works. A second dive which Iventured upon, placed two volumes of Buffon's Natural History in my hand.I could look on this with tolerable indifference; but to the Austrian student,how costly must appear this forbidden, and, therefore, doubly sweet fruit!Doubtless as the finest cherries on the tree's topmost branch to the eyes ofthe boy who is unable to reach the unsteady crown.The most remarkable part of the collection, was a copy of Luther'scomplete works, andmoreover, the oldest edition. They were extremely dusty,and I asked the attendant whether they were much used. "No," said he;"in the thirty years I have been here, I have never taken them down. "Perhaps they were procured at a time when some hopes of refuting Luther'sheresies were still cherished, and they have never been looked at since.Perhaps the time may not be far distant, when Austria will allow theladders in her libraries to be made a little longer, or bring the spirits nowabandoned to the dust and the spiders, a little lower down; the librarymay then in a loftier sense than now become the vxns iarpeîa, and the soulmay then luxuriate here in as refreshing a bath, as the body enjoys in thequickening waters of the Danube. In this, perhaps, approaching epoch, such old Gothic laws and prohibitions will not be renewed, as we now see carvedin stone, on the Town-house of Linz. This singular inscription runs thus:" His Roman and Imperial Majesty, King of Hungary and Bohemia,our most gracious lord wills and commands, that no one, be he who he may,presume in or before this free land house to carry arms, or to wrestle, or fight, or make any riot whatever. Whoever act in any wise contrary tothis prohibition, will be punished with all severity in life and limb. Re- newed 1568, 1679, 1745, 1825.”I thought at first that this singular and harshly- sounding prohibitionhad only been renewed for the sake of its historical curiosity; but a nativeof Linz assured me that it was seriously meant to infuse terror, and wasdeemed one of the privileges and immunities of the Town-house.THE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.The portion of the Danube lying between Linz and Vienna, is certainly the finest part of the great river, for here nature and art have unitedto adorn its shores, as they have done nowhere else along the whole sixteen hundred miles of its course. In one half-day to see all these beautiful, great, graceful, and interesting objects, with all their historical monuments and natural beauties, pass before one's eyes, seems an enchanteddream, and keeps the susceptible mind in a constant state of intoxication .The Romans, while they held these lands, seem, however, to have feltno such intoxication; to them an abode by the shores of the Danube wasTHE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA. 107rather a dream of a heavy and oppressive kind, yet it was exactly thisbeautiful part of its banks as far as Vindobona, that was the site of theirmost important battles with the Germans. The left bank they called theforehead of Germany (Frons Germania) , and the eyebrows ofthe Danube(Supercilia Isthri). The wrinkles, excrescences, jagged rocks, and hornsof Germany's rude front, may have figured strangely in the letters to theirfriends in Italy from these cold northern boundaries of their beautiful land.Here, if anywhere on earth, the mutability of matter and the course of events may be admired. The eyebrows of the Danube are now smoothedbeneath the hatchet and the plough; the fields are smiling under thefairest and richest cultivation, and of the forests only so much remains asthe painter would desire to preserve, in order to enrich and elevate the softerexpression of the meadow and the cornfield. The forehead of Germanyand what was its extreme frontier, are now the core of a great monarchy;the rejected stone is become the foundation and corner-stone of the building, for here lies the cradle of the Austrian monarchy.Strangers from all lands now come to gaze on the cities that have arisenround the Roman camp- station on the now smooth Frons Germaniæ, and the subdued back of the wild Isther. Years ago, the English and NorthGermans heeded not the inconveniences of the Danube navigation; butnow, that the establishment of steamboats has increased the facilities tenor twenty fold, the river is visited even by those that dwell near it. Monksnow wander from their cloister and gaze on these new wonders. Studentsthrong from all parts, for now even their slender suffice for a voyagedown the Danube; employés, whose short leave of absence did not formerly permit such excursions, now take their places, with their wives andchildren, in the handsome cabins, and float up and down the Danube underthe protection of the public at large. In these days of steamboats, peoplehave found feet who had none before, some have got seven-league bootswho possessed before but ordinary shoes, purses have become fuller, and days longer.pursesAtsix o'clock in themorning, on the fifth of August, the bell ofthe steamboat the Archduke Stephen, summoned its passengers, specimens of all theabove- mentioned classes of society, crowded together. There were Englishmenwho spoke not one word of German, monks with shaven crowns, ladieswith children, whiskered Hungarians, Vienna dandies with eye-glassesinstead of eyes in their heads, Berlin travellers with Donnerwetter in theirmouths, and many others laden with cloaks and wraps, hats and bandboxes, parasols and umbrellas, sticks, pipes, chests, and trunks. It wasjust such weather as according to the imagination of the Romans mustgenerally have prevailed in " nebulosa Germania." A thick fog hunglike an impenetrable veil over the Alpine chain, and hid the black and goldarabesque borders of the towers of Linz. From out the fog distilled a finerain, which gradually increased , till we were threatened with a day to en- chant all the snails and ducks in the country. We poor passengers whothronged the decks of the Archduke Stephen as thickly as the wild ducksdid the reedy inlets of the Danube, crept like snails in sunshine underour mantles and umbrellas, while those who could find a place, took shelter in the cabins.The beautiful changes of scenery afforded by the city of Linz and itsenvirons, round which the Danube sweeps almost in a semicircle, passedunnoticed by; indeed, as far as I was personally concerned, I could dis-108 THE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.cern objects only so far as the circumference of my umbrella reached,from whose extremity fell a heavy shower of drops, and my companionswere more anxious about the light of their cigars, than the light of travelling inspiration. We were all deplorably dull and out of tune; and foresaw not what was preparing for us overhead, nor what a day was before us.At the very beginning of our journey, as I stepped from the bridgethat led to the vessel, I had the good fortune to get such a thrust in theside from the trunk of one of the passengers, that I thanked God in silencefor the elastic strength of my ribs. I say the good fortune, because thepunch was such a hearty one, that the man was not content with the usualexcusez or pardon, Monsieur, with which we usually satisfy ourselves onsuch occasions, but came to me again after he had stowed away his box,seized my hand, begged my pardon a thousand times, and inquired mostanxiously whether I was hurt. Thus, among so many strangers, I suddenlyfound a friend, whom I might not have acquired for hours by the observanceof the conventional ceremonies which condemn us so long to silence, untilsome unexpected occurrence brings us nearer to each other.My new acquaintance was a man of business; he had followed theDanube in all its windings, and had lived from his youth upon its banks.While he sat by me I allowed the useful to take precedence of the beautiful for a time, and took a lesson from him on the constitution of the bedof the Danube, and the course of traffic on its waters, and so long as therain continues I will share with the reader the information I acquired.The Danube, hemmed in by mountains, flows by Linz in an unbroken stream . Below the city it begins to expand, embracing many large andsmaller islands, and dividing into many arms, one of which may be considered the main artery. Thus it continues till it reaches the celebratedwhirlpool near Grein, where all its waters, uniting in one channel, flowon majestically for forty miles, till they have worked their way through themountains and narrow passes near the city of Krems, and coming to levelground again, divide, forming arms and islands beyond Vienna.condition of the water in this varying and sometimes obstructed course,and its consequent practicability for trade and navigation is very various,and hence many peculiar words descriptive of it have been invented, which are not known on other rivers.TheThe main stream, which must offer the principal course of navigation,is called the " Naufahrt," andthe steersmen, who must knowit accurately,and some of whom are always on board of the steamboats, are namedNauförch, or Nau guides. The Nau channel undergoes little or no changein the narrow passes, but in the neighbourhood of the islands, the furiousrapidity of the current changes it very often; sometimes an arm of thestream, navigable before, will close, and another open that was formerlyquite impracticable. The larger branches are called arms, but the smaller ones are denominated " Runze," and they are distinguished again as greator little " Runze." The little creeks and broader expanses, which areoften found shut in between the sandbanks and the islands, or peninsulas,are called lakes. Among these lakes a constant change is taking place;sometimes they burst their boundary, the stagnant water becomes current,and the lake is again a " Runze." The subsiding matter contained in the Danube, is called " Bachgries, " " Stromgries, " or " Schutt." The sand- banks formed by this "'gries " are not called sandbanks, but " Haufen,"or heaps. If these banks are formed not of sand, but of rock, and remainTHE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA. 109under the surface of the water, they are named in the Danube languageKugeln, or bullets, perhaps from the rounded forms of all these rocks.If these "Haufen " rise high out of the water, and are overgrown withwood, they are called Auen, or meadows. These meadows, when covered with aspens, alders, poplars, maples, willows, and shrubs of all kinds, affordcover for innumerable game; even stags are found there, while the lakesand Runze are thronged with waterfowl, wild ducks and geese, herons,cranes, plovers, and especially a bird called " fisher" by the people of thecountry.These meadows are often inundated in the course of the year. Whenthe land has obtained such a height that it can be subjected to regular cultivation, the formation of the Danube island is completed. But all theseformations are subject to constant change. Now a sandbank is formedwhere before it was deep water; now the stream is gnawing at an island itslowly raised centuries before. Here a haufe is raised to an " Au" ormeadow, and overgrown with bush, which, in the course of time, changesto a wood, there man is turning to profit the first turf, which he hopes willoneday become arable land. Promontories, peninsulas, and natural dikes arethrown together by the waves on one side, while, on the other, they arewearing away and destroying others, and thus the wild river-god tossesabout in his procrustean bed, which he finds now too narrow, and now toospacious.Such places, where the water is undermining the shore, are calledBruchgestätte, or break-banks, and here the beavers of the Danube havetheir especial dwelling. By the shore, (am Ufer) means a narrower partof the river where the banks approach, and there is a ferry.The passage down the Danube is the " Nabfahrt," that against thestream is the " Naufahrt."* The expressions mountain and valley passage, which are in use on the Rhine, are not known here. An Austriansailor whom I questioned about it, answered-" Mountain and valley passage! nay we know nothing about such things here. Howis that possible?How can we get over mountains and through valleys. "For the " Nabfahrt" the beforenamed Nau pilots are required; butwhen they are going against the stream , several vessels are usually fastenedtogether. We often see two or three large and several smaller vessels sochained together, and such a flotilla, with the necessary team, is called aGegenfuhr, or countercourse. These countercourses often require fromthirty to forty horses, and sometimes more. On every horse a man ismounted, and the whole squadron is commanded by an old experienced outrider, called the Waghals or Stangenreiter (daredevil or pole-rider), because his baton of office is a long pole, with which he makes signals, andsounds the river. The other riders are called the " Yodels." The commands issued by the pole-rider, or which are issued to him from the ship,are immediately repeated by the whole corps of " Yodels," in a wild cry. Thewords of command are generally shortened to mere interjections, as Ho!ho!" (Halt, halt, ) or "Lasse ha!" (Let them go on. ) Scarcely has thepole-rider, or steersman from the ship, sent the sound slowly through theair, than it is taken up by forty throats, and forty whips, and four timesforty hoofs, are arrested or set in motion.66The horses ridden by the " Yodels" are generally Pinzgauer horses, but

• Evident corruptions of hinab and hinaul.

110 THE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.are all called Traun horses along this part of the Danube, perhaps becausethe greater number of the articles exported from Pinzgau, find their wayto the Danube through Traun valley.66bad;TheseThe roads on the banks of the Danube are often very the greatmeadows and reedy islands are mostly swampy, hence artificial towing- paths for the horses are very necessary. The roads are named " Leinpfad" bythe Rhine, and here, the " Huffschlag" or " Treppelweg."Treppelwegs" are sometimes on one side of the river, and sometimes onthe other, and then a frequent halting, and shipping over of the horses becomes unavoidable. For the long tracts of passage where the banks arenot passable, or where the " Naufahrt" is very distant from them, thehorses must go into the water, and it may therefore be easily imagined how dangerous a service they and their " Yodels" have to perform.passThe large vessels that navigate this part of the Danube, are called"Hohenauer. " They carry two thousand hundredweight ofgoods. Next tothem in importance, are the Kehlheimers. The Hohenauers go only down theriver, and though larger, are worse built than the Kehlheimers, whichboth up and down. Then again there are the Gamsels and Platten,and the Zillen (boats). The latter, which are attached to the larger Hohenauer and Kehlheimer, are called supplements (nebenbei). Again thosevessels used to convey the " Yodels" and their horses to the other side,have their peculiar name, " Schwemmer."Acomplete reform, at present, awaits the whole of the Danube shipping;in fact, it has already begun. The introduction of steam-vessels compelsall manner of improvement. I shall have occasion, hereafter, to mentionhow even the ordinary vessels for the navigation of the river have begunto be constructed on a better plan than formerly.The Danube boatmen have a peculiar terminology for all natural appearances, objects, and accidents. A calm is the wind's holiday (windfeier). The ship is " gewappt," they say, when the waves strike the sidesand fill it with water, if it be too heavily laden, or when it is too stronglyimpelled by the " Yodels." But a book might be filled with these things.Enough for the useful; turn we now to the agreeable.The rain, which, in the bottomless depths of our despair, we had expected was about to spoil our pleasure entirely, had already ceased. On thewings of steam, we were rapidly borne through the region of rain, andcame to a part where all looked cheerful again. A bright sun descendedon our dewy fields of cloaks, and drank up the moisture tha trested onthem and on the ringlets of the ladies. Steyeregg, the castle of oldKhuenringer; Lichtenberg, the seat of the Starhembergs and Schallenbergs; Tillysburg, the old fortress bestowed on his veteran general, Tilly,by the emperor Ferdinand; and Spielberg, the seat of the knights of Spielberg, and afterwards of the lords of Weissenwolf, with many other beautiful castles and villages, were lost to us; only thus much the rain hadallowed us to observe, that the site of many of these was admirablyadapted for pillage on the river. Spielberg, for instance, lies, like abeaver-village, behind the bushy meadows in the middle of the islands,close to the interior harbour of a 66 Runze, " and had, by means of it, twowater-passages to the Danube, so that many a stratagem of the lords ofSpielberg may have been suggested by the position. The Rhine, whichin that portion of it flowing between Mainz and Bonn, is so often compared to this part of the Danube, has nothing of this wild island- meadowTHE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA. 111scenery. Many admire the Rhine the more for this want; but, I mustconfess, their presence lent an additional charm to the Danube in my eyes.These castles, hidden in the reeds—these islands, tenanted by a solitaryfisherman-these widely- spreading river-veins, losing themselves a whilein the wilderness, and then again emerging, bright and clear, from thewoods, to unite once more with the great stream (an island has, in itself,something poetical, and is an object that can scarcely be repeated toooften)-in a word, all this vehement motion, and the almost antediluvianevents recorded of the Danube, opposed to the rich cultivation, the historical associations, and the picturesque views on its banks, form a contrast wholly wanting to the Rhine. There the cultivation is more striking,almost too striking; on the Danube, Nature is wilder -many will add,too wild.St. Peter's, in the meadows, Abelsberg, and Pulgarn, were lost to usbythe rain. At the mouth of the Ens, on the frontier line between the twoArchduchies, where the fine- weather region began, that picture- galleryfirst became visible, to which the " Naufahrt" of the Danube representedthe corridor, and the deck of the steamboat the rolling chair.The first piece which presented itself was Mauthausen, opposite themouth of the Ens. The place is extremely old, and lies close to the shore,with a ruinous, tower-like castle in its vicinity. The antique houses.crowded together in a few narrow streets, give us double pleasure: first,as affording picturesque objects, and then on account of the pleasant reflection, that we are not obliged to live in them. Behind the town risethe hills containing the celebrated stone- quarries, from which a beautifulkind ofgranite has been long obtained, though at the cost of much labour,for the use of the capital. An old German church ( St. Nicholas's ) rearsits head in the midst, and a flying bridge in the foreground conveys pas- sengers in the old, troublesome fashion, over the animated stream. Thesteamboat stopped just long enough to catch these scanty features of thelandscape, and to put a beautiful Hungarian countess, and her yet fairerdaughters into a boat. I had been long rejoicing in the sunshine of theiraspect, when they vanished with the view of Mauthausen, whose foregroundthey so much embellished. They were going to pay a visit of some daysat Thurheim, as they informed me.At the mouth of the Ens, opposite Mauthausen, there is not much to beseen, as the stream itself flows through a low foreland, its own formation,into the Danube. But there is the more to be thought about; for, considered either in an historical or geographical point of view, it is certainly the most important and interesting spot between Linz and Vienna. I hadoften reflected on the importance of this Ens- embouchure, and asked myself why the Austrians had made their lands to lie on either side of the Ens, rather than on either side of the Danube. With my map of theDanube country before me, I pondered on the subject, and came to this conclusion.The Danube, this mighty navigable river has been the great electricconductor for all those nations whom the course of events brought withinits territory. They clung to it as the main artery of their life, and spreadthemselves from its shores on either side, as their various relations permitted . Thus Hungary formed itself on both sides of the Danube, so didAustria, Bavaria, and Swabia, like pearls on one string. Above and below the stream also, the various tribes settled on its tributaries, the Iller,112 THE PICTURE-GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.the Inn, the Ens, the Leitha, and March, the Drave, and Save. These rivers cut up the landconnected longitudinally by the Danube, into many portions;the tribes made these streams their boundaries, and enclosed their territoryas these natural divisions prescribed. Thus the Iller separates the states of Wirtemberg and Bavaria; the Lech, some of the Swabian nations fromBavaria; the Inn runs between Bavaria and the Archduchy of Austria;the March and the Leitha between Austria and Hungary; the Drave between Hungary and Slavonia; the Save between Slavonia and Turkey.But between the Inn and the March, there is no considerable incisionin the land except the Traun and the Ens. The Ens being near themiddle of this strip of land, was particularly adapted for a subdivision,the more so, because its course is exactly rectangular to the main stream ofthe Danube.It has been before mentioned that the Romans recognised the importance of these separating valleys, and therefore partitioned their Noricumripense into nearly the same sections that are now called above and below the Ens. At the mouth of the Ens they had their largest settlementin this neighbourhood. Laureacum afterwards Lorch, where a legion had its stationary camp, a Dux limitis his abode, and a fleet its harbour. Afterthe time of the Romans, on the site of Lorch, arose the present Ens, celebrated in the Nibelungenlied, and important on account of its commerce.The empire of Charlemagne extended at first only as far as the Ens; andwhen, in the year 791 , he had resolved on his great campaign against theAvares, it was opened on the banks of this river, from which he drove themback to the next arm of the Danube-the Raab. When the Hungarians firstentered the lands of the Danube, in the reign of Arnulph the Child, theEns was long the limit of their German kingdom. That a toll was longlevied at Mauthausen, near the mouth of the Ens, as if entering a foreigncountry, was another result of the peculiar division of the land by the Ens.The same causes that rendered this place the centre of traffic, have alsogiven rise to the many struggles and battles that have been fought for thepossession of it. The mouth of the Ens has enough of such encounters torelate, from the uninterrupted hostilities of the Romans, to the last campaign in this place, where even Napoleon saw cause to shudder at the hor- rors of a battle-field.The many fields and islands which the Danube forms here, present acountless succession of pictures in the Dutch style, producing most singulareffects among the grand mountain-landscapes. A fisherman may be seenon the low shore, busied with the repair of a huge net, called in the lan- 66 guage of the Danube a taubel," an enormous drag-net, attached to thetrunk of a tree sunk in the river. Here you behold a water-mill in thecentre of a rapid stream, with a low island overgrown with willows andpoplars close by, so little raised above the level of the water, that some ofthe bushes are washed by the rushing current. A miller is sitting on theend of a beam projecting over the water, busied in some repairs. Thereyou see a little harbour for the shipment of wood. Now again, the broad stream is visible. Hard by is a store of wood, felled in the great watermeadows. Some people are engaged in loading a small vessel with thistimber for Vienna . Around, nothing is to be seen but water and solitary wooded meadows.And all these pictures have the advantage of being well preserved, thecolours bright and fresh, the varnish incomparable. Even the beavers,THE PICTURE-GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA. 113which have their dwelling here, do them no injury, but, on the contrary,add to the effect. These wonderful animals are very numerous on theriver between Linz and Vienna. It is singular enough that the progressof civilization should not have scared them away, and that they should bemore numerous here than in parts so much wilder of the middle Danube;they are eagerly pursued, both for their skins and their testicl*s; and theworth of the whole beaver, when the latter are good, is estimated at fromfifty to sixty, and even one hundred florins. The beavers build theirdwellings mostly on the " breaking shores" before mentioned , and thencemake excursions into the water meadows, where, like the wood- cutters,they fell the trees , especially the aspens and poplars, whose wood is not toohard, and of which the thick, fleshy, leathery rind constitutes their favourite food. These beaver-houses are difficult to find , as the animals place theentrance always under the water, and burrow upwards, and this upper part,which is properly their dwelling, is built with wood, and kept dry. Below,the door and fore- court of their house are covered with water, into whichthey plunge on any alarm. " One of the most interesting occupations tobe met with on the Danube, is to watch these creatures at their work, "said a gentleman to me, who, as a sportsman and lover of natural history,had paid great attention to them, and kept some beavers prisoners on his estate. " They are as comic in their gestures as monkeys, and as active andadroit at their work as persons who have not a minute to lose. Withtheir really formidable teeth they hew down the trees like skilful woodmen, by a few well - directed strokes, and cut them into blocks. Theseblocks they carry like poodles to their dwellings, where they fix them withclay, which they lay on with their tails. They go splashing throughthe water pushing the blocks of wood, jostling and thrusting one anotheraside, as if they were working against one another for a wager.I havenever seen them driving piles with their tails as some persons assert, nordo I think so soft an instrument adapted for such work. They are accustomed, however, to strike the surface of the water with their tails, sometimes apparently out of mere sport and wantonness, but sometimes, probably,when pursued by an enemy, it is done to cover their retreat under waterby dashing the spray in the face of the pursuer. They are very difficult tocatch. To dig them out like badgers is impossible, from the constructionof their caves. To surprise them is no easy matter, on account of theirquickness and foresight. They are generally caught in traps. As, unlikecarnivorous animals, they find their food everywhere in nature, these trapscannot be constructed nor baited on the usual principle; the most delicatetwig of poplar would be little attraction to them; it is therefore necessaryto place a great number of traps in their way, and to be very cautious inso doing, as they scent iron very readily. I once laid fifteen traps in theneighbourhood of a beaver village, and was fortunate enough to catch acouple of thoughtless wanderers from the straight path. The next night Iwas unsuccessful, and so for ten successively. No doubt the mishap of theirtwo comrades had become known throughout the colony, and all kept themselves within their houses. At last hunger or ennui drove them outonce more, and on the eleventh night I caught another, evidently much reduced by fasting. But that was the last; the beavers took my intrusionso much amiss, that they abandoned the colony, nor could I learn wherethey had emigrated to; -in that neighbourhood no beaver has since beenfound."I114 THE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.The finest views on the Danube begin about six ( German) miles belowLinz, at Wallsee; and truly, I believe, the least enthusiastic person inthe world must have felt himself enraptured at the sight of so magnificent a spectacle. Only in a series of dithyrambics, and to the accompaniment of the harp, are they worthily to be sung! I could have fanciedmyself sitting in some miraculous giant kaleidoscope; but ruins, castles, convents, palaces, smiling villages, snug towns, hermitages, distant mountains,towers, broad valleys, and deep ravines, steep precipices, fertile meadows,were the objects that produced these wonderful effects, instead of fragments of moss, beans, spangles, and bits of grass. Every stroke of thesteam-engine wrought a new and yet more beautiful change, as if a magician had held the strings and pulled them always at the precise moment.Sometimes mountains hemmed us in on all sides, and we seemed carriedover some mountain lake; another turn, and we shot as it were through a long chain of lakes . The steamer rushes on as if there were no suchthing as a rock to be feared around. To a certainty we shall strike uponthat at the corner! -no—a strong pressure from the hand of the experienced helmsman and we double the rock, a new opening is revealed, andnew wonders displayed far and near. In such sudden turns of the vessel,often executed in a half circle of very short radius, we obtain through thesails and rigging and the twelve cabin windows, a cascade of views andimages, if I may use the expression, in which all individuality is lost , andthe effect of the whole upon the mind is perfectly intoxicating. Apainterof any susceptibility must, I think, sometimes shut his eyes, that he maynot lose all self- command, and leap over the side of the vessel.The Volcanic powers, which, in the times of Olim, pierced and reformedthe surface of our earth, shot across in the neighbourhood of Grein fromthe north, and threw up a dam from the Bohemian forest to the Alps,which formed a powerful obstacle to the waves flowing from the west.At this dam the waves long gnawed, till at last they made their waythrough. The lake, which had formed above the dam, flowed over, andthe Danube burst through the narrow pass to a wider field beyond. Hereand there, by the side of the cleft, fragments of rock had remained in andunder the water, and so was formed the celebrated whirlpool called the "Strum of Grein."Greinen in Austrian German means much the same as weinen (crying),and Greinsburg (or the castle of tears, ) lies close by the entrance of thewhirlpool, and bears this tragical name, in the midst of one of the loveliest prospects that crown the Danube. The river reflects the features of thefair castle and town in friendly greeting before it dashes its waters tingedwith the melancholy hue of the pine forests, over the rock of the " Strum. "This occurs at last by the little island Worth, lying like a fallen column of the old dam in the gate of the whirlpool. From this column low rangesof rock cross the river diagonally at both sides, and join the high angular rocks of the shore . Some are already so worn away that they are nowunder water, while others stand pointed and jagged above. The former are called " Kugeln, " the latter " Kochelt," or " Gehäckel. " The massof waters which passes to the south of the islet Worth, is called the entrance; that which passes to the north is divided by two lines of cliff into the " Wild cleft," the " Wild water," and the whirlpool properly so called,and through this the emperor Joseph, by the labour of thirteen years,THE PICTURE-GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA. 115succeeded in removing the most dangerous obstructions, and forming the main passage.Firstly the Danube rushes foaming over the " Kugeln" -the heavy dash is heard from afar-then it plunges into the " Gehäckel," where it surgesyet more impetuously, and shoots along with a rapidity befitting Neptune's team of sea-horses. Our engine was slackened; for my part, I wouldwillingly have lain at anchor here a while to enjoythe magnificent spectacle.The rock of the islet Worth is highly picturesque, it has several faces,and at the base, at the very extremity of the island, lies the old excrescence of a castle. On the summit of the rock, a huge cross rears itself, firm asfaith in the midst of the storms of life, clinging fast to the rock. Severalimages of saints are niched about the rock, some adorned with the votiveofferings of passing boatmen. Close to the entrance of the whirlpool,little boats row alongside the larger vessels, with pictures of saints, whichthey offer for sale as amulets. But our reprobate steamer shot past themwith the speed of an arrow, and prevented the poor people from levying asmall tribute upon the piety or fear of the passengers.Opposite the rocks of Worth another mass shoots boldly into the water,bearing on its stern brow the ruins of the old castle of Werfenstein. Hereit is said, Roman dust mingles with the German of the middle ages. Theelsewhere broad Danube is here pressed within such narrow limits, that abold Tell might almost hope by a daring leap to reach Worth.The rocks of Werfenstein join the strong walls and abrupt precipices , ofwhich they are only a small part, forming a dark pass of about half a mile.In the midst of this watery ravine, which must not be supposed to be too narrow, the stream dashes along with uncontrolled violence. Some ofthese rocks have particular names, as the " house stone, " the " hare's ear,"&c. , and others are crowned with ruins, among others with those of thecastles of Struden and Sarmingstein. Far above the cross of the rock ofWorth, towers the church of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of the sailors .At the foot of this church, in the market town of the same name, is ahospital founded in the year 1144, for the relief of sufferers of whom thewild waters then furnished, probably a greater number than in these days.The beautiful and romantic, the singular, the picturesque, and the incomparable in this part of the Danube, are so abundant, that it is almostas difficult to tear oneself from the description as from the contemplation,though we are apt to regret afterwards, the many words that have beenspent in a vain endeavour to give an idea of the scene. A little belowWerfenstein, the vessel struck against a rock; I know not whether from a change in the direction of the numerous currents in the " Strudel, ”* orfrom pure awkwardness or carelessness of the steersman, or unmanageableness of the vessel; I thought at first, when I saw the bowsprit advancing nearer and nearer, that it was done in the most perfect securityand boldness of design, and observed to an Englishman who was standing"See how little danger the once so formidable Strudel has forour skilful and experienced navigators, and with what precision they steer in the very face of the rock. " Scarcely were the words out of my mouth,when the vessel struck against that very rock, and a regular panic showed itself in the white faces and blue lips of the numerous passengers.near me,The

• That such changes take place, is beyond a doubt; at every rising of the tide,

the waters have a different motion on the surface.I 2116 THE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.66bowsprit snapped short off, and hung on by the ropes, like a broken armby the sinews. The ship being of course somewhat elevated in front,towards the rock, was proportionally depressed at the stern, so that thegreen waves of the Danube dashed in through the cabin windows. Onelarge Englishman stood in the centre of the vessel, with his eyes rivetedon the bowsprit and the rock, both hands in his pockets, and his legs apart, as if he hoped by this means to balance it. A young man curiousto see what was going on, looked from the cabin window, and received therough salute of the Danube over head and ears; and a lovely youngmarried lady buried her face in her husband's bosom. Our vessel receiveda tremendous swing that brought the rudder round in front; the gildedbust of the Archduke Stephen at the prow, was also broken, and hung offto the side as if he declined having any thing more to do with us. Stephenhas got a good cuff," said a Linzer peasant, when the first fright was over.The whole was the work of a minute; like a waltzing couple, in the hurryofthe dance, brought into sudden contact with the foremost pair, move crabwise for a few seconds, and then with renewed vigour, pursue their whirlingcourse, we reeled awhile, staggered sideways and backwards through thevortex, then ploughing the waves with renewed vigour, brought the rudderonce more to its place, and darted on in a straight line, as if nothing hadhappened. We passed Sarblingstein, built by the emperor Ferdinand, tofortify the Danube against the Turks; Freinstein, where Charlemagneovercame duke Tassito; and Persenberg, whose magnificent imperial castleof that name, is renowned in the olden time as the possession of the Margrave Engelschalk II. , who, a thousand years ago, fell in love with, andcarried off, the daughter of the emperor Arnulph. We could not, however, devote to these interesting objects all the attention they deserved,because we were still too much occupied with our vessel, and our terrified fellow-passengers.Among the latter, in addition to the first intimate acquaintance, forwhom I stood indebted to my collision with a travelling trunk, I had madeseveral new friends. Nothing brings people so nearly together as a highdegree of sympathy, either in joy or sorrow. The general lamentationover the rain with which the day began, had softened some hearts; thepleasure and excitement caused by the enchanting scenery, had assisted tothaw the icy incrustations wherewith fashion encases us; and after the accident in the " Strudel," our souls all melted together into a sympatheticstream. How is it possible to resist when, on such occasions, a beautiful,timid woman, till then entirely a stranger to you, one with whom you havenot before exchanged a word, and who has proudly and silently avoidedevery place where stood a stranger of the other sex, suddenly forgetsall decorum, and seizing you bythe arm, exclaims-"Ah, my dear goodsir, what is the matter?" How can you do otherwise than immediatelygrasp at the proffered friendship. In one way or another, by the time wehad passed the castles of Weins and Persenburg, we all felt to one anotherlike friends of long standing. If it be hard to depict the beauties of nature,it is not less so to paint the joys of social intercourse, and I should esteemit one of the most difficult tasks I could impose on myself, if I were to attempt to give the reader a perfect picture of all the little occurrences andpleasures of our Danube journey. What the wise man says of the goldentree of life, and of the faint picture given of it in books, is true of thescenery of the Danube, and the sayings and doings of the company thatTHE PICTURE-GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA. 117filled the steamer. It follows, then, that it would be better to give updescription of any kind, and leave off making books, and so it would, wereit not that the reader has his own fancies, experiences, recollections, andwishes with which he supplies all omissions. If the author speaks of acastle crowning the brow of a rock, he is not satisfied, because he comparesthe meagerness of the expression with the image that memory brings before his eye; but the reader does not heed it; at these words he builds acastle for himself, and, perhaps, a much finer one than the reality. Andit is the same thing with a picture of an agreeable circle or party, thereader feels all that the author says or does not say, and recollections orwishes supply the wants of the text.We sat in the stern of our untiring steamer, and gaily passed the glassof social converse. London, Paris, and Vienna, had each its deputies inour circle; but Vienna, and I thanked heaven therefore, had the greatestnumber. The first deputy was a young actress, one of the most distinguished of the Burg theatre. She was returning from a professional tour,and related, with much talent and vivacity, some of her experience of lifeboth before and behind the curtain. In her joy at finding herself oncemore in her fair Austria, she never failed to correct my false pronunciation(according to Austrian rules) of the names of the various places we passed."Not Marbach, Moaba is the name of that pretty village we have justpassed; you must not say Neustadt, but Neishtadel, and when you wishme joy on being at home again, you should not pronounce the word heimath, we call it hoamat. " As the sun was then shining very brightly, Ioffered her my Austrian lamprell, or umbrella, and asked her if she couldprotect herself with that, using the Austrian word protekiren. This shefound quite " delizios," and laughed excessively. " Delizios" is a veryfavourite word with the Austrians; and where we say I laughed (da lachteich), they say da bin ich lachend geworden. This last expression pleasesme extremely, and is, certainly, with many other Austrian phrases, a relicof the middle ages. I have no manner of doubt that Gotz Von Berlichingen and his comrades expressed themselves just so-"Ich bin lachendgeworden."Next to Miss Be- I had almost betrayed her name-sat a fair native of Vienna, with her husband and a charming little daughter. She wasreturning from Italy, where her husband had filled some post in the Austrian service. We naturally spoke a great deal of the fair land " wherethe orange-trees bloom," and the young mother expressed herself on thesubject with great animation. I found her, to my great astonishment, byno means inclined to do justice to the beautiful shores of the Danube. Inthe Linz theatre she had yawned over a farce portraying some of the localabsurdities of Vienna, and which had made me laugh till I cried again.She thought it " all excessively trivial; such things, so full of equivoque,so offensive to all morality, would never have been permitted in Italy,where in this respect, as in many others, people were incomparably moredelicate than in Germany." Her husband was more reserved in his praiseand blame than his pretty wife. The little girl, a child about four yearsold, was a perfect Italian. She spoke not a word of German, but dancedwildly about the deck, because she should soon be " in casa nostra." Hermother said that she understood German perfectly well, but would neverspeak, and had a decided aversion to it. I began hereupon in silence toask myself, whether Austrians—even public officers who remained a long118 THE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.time in Italy-all returned such bad patriots? Did even this beautifulAustria look sad after Italy? Would the many and much vaunted enjoyments it offered, be looked on as trifling and insignificant? And is itpeculiar to German nationality to exchange so lightly the mother-tonguefor the more beautiful Italian; or do Italian children, brought up inAustria, imbibe a similar preference for German, and disinclination forItalian?A tiresome Vienna dandy, who sat somewhat aside from us, minglednow and then in the conversation, but kept, for the most part, at somedistance, and whispered to an elderly lady something mysterious aboutCountess Theresa, or the Princess Anna, or the Baroness Sophia, andmade much mention of the Lichtenstein, the Starhemberg, the Fürstenfeld, and other such universally- known persons, who, according to the Vienna grammar, are to be named with the definite article. C'était uncommérage ennobli par les grands noms qu'on prononçait.Among the English there was a courier, who had come from Englandto Linz in six days. He kept looking at a book from which a friend wasdetailing the remarkable objects to be seen on the shores of the Danube;and they both read as diligently as if all these interesting places had beena hundred miles off, instead of lying right under their noses.We had also on board a sister and a novice of the newly-established order of the " German Sisters." This order was once united with that ofthe " German Brothers" in the east, for the tending of sick knights, butdid not long remain there. Lately, in our own time, when the Gothicstyle of architecture came into fashion again, these antiquities were alsorevived. They looked singular enough, in their twelfth century costume,among these Vienna and Parisian toilets. What I thought most disagreeable in the broad sunlight was, that their coarse white linen was notonly badly washed, but horribly marked by the flies into the bargain.They told me that on the 16th of July in the present year, their first hospital in Bozen had been erected, after the pope's permission had been obtained in the preceding May. They were now on their way to establishanother in Brunn, and to receive some new sisters, for which purpose theysupplicated the assistance of St. Vincentius, the patron-saint of their order.The elder one told me she had removed to this order from that of the GreySisters, of whom more were to be admitted, that the new order mightprofit by their experience in the care of the sick.In truth, no mammoth's tooth lies so deeply buried in the dust of ages,but our curious, prying age will ferret it out-no mummy lies hidden soclosely in the depths of the pyramid, but our all-seeking curiosity will dig it into daylight-no nun is so snugly covered with the mantle of ancientand modern times, but she will be dragged from oblivion , have new life infused into her veins, and be sent forth a wanderer among the children ofthe present day. If it were possible to give life to the Egyptian mum- mies, we should see them among us again.I was just about to leave the front deck, when, among the crowd, Iobserved two black figures, who suggested to me, for the moment, thatmy last notion respecting the mummies was already in the course of fulfilment. On inquiry, I learnt they were workmen from the celebratedplumbago mines near Marbach, a little picturesque village we had just left behind us. These mines have been worked from very ancient times;but of late they have acquired newimportance. The English have foundTHE PICTURE-GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA. 119

that this plumbago is well adapted to fill their lead- pencils, and they have, oflate, imported it in tolerably large quantities. Last year two thousand hundred weight were sent to England. Since then the people of Vienna have bestowed a little more attention on the mines, and some new ones have been opened within the last two years. A company has been formed in Viennafor the exportation of this article, in which the Rothschilds had a shareand we had a young Saxon professor on board, who had visited the minesby the invitation of those gentlemen. It is remarkable that the Austriansdo not rather make the pencils themselves; but the English understandthese things better, and have better wood for the purpose. They get thematerial pulverized from Austria, carefully consolidate and enclose it incedar-wood, and then supply all the artists in the world. Their own minesbecome daily poorer, while those of Austria increase, as the rich material,with which Nature has abundantly supplied them, becomes better known.Whilst the Saxon professor was obligingly explaining all this to us, theyoung German Italian took out her English blacklead-pencil and gave itme, that it might write its own history in my note-book.The arrangements on board the Austrian steamers are apparently asgood as those of the Rhine. To judge of the whole of a vessel, requiresa long acquaintance, as it does to become well acquainted with a man;but the cabins, &c. , left nothing to be desired . There were separate onesappropriated to the smokers, and abundant accommodation for the ladies.The business of the engineer, who had his own office, as the captain had,was promptly executed, and there was less trouble with respect to thebaggage than in the Rhine steamers. Any one might take out, or putin, as it pleased him; a ticket being given, answering to that on the package. Neither was there any fault to be found with the fare. It istrue, that our meals were so well seasoned by agreeable society, that somefaults in the cookery might well have been forgiven.The literature of the Danube may now compare itself with that of the Rhine. I do not mean in the larger scientific works, or those belongingto the belles lettres, but the local information, which, at every place, inelegant little pamphlets, offers the necessary information to the traveller.The engravings and maps are not inferior to the letter-press. The wholecourse of the Danube is so fully and satisfactorily given, that it may havesuggested to many the expediency of sparing themselves the cost of theactual journey altogether.The sailors were Germans, Venetians, and Dalmatians. Many of thecommanders of the Danube steamers are Italians. There is a great dealof courtesy shown by these vessels . When they meet, a salute is alwaysfired, while the busy Rhine steamers pass each other without notice; indeed,there are so many of these, that there would be no end of the cannonading,if they observed the same practice. I noticed, also, that the ordinaryboatmen always took off their hats to each other. The Danube millersalone, whose huge mills advance far into the stream, close to the channel,live on somewhat hostile terms with the watermen. The boatmen are angrythat the mills sometimes narrow their channel, and the millers maintainthat "God did not make the Danube for the boatmen alone, " and assertthat, in storms, their mills are often injured . Whenever we passed one ofthese mills, which the large waves we raised would set in motion, we weregreeted with a jest or a grimace.120 THE PICTURE-GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.Of Great Pöchlarn I had only a passing glance through the cabin- window, as I rose to pour out a glass of wine for Mademoiselle B. DoubtlessBishop Baturich, of Ratisbon, examined it a little more attentively, when hereceived the place as a present from Louis the German, in the year 831. Inspite of its high-sounding appellation, the place has only forty-five houses;nevertheless it calls itself a town, and so old a one, that it reckons almost asmany centuries as it has dwellings. Under the name of Arelape, the placewas known to the Romans, and in the Nibelungenlied it is called Bechelaren.These little paltry towns on the Danube play a more important part at thecourt of the River God, and vaunt of names more widely spread than themost important towns in Bohemia, which are like great spirits and men ofmark lost in the provinces. Even the villages on the Danube consider themselves aristocratic, and in fact are so. Little Pöchlarn situated overagainst Great Pöchlarn, disputes with the latter its claim to the Romanname of Arelape, and to the epithet praeclara bestowed on one of themby the same people.At every health we drank at our table d'hote we rushed by one or otherof these old Danube castles; first, castle Weiteneck, then castle Lubereck,and at last some one cried out, " there is Molk, Molk, the finest abbey inall the holy Roman empire,” and we all rushed up the cabin-stairs to look at it.The beautiful abbey of Molk or rather to speak more correctly, themagnificent palace and cathedral of this stately old episcopal seat, sitsproudly enthroned upon its granite foundation, the extreme promontory ofan arm of the Alps, whose picturesque sides decline towards the Danube.On every side of the hill, a river pours its water into a mighty stream;on the one the Molk, on the other the Bilach, and their valleys lie in meadow and arable land at the foot of the lordly abbey. I did not see the interior. My intention was to have remained here one day, and to pursue myjourney in the steamboat the day following. But when we have proposedto ourselves to see the whole, even so splendid an individual object as Molkvanishes like a point in the bewildering enjoyment. And then, honestlyspeaking, I felt unwilling to leave an agreeable circle in the steamer,which I might not have met with another day. In short, I allowed theabbey to pass by and remained with the gazing majority, instead of joining the minority, consisting of a Benedictine canon, and a young peasant,who got into a boat and left us here.I thought at first to earn great praise from my fair travelling companions, when I told them that I had remained on board for the pleasure oftheir company. Quite the contrary. I heard nothing but reproaches."There was a little laziness in the case, " said they; " people like to sitstill after dinner, and it is pleasanter to remain quietly here than to scram- ble upand down hills and steeps. " I hid my embarrassment behind thefriendly cloud of my cigar, but my reprover continued, " How, sir, you, anenthusiast for historical recollections, can pass the most remarkable pointon the whole Danube with so much indifference, to drink coffee and smokecigars! this famous Namare of the Romans, this mighty Mellicium, thechief seat of the powerful Hungarian prince Geisa, the original residenceof the renowned Babenberg rulers, and where still the monuments oftheseillustrious lords are to be seen! the birthplace of Leopold, the patronsaint of Austria?" "I esteem all these recollections, much," said I, " ButTHE PICTURE-GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA. 121I can indulge them at least as agreeably in your society as in that of thereverend canon there; and after all, the living breathing world is beyondany other in my estimation. "" And " And what then is your mighty gain in this breathing world? Afewsilly, white-faced, gossiping women, that is all," said the Austrian.now listen to me, I will read to you from my Guide what you have lost.In the first place, a magnificent church treasure, with the costliest vestments, and a chalice made of gold found in the sands of the Danube.""Ay, my dear madam, these splendours at least I cannot regret; Iwould much rather admire the ornaments you are now wearing on yourneck and fingers, than all the jewels abbot ever wore, and this full glassis more to my taste than the empty chalice of Danube gold. ""Further; the pictures of all the Austrian 1ulers, painted by Grabner,and many excellent oil and fresco paintings by Scangoni, Lucas of Leyden,Schinnagel Querfurt, and a crowd of unknown masters, who, as every bodyknows, have many more charms than the known ones.'"""I have told you already this morning, that I have here a picture- gallery that interests me far more than all that Lucas of Leyden, or Schinnagel of Pöchlarn ever painted.""Then the collections of coins, of natural history, the imperial chambers, and many other fine strangers' apartments, in one of which, no doubt,you might have lodged yourself. What do you say to that?""As for the chambers, I have only to say, that they are firmly attachedto the rock. A stationary imperial chamber will not so easily allure mefrom a moving one.""And last of all, listen now. A splendid library of twenty thousandvolumes; and besides these, seventeen hundred rare manuscripts and incunabulæ. Now, sir, do not these twenty thousand volumes fall like twentythousand ball cartridges, and these incunabulæ like so many bombs onyour slumbering conscience?”"A most energetic attack indeed! But, unfortunately, I must confess,I have wandered unmoved through libraries that could reckon hundreds ofthousands. Give me but the short quintessence of all these books in yoursociety, and I will leave the seventeen hundred incunabulæ of Molk withoutremorse, to slumber in their dusty cradles."The reader will, at all events, have gathered from this conversationand it was reported with that view-how well a visit to the Abbey of Molkwould be rewarded, and he will the sooner make it himself, if he do nothappen to come upon it as I did while on a rapid journey to Hungary.Below Molk lie the ruins of Durrenstein, of all the castles of the Danubethe most famed in song. Shortly before it reaches this point, the rivermakes a sudden bend, and a little further on, another, so that the castlepresents itself suddenly throned on the frowning rock, and as it is closedin behind again by rugged mountain walls, it looks isolated in its rockydesert, although standing on the bank of the land-uniting stream. KingRichard may have suffered all the more during his imprisonment here, for,if his apartment lay on the eastern side, although he might enjoy somedistant view, it was a view into the heart of Austria, which he must havedetested, whereas, on the side towards England, whither his longing wishesmust have tended most, the prospect is most limited.I should like to know more precisely what were the employments of thelion-hearted king in this stern rocky nest; how far he was at liberty to go,122 THE PICTURE-GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA.who spoke with him, and whether he learnt some words of Austrian Ger- man? Without historical record I can easily believe the noble warrior tohave been kind and gracious to his attendants, the servants of Hadmar desKhuenringer, and that in the morning when they brought him- not hiscoffee-but his porridge, perhaps he would have answered their greeting with a "Grüss di Gott Seppi."It is a pity, however, that we cannot be sure of these things, and howthoughtless it was of Blondel not to keep a journal; no doubt his royalfriend gave him an exact account of all that had happened when he was once more at liberty. What a precious, what an inestimable book wouldbe " Blondel's Memoirs of the Fifteen Months' Imprisonment of KingRichard Cœur de Lion. " How seldom it has happened that such a royal prey, a lion, born for the most unbounded freedom, has fallen into such atrap. And how widely diffused is the story of this captivity, how fornearly seven hundred years it has been related and re-related by allEuropean and American grandfathers to all European and Americanchildren! And yet, in how few words the whole tradition is contained!How much remains to be filled up by every narrator, according to his ownfashion! Every one has his own image of Archduke Leopold, the cunningwolf, of the valiant, unsuspicious Richard, the suffering lion, and the gentle,tuneful Blondel, his faithful friend! The tradition, like every thing reallybeautiful, is so fine and touching in all its parts, that in defiance of the scanty data, it will remain as long as the rocks remain that echo it. Asyet the story is in a measure new, and all the travellers thronged to the side of the steamboat to look at the ruins of castle Durrenstein, as if it related to some occurrence of recent date. The loophole, behind whichthe king was said to have sat, was sought for with glasses, and the brokencolumn and wall ofthe knightly hall, where the hero walked with Khuenringer, and the fragments of painting in the ruined chapel, the cellarsand the vaults. The castle will not last much longer; a couple of centuriesat the most. Fragments of the wall will then be sought for on the mountain side, and the morsels will be enveloped in paper, on which may beinscribed, a stone from the former castle of Durrenstein, where KingRichard the Lion Heart was imprisoned," &c.And then the stone mayvanish, and some thousands of years afterwards, perhaps, the vacant place may be pointed out, and strange tongues may speak of an unauthenticatedstory of some imprisoned king, in whom fewer and fewer persons are in- terested, until at last the lion- hearted king will be confounded with a reallion, and the story may run thus:- -" In times of remote antiquity, whenthe people called Germans still inhabited this country, the last lion was caught in the wilderness, but afterwards escaped," &c . By the time Africa is cleared of its lions such a version of the story is by no means improbable.As we passed Durrenstein, one of the Germans began to hum the air:66--"O Richard, O mon roi,L'univers t'abandonne."I remarked that the words were strikingly correct, for the castle looks sosolitary, that Richard must have really felt as if forsaken by all the world."Yes," said the singer, " his spirit must have suffered the tortures of animpaled criminal, and that for fifteen months long! It is fearful, and almost moves meto tears." In fact the locality so seizes upon the imagination,that even I, though by no means sentimental, (the reader will permit thisTHE PICTURE-GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA. 123confession, ) felt a certain creeping sensation coming over me. Strange!Had we not all heard this story a hundred times before, read of it, andrelated it again without any particular emotion; is not the whole an idea,an imagination! What was it then that so powerfully affected us in passingthe place itself?I used formerly when I heard the story of Richard's imprisonment, tofeel mortified that it should be a German prince who played the ignoblepart, and now it sounded strangely enough to hear a German singing inthe French language the praises of an English king; but I might almostsay, I was shocked to hear an Englishman, of whom I inquired the nextverse of the song, answer drily, as he settled his cravat, " Je n'ai pas l'intimité de toute cette chose."Behind Durrenstein as we round the corner towards Mautern, is the lastfine picture in this unequalled gallery, through which we had been running;a gallery so inexhaustible in beauties, that the hundred eyes of Argus would be wanted to discover them all. Mautern, and the opposite village ofStein, form a landscape in the style of Claude Lorraine, and seem placedhere purposely to sooth the troubled spirit after the wild and savage Durrenstein. To the rightand left lie the pretty little towns of Stein, Mautern,and Krems, all places sung in the Nibelungenlied, and here collected in thepropylæum of the Danube temple. The river is crossed here by a bridgeof boats, the first between this place and Linz; both the bridge and thetown are interesting objects from their geographical position on the boundary, between the mountain territory of the Danube and its plains. Inthe foreground, from the window of a house advancing close upon theriver, two monks were looking out on the unquiet steamboat; a terrace,belonging to the house projecting over the stream, was filled with flowers.In the background of the picture, on a rock seven hundred feet in height,rises a stately edifice, the Abbey of Gottweih, the third in rank of the ecclesiastical foundations on the Danube. It covers the whole tolerably broadback of the mountain, which stands in an extensive and beautiful plain.The hills rising at the sides ofthe little towns, are crowned with vineyards;and vessels are moving backwards and forwards on the winding river infront. What follows, is comparatively insignificant and uninteresting,partly from negligence, as I cannot but think, that with proper treatmentand some pains, all these immeasurable water- meadows, morasses, andwastes, might be changed into pleasing pictures, were they only in the styleof the rich marsh lands of Holland, dammed up by dykes, and spottedwith a few comfortable houses, and some well fed cattle. But instead ofthat, these water-meadows lie bare and desolate among the many arms ofthe Danube, presenting a most unpleasing contrast to those before men- tioned between the hills.The beautiful Abbey of Gottweih, which drew many a sigh from theprisoners in the steamboat, alone remained long visible, a last consolationfor all we had lost. Beyond the willow-grown meadows and islands ofHollenburg, we still caught sight of its distant buildings, till at last theyvanished like a cloud in the grey horizon. Then, wearied out with theenjoyment of the day, we could recline on the elegant divans of the Archduke Stephen, and listen to him who related the pleasing story of thefoundation of Gottweih. It is thus related by Bishop Altmann, of Passau,who lived in the eleventh century.124 THE PICTURE- GALLERY BETWEEN LINZ AND VIENNA."In my youth, when I was still a travelling student, and when the deceased majesty the emperor Conrad ruled, I came into the most remote part of my new diocese, the country that we Germans took from the Hunsand Avares, under our emperor Charlemagne, of blessed memory.I wasin company with my dear brother and friend, Adalbert, bishop of Wurzburg, and Gebhardt, bishop of Saltzburg. They were then like myself,travelling scholars. We three passed many a cheerful and pious holidaytogether; but at times we shared nothing but labour, and want, andtrouble; yet we went on our way diligently, prayed and sang, studied,and were followers of God's word. In that land, then, we came once on ahigh hill in the midst of fruitful plains, but one little laboured in, either in a spiritual or any other sense, on the banks of the broad Danube; and wepoor scholars sat ourselves down and looked upon the country round about.As we three poor and insignificant people sat there on the summit of thehill, in the midst of free nature, there came upon us all three a vehementwish to be stronger and more profitable servants of God. We prayed to him that he would give us higher place in his service, and made a compact,each clasping the other's hand, that in all the roads and byways of life,that we trod in the name of God, we would faithfully stand by and help one another, and that we would neither halt nor rest, till each had thebishop's crozier in his hand, and a flock to pasture in the name of theLord. Well! we have kept our bond truly, and our three bishoprics bor- der on one another. And I, for mine own behoof, made a vow on thatmountain, that if I became the bishop of Passau I would build a monas- tery on that same mountain, that the cultivation of the land and of thesouls of the dwellers might be advanced thereby. I am now bishop ofPassau, and the convent by the Danube has been long roofed in, andnamed by me, Gottweih, because I have dedicated it to the Lord and Crea- tor of the world. And there my coffin is already nailed together, and myvault built, for I would fain be buried in the place of my fairest youthful recollections.' Here may be added, that this wish also was fulfilled, andthe traveller may yet stand and contemplate the grave of the poor scholar,Altmann.to66""The word meadow (Au) has in German a particularly friendly sound.The poet often makes use of it, and seldom without a loving predicate—the charming," the " loved, " or " lovely" meadows. But we have onlygo from Stein to Vienna to be heartily sick of the name and the thing.I saw on this passage so many unlovely meadows, that I have the wordregularly en dépit, and was not a little rejoiced when we came in sight ofLeopold's mountain, and Kahlenberg, and when we passed Klosterneuberg, and heard at Nussdorf, " Halt- stop the machine." Nussdorf is the harbour of Vienna: it lies at the mouth of that arm of the Danubethat branches off here, and flows through the imperial city. Here thegreater number of the vessels navigating that river, land their passengers,and here, in consequence, is a never-ending turmoil and confusion of boats,men, and conveyances, to encounter which, one has to arm oneself beforehand with patience and watchfulness, in order not to be ingulfed ina vortex alike dangerous to purse, person, and baggage.LOWER AUSTRIA.VIENNA, OR BETSCH.AND in this manner we reached the great city of Betsch, a name highlyvalued throughout the east, though wonderfully little known in Europe.The city of Betsch has four hundred thousand inhabitants, and is theresidence of a powerful Shah, who rules a land more extensive than Beloochistan and Affghanistan, called Nyemzestan. This land of Nyemzestan contains a number of kingdoms and principalities, over all of whichthe above-named Shah is master and lord. The greatest of these subordinate kingdoms is Trandebog, lying towards the north. Its inhabitants,the Trandebogians, amount, in number, to millions.The language spoken in Betsch is a very singular mixture. It neither resembles the Turkish nor the Persian, but is said to have some affinity toGerman.The Turks, the Hungarians, and all the nations beyond, far into Asia,call that Betsch which we christen Vienna, and signify by Nyemzestan,the whole of our German fatherland, of which they suppose his majestyof Austria to be sovereign lord. It is true, that the emperor Francis renounced this title, and the glory of the German empire has long sincepassed away; but it is long before the setting of a star is observed in distantregions, as its rays, once transmitted, still conjure up its image before us.Brandenburg is corrupted by the Turks into Trandebog.Betsch orVienna is, to them, next to Trieste, the most distinguished place of trafficin Germany.Two great water-roads connect Germany with the east the AdriaticSea and the Danube. At the head of the one lies Trieste, and of the otherVienna; and from these two places branches out the whole commerce ofthe east to the interior of Germany, as it develops itself from Constantinople to Trebisond and Smyrna. Vienna is the last westerly point beforewhich a hostile Turkish army encamped, and the most western seat of an eastern commercial colony or factory.The people who are the great agents of this commerce, through theirown trade and their river navigation, are the Servians -the Rascians, asthey are called in Vienna and Hungary. I could never discover, eitherfrom books or verbal inquiry, whence this appellation for the Servians was126 VIENNA, OR BETSCH.derived. * In Hungarian Latin, they are called Rasci, their countryRascia, and the King of Hungary is entitled " Rex Rascia. "The Rascians have their colonies in Pesth, Vienna, and other cities on theDanube, where they are mingled with the other inhabitants, as the Armenians, Bucharians, and Greeks, are in southern and western Russia, andas the Jews are in other countries; and are the principal masters of vesselson the middle and lower Danube. They are to be met with their wives inall the public places in Vienna, habited in a strange mixture of Europeanand Oriental costume. After the Rascians, the Turco- Spanish Jews play the principal part in the commercial world of Vienna. This remarkable branchof a remarkable nation, was scattered over the whole Turkish empire afterthe most catholic kings of Spain had driven them from their dominions.They have commercial establishments in all the Turkish states of Africaand in Asia; and, as agents between the east and west, they have alsofixed themselves at Vienna, where their houses are very considerable. Likethe Servians, though in fewer numbers, they have extended their branchesas far as Pesth, Semlin, Belgrade, and are more especially important in the relations of the Danube countries with Thessalonica.These Spanish or Turkish Jews have adopted the eastern costume, probably because it was a sine qua non of their admission into the Turkishdominions, but they retain the Spanish language. They converse andcorrespond with each other from Belgrade to Salonica, and from Neusatzto Vienna in Spanish; probably it is found convenient here as a languagevery little known. They enjoy many privileges in Vienna, among others,that of being reckoned Turkish subjects, although established in Austria,and are consequently, under the protection of the Turkish ambassador,as independent of the native authorities as the Franks are under that oftheir consuls in the Turkish dominions.Besides the above-named foreigners, there are many Greek and Armenian merchants settled in Vienna. The principal banker, Sina, is a Greek.Since the late improvements in the navigation of the Danube, which havemade it possible to travel from Vienna to Trebisond within fourteen days,and to reach the interior of Persia in three weeks, traders from AsiaMinor, and the Persian pointed caps, have made their appearance in theneighbourhood of St. Stephen's church, but they are only visiters in the city and not residents.The whole number of Orientals in Vienna, is generally reckoned atabout a thousand souls . In what degree their numbers have increased,with the still increasing intercourse with the east, I learnt in the office ofthe Vienna Foreign Police, where I had an opportunity of looking atthe register of foreign residents. From 1822 to 1831 (in nine years), alarge folio volume had been filled with the names and residences of Turkishsubjects; from 1831 to 1836 (that is in five years), another as large, andin the following four years, a third was filled.The register for the year 1840, gives the numbers of Turkish subjects trading en gros, whose firms are established in Vienna.1st. Of the Greek religion (the fewest of these being of the Greeknation) fifty-two.2dly. Israelite Turkish merchants (the greater number bearing Spanish

• There is a small river in Servia bearing a similar name, from which it may be derived.

VISIT TO ST. STEPHEN'S TOWER. 127family-names, as Somajo, Majo, Abeneri, Benturo, Major, Sabetay, &c. ),forty- eight.And 3dly. Armenian merchants, nine.The greater part of these oriental inhabitants live in the neigbourhoodof the old meat market. There they are to be met with, as grave as storks,slowly pacing through the bustle of a European street, or, reclining on the handsome red cushions with which the windows of a Vienna house aregenerally provided, they may be seen looking down upon the turmoil, andtranquilly smoking. Here also are the two coffee-houses most frequentedby them, the " Grecian," and the " City of London. " In the first, thereis a constant influx and eflux of eastern merchants, mingled with Greeks,Jews, and Italians. The second, has been especially selected as the sceneof their social amusem*nts, -smoking and sitting still, -by the youngTurkish students and the officers of the Porte, who of late have been accustomed to make the pilgrimage from the Bosphorus to the seat of artand enlightenment on the banks of the Danube. They learn German ofcourse, and their pronunciation, seemed to me in general soft, harmonious,and agreeable. It sounded, however, comical enough to hear theseforeigners take all imaginable pains to acquire the Austrian provincialisms,which they most conscientiously sought to imitate.Surprise has been expressed ( and with reason), that those of the Viennacoffee-house keepers who call their establishments oriental, take so littletrouble to furnish them in the eastern taste. They have not so much asthe broad divan always found in Turkish coffee-houses. Now, when webethink ourselves, how much even we unquiet Franks value a comfortableseat, of which many of our proverbial expressions offer a proof, as " sittingin clover," "sitting upon thorns," &c.; when we reflect that even withour inconvenient sitting machines, it is so easy to accustom oneself to onekind, that another becomes disagreeable, (I know a German lady, whotold me, that being used to sitting on cane chairs, she could not endurecushioned ones, whereby I suppressed, just at the right time, a philosophicalremark that came into my head, viz. , that certain very distant parts ofourphysical organization must be capable of contracting habits, which, whenopposed, excited disagreeable sensations, ) when we consider these things, Isay, we cannot feel otherwise than great compassion for the poor orientalsin Vienna, mounted on our narrow, long- legged, unsteady, sitting accommodations, their hearts a prey to home-sickness, and their legs, the onetucked under them after the fashion of their fatherland, while its forsakenbrother dangles solitary and stick-like in cold empty space!VISIT TO ST. STEPHEN'S TOWER.My best friend in Vienna was named Stephen, and when I heard hehad become a widower lately, I went to pay him my visit of condolence.At first I did not very well understand the expression " become a widower,"as, to the best of my knowledge, my friend Stephen, who was above four hundred feet high, and five hundred years old (being no other than the renowned steeple dedicated to the abovenamed saint) had never been married,although he had many brothers, as the double steeple in Rheims, the sistersteeples in Munich, Lubeck, and other places. I asked, therefore, withsome reason, " how he could have become a widower," and was answered128 VISIT TO ST. STEPHEN'S TOWER." Because it has pleased the fates, and the safety police to relieve him of his cross. " So this was a piece of Vienna wit, which will not be takenamiss by any married lady in the world, I think, for the compliment impliedis far greater than the discourtesy at first apparent. If it be maintained that every married man bears his wife enthroned in honour far abovehimself, as Stephen's Tower bore his cross, it must be admitted that thematrimonial burden cannot but be a light one to so great and portly agentleman. This cross was also united with a double eagle, spreading itslordly pinions over the Tower, even as married ladies sometimes extendanother pretty little instrument authoritatively over the heads of theirwedded lords, or wedded servants as they should rather be called.Stephen, as he is sometimes laconically styled in Vienna, is in generalfanned by the pinions of more peaceful birds, or by the harmless, though,from its great height, sometimes outrageous god of wind; but nearly every hundred years this tower has had visiters of another description, lowering, black, hard-headed fellows, who cared little howthey ruffled his carefully arranged toilet. Between the differentbombardments, which Vienna and St. Stephen's Tower, in particular,have suffered from the Hungarians, Turks, a second time from theTurks, and lastly from the French; exactly a hundred years have each time elapsed. Šince the last shooting match, forty years have nearly flownaway; from what direction the bombs of 1907 or 1909 are to whistle, it isnot difficult to guess; for every traveller who visits Austria must ask himselfwhy all the windows and loopholes, looking to the north-east, are not a littlebetter fastened up. Perhaps Stephen may weather the bombardment of 1907,and, perhaps, a sixth or a seventh, but at last his courage may sink underthese repeated attacks, till one day the old, crazy, useless Stephen, out ofregard to the heads of the worthy citizens, will be ordered to be removedaltogether. God be thanked, the hands by which, and the heads for whosesake this will have to be done, lie still in the darkness of the future.present the good people of Vienna are busied in removing the old wornout bones, and substituting new ones. I examined the work closely. Thepermission is obtained in the office of the church-master, where a printedpassport for this little journey to the clouds is issued.of use.AtThe church-master's office has its seat in the neighbourhood, and is initself a little curiosity, for it is a question whether any other cathedral canboast so numerous a court. The venerable Stephen brings his middle age customs and usages into modern times, and has his own peculiar sources ofrevenue, which are as difficult to administer, as the Gothic caprices of building are to bring within architectural rules. The so- called giant door, oneof its five entrances, abounding in all kinds of inexplicable decorations, isnever opened on ordinary occasions, and seems to be quite rusty for wantIt costs a considerable sum when, at the desire of some relativeof an illustrious deceased, this door opens to admit the corse.numerous death- bells have their different prices, and if it be desired thatStephen" shall set his whole concert of bells in motion in honour of thedeparted, no inconsiderable capital must be expended. There are not lessthan twenty-one persons employed in the church-master's office; a churchprovost, a controller, four secretaries, a sexton, two upper vergers, two lowervergers, four assistant vergers, four guides, two reckoners. It must be observed that these form only one branch of the cathedral authorities, itspolice as it were. The cathedral dignitaries are many more, and then66TheVISIT TO ST. STEPHEN'S TOWER. 129there are the female attendants or housemaids, to say nothing of the watchmen on the tower, &c.Not far from the door, through which you ascend the tower, among themany monuments on the walls, there is one old stone with this inscription,"fortiter ac suaviter." I translated these words for the benefit of a prettylittle Servian, who, with a train of brothers and kindred, was preparing toascend along with me, and we took these words as a viaticum on our way.The young Oriental had the same detestable head-dress as the rest of hercountrywomen in Vienna, a cloth, bound flat and tightly round her head,with a bouquet of flaring flowers, like the feather in a soldier's shako.She was very pretty, however, in spite of her head-gear.St. Stephen's Tower is inhabited from top to bottom by very differentkinds of men and animals. At the bottom, strangers are under the guidance of two young ecclesiastics . Further up, as far as the roof, the churchservants bear sway; we then enter the territory of the bell- ringers, and atthe very top of the tower watchmen keep watch and ward. All, accordingto their own fashion, do the honours of the place, and levy a contributionon travellers. On all sides one is called upon to look and admire; here isthe hole through which, some years ago, a man, weary of life, flung hishat down into the church, and then flung himself after it-there are thebells, cast by order of the emperor Joseph I., from the captured Turkish cannon-here is the great crescent, which the Vienna people fastened to theirtower to induce the Turks to spare the splendid edifice-there are thetwelve engines and thirty cisterns for the protection of the building againstfire. In March they are filled with water strongly impregnated with salt,which is thus preserved throughout the summer. Admiration is also challenged for the great ugly double eagle lying with outspread pinions on theroof, probably the largest figure of a bird in the world. If it could riseinto the air it might pass for the offspring of the far-famed roc; from theextremity of one wing to that of the other the measurement is one hundredand eighty feet. Each eye is formed of four gilded tiles, and each beakcontains not less than thirty such scales.People who are fond of taking exceptions against modern times, mayfind abundance of opportunity on the roof of this cathedral. In 1830 itwas found necessary to repair a portion; the new tiles were shaped andcoloured after the model of the old; but after the lapse of only ten yearsthey are worn out. The glazing and colour is worn off the greater part,the white glaze turning quite red, and displaying the native hue of the clay,while the old tiles, the work of the middle ages, retain all their originaltints and freshness . It is feared that the roof itself may suffer from thebadness of the tiling, and a renewal of the work is already talked of.No less than 700 steps must be mounted to reach the tower where thewatchers have their dwelling and place of abode. The arrangements madefor ascertaining the exact locality of a fire are very peculiar and interesting. On the parapets of the four windows, looking east, west, north, andsouth, are four telescopes. Each glass, or, as they call the whole apparatus here, every " toposkop" commands a fourth of the whole circular sea ofhouses, stretching on every side of the church. Each quadrant is dividedby circles and radii into sections, and by the aid of the glass the section inwhichthe burning house lies is easily ascertained. The individual house is discovered with the same ease. By every " toposkop" there lies a thick book K130 VISIT TO ST. STEPHEN'S TOWER.containing the names of all the house owners in each section; and thusthe house can be not only ascertained, but named. Whenthe name is foundit is written on a slip of paper, which is enclosed in a brass ball . This ballis thrown down a pipe, and it passes rapidly, like a winged messenger ofevil tidings, down to the dwelling of the sexton, where it is picked up by awatchman constantly in attendance there and carried to the city authorities. Here it is opened, and the name of the unfortunate house madeknown to those whom it may concern. In the description, this operationappears somewhat long, but it is performed with tolerable rapidity andcertainty, and the " toposkop" can be used as well by night as by day.In the more remote parts of the suburb, the point is of course more difficultto ascertain, as the angles of vision and position become smaller in the"toposkop." Such an apparatus can only be used with advantage fromtowers as lofty as St. Stephen's.The length of the piece latterly removed from the tower, from apprehension of insecurity, is about eleven fathoms; that is, as the whole towercontains about seventy-two fathoms, nearly a sixth of the whole. Thispiece had long swayed from the right line, in consequence of an earthquake, it was said, but at first with an inclination of only three feet fromthe highest point of the cross. At last, however, it was asserted that thehighest point was a whole fathom out of the perpendicular. Many smallerparts had also been much injured, partly by time and natural causes,partly by the different bombardments. For example, the crowns of manylittle side towers had been split from top to bottom, and heavy fragmentsof stone hung threateningly over the abyss below swarming with life. Theformer repairs had been exceedingly defective; round many of thesesmaller towers only thick iron bands had been passed, which scarcely held theloose stones together. Others had merely iron staves and cramp irons tokeep the runaway fragments in their places. In 1809, after the Frenchbombardment, a great deal of money had been lavished on these crampsand holdfasts; but in 1838 the real repair now in progress was begun.From the main or round corridor, the tower is surrounded by eighteengalleries formed of strong beams connected by ladders, rising above eachother to the top of the cross . The work was begun on the twenty- fourthof September, 1838; it was hoped that in three years it would have beenfinished, but it will certainly require three more to restore the noble building to its former magnificence and perfection . What a day of joy willthat be for the people of Vienna!The very solid manner in which the scaffoldings are erected, must haveoffered no small difficulty; from below, all this joinery cannot be lookedat without a slight sensation of fear, lest some tremendous hurricane might in its sport scatter these beams like matches, and hurl them down upon theroofs and heads below. Whenever the wind is very high, the work mustbe discontinued, and the workmen retire. Hitherto all accidents have beenavoided, but one of the men told me that the mischievous Eolus had onceplayed him a trick, more dangerous than agreeable, in whirling him aloftand seating him astride upon a balustrade; fortunately, before the second gust came, he had clung fast to a beam, and, creeping down on the inner side, saved his life.The difficulties experienced in the execution of the building may be estimated from this one circ*mstance, that half a day is required to raise theVISIT TO ST. STEPHEN'S TOWER. 131stones the same distance which the fire-announcing bullet traverses in a moment. The stones are all tolerably large, and eleven workmen are scarcelyable to raise two in a day.In order that the new stones used in the repairs may not be too conspicuous by the side of the old, they have invented a new colour, wherewith to stain them, but the rightshade has not been caught, and theplaces repaired are easily recognizable from below. We pointed this out to the people about, but they assured us, that after many attempts no better colour could be found. It struck us at first as very extraordinarythat it should be so very difficult to hit the colour of a mass of old gray stones, and began to examine them more minutely. We found such avariety of shades on every side and every stone, that it was clearly impossible that one and the same colour should suffice to blend old and newharmoniously together. Thetints, moreover, depend partly on the vegetation,-the mosses which cover nearly the whole surface of the tower. In someplaces these mosses are withered and decayed; the stones are then coveredwith a dark gray coating that can be rubbed to dust between the fingers.Here and there occur patches of young moss, producing a grayish greentint; then come whitish grays, bluish and yellowish colourings. To givethe right effect it would be necessary to lay on all these tints and blendthem softly together; and even this would scarcely suffice, as the appear- ance of the whole changes with the weather. In rain and damp weathernot only the bare stones change their colour, but also those covered with moss. The mosses attract the moisture, and many that look withered indry weather seem to gain new life after rain. In a wet season the verdureof the tower on one side becomes extremely vivid, and it is impossible to follow all these changes with any artificial colour. It is a question whetherit would not have been better to leave the new stones of their naturalcolour, trusting to time to assimilate them. Be this as it may, it is certainthat the chosen colour is much too palpably blue, and ought to have been blended to a yellowish gray.The flora of St. Stephen's tower is much more uniform than that of thecathedral of Cologne, where a hundred different plants grow in rich luxu- riance. All the north side is covered with mosses. The south has little orno vegetation. The fauna of the cathedral is various enough. Of thehuman part we spoke before. The crows, jack- daws, hawks, &c. , it has incommon with all the church steeples in Germany; owls are very rare, theguardians of the place said there were none, which would be remarkableenough, but the bats are so numerous, that I was told on a late search fortheir hiding places not less than fifty had been discovered and killed, because the night patrols could no longer protect their lanterns or their facesfrom the assaults of these goblins. A worse plague than these are thegolse, the little long-legged stinging insects of which all travellers andboatmen along the Danube complain so much. I should like to knowwhat the swamp-bred animalculæ can think of seeking in these giant towers,where in summer time they swarm in such numbers that the people employed there are obliged to sleep with damp cloths upon their faces .Chamber flies are found also , but in no great numbers . Mice there arenone. Spiders we found in prodigious numbers; they and the golses havebeen carrying on the war here these four hundred years, and doubtlessmuch to interest the naturalist has occurred, meanwhile, in the world ofspiders. In fact, a naturalist might take up his abode here for a time, withK 2132 THE MENAGERIE AT SCHOENBRUNN.great advantage to science. Of the storms, the people say that nearly all come from the north. So soon as the weatherco*cks in summer turnsuddenly to the south, a storm may be expected. One of the younger ofthe watchmen, who had been lately placed in this exalted position, told us,that the weather up here was sometimes awful. At his first watch thefearful band of wind instruments, whistling and howling in the numberless clefts, holes, and corners, the rocking and cracking of the tower pinnacles, the wildly driving ghost-like clouds, with the gleaming of thelightning, and the stunning kettle-drums of the thunder, filled him withsuch terror, that he thought he must have jumped out of the first convenient opening to the depths below. There must be here abundant fieldfor observation on acoustics. In ascending, we remarked that the windwhistled through every opening in a different tone.TheFrom the wooden galleries erected for the repairs, the panorama of the city of Vienna can now be enjoyed more conveniently than ever. Iwished to look on this spectacle from the summit of one of the side towers.This summit is formed like the leaves of a rose flattened at the top andaffording just space enough for two human feet. We ascended accordingly, and perched like squirrels on the topmost branch of a tree.beautiful city of Vienna lay at our feet. It was a most beautiful, calm,clear day. We heard and saw all that was passing in the city; even thesongs of the canary birds in the windows of some houses ascended to us,and we could see the butterflies fluttering over the house-tops in search of some green spot in this (for them) dreary waste. We could have told agentleman we saw walking below, where the brother was of whom he was in search; for we sawhim at the same time driving at his leisure on theglacis. This glacis, which surrounds the inmost core of the city, with its broad green ring, lends the panorama its principal ornament; it causesthe whole picture to fall into picturesque parts, and permits the fine rowsof houses in the suburbs to be seen to full advantage. They lie round the outer edge of the glacis like white flowers in a wreath of green leaves.The tower keeper named to us all the market- places, streets, houses, andpalaces we saw beneath, showed us the Danube, the first range of the Carpathian mountains, the Styrian Alps, and the roads that led to Germany, Moravia, Bohemia, and Italy, and " that is," added he, " the highroad to Hungary." Here was matter for a prophetic homily, but I did notpreach it, for it would have been a voice calling in the desert. The littleServian desired to see the road to Hungary, which also led to her native land. I offered my hand, and she placed her little foot boldly on the edgeof the stone flower- crown, and gazed on the fields of Hungary; and sowe stood awhile, motionless, like two statues on a pedestal, neither feltin the least giddy, but I must not forget to say, that the place was firmly boarded up around us, so that the pleasure we enjoyed was unaccompaniedby danger. When we, that is, my Servian and I, had satisfied ourselveswith the spectacle, we turned with equal convenience to another, the ma- nœuvres of the Austrian troops, which we contemplated quite at our easefrom the altitude of the seven hundred steps above mentioned.THE MENAGERIE AT SCHOENBRUNN.That man should sometimes demean himself sensibly can be no especialwonder, since everybody knows that man is neither more nor less than aTHE MENAGERIE AT SCHOENBRUNN. 133So,reasonable creature. But that the poor dim-visioned brute should dois a standing marvel and mystery of nature. Man has in his soul a clearlight to lighten his path externally and internally; the Psyche of thebrute is a small, feebly- glimmering lamp, shining dimly through manifoldveils from a depth of darkness sending forth only occasional gleams. TheEgyptians worshipped brutes as the marvels of nature; with us Europeans,they have fallen somewhat into contempt; yet amongst brutes and plants,which appear to owe so little to themselves, and to have received alldirectly from God, we seem often to be nearer to the divinity than amongst men.For my own part, I can never look into the eyes of a sheep withoutfeeling strange sensations in beholding this veiled mystery of the great soul of the universe. The reader will, therefore, not be surprised that Iand my companion, Baron K- in a short time after my arrival inVienna, were to be found less frequently among the dandies, officers,ladies of fashion, market folks, fish-women, or by whatever other name thehuman chrysales may be called, than at Schönbrunn among the bears,apes, tigers, eagles, lions, and other disguises of the brute Psyche, having their abode in that garden.We drove there one day in one of the many hundred public carriages,ready at all times of the day to go to all ends of the world with anybodyand any baggage. One of our travelling companions was a smartlydressed old citizen of Vienna, who, when he heard we were going toSchönbrunn, related to us apropos, that he had once refused a request ofthe emperor Napoleon when at the very summit of his power. Ĥe (thecitizen) had a most incomparable horse, of Hungarian race, and Napoleonhad seen it when the owner, as captain of the burgher guard, had defiledbefore him at the head of his company. The emperor had offered him5000 florins for the animal on the spot, but neither the gold nor the entreatiesof the lord of Europe could induce himto part with his admirable steed, and,as before said, he had refused his horse to this mighty potentate at a timewhen the Emperor of Austria had not dared to refuse the hand of hisdaughter.The menagerie of Schönbrunn incloses a part of the imperial garden,near which there passes a miserable, scantily-filled ditch, that in summersmells abominably, and which it is amazing to me does not appear thefrightful object it is, to the thousands of Vienna people who daily resortthither. The menagerie occupies a large circular piece of ground, in thecentre of which, on a little elevation, stands a many-windowed summerhouse, the abode of the gaily-plumaged parrot kind. If I were a courtierI should use all my influence to get these birds removed from so conspicuous a place, lest it should occur to some to draw odious comparisons between them and the court circle.From this parrot centre the whole circle is cut by radii into numerous sections. All these sections are divided by walls and hedges, and broad walks. Each section contains the stalls, baths, ponds, pasturages, andpleasure-grounds of a particular species, and since the present emperor has filled up the places that had become vacant, there is a tolerable numberof interesting furred and feathered creatures, to whom Asia, Africa, orAmerica has furnished paws or claws, hoofs, horns or antlers, the appetite for bread or for blood.The bears, tigers, and other carnivorous animals, are daily in view ofthe134 THE MENAGERIE AT SCHOENBRUNN.public; the prisons of the others must be especially opened to the curious.The brown bears sat, like poor beggars, in their dens, and received thankfully a morsel of bread. If it was thrown on the top, they climbed upthe iron grating and thrust their paws through to reach it. One of them,when we took out some more bread, sat up on his hind quarters and movedhis fore paws up and down like a petitioner till he got a piece . A tiger or a lion would never learn to do this. The nature of the bear seems topartake of the monkey as well as of the dog. The old bears in Schönbrunn are the grandchildren of bears likewise born in captivity, and have,in their turn, descendants, the fourth generation, therefore, of a tamedrace. It would be interesting to learn, if in later generations the character of the animal will undergo any considerable alteration. But, unfortunately, the people here keep no exact account of their charges, whichmight be useful to the student of natural history.It was a hot day, and the polar bears, the bloodthirsty animals, whowear on their body the colour of innocence, and cover their necks with thesilver locks of venerable age, when all the while they have not an honesthair on the whole body, were splashing about in the water all the time westayed. They are the only animals who do not require their dwelling to be warmed in the winter. Like their far more amiable brethren, thebrown bears, they are fed only on bread and milk, which, it is said,enables them to bear their imprisonment better.The beautiful royal tiger we found lying on one side with all his legsstretched out, but so that his hind legs rested between the two fore ones.The keeper said this was his ordinary position when at rest. We durstnot disturb him, as he takes it very much amiss even if people only touchhis den, growls fearfully, and is long before he can be appeased. Hislady is of a much gentler character. The cages ofthe tiger, lions, and otherwild cats, are divisible into two parts by means of sliding partitions, that the animals may be driven into one while the other is cleaned. A thirddivision projects like a balcony, in which they can enjoy the sunshine andopen air, and show themselves to the public. The bears have their bathsin addition. -The story we heard in the next section concerning master Jack was distressing to a friend of humanity. Master Jack was an exceedingly welldisposed and well-bred youth, living quietly and respectably in his appointeddwelling. He was on the best footing with all his acquaintance, and particularly attached to his friend and servant, M. Henri, who had long beenhis companion and tutor in all the arts of life, wherein master Jack showedgreat address, succeeding in all he undertook. He could take the corkout of a rum-bottle without the aid of a corkscrew; beat a drum like themost experienced drummer, and blow a trumpet that, like the summons tothe last judgment, pierced to the very marrow. If a lady visiting himlet fall her glove or her handkerchief, master Jack dropped on one kneelike a courteous knight, and presented it to her again. But who canenumerate all the virtues and accomplishments of this well-instructedyoung gentleman? It may be boldly asserted that master Jack was thefirst gentleman of the lion court of Schönbrunn, and surpassed even thepolitely soliciting bears in grace and dexterity.An unexpected occurrence, or rather the consequences of a bad calculation, suddenly produced a melancholy change in the whole being of thegifted Jack. This occurrence was his acquaintance with miss Djeck,THE MENAGERIE AT SCHOENBRUNN. 135vis-a-vis to which viciously disposed lady, he had been unadvisedly quartered. Jack, who, receiving so many visits daily, might be said to live inthe great world, had become acquainted with many a young lady withoutshowing further civility than any cavalier might offer in pure courtesyto any lady. But this particular lady, who took up her abode in his veryhouse as it were, produced a magical effect upon him. Her eyes, theivory of her teeth, and the unspeakable charm of her gray cheek, excited in him the liveliest desire to call her his own. To the indescribable vexation of his tutor he forgot all his learning, all his accomplishments. Hisgentleness was changed to fury, his universal philanthropy to the mosthostile feeling against all the world. In short, his mind which before resembled a well- cultivated field, now became like a garden laid waste.Ah, love, to what a condition didst thou not reduce this thy poor vic- tim!His faithful friend, M. Henri, dares no longer venture near him, for ifhe does, Jack immediately draws his sword, that is his club, which hewhirls aloft in the air, threatening to crush to pieces all that approach him.I found M. Henri perfectly inconsolable. When I asked him why thefemale elephant had been placed so directly before her admirer's eyes, heburst out into invectives against certain persons, from which I gathered,that either there was no other place for the newly-purchased lady, or thatthey were in hopes of founding a race of Djecks and Jacks from a marriage between the pair. Packed up in his finger-thick hide, master Jackwas moving his enormous mass of bone up and down the balcony of hishouse, throwing his weight now on the right, now on the left leg. Occasionally he tossed his trunk about as a man might bite his lips in suppressed anger. His little eyes looked quite calm, though his keeperassured us the creature was full of flame and fury. He seemed to take nonotice ofany thing, but that was, as we were assured, because, caged withinhis bars, he sawhe could do no mischief. Any object, living or dead, thatcame within the reach of his trunk or his feet, would be dashed or trampledto pieces immediately. On the bread we threw to him, he never deignedto bestow the most superficial notice, while miss Djeck directly openedher soft fleshy mouth and snapped up every morsel of the roll .At noon the lady was let out to take the air in the meadow. Behindthe thick beams and trunks of trees forming the palisade we could watchher proceedings. She walked gravely down the path leading to the meadow, also strongly fenced, then turned to the left and stood awhilebefore the passage leading to Jack's apartment, as if to say, good morning,but as he did not appear, she went to take her promenade on the turf andfinish her toilet, wherein she was assisted by a fresh breeze. It blew athick cloud of dust and straws over her broad sides. Jack, we were told,they durst not let out if they would not expose both trees and walls to thegreatest danger.The larger species of animals have for the most part their separate sections of the garden, but of the feline races many specimens are lodged inone house. Among them is a lion, a born republican, for he is a native ofHamburg, not very imposing in size, but with a very fine expressive head.There is certainly deeply rooted in the human soul a peculiar pleasurein the enjoyment of what is dangerous, and that with the timid as well asthe courageous, with this difference, that the former love danger onlywhen they are certain it will not affect them personally. Our companion136 THE MENAGERIE AT SCHOENBRUNN.in Schönbrunn who, if all signs deceived not, was an arrant poltroon,would persist, in spite of the intreaties and prohibitions of the keepers, inteasing the lions and tigers with his riding whip till they got up andshowed their teeth. We on our side could not withstand the temptationof creeping into one of the cages to examine its internal arrangements.It was a leopard house; the walls were carefully plated with iron andpainted light blue. The arrangements for carrying away all dirt, andthe division into front and back dens, appeared to us to be very judicious.The leopards, it must be observed, for whom these apartments had beenprepared, had not yet taken possession of them.None of the animals assembled here have increased so much as theBrazilian hares. A few years ago, a single pair was brought here, and there are now thirty, and many have been given away. The wildest andmost timid of all are the Sardinian moufflons. They keep at the farthestend of the ground allotted them; and we dared not invade it, as the keepersassured us, that on the approach of any person or thing strange to them,they would dash themselves in their blind terror against the trees andwalls. Even their young display this extreme shyness the day after birth,and fly with such rapidity from all who approach, that it is impossible tocatch them, while the young bears and lions will allow themselves to be taken in the arms like children.Among the camels, who agree no better here than in Arabia, but live ina state ofcontinual warfare, biting and striking each other with their forefeet, there was one so unbearably vicious that he was obliged to be keptchained in his stall. His bony figure, rugged and remarkably bare hide,faded yellowish gray colour, the flabby and diseased hump hanging downon one side of his back, his spiteful and venomous spitting and hissing whenany thing human drew near him, and his self- contented ruminating whenhe was left alone, made him a most offensive image of the intensest egotism,all the more disgusting, that he was withal excessively dry and meager.But even the fat and well-fed of the camel kind look very little handsomer.The hair is seldom or never in good order, or sufficient to cover thementirely, so that the speckled parts of the body of a bluish colour show very disagreeably through the leathern skin. There was one such fat camelhere, which had been brought from Egypt. Of all tamed animals the camel is perhaps the most malicious. The zebus, -tame, gentle cows,from the East Indies, -have a pond in common with the camels, which divides their territory as the Indian Ocean does the lands of their birth .There are some remarkably beautiful zebras in Schönbrunn. One was with young. Another had already brought into the world a little one,that closely resembled its sire, a German ass. Afew stripes on the legsonly betrayed its maternal descent.The birds are lodged and provided for in a similar way, and there is afish-pond for the waterfowl. Carp are fattened for the spoon-billed geese,who will sometimes swallow a fish weighing three pounds, and measuringa foot in length, without betraying the least inconvenience. If the lion'capacity for swallowing were of the same relative size, he could dispose at once of a whole lamb. It must be an enchanting sight to see the ostrichrun in his native deserts; for even the few light springs that he takes inpoor fields in London, Paris, or Schönbrunn, when the keepers allowhim to escape from his narrow cage, afford a pleasing spectacle, in whichthe lightly fluttering plumage of his back plays a principal part. TheyhisTHE MENAGERIE AT SCHOENBRUNN. 137have taken much pains at Schönbrunn to obtain young from the ostrich,but have as yet got nothing beyond the eggs. As the parents themselvesdo not understand hatching, and the German sun has not the life-givingpower of the African, they put the eggs at first under a Turkey hen, whosat on them, but had not warmth enough to call forth such giant broodsfrom the yolks. The heat of the oven was then tried, but with no bettersuccess . The parrots have laid eggs, but could never be induced to hatchthem.Of all the imprisoned animals none make so melancholy an impressionas the eagles and vultures. These great, high-soaring, far- circling lords of the air, ought at least to have had their prison-house arranged in somemeasure according to their natural propensities. A wooden cage, withiron grating, is a fitter den for a lion or a tiger than for the rock-throned eagle's nest. In this narrow dungeon they cannot even stretch theirpinions, and yet this motion is no doubt as much a necessity to them as itis to a man to stretch his arms and legs after long continuance in a sittingor lying posture: indeed it is evident, from the custom all imprisoned birdshave of spreading their wings slowly and yawningly from time to time.The eagle and vulture sit upon their perches as motionless as if they were mere stones. One whom I was watching held his head on one side andhis eyes immoveably fixed on the skies; another uttered a melancholy sound at intervals, and lifted his useless wing. Some of them areextremely old. I was told that one had been fifty years a prisoner. Infifty years, if we assume that one way or another an eagle can fly thirtymiles a day, he might have traversed 500,000 miles; that is, he mighthave encompassed the earth a hundred times. Good God! what a fearful destiny to feel this power within, and be condemned for ever to one narrow dirty stinking hole! As the eagles are neither cheerful here, nordisplay their natural peculiarities in any way, they can yield neither pleasure to the lover of nature, nor profit to the inquirer into her mysteries; andpeople would do much better, I am almost inclined to think, to free them at once from the burden of life, and place them stuffed in a museum. A process to which the eagles, parrots, and some other birds are subject to in their confinement, is that of washing with an infusion of tobacco to freethem from vermin. Their feathers are rubbed with it against the grain.They suffer more from vermin in captivity than in freedom, because theycannot guard themselves against them so actively.The parrot-house, to which, as to a centre, all the sections tend, isadorned with the portraits of many animals. The birds themselves are asthick here as in some primeval forest of South America; they are twolegged and feathered monkeys, for they are equally restless, teachable,imitative, and comic. To the stern motionless eagle they offer thestrongest possible contrast, bearing captivity apparently with perfect contentment. They are in eternal motion, and seem to observe every thingwith their ever-watchful eye, to meditate awhile upon it, and shriek andchatter without intermission. Sometimes the whole army of them wouldbe suddenly as still as mice, and then break out all together into one fearfuldiscord, as if they were put on a spit-an honour never yet accorded totheir black tasteless flesh. The gardens of Schönbrunn are yet more distinguished for their plantations and their botanical collections than for theanimals they contain. Not that the long avenues of beautiful, large, butmost cruelly mutilated lime trees, are entitled to much admiration.138 THE MENAGERIE AT SCHOENBRUNN.There is certainly a method of altering the natural growth and figure oftrees to the advantage of garden decoration. Even the French style ofgardening, as it is called, has its æsthetic and poetical side, for thetrees, trained into pyramids, gates, arched passages, columns, and otherarchitectural decorations, are made to produce some striking illusions ,and as art has entirely changed the appearance of the trees, and leftnothing natural about them, we forget the original form, and willinglygive ourselves up to the sportive deception.In Schönbrunn, however, by cutting one side of the trees and leavingthe other in their natural irregularity, they have produced nothing butdeformities, resembling high flat walls on one side, and wild forestdenizens on the other. They are not even clipped of an equal height, but shoot up here more, there less, so that the image of the wall is not kept up,and nothing is to be seen but the mutilated tree. If any one should turncolumns out of marble statues to form a portico with them, he would be cried out upon for his barbarism, but if he only half cut his statues, andthen made them do service as walls, we should thank him still less for hispains. They take a great deal of trouble, however, to bring these treesinto order, and have, among other machines, one fifty or sixty feet high,consisting of several stages, and rolled about on castors to enable the gardeners to reach the branches the better with their shears and axes.But we ought not in gardens like those of Schönbrunn, where there is somuch that is admirable, to waste much time in finding fault with these limetrees. We willingly abandoned ourselves to the guidance of the obligingattendants of the gardens, and followed them through their vegetable trea- sury, and if unable to give a satisfactory account of its wealth, we will atleast attempt some description of the more distinguished objects .There are many plants here, not in the greenhouses but in the opengarden, which we should seek elsewhere in vain. One of the most splendid specimens is the Sophora Japonica, a large magnificent tree, with excessively fine feathery leaves. It stands on a beautiful lawn, and thewindings of its boughs, and the whole figure of the tree, are so picturesque,that it has been repeatedly painted, and has its portrait in the emperor'scollection of pictures of the plants and trees of Schönbrunn.

Artists are almost constantly employed in these gardens, in drawing eitherfor the emperor, or with scientific objects in view. The green and hot- housesare all handsome and spacious, and a new temple of the Dryads in right imperial style is now in progress of erection . Whenever a branch isbroken by the wind, the vegetable surgeon is directly at hand to assistwith iron rings, ropes, and bandages. Bythe root of the orchidaceae wesaw a potatoe laid for those worms to creep into, which would otherwiseattack the plant itself. For several trees standing in the open air, separate huts are erected in the winter, for example, the Acaucaria excelsaand this must be elevated every year, as the tree grows rapidly. Everyplant produces, or attracts, some particular species of insect, and everywhere we saw the most judicious arrangements for their destruction.From the Brazilian fan palm long threads depend, and every one of thesethreads is a panegyric on the vigilance of the Schönbrunn gardeners,for they are preserved in their entire length, neither torn nor in any wayinjured, as we so often find them in other green-houses. The palms inwhich this garden is richer than either the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, orKew Gardens near London, have very long, very fragile roots, which re-THE FRATSCHELWEIBER. 139quire the greatest care in planting, and that that care is here bestowed thehealthy slender growth of the palms bear witness. The Stenia pallidahas a beautiful blossom, which has the appearance of being formed fromyellow wax, and is very easily broken off. To avoid this, every blossom isprovided with a prop composed of the slenderest splinters; many otherplants had the like, with the addition, where the plant was very tender, ofa little cushion of some soft material between the prop and the flower. Idid not see a single neglected or sickly-looking plant.Among the rarities shown are also some Dendrobium Pierardi, whichrequire no soil for their growth, but are kept like birds in wire cages, andhung up at windows, where it is only necessary to sprinkle them at timeswith water; the climbing Vanilla grows also in the air, notwithstandingthe thickness of its leaves, and may be suspended by threads in aroom: Sagopalm, ( Cycas circinalis, ) whose yearly growth, even in aSchönbrunn forcing house, is six or seven ells; a rich collection of Ericasfrom the Cape; and, lastly, a Cactus cerreus Peruvianus, eighty years old,and which has therefore passed nearly a century of its bare, fruitless life,riveted like Prometheus to the desolate rock.THE FRATSCHELWEIBER.-FISHMONGERS AND DEALERS INGAME.The most celebrated of all the women of Vienna is, beyond doubt,Maria Theresa, but the most noted are the so - called " Fratschelweiber. "Like their sisters in the cabbage- market of Königsberg, and the Halles ofParis, they are distinguished for their eloquence, their presence of mind,and their inexhaustible wit. It is said that the emperor Joseph went onceincognito among them, and purposely overturned a basket of eggs, inorder to have a specimen of their oratorical powers. Their chief seat isin the " Hof," one of the largest squares of the city, where they deal in vegetables, fruit, cheese, and other articles of food.What I saw and heard of these interesting persons gave me moreamusem*nt than I can hope to give the reader by a description, for whenthe naïve originality of the Vienna dialect comes into print, * it gives nomore idea of it as spoken, than the printed notes do of the sound of apiece of music.I must confess, that often when I returned from the " Fratschel"market I used to feel as if I had been in a mad-house, so incessant andclapper-like had been the chatter about everything in and about the world-about the " Germnudeln" which they were recommending to Herr von Nachtigall, an old hairdresser, whose poverty shone out from everyside of his worn and rent nether garments, but on whom they bestowed the " von" nevertheless because he held a few kreuzers in hand; about thebutcher, "the stingy hound, who had sold them such a miserable little bit of meat to-day." They spared neither the emperor, the pope, nor theirministers, and, least of all, the people of rank and fashion, whom they sawdriving about. I was one day witness of the little ceremony used with the latter. At the corner of the " Hof," a careless coachman ran over a boy.In an instant a crowd of women and men were in full pursuit of the flying

• No attempt has been made to translate the Austrian provincial dialect, of which

numerous specimens occur in this part of M. Kohl's work.-Tr.140 THE FRATSCHELWEIBER.vehicle, in which sat a lady and gentleman of the higher class. But theFratschelweiber paid not the smallest heed to their high nobility. " Catch'em there, bring ' em back, the quality candle- snuffers! bring ' em back!the scum of a dunghill! To run over the poor boy!" were the complimentsthat ran from mouth to mouth, as the mob ran bawling after the gentles,who would probably have fared ill enough, if they had fallen into thehands of the irritated rabble. This class of persons in Vienna are by nomeans the patient, respectful, timid herd to be met with in other capitalsof monarchical states; for example, in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Prague,&c. The child, whose cause was so energetically adopted by the Fratschelwomen, was not even a countryman, but a little Croat, such as are metwith in all parts of Vienna, selling radishes and onions. Beyond a bruiseor two, he had sustained no injury; indeed, he had rather been knockeddown than run over. The women put on his broad- brimmed Croatianhat again, wiped carefully his wide mantle of thick white wool, in which helooked like a diminutive Orlando in a giant's armour, and bought some ofhis radishes to console him. The child, who understood not a word of theFratschel jargon, looked round him in a scared manner, and then resumedhis monotonous cry, " An guten ratti, ratti," (good radishes), the onlyGerman he knew. These Croats are very numerous in Vienna, and formno inconsiderable portion of the populace there. As they sell nothingbut onions and radishes, the Fratschel ladies are persuaded that Croatiamust be a poor country, and produce nothing else. In the suburbs, thereare, in the public- houses of the lowest class, great dormitories for themwhich they call Croat quarters. There when the ravens return from thefields to Stephan's tower, the poor Croats huddle together after the fatigues of the day, and sleep in the same thick cloaks that have shelteredthem from the heat during the day. " They live like so many cattle, ” saidone of the Fratschel women to me, " they haven't even a bedstead, letalone a mattrass. They lie o' nights and holidays on their bellies, and arefit for nothing but to sell onions.'How long the peculiar habits and arrangements of a town will maintainthemselves, and more frequently in small things than in great, is seen inthe fish-stands of Vienna, which, in passing through Leopoldstadt, are discovered to the right of Ferdinand's-bridge. Although these stands are soeasily moved, consisting merely ofsheds upon floats, that look as ifthey wereanchored by the river- side only for a time, yet they have made good theirclaim to the place for centuries, and as long as people have consumed fish inVienna, so long has it been customary to offer it for sale at that part of theDanube-canal. The corporation of fishmongers belong, in many Germancities built on rivers, to the oldest and most privileged bodies, from a verysimple cause, namely, that they carry on a business which naturally wasthe first to arise in the immediate neighbourhood of a river, and one thatoften occasioned the foundation of a town there. In Vienna they enjoygreat privileges, which have been ratified by all their emperors; yet, inmodern times no trade, with the exception of that of wig-makers, has declined so much from its former splendour. The reformation, and the present more lax observance of the fasts, even in catholic countries, have greatlyreduced the consumption of fish; and great are the complaints in this re- spect in Vienna." In former times, " said an old dealer in fish to me, " there often camefifteen or sixteen waggons laden with fish to Vienna, and now they callFISHMONGERS AND DEALERS IN GAME. 141out as if it were a wonder if only two or three come in one after the other.My late father, who lived in the good times, used to bring three or fourhundred measures of sprats at once to market, and I, his son and successor,think myself extremely lucky if I can get rid of thirty, so much are thetimes changed. Formerly, I mean about forty or fifty years ago, peoplehad some regard for religion and fast-days, and I knowsome great houseswhere on Fridays not as much meat was allowed as would go on the pointof a knife. And then the convents in Vienna, what a consumption of fishwas there! There were the Carmelites, the Augustines, the Minorites,the Barbarites, and all the rest of them! I recollect there was one convent where the monks used to fast the whole year through, and where we used to carry the most delicate kinds of fish by cart-loads. But that's all over now. The great people don't trouble themselves about fasting andeating fish, and even the monks are grown more impious. Nobody, nowa-days, knows what a fine fish is; my father used to tell me that in MariaTheresa's time as much as two and three hundred weight offokasch wouldbe sold at a time. Now when a great man buys a fokasch, it's easilycarried home in a napkin, and they seem all to have made a vow to eatnothing but flesh." And then many changes in housekeeping have done a great deal ofmischief to us fish-dealers. Formerly in most great houses the servantsused to be fed by their masters, and then it was more with fish than withmeat, which was dearer. Now the domestics have become more independent, they have more wages and feed themselves, and like better toeat flesh than fish. Formerly, a counsellor's lady would go herself to themarket to buy fish; now she leaves a llthat to the cook, who is become agreater lady than the court counselloress, and people choose rather to buy from the game-market than from us. Then folks are all moredisorderly and extravagant than they used to be. Once even poor folkswould leave so much behind them that their children might at least havetheir dish of fish at the funeral-now they leave nothing but debts, withwhich the devil himself could buy no fish. In old times at every dinnersome choice fish was always amongst the chief dishes-it is not so now.The Lichtenstein seldom gives a dinner, the Kollowrat only once a month.But such noblemen as old Zichy ( God bless his memory), he used plentyof fish —liked it well, and knew when it was good-there are no such mennow—at least not in Vienna, and it seems almost as if people thought Godhad put the fish in the water for nothing."Up to the last point my worthy trader might be in the right, but thereis after all, plenty of fish still eaten in Vienna, and even distant waters arelaid under contribution . The Platten See in Hungary furnishes in great abundance the delicate fokasch.In winter, oysters, lobsters and crabs are brought from the Adriatic, theformer packed in ice, the latter in chests pierced with holes upon laurelleaves, on which they rest before they have reached them on the table ofthe gourmand. The ponds of Bohemia also yield a great quantity of fish,but the larger part of the consumption is supplied by that great arm of theDanube that passes through the city.The fishermen, from whom there is as much to be learned now as at thetime of the Christian era, gave me much interesting information concerning their trade. They told me that the sturgeons ascend to about sixteenmiles from Vienna. Presburg is the highest point where they are caught;142 THE FRATSCHELWEIBER.the greater part come from Pesth. Four years ago they captured there a sturgeon of ten cwt. , the largest that had been seen in Vienna for along time. Up as far as Ulm, no eels* are found in the Danube or itstributaries. All the fish of this species, used in Vienna, come down from Bohemia. Neither is there salmon in the Danube-it comes from the anyElbe and the Rhine; salmon trout are caught in the lakes belonging tothe estates of the Salt-chamber. Kopen, perhaps from kopf (head), arevery small fish with very large heads. They are caught in the samewaters as the trout, in the Traun and other mountain streams, and are animals of prey. When properly dressed it is a very well tasted fish, and isused sometimes as a garnish to dishes whereon larger fish are served. Thefinest fish in the Danube are the schill and huchen. The latter is likea trout in form, but weighs from fifty to sixty pounds. As the kopenare without bones, so the huchen have no scales, or scales so small as tobe scarcely perceptible, for which reason they are the favourite fish of theVienna Jews, who eat no fish with scales, and are, therefore, so in love withhuchen that they will pay almost any price for it. The small sturgeon,often so strongly recommended by the hotel waiters to strangers in Vienna,come from the Hungarian Danube. They are easily entangled by thesnout in a net, and caught many at a time. I was told some remarkablecirc*mstances relative to the influence of the waters flowing through thecity. The fish-dealers maintain that all water coming from the streets,canals, and sluices, is so poisonous, that it kills the fish in immense quantities. After a sudden violent shower in summer, when the whole towndisgorges its filth, and the contents of all the drains stream at once intothe Danube, many thousand cwt. (the fish-dealers weigh the creatures inthought, while they are still at large in their own element), are sure tolose their lives . In the summer of 1833, the Danube was extremely low;suddenly a violent storm of rain raised its waters nearly ten feet higher,and the stream from the city came out like ink. The fish, which arecleanly animals, rushed as if quite desperate to the surface, leapt high intothe air, and fell in multitudes upon the banks of the river; a most stupidproceeding on their part, as by going up a little farther, they might have come to clear water.The words that had escaped myfriend the fishmonger respecting thegreat consumption of game, which it was evident had excited his envynot a little, induced me to think that I should find this branch of industry in a more flourishing condition than his own, and so in fact I did. Whenwe consider the wealth of Bohemia in wild animals suited to the table—when we consider the numerous water-fowl that frequent the lakes ofHungary, the large scale on which the stag-hunts are carried on to the south of the Platten See, the chamois met with in great herds in the neighbouring Styria, and when we consider that Vienna lies exactly in the middle of these inexhaustible preserves, it may be readily believed that its marketsare the best supplied with this species of comestible of any city in Europe.How great the quantity consumed was shown shortly before arrival onthe following occasion. The city authorities had subjected all gamebrought into Vienna to a tax of six kreuzers per head, and the impostmySo * There are no eels in the South Russian streams, nor in any of the rivers flowing into the Black Sea, till we arrive at a very considerable distance from the sea.at least I was assured by a person well acquainted with them.FISHMONGERS AND DEALERS IN GAME. 143The rewas levied even on every little wild duck and teal from the Danube levels.As these smaller articles could not bear so heavy a taxation, the trade inthem ceased almost entirely. Hereupon the dealers found themselvesobliged to represent to the authorities the greatness of the injury donethem; that they had been accustomed to bring half a million yearlyof these smaller birds to Vienna, which were now never brought at all;that numbers of persons who had gained a livelihood by catching teal andwild-duck, were now suddenly thrown out of employ, and that hence itwould be necessary to impose the tax only onthe larger kinds.monstrance was attended to, chiefly at the instance of one wealthy andinfluential tradesman, with whom I became acquainted, and I found muchoccasion to admire the vast nature of his dealings, and the extent andvariety of his information. Tobuy a piece of game fromthe hunter, andgive it to the cook to be dressed, seems so very simple an affair, that it isnot easy at first to understand howit should give a man any position in the state. The links of our social transactions, however, are like those ofthe sciences, so intimately connected one with the other, that it isscarcely possible to carry on any one branch on a grand scale, with- out becoming in some measure familiar with others. It would bedifferent if the stag had only flesh; he would then concern thecook only. But his antlers are wanted by the turner, his skin by the tanner. The feathers of the birds are of use in many trades; the naturalist is often indebted to the civility of the dealer in wild fowl. Thegrandees find it worth while to give him good words, to increase the profitof their hunting-grounds, or to secure the supply of their kitchens. Hisconnexion extends even to the imperial court, for it is known that on extraordinary occasions, such as a visit from the heir to the Russian throne,he may be relied on for extraordinary supplies, such as a Polish elk, or aset of Russian heathco*cks.As I was already partially informed of these relations, I was not at allsurprised to find my game merchant a clever, enlightened man, wellacquainted with many branches of natural history, not ignorant of anatomy and geology, thoroughly informed of all that related to the chase,and the manner of life and habits of the animals; one who had studied theworks of Cuvier and Buffon, and could severely criticize the exaggerations,flourishes, and extravagant assertions of the latter; who spoke of Count X.,and Prince Y., as of persons with whom he was well acquainted, andrelated how the government had had it in contemplation to effect some change in the game resources as he called them, but had desisted on hisrepresentations. Nor did it afterwards excite my astonishment, when Ifound an artist employed among the antlers of various kinds, and among theplaster casts of different descriptions of animals. While I was with mymerchant, there came a professor of natural history, and said to him, " Iam come, my dear Mr. N. to smell about a little, and see if you have anything new for me. " And he was followed by a gentleman who also cameto smell about, and invite Mr. N. to a hunting-party. These dealers ingame are as fond of the peculiar odour of the wild creatures they deal in,as mariners are of their pitch and tar; and use the expression smellabout as a technical term for a visit. I " smelt " often in at the house ofMr. N., and always found some interesting people there. Those who havemuch to do with nature are almost always interesting. One day I met144 THE FRATSCHELWEIBER,6666there a Styrian chamois hunter, who related to me many interestingadventures he had met with in pursuit of those animals. Observing thatI occasionally made a note of what I heard, he said, " Ah, write it alldown, and I'll tell you something about the cunning of the chamois thatno one has heard before. " The previous year he had found a geis (femalechamois) ready to bring forth. He had followed her for eight days to seewhere she would deposit her young. Sometimes he took off his shoes,and climbed on his bare feet like a cat; and once when he had to clamberup the steep face of a rock, he cut off all the buttons from his clothes thatthey might not make a jingle." At last he discovered the two youngones in a niche at the top of a high rock, in a kästl," as the hunters callit. The little ones were sporting around their mother, who glanced fromtime to time down into the valley to watch for any hostile approach. Toavoid being seen, our hunter made a great circuit, and so reached a paththat led to the " kästl." Exactly in front of the niche the rock descendedperpendicularly to an immense depth. At the back was another steep descent. Some fragments of rock formed a kind of bridge between thelarger masses, but these were placed too high to be accessible to the littleones, and could only be available for their mother. The hunter rejoicedas he contemplated this position, and pressed upon the animals, whoseescape seemed impossible. When the old one caught sight of him, andmeasured with a glance the unfavourable disposition of the rocks, she sprungupon the hunter with the fury that maternal love will breathe into the most timid creatures. The danger of such attacks from the chamois isless from the thrust, which is not very violent, than from the endeavour ofthe animals to fix the points of their horns, which are bent like fish- hooks,somewhere in the legs of the hunter, and then press him backwards downthe precipices. It happens sometimes that the chamois and hunter thus entangled roll into the abyss together. Our hunter was in no condition tofire at the advancing chamois, as he found both hands necessary to sustainhimself on the narrow path; he therefore warded off the blows as well ashe could with his feet, and kept still advancing. The anguish of themother increased. She dashed back to her young, coursed round themwith loud cries, as if to warn them of the danger, and then leaped uponbefore-named fragments of rock, from which the second but more difficultegress from the grotto was to be won. She then leaped down again to herlittle ones, and seemed to encourage them to attempt the leap. In vain the little creatures sprang and wounded their foreheads against the rocks thatwere too high for them, and in vain the mother repeated again and again her firm and graceful leap to show them the way. All this was the workof a few minutes, whilst the hunter had again advanced some steps nearer.He was just preparing to make the last effort when the following picture,which was the particular circ*mstance he referred to in speaking of thechamois's cunning, met his astonished eyes. The old chamois, fixing herhind legs firmly on the rock behind, had stretched her body to its utmostlength, and planted her fore feet on the rock above, thus forming a temporarybridge of her back. The little ones seemed in a minute to comprehendthe design of their mother, sprang upon her like cats, and thus reached thepoint of safety. The picture only lasted long enough to enable their pur- suer to make the last step. He sprang into the niche, thinking himselfnow sure of the young chamois, but all three were off with the speed oftheSUMMER-NIGHTS' DREAMS AND FLOWER FESTIVALS. 145the wind, and a couple of shots that he sent after the fugitives, merely announced by their echo to the surrounding rocks, that he had missed hisgame.The chamois are more numerous in the Tyrol than in Switzerland, andmore numerous in the Styrian Alps than in the Tyrol. The wild goatscome only as far as the opposite western end of the Alpine chain. Theyhave been quite driven away from the eastern and middle portions, thehighest and most inaccessible summits of the Savoyan Alps alone affordat present that degree of solitude and rocky wildness which is requisitefor them. They are now protected in Savoy by a very severe law, whichcondemns to death any person who shall kill a wild-goat. Nevertheless,there are people who cannot withstand the temptation of aiming at thesehorned kings of the Graian and Julian Alps, and it is said there are at thismoment in the prisons of Savoy several of these adventurous hunters, whohave been condemned to death, and have had their sentence commuted intotwenty years' imprisonment. Two years ago a couple of living animals ofthis species passed through Vienna on their way to Russia, a present from the ruler of Savoy to the emperor. I heard that some time ago a Viennadealer had offered a large price for one, and that in consequence a Savoyardhad shot an old one and delivered it in Vienna. The man was discovered andpursued by the royal huntsmen, but was lucky enough to escape by theglaciers into Switzerland, the paths being better known to him than to hispursuers.My Vienna friend told me that by means of his acquaintance in Hungary and Bohemia, he often received rare animals, not directly connectedwith his business, and that scarcely an animal roamed the Austrian forests of which some specimen had not visited his shop. He took meafterwards into his ice-cellar, where I saw a great variety of creatureslying on the ice. He had had the cellar hung with Hungarian mats, and the ice was likewise covered with mats. He said that it was not sufficiently known to the owners of ice- cellars, that by means of these matsthe ice could be much longer preserved than when it came into immediatecontact with the air and the walls, and that a smaller quantity of it wastherefore sufficient. Among his plaster casts of heads and antlers he hadthose of an enormous elk. He had given several copies of the latter toAustrian noblemen, who wished for them to decorate their castles, a fancythat never occurs to the gentlemen of Lithuania and Poland, the nativecountry of these creatures. We may see by all this on how large a scale the game dealers of Vienna carry on their business, and how highly itsresources are developed. It were to be wished that the learned and cultivated on their side would sometimes turn the knowledge and special details which such people have obtained from nature, a little more to account.SUMMER-NIGHTS' DREAMS AND FLOWER FESTIVALS.In the Sans-souci gardens at Mödling, there are nine tents of tastefully draped red and white cloths, pitched in a meadow, each of which is dedicated to one of the Muses, whose names, embroidered on flags, flutter over the tops: Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, and so on. In the centre stands atenth, wherein a Vienna leader flourishes as Apollo, and regales the Museswith Strauss's waltzes. These muses are young maidens and old women,L146 SUMMER- NIGHTS' DREAMS AND FLOWER FESTIVALS.attended by cavaliers and children, who resort to those nomadic airytemples to drink coffee. Taking refreshments in this poetical style isquite in the taste of the Vienna people, whose oriental fancy delights inminglingthe loftiest matters with those of every day life, and always selectsthe most high soaring inscriptions for the most trivial things.The Vienna people are like great potentates, who will admit wisdomonly disguised in the motley; but they have reflection enough to recognisethe hand of destiny that mingles in the most insignificant occurrences oflife. Therefore they will drink their coffee in the temple of the Muses, andswallow the bitter draught of truth sweetened with the sugarplum of cheerfulness. Hence the extraordinary dramatis personæ of Raimund'sinvention, the Sibyls as old maids, the Genii as bowling- green attendants,the conjurers and magicians from Warasdin and Donaueschingen, whopourforth unweariedly trifling jests and sportive wisdom in Swabian and Hungarian German. The titles of Raimund's pieces and their prevailing styleare pretty well known amongst us, not so the style in whichthe proprietorsof places of public resort invite the public to their enchanting popularfestivals. I paid at first little attention to the announcements with which every corner of the streets was covered. But one evening late, i . e. ateleven o'clock, at which hour Vienna is as still as a mouse, I met a manladen with an enormous mass of printed paper, busied in pulling down the old bills and pasting up new. I asked him to let me look at some of them,and he threw down a whole bale before me. Herr Lanner announced afête with new decorations and illuminations, under the name of " A Summer Night's Dream. " Herr Strauss had found a yet more attractive titlefor another fête, which was to take place at Sperle. Bythe glimmeringlight of the lantern I read " Fancy and Harmony in the rose-tinted vest- ments of Joy, a rural flower festival and ball. ” On a third bill the " renowned Daum" promised a " Festive soirée and conversazione in hisElysium." Four characteristic bands were announced in the various localities, and further " the much admired original representations newlyarranged for the present season, " would take place as follows:In Asia (one part of the gardens) would be displayed three saloons, brilliantly illuminated in the oriental taste, an avenue of palm trees as a pro- menade, adorned with the newly-invented transparent Iris garlands, and atthe end the splendid principal view, giving an allegorical picture of Asia,beyond which the musicians would be heard but not seen.In elegant Europe (another part of the gardens) a Roman triumphalarch would be changed in a moment to an amphitheatre, wherein theOlympic games were to be produced in appropriate costume.In America (a lawn) would be performed the admired Railway passageto Australia, led by the gracefully adorned ladies and gentlemen, Apollo,Pluto, Diana, and Minerva.In Africa ( a fourth part of " Elysium"), beside many favourite performances, Herr Starsch, from Berlin, would have the honour of exhibitingmany new feats of dexterity, and, in the splendidly decorated Harem, an African summer fête would be given.As a souvenir of this conversazione, every lady would receive, “ in afestive manner, two views of Elysium, " with an explanation. For thegreater gratification of the respected visiters, the atmospheric air would beimpregnated with the newly-invented Schönbrunn flower perfume.I believe that not in India itself could a fête for the multitude be an-SUMMER-NIGHTS' DREAMS AND FLOWER FESTIVALS. 147nounced in more pompous fashion. I noticed many others announced, as"Nights in Paradise," " The Dance of the Sylphs," &c. Each surpassedthe other in high-flown fancies. The chief allurements to all these placesare dancing and good music, and the proprietors endeavour on such occasions to procure some new compositions of the favourite composers,Lanner, Strauss, or Fahrbach, composed expressly for that evening. Thismusic has generally some very striking title. A new waltz of Strauss'swas called the " Electric Spark," another the "Evening Star," a third"Tears of Joy." Musical soirées and " Harmonious pictures " are almostalways united with these fêtes, and how far the composers of Vienna gowith their " harmony painting" may be seen from the following specification of such a " painting " produced when the archducal conqueror of Saïdewas the hero of the day."Storming of Saïde (a new musical picture)."First Part. Approach of the English Fleet."Second Part. Approach of the Austrian Fleet."Third Part. Characteristics of the Allies, and the Enemy."Fourth Part. Summons to surrender, refusal, disembarkation, attack, cannonading, bombardment, storming and conflagration."Fifth Part. Joyful demonstrations and thanksgivings of the Victors."Sixth Part. Celebration of Victory and triumphal march."No parties in Vienna are so numerous as the musical ones, which havetheir ramifications from the highest society to the very lowest. Strauss,the most celebrated concert master, Lanner the most original, and Fahrbach, also well known to fame, are the leaders and demigods of these meetings, the tribunes of the people in Vienna. Like the Roman tribunes, theyexert themselves to the utmost to enlarge and strengthen their party.When at Sperle, or in the public gardens, they flourish their bows in elegant little temples, amidst a grove of orange trees, rhododendrons, andother plants, and execute the newest and most effective compositions withtheir perfectly organised bands, ( Strauss enrols none but Bohemians, ) theyseem in a measure the chiefs and leaders of the public. Before them standsa listening throng, with whom they are constantly coquetting, nodding totheir friends in the midst of their work, and giving them a friendly smileas they execute some difficult passage. Every distinguished effort is rewarded by loud applause, and new or favourite pieces by a stormy " DaCapo." Even in the common dancing-rooms, the music is so little secondary, that the dance is often interrupted by a tumult of applause forthe musicians and composers. Even at the fêtes of the Schwarzenbergsand Lichtensteins, a certain familiar understanding with the favourite musicians may be observed, which, among a people less enthusiastic in thematter of dance- music, would be thought out of place.Strauss and his colleagues are always on the look out for new inventionsin the field of music. In almost every season they produce some newclashing or clanging instrument, or some extraordinary manœuvre on an old one. Last summer, in a Pot Pourri, Strauss made all his violinists,violoncellists, and basses, lift up their voices and sing the Rhine song, "Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, " which, with the basses especially, had a very comiceffect. Lanner enticed the public by means of a young man, who sunga duet between a gentleman and a lady, in which the high and delicate tones of the woman were as accurately imitated as the depth andstrength of the man's voice. No musical soirée ended without an imitationL 2148 SUMMER- NIGHTS' DREAMS AND FLOWER FESTIVALS.of the report of fireworks, wherein the rushing course of the rocket, andthe sparkling hiss of the wheels, mingled in and died away with the mu- sical tones. The next day then you are sure to read a long article in oneof the journals beginning in this fashion: " Again has our justly esteemed,our inexhaustible Strauss (or Lanner or Fahrbach) astonished and enchanted us with a new effort of his admirable genius. All who had thegood fortune to be among his audience, " &c.There is a printing-office in Vienna, the sole employment of which isthe announcement of these fêtes, plays, and concerts, nothing else beingprinted there but placards. The proprietor of this establishment, Mr.Hirshfeld, has many people in his service, who thoroughly understand themost striking way of announcing such matters to the street public, by thejudicious arrangement of the alluring words " Bal brillant," " Magic illumination, " " Rose-tinted garments of pleasure," &c. I visited this printingoffice, where the readers were employed in correcting the style and orthography of waiters, &c. , and preparing their eloquent productions for thepress. The monster types are all of wood; the effect of the great blackletters upon men's eyes and fancies is always speculated on, and the pictorial announcements of estates for sale by lottery, when all the letters arecomposed of pictures of castles and rural views, and where every million isrepresented entwined with the elegant flowery wreaths of hope, are reallymasterpieces in a psychological as in a xylographic point of view. Theunusual words, or those that do not frequently occur, are composed, as occasion may require, from single letters, but the celebrated names, Strauss,Lanner, im Sperl, -Elysium, Prater, -Golden Pear, &c. , are cut out ofsingle blocks, and many duplicates are always kept ready for use at Hirshfeld's. It is the same with the standing phrases, such as " Splendid Illuminations, " " Dancing Soirée, " &c. Whoever has arrived at the honours ofstereotype in Hirshfeld's printing- office, may deem himself a celebrated Iman within the walls of Vienna.It is somewhat remarkable, although natural enough, that even thesekind of announcements and posting-bills, on which the most innocentthings in the world are made known to the public, are subject to thecensorship, in fact to a double censorship; firstly, to the supreme censorialauthorities who bestow the " Imprimatur," and secondly, to the subordinate police authorities who make any emendations held necessary accordingto circ*mstances and localities.6666 They play them a trick for all that sometimes," said my_bill-sticker,whom I encountered in the night as before mentioned. Lately therewas a ball at Sperl, where they danced till six o'clock in the morning,although they announced on their bill that it was to end after midnight;and when they were called to account by the police, they said that sixo'clock in the morning was after midnight. "A Mr. von X. has farmed from the government, for the annual sum offive thousand florins, the exclusive privilege of posting bills about thetown, and he has the right of suspending, on gates and public buildings,great wooden frames, on which bills are pasted. If he find, elsewhere, asuitable place for such things, the city authorities give him permission tomake use of it. By Christmas presents to the upper servants, he also procures leave from the owners of houses to make use of their walls.149THE PROJECTED NEW QUARTER.One of the most interesting things I saw in Vienna was the beautifullyexecuted wooden model of the projected improvements and additions to theinner part of the city; five of the most considerable bankers in the city,Sina, Pouthon, Eskeles, Maier, and Corth, have united for the plan and execution . This plan is -in Europe at least- so unusual, on so grand astyle, and so judicious, that one cannot but wish it success, and linger alittle in the consideration of an undertaking, which has for its object so considerable an extension of the city.Perhaps in no city of Germany does there exist so peculiar a relationbetween the city properly so called, and its suburbs, as in Vienna. Fourfifths of the population of Vienna live in the suburbs, &c. Prague, the citywhich offers the most direct contrast in this respect, is almost wholly city.The reason is that Vienna, notwithstanding its antiquity, attained at alater period the dignity of being a sovereign's residence than Prague.In the twelfth century Vienna occupied only the fifth part of the presentsite of the city, and only a fortieth of the whole space, including the suburbs; at that time Prague had nearly two-thirds of its present circumference. It is only within the last two hundred years, since the time ofRudolph the Second, whose general residence was Prague, that the Emperors have resided constantly in Vienna. From that period the extensivesuburbs have grown around the heart of the capital, and hence the contrast between the commodiousness and regularity of plan in the former,and the extravagant maze of building within the walls of the city. Thestreets are narrow, the houses six, seven, and eight stories high, and buildings, whose grandeur demands a great public square for their display, arestuck into narrow alleys, and lost in a forest of houses. In many of thestreets it has been impossible to make a trottoir half an ell in breadth, thecarriages are often compelled to drive so sharply against the walls andwindows of the houses, that it is an ordinary manœuvre of the pedestriansof Vienna, to save themselves from a crush by leaping on the steps of thevehicle. Carriages are sometimes to be seen with pedestrians clinging toit before and behind, and full often may they have occasion to thank heavenfor having found a house-door open in time of need. The numerousthoroughfares, or Durchhäuser, through private houses and courtyards, towhich the public has a conventional right of way, are of no small service topedestrians. The whole city is pierced through and through with them,like an ant hill, and those who have the clue of this labyrinth, may run aconsiderable distance under shelter, and avoid the dangers of the carriagesaltogether. In no other city of Germany is there so great or so uninter- rupted a stream of vehicles; the corner houses are, in consequence, particularly protected against this dangerous flood. All of them in the heartof the city have large stones placed slantingly, armed with an iron cap and rings, as thick as a man's finger, and the extreme smoothness which thesecoats of mail usually display, shows how often carriages must have groundagainst them. The unlucky pedestrian is provided with no such defence,and it may be a question whether more people have their limbs crushed by chariot wheels in Vienna or in Bengal.All these evils have of late become more palpable with the growth of150 THE PROJECTED NEW QUARTER.the suburbs, all of which naturally have their rendezvous in the centre ofthe city; not only have the people of rank who live in summer withoutthe lines, their winter palaces within, but the merchants and manufacturers,although their dwelling-houses may be without in the suburbs, must havetheir shops, warehouses, and business localities in the city itself; and themajority of the inhabitants, for one reason or other, desire to possess a littlepied à terre there. Shut up in its narrow middle-age armour of bastions,walls, and ditches, the city cannot extend itself as the suburbs have done,which have stretched further and further into the level country, and swal- lowed up village after village in an avalanche of houses. As in all othercities of Germany, the old wrynecked, crooked streets of Vienna have beenpatched and polished, the passage houses have been increased in numberwherever it was possible; some buildings that were especially in the wayhave been bought at a high price and pulled down, all projections and excrescences have been pared away, and the pavement laid down is as goodas can be wished. But in an old city like this, where the houses stand likerocks, and the streets run through them like gullies and mountain passes,improvement is no easy matter, and all efforts of the kind lag far behind thewants of the increasing population. The grand difficulty is the fortification of the inner city. This necessitates a breadth of space not less than fromthree to four hundred fathoms ( the Glacis ) between the wall and the suburbs.If the works could be done away with altogether, and the glacis built over,the city and the suburbs would form one handsome and commodiouswhole. The advantage would be immense for the inhabitants, for a veryeasy calculation will show, that the maintenance of the fortifications coststhem millions yearly, directly and indirectly. Living would be incalculablycheaper, and great sums would be saved in conveyances and other matterstherewith connected; they would live in handsomer houses, and traffic andpopulation would increase from all these causes .However, from political motives, the government cannot resolve upongiving up the fortifications, although we have abundance of unfortified capitals, and many are of opinion, that in case of a war, those of Viennawould be of little service. The part of the glacis between the Scotch gateand the Danube channel, is particularly broad, and on this circ*mstancethe association of bankers have founded their grand plan for the extensionof the inner city. They propose to destroy the old fortifications in thispart, erect new ones beyond, and thus gain a free space for new buildingsof not less than eighty thousand square fathoms. They have offered toeffect the removal of the old fortifications at their own expense, and havehad a plan drawn up by the architect Forster, according to which the newquarter of the city may be most commodiously united to the old ones.The public buildings, the churches, theatres, fountains, monuments, gates,&c. , which the new quarter will require, these gentlemen will also erect attheir own expense, and give compensation for the lost ground of the glacis,on condition that the sites for private houses shall be sold for their advantage. As before said, they have caused the plan, in all its details, to be executed in wood, and exhibited to the public. The old dark misshapen Vienna,in whose obscurities so many a fair pearl is lost, would thereby gain abright regular magnificent appendix, whose equal might be sought in vain.A large open place with monuments to the emperor Francis, and thefirst statesmen of his time, and a church in the Gothic style, is proposed asthe centre of the new quarter. A splendid range of dwelling-houses, built inTHE QUARTER OF THE NOBILITY. 151different styles, to avoid a disagreeable monotony, is to form a quay along theDanube, an ornament which at present is altogether wanting in Vienna; andthose public buildings now in the worst condition, the Exchange, the Postoffice, a theatre, with two supplementary buildings intended for institutionsfor the arts, and an extensive bazaar, are projected on a very grand scale.On the river they propose to form docks with large warehouses; and fournew bridges, to correspond with streets already existing, are to unite the oldcity with the new. The projected new streets are to continue the old onesand yet maintain a symmetry with each other.This model has been exhibited to the emperor and the archdukes, andadmired by them, and therefore hopes are entertained that permissionwill be given to carry it into execution.The chief subject of hesitation is again the fortifications; in removinga part, it is feared the whole may be endangered. Might not the inventionof the archduke Maximilian, in the Towers of Linz, help them out of thedifficulty. The whole city, suburbs included, might be girdled with them,and thus the whole brought within a circle of fortifications. With respectto the glacis itself, full of monotonous avenues of sickly trees, dusty spaces,and swampy ditches, there would be little loss. It is too large to be laid out as a garden, as has been done in some cities. But smaller and moremodest spaces might be left free to be employed for this purpose.THE QUARTER OF THE NOBILITY, AND THAT OF THEMANUFACTURERS.The most animated parts of Vienna lie round Stephen's Place, theGraben, and the High Market; the quietest parts are the " Burg" fromthe Place of the Minorites, the Herrengasse, Teinfalt Street, the back andfront Schenkengasse, &c. "Our great people live here, " said a Viennaman to me, " and here it is still, still as a mouse. " There is not a shopin the whole neighbourhood, no busy hum of traffic. It rains jolts andthrusts in the other streets, and one is put to it to keep from under thecoach-wheels and horses' hoofs. It swarms there with Croats, Slavonians,Servians, Germans, and God knows what nation besides, while nothing isto be seen in the aristocratic quarter but silent palaces, before whosedoors liveried laqueys are lounging as if they were masters not only of the houses but of the whole street. In this silent quarter-the Tein quarterare the palaces of the Lichtensteins, Stahrembergs, Harrachs, Festetics,Colloredos, Esterhazys, Trautmansdorfs, and Schönborns. Antiqueescutcheons are displayed before the houses, dating from Rudolph ofHapsburg or Charlemagne, and the golden fleece gleams from the roofs .If the little sons of these grandees clamber over the roofs like the boys inother towns, theymaygather all manner of aristocratic reminiscences amongthe chimney-pots. Here also stand the proud edifices of the Hungarianand Transylvanian Chanceries, the States House, the Court and StateChancery, the Bank, and several of the superior tribunals . The wholespace occupied by buildings so important to the empire is not more thantwo hundred fathoms in length and breadth; there is more than one public square of that size in St. Petersburg, and it may be safely asserted thatin no other European kingdom is the great nobility so narrowly lodged.There are, nevertheless, buildings here stately enough, if duly scattered, to152 THE MANUFACTURERS.adorn a whole capital . Not far from the Tein quarter, in the neighbour- hood of the Jews Place, is another where the manufacturers congregate.Instead of armorial bearings before the houses, we see the firms of cottonand silk manufacturers, warehouses for cloths, shawls, woollen fabrics,Fischamenter cotton yarn, white and coloured knitting-cotton, silks, stuffs,&c. These are only the warehouses from which goods are sold wholesaleto the merchants; the retail dealers are to be found elsewhere, and the manufactories are in the suburbs. There, especially in the western part, —thereare whole quarters of them, all of recent date. In times of yore Viennawas a Roman encampment, then the little capital of the Austrian dukes,among hundreds of others a German imperial city; and although as the imperial residence it became the centre of commerce for the empire, it is butvery lately that it has been the chief seat of manufactories, whose articlesof taste are scattered over all parts of the Austrian and a great part ofthe non- Austrian world.Gumpendorf, Laimgrube, and Mariahilf, are the suburbs in whichnearly the whole population is employed in manufactories. This is thecase likewise in the villages of Funfhaus, Sechshaus, and others. Herethe simple and uniform dwellings of the weavers and spinners are seen byhundreds, and on entering from the Tein quarter, we seem to be enteringanother world. The raw cotton comes here from two directions, fromEgypt over Trieste, and from America and the West Indies over Hamburg. The yarn dealers, spinners, weavers, and printers, all live neareach other, and the merchandise passes from neighbour to neighbour, orfrom quarter to quarter, till it reaches the hands of the merchants andconsumers. Some of the manufacturers have also establishments in Bohemia, where wages are lower, and several have them on the Saxon frontier; but these are merely for show, little work being done there, though agreat deal of English twist is smuggled over the frontier. The English canfurnish yarn to the manufacturers of Vienna cheaper than these can buyit from their own spinners in the suburbs. The latter enjoy, therefore, aprotection in a fifteen per cent. duty, which, however, is considerably reduced by smuggling. In consequence of this protection, which theweavers of Vienna do not desire, because, without it, they could purchasethe English yarn more cheaply, they are constantly at feud with theirneighbours the spinners. Both have their meetings and unions for theprotection of their separate interests, and both seek to make good theircause with the authorities. The weavers have lately failed in their machinations against the protective duty; the spinners, nevertheless, entertainfears for its duration; without it, they would not be able to make headagainst the English. Be they as diligent as they will, and let theirmachines be ever so well constructed , the spinners of Manchester, at thefountain-head of the commerce of the world, would still possess advantages too great to be competed with by those of Vienna, though with the best will in the world. To mention one only: the Manchester spinnershave a railroad to Liverpool, which enables them to purchase the cottonin smaller quantities, as they may want it. They may use it up to-dayto the last thread, and send to-morrow to Liverpool for a new supply. Itis, therefore, easy to follow every variation of price, buy small quantitieswhen it is dear, and larger when it is cheap; whereas the spinners ofVienna, whether they will or not, must take large quantities at any price,lest their work should come altogether to a stand- still. The great specu-THE SHOPS OF VIENNA. 153lators of England, also, have no existence in Vienna. These speculatorsmake constant purchases of yarn, because the channels of the world areopen to them, and they are, consequently, always sure of a market fortheir wares. In Vienna, they spin almost exclusively for the Austrianmonarchy. There is no intermediate purchaser between the weaver andspinner, and the former will buy no more than he has an immediate occa- sion for.The advantages which the English manufacturers have over those ofVienna, and indeed over those of the whole world, the manufacturers ofVienna have again over the other manufacturers of the Austrian monarchy. In Vienna, they have the best information of what is wantedby the Slavonians, Croats, Poles, Transylvanians, and from Vienna theirwants and tastes are supplied . The old- fashioned gold stuffs used for theupper Austrian caps are manufactured in Vienna, so are the silver buttonsin use throughout Hungary, and the black silk handkerchiefs, with redborders, which the Magyar shepherds twist round their throats. It is thesame with hundreds of other articles. Being also the head- quarters offashion, Vienna not only supplies these people with what they want, butwith what they ought to want. Vienna fashions, and Vienna wares, exercise their influence not only along the whole course of the Danube to theBlack Sea, but even in Poland and Russia, extending even in some instances into the Turkish territory.Persons who understand these things do, indeed, assert that Viennaproductions will not bear a very severe examination . " They are buttrumpery fabrications, " said a native, well acquainted with London andParis. Every thing here is, as it were, blown together. Weof Viennaare frivolous and fickle, but our taste is good, and we look more to graceful forms than solid quality. " Comparing them with what London and Paris can produce, this may be true; but if a line were drawn from theBaltic to the Adriatic, no city would be found east of it which could compare with Vienna in the quality, taste, or low price of its manufactures.Their low price has often procured them a sale not only throughout Ger- many, but even in America. They make, for instance, ornamental clocks,of an elegance of which no drawing-room need be ashamed, for eight andnine florins each, and shawls for ten and twelve.The shawl manufacture is one of the most considerable; more so, indeed, than any other in middle or eastern Europe. The low price of theshawls has produced a great demand for them in Turkey. A shawl manufacturer, whose word I have no reason to mistrust, thought there couldnot be less than four thousand persons employed in Vienna on those arti- cles; and this fact is the more remarkable, as the rise of this branch ofmanufacture dates only from the year 1812.THE SHOPS OF VIENNA.It would not be possible to give a very detailed account of the shops ofVienna and all therewith connected; but I must intreat the reader toaccompany me into some, which afford abundant means for obtaining anacquaintance with Vienna life, and furnish better pictures of it than do thecolumns of the Allgemeine Zeitung. Of the shops for silks and fancygoods, none are at present in higher feather than the " Laurel Wreath,"154 THE SHOPS OF VIENNA.and it is worthy of a visit, were it only for the profusion of the stuffs ofall kinds displayed there. Before the " Laurel Wreath" rose to fame,"L'Amour" was the repository honoured with the patronage of the fashionable world, for it must be observed that all the shops of Viennahave their signs, by which they are much better known than by thenames of their proprietors. " L'Amour, " however, has quitted the field,and retired to a fine garden and villa in the suburbs. In good time, the " Laurel Wreath" will likewise withdraw to repose upon its own glories;for in Vienna no one pursues this occupation long before he finds himselfenabled to take his place among the " rentiers," and, in leisure and retirement, to exchange his shop for a palace.Formerly, Augsburg was the German city most renowned for its silverchased work; now it is Vienna. The greatest establishment of the kindis that of Mayerhofer and Klinkosch, at the corner of the Kohl- market.Their manufactory is in the suburbs, and well deserves a particular description . The greater part of the plate, to be transmitted as heirloomsin the noble families of Austria, is made there; hence a long series oftheir coats of arms, which must be stamped on every separate piece, ispreserved. A large service of plate for Mehemet Ali was lately bespoken at this house. The number of great families resident in Vienna rendersit no matter of wonder that the number of engravers and medalists shouldbe great likewise, or that the art of engraving and composing heraldicshields should be industriously pursued. "It is only at Vienna," said one of these artists to me, " that the real true spirit of heraldry is to be found.We do not even admit a coat pricked elsewhere to be correct. " There isnot only a constant manufacture of new coats of arms for the accommodation of those persons who are daily elevated from the public offices tobe founders of noble families, but a never- ceasing demand for the reproduction of the old time-honoured shields in steel, gold, silver, and preciousstones . On all sides we find hands, and sometimes fair ones, employedon these hieroglyphics of heraldry.When we consider that the Dutch have carried on many a war aboutnothing but peppercorns, that the whole Anglo- Chinese quarrel turns ona few chests of opium, and that tallow, tar, and train oil, are not amongthe least of Russia's interests, and have often been objects of attention toemperors and their ministers, I shall not be reproached with an undueattention to trifles, if I enter a shop of more than ordinary elegance, forthe sale of stearine candles, on the Kohl-market. Out of the white anddelicate mass of stearine, they had formed a cavern full of stalactites,wherein was lodged a stearine ice bear. The candles were put up introphies, like the weapons in an arsenal, and, here and there, piled intocolumns, whose capitals were crowned with flowerpots; indeed, the wholeshop was adorned with flowers. By the invention of stearine, tallow maybe said to have been ennobled, and thus rendered admissible to the mostdistinguished drawing-rooms. In Vienna, it has obtained admission atcourt; church tapers are also formed of it, although it is still a subject ofdiscussion among the high church authorities, whether it be admissible,instead of wax, in places of worship. If I remember rightly, some of thebishops have prohibited it. In the Greek church it will certainly neverfind a place; there the ancient, noble labour of the bee will be always held in honour.One of the later established shops of Vienna is the repository for bronzeTHE SHOPS OF VIENNA. 155thewares, kept by an Englishman of the name of Morton, of which there arenow branch establishments in Milan, Prague, Pesth, and other capitals of the empire. The handsomest thing I saw there was a bronze aviary ofslender gilded wires entwined with exquisitely wrought flowers in wreaths.The first cage ofthis kind was brought from Paris, for the empress mother;seventeen have been since made, ten of which were destined for Constantinople. As I left the bronze shop, I was witness of a little scene, alike honourable for the human and the feathered animals who figured in it, Acouple of young sparrows, making their first essay in flying with their parentsover the roofs of the capital, had fallen exhausted into the street, wherethey were picked up and carried off by a boy, in whose hand they flutteredand chirped most pitifully. The parent birds followed, uttering most sorrowful cries, fluttering against the walls, perching on signs of the shops,and venturing even into the turmoil of the street. I begged the lad to letyoung ones go, and as the cries of the old birds had already excited hiscompassion, he did so, but the creatures flying awkwardly against the walls,fell a second time into the street, and were again picked up. " Give themtome, for my children, give them to me, " cried some women;but the remonstrances of the feathered parents were so pitiful, that in the end thewhole assembled crowd ( all of the lowest class) raised a general shout ofNo, no, let them go, give them their liberty. " There were some Jewsamong the populace, who cried out louder than any. Several times the birdswere flung up into the air, and as often fell down again, amid the generallamentation ofall present. At last a ladder was procured, all lent a hand toraise it against a small house, and hold it fast while some one mountedit and placed the little animals in safety on the roof. The parents flew tothem immediately, and the whole family took wing, amid the general acclamations of the multitude; even a couple of " Glacéfränzel” (petit*maîtres) stood still at a little distance, and eyed the scene smilingly through their glasses.66Among the articles made in large quantities in Vienna are theatricaldecorations, wherewith it furnishes all the stationary and locomotive theatres of the Austrian empire. Many shops confine themselves to the saleof frippery of this kind, particularly diadems, and jewelled finery for the queens and princesses of the mimic scene. Great numbers of these diademsare made by the goldsmiths of Vienna. They make use of a peculiarcomposition of lead, tin, and bismuth, called " stage composition." It hasso good an effect, that at a little distance the deception is complete. Thesmall cut sides of the metal are not raised, but put together in a concaveform; when the light plays on them, they have all the appearance ofprecious stones.It is a remarkable fact that the people of Hamburg have learnt onlywithin the last fifteen years how to bind a ledger. Before that time thegreat folios were generally sent for from England. The people of Viennahave not yet mastered this apparently simple art, for Girardet, the mostconsiderable bookbinder in the city, who employs thirty-six journeymen,maintains among them three Englishmen for all the solid and difficultwork, and nine Frenchmen for that requiring delicate handling and taste.These people understand their work thoroughly, and what they do is admirably well done. They work apart from the German workmen, in order to preserve the mystery of their craft. There are many kinds of leatherused for this purpose, which are not to be had in Germany, so that the stuff156 RAILROADS.as well as the tools and the workmen must be had from France and England. Nothing can exceed the beauty, elegance, and solidity of Girardet'sbindings, and their variety is quite as admirable. Every two months there is a general clearance of old forms and patterns, to make way fornew ones.The last visit in my tour of shops was to one whose commodities wereof a nature not usually made the subject of traffic in Vienna, -monkeysand parrots. The master of the shop told me that the bad weather of thatyear had been particularly injurious to them; he had lost monkeys to thevalue of one thousand seven hundred florins, all having caught severecoughs, of which they had died. One of the creatures was still coughing,and I was astonished at the similarity of the sound to a human cough. Isaw here a number of close dark cages, which I understood to be the private studies of the parrots. In the evening their teachers shut them up inthese prisons, and then give them their lesson . If the cages are not covered, their curiosity would make them busy themselves with other objects,and if they could see one another, they would converse in their wild American language. It is long before a parrot acquires a new form of speech.Some are sent to board and lodge with old women, of whom they learn theVienna jargon. The majority had learned to scream out " Vivat Ferdinandus Primus."RAILROADS.It has often been matter of complaint, that the city of Vienna has nota more immediate connexion with the many rail and water roads radiatingfrom it. The passengers by the steamboats complain when they findthemselves compelled to leave their beds soon after midnight, if they wishto set off at five in the morning, and those by the railroads grumble equallyat having to travel through the whole city, together with its suburbs and thevillages beyond, before they can consign themselves to the energetic guid- ance of the locomotive. The various rail and steamboat stations lie twoor three leagues apart, and some of them at that distance from the centreof the city. An incredible number of hackney carriages are constantlyemployed in transporting passengers to the several points . The magnifi- cent terminus of the Vienna- Raab railroad lies at the extreme outer lineof the city. The position is so lofty, that they might have continued the road to the very centre of the city without being in the way of the smokeof a single chimney. The terminus in that case would have reached abouthalf wayup to the summit of Stephen's Tower.Before railroads were invented, many of the beautiful environs of Vienna were a forbidden Paradise to its citizens. Those who had no othermeans of conveyance at their command than what nature provided, neverreached Baden, Stockerau, or any such distant point, from one year'send to another, or perhaps not in the course of their lives. Within thelast few years the railroads have given them a key to these Elysiums, andat every opening of a new branch of road the newspapers of Vienna announce the fact in a style that might have suited some of Captain Cook'sdiscoveries, new and most captivating descriptions of Stockerau, Briel,Helenenthal, &c. , being put forth to entice people by thousands to the railroad.The railroads have wrought a change in the whole environs of Vienna,RAILROADS. 157and in the whole system of out- door pleasures. The Prater and theAugarten are lost, and comparatively empty now, when the seekers ofpleasure can be carried away with so much ease to a distance of five or six (German) miles. The Prater had made the most extraordinary promises; it had announced a " Bacchus festival," to end with a faithful representation of the eruption of three volcanoes in Fernando Po. Thethree were to vie with each other in the splendour of their flames, andsend forth smoke enough to darken the heavens. Preparations had alsobeen made to blow up several masses of (pasteboard) rock. Nevertheless,the Prater was doomed to be deserted that evening, and the visiters werethronging to the railroads . On the other hand the invitations for moredistant places of pleasurable resort were not less alluring. At Mödling,Strauss promised his newly-composed dances, " Country Delight," " Rail- road Galopade," the " Naiads, " &c.; and Lanner announced his musicalconversazione, his " Eccentric, " his " Reflex from the World of Harmony,"to be given at Liesing. In Baden all sorts of " Volksfeste" were to takeplace. There was to be the " Dance for the Hat," a Milan dance, inwhich the ladies dance through a gate, and she whose transit falls in with a certain given signal obtains a hat by way of a prize. In the various"Arenas" (garden theatres), " The Bohemian Girls in Uniform," the"Elopement, from the Masked Ball, " " The Maiden, from Fairy Land,”and other attractive pieces, were advertised.Around the last coach setting off for the Vienna-Raab railroad the people were thronging and steaming. " Pray, gentlemen, let the ladies gofirst, " cried some voices in the crowd. " Yes, yes, the ladies first, the ladiesfirst, they all say, and here am I shoved back again, " cried a woman whohad been pushed back from one of the carriages. She was launching inher despair into a high strain of eloquence when we invited her into ourhackney- coach, and recognised in her, in spite of her shining kid-gloves, aVienna cook. The cooks generally wear short sleeves, between which andtheir long gloves, a brown and scorched ring of an arm remains to reveal their calling.The Vienna- Raab railway (now that its direction towards Hungary isgiven up, it will probably be called the Vienna- Trieste railway) is probably the most magnificent railway in existence. The terminus and intermediate stations are remarkable for their size and splendour. Thewaiting-rooms for the passengers of the first and second-classes are morelike drawing-rooms than any thing else .There are three classes of carriages; they are all extremely capacious,carrying not fewer than fifty-six persons. Besides these three classes,there are the, so called, " saloon carriages," furnished with looking-glasses,divans, tables, &c. , and destined for persons of wealth and distinction.At present the lines of railroad are towards the resorts of pleasure, andhave their names accordingly:-Mödling, Baden, Neustadt. The timewill come when more important names will appear-the Adriatic, Venice,the East, the Levant, &c.The banker Sina is at the head of the Vienna- Raab line, as Rothschild presides over the Vienna- Brunn line. At first the engineers were allEnglishmen, but they have since been replaced by Germans." TheEnglish have not the phlegm of the Germans," said a Vienna citizen tome, " they were rash, and careless, and many accidents were the consequence. The precautions observed on the Austrian railroads are so158 RAILROADS.great as almost to counteract the main object of these roads-speed.Very slowly and very gradually the train is set in motion, countless arethe whistles before it moves at all, and very moderate is the progress forsome time. Long before they mean to stop, the speed is slackened, and astoundingly slow in its motion up to the terminus. It is true that if wecould be assured that every new precautionary measure saved some lives,they could not be sufficiently commended, but the question will arise-do they really do so? It may so happen that the negligence of the lower functionaries increases in exact proportion with the extreme foresight of thehigher. The surer the public is that precautions are taken by others, the less will they take care of themselves.On the day I went on the Vienna- Raab railroad we had, in our train,fifteen carriages, full of people starting from Vienna in search of pleasure,consequently, seven hundred persons. We encountered similar trainsseveral times, and, I believe, that the number of persons carried out thatSunday could not be less than twelve thousand. The direction of thisrailroad galopade was towards the plain at the end of the forest of Vienna.The hills are pierced by several valleys, beyond which lie the before- mentioned pretty villages of Liesing, Mödling, Baden, and others. Hundredsof men, women, and children, were disgorged by the train at the entranceof these valleys, and hundreds of fresh passengers packed in. Formerly astranger required a week to visit all these vaunted places in their turn,now he can be whirled there, have a peep at them, and be back in a few hours.We allowed ourselves to be complimented out of the carriage at Mödling,to enjoy the highly lauded views of " in der Briel." We found a dozen ofasses ready saddled, standing at the station. One of the donkeys wasnamed " Karl Wizing, " another " Nanerl," and her gentle daughter " Sofi,"so at least the juvenile drivers informed us. As we were just three innumber, we chose these three animals, mounted them, and trotted awayinto the mountains. The father of the present Prince Lichtenstein firstbrought the neighbourhood of Briel into notice. He caused the nakeddeclivities to be clothed with woods, paths to be cut, and the ground to belaid out with taste; adorned the summits with pavilions and summer-houses,built a magnificent seat in the neighbourhood, and abandoned the picturesque old ruins to the curiosity of the public . Atthis present time several yet wilder, woody and rocky valleys in the neighbourhood of Viennaare undergoing a similar transformation. Coffee-house civilization hasput to flight the nymphs and dryads of the woods. The caves of the faunshave been fitted up for the sale of beer and wine, and where formerly asolitary lover of nature could scarcely force his way, the population of a whole quarter of the city are now gadding about in merry crowds.The ruins of the old castle of Lichtenstein, to which Karl Wizing,Nanerl, and Sofi carried us, are real ruins, a fact worthy of remark, because the hills around are covered with a number of mimic ruins, placedthere for decoration's sake. The old castle, one ofthe earliest possessionsof the illustrious family whose name it bears, fell afterwards into otherhands, and was subsequently re-purchased by the Lichtensteins, with thelands and vineyards belonging to it, for six hundred thousand florins .is a regular, old, rock built, knightly nest. The dungeon lies right beforethe narrow entrance, and the first thing the stern old barons must havedone on stepping over their threshold was to give a negative to the petiItRAILROADS. 159tions for freedom which the captives sent up to them in groans from their prison below.The hall wherein the ancestral pictures are suspended, has its walls partly cut out of the bare rock, and partly offreestone. The bare rock also formsthe floor. The oldest portrait is that of John of Lichtenstein, who died in 1395, and the series is continued down to the grandfather of the presentprince. The ladies hang in a neighbouring chamber, likewise carved out of the rock. It must be a real pleasure to be descended from this handsome, stout old race. They are all tall handsome figures, and the daintyruffs, padded doublets, short hose, velvet caps, golden chains, and richprincely mantles of which they were never in want, sit on them in amost stately fashion. Thehandsomest among them is one " John Septimusvon Lichtenstein, lord of Hanau and Ramsburg, son of Jörg Hartmann v.Lichtenstein of Felsburg, aged 35 years." One of them has a tiger whichhe is caressing by his side. Probably the present Lichtensteins would assoon adopt a tiger for a lap dog as resume this old rocky nest for a dwell- ing- place.The archduke Charles is the owner of the lovely valley behind Baden.I never saw more courteous addresses to the public than those posted upin the grounds laid out by the archduke for the public . " The respectedpublic are requested to make use of the paths laid down in these grounds,in order to spare the young wood. " No doubt prohibitions of the kind would have a better effect, if such motives were always suggested.The handsome castle, built by the archduke just at the entrance of thevalley, is called Weilburg. Although we had the building constantly insight, we were obliged to inquire the way to it twice, as we had got intosome by-paths, and each time we received genuine Austrian answers. The first was," I am not acquainted with this road; " and the second, " Thisis the right road, the other is for themselves" (i. e. the owners). SchlossWeilburg is renowned for its collection of roses. The gardener told usthere were not less than eight hundred species here, but in this bloomlessseason, they all looked as like each other as so many skeletons. To makeus amends, we saw a plant but seldom met with in German greenhouses—the rose-coloured lily, with dark red spots ( lilium speciosum punctatum).The site of the palace and garden is the most delightful that can be imagined. It lies on the borders of a hilly country, at theopening of a valley, in view of a richly-cultivated plain . On either side it is flanked bywooded heights, and behind is the narrow pass of the valley. Every thingrequired towards the formation of a fine landscape is here united: theelevating view over a distant land, rich in life and hope; the warmly- tintedpicture of the lovely valley close at hand, and the retreat into a friendlywooded solitude. The last was the particular object of my research, andI found at the end of the valley a beautiful meadow, in the midst of thick- ets, by the side of a river. This was called the house-meadow. WhilstBaden was swarming with people, but few found their way to this place.A little boy was exhibiting his skill on the violin , and received in rewardof his masterly performance the large copper pieces of a few wanderingMecanas with the warmest gratitude.On our return to Baden we refreshed ourselves with a cup of coffee andsome excellent " kipfeln," which are better made here than in Viennaitself. They make them of all sizes, from half a kreuzer to five florinsa piece. The more aristocratic among the bakers suspend a shield or160 SUNDAY WALKS.crown of kipfel dough over their windows, in the manner of armorialbearings; the fresh baked are so much esteemed, that many bakers, notcontent with making them once a day, inscribe over their shops," Herebread is baked three times a day." Baron Rothschild sent for a Baden baker to Paris, where his artistical performances were so much approved of,that he became a rich man in a short time.Life in Baden has undergone a great change of late years. Formerlythe emperor Francis lived here in the summer, and, like king FrederickWilliam at Teplitz, assembled much of the great world around his person.Both places have lost by the death of those two sovereigns; nevertheless,now that the railroad brings, daily, thousands into the neighbourhood, andinundates it with smokers, drinkers, and cooks, the pleasures of the arenashave become of infinitely more consequence than those of the saloons.The baths will be great gainers. They are now within reach ofmany to whom they were before unattainable. Many invalids in publicoffices come with the first train, take a bath and return to the capital before their hours of business. Prince Puckler Muskau observes that, inVienna, people talk about a " lamprelle," or a "parapluie," but know nothing about a Regenschirm. I also had opportunities enough of remarking the fondness of persons of the uneducated classes for sporting a fewFrench phrases. While waiting with some hundreds of persons in theroom appropriated to the second class, for the arrival of the train, I satdown near a very fat, very fine lady, who was parading her French to anacquaintance. " Comment vous portez vous?" said the lady. " Oh, ah,oui, bien," was the reply. " Prenez place ici, voulez vous?" " Non.""Pourquoi donc?" " Non! je, je, —Ah what shall I say, I don't knowhow to say it, but I'd rather stand," and hereupon he laughed out loud." Il fait très chaud ici, " persisted she. Ay, you mean it is very hot, yeshot enough to stifle one.' "Oui c'est trop," rejoined the fat dame, "it istoo bad. If they would but collect the heat and put it into the enginethey might save their firing."9966The drive back, at eleven o'clock at night, was really brilliant, and theprecautionary lighting of the road almost superfluous. The stations wereilluminated with red and green lamps; the whole way along, lamps andtorches were planted, and withal the moon shone resplendently in the heavens. Late as it was, we met several trains, and, without any exaggeration the engines were piping and whistling as numerously along the railroadas so many mice in a granary.SUNDAY WALKS.It was one Sunday afternoon that I walked into the streets to see whataspect the city bore at that time of the day. The workday and morningtumult had quite subsided, the constant " Ho! ho!" ofthe hackney carriages, and the "Auf!" of the car-drivers were silent, for 20,000 of theinhabitants of Vienna were rolling over the newly opened railway to thenewly-discovered Paradise of Stockerau, and 20,000 were flying by theRaab road to Mödling, Baden, and the other valleys of the forest ofVienna; 50,000 more were gone into the country for the summer, andanother 50,000 were gone after them for the day, to forget the troubles ofthe week in their society. Another not less respectable number of citizensSUNDAY WALKS. 161and citizenesses were scattered over the gardens of the suburbs, the Prater,and the meadows, and thus I remained in possession of the inner city, witha remnant of lackeys, beggars, and sick; the Turks might have attacked and taken it at that moment with ease. The domestics were loungingbefore the doors and conversing with their opposite neighbours; the maidswere chattering in the inner courts; the coffee-house of the " Orientals"was still full of company, for they were scarcely likely to approve ofour way of keeping Sunday. In the cathedral of St. Stephen, a fewold women were telling their rosaries, and screaming their devotionsthrough the church; and one grating voice among them, louder than allthe rest, repeated, at the end of each verse, " Holy, holy, holy!"In the courtyard of one house into which I looked, I saw a little boy reading prayers aloud from a book. He told me that he was eight yearsold, and that he did this every Sunday. I took his book, and saw that hewas reading the gospel of St. Luke, from the ninth to the fourteenth verse.He said it was the gospel for the day, and that many boys in a similarmanner read the gospels on a Sunday before the houses of Vienna. Whenhe had finished, there descended on him, from the upper stories, a grateful shower of kreuzers wrapped in paper.In the usual tumult of the town, I had overlooked many smaller elements of the population, which I now discovered for the first time, as someinhabitants of the waters are perceived only when the tide has ebbed. Inoticed for the first time the people who hawk Italian and Hungariancheeses about the streets. They are chiefly from the neighbourhood ofUdine, and also sell Italian macaroni. The greater number could speak as much German as they found necessary for their street traffic. Thereare in all not less than thirty thousand Italians in Vienna, and the pas- senger is not unfrequently accosted with, " Poveretta! signor mio! lacarita!" Beggars should, out of policy, always speak a foreign language;it excites far more compassion than the language of the country.Going farther, I found a man standing before a baker's shop, occupiedin scolding a little maidservant. She was a Bohemian, he told me, andadded, " That Bohemia must be a very poor country-every year therecome thousands of them to Vienna-men and women, maids and boys.They learn as much German as they must, seek a service somewhere, arevery moderate in their demands, will put up with a bed in the stable, oron the floor, and when they have earned a few florins, they go back totheir own country. " In fact, if we inquire of a hundred people we meetin Vienna what country they are from, the answer of twenty, on an average, will be " Ich bin ein Behm" ( I am a Bohemian) . The whole number of the Slavonians in Vienna is, it is said, about 60,000, and of otherNon-Germans 100,000. In the highest circles as the lowest, the foreignelement mingles everywhere. The number of Hungarians is reckoned at15,000; but of these many are not genuine Magyars.One could not in Vienna, at that time, speak three words to a manwithout coming to the name of Geymüller. My baker, whom I had requested to show methe way to the Glacis, told me, by the way, that it wasthe oldest banking-house, and had flourished for above sixty years." Thelast Baron Geymuller, however," he said, " was no Geymuller at all, butan adopted son of his predecessor, and no baron properly, but they had made him one. He had squandered 150,000 florins yearly; many, bothof the rich and poor, had been ruined through him; and now this mis- M162 SUNDAY WALKS.and chief-maker had been politely shown the door; and allowed to golive at Paris with his wife on the remains of his fortune, and they werenot inconsiderable."During this conversation we had reached the Saitzer Hof, where ourroads separated.At last I came to the end of the city, and went out upon the Glacis.Here seemed to be gathered together all whose legs were too short togain the open country beyond the extensive suburbs of Vienna. It wasthe part called the Water Glacis, where there is some gay music every afternoon; numbers of little children with their nurses were lying andplaying about the grass, and several schools under the guidance of theirmasters were doing the like. Some of them had pitched a tent in one ofthe meadows near which they were diverting themselves. There is noother city in Europe where the children have such a playground in the very heart of the town. The benches were bare of other visiters, with theexception of one solitary Turk seated among the children. He was takinghis coffee, and dividing the " kipfel," that had been brought him with it,among the sparrows which are constantly flying in numbers round theGlacis. I sat down by him to share in both his amusem*nts, and remarked a trick of the sparrows that I had never before noticed. Some ofthem were so greedy, that they kept fluttering in the air about us, and sometimes snatched a morsel of bread before it could even reach theground, where the others were eagerly picking up the scattered frag- ments.Like a polypus turned inside out, the inner life being displayed externally, the dead exterior skin turned within, even so is the life of Vienna reversed on a Sunday. The swarms that on other days are driving andbawling in the streets and public places of the city, are then singing,dancing, eating, drinking, and gossiping in the houses of public entertainment without. All this humming and drumming was so little inunison with my idea of a Sunday walk, that I was glad to take refugefrom the noise in a place I was sure of having more to myself on a Sunday than any other day-the flower-gardens and churchyards.Beethoven's monument stands in the Währinger cemetery. Hissimple family-name is inscribed in gold letters on the stone: but of latethe growth of a bush planted near it has almost overshadowed the letters.I asked the sexton why he did not cut away the boughs that the namemight be more plainly seen; he said the friends would not allow it to be done.In every cemetery there is a certain form of inscription sure to be frequently met with. On half the gravestones in this place I read theword " Ever to be remembered!" (unvergesslich) which seems to me asunmeaning as it is short. On many of the graves lights were burningin small lanterns among the flowers. It is a custom in Vienna to lightthese on the anniversary of the death of the deceased. The Währingercemetery is one of the most distinguished in Vienna; and many place onthe graves of their departed friends flowers of a very costly kind, for thesupply of which there is a greenhouse in the cemetery. At night twodogs are let loose to guard the property of the dead.Nothing harmonizes better with a grave than flowers, and by way of aconclusion to my Sunday promenade, I went to look at the flower-gardens of Mr. N , and Baron X , and came at length to Rupert's nursery-SUNDAY WALKS. 163garden, which for Hungary, and for all the other lands that receive theseeds of cultivation from Vienna, plays no insignificant part. It is said tocontain not less than 2000 species of vine, and 400 of potatoes; the latterarticle must be particularly important for the before-mentioned countries,which are still very ill supplied with this vegetable. Rupert's garden isalso celebrated for its dahlias, the flower now so passionately cultivated inall European gardens. The proprietor says that he has 900 varieties,with different names for each. As we find certain insects and butterflieshovering over certain flowers, so one is almost certain to meet in Rupert'sgarden some enamoured admirers of dahlias from different parts of theAustrian dominions on the hunt for some variety of flower wherewith tocomplete their collections. Here, as in England, Hamburg, and Erfurt,they aim at the production of new kinds. The " Princess Kinsky" (whitewith lilac edges) is a creation of Vienna; " Baroness Herderfeld" (brightlilac with a dark violet coloured border), and " Count Fünfkirchen, " arechristened after Austrian nobles. The very newest productions of England and Germany find their way first to Rupert's garden. A " CharlesXII., " a beautiful velvet violet, fading in the calyx to a tender lilac, andat the outer edge pure white, was now blooming for the first time in theAustrian territory. The last consignment had brought 84 new sorts, whichwere to come into bloom next year. It is worthy of note in how grand astyle the English gardens carry on their trade with dahlia bulbs. To thename of the bulb, the name of the producers of its varieties is annexed, andusually a beautiful drawing added to show what the flower will be whenin bloom.Towards evening I returned by the Glacis, and there witnessed a sceneI shall not easily forget. A sudden storm of thunder and lightning, thatseemed to promise a second course of rain or hail, had scared all thejuveniles encamped on the grass, and as I came up, all were in full flightover the narrow drawbridges and through the small gates. The nurseswere towing along two, three, and four little creatures, and the schoolmasters driving their flocks before them. There was a thronging, bustling ,and hurrying, as if the Turks had just entered the suburbs. "William,you stupid boy! what do you stand still to spell Franciscus Primus for?"(the name of that emperor is inscribed in golden letters over the gate,)" can't you spell enough at home? don't you hear the thunder?"—" Babette will you let go of that chain? this is not the time to count thelinks. See how you are keeping us. "-" Good God! what's become ofSeppi? He! child, run, run, the rain will spoil all your things." Thusscreamed mothers and nurses, and all dragged on their small charges as ifa second murder of the innocents was at hand. At the end of this centuryperhaps some grandsire of seventy will date his earliest childish recollections from this storm, and relate how in the long departed year of 1841astorm drove him with others suddenly from the Glacis of Vienna, andhis friend may likewise remember how he was there too, and how he gota box on the ear from his nurse for stopping to spell Franciscus Primus inthe middle of the rain, and how a strange man dried his tears and led himby the hand after his attendant.M2164KLOSTERNEUBURG.One day I went in a stellwagen that started from St. Stephen's placefor the much talked of Klosterneuburg, in company with a pretty littlegirl and her mother, a pale young woman whom I took at first for amember of the corporation of semstresses, a little old mannikin, and some silent members on the back seats of whom no more need be said. Thelittle girl had a basket with some linen on her lap which she held so negligently, that at the first jolt ofthe coach out it fell to the unspeakableterror of the mother, who announced the misfortune by a terrible shriek.The driver made a halt and I went in search of the basket, which luckilyhad fallen without tumbling out its delicate contents, and offered myservices to hold it more securely for the future, through which small civilityI won the hearts of my companions, and a conversation began that ceasednot till we separated at Klosterneuburg. There was no want of subjects,for in a city like Vienna every night is sure to produce matter enoughto employ, for the succeeding day, all the tongues that stand in need ofexercise. We spoke firstly of Geymüller's bankruptcy, a subject whichkept all the talkers in Vienna in full play for two months, and was introduced every morning as regularly as family prayers. It was maintained that it was the banker Sina, who had ruined Geymüller. Thebook-keeper of the latter had betrayed the embarrassments of his principalto Sina, who thereupon, to secure his own claims, had come forward, andanticipated the other creditors. The clerks of Geymüller had called thetreacherous book-keeper to account for this, and even threatened his life.But Geymüller had said, " Let him live! for this man whom I haveraised from nothing, and who has in return betrayed me, God will judge him!" Next, the last great fire was discussed, and some one related howthe night before, a young man had been robbed and murdered in Leopolstadt." Ah, see there now! they are going on quite in the Galicia fashion inVienna!" said the slim, pale, young woman whom I had taken for amodiste, but who afterwards gave us to understand she was the lady of agovernment tobacco agent. " Two fires in one week, a man murdered,Geymüller a bankrupt, it's regular Galicia fashion, upon my honour!"-"Were you ever in Galicia, if I may ask?" said I.-" Ah! yes, indeed,God help me, two whole years," was the answer, accompanied by a deepsigh.

Thereupon our conversation took another direction, for I too had beenin Galicia, and was interested for the country, and for the views othersentertained respecting it. It may be easily imagined how longingly alleyes are directed from the provinces towards the warm high-beating heartof the Austrian monarchy; the far radiating centre of light, the seat ofall that is noblest, fairest, and wisest, the imperial city of Vienna, andhow its splendours and glories are magnified in the imaginations of thosedwellers in the provinces, whose fortune it is never to see it face to face;and on the other hand, it is as easy to fancy how inconsolable must be the

• Mr. Kohl's tour in Galicia will form the close of the present volume, though in point of date it preceded his visit to Vienna.

KLOSTERNEUBURG. 165man or woman destined to leave this temple of renown and source of allpleasure, for the comparatively joyless provinces. I never heard a Viennalady more eloquent than when speaking of the Bohemians, Moravians, oreven the Poles, Hungarians, Croats, and other remote people of the empire. As the wives of officers, military or civil, many a fair Austrian isfated to wander among these barbarians. Whoever has had occasion tolisten to the complaints of those who have been stationed in Bukowina,Transylvania, or the military colonies, must confess that the Jeremiade ofthe Chinese princess married to a Mongolian prince, as delivered to us byRuckert, in his Schi-king, was not more deeply felt nor more poeticallyexpressed, nor is the joy of the princess when she returns to the capitalofthe Sun's brother, greater than the rapture of a fair native of Vienna,when she sees Stephen's tower again after a residence of some yearsHungary or Galicia . If any one be curious to know the kind of pictureshe would draw of the place she had left, let him listen to the account ofthe tobacconist's better- half, when the before-mentioned misfortunes andmisdeeds awakened her recollections of Galicia.in"Yes, it is quite the Galicia mode, and we shall soon have in Viennasuch spectacles as are to be seen in Lemberg every day. Whilst I wasthere, they hung nine men within six weeks. Once they hung up four onthe same day. They were hung alternately, first a Christian and then aJew, and then another Christian and then another Jew. Here, God bethanked, the punishment of death is pretty well laid aside, except amongthe military. But Galicia! Oh what a country! I had travelled beforein Bohemia and Moravia; I thought the poverty and misery of the peoplewas scandalous enough there, and far beyond what I had any idea of; but,Jesus Maria! I've learned more since; when I got to Galicia, I foundwhat it was to be in a country so far behind in civilization! Such roguesand vagabonds as the people are there I never heard of! They plunder and pilfer, and commit all manner of excesses. At first we used to go bythe diligence on the great high-roads, but afterwards we had a carriage to ourselves. On the high-roads you must have recourse to blows to get anything, but out of them there is nothing to be had either for cudgelling or for money. One evening the Jewwho was driving us, called out- Lookat the stars, do you see the stars? the sabbath is beginning!' and he actually wanted to take out his horses and compel us to pass the night inthe open air! My uncle, who was travelling with me, gave him a beatingand he drove a little farther; but my uncle was obliged to cudgel him six times before we got to our journey's end. " Here I looked hard at thespeaker, who had not asked me whether I had ever been in Lemberg, witha scrutinizing glance, but I saw that she was quite in earnest, meantbonâ fide what she said, and reckoned fully on our belief in her relation.Lemberg," she continued, " they call their capital; but what a capital!Heaven help us! Here in Vienna if you have a florin in your hand youcan do something with it, can have some diversion, can satisfy yourhunger. But there, if you have two you can get nothing for them-nothing whatever; the coffee- houses are bad and filthy. A cup of coffeecosts twenty-four kreuzers, and then it is good for nothing. Aperson in apublic office, with a salary of 900 florins, cannot even say he has his ownliving out of it, not to speak of bread for his children . My uncle wentfrom one coffee- house to another for two months together, when we werefirst there, before he could make up a rubber of whist. "66166 KLOSTERNEUBURG.Justthen we reached Nussdorf, where a number of hackney-coaches werein waiting for the passengers by the Linz steamboats." There! In all Lemberg, a city with 80,000 inhabitants, if the peoplecan be called inhabitants, there are not as many hackney-coaches as yousee here in one place. I assure you there are not more than a dozen inthewhole town. I lived with my uncle, and when the winter came we wentto the assembly. My uncle had dressed himself of course, and so had I;I was quite bare, my neck I mean, and of course I had my hair properlydressed, as we should here in Vienna to go to an assembly. We drovethere at half-past ten, that was soon enough, for who thinks of going toan assembly in Vienna before eleven o'clock? and all the company was assembled, and as long as I live I shall never forget it, all in their furs, someeven in sheepskins, and boots and spurs, just as they go in the streets.As I and my uncle were taking our places, the people called to eachother Schaut's die Schwab'n! Schaut's die Schwab'n! (Look at theSwabians! ) My uncle, who understood Polish, translated to me all theysaid of us, the bandy-legged fellows! Jews and gipsies are there inabundance-gipsies (oh, it is scandalous) in whole gangs. They live ina state of misery that is not to be described, even when something is doneto better their condition. But in that country each throws the blameupon the other. The nobleman says the peasant is lazy, and the peasantsays the nobleman has nothing for him but a whip. And then sometimes the Jew's turn comes. The Jews, ah, I assure you this people—” Herethe Austrian eloquence of our talkative companion whose innate antipathy to Hungarians and Galicians, excited by applause, ran on in astream as fluent as molten wax, was interrupted by another description oforatory, that of the waiter of the Klosterneuburg inn, as he opened the door of the coach, and invited us to get out. We did so, and hastenedto the convent.The tradition respecting the foundation of this convent that it wasendowed by Leopold the Holy, in commemoration of his having herefound the lost veil of his consort the beautiful Margravine Agnes on anelder-bush, was repeated to us, as it is to all the thousands of travellerswho yearly knock for admission at its gates. In the treasury of relics wewere also shown a piece of the elder-bush, a rag of the veil, and a fragment of the skull, under whose protecting roof the thought of such afoundation was first hatched. The legends of the Catholic church arereally sometimes inconceivably paltry. What a fuss they have made ofthat princely veil, whose loss was at once so very simple and so very insignificant? In a picture they have even represented a troop of baby angelsbusied in restoring the veil to the Margravine. And to found a conventon such an incident! The thing would be absurd, even if the veils of ourChristian ladies had the mystic significance of the Mahometan veils, the lossof which might be supposed to include the loss of half their womanhood.Put out of humour by these reflections in the relic-room, we requestedto be shown the splendid library, that we might have something rea- sonable to look at; but the first book that fell into our hands was Chronica Austria by Johann Rasch, and the first remark that struck us on opening it was, that Noah must have been archduke of Austria, becausewhen the waters of the deluge had subsided, and he as sole lord and rulerof the earth had taken possession, Austria must have been included. Ona closer examination of this remarkable book, I found among other anteKLOSTERNEUBURG. 167and post diluvian occurrences, not mentioned in any other history, acomplete list of Austrian rulers in direct descent from Noah.No less than forty princes (heathens) were enumerated, then severalJewish. Then the chronicler observes, " Heathen princes again ruled inAustria, and certainly not fewer than seven." To these succeeded theChristian rulers Rolantin, Raptan, Amanus, &c., a hundred princes in all,whom the crazy chronicler had invested with princely honours, down tothe Babenbergers, eleven in number, and the Hapsburgers, fifteen.The author of this book, a remarkable one in a psychological, if not inan historical point of view, was a teacher in the Scotch convent inVienna, and the most curious part of the story is, that no joke is in- tended, but all is seriously meant. It is diligently compiled, and printedin the old, firm, careful, conscientious type ofthe last century. The exactdate of every occurrence is carefully given: how long after the creation ofthe world, how long after the deluge, and how long before the birth of Christ. For example:66" In the year 1807, after the creation of the world in the 151styear after the deluge, and the 2156th before the birth of Christ, Tuiscobrought a great people with him from Armenia, Germans and Wendes,among whom were twenty-five counts, and about thirty princes."All the various readings of the princes' names, their sundry aliases, are also carefully noted. "In the year 2390, after the creation of the world,734 after the deluge, lived the German Hercules, Hercules Alemannicus,also Hercule, Aergle, Argle, Excle or Arglon, the Hero with the fiercelion,' which he leads in a chain, and bears as a cognizance in his shield. "The whole is illustrated with pictures, and the coat of arms of everyprince is given. Abraham's is a golden eagle in a black shield, placed obliquely.Many historiographers have laboured for the glorification of the oldhouse of Austria, but none have gone about their work in a way to be at all compared to Johann Rasch's. Can it be that in his time(he lived at the beginning of the 17th century) people were so far beclouded in the fogs of vanity and self- esteem, as to give currency to his book?A further search in the magnificent rooms appropriated to the library ofthis convent showed that some really interesting books were to be found init: Haufstangel's lithographs from the Dresden gallery, Salt's View ofIndia, Denon's work on Egypt, and other splendid works of that description.The Incunabulæ and manuscripts have all been lately bound in Russialeather, which is said to preserve them from the worms.There are someold missals and breviaries, and a costly edition of Pliny, on such indestructible paper, with so tasteful yet so clear a type, and with so solid a binding as in our times are no longer to be seen. The Incunabulæ must be veryold, for the numbers of the paper, and the superscriptions are made with the pen. The old heathen sage Pliny was painted in gay colours in frontof his work, with a glory like that of a saint round his head, writing hisEvangelium, like St. John; proof enough how highly, even in the middleages, the monks valued the classic works of the ancients.There are also a great number of old German poems and legends. Itook out one and found it gnawed by the mice. " Eh, eh, " said the father,who was showing me round, " some wicked animal has been at our books168 KLOSTERNEUBURG.again! It's very illegibly written. I can't read these old letters, and Idon't care to read them, I like to read a plain good print!" Then stepping to the window, he hummed a melody which some organ-grinder wasplaying in the street below, and observed, " That is a pretty song. It isfrom the Puritani." I rummaged further in the mouse magazine, andfound another old dusty book. It was called, " On the German War ofHortleder, " thus in Austria is entitled the war of Charles V. against theprotestants. We may acquire a very sufficient notion of the contents of thisbook by only reading the title. It is alike characteristic of the manner of carrying on the war, as of the spirit of the times which dictatedboth the war and the book. It runs thus: "Ofthe German war of Hortleder,with the despatches, intelligence, instructions, complaints, supplications,written commands, summonses, counsels, deliberations, justifications, protestations, and recusations, replies, denials, details , alliances and counteralliances, orders and testimonials, letters of consent and dissent, challenges,admonitions, truces, battles, fights and skirmishes, with one wordthe causesof the German war. The mere reading of this title makes one feel quiteHoly Roman and German empire- ish.Klosterneuburg, as it now stands, is one of those stately giant erections,reared at the command of the greatest architect Austria ever saw on thethrone-Charles VI. It is projected in the same grand style as all otherarchitectural works ofthat monarch, and like many others also unfortunately(or fortunately?) not completed. Want of money, the sudden death ofCharles, and the wars in the succeeding reign of Maria Theresa, preventedthe completion, which was subsequently often attempted, but never achieved,as money no longer flowed so freely as under the administration of theformer monarch. Much has been done, however, of late; the library isnew, a magnificent staircase has been built at the cost of many thousandflorins, the great marble hall is finished . The giant hall which has longremained as the workmen left it a hundred years ago, it is hoped, will becleared as soon as the new church, which the convent is bound to erect inone of its parishes in the suburb of Hitzing, shall be completed. The costhas been estimated at 100,000 florins, but it will not be less than 150,000.The convent has the patronage of not less than twenty-five churches.Klosterneuburg is particularly rich in vineyards, and their produce flowsfrom the tuns of all the houses of public entertainment far and near.Hence it has acquired among the people the nickname of the " runningtap" (zum rinnenden zapfen), just as Gottweih, on account ofits abundanceof ready money is called "the jingling penny" (zum klingenden pfennig);and even as the fathers of Molk are called the " lords of the jolly pecks"(die Herren vom reissenden Metzen) , on account ofthe many fertile cornfields they possess .The Emperor Charles VI. wished to make Klosterneuburg his usualsummer residence, and built the convent for a château. Near the cells ofthe monks there is a range of magnificent apartments called the emperor'sapartments, which are of no manner of use to them, but on the contrary,a great burden. The chief cupola of the building is surmounted with animperial crown, and the lesser ones with the archducal hat. The imperialcrown and the gigantic cushion on which it rests,is an exact copy in ironof the real crown at Vienna. Within, it is roomy enough to containtwenty men, and beams are stretched across to give it greater firmness.The precious stones are great bosses of iron-plate, painted blue and red,KLOSTERNEUBURG. 169in which there are small windows or doors whence a wide prospect may beenjoyed.The archducal hat on each of the other cupolas has here more significance than the crown, for Klosterneuburg is the principal convent of thearchduchy, and is the guardian of the veritable hat itself, or rather, calls it its own. The monks maintain that the hat belongs, not to the imperialhouse, but to the convent, and when homage is to be rendered to the emperor as archduke, he must borrow the hat of them. The ArchdukeMaximilian dedicated this hat " ex devotione" to St. Leopold, the patronand immortal proprietor of the monastery. On the occasion of receivinghomage, the loan of the hat to the new emperor, or archduke, is attended by a number of antique ceremonies.Two imperial commissioners, generally noblemen of some old Austrianrace, such as the Hardeggs, Schönborns, &c. , come on the appointed day,escorted by a detachment of cavalry in a state equipage drawn by sixhorses, and are received before the gates of the convent by the whole chapter with the " reigning prelate" at their head. In the courtsof the convent, the " Bürgerschaft" of the town of Klosterneuburgparade in uniform and armed. After a friendly welcome, the illustriousguests, attended by the whole company, go to St. Leopold's chapel, wherethey hear the service and sing a Te Deum, after which the " reigningbishop," in full pontificalibus and grasping the golden crosier adornedwith precious stones, admired by travellers in the treasury of the convent,repairs to the throne-room where he gives audience to the imperial com- missioners and demands their business. The commissioners in the oldstyle make a speech to the " well beloved, pious and faithful, " and declare therein that a new lord and ruler is minded to invest himself with theemblems and glories of majesty, wherefore he requests the convent willlend him the old hat. Then the bishop rises and gravely declares that hesees no reason to the contrary; whereupon the chapter willingly and submissively grant the request of the illustrious supplicant.Here ends the first act of this important drama, and to gather strengthand courage for the second, the party adjourn to the banquet-table, wherethe " Running Tap" shows itself no nigg*rd, and many a glass is emptiedto the prosperity of the old house of Austria.paperAfter the banquet, the parties proceed to the delivery and reception ofthe hat; but in the first place, its genuineness and identity in every respectmust be ascertained . The imperial commissioners draw out an oldon which it is described in detail. The great blue sapphire on the top, inthe centre the pearls, rubies, and emeralds, the sable tails, every thing isclosely examined and certified, and then the hat is packed into its red leathern case, locked up, and carried down to the gate by the dean, assistedbytwo priests.Here the case is delivered to the commissioners, who place it in a litterborne by two mules. The litter is followed by twelve of the Austrian"noble guard, " all scions of ancient race; then comethe commissioners intheir carriage, then the empty carriage of the bishop, and behind it a partof his flock, the bürger guard of Klosterneuburg on horseback with theirtrumpets. The latter, and the empty carriage, only go as far as theScottish gate of Vienna, where the national guard is stationed to relievethem and convey the hat to its destination . The return of the hat to theconvent is conducted in similar style, but with somewhat less ceremony.170 KLOSTERNEUBURG.The archduke St. Leopold is the patron and protector of the Austrianarchduchies, but Nepomucene and Florian are also supposed to watch overtheir safety. Leopold is buried here; the enamel-work on his monumentis admired by all travellers, as in duty bound, although the place is so darkthat scarcely any thing can be seen of it. But the beautiful stucco- workof the church really deserves the highest admiration, and I do not thinkthat any thing so perfect is to be met with elsewhere in Germany. Suchluxurious fulness of form, such correctness of drawing, such a solidity ofworkmanship, which, after the lapse of a hundred years, holds and looksas if it had been done yesterday, and such taste in the division and ar- rangement of the groups, make it really unique in its kind, and do thehighest honour to the Augustine chapter of Klosterneuburg, if they hadreally a hand in the matter. I must confess that after I had seen all thesplendours of this convent I felt as if I had enjoyed a banquet.Two gentlemen who were my fellow-passengers in the Stellwagenon my return, owned to similar feelings, only there was this difference between us, they had really dined. They had dined with theprelate and were full of his praises. On the way they pointed out to mea monument raised by a former prelate in commemoration of a greatdanger from which he had escaped. He was driving past the spot, whenan explosion in a neighbouring Turkish redoubt, hurled some thousands ofcannon-balls into the air. One of these balls passed obliquely through theroof of the bishop's carriage without doing him any personal injury, and,in memory ofthis preservation, he had had this ball riveted on the pointedsummit of a column, with an inscription explaining the motive for theerection of so singular a monument, which seemed to me to announcemore plainly than any thing else I had seen, the prodigious importance ofa Klosterneuburg prelate.HUNGARY.OEDENBURG, ZINZENDORF, ESTERHAZY, AND THE NEUSIEDLERLAKE.ON leaving Vienna I took care not to leave behind the only Hungarianword I was master of,-namely, " Yonapot," signifying " good day;" foreven a single word of the language of a country we are about to enter,is a precious little instrument for unlocking hearts, if one does but knowhow to use it. A hundred words and forms of speech form an inestimable treasure in such a case.Immediately on passing the frontier, the village of Pötschking, wherewe stopped, presented an entirely different aspect from those on the Aus- trian side. The window-shutters of the houses were of iron, on account,I was told, of the frequent conflagrations; the stable- men wore the costume of butchers, and carried the implements of the trade, as they are required to exercise this twofold occupation, immense herds of cattlecontinually passing through the place. One of these men, whom I spokewith, proved to be an Austrian deserter, who had run away to evade thelaws of recruitment; and when I asked him if he did not fear being discovered so close to Vienna, he answered, " Oh, they know very well whereI am, but here in Hungary they can't lay hold of me. If they tried it, Icould soon get together hundreds of the country fellows; there are plentyof us here without leave, but nobody says a word to us." Four Germanmiles beyond Vienna, therefore, the Austrian police, and the social orderdependant on it, loses its power. I met here many " Zeiselwagen, " longcarriages, in which the people sit back to back, crammed full of pilgrimsfor the shrine of Maria Zell in the mountains, and adorned with largenosegays. The driver sat in the front, driving with one hand, and holdingin the other a prayer-book, from which he chanted aloud, what the pilgrims sung in chorus after him. Sometimes I met whole troops on foot,that entirely covered the road, broad as it was, men, women, and girls,mostly provided with great umbrellas to protect them from the sun, singing, and playing, led sometimes by a consecrated banner. They wereprincipally Germans, as indeed are the greater part of the population forsome miles beyond Oedenburg. The Magyars I was told did not join inthese pilgrimages. The day (the 20th of August) was also, among these172 OEDENBURG, ZINZENDORF, ESTERHAZY,Magyars, a great festival. It was St. Stephen's day, on which the hands,and I believe a part of the skull, of the saint are carried in processionthrough Ofen; and in all the villages we passed through, we found thepeople in Sunday clothes and making holiday.At Drasburg, a village partly inhabited by Croats, we found someCroat girls assembled round a holy spring. Above it was an " Ecce hom*o❞ in stone, covered with dust and cobwebs, the water trickling out from under it. I asked one of them if the water was good. "To be sure it is, "they answered, " doesn't it run off from God himself." As many as thirtyor forty people were drawing or drinking the water, and one of the girlsbrought me her pitcher. To the great amusem*nt of the bystanders,when I went to drink, I poured it all over me, not being yet aware thatthe Hungarian pitchers have a little treacherous hole near the handle,on which it is necessary to put one's finger, if one does not wish to enjoy the fluid inside and outside at the same moment.Along the western side of the Neusiedler Lake, and the Styrian frontier as far as the Drave, the villages are inhabited by a mixed populationof Germans and Croats. At that point begins the territory exclusivelypeopled by Croatians. In the Oedenburg Comitat, or county, there are30 Croatian villages; in that of Wieselburg, 11; in Eisenburg 64; andin other counties not so many. Those on the Neusiedler Lake are called Water Croats. These Croats scattered among the Germans, are perhapsthe fragments of the original population of the country; the dialect thatthey speak among themselves, is Croatian, but they almost all speakGerman, though not Hungarian. They serve as drivers and waggonersall over the country, but are said by the Germans to be too fond of theirease to devote themselves to agriculture.The Croatian women wear very gay colours, the girls have bodices embroidered with gold, as stiff as coats of mail, and wear their hair in thefashion prevailing over the greater part of the world,—namely, hangingdown behind in long plaits, and mingled with coloured ribbons. The women wear large hoods or coifs, from which depends a large piece of stuffdecorated with rich embroidery and lace. They often come from thecountry with their gowns tucked up, and carrying their shoes and stockingsin their hands, but sit down at a little distance from the church or villagethey are going to, make their toilets, and then march on in grand state.The Croatian men are attired in still more showy style than the women,with jackets and waistcoats covered with flowers and embroidery, andbroad- brimmed hats with great bushes of flowers and feathers, in the number and beauty of which they take great pride.They are very fond of warlike encounters among themselves, and thosewho feel especially that way disposed, stick in their hats a long glisteningpeaco*ck's feather. These feathers are called " defiance feathers," and whoever mounts one of them must feel pretty sure of his own strength andskill, for he exposes himself by so doing to the remarks and attacks ofall the rest. They often come to pitched battles on a very magnificentscale, and if they are interrupted by the police in towns, are sure to finish the engagement in the fields. The scenes which I myself witnessed inthe Croatian villages were, however, of a very peaceful nature. In a lonelychurchyard, in the vicinity of a solitary church, I found an old man lying prostrate in prayer upon a grave, on which stood a rough stone cross, withthe inscription, " Here lies Agatschin Xaye: died 1839." The mournerAND THE NEUSIEDLER LAKE. 173informed us that this was his wife, who lay there with his two children, andthat he was now left, as he repeated two or three times, " quite alone-quite alone. "He showed us a cave in the churchyard entirely filled with humanbones, said to have lain there from the time ofthe Turks. These bones wereregularly built up into a wall, and some pious Croatian women had decorated the interstices with ribbons and flowers . To some ofthe skulls the hairwas still hanging.We met on our road to Oedenburg many waggons laden with rags, andmy coachman informed me they were going to the Austrian manufactories;observing, " The Hungarians send us all their rags* and rubbish, that wemay make something clever out of them," and it is characteristic of bothnations, that agreat deal of raw material is sent from Hungary to be workedup in Austria, whilst none ever travels in an opposite direction.Oedenburg is the greatest cattle-market in Hungary, and most of theanimals sold there pass on to Vienna by the road by which we had come.Wefrequently observed traces of their passage in little marshy spots, wherethe ground had been torn and routed up.At length we discovered the town of Oedenburg lying in a plain, andsurrounded far and wide with cabbage-fields. It is as old atown as Vienna,and dates from the Roman time, its present Hungarian name, Sapronia,being a corruption of its Latin one. The Germans have called it Õedenburg, or "desert city," on account of the desolate appearance ofthe countrysurrounding it. Coming from Austria, at all events, the name appearsapplicable enough, for there is more waste than cultivated land to be seen;but soon after passing the town, little vineyards begin to arise on the rightand left. The most important lie in the direction of the Neusiedler Lake,where the air is milder than at Oedenburg itself, and where the inhabitantsof the town have lands and vineyards producing the wines destined to slake the thirst of Moravia and Silesia.66Though the town of Oedenburg is principally inhabited by Germans,one meets everywhere with Hungarian appellations and inscriptions, especially at the inns. The one I entered was dedicated to the " MagyarKiralyhoz," that is, to the " King of Hungary," and I drank my coffee in aKafehaz," on the sign of which a person in the national costume wasdepicted presenting ice and coffee. The company at table was various,consisting ofsome Polish cavalry-officers, who were marching through thetown with their companies, a few Englishmen who were escorting twentyfull-blood English horses to some Hungarian magnate, some nobles andcitizens of Oedenburg, and lastly a Vienna merchant, a man of taste-atleast he said so much about want of taste in others, that we naturally inferredthat he regarded himself as in full possession ofit.Beyond Oedenburg we again passed through a Croatian village, wherethe church was full ofpretty, clean, white-robed women and girls, prayingto St. Stephen and the blessed Virgin. To this succeeded a German, andafter that a mingled German and Croatian village, and at last we arrivedat Zinzendorf, the first Magyar locality. This place belongs to the renowned Count S- whose possessions extend along the southern shore of thelake, and join the Esterhazy estates. Near the town, in a handsome park,rich in fine old trees, lies the castle of this nobleman. It is of handsome

• The German word lump (rag) is also used to denote a scamp or vagabond. —Tr.

174 OEDENBURG, ZINZENDORF, ESTERHAZY,architecture, and fitted up in the interior in the English style with comfort and elegance.The castle was occupied at the time of my arrival merely by servants andofficers of the household, but the count who was in Vienna had had thekindness to give orders that my party, consisting of myself alone, should beinvited to remain a day or two, and be treated as owner of the place. Someapartments on the lower story were opened for my accommodation. Theylay among flower-beds in the middle of the garden. I found a sleepingroom with a bedstead of Italian proportions, a sofa of oriental luxury, andsome lounging and rocking chairs, fit for the indulgence ofa great grandfather. The dining and sitting rooms were of equally grand dimensions,all was in the most beautiful order, the furniture admirably kept, and evenpipes stood ready filled, as if they had just expected such a guest as myself.Several servants were always in attendance to fulfil all my wishes, andthe cook begged to be informed what I would have prepared for supper,and what wine I was accustomed to drink. There are many people in theworld who express a great deal of enthusiasm for solitude and a hermitlife, and I believe such a hermitage as that in which I now found myself,would be exactly to the taste of such enthusiasts. The upper rooms, particularly, were arranged with a taste and elegance rarely seen out ofLondon or Paris. The library had many magnificent copies of Frenchand English books, besides an abundance of useful and interesting workson all subjects, from which, every morning and evening, I had sometransported to my cell. One of the saloons had its walls adorned with portraitsof the ancestors of the count's family; among others that of an archbishop of Gran, who had expended for the benefit of his fatherland, inbridges, fortifications, and other public works, no less a sumthan "vigesieset series centena triginta millia trecenti Floreni."Hungary has at all periods boasted of disinterested patriots, who havelaid these offerings on the altar of their country, and no family has produced more such men, than that under whose hospitable roof I now foundmyself. The present head of the family, as well as his father and grandfather, have all rendered their names illustrious by splendid liberalities ofthis kind, such as the foundation of the Hungarian Museum, of the Hungarian Literary Society, &c.My abovementioned hermitage lay not far from the Neusiedler Lake,towards which led a long and beautiful avenue of linden-trees. I determined, therefore, to pay it a visit, and was attended thither by anEnglish servant of the count's. Mr. John made me acquainted on the waywith a countryman of his, employed to superintend the stud attached tomy hermitage. It is a very common thing to find Englishmen in the service of the Hungarian nobles. Building bridges at Pesth, making roadsover the difficult ground of the lower Danube, blasting rocks at the IronGates everywhere one finds Englishmen, and everywhere is it all the better for the works that we do so find them.As we rode along, Mr. John related to me his own history. He hadformerly served in the English navy, and been in China and the EastIndies, but had been afterwards wrecked in the North Sea. He had beenhospitably treated by the Danes, who sent him back to London, where hewas engaged as a working overseer of the Pesth bridge. There he metwith a severe accident, and at length found his way to his present asylum,AND THE NEUSIEDLER LAKE. 175where he was occupied in constructing on the lake a little harbour for theyachts and boats which the count had had built on it.The sides of the lake are at this part some hundred feet high, sloping,however, easily down to the low shore. The avenue I have spoken of leads to the summit of the bank, whence there is a fine view over the water. It terminates in a grove, where there is a little chapel, and a monument to a deceased count, who here met his death by a fall while hunting. We got some Hungarian boatmen, and rowed out a little way intothe lake; the water was extremely smooth, but a mist lay on its surface,which was broken by no living thing but our frail canoe, and some flights ofwild ducks. Mr. John informed me that they sometimes proceeded asfar as the opposite extremity of the lake; and that a new yacht was soon to be launched, when a flag would be hoisted, the only one that had ever been unfurled on the lake. Mr. John was the admiral of the fleet of the"Ferto tava," (the Hungarian name of the lake, ) and if, as a commonsailor, he had formerly sailed over the great ocean, and round the wideworld itself, he might now comfort himself like Cæsar with the reflection,that it was better to hold the first rank in a fleet of co*ckboats, than a secondary one in an English man-of- war.The Neusiedler lake has the same colour as the Danube,-namely, a palemilky green. The sands of the river, also exactly resemble those of theshores of the lake, and it has been imagined that by means of the celebrated whirlpool, and a subterranean channel, there is a communicationbetween them. This is very improbable, but there is another kind of subterranean connexion which is by no means so; namely, by the greatmarshes and the loose spungy soil, lying between the river and the lake.I observed that some piles, driven in for the intended harbour, had sunkconsiderably, a sure indication of the looseness of the soil.

Concerning the increase or decrease of the water of the lake there is adifference of opinion . The people on the lake assured me that, for severalyears there had been a regular decrease in the deepest places it was notmore than seven or eight feet, and in most not above five. Ten years agoit was at least seven or eight feet higher, and had a depth in some placesof fifteen or sixteen feet. At that time it was constantly rising, and had covered a considerable number of acres with barren sand, so much so thatseveral communes had determined to remove their villages higher upbank, when, suddenly, in the year 1832, the water fell again; and sincethen, with the exception of an occasional rise, dependant on the season of the year, it has been regularly declining. It would be interesting to knowif these risings and fallings occurred at regular determinate periods, but this I could not ascertain.theThe Neusiedler lake in winter, is covered with ice as clear as glass;and, on account of its shallowness, it freezes in the mildest winter, and insummer is always lukewarm.The only town on the lake is Rust, the smallest of all the Hungarianfree towns, but the most celebrated for the excellence of its wines. Wecould distinguish, in the distance, its vineyards, where various kinds of finegrapes were growing. The lake should, in my opinion, rather be namedafter this town than Neusiedel, which is a little insignificant place, as, indeed, are most of the other villages and hamlets on the lake. These,although they are all inhabited by Germans, have all Hungarian names,and there are many little places inhabited by Hungarians which have Ger-176 OEDENBURG, ZINZENDORF, ESTERHAZY,man appellations; and, indeed, many Hungarian towns have not only aGerman and Hungarian, but also a Slavonian and a Latin name.On ourride back I found on the road a Magyar peasant-woman, reading aloudwith great devotion, from a Hungarian prayer-book. She spoke no wordof German, but I found means to converse with her, by means of myEnglishman, who had learnt a little Hungarian. The different chaptersof the book were inscribed-" The Liturgy," " Penitence, " " The HolyMass," &c. It was handsomely bound, and although the owner was verypoor, it was very neatly kept.I asked if it had been given to her; but she answered, no, she had bought it with three florins that she had saved up. At home she hadanother, called the Garden of Roses, which was still nicer and easier topray out of. How gladly would I have given the good old soul, whoseemed to hunger and thirst after righteousness, a better guide to the kingdom of Heaven than these books. Why was she not allowed the truespiritual nourishment of the gospel? She answered all our questions willingly, but was by no means inclined to gossip; indeed, garrulity is seldomthe failing of a Hungarian; they are mostly characterized by a certainseriousness and dignity of manner, and their eloquence easily passes intopathos.The costliness and splendour of the plate in which my evening meal wasserved up, dazzled my eyes. I felt somewhat like poor Hadji Baba, whenthey persuaded him he was a sultan. I was not much inclined to eat, butcould not help enjoying the manner in which every thing was presentedin my hermitage; indeed, I shall regard it as a point of more importancewhen I turn anchorite, to have my dishes presented in gold and silver, andrichly-cut glass, than even to have them, peculiarly dainty in themselves.Such things as golden pheasants, however, and pineapples, fruit, jellies,&c. , might be required, on account of their beautiful appearance, as wellas their perfume. On the following morning I paid a visit to the Englishhorses under the guardianship of Mr. Robinson-or Robertson, and entered, for the first time, the houses of some Magyar peasants, in one ofthe neighbouring villages. They were all built alike, one story high,whitewashed, with the fronts not turned to the street, but to a little court.On the side next the street is a small window, and also a large thick beamrunning up through the wall, and supporting the roof. Below, this beamis let into a huge block, which serves at the same time as a house-bench.The interiors presented no appearance of extreme poverty, although itmust be admitted that all Hungarian villages are not so well built as Zinzendorf. The peasantry of Hungary are, however, on the whole, betteroff than those of Esthland or Lithuania, though not so well, certainly,as those of Austria.In the count's stables I sawnone but fine English blood-horses, the most distinguished of which was Christina," said to be the finest blood- horsein Hungary. Mr. Robinson showed me a printed genealogy of this celebrated lady, and I became very desirous to see her; but when I did, Imust confess I felt, as I have done on being introduced to celebrated men,no little disappointment, for I could discover no trace of those admirablequalities for which she was famous, -nay, to own the truth, I thought her downright ugly." Oh! , you must see her at work," said Mr. Robinson; " that's the wayto judge.' And even so is it with celebrated men. One must see themAND THE NEUSIEDLER LAKE. 177at work, for it is only then that one can recognise in them the genius orthe hero of divine inspiration.The English passion for horses and horse-races has been recently transplanted into Hungary, as well as some parts of Germany; but in the former country these things are carried on in grander style. In Zinkendorfalone, there were no less than two- and-twenty full- blood mares, each ofwhich had her own stable, and her own groom. In currying them thefellows made a peculiar, inimitable kind of noise, to which they told methe English mares were so accustomed, that they would not stand still without it, so that the Hungarian grooms had been obliged to study to acquirethe accomplishment.Two German miles from Zinkendorf lies Esterhaz, formerly the principal seat of the princes Esterhazy, and as it would not lie in my road to Raab, I made an excursion thither. We met with a very friendly reception, and found some ladies from a neighbouring province, who had alsocome to see the castle. It is built in the Versailles style. During thelast century enormous sums were expended upon it, by the princes of Esterhazy, in honour of the empress Maria Theresa, who frequently visitedthe place. A great saloon was built with this view, as well as a pleasurepalace in the park, in which fêtes champêtres were given. The saloon,however, was burnt down before the empress had seen it. The name bestowed on the pleasure- palace, it is said, was suggested by a casual question put by the empress, as to how much its erection had cost. The prince replied, " eighty thousand florins; " and the sovereign observed, " Oh! foran Esterhazy, that is a mere bagatelle;" and on going out, she foundBagatelle" inscribed in gold letters over the gate; since when it hasgone by the name of " Castle Bagatelle. "66In this palace is an apartment so constructed, that music played in theroom beneath is heard as plainly as if played in the room itself. The effectmay have been surprising, but I cannot help thinking, that the pleasure ofmusic is increased by the sight of the instruments; if not, we ought to sitin a concert-room with our backs to the orchestra. In the castle itself,although every thing has been of late much neglected, and many magnificent articles carried away to other seats, whose situations are preferable,there are still to be found many highly interesting works of art. It is impossible to enumerate them, for there are whole suites of rooms filled withthem, and one cannot help wondering how they all found their way to such an out-of-the-way spot of earth, so little favoured by nature. In the vasttract of country possessed by the Esterhazys, there must have been manyspots better adapted for the site of such a castle, than this sandy hill onthe edge of a morass.Among the curiosities exhibited, are two small figures of a man and awoman, of Italian workmanship, composed entirely of Venetian sea- shells.By an immense expenditure of labour, the lips, the cheeks, the eyes, thefingers, the dress, the boots, the buckles, have all been represented accurately by shells of different colours; even the hair of the head and beard,has been imitated. The figures are by no means beautiful, but they afforda striking proof of the variety and richness of the Venetian conchology.Twelve thousand florins were paid for them, but rather in compliment toa recommendatory letter from the empress, brought to Prince Esterhazyby the man who had them to sell, than from any desire he felt to becomethe possessor.N178 OEDENBURG, ZINZENDORF, ESTERHAZY, &c.In Esterhaz also were many blood horses, and as usual, Englishmen in attendance upon them. I was told that the parents of these horses hadsold for enormous prices in England, three and four thousand poundssterling, whence I was led to infer the nobility of the children; I wasnevertheless blind to their manifold perfections, and should have set morevalue on any good honest working horse. The great Esterhazy stud iskept in the Oseral district, to the south of the Platten Lake, and is said toconsist of eight hundred high bred horses. Besides the stables, we visited thedog kennels, to which is attached a separate kitchen, a courtyard for exercise, and various accommodations for the different ages of the canine occupants. There were no less than ninety- two English dogs of fine figures,and with physiognomies expressive of their sporting capabilities, but I canfeel no sympathy for these lordly hunting dogs kept in herds, and was notat all distressed, when the whipper-in cut in amongthem with a great whipto bring them into order, yet I should have grieved to see a blow aimedat a faithful house dog, or a shepherd's companion.A manufactory of beet-root sugar has now been established four yearsin Esterhaz, and produces on an average every year, thirty tons of re- fined sugar. From a hundred weight of beet-root, from five to five andhalf pounds of sugar are made. This branch of industry is new in Hungary, having been first established there twelve years ago by the family ofOdeschalchi, but there are now thirty-two establishments. The largestbelongs to the Coburg Coharys, and there are some smaller than that atEsterhaz; but if we suppose that one with another, they make about thesame quantity as is made there, we may calculate on a yearly productionof a thousand tons of sugar. If we allow a pound of sugar per week toevery sugar- eating individual, the wants of about forty thousand personswill be supplied, which is not an unimportant consideration. For everyhundredthousand sugar- eaters, there are in Hungary, however, one thousand,who never taste such a luxury. At the end of the last century, there were onlytwo sugar refineries in all Hungary, one in Oedenburg and one in Fiume.It is not Esterhaz but the town of Eisenstadt, which is the chief seat ofthe Esterhazy government. At the latter town is the central- office of administration for all the vast estates, extending hence to the other sideof the Platten Lake, as well as northward into the Slowack country. Eachof the territories or lordships is administered by a president, residing inEisenstadt, and four counsellors. The great mass of the estates is dividedinto five districts, to each of which a prefect is appointed and so extensiveare these, that a prefect has often to travel two days to get from one endof his district to the other. Under the prefects again are the directorsfor each single estate, with their rentmasters, stewards, agents, &c. Some ofthe estates have from twenty to thirty villages and hamlets, and sometimesa town of larger size. On an average they contain about eight or ten.The oldest castle of the Esterhazys-their hereditary castle of Galantha,lies in the Slowack country, but the greater number as well as the largestand newest are about the Nieusiedler Lake. The castle of Eisenstadt iscelebrated for its park, and its numerous treasures of art. It is decoratedon the outside with the busts of Attila and the leaders of the Magyars, -a sort of decoration not uncommon in the castles of Hungary. Amongthe various collections I was most interested by the great library of ChurchMusic. There were two thousand compositions of various kinds, -Masses,Litanies, &c., besides two thousand oratorios, including several manuscriptsTHE MORASS OF HANSAG AND THE GULYAS. 179of Haydn, written in a clear, delicate, elegant hand, very unlike the scrawl ofBeethoven. At the time of the festivals given by the Esterhazys to theempress Maria Theresa, they had Haydn for a leader of their orchestra, andfrom 1806 to 1812, Hummel, to whom they are indebted for the rich andbeautifully arranged collection of church music of which I have spoken.At this castle Haydn composed his celebrated " Nelson Mass, " during avisit paid by the hero to Prince Nicholas. Another more recent Englishvisiter, Lord Grey, procured for the composer a monument in the churchof Eisenstadt, by enquiring after it before it existed. He was then toldthat such a monument had been long in contemplation, and it has subsequently been erected .The castle and town of Eisenstadt, which I visited during my stay atVienna, lie at the foot of the Leitha mountains, up the sides of whichstretches the park, the largest and most beautiful in Hungary. It thusaffords opportunities for the most exquisite groupings of trees and flowers,and its great extent may be imagined from a steam-engine having been put up for the purpose of conveying water to the flower- beds and greenhouses.The walks leading up the mountains, the avenue of roses, the chestnutavenues, &c. , were, when I saw them, filled with promenaders, especiallywith pretty Jewesses. I was, however, less interested by the fair Israelitesthan by a Franciscan monk, Father Stanislaus Albach, of whose praisesmy companions were full. He had been a preacher in Pesth, and hadthere enchanted his hearers by his eloquence, but as his views had beenthought too liberal, and he would not submit to retract any thing, he was,by order of his superior, banished from Pesth, and now lives in a very retired manner in Eisenstadt. He there occupies himself almost exclusivelywith plants, those harmless children of nature, the intercourse with whichis best adapted to bring balm to a wounded spirit . He often wandersabout botanizing for days together in the Leitha mountains, and amongthe marshy regions of the Nieusiedler Lake; the rest of his time is employed in writing down his religious contemplations and prayers, of whichhe has already published a volume.THE MORASS OF HANSAG AND THE GULYAS.The Nieusiedler Lake is, as I have said, surrounded on the westernside by the low vineyards of Rust. On this side, also, the water is deepest,as its basin slopes a little towards the mountains. On the east, it isshallower, and there occur sandbanks and islands of peat moss, which, atlength, become united together, and a wide marshy district commences,which stretches as far as to the neighbourhood of the Danube, where theland rises higher, and assumes a firmer character. It is probable, indeed,that the river has formed for itself these high banks. The whole marshytract lying between the Nieusiedler Lake and the arm of the Danube,which surrounds the island of Schutt, is called by the Hungarians Hansag,a name signifying morass, which has been retained in the Geographies asa proper name; but the Germans of the vicinity call it the " Wasen."The whole includes a surface of from eight to nine German square miles,and is, therefore, nearly as large as the Nieusiedler Lake itself, but affordsonly a scanty pasturage for cattle.N 2180 THE MORASS OF HANSAG AND THE GULYAS.In some spots the soil of the Hansag is rather firmer, in others thewater has collected in little lakes or ponds, the most remarkable of whichis the one called the King's Lake. The greater part of the Hansag maybe regarded as a floating bog; but, here and there, trees are growing,and nearly in the centre there is a wood of alders, which does not float.Over the whole surface of the morass lies a bed of moss, usually aboutsix, but sometimes as much as from nine to twelve feet thick; and beneaththis lies, almost everywhere, a stratum of bog earth, resting on a firm bedof clay, covered, like the bottom of the Nieusiedler Lake, with stones andgravel. In the spring, when the whole Hansag is overflowed, this mosscovering (and sometimes also the stratum of turf) is loosened, and floats upon the surface of the water. If, in consequence, perhaps, of a favourable state of the atmosphere, the growth of the moss has been more than usually vigorous, it clings closely to the lower soil, and is overflowed; butit sometimes happens that large tracts are suddenly loosened, and what theday before was a sheet of water, becomes transformed apparently into dryland, in consequence of the moss bed having emerged during the night.If this account be correct, it is likely that the whole Hansag has beenformerly a lake, and has been changed into its present condition by the growth ofthe moss. It may have formed, with the Nieusiedler, one greatlake traversed by the Danube; and in the course of centuries, during whichthe river had formed for itself high banks, become reduced to its present size by the growth of the moss.The accounts preserved in Oedenburg and Esterhaz, of villages swallowed up by the lake, and the very modern date ascribed to it, do notnecessarily contradict this hypothesis; for this might have been occasionedby a sudden inundation, and the coarse sand of the Danube spread overthe whole lower surface of the Hansag, is a surer record than these.The greatest proprietors of the Hansag are the archduke Charles, ofAltenburg, and prince Esterhazy; the latter alone claims three Germansquare miles. The following table may serve to show the nature of theproperty:Overgrown meadow and standing water Clear meadow landAlder forestUseful reedy tracts• 19,360 yoch.11,700 ""8,190 ""5,700 ""Arable land 269 ""About three-fourths of the Hansag, therefore, including the reedy parts,are marshy, meadow ground; not quite one-fifth forest, and 1-160tharable land. This was the state of it fifteen years ago; but it is possiblethat it may, by this time, be somewhat improved, as the mere pasturing ofcattle on it would do something, and the owners have been making some efforts to reclaim the wilderness; but there would probably be more progress made, if the land were divided among many small proprietors. Littleor nothing, however, has been done by the government commission, established for the purpose, since the emperor Joseph's time. It has been supposed to be at work for fifty years, and it is impossible to find out what ithas really done in all that time.The greater part of what is obtained from the morass, is got out of itin the winter, and in very dry summers only is it possible to do any thingtowards draining it by throwing up dikes or cutting canals. The princesEsterhazy have expended many thousand florins on these works, but theyTHE MORASS OF HANSAG AND THE GULYAS. 181might sink their whole revenues in such a swamp, without producing anygreat effect. One of their most expensive undertakings is a great dyke,which they have constructed as a means of communication between the north and south of the Hansag. This dyke has about twenty-three bridges,under which, in the spring, the water flows into the lake, but it sometimeshappens that the stream runs in a contrary direction.From the castle of Esterhaz the view ranges over a great part of thiswilderness, where no trace of human habitation is discoverable. I was,however, as I have already said, desirous of taking a nearer view of thegreat marsh, and set out, therefore, for a drive along the dike, in the instructive company of one of the Esterhazy prefects, but was soon inducedto leave the carriage, and proceed on foot over a path which heaved up anddown beneath our feet. It is, nevertheless, possible to drive in a carriageto some of the hayfields and reed grounds, at least, with the light vehiclesand skilful management of the Hungarian peasants. When we attemptedit, however, one of our heavy horses fell through and remained sticking with all his four feet in the marsh as fast as if he had been nailed there.We left our coachman to pull him out, with the assistance of some herds- men, and continued our way on foot. There was not the slightest danger,but it is a curious sensation to feel the ground everywhere shaking underone's feet, and to find it impossible to obtain a firm footing anywhere. Wefound workmen, reed-cutters, and mowers, provided with a contrivance ofsmall boards fastened to their feet, to increase their security, while their heads and faces were covered with a kind of wig made of woven grass, todefend themselves against the bites of the small marsh gnats. They alsostuff a quantity of grass into their hats to keep their heads cool during the heats of summer. The whole interior of the Hansag now lay stretchedout before us, a boundless desert of reeds, interspersed with marshy meadows, and skirted on the distant horizon by the alder forest, which was justvisible. The atmosphere was heavy and sultry, and countless myriads ofgnats continued still more to darken the prospect. Besides these insects,there is another, called by the Germans Minkerln, which are a dreadful plague to both men and cattle, but which are occasionally very useful asleeches . My companion informed me, that the cattle here are liable to apeculiar malady, occasioned by the sudden change from the spare andscanty diet of the winter to the abundance ofjuicy herbs with which in thespring the marshes are covered, and many of them die suddenly in consequence. But after the month of June, when these insects make their appearance, the cattle are so plentifully bled, that the malady disappears, andthe cases of sudden death occur no more. Large herds of what are calledwild cattle live in the Hansag. They are called wild on account of their having never entered a stall. In winter the herdsmen drive them towardsthe borders of the marsh, into the neighbourhood of villages and forests, andplace them in a roofless enclosure, where they remain till spring. Thecows calve in February, and the young animals pass suddenly from the maternal warmth to the hardest frost, without suffering any harm. It issaid, however, that only the cattle born in the Hansag can endure the hardship to which they are exposed there. Cattle that live thus always in theopen air are called " Gulyas " by the Hungarians. For a tame herd they have another name. For the men who have the charge of oxen, sheep,horses, pigs, &c. , they have entirely different words, and among all the182 THE MORASS OF HANSAG AND THE GULYAS.south-eastern European nations, such as the Magyars, Tatars, and Wallachians, with the exception of the Slavonians, we find this rich pastoralvocabulary. This exception seems to me to afford a strong proof that theSlavonians were not so entirely a nomadic people as has been usually supposed. Whilst in Hungary, the words and phrases relating to agricultureare partly German, partly Slavonian, and partly Magyar, those concerning pastoral affairs are almost exclusively of Magyar origin. As we advanced further, we met a herd of four hundred young oxen and wild cows.As we approached, they started away and crowded timidly together, whilstsome large white shaggy dogs of superior size came rushing towards us.We defended ourselves as well as we could, but the herdsmen had greatdifficulty in appeasing the terrors of their charge. The moment, however,they perceived their keepers advance to accost us, they became more tranquil, and as we continued to converse with the men, the cattle resumedtheir feeding, and evidently began to regard us as friends.The herdsmen were two Magyars, in wide trowsers, short jackets, andbroad-brimmed hats, with long black hair, sharply cut features, andsparkling eyes. Most of the German villages, on the Nieusiedler lake,employ these men as herdsmen. We accompanied some of them to theirdwellings in the marsh. These were huts of a conical shape, built of reeds, with the floors also covered with reeds and straw. In the midstwere some planks nailed together, and covered with hard beaten clay, whichserved for a hearth. Round this were laid straw beds, with pillows madeof blocks of wood covered with sheep- skins. The inhabitants of thesehuts cannot even turn in their beds without feeling the ground shake underthem, yet they occupy them all through the winter, and have a perfectlyhealthy appearance. Their principal nourishment consists of small piecesof beef, rubbed with onions and pepper and roasted; but the pepper-aHungarian sort called " Paprika -is used in enormous quantities. Iswallowed a piece of the meat, and it felt as if I had eaten a burning coal.To this piquant dish they drink the muddy marsh water. When theywish to drink they lie down on their stomachs, and draw the water up by means of a reed. One of them showed me exactly how the operation wasperformed. He cut a reed, placed it upright, and then struck it about anell down into the ground. He then sucked up the water and spit it out,as the first which came was thick, brown, and dirty. The more he suckedthe clearer it became, till , at length, finding it drinkable, he drew out thereed, and wrapped a piece of rag round the lower end to serve as a filter.He then plunged it again into the hole and called on me to drink, sayingit was delicious. I found one of these reeds sticking in the ground beforeevery bed, and I was told that in the morning when they get up the firstthing they do is to take a drink. On stooping to take a draught of thiscool beverage I chanced to take hold rather carelessly of the reed, and theybegged me to mind what I was about, as I might easily trouble the water beneath.In the whole extent of the Hansag there are very few people who canread—read books I mean-but they can all read, with great readiness, in the physiognomies of their companions the oxen, and they can also read inthe heavens the signs of the coming weather. It is not possible that thenomadic ancestors of these people, can have led a simpler and rougher life than their descendants do, and, perhaps, in all Europe one could hardlyTHE MORASS OF HANSAG AND THE GULYAS. 183find within the same space a more striking contrast than that of thesepastoral regions, and of the luxurious capital, which, with a railroad, might be reached in two hours.Many a Vienna cavalier, however, comes to shoot in the Hansag, without taking any notice of it; and I am convinced that if a scene from theHansag were cleverly represented at their theatre, the Vienna people wouldtake it for a scene laid in some far distant country-perhaps in the jungleson the Delta of the Ganges.How wild and barbarous this region is, appears sufficiently from thestory of the celebrated wild boy found in the Hansag, and known through- out the country by the name of Han Istok (Marsh Stephen). Accordingto the account given me, this boy was a perfectly brutalized creature, andwas caught by some fishermen with a net, in the principal lake of the Han- sag, in the year 1749. I saw his portrait in Castle Esterhaz, and to judgefrom the picture, he had a bald head, with a few hairs behind, broad features, resembling the lower animals, a thick under lip, large stomach, shortlegs, arms which he jerked about like a frog, and long fingers and teeth.In some particulars I felt inclined to distrust the accuracy of this portrait,his fingers and toes being represented as connected by a membrane likethe web on the feet of waterfowl. His whole body was covered with ahard, scaly kind of skin, and when first taken, he would only eat grass, hay,frogs, and raw fish, from which he sucked the blood. After he had beenkept for seven months in the castle, he left off sucking raw blood, and beganto endure clothing; but they were obliged to keep him carefully from thewater, as he made many attempts to escape by leaping into it. He remained fourteen months in the castle, and in the latter part of the time itwas found possible to employ him in the kitchen, to turn a spit. Theycould not, however, succeed in teaching him to speak, and the only soundhe uttered was a kind of hissing whistle. At the end of the time I havementioned, he eluded the vigilance of his keepers, probably by springinginto the castle-moat, and through that back into the wilderness of the morass. Prince Nicholas Esterhazy took much pains to recover him, andeven had the moat and the neighbouring waters dragged, under the ideathat he might have been drowned; but " Marsh Stephen" was seen no more. Three years afterwards, it is said, some one caught a glimpse ofhim in the Hansag, and as some old Frenchmen still doubt of the death ofNapoleon, so many of the herdsmen believe that Marsh Stephen is stillliving among the waters. He has become, indeed, for the people ofthe neighbourhood a kind of mythic personage; at least I saw a poem inwhich he was spoken of as a kind of marsh king, who at times tormented the herdsmen and fishermen, and sometimes bestowed gifts upon them.An official account of him has been drawn up in Vienna, which agreesperfectly with that which I have given. I find nothing incredible in the story, if we except the particular of his living in the lake; but as menhave been known to live like squirrels on the boughs of trees, or like tigersand lions in dens, I consider it by no means impossible that a man might become accustomed to the mode of life ofthe beaver and sea- otter. MarshStephen, however, can only be considered to have carried the wild manners of the district a little farther than the rest of the inhabitants, of whosemoral condition he was but an exaggerated specimen. Not only are therational people here more uncultivated than any where else, but there are many who never attain to reason at all . In several of the villages round184 THE MORASS OF HANSAG AND THE GULYAS.the marsh, there are numbers of Cretins; and I was informed by a lady,that in the island of Schutt, in the Danube, there were so many cripples,idiots, scrofulous patients, and Cretins, that it was quite disgusting to gothere. She named to me also some races in the Hansag, with whom Cre- tinism was hereditary; and as far as I could judge during the short timeI remained there, these Cretins have the same peculiarities as those of theAlps-idiotcy, large swollen heads, deficiency of speech, stupid insensibility, cunning, &c. It happens, also, sometimes here, as in the Alps, that the parents are perfectly healthy and rational, and all the children afflictedby Cretinism. This malady extends over the whole island of Schutt, and be doubted whether it have not some connexion with the waterwhich they suck out of the marshy ground.it mayThe sun had begun to sink, and, when we set out on our returnhome, innumerable flocks of birds were returning to their nests amongthe reeds from the distant cornfields on the firm land, where they had beenfeeding. We found with some difficulty the place where we had left ourequipage. Several of the herdsmen hastened to our assistance, others had drawn our horse out of the mire, and pushed the carriage upon firmerground. I could not help noticing as an indication of the abject slaveryof the peasantry in Hungary, that one of the subordinate officials who accompanied us, as he was getting into the carriage, hit an old man a blowon his bald head with a thick reed, with which he was playing. I inquiredwhat sort of man the peasant might be. " Oh, a capital fellow," was the one of our 66 best herdsmen." ' Why did you strike him then?"" Oh, I don't know! By way of taking leave. "" Could not have shaken hands with him?" C6 Oh, no! no! not that either. " This gratuitous insult to an obliging, bald-headed, old man, gave me as much pain asif I had seen a man receive the punishment of the knout.answer,youOne of the principal employments of the dwellers in and near the Hansag, and of the herdsmen, in their leisure hours, is drying the reeds andplaiting them into coarse mats, which are used in Vienna for packing and for other purposes. In the Venetian territory, the Black Forest and elsewhere, the shepherds make the finest and most beautiful straw mats, andif we compare them with those made in the Hansag, we shall have a fairstandard for estimating the comparative skill of the different races.On the eastern shores of the lake, in dry summers, soda issues from the ground, and the German inhabitants call this soda “ tsick,” in imitation ofthe Hungarian word szek, and call the places where it is found " tsickearth." The ground must have been tolerably dry, and its upper crustsubsequently softened by light rains, before the soda can issue from it inabundance, and cover it for miles, making it look as if there had been snow.The people then collect it with brooms and boil it. The largest quantitiesare obtained between the Danube and the Theiss, but most of the littlelakes in the Hansag yield soda when they dry up. In wet years it is foundonly on their margins. Since the year 1797 the Vienna soap-boilers haveformed a company for the establishment of soda manufactories on theNieusiedler Lake, and they understand getting the soda better than theprince's subjects. He would have been willing to farm out the productionof the whole eastern shore, but could not come to terms with the Viennacompany, which has now established itself near Nieusiedel, and must injurethe prince's trade. Near the village Ilmick, on the lake, there is also founda fine crystal salt, which is partly sold and partly used for the cattle. OnTHE RAABAU AND RAAB. 185our return we brought the ladies of our party some forget-me-nots, pluckedfrom the reed huts of the herdsmen in the marsh, where this tender flowerblossoms in great abundance, and is eaten by the cattle. It was midnightwhen I mounted my horse to ride back to Zinkendorf, and as it was thenight between Saturday and Sunday, we found, according to Magyar custom, all the villages full of life and movement, for on this night the youngmen pay visits at the windows of their respective damsels, and in manycottages lights were burning, and many happy pairs were standing in animated conversation before them.At the castle of Zinkendorf all was dark and still . I had not been expected back that night, and every one was gone to bed. The doors andwindows, however, were unfastened, and I found no difficulty in gropingmy way to my apartments. I was afterwards told that no one ever thoughtof locking up the castle, although it contained considerable sums of money.This is a fact which I found it hard to reconcile with what I had been toldof the general state of insecurity in the country, and of the precautions itwas necessary to take. It may be that criminals are too much dazzled bythe halo ofgrandeur to venture to attack palaces.On the following morning, while my carriage was getting ready, I visited the mulberry plantations of Count Szechenyi, a gentleman who hasexercised a most beneficial influence on the cultivation and industry of his native country, by the benefit of his own example. In his nurseries nearZinkendorf he possesses two hundred thousand mulberry- trees, and he hasplanted out upwards of twenty thousand into the open field, which have now attained the age of from eight to twelve years. Should many of his countrymen follow his example, the growth of silk in Hungary may at no distant period become very considerable. There is scarcely any Hungariantown in which there are not Bohemians settled, and cultivating some branchof industry, and in Zinkendorf I found a Bohemian coachmaker, who informed me that he had already launched six hundred equipages. He alsoconducted me into the literary institution or reading-room of the place, forsince the birth of Hungarian journalism, and the establishment of theCasino at Pesth, and the Hungarian Literary Society, these institutionshave spread over Hungary with extraordinary rapidity, so that as I have said, even the little village of Zinkendorf can boast of one. I found there,the little Hungarian publications Yelenkor, Villag, Hirnok, &c. , besides the Allgemeine Zeitung, and several other German papers. Like mostsimilar institutions in this country, the reading-rooms had existed about three years.THE RAABAU AND RAAB.The whole country between Oedenburg and Raab is as flat as if it hadbeen adjusted with a pair of scales. It forms a part of the western Hun- garian plain, the lowest portion of which is the Hansag and the NieusiedlerLake, and is bounded on the north- west by the Rosalia mountains, theLeitha mountains, and the Presburg branch of the Carpathians; on thenorth- east by the Neutra mountains and other spurs of the Carpathians;on the south- east by the Bacony forest, and on the south-west by spurs of the Styrian Alps. Afigure whose boundary lines were drawn through the towns of Presburg, Pyrnau, Kumorn, Raab, Körmönd, Guns, and Õeden-186 THE RAABAU AND RAAB.burg, would inclose this plain comprehending a surface of about two hundred (German) square miles. With the exception ofthe Hansag this wholedistrict is exceedingly fertile, and this fertility reaches its highest point in theisland of Schütt. The Danube flows through the middle of this plain, dividing itself into several branches after passing Presburg, and uniting again atKomorn. This is generally called the Little Hungarian Plain in contradistinction to the great plain on the east, which might be called the plain ofthe Theiss, since that river flows through it from beginning to end. In thegreat plain the people are principally occupied with pasturage, but nearPresburg agriculture is at least equally important. All the cattle and cornintended for exportation from Hungary is brought to the great stapleplaces, Wieselburg and Oedenburg, and thence passed over the frontier.The district between Wieselburg and Presburg, is called the " Haidboden," or Heath; that between the great and little Raab, the Raabau,and between the Heath and Raabau lies the Hansag.It was on a tremendously hot day that I passed through the Raabau,which is like one large luxuriant meadow, mixed with cornfields . My coachman, a true Magyar, was tolerably well protected from the fierce arrows ofApollo bythe immense brim of his hat, but I under the scanty shade ofmytravelling-cap, suffered much. Everywhere I noticed the adoption of defensive measures against the sun, and the other plague of these regions,the gnats. All the horses were armed with bushes of willow or othershrubs, and several shepherds with horses and sheep were often crowdedtogether under the shade of a single tree, the horses being content if theycould only thrust in their noses. Sometimes I noticed a still greatervariety of animals, pigs, goats, geese, and oxen huddled together, andeven from the middle of a hollow tree, popped out the head of a goat.In all the doorways of the houses in this part of the country, whereverit is possible, curtains are used instead of doors, by which the double advantage is obtained of a greater circulation of air, and the exclusion of thegnats. Even in the castle ofZinkendorf, these door-draperies were employed.What are called fly- windows are also in use in all the cottages; and themaster and mistress of the house often have the bed-matrimonial placed in the open air under the veranda of the roof, where they are shielded fromthe gnats, by a thick net hanging down, and enveloping them in its folds like Mars and Venus.The most effectual method of defence against this plague of insects hasbeen discovered by the buffaloes who wallow up to their necks in any dirtypool they can find. I got out of the carriage to take a nearer survey ofthese unclean animals, and perceived that though they were covered anddripping with mud, they were still chewing. From time to time they leftoff however, and putting down their heads into the puddle, took up aquantity of water, and threw it over the back of their necks, which stood above the water. Then they began to chew again, but repeated from timeto time the same manœuvre, so as to keep themselves always wet.sagacity ofthe ox does not appear to reach so far.TheThe more oppressive the heat, the more provoking became the false appearances of water which presented themselves to the eye on all sides, andthere was a heaviness and gloom in the atmosphere although scarcely anyclouds were perceptible. It was Sunday, and we met many smart-lookingpeople; the broad hats of the Magyars, like those of the Croats nearOedenburg, were perfect beds of flowers, natural and artificial, intermixedTHE RAABAU AND RAAB. 187with bunches of ostrich and peaco*cks' feathers. It appears that this custom has passed from the Croats to the Magyars, for I have elsewhere observed it among them. Some of them wore bushes of fine black ostrichplumes. Before the images of saints cut in stone, women were kneelingon the withered grass under the burning sun. They wore at the backs of their heads such a profusion of ribbons, bows, and lace, that if magnificence depended on the quantity of ornament, they were certainly mag- nificently dressed.The shepherds whom I saw in the fields, resembled in dress and appearance the celebrated swine-herds of Bacony, and wore white mantles embroidered with red flowers, their hair plaited into two stiff tails that hungdown over their ears. In some of the villages I noticed high thorn hedges,on the summits of which, great masses of thorns were piled up to keep out the wolves. These circumvallations of thorns are also in use in SouthRussia, and form the easiest and best defence against those animals.In this district begins the cultivation of the fine Hungarian tobacco, theplantations of which my coachman pointed out to me.What surprised me was, to see potatoes growing among the tobacco, as well asamong the maize, and indeed there appeared to be no ground devoted exclusively to their cultivation. Thirty years ago, potatoes were scarcelyknown in this part of Hungary, and the people are indebted to the Germans for the introduction of so useful a root. The Magyar peasantswould at first have nothing to do with it, or at least only used it for theirpigs, but they have changed their opinion since then.Everywhere in passing though this plain, I could see on looking back,the distant snowy mountains of the Styrian frontier, commanding thecountry like a distant sovereign . I gradually lost sight of them, however,as well as of the prince Esterhazy, whose name is distinguished above allother names in this part of Hungary, as much as those snowy peaks above the Leitha and other mountains.At Tshorna I took my dinner, and was exceedingly indignant at beingasked by the monks, who I was and what I wanted, when I requested permission to see the library. If I had asked admission to a prince or a prelate, it might have been a different case, but the muses should require nosuch ceremonial introduction. I was even laughed at for wishing to seethe archives, and told that the archives contained important state secrets,and that I could not see them without a written permission from the Kingof Hungary.The church of the convent was filled with devout Magyars; the girlssitting in the front, the married women next, their heads covered with whitehandkerchiefs, and the men forming the outer circle, extending even into thecloistered walks, where they knelt in silent devotion.Grapes are found in every village and hamlet, and if the traveller shouldcomplain with reason, that the soup is too watery, the meat too hard, andthe cucumbers too sour, he has only to stock his carriage with Vienna rollson setting out, and with these grapes he can indemnify himselffor the badcookery along the road.I did not on the whole way to Raab, meet any carriages, or any peoplewho appeared to belong to the higher orders, for the route which I followed, was a by-road leading through the interior ofthe country. We hadcontinually to make our way through large herds of cattle , or flocks ofgeese,which are here larger than any where else, as it is the practice for the geese188 THE RAABAU AND RAAB.belonging to a whole village, to be confided to the care of one person.Sometimes we were stopped by a great drove of pigs coming from Turkey,whence they had been brought up the Danube in the steamboat to Raab,and were making their way to Oedenburg, one of the greatest pig-marketsin the world. The plan generally adopted by the drivers, is for one manto go before shaking a bag of cucumbers, the odour ofwhich is regarded bythe pigs as especially enticing, while another of their guardians follows witha large whip, and thus between coaxing and threatening, the pigs advanceon their way to the markets and the slaughtering-houses of Oedenburg.Towards evening I saw the herds returning home to the villages; theyconsisted usually of two-thirds oxen and one- third buffaloes, and alwaysappeared to observe a regular order of march.The oxen came first in loose order, and the buffaloes, who never mingledwith them, followed in close ranks behind. About half-way betweenRaab and Tshorna, we passed the large village of Enesh, whose inhabitants are exclusively Hungarian nobles; and whilst, at every other place,we had been civilly saluted, no one here took the slightest notice of us. Itis said that, as they unite enormous privileges with enormous insolenceand coarseness of manners, it is very necessary to be on one's guard in allintercourse with them. As we drove on, a young lady of high birth andancient family was pointed out to me, engaged in cleaning out her father'sstables; the Baron of K. passed us driving his team of oxen; and theBaroness Z. was sitting before her door, patching her husband's leatherbreeches. I drove respectfully and quietly by these personages, which itwas so much the easier to do, as the road lay over a dunghill.The sultry day brought forth, towards evening, a magnificent storm,and the incessant lightnings darted about like restless thoughts in themind of man, lifting up various objects till, at length, the towers of Raabappeared in sight. As we approached Raab, the storm also came nearer;my Hungarian coachman urged his horses, according to custom, into agallop, and we soon found ourselves in the middle of Raab, and inthe midst,also, of wind, and rain, and thunder, and lightning, which made us all thebetter pleased to find shelter in the " Palatine" Inn.Here, in the large hall, we found a grand dance going on, in which,after I had a little recovered from my fatigue, I heartily joined. Thecompany, which was jumping about in such high glee, belonged mostly tothe lower order of tradesmen and mechanics, ropemakers, grocers, butchers,&c. , and Hungarian and German were spoken promiscuously. Most ofthem were dressed in the German fashion; but a considerable number wereparading in the Hungarian national costume, which, for people in thissituation of life, must be very expensive. It consists, in the first place, ofvery tight pantaloons down to the ankle, with short half-boots, and massivesilver spurs . Over the waistcoat, hangs loosely on the shoulders a " Dolman" trimmed, as well as the waistcoat, with thick rows of massive silverbuttons, and fastened by a silver chain that falls down over the breast.On the head is placed, rather on one side, a high Hungarian cap or Kalpak, and the hair hangs in small curls on the cheeks. They were mostlyhandsome young fellows who wore this showy dress, but not always nativeHungarians, for it sometimes happens that German mechanics, on theirtravels, will take a fancy to display their persons to advantage in all thefinery of Dolman and Kalpak, and silver spurs, although such a costume cannot cost less than 200 florins. The dances were often German, espe-THE RAABAU AND RAAB. 189"cially the waltz; but after each waltz there was a cry of " Magyar!Magyar!" as a signal that the Magyar dance was required . Sometimesthey would not even wait for the German dance to be finished, but compelled the musicians to make a sudden change of tune by the vehementcry of Magyar! Magyar!" (pronounced Moyár). The whole mass ofthe company then fell into pairs, the gentlemen placed themselves oppositeeach to a lady, whirled her round or danced round her, the eyes sparkled,the Dolmans flew about, and the chains and spurs clattered an accompaniment to the full but rather melancholy tones of the Hungarian music. Thescene was not uninteresting, and I contemplated it a considerable timebefore I retired to my room, in the rather deceitful hope of a night's rest.The city of Raab lies at the confluence of the river Raab and the LittleDanube, and is of very remote antiquity; it is only in modern times,however, that it has acquired its present extent. In the year 1785, it hadonly 4,535 inhabitants, and at present it contains probably 20,000. Thereare in Hungary many instances of an equally rapid increase of population.The town is by no means poor in historical recollections, and indeed, afterPesth, is one of the most interesting I have seen in this country. Duringthe wars between the Turks and Austrians, it was always regarded as oneof the bulwarks of Christendom; but in the year 1595, it was taken bythe Turks, and formed, for a short time, the extreme limit of their dominions on the Danube, being governed by a pasha . Since 1809, whenthe French were here, the fortifications have been for the most part destroyed. The French balls are still to be seen in the walls of the Evangelical Church and other buildings. There is also preserved in the Cathedral Church the iron gate and the petard with which it was blown in,when, in the year 1598, the Austrian generals Palffy and Schwarzenbergrecovered the city from the Turks. The joy at this reconquest must havebeen very great, for to this day its anniversary is celebrated as the greatest festival of the year.The Cathedral is said to have been the work of St. Stephen, and a largepicture by an Austrian artist, represents him as presenting his son to theAlmighty. The Turks filled the cathedral with earth, and made use ofthe high roof as a mound on which to place their cannon, so as to command the country for miles round. The story goes, that the Turkish general, Mehemed Bassa, one day said scornfully, that the Christians shouldhave the town again whenever the iron co*ck on the top of the Carmeliteconvent should begin to crow; and that the day before the recovery ofthe town, the wind having suddenly changed, whirled the co*ck round, andmade it utter a shrill sound, resembling a crow.Among the things which struck me as remarkable in the town, were theCuriae, as they are called, of the nobility, that is, their town houses,which are privileged in the same manner as their estates in the country.According to the ancient laws of the place, a nobleman ought to be subjectto the city police, and within the walls regarded as on an equality withevery other citizen. Many nobles and magnates have managed to procureexceptions in their own favour, and have settled in the town, and boughtland in it, without submitting to its regulations. " Curia nobilaris" isusually inscribed, or cut in stone over the entrance to these mansions, andwithin their precincts they enjoy, besides others, the enviable privileges ofbrewing beer, and distilling and selling brandy. They cannot be arrestedby the city police, who dare not so much as enter these Curia which may190 THE RAABAU AND RAAB.thus afford shelter not only to their owners, but even to any criminalsthey may choose to harbour. The house of every clergyman, also, is, ac- cording to the expression here used, Curia.Although Raab is by no means exclusively a Magyar town, being in agreat measure inhabited by Germans, its citizens are renowned in Hungaryfor their patriotic zeal, which they are even said to carry to fanaticism.One circ*mstance, apparently trifling, may have contributed to this,-namely, that it possesses the best national musicians in Hungary. Thegipsy bands of Raab are frequently invited to play in other places, and are always much admired.If Raab were formerly considered as the last bulwark of Christendom,it may now be regarded as the ultimate refuge of Magyarism. It was thefirst town in which I was able to procure a complete collection of all thejournals and periodicals published in the Hungarian language; and this Ifound in the Literary Institution, established on the model of the Casinoof Pesth. The oldest Hungarian paper does not date back beyond tenyears. Before that time, there were only a few, usually printed in Latin,which have since died away. The most distinguished of the journals at present in vogue, the name of which meets one at every turn, is the " PestiHirlap," or Pesth Journal, which has existed only a year and a half, buthas already outstripped all its competitors. It keeps a vigilant watch overall faults and abuses of the government, and is the most liberal paper published in Hungary. Its editor, the darling of his countrymen, is the celebrated Hungarian noble, advocate, and deputy, " Koszuth. " The otherpapers are, the Hirnok (the Messenger), the Vilag (the World), theErdelyi Hirado (the Transylvanian Herald), the Yelenkor (the PresentTime), the Mult es Yelen ( Present and Past), the Athenaeum, the Regelo(the Romantic Tale-teller), the Tudomanytar, and some others. As Ishall subsequently have occasion to refer to these, I must beg my readers,if possible, to keep in mind at all events, the names of the Hirlap, theYelenkor, the Hirnok, and the Vilag.The most magnificent residence in Raab is that of the catholic bishop,whose palace was purchased, by one of his predecessors, from the empress,Maria Theresa. The present bishop is said to be a very estimable andcultivated man. The Hungarian catholic clergy is almost the only onein Europe that still enjoys untouched and undiminished its former privileges and revenues, but a time is, probably, not far off when these goldendays will be overcast, for there are evident symptoms of discontent atthe little advantage to humanity or science derived from the large incomesenjoyed by so many very reverend but very useless gentlemen .Far less of luxury and superfluity is to be seen in the abodes of thechiefpastor of the evangelical or of the Lutheran congregation than inthe splendid suite of dining-rooms, reception-rooms, libraries, and billiardrooms shown to us at the palace of the bishop. So late as the reign ofMaria Theresa, the Lutherans were forbidden the public exercise of theirreligion, and though Joseph's toleration edict removed this prohibition,they remained both poor and oppressed. The exact dimensions were prescribed to them for the church they were allowed to build, and it is, consequently, very small and low, and has neither bell nor steeple. Thesemight now be added but that the means are wanting. The altar wasplaced immediately under the pulpit, and I was told that this was customary in all the Lutheran churches in Hungary.THE ABBEY OF MARTINSBERG. 191Of the Lutheran school, as it was, unluckily, a holiday, I could not seemuch, but I saw here, for the first time, a complete and excellent map ofthe kingdom of Hungary, and there are now plenty of them to be had forall purposes. The most striking feature of a map of Hungary is the white space, destitute of names, that appears on the lower region of theTheiss and Danube. The Hungarians generally point to it themselves, andsay-" Look! this white blank we owe to the Turks, who made a desert ofthese countries, and whose barbarism has retarded us for centuries on thepath of civilization. "On one occasion there was shown to me the letter of a pasha from thetime of the Turkish dominion in Raab, in which he addresses the citizensof a neighbouring town as " Hogs and Dogs," enquiring why they are solong in ransoming their girls whom he has taken in pledge, and threatening to take their heads off if they do not agree to his proposals. Similarrecords of the Turkish mode of government are found everywhere in Hungary in the archives of the cities, churches, and counties, and complaintsare frequent of the outrages the country suffered from them. Almost everycountry in Europe has some foreign barbarian conqueror on whom it laysthe blame of having retarded its progress. As the Turks in Hungary, soare the Mongols regarded in Russia, the Russians in Poland, the Austriansin Bohemia, the Germans in Italy, and the French in Germany.At our dinner at the inn, an article from a Hungarian paper on the subject ofmixed marriages was read and commented on, and then followed somerecitations by two little girls of six and ten years old, of German poems,treating of the " consuming fire of love. " I then ordered my calesch, andin the company of a courteous and learned Hungarian friend, drove to theabbey of Martinsberg, situated two German miles from Raab.THE ABBEY OF MARTINSBERG.This renowned Benedictine abbey lies on a spur of the Bacony forest,which stretches into the plain of Raab. Many a difference has been foughtout on this plain, and neither Napoleon nor Charlemagne penetrated further into Hungary. After the battle in the plain the French werecompelled to undertake a siege of the town and fortress, which lasted several days, during which they fired two thousand six hundred and sixty ballsagainst the devoted city. After their conquest they blew up the fortifications , which have not been since restored. Their fragments and ruins liearound some three or four hundred houses which have sprung up on theirsite. Thus did the French render the same service to this as to so manyGerman towns.My esteemed companion was one of those Hungarian literati who prefer speaking Latin to any other language. He usually began by speakingGerman, but soon fell imperceptibly into Latin, finding it as he said so much more convenient and better adapted to conversation than any othertongue. He said that he knew many literary men to whom Latin was byfar the most familiar, although on the whole it had fallen into disuse oflate. He himself, as a Hungarian patriot, preferred as a matter of principle, the use of the native language, but when he wished to pour out hisheart he could not help using Latin. Some, he said, carried their persecution of it to a pitch offanaticism, " et illis nunc pudor est loqui Latine, et192 THE ABBEY OF MARTINSBERG.volunt ut canes nocturni vigilantes Hungariæ canant." Withthe humanguardians of the night, in some Hungarian towns where they have been inthe habit of crying the hour in German, this has really been required. Iinquired whether, as I had heard, the Hungarian ladies spoke Latin, buthe said he never met but one who was capable of doing so, and that was alady from Presburg. TheHungarian magnates all speak it, but the Slovacksare considered better and more fluent Latinists than the Magyars.As the abbey lies very high we soon came in sight of it, and I wasreally astonished at the size and beauty of this magnificent building."Non miroreris, " began my friend. " You would not wonder at thesplendour of the building, if you knew what revenues these gentlemenpossess, and how they live. Their abbey is one of the richest in all Hun- gary, and the poorest of them drive out with four horses. Omnium rerumabundantiæ fruuntur, exempli gratia vini boni, equorum optimorum et totiusvitæ apparatus ditissimi. The mountain on which the abbey stands, asyou see, rises proudly from the plain, and has probably been since a very early period, dedicated to the service of religion. It was called by theRomans, and still retains the name of, the Sacer Mons Pannoniæ, andstands in the same relative position to Pannonia as Mount Athos did toMacedon. The first Christian king of Hungary, St. Stephen, and the first apostle of Christianity in our country, St. Anastatius, established here thefirst Christian church, and founded the abbey and the castle. SanctusAnastatius primus fuit Abbas Sti. Martini, et mirum et inexplicabile est quantum nam in propagatione fidei orthodoxæ desudaverit. ” Stephen senthim as ambassador to Pope Sylvester II. , who returned to him the crown and sceptre of the Hungarian kingdom, which the king had ordered to be laid at his holiness's feet. The pope afterwards raised the abbey to thedignity of a high or arch abbey, the only one of that rank in the Austrianempire. The abbot is " ex officio" a Magnate of Hungary, and he ischosen by the Benedictines from among themselves without the sanction orinterference of pope or emperor. Joseph the Second indeed clipped thewings of these ecclesiastics a little, but Francis II. restored some of theirlost feathers. Since his time they have begun to make great alterationsand improvements in their convent, and although it is not yet more thanhalf completed, this half has already a most magnificent effect. In the frontof the building is a group of statues, among which those of Stephen and Francis, the founder and the restorer of the convent, are the most distinguished.We left our carriage at the foot of St. Martin's mountain, and climbed up on foot. As we entered the courtyard, we were saluted by the busyhammering of half a dozen coopers, who were employed in fastening largeoaken casks of most capacious dimensions, destined to be filled with thefinest Hungarian wines. In the walls near the gate I remarked the loopholes, which in former days had been used by the abbots in defence of theirabbey and their native country. The church of the abbey is adorned bythe works of Maulbertsch. Many of the Austrian churches are full of theproductions of his pencil; but the best are those in Papa, a town overwhich Prince Esterhazy exercises sovereign sway. It is said the prince waslately reproached by an Englishman in London, for not doing somethingfor their preservation. In a chapel belonging to this church, a marbleseat in a niche was shown to us, as that on which King Stephen was accustomed to sit, when he attended the service performed by St. Anastatius.THE ABBEY OF MARTINSBERG. 193This marble niche and the seat are regarded by the Hungarians as theirmost interesting antiquities. "See!" said one of the monks, who accompanied us, " there our sainted king used to sit in person." The Hungarianpeasants come in great numbers on the festival days, and beg for permission to sit awhile in king Stephen's chair, as they consider it very serviceable for many pains in the back. I took my seat there for a moment,but the very cold of the marble seemed to me more likely to give a pain inthe back than to take one away. The chapel is built with six columnssupporting the roof, which rests on them, and on twelve pointed archesspringing out of them. The St. Martin's hill is connected with the mountain range, to which it belongs, by a long ridge, along which runs a footpath leading to the lonely little chapel of St. Emmerich, the son of KingStephen. This Emmerich was married, but during or immediately afterthe performance of the ceremony, made a vow of perpetual chastity. Hewas accustomed every evening to pass along this path to the chapel, inorder to offer his prayers to the Blessed Virgin; and it happened that hiswife soon began to harbour some suspicion concerning these nightly wanderings, and determined one evening to follow him and discover the cause.She did so, and peeped through the window of the chapel, and there sheby the light of the tapers on the altar, the handsome and devout Emmerich prostrate in prayer, with his head surrounded by a saintly glory.Struck by the sight, she also sank on her knees to pray at the door of thechapel, and embracing her husband as he came out, made a similar vow ofperpetual chastity.saw,The library of this convent is as magnificent in its arrangements as thoseof the convents on the Danube, which I have before described. It is notpossible to arrange books and manuscripts in finer or more picturesque order,and I did not venture to take one down for fear of disturbing the harmony of their position. In the great hall of the library were finely- executed statues of Stephen and Francis II. Joseph built his monument in thehearts of millions of his subjects, but if he had had a successor to have followed in his footsteps, his statue also, in bronze and marble, would everywhere meet our eyes. The collection of books amounts to eighty thousand,among which are undoubtedly many of great valué.In the museum which is connected with the library are preserved manyTurkish and Roman antiquities found in the neighbourhood. In theTurkish time the convent had to pay tribute to the pasha of Stuhlweissenburg, and the correspondence between them was carried on in Latin.The Turks had in Buda and Pesth also many German subjects who weremade to serve as interpreters for them in their administration of thesepashalics.In the collection of coins there are some said to be of the time of Attila.They bear the portrait of a man whose features are those of a Faun, andthe inscription " Attila 451." In other Hungarian towns I have seenmore of these coins, but am by no means convinced of their authenticity.Some were inscribed " Buda Dux Hunnorum." It is remarkable enoughthat the memory of Attila has been regarded with so much respect by thepeople of Hungary. There are here to be met with more representationsof Attila, the Scourge of God," than in Germany of Karl den Grossen or Arminius.66In the front of the convent is a high tower of considerable compass, from194 THE ABBEY OF MARTINSBERG.the top of which a truly splendid prospect may be enjoyed. The ascent isby a convenient gallery on the outside, and the eye can thence embracethe whole northern half of Pannonia, no fewer than fourteen of the fiftytwo counties of Hungary being comprised within the view. Could we, asour eyes rested on this wide surface, have known all that was passing beneath them—could we have followed all the spiritual movements of themillions of beings whose dwellings lay in those gray, blue, green, and yellow patches, we should have seen cause enough for both joy and sorrow. Howlittle can the individual embrace in his sympathies; scarcely his nearestfriends; and what has he to do with the joys and sorrows of millions in aforeign land?Some of the ecclesiastics soon joined me on the tower, and with them myfriend from Raab, so that I had interpreters enough of the various objectsthat struck me. Many estates were pointed out to us as the hereditaryseats of this or that family. Near the road leading from Raab to Buda,called here the Butchers' road, probably on account of the great herds ofcattle driven along it to market, lie the ancient castle and convent ofDotis,in which Matthias Corvinus passed so much of his time.We could perceive also quite distinctly in the mountain perspective, the entrance to thecelebrated grotto of Dotis, and we saw through the long vista of past yearsa horde of wild Turks, at the entrance of this grotto, driving in the inhabitants of seven Hungarian villages, and suffocating them there with fireand smoke. No less than twenty waggon loads of human bones were sub- sequently taken out of it. In the territories ruled by the Turks there aremany such caves, filled with human bones by the tide of barbarism, as invarious parts of the world other caves have been filled by natural floods with the remains of animals.Not far off in the same range of mountains, we could with our glassesdistinguish the stone quarries of Olmosch, whence the materials have beentaken for the fortifications of Komorn. The environs ofthe towns of Papa,Güns, and Steinamanger, which we had before seen only marked with black strokes upon the map, lay now in vivid colours before us. To the south laythe neighbouring Bacony mountains, covered from their valleys to theirsummits with an uninterrupted forest of oak.The convents of the Benedictine order are very numerous in Hungary,and like this Abbey of Willastins, usually built on the summit of a hill.They are, however, nowhere more powerful than here, where their possessions entered on one side into the Bacony as far as the Platten Lake, andon the other to the Danube and the Dotis mountains; three abbeys of inferior rank, also in this part of the country belong to them. On St.Martin's hill, there reside fifty-two of these reverend ecclesiastics, but in all there are one hundred and ninety-six monks who belong to the convent,which has the control of two academies, those of Presburg and Raab;eight Gymnasia, those of Raab, Komorn, Guns, Oedenburg, Papa, Gran,Presburg, and Pyrnau, and fifteen parishes, and the appointments of allthe professors, teachers, and preachers, are made from among the inmatesofthe abbey. The arch abbot of St. Martin's, has accordingly charge ofthespiritual, and in a great measure also of the temporal welfare of the inha- bitants of two hundred German square miles; it is not surprising, therefore,if the election of a new abbot is matter of interest to the whole countryround.THE ABBEY OF MARTINSBERG. 195The afternoon had been wonderfully beautiful, and I could scarcely tearmyself from the lovely spectacle presented from the top of the tower. Theevening drew on, and we were still gossiping German, Hungarian, and Latin, all mixed together; as the Russians mix French and Russian, thepeople of Alsace French and German, so do the Hungarians in their conversation mingle together Hungarian and German, at least I should per- haps add, they do so in the presence of a German. An immense numberof German words and phrases have at all events obtained currency, and although many zealous and persevering efforts have been made to hunt themout, they continue to maintain their ground.The sun sank, and as I turned towards the Bacony forest it lay beforeme, an immense unbroken mass of gloom, not lightened to the mind's's eyeby its very equivocal reputation. My companions the monks, however, appeared to be acquainted with every " dingle and bushy dell of that wildwood," as one of the abbeys is situated on the opposite side by the PlattenLake, and another in the very centre of the forest. This is called " BaconyBel, " that is the entrails or kernel of the Bacony. The monks havetherefore often occasion to cross the forest in every direction, and are intimate with all its wild population. These immense oak woods have beenfound very favourable to the rearing of hogs, and in this part of Hungarytherefore, the swinish multitude takes precedence both of oxen and sheep.As children, the inhabitants of this forest learn neither reading norwriting, and very little religion, nothing but the management of pigs,upon whose existence indeed their own is based. They live in general,wholly on pork and bacon, seasoned so highly with the " Paprika, " of whichI have already spoken, that no one unaccustomed to these spicy morselscan venture to taste them. To this they drink the Hungarian wine in unlimited quantities, living, however, day and night in all weathers, entirely intheforest. Theywearlarge thick white woollen mantles decorated with flowersand ornaments in red thread or fragments of red stuff. I mentioned to mycompanions a passage I recollected in Dion Cassius, in which he describesthe Pannonians as wearing mantles of this kind. " It is very possible,"he replied, " for these Kopenyegs, as they are called, with the large loosesleeves hanging down, are only worn in Pannonian Hungary, and are never seen in Dacia on the other side of the Danube. These mantles alwaysappear to strike every stranger, and are therefore very likely to have beenobserved by Dion Cassius.whether " It is often very difficult," continued my informant, " to saythese Bacony foresters are swineherds or robbers. Their wandering anduncertain mode of life, and their superiority in strength to their more settled countrymen, are circ*mstances by no means favourable to their honesty.It is of them that the poet says:"Fern von Liebe, Lust und Leben,Weil' ich hier im düstern Wald,Wo im Sturm die Eichen beben,Und der Wölfe Heulen schallt.Sonnenschein und Sturmeswüthen Schwärzten Brust mir und Gesicht,Und die borst'ge Heerde hüten Im Gebüsch ist meine Pflicht.Keine Menschenstimme dringet Durch die Oede an mein Ohr,0 2196 THE ABBEY OF MARTINSBERG.Selbst das Vöglein flieht und singet Lieber fern in Busch und Rohr.Aus dem Thale nur zuweilenSummt herauf der Glocke Klang, &c.*" The bad character of these swineherds has given rise to a law inHungary, that any one absent from his herd without permission, is regardedas a robber, and punished accordingly. These men, however, on the whole,are not so bad as might be supposed; they never harm the poor, and theypay proper respect to the clergy, confining their depredations to the richnobility, for they are friends of liberty and equality. About two years agothey attacked a castle and plundered it of seventeen thousand florins;butwithin six months afterwards, I saw the sparrows build their nests in theskulls of those who had performed this exploit."The principal weapon whichthe "Gonasz"(swineherd) carries, is a small,neatly made hatchet, fixed to a handle about three feet long, which serves as a walking stick, a pastoral crook, or to cut wood for fuel.When several of them meet in the forest, they often amuse themselves by throwingthis weapon at a mark, and in this game they have attained an extra- ordinary degree of skill.My companion went on to inform me he had once witnessed an instanceof this in Pesth, whither two " Gonaszi” had driven a pair of buffaloesfor sale. The animals had somehow become suddenly enraged, and hadrushed down a hill and over the Danube bridge into the very centre of acrowded market-place. The one was soon taken, but the other continuedoverthrowing and treading down every thing in its way, and no way remained but try to hit him with the hatchet. This was accordingly done,and the weapon thrown so accurately, that the animal, though in themidst of a crowd, was struck exactly in the right place, and instantly fellto the ground. Their skill in the use of this weapon is, however, by nomeans always desirable, for they are often tempted to try it on men aswell as on trees and buffaloes. In their quarrels among themselves, thesehatchets often play as important a part as the daggers among the Spaniards.One may often observe them, when they are inclined to come to blows,suddenly turn round and wheel away to a considerable distance, in orderto obtain the space necessary for throwing the hatchet, and if they have amind to attack a stranger, they often throw a hatchet at him, as other banditti will fire a pistol.It would be unjust to assert of the Bacony forest, that it is full of re-

• Far from love and life and pleasure,

Through the forest's gloom I wend;Listening to the wolves' wild measure,Here my bristly herds I tend.Storms and scorching suns have now Swarthed my breast and burnt my brow;Never human voice I hear,Piercing through the gloom mine ear- Never comes another sound,Than the strong oaks breaking round.Even the little birds will fly,To sing where they can see the sky;Only sometimes from the valley,Comes the clanging of the bells," &c.THE ABBEY OF MARTINSBERG. 197gular banditti, but it has always an abundant population of what may beregarded as dangerous characters. To those who are placed under theirprotection, however, or who visit them in their forest huts, or gossip withthem over their forest fires, they are the most frank, honest, hospitablefellows in the world." I have often, " proceeded my informant, " paid them visits and passedmany interesting hours in their company. The last time was about twoyears ago, when the last of the great robber bands which had risen amongthem, under the guidance of the renowned chief, Sobri , had been takenand brought to the gallows. Sobri was a handsome young man of abouttwenty-two, who had, for three years, kept all the farms and castles roundin terror, and a long time elapsed before he, and his most distinguishedcompanions, could be arrested, for they were as cunning as they were bold,and the peasants, as is frequently the case, as well as the millers and landlords of the little inns, all round the country, were their friends. At lengtha considerable body of troops was brought against them, and after a sanguinary contest they were taken. There remained, indeed, to the lastsome doubt with respect to Sobri himself, as some asserted that he had es- caped, with a large sum of money, and gone to America; but the probability is against this account, for a body was afterwards found of one ofthe robbers who had been shot, which Sobri's parents declared to be that of their son. Many of the band were killed, and others taken, but manyquietly dispersed and took up again their occupation of herding swine. *" It was a party of these whom I was induced by curiosity to visit, andI found them lying round their fire, not far from some huts built of straw and branches of trees . There were seven of them, and in answer to mysalutation, they invited me to come nearer, but remained quietly by thefire, without disturbing themselves to do me honour. They were dark,wild, powerful looking men, wearing the national costume, with their coalblack hair shining with hog's lard. I soon hit upon a plan of insinuatingmyself into their good graces. It happens that I am very strong in thearms, and seeing a very thick cudgel lying near them, such as they useagainst the wolves, I asked them whether they believed that I could breakit into three or four pieces. They defied me to do it, and I broke it accordingly. As they are great admirers of bodily strength, they immediately stood up, made me welcome, and begged me to sit down with them. I replied I should first like to wrestle a little if they were so inclined, and did not take my place till I had thrown two, and been thrownby the third. We were nowthe best friends in the world, and I took myplace among them. The fire was trimmed, and a large dry trunk of a treewas dragged forward and thrown on it, the small branches being brokenoff and serving to kindle the enormous stem.66 They now brought wine and " Paprika bacon," and as I began to speakof those of the band who had just been hung, they expressed great sympathy for them, and one of them said, clapping me familiarly on the back,Ah, sir, its always the choicest of the fruit that people hang up; ' alludingto a custom of the country, during the vintage, of picking out the finestbranches of grapes, and hanging them on a stick to be carried home to

• A paragraph went the round of the German press a few weeks ago, in which it

was stated that the celebrated Hungarian bandit chief Schubri did really escape onthe occasion here alluded to, and had, after a variety of adventures, settled as adruggist in Charleston.-Tr.198 THE DANUBE FROM RAAB TO PESTH.the sound of music. It was, therefore, with these choice grapes that myrobber wished to compare his comrades."The pleasure which these people take in hearing and relating robberstories, and romantic legends of ruined castles, is a sufficient proof of their lively imagination, and there is no doubt that many a wild young fellowis inspired by them to deeds of similar daring. It really appears to beless either poverty or covetousness than love of action that makes robbersof them, in other circ*mstances it would as easily make them heroes.THE DANUBE FROM RAAB TO PESTH.ItIn order to reach Pesth, I had the choice between the above-mentioned"Butchers' road, " travelled by the herds of cattle, and the steamboat downthe Danube. I was not long in deciding for the latter, although it wasconnected with some difficulties; for the steamboat cannot come up ashigh as Raab, but lies two German miles down the river, at a little place called Gönyö, which may be considered as a sort of suburb of Raab. Forthe sake of this two miles' journey, for which we had till two o'clock, wewere obliged to get up at sunrise, and go on board a little yacht that waslying in the Raab arm of the Danube, called also the Little Danube.was not till the yacht was crammed with boxes, and trunks, and portman- teaus and goods of various descriptions, and children, and fat women, andHungarians, and Germans, till it seemed ready to sink, that our skippergave the signal, and we were allowed to start. We passed out throughwhat is called the " Water-Gate, " through which the Turks effected anentrance when they took the town. There were many traces of balls onthe stones by the gate, but I could not refrain from putting my hands onthem, like an unbelieving Thomas, for a strange feeling of doubt sometimes comes over me concerning all the occurrences of past days.From beneath this water-gate I obtained an interesting view, as wellout of as into the town; for from this gate the market-women had rangedthemselves on both sides, and formed a picture like the first scene in thesecond act of " Massaniello;" and they were offering delicious fruit atlittle more than the same imaginary price as that paid by the players: forinstance, a penny for two large melons, or for seventy plums, or forty cucumbers. Two fine young fowls for less than sixpence. There seemedto me no longer any thing strange in the fact, that so many Hungariankings had killed themselves by eating too much fruit. Matthias Corvinusfell sick and died after eating some fresh figs, and Albrecht after eating melons. On the other side of the water- gate lay the harbour, and all thefar from inconsiderable bustle of the trade and commerce of Raab.great tide of traffic does not, in this part of the Danube, pass up the principal stream, but into its smaller branches, for the real Danube betweenRaab and Presburg is full of islands, shoals, and sandbanks; and the vessels coming from the lower part of the river are willing to avoid the strong current of the main stream. The little Danube, although it has the disadvantage of innumerable windings, is deeper and more tranquil. Largevessels cannot, however, proceed farther up than Raab. Here they discharge their cargoes, and whatever is destined for Wieselburg, Pres- burg, or Vienna, is sent forward in smaller craft. The principal articles of commerce are corn and cattle, of which the former goes mostlyTheTHE DANUBE FROM RAAB TO PESTH. $199to Wieselburg (on the Nieusiedler Lake), and the latter, as I have said, to Oedenburg, whence it is distributed over Austria. I could not very wellmake out why the corn did not travel the whole way to Presburg andVienna by water, but I was informed that it was on account of most ofthe corn-mills lying scattered at very considerable distances round Vienna,almost as far as the Hungarian frontier; and that since land- carriage inHungary is astonishingly cheap, the millers preferred fetching it fromWieselburg, to allowing it to go to Presburg or Vienna, where its pricewould be much enhanced. This can hardly be the only motive, nevertheless, it may be that beyond Wieselberg the navigation of the Little Da- nube becomes still more difficult.As soon as the wished-for signal of our departure had been given, alittle horse was attached to a long rope, and as he began to trot, we foundourselves moving very pleasantly down the narrow river, having on oneside the highlands of the county of Raab, and on the other the " goldenfruit garden" ofthe island of Schütt. Amongthose of the passengers whopreferred the tarry deck to the confined air below, were tradesmen, servants, innkeepers, and clerks, Germans and Hungarians, all with mustachios, according to the custom of the country; merchants from Raab, afew patriots, an Austrian nobleman, and myself. We had scarcely openedour mouths before all the Hungarian topics of the day, the language, theconstitution, the newspapers, literature, all came on the carpet, and occasioned that lively discussion which is sure to arise wherever two or threeare gathered together in Hungary. The strife became particularly warm between the young nobleman and some of the Hungarians present, and Ihad several opportunities of displaying my impartiality, and playing theumpire. The Austrians are sure to see the shady side of every thing inHungary, and the Hungarians find it very hard to approve of any thingAustrian, and as I was neither an Austrian nor a Hungarian, they found itconvenient to appeal to me. The Hungarians believe that Austria exercisesjust as oppressive and restraining an influence on the western as on theeastern borders of her territories, and they are therefore disposed to afriendly sympathy with us Western Germans, whom they regard ashostile to Austria. The Austrian had begun the attack, on this occasion,by expressing great contempt for the state of Hungarian agriculture, whichhe had here for the first time become acquainted with, and by painting inharsh colours the state of slavery in which the country still remained, inspite of the favourable influence of the recent Diet. He then sketchedthe state of prosperity, order, and comfort of the Austrian peasant, compared with the backward and oppressed condition of the Hungarian,maintaining that in Austria the Emperor himself, even if he had right onhis side, was not sure of being able to obtain justice against a peasant,whilst in Hungary the lowest noble could oppress his neighbours as muchas he pleased. The Hungarians, he went on to say, were very ready to cry out " Liberty and Freedom, " but it was really enjoyed by only theorder of nobility, and these were often the cruelest tyrants to the oppressedmillions. The Austrian peasant was made of better stuff than the Hungarian, for though he would not submit to tyranny, he was willingly subject to the law. If told such is the law, he was content, although eventhe law might be an unreasonable one; but of this voluntary submissionno one in Hungary had any idea. Neither noble nor peasant would submit to any thing but force. He must indeed confess that in Austria there200 THE DANUBE FROM RAAB TO PESTH.were many things that might be amended. It was not right that they(the nobles) should be free from military duty, nor that the peasants shouldbear alone the burden of many of the taxes; and all enlightened Austriansheartily wished for a representative constitution; but even with their arbitrary government, the people were infinitely better protected there thanin Hungary.The Hungarians defended themselves valiantly against these attacks,declaring that although the lot of the peasantry had hitherto been bad enough, it had been entirely changed for the better by the acts of the lastDiet, and that the fruits of this amelioration would soon appear. Veryfewof their nobles deserved to be called tyrants, and the conduct of many ofthem was really most paternal towards their peasants. Force must, indeed,they admitted, be sometimes employed, but the effects of the stick werenot always prejudicial. That as to freedom, there could be no freedomwhere a despot was placed at the head of affairs; that the will of the emperor was omnipotent in Austria, but by no means so in Hungary. As soon as a man set foot in Austria he felt himself restrained by a thousandpetty restrictions, but in Hungary he could breathe freely, and say and do what he would. Other ameliorations would follow. Much had been already done, and one of the first steps towards creating a national feeling,was the purification of the language, by ridding it of the German, Latin,and Slavonian words with which it had been contaminated.Upon this hint the Austrian spoke again, and declared with rather acontemptuous smile, that if the Hungarians should be able to succeed inwrapping themselves up in their Asiatic idiom they would soon becomecomplete Orientals, since it was only by means of the German and Latinlanguages that they had been able to maintain an intercourse with the entire system of European culture. Hereupon followed ofcourse a very longand animated discussion, which lasted till we reached the point where the branch of the river we were on, entered the Great Danube, and where wewere to exchange the little yacht for a vessel of sixty horse power.The sight of this majestic stream awoke in all a vivid sensation of pleasure.On the one end of our little yacht were painted the Hungarian words,"Isten velünk," that is " God is with us, " and on the opposite end " Senkielemink," (who then would be against us) and we certainly had some oc- casion for these excellent mementos, now that we found ourselves on thismighty stream, in a vessel that threatened to go to pieces with every stroke it received. It was well for us that God was with us, for we soonhad to experience that we had, at all events, an enormous tow-rope against us. Just as we entered into the main Danube, and were driven not farfrom the shore, it happened that we met one of those large vessels fromthe lower part of the river called " Hayos, " drawn by fifty horses. Therope by which this great heavy three-masted craft was pulled along, wasslackened, and the horses stopped at command, to allow us to pass across itas is usual in such cases, but I don't very well knowhow, -either because wewere too slow, or the riders of the horses were too impatient, or too regardless of our safety, -but before we had crossed we heard again the wild cry,"He he! Ho ho!" with which these people urge forward their horses,and the immense rope was suddenly dragged up immediately before theprow of our vessel. Two inches further would have carried it under thekeel, and our felucca with its whole contents would have taken a dip in theDanube. By great exertion we managed to stop just in time, but we wereTHE DANUBE FROM RAAB TO PESTH. 201thrown against the other vessel, and its bowsprit entered our cabin,breaking down some stairs, perforating some boards and filling it with palefaces. I was told such accidents were not uncommon, as these enormouslythick ropes drawn by fifty, sixty, or eighty horses, were able to lift alarge vessel out of the water. The men engaged in towing on the Danubeare a rough wild set of fellows, and are often enough in fault, especiallywhen, as is frequently the case, they belong to the class of nobles.We dined at Gönyö, and had two long tables quite full of persons whohad come from Raab and the environs, in order to go by the steamer toPesth, where a great fair was soon to be held. At our table a good dealof German was spoken, but at the other I heard only Magyar; and I noticed that, whenever my companions got merry, they slipped immediatelyinto the mother tongue. I am sure I rose a hundred per cent. in the estimation of some of them, by a few words of thanks for a cigar, which Iachieved in Hungarian."En Magyar wagyok" (I am a Magyar) is a phrase one often hearsuttered with no small complacency, and " a Schwoab," (" the Germanthere!") is equivalent to an expression of something like contempt. We never say in the same manner, “ I am a German. " I believe this is, insome measure, owing to a want of nationality, and also, in some measure,to what I must think our excessive modesty. We have certainly as muchreason to be proud of our race as the Hungarians, and whenever it hashappened to me, in a foreign country, to hear any one say, "En Magyar wagyok," or "I am a Pole," or " I am an Englishman," I have neverfailed to reply, "And I am a German;" and I think we should do wellto accustom ourselves to do so.After dinner, we went down to the river side to see a large steamercome in, which had brought no fewer than two thousand pigs from Turkey,distributed in three vessels which she had in tow. The boats built forthis purpose are very conveniently arranged, and the pigs are undoubtedlyfar better accommodated than many of the poor negroes in the Spanishslave-ships. The pig-boats have two or three decks, one above another,covered with pigsties, divided by strong wooden palings, so that the freshair can pass everywhere through, and spaces are left all round and amongthem, so that those who have charge of the animals may be able to getnear and attend properly to them, not more than twelve or fifteen pigs being placed together. They are also well fed with Turkish wheat whileon the journey.All the countries on the Save, the Drave, and the lower Danube,Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Servia, Wallachia, and Moldavia, possess immense riches in swine; and since in some of those provinces, and stillmore in others bordering on them to the south, there are numbers ofpersons who abhor this unclean animal, it follows that they are able toexport vast numbers to their northern pork-loving neighbours.I visited the vessels engaged in the conveyance of these interestingemigrants, in company with a young Servian, to whom the greater partof the two thousand were consigned. He was a handsome young man,wearing the Hungarian dress, speaking German, Servian, and other languages, and wearing a number of brilliant rings on his fingers. I dranka cup of coffee with him, and was thinking that, like Milosch, he mightbe destined to become a king of Servia; but his fate, poor fellow, was adifferent one, for a short time after he was murdered by a robber.202 THE DANUBE FROM RAAB TO PESTH.At length our steamboat came in from Vienna, and fetched us awayfrom what we may call the golden strand of Gönyö; for here, as on theshores of the Theiss and other Hungarian rivers, gold is sometimes ob- tained from the river sand. This is an occupation exclusively of thegipsies, who deliver the gold to the government, as a sort of tribute, atvery low prices. At Aranyos, near Komorn, we saw a number of themengaged in their interesting work. They place a board in a sloping position, on which there are several diagonal furrows or grooves; they then scratch up the sand of the river over the board, and pouring water overit, the gold dust, being heavier than the earthy particles, remains in thegrooves. The gipsies then scratch out this sediment and mix it withquicksilver, which attracts to itself the particles of gold. These are collected and sold to the government officers in little balls of the weight ofabout three or four ducats. Goldsmiths and other traders are forbidden,under severe penalties, to purchase gold from the gipsies. The product ofthese operations is certainly very inconsiderable; but if we consider theproportion which these few shovelsfull of sand bear to the masses leftlying in the bed of the river, we may reasonably conclude that immensetreasures are still buried in the Danube. If the gipsies can get asmuch as the value of a ducat out of ten cubic feet of sand (which is lessthan they really do get) , a piece of the Danube of a hundred Germanmiles in length, and a thousand paces in breadth, taking the sand at fivefeet in depth, would give thirty thousand millions of cubic feet of sand,containing gold to the value of three thousand millions of ducats; andthe actual depth of the sand is greater than five feet, and the extent ofthe goldbearing Danube is greater than I have assumed it to be. It isalso to be recollected that the gipsies take the sand only from those parts ofthe river where they find it most convenient, as on sandbanks; and, goldbeing the heaviest material which the waters carry along, it is highlyprobable that the greater quantity lies in the middle of the river, and thecomparatively lighter particles only are washed on the shore. I felt the"sacred thirst" awakening in me at the thought of the rich abundance ofthe precious metal-the three thousand millions of ducats that were lyingbelow in the deep channel through which our steamer was cutting andfoaming onits way. A single mile of this Danube sand might afford onegold enough for one's life, if one could but get it. How many individuals and nations, like the Danube, possess hidden treasures, of whichonly a paltry gipsy portion ever comes to light. Could they develope allthe capabilities which God has bestowed on them, how boundless mightbecome their physical and mental wealth!We were received in grand style at Komorn by the whole of the military, in full uniform, with the bands of several regiments, coming tosalute General Bagassi, whom we brought with us, and who had just beenappointed commandant of Pesth, and the sound of the instruments carriedme back in thought, to the days when the chiefs of the legions came downthe Danube to inspect the numerous castles built by the Romans on itsbanks. The geographical position of Komorn is too important- it is tooevidently pointed out by Nature for the settlement of man-not to havebeen occupied in the earliest periods of history.The island of Schütt terminates at this point, and the arm of theDanube, which had separated from it at Presburg, as well as that calledTHE DANUBE FROM RAAB TO PESTH. 203the Black Water, here unite again with the main stream, which also receives near this place the waters of the Neutra and the Waag.From Komorn, therefore, there are navigable water-roads in many different directions; on the upper Danube to Raab, and on the lower Danubeto Pesth and Buda, on the Waag and Neutra to the Carpathians in thenorth, and on the Black Water to the corn countries in the island orSchütt.The Romans occupied this important position with their much-valuedcity of Brigantium or Bregetium, and it was garrisoned by the legioprima adjutrix. Roman fortifications were shown to me at Szony, opposite Komorn, and I had often occasion to notice here, as elsewhere alongthe Danube, the familiarity with matters connected with the Roman timesdisplayed by people who did not pretend, as I did, to belong to the learnedworld, and yet often put my ignorance to shame. They talked of thequarters of the various legions, of the prima adjutrix, or of the legiodecima in Vienna, of the legio secunda adjutrix in Buda, of the legio xiv.Gemina, near Presburg, as if they had heard it all from their grand- fathers.The town of Komorn, as might be imagined from its very advantageousposition, has a considerable trade, and a population of twenty thousand inhabitants, without counting the military. Since the union of Hungary andAustria, the town has never been occupied by an enemy, not even by theTurks, who possessed all the country round. Had Komorn been lost, itsfate would probably have been shared by all Hungary as far as the Carpathians.On the strand were a great number of beggars, and amongst them apoor cripple on crutches, with two wooden legs. We threw him from thesteamboat some copper money that we had collected, but unluckily couldnot reach quite far enough, for some of it fell into the edge of the water.The poor cripple was slowly stooping to pick it up, when a rascal with thefull use of his legs and arms, pushed before him and snatched it away.The enjoyment of this, his ill -gotten gains, was, however, but momentary,for another lad, not a whit less needy- looking and tattered than either of the other two, darted forward, and bestowing some hearty cuffs upon therobber, forced the money from him, and gave it back to the poor cripplewho could not help himself. Had Haroun al Raschid witnessed thisaction, he would certainly have made him Kadi of Komorn uponthe spot."Blessed are the just. "We had now again all the waters of the Danube united into one channel, to say nothing of the daily contribution of twenty millions of Eimersfrom the Waag and Neutra, and as we dashed along without any interruption, we soon lost sight of the great plain, through which we had beenpassing for several days past, and reached the mountains, through whichthe river finds or forces its way to Gran and Buda. In the whole of its course the Danube passes three of these mountain districts, alternating withthe vast plains, through which it flows. First, below Ulm comes theplain of Bavaria, interrupted by some hills of little importance; then thebeautiful range of mountains between Linz and Vienna; then the greatHungarian plain between Presburg and Komorn; then the mountainousregion between Komorn and Pesth; again, plain as far as Belgrade;between Belgrade and Widdin again mountains; and, lastly, the greatWallachian and Bulgarian plain between Hungary and the Black Sea.204 THE DANUBE FROM RAAB TO PESTH.In some period, anterior to history, it is probable that the Danube formedthree great inland seas, connected by cataracts and rivers, like the lakesErie, Ontario, &c. Wallachia and part of Bulgaria belonged probably tothe Black Sea. The part of the river lying between Passau and Vienna is the most beautiful as well as the most interesting in an historical pointof view, but the narrow passes and cataracts between Belgrade and Widdin, far exceed any other in wild grandeur.Immediately after passing Komorn, the right shore begins to rise, till at length, by Nessmeli, it swells into complete mountains. Near Granthe mountains begin to appear also on the left side, and they soon becomeso steep and rugged, and the river is pressed into such a narrow bed, thatthis may be regarded as the pass . These are the mountains which arecalled on the left side the Magusta, and on the right the Pilis range.The mountains near Nessmeli grow the wine the most widely diffusedthrough the country, such as among French wines are the Graves orMedoc, or among those of Greece the Santorino. Throughout Hungary,Galicia, Silesia, and Moravia, if you ask in any inn for Hungarian wine,without specifying the sort, this, the Nessmühler, as it is called, is alwaysbrought. Near Nessmeli, stretching towards Dotis and Almasch, arealso the celebrated stone quarries, which are of so much importance to thenew buildings now in process in Pesth, and likewise to the fortifications ofKomorn. There is found in them limestone, sandstone, and various kindsof marble, particularly a marble of a pinkish colour, which I noticed in Pesth, and which I shall have occasion again to refer to. A passenger ina steamboat, however, must pass over almost all that is interesting to thenatural philosopher, the political economist, or the historian; his eye hurries from point to point, and he is borne in a few minutes past many a spotwhere Clio and her sisters would have lingered long.The first sight of Gran is magnificent, and it is perhaps this fine positionwhich has suggested to the Hungarian writers the notion that a town wasestablished here a hundred and fifty five years after the deluge. In thefirst period of the Hungarian monarchy, Gran occupied the position,afterwards filled by Stuhlweissenburg and Ofen, and was the capital andseat of government of her kings. The sainted Stephen was born andcrowned here, and up to the year 1241, when it was destroyed by theTatars, Gran remained a rich and populous town, far exceeding in splendour all the other cities of Hungary. It was at the same time in possession of the most important trade of the country, and foreigners of severalnations, French, Germans, and Italians, were numerous enough to havequarters or streets assigned to them; and on the high hill, where nowstands the castle of the prince archbishop, the primate of Hungary, anda great cathedral, there stood even then a magnificent church in the oldgothic style, with pillars of Indian marble. The place was in former timescalled, " par excellence, " the Danube city, but its name has since beenchanged, not without reason, to that of the insignificant stream the Granwhich here enters it. The population of Gran has been reduced to sixthousand, and it bears few traces of its former greatness, except its finesituation, and the abovementioned castle and cathedral.Soon after passing Gran the river begins to make its way with manyturnings and windings through some difficult mountainous passes (like awise man overcoming, by energy and perseverance, all obstacles to hisprogress), until it takes its great bend to the south. Whilst we were tack-THE DANUBE FROM RAAB TO PESTH. 205ing this way and that, through this romantic mountain country, nightcame on, but the air was deliciously mild, and the promenade on the deckareal enjoyment. The stars glittered over our heads, and the moon pouredher soft radiance over her heavenly flocks, and in various turns and cornersof the mountains, lights twinkled from unknown villages and hamlets, thatlay hidden in their clefts and hollows. We knew not even the names ofthese abodes, and to them our party of a hundred strangers, rushinghastily by, was, probably, of no more interest than a flock of wild geesepassing over their heads.At the narrowest part of the pass lie the ruins of the ancient castle ofWissehrad, which, as I have already mentioned, is a Hungarian word signifying " high castle." Many Hungarian kings have made it their residence, and it was the favourite seat of the celebrated and beloved MatthiasCorvinus. It is said, by the people of the country, to have been so magnificent that a legate of the pope's, who visited it, called it a paradise, andthe opinion of an Italian, in a matter of this kind, must be allowed to havesome weight. Now, nothing remains of it but some scanty ruins, visibleagainst the clear sky on the topmast peak of a lofty mountain, and Hungarian goatherds, clothed in skins, visit its grass-grown courts, in the placeof princes and legates. Tradition also assigns to it, as an inhabitant, theunquiet spirit of a poor girl, who formerly dwelt on the other side of theDanube, and of whom King Matthias became enamoured, visiting herwithout disclosing his real rank. She regarded him as a simple huntsman, and hoped he would repay her tender confidence by one day leading her home as his wife.It was, however, one day accidentally communicated to her that the lover,who rowed across the river to her at night, was no other than the crownedking of the country, and she was no less terrified than Psyche under similarcirc*mstances. Like her also the maiden made a discovery fatal to herpeace and her love. The impassable gulf that separated her from herroyal lover, the impossibility of ever being truly his, preyed on her mindtill she became insane, and threw herself into the river, across which hehad so often hastened to her arms. Since then her restless spirit wandersfor ever about the ruins of Wissehrad, mourning the loss of king Matthiasand her unfortunate love. I must confess, however, I watched in vain fora glimpse of her white robes, as the desolate castle vanished behind us inthe darkness. As we lost sight of it the moon went down, the wholescene assumed a drearier aspect, and I was glad to go down into the cabin,where, with lamps, and tea, and conversation, we might imitate the comfort of settled abodes, in the midst of the wild darkly dashing river.company consisted mostly of Jews and Rascians, some of whom had paidtheir devotions pretty freely to the Tschuttora, but in one corner sat a boy and near him an old man, who spoke a dialect I had heard only once before, and who proved to be Swiss from the canton of the Grisons.old man was a confectioner at Kaschau, and had been as far as Vienna tofetch his nephew, who was to be apprenticed to him. One might supposefrom the numbers of natives of the Grisons whom one finds engaged inthis trade all over Germany, Poland, Russia, and Hungary, that their nativeland overflowed, if not with milk and honey, with cakes and sweetmeats;but this branch of industry, to which they are so addicted abroad, does not, Ibelieve, exist at all at home. The lads are, at first, employed in keeping cattle,and as they grow up, come out of the valleys of the Inn and the Rhine, andTheThe206 BUDA. PESTH.find their way to their uncles and cousins, already established in different parts of Europe, of whom they learn this, their favourite trade.The old man, my fellow-passenger, seeming to think I must know aslittle of his country as the Danube sailors, informed me that it was a smallbut very ancient independent republic, which had formerly been allied tothe great and powerful republic of Venice, and that they, the Alpine people, had furnished troops to the Venetians, and lent them valiant aidagainst the Hungarians and Turks, in return for which they had receivedthe privilege of establishing themselves as confectioners, coffee-housekeepers, and so forth, in the great city. In consequence, however, of somemisunderstanding that had arisen between the republics, these privilegeswere not renewed after 1766, and a period was fixed within which theywere to sell their goods and leave Venice, and thus it happened that theywere scattered over Europe. I have vainly sought for a confirmation ofthis fact in the various historical works to which I have had access; but,to say truth, it is but seldom that historians condescend to bestow theirattention on such little episodes of history as the dispersion of the sugarbakers of the Grisons, and yet these little episodes are often replete withinterest.Ofthe town of Waizen our song is silent, for neither sun nor moon gavelight, as we stopped at its harbour to put out some passengers; and theveil of night covered likewise the remainder of the Danube, as far as Pesth.Towards eleven at night we again saw lights; they increased, glitteringbefore, behind, on every side, and over the hills and mountains down tothe water's edge. They were from the towns of Pesth and Buda, amongstwhose shipping we cast anchor, and soon after made our way to the hotel"The Queen of England," on the Danube Quay.BUDA. PESTH.Buda (or Ofen) and Pesth are, in fact, but one town; one has arisenout of the other, the growth of one has been promoted by that of theother, and each is indebted for its greatness to its connexion with the other. They are united by a pontoon bridge over the Danube, and it isa pity that they have not been long since united under the same municipalgovernment. Of such a union there is now great probability, and it isproposed to distinguish the one great city by the name of Buda-Pesth;and some Hungarian writers have even undertaken to prove that the twincities were formerly one, known only by the name of Pesth, and thatthe other appellation was acquired from some German inhabitants of theright bank, who bestowed it on their quarter.In old times, before the Turkish conquest, it is said to have had a periodof splendour, like many other Hungarian towns; but the history of thepresent city can be dated only from the end of the Turkish dominion, forit passed from the hands of the Moslems into those of the Austrians as amere heap of ruins. The city lay buried in filth and disorder, and theonly buildings now standing which were then extant, are some low huts and stables. There were no suburbs, and the town did not extend beyondthe narrow circle of its walls . Like Gran, Waizen, Belgrade, and otherHungarian towns, Pesth was, in the course of a century, bombarded, conquered, burnt, and re-conquered half a dozen times, and its aspect duringBUDA. PESTH. 207that period probably resembled that of Belgrade and other cities of the Danube, on which the curse of Turkish dominion still rests. At the closeof this period, as remarkable and sudden a rise took place in many of thetowns of Hungary, as in those of Russia, after the destruction of the Tatarempire. So late as the commencement of the eighteenth century, Pesthcould not be considered as freed from the barbarian yoke, for the Turksstill continued to exercise a good deal of influence in Hungarian affairs.Down to that period, it remained one of the most wretched places in theempire; but in the course of the last hundred years it has become one ofthe stateliest ofcities, not only ofthe kingdom of Hungary, for it will beara comparison with some of the finest towns in the world.We are accustomed to turn always to America for examples of the rapidgrowth and development of cities, but we have in Europe similar, andalmost equally striking examples. In England there are many greattowns which a hundred, or even fifty years ago, were exceedingly insignificant. In Germany, since the close of the last war, many towns haveundergone remarkable improvements and extensions. In Russia, Odessa,St. Petersburg, Taganrog, and others, have been conjured into life; andin Hungary many have risen from dust and ruins to a considerable degreeof prosperity.The walls which encircled the old town of Pesth, do not now contain theseventh part of the surface covered by the modern city. It has four important and extensive suburbs, named after the four last Hungarian kings,and containing finer buildings than the city itself. Pesth is very regularly built upon a simple and intelligible plan, the old town forming anucleus from which great broad streets radiate in every direction, and theseare again united with each other, by concentric cross streets. In theTheresa suburb alone, this plan has not been regurlarly executed, and it isconsequently out ofharmony with the rest. As to Buda, it cannot be saidto have any plan at all, for the unfavourable nature of the ground, and theobstacles to all regularity presented by the mountains, would scarcelyhave permitted the execution of such a design, had it been entertained . Thewhole situation and locality of Buda- Pesth, greatly resemble those of Prague,but in the former the new and elegant predominates, in the latter, the oldand venerable; in their position relatively to the country surroundingthem, there is also great similarity. The figure of Hungary, as of Bohemia, is compact, rounded, and almost encircled by chains of mountains,whilst both countries are cut nearly through the centre by the main river,-in Bohemia, the Moldau-Elbe, in Hungary, the Danube. The rightangle formed by this river may be considered as the central and metropolitan district of Hungary. The Huns, Hungarians, and other conqueringtribes coming over the Carpathians, made their first settlement on thebanks of the Theiss, but Duke Geysa fixed the seat of his government at Gran, and it continued the permanent residence of KingStephen and his successors, till the attacks of the Tatars induced them toremove their court to Stuhlweissenburg, which, however, was merely asort of Versailles, a place for ceremonies and coronations. Stuhlweissenburgwas then to Buda- Pesth much what Presburg is now. The Diet, for instance,is held at the latter city on account of its convenient locality with respectto Vienna; nevertheless, Pesth, as the residence of the Palatine, of theMagnates, and of all the principal public officers, as the focus of nationaland scientific culture, as the seat of the universities and academies, the208 THE FAIR AT PESTH.principal staple place of the foreign and inland trade of the country, andas decidedly the richest and most populous town, cannot fail to be consideredthe real capital of the country. The unexampled rapidity of its growthis a very accurate standard whereby to estimate the general developmentof Hungary, for the increase of population, ofindustry, and of general culture and activity throughout Hungary, must naturally manifest themselvesmost forcibly in the centre of their action, from which there is of course are- action on the surrounding country.Buda- Pesth has at present a hundred thousand inhabitants, whilst thenumber of hundreds it possessed a century ago is a matter of dispute. TheHungarians look with pride upon their capital, and dream that it may become once more the residence of kings; nay, they do not dream merely,but they say and maintain that it must be so. The town becomes everyyear more magnificent, more cultivated, more abounding in the means ofenjoyment. Every year more and more of the Magnates come fromVienna to fix their residence here. " If our sovereign would but come andlive among us, " say the Hungarians, " we would build him such a palaceas he does not possess in Vienna. "THE FAIR AT PESTH.As geographical centre of the country, Pesth is also the centre of theHungarian trade. It has four great markets or fairs, which, from their importance, might be called the royal fairs of Hungary. The most considerable is that beginning at the end of August, at which time all thechannels of communication are in their best state, the Danube free, theroads dry, and at this time it is that the great purchases are made for thewinter. As I fortunately arrived at this interesting moment I will endeavourto give some idea of the state of bustle and excitement that prevails during a scene which differs from any thing of the kind ever seen among us.The principal places occupied by the fair are-first, the Danube Quay,on which is erected a row of shops, and along which the vessels liesecondly, the Jews' quarter, where every corner swarms with goods andbuyers and sellers; thirdly, the market- places in the interior of thetown, which are covered with booths; and fourthly, all the open spaces inthe Joseph's suburb.The Danube Quay is very broad and a German mile long, having onthe side opposite the river a row of handsome houses, the ground floors ofwhich only are used as shops. On the morning of the fair it was filledwith thousands of busy traders, and the river was crowded with vessels of all kinds, including steamers. There were vessels from Austria, or thelower Danube, as far as Belgrade and Semlin, and from different parts of the Theiss. To the head of each vessel was fastened some article, such asa large pot, a wine bottle, a chair, a table, a broom, a wooden trough, agigantic spoon, &c. , which of course I took for a sample of the wares soldwithin, but which I found were intended to serve as signs or coats of arms,the only difference being, that instead of a sign-board merely painted bysome rude dauber, the symbols of trade were represented thus bodily. Thelargest and most solid vessels seen in the middle Danube, the portion extending from Presburg to the cataracts below Semlin, are called " Telyfohayos, " that is, complete or perfect ships. They carry from ten thousandTHE FAIR AT PESTH. 209to twelve thousand Metzen* of wheat. They also go up the Theiss as faras Szegedin, where many of them are built. Others are built at Eszek onthe Drave, where is to be had the fine hard oak, the material from the forestsof Slavonia or Transylvania, chiefly used in their construction. They generally last, with repairs, as much as five-and-twenty or thirty years, andthere is every year an evident improvement in their construction. Besideslarge vessels, there are others of a smaller size, broad and flat built, whichcarry furniture and manufactured goods to Turkey. Among the Germansliving here I often noticed the terms " hard" and " soft" applied to variouskinds of craft, and found that they were meant to distinguish the oak vessels from Szegedin and Eszek, from those made of deal which come fromBavaria and Austria, and especially a very slight kind of boat from Passau.These latter do not in general return up the Danube, but are sold as wood,or sometimes repaired again and sent to some place further down. I couldnot make out very accurately the relative proportions of land and watertraffic at Pesth, but I believe, that of the two, the latter is at present increasing much more rapidly. The greater part of the navigation of theDanube, as I have already mentioned, is in the hands of the Rascians.Near the Quay was the pottery market, and never in my life did I see together so many pots and pans and clay vessels of every possible variety; adescription of some of them may perhaps serve to illustrate some points ofHungarian manners and customs. First there were enormous piles ofgigantic urn-shaped vessels, used for keeping the lard so much employed inhousekeeping. Then there were earthen covered pans, for roasting orbaking meat, and there were others called Nudelseiger, that were piercedthrough with many holes, for the water to run off from the Nudels ordumplings, which the peasants are wont to boil in them. Then there weremighty heaps ofwater-pitchers of a most peculiar shape, but one in generaluse here. These pitchers have a narrow neck, containing a sort of sieveto prevent impurities from passing into the vessel. The hole, out of whichthe people drink, is in the handle, which is hollow, and through this hollowtube the Hungarian sucks up the water, and praises the whole arrangement as calculated to keep his liquor cool and pure; but how such apitcher is ever to be cleansed inside, is a mystery to me. There werealso many thousands of a sort of bottle called tshuttora, in use everywhere in Hungary, among Magyars, Germans, Walachians, and Slavonians, to carry with them on a journey, or into the fields, when they arekeeping their flocks and herds, or doing farming-work. The tshuttora isa round wooden vessel, of a corpulent shape, with a small narrow neck;it is generally turned out of one piece of wood, and has a hole at the topand another at the bottom, the latter closed with a spigot, and decoratedwith a rosette of coloured leather. It is also furnished with thongs, bywhich it can be hung round the neck, and has four little feet so ill proportioned to its portly dimensions that it hardly stands steadier on them,than its owner does on his legs when he has been too frequent in his applications to it. There is no Hungarian house that does not containtshuttoras of all sizes, some of them as big as a small cask. The Hungarian magnates are equally enamoured of the tshuttora, and take themwith them on journeys, or hunting-parties, and all similar occasions, andthey are filled with every kind of liquid, from the wine of Tokay to the

• The Austrian metz is equal to 1 of a Winchester bushel.

P210 THE FAIR AT PESTH.dirty or brackish water ofthe marsh. In all songs in which the praises ofthesparkling goblet, or the jovial bowl would be heard among us, those of thetshuttora resound in Hungary. These vessels were made in the earliesttimes exactly as they are now, and there is little doubt that the nomadictribes who wandered first into Hungary came with the tshuttora round their necks.Among the clay vessels was also one used for baking a sort of paste,the tarhonya, an indispensable article in the steppes of Hungary. It iscomposed of meal and sour milk, which is completely dried and baked overthe fire, and then rubbed to powder. In this state it can be kept good awhole summer, nay, sometimes two or three years, and is a very usefularticle to shepherds, herdsmen, and others who lead a lonely life, especially as they are apt to live far too much on animal food and fat. A goodhandful of this farinaceous preparation, thrown over their dish of pork,tends, it is said, to preserve them from a disease very prevalent here,called " tshom*or," and which is supposed to be occasioned by eating too much fleshmeat.This malady is very generally diffused in Hungary. At the same timethat I made acquaintance with the pottery I have described, I also saw thefirst instance ofa man afflicted with tshom*or . An old Hungarian was sittingnot far off. He was yawning and stretching himself, and looked wretchedly ill. I asked him what was the matter, and he answered in a verymelancholy tone, " Ah Jesus Maria! megisömöröttem.” (Ah JesusMaria! I have caught a tshom*or. ) In its most common sense the wordsignifies disgust; but, as I say, it is also used to denote a peculiar malady,supposed to orignate in the consumption of too much animal food. Thepatient is often attacked by it very suddenly. He experiences a generalsickness and feeling of disgust, loses his appetite, is constantly yawning,feels his limbs weak and his back stiff, and on his skin there appear aquantity of pimples or boils. The people will tell you that no physicianand no medicine can afford relief, but that the malady must take its owncourse, which always lasts three days at least, and this time, during whichthey abstain as much as possible from food, is mostly spent in yawning.To rub the back and limbs is almost the only thing that affords relief.One peasant will even ask another to thump him and kick him in the side, orto pull his arms about violently, and from this ungentle exercise they profess to derive great solace. The German- Hungarians, I was told, werenot subject to tshom*or, but the petty country nobles, who generally feedhigh and lead a somewhat idle life, are subject to this visitation quite asmuch as the peasants. I was told of one of these little provincial aristocrats, who was very often afflicted with tshom*or, and whose wife lived inconstant dread of one ofthese attacks, as on all such occasions she had to makeup her mind to three days of uninterrupted ill -humour; besides which, shewas certain of having her whole time occupied, during those three days,in rubbing the back and kneeding the sides of a cross and grumbling husband.The people who came with the goods I have mentioned for sale, weremostly Slavonians and Magyars; but there were also many Germans, co- lonists from the distant parts of Hungary. The weekly provisionmarket of Pesth is almost entirely supplied by Germans, as there aremany German colonies in its immediate neighbourhood; and these menare so disguised in their Magyar costume- broad-brimmed hats, wideTHE FAIR AT PESTH. 211trousers, and mustaches-that one does not always recognise them. Oneof them, coming from the Bakony forest, whom I addressed, and who hadbrought various wooden wares, spoons, shovels, rakes, tubs, &c. , confirmedto me the satisfactory information respecting the cultivation of potatoes,which I had collected on the Neusiedler Lake. The people are becomingeverywhere reconciled to them, although here, as elsewhere, they were atfirst received with vehement dislike. He told me, as I had been told atthe Neusiedler Lake, that thirty, nay, twenty years ago, the Hungariansattributed every imaginable mischief to potatoes, scarcely deeming themgood enough even for pigs. At present, however, he added, they were raised everywhere in the Bakony country.One of the most abundant articles in the market, and one of genuineHungarian manufacture, was soap, of which the quantities were truly astonishing. This is all made on the Hungarian steppes, principally on theTheiss, and in Debretzin and Szegedin. The best has much the appearance of Limburg cheese, and comes from Debretzin, where there are nofewer than a hundred soap-boilers. There also are made the true Hungarian tobacco-pipes; and, according to recent statistical tables, elevenmillions of them are manufactured every year, which would give one forevery man, woman, and child in the kingdom. In general whatever isregarded as peculiarly Hungarian, is to be found about Debretzin-for instance, the finest and largest melons. The culture of this fruit, as wellas the taste for it, however, has probably been brought from the countriesabout the Black and Caspian Seas, the native land of all cucurbitaceousplants. The usual plan of eating melons here, is to take one whole onone's plate, and scoop it out with a spoon, instead of cutting it in slices,and this although they are generally very large. A prize melon I sawexhibited by the Agricultural Society, weighed sixty pounds; and a Hungarian from Debretzin told me that in his country they sometimes reachedthe weight of one hundred pounds, and remained sweet, juicy, and finelyflavoured. The gourds, also, grow to an immense size, one of them oftenweighing as much as a hundredweight, and occasionally even twice as much.The common people eat them cut in slices, and roasted like chestnuts.The fair at Pesth is not only important to the different parts of Hungary, as giving an opportunity for the interchange of commodities amongthemselves, but also to the neighbouring provinces of Turkey in the south,and ofGermany and Poland on the north. Hungary is rich in the raw productions of nature, and the German provinces, as well as Austria, Moravia, Silesia, and the western part of Galicia, have surrounded this land ofraw produce with a chain of industrial towns, busied in the manufactureof leather, wool, cotton, and silk. The principal articles which they cometo look for at Pesth are wool, tobacco, cotton, skins, corn, wax, wine, andothers of less importance. The persons principally engaged in Pesth, asagents from these provinces, are the Jews; and the greater part of thebusiness is therefore carried on in the Jews' quarter, which is perhaps thebusiest scene in the whole fair. The skins are brought thither in greatwaggons, drawn by four, six, or eight horses, near which several foalsare often seen trotting; whilst behind comes a reserve team, either forrelief or for occasional sale. In the inner courts of the houses, where thewares are unpacked, is a scene of litter and dirt, and uproar and confusion,that cannot be described, but which may be conceived, if we reflect, that P2212 THE FAIR AT PESTH.among the chief articles bargained for are stinking hides and bed-feathers,and that the bargainers are Slavonians and Polish Jews.On the first day of the fair, which was Sunday the 29th of August, Iset out to see the fair in company with a Bohemian manufacturer, an excellent guide; for what the English are in Europe, that are the Bohemiansin the Austrian dominions, the soul of every industrial enterprise, andthe first to apply and bring into use all new inventions. He praised much,as we went along, the industry of his native country, and contrastedstrongly the rough state of every thing we saw with what it would havebeen in Bohemia. In some parts of the city which we passed through,some houses that had been thrown down by the inundation, still lay inruins, in others pretty little rows of new ones had been built in their placeson high dikes. Crossing the feather-market, where feathers were flyingabout in all directions, and which was covered all over with huge featherbeds, we entered a street where the dust was thick enough to hide theafternoon sun. Abandoning ourselves unresistingly to the pressure of themasses, we were pushed in and pushed out exactly as we wished to be.The great stream of human animation was at this time flowing out of thetown towards a large open space, covered with men and animals of all nations and races -not less, certainly, than thirty thousand persons beingpresent. The ground was very uneven, and on one little hill, some hundred women had established a market for eggs and live fowls. Anotherhill was covered with droves of pigs; on the plain were vast troops ofhorses, and the valleys were covered with sheep . In some places were longrows of linen merchants from Slavonia, and on a grassy declivity, a showman had set up a flag and a barrel- organ, and was explaining in the Hungarian language, to the bystanders, four painted representations of the fourlast tragical periods of the life of the Emperor Napoleon. It is no trifling testimony to the greatness of this man, that at this distance of time andplace, he should be thought the only one whose tragical moments wereworthy of attention . At the entrance of the market was planted a cohortof dealers in Paprika, who had sacks full of this red pepper, so violentlypungent, that a little on the point of a knife was enough, to our taste, tospoil a dish, but of which astonishing quantities are eaten by the natives.In the hotels, all sorts of Paprika dishes are brought-Paprika beef, Paprika bacon, Paprika fish, &c.; -but among the common people the Paprikais so universally understood, that it is seldom mentioned. One might thinkthat every thing in Hungary grew seasoned with Paprika, bread being theonly exception.This plant is, I believe, the same as that called among us, Turkish orIndian pepper ( Capsicum annuum); the kernel and the husk being groundup together for Paprika, both containing equally the fiery pungent quality.The Slovaks are the principal dealers in linen, which they manufacturethemselves in the north- western parts of Hungary, bordering on Silesia andMoravia, and this branch of industry has spread thence into other countries.As the Slovaks are the greatest manufacturers, the Hungarians are chieflyoccupied in the breeding of cattle and horses; and in the energy withwhich they devote themselves to the latter, it would seem as if they hadnot quite forgotten the ancient mode of life of their forefathers on the Asiatic steppes.I had opportunities enough to admire their horsemanship, in the featsTHE FAIR AT PESTH. 213exhibited by those who were showing off the capabilities of their severalsteeds, with a view to attract purchasers. One dealer, to whom it was objected that his horse was not quick enough inturning, made it rear on itshind legs, and pirouette three times running.Some antiquarians have been of opinion that the present Hungariansand the ancient Parthians were the same people, and, in fact, the accountsgiven of the Parthians, by the Romans, will almost always apply to both.The Poles also, though of an entirely separate race, are in this respectstrikingly similar to them, and Europe has received from these two nationstwo most important branches of her cavalry, the hussars and the lancers.It appears to me remarkable that the Tartars, Poles, and Hungarians, allsuch excellent horsem*n, should so seldom have produced distinguishedproficients in the art of horsemanship; but it would seem that the bettera people in general ride, the fewer mere show riders are to be found amongthem. On the other hand, exactly those nations which make the worsthorsem*n produce the greatest number of these exhibitors, namely, theBelgians, the French, and the Italians. The Italians, indeed, who havegiven a name (Franconi) to the most renowned of the horsemanship race,are decidedly the worst horsem*n in Europe. Thus it has been remarkedthat there are musical nations who have no composers, and poetical nationswithout writers, while those who have most of what is called " bonhommie,”have often the least of real and true virtue.As we passed through the fair we remarked among the gipsies, by whom it was thronged, a pair coming towards us—a tall young man and a middleaged woman-both as black as Africa. The woman was lamenting andgesticulating violently. We accosted her to know what was the matter.She told us, immediately, that the object of her displeasure was her husband, a blockhead and a spendthrift, and a good-for-nothing fellow, andthereupon she began to cry most bitterly, adding, that he had gone, without her knowledge, and had bought himself a handkerchief, for which hehad given twenty kreutzers. The handkerchief, moreover, was not evena good one; the colours were not fast; and so saying, she leaped upon hisneck and snatched off the handkerchief, showing where his shirt was stainedblue. The gipsy took all this very quietly, andlaughed when she snatchedaway his handkerchief, and afterwards, without our asking for them, produced his papers, his passports, and so forth, which he kept carefullypreserved in a bundle of rags. The possession of these certificates of legi- timation often saves the gipsy from much petty tyranny, since, if he happento be without them, every one is apt to think himself authorized to treat him in the most summary manner.It was at this fair that I first heard the celebrated Hungarian gipsymusic, in a large dancing-booth, where déjeuners, diners, and thés dansants were going on the whole day. The company was wholly composedof peasants; and the narrowness of the space in which they moved, wascompensated amply by their zealous endeavours to make the most of it .They lifted up, swung round, let go, and caught up again, their fair ladies,in a most vigorous and praiseworthy style; and the noise of stampingequalled that of a hundred threshing- machines. The heat was overpowering, and the dust suffocating; for, besides what was raised by the toils ofthe dancers, clouds came in at the open doors and windows, from the fairoutside, where herds of cattle were moving in all directions; and the sen-214 THE FAIR AT PESTH.sations occasioned by heat and dust were not diminished by the clangourof the gipsy musicians, with their trumpets and cymbals.Throughout Hungary the musicians are almost exclusively either Germans or gipsies; as the Hungarians themselves have in general little tasteor talent for music. I do not mean that they are absolutely insensible toharmonious sounds, for what people ever was? but I speak only of thecomparative susceptibility, and of their practical musical talents. TheGerman musicians of Hungary hold, of course, the highest rank, and aremet with in the principal theatres and churches, at the balls of the upperclasses, and in the first-rate hotels; but the gipsies fill the lower appointments, such as those in the small theatres, and in the smaller towns theyare the sole professors of the art. The Germans in general play none butGerman, French, or Italian music; but the gipsies the true national compositions of Hungary, which breathe a peculiar spirit, and are distinguishedby certain original turns and phrases, which I never remember to haveheard anywhere else. There is, however, a strong resemblance betweenall these Hungarian gipsy melodies, and it is easy for any one who hasheard one of them, to recognise others. Among the Tatars, also , at leastamong those of the Crimea, the gipsies are the usual musicians; I hadoften heard them there, but could not recollect enough of their music toknow whether it resembled what I heard in Hungary.I could easily understand the partiality manifested by the people gene- rally for this music, for there is something in its character so wild and impassioned-it has tones of such deep melancholy, such heart- piercing grief,and wild despair, that one is involuntarily carried away by it; and although, on the whole, the performance of the gipsies is rude and wild,many of them manifest so much of real musical inspiration, as may well make amends for their deficiencies in scientific culture. There are severalgipsy bands which are celebrated throughout Hungary, and some of the patriotic journals even cite with rapture some performers of the last cen- tury. Anecdotes are also often seen in these papers tending to exalt thesegipsy favourites above their more renowned brethren of the divine art.Thus, for instance, we are told of some pieces of Beethoven having beenperformed on a certain occasion, and received with immense applause,when some gipsy musicians entering, and playing some simple " Magyar Notas," the whole assembly was silent, and melted into tears. Even theGerman performers are sometimes compelled to learn some of these " Magyar Notas," with which they will often conclude, in order to leave a favourable impression on the minds of their audience, and " EgyMagyar Nótát,"(Now play us something Hungarian) is a common request at the close ofmore elaborate foreign compositions. There is, however, much monotony in this, as in all other national music, and the more cultivated even ofnative auditors are glad, after a while, to return to the greater variety and intellectual richness of our German compositions.After I had refreshed myself by a bath and a supper at our hotel, thecondescending " Queen of England," I set out again for a lonely walkalong the Danube Quay, as well to enjoy the coolness of the clear moon- lit river, as out of curiosity, to discover how some of the multitudes whomI had seen at the fair, were likely to be lodged. I found the whole strand covered with sleepers of all ages and both sexes, wrapped in blankets, mantles,or only in mats, stretched on the ground beside their wares. Most of themTHE CONGREGATION OF NOBLES AT PESTH. 215seemed to be enjoying a sound and refreshing sleep. Only a few of themore opulent or more effeminate, had let down a tent over their sleepingplaces, and lay with their goods under its protecting shelter. Those whohad barges, or who could get a place in one, lay or sat sleeping about them,sometimes covering the whole vessel, where a fire was usually burning.I stepped in and out, wherever I liked, among the recumbent figures;now and then, one would raise his head, stare at me for a moment, and then let it fall again upon his sheepskin. Here and there were groupsstill awake, and occupied with conversation, singing, dancing, and play.In the vicinity of the new bridge was one party, more numerous and animated than the rest, whose character appeared a little equivocal. Therewere some merry noisy Magyar girls, performing a variety of gymnasticexercises and dances, not of the most decorous character, but undoubtedly national. Sometimes one of them would go and rouse a sleeping companion who was supposed to possess peculiar skill in a particular movement, and she would jump up quite willingly, rub her eyes, and begin to dance with the utmost goodhumour.supA long flight of steps leads down to the Danube from the quay, andeven these were covered with people, Slovaks and Magyars, some sleeping, some waking. On the top of the steps stood one of the formerimitating a bagpipe in a very comic manner with his mouth, and havingsome article of clothing tucked under his arm to represent the bag, blowing out his cheeks, and bringing out in a masterly manner, the nasaltones of his instrument. While he played his imaginary pipe, he also dancedbackwards and forwards on the little space allowed him, and his music servedas accompaniment to certain " pas" executed by some women, whoported him occasionally with their voices. There could be no doubt ofthecountryof these theatrical and comic bagpipe- players; for besides the difference of costume, and the circ*mstance of the bagpipe being a Slovak, andnot a Magyar instrument, there is something too stiff and serious inthe character of the Hungarians, for these lively exhibitions, but the Slovaksare in general a more gay, conversable people, more given to song anddance and poetry, than their ruder and more sombre Magyar neighbours.At the bottom of the steps on the sands, were assembled a group ofMagyars, among whom an old man leaning on his staff, sent from beneathhis broad-brimmed hat the melancholy sounds of a popular national melody, to which his audience were profoundly attentive, and when all othersounds had gradually died away, his low mournful tones alone brokethe silence of the wide tranquil river, and the twin cities lay buried in sleep.THE CONGREGATION OF NOBLES AT PESTH.The provinces or circles into which, from the earliest times, Hungary has been divided, are called Comitatus, or counties, over each ofwhich is placed, as chief officer, a Comes, or count, who is a Magnateof the empire and a person of great importance, notwithstanding the simplicity of his name; and who is assisted by two deputies, or Vice Comes,under whom again are placed many subordinate officers.The whole division and organization of these counties resembles muchthat which was introduced by Charlemagne into Germany and France, andto understand more clearly those remote times, we need only study the216 THE CONGREGATION OF NOBLES AT PESTH.existing state of things in Hungary. I believe that an exact comparisonof what we have before our eyes in this country, with what we know ofthe Carlovingian institutions, would throw much light on both.Like the counts of Charlemagne, the Hungarian Comes are appointedby the king for life. In Germany these countships soon became hereditary, and obtained princely and territorial power. In Hungary, however,up to the present time, only twelve out of fifty have become hereditary, andthat not by gradual custom but by direct royal ordinance. All other offi- cers from the Vice Comes downwards, are changed every three years, andnew elections made by the nobility of the county. This three years' periodof service, and the choice of new officers by the nobility, exists also in othercountries organized on the basis of the feudal institutions.The election takes place in an assembly of all the nobility of the province, at which every prelate, every magnate, every nobleman, and somefew unnoticed and insignificant deputies of towns, are entitled to appearand vote. This assembly, which is called together for the choice ofdeputies for the diet, and also regularly four times a year for the regulation of matters of police and public economy, is called a congregation,though, as an Hungarian historical writer has observed, it might be named"Status provincia, " since it stands in the same relation, and performsthe same offices for the county that the " Status regni," or Diet, does for the whole kingdom.The triennial elections for the various county offices, are called " Restorations, " and one hears continually that, in this or that county, there isjust now a "Restoration " going on. These Restorations, and the Congregations, for the choice of the deputies to the diet, are the most animatedassemblies that Hungary has to show, and there take place those vivaciousscenes, sometimes described in our newspapers, and which bear some resemblance to the English elections for members of parliament. At the regularassemblies of the principal nobles, recurring every three months, things areconducted in a more orderly manner, partly because private interests donot come so much into play, and partly because the uneducated class ofpeasant nobles do not attend them. At the elections these always take aprominent part, for though they really care little about them, they arepushed forward and made cat's-paws of by the great nobles . I have neverwitnessed one of the elections, but I have often observed the affable condescension of the high official personages, when one of these periods wasapproaching. With respect to dress, and deportment, property, education,and manner of life, these peasant nobles are not a hair's breadth above thecommon peasantry of Hungary, and their pride, presumption, rudeness,and incapability of improvement, place them far below that level; whilst,therefore, their privileges in the Congregations, place them on an equalitywith the prelates and magnates, and their yes or no has equal power, theyare the most dangerous class of the community in Hungary, for they areprivileged in their stupidity and ignorance, —an empty, presuming, puffedup Ochlocracy.The Hungarian patriots of the day, nevertheless, take a different viewof this matter, and assert that exactly this class of peasant nobles, by theirnatural and healthy common sense, and their power of steady resistance,have often in moments of danger proved the main support of freedom andthe constitution, and have hindered many abuses in cases where the royalprerogative has been stretched too far, and where the more powerful andTHE CONGREGATION OF NOBLES AT PESTH. 217better bred magnates have often been influenced or corrupted. If this be so,it is much to be regretted that the Hungarian constitution should rest onno better foundation than this ignorant peasant nobility. An enlightenedmiddle class would form a basis equally firm, and one far more favourableto the mental and physical progress and development of the country.upvery Be this as it may, it is curious to observe how the manners of thegreat nobility towards the little, become more and more amiable and gracious as the day of election approaches. They drive into their villages,visit their cousins and brothers, as they call them, on terms of the mostfriendly equality, solicit their " most sweet voices," and give no very delicate hints of the abundance of good things to be prepared for their banquets in the towns on the days of election . Carriages are sent to bringthe voters, houses hired for their lodging and entertainment, and the daybefore the poll the candidates drive round to all the public houses to looktheir constituents, and see if they are satisfied and in good humour.The different parties are usually distinguished by wearing red, white, orbluefeathers in their hats, and on the important day they vie with each otherin early rising, for it is above all things of consequence to be the first to getpossession of the county-house, where the election takes place. If theyhave not drunk too much over night, they often fill the hall as early astwo o'clock in the morning, and though they cannot exclude their rivals,many of these halls are so small in proportion to the numbers of the nobility present, that a brisk, active party has often entirely filled it, andeffectually prevented the friends of the rival candidate from getting near thepolling place. Whoever is the most quick in his movements, splendid inhis promises, and profuse in his expenditure, generally wins the day, sothat the coveted posts are often dearly purchased. An election will costas much as twenty thousand or thirty thousand florins and upwards, butthe place of a Vice- Comes, by direct or indirect methods, is pretty sure tobring in again as much or more. The candidate is proposed by theObergespann" or Comes, and accepted or refused by acclamation, butshould it not be easily determinable by this method, the votes are counted.On the announcement of the names each party seize their man, raise himon the shoulders of his friends, and exclaim " Vivat! Vivat! That's theright one-e —We'll have no other. " The opposite party of course do its bestto insult him, these insults are again resented, and such tumultuous scenestake place, that the prelates and orderly people in general are glad to make their escape. Even after his election, indeed, the " happy man" is by nomeans left to enjoy his success in quiet, for the congratulations and caressesof his adherents are often most inconveniently uproarious.66I attended many of the sittings of the Pesth congregation, and was present at their opening. In the antechamber of the principal hall several"Haiducks" were walking up and down. They were tall, distinguishedlooking people, dressed in the handsome Hungarian costume, and fully armed. Several of them are always appointed to attend the Comitat, orcounty-house, and they are also placed at the head of the ordinary policeof the county. They allowed not only every nobleman, but every decently dressed person to enter the hall, and even strangers were admittedto mingle freely with the speakers. There is indeed in every Comitathouse a gallery for those who are not to take a part in the proceedings, butno one, with the exception of women, and those who are shabbilydressed, is obliged to confine himself to it.218 THE CONGREGATION OF NOBLES AT PESTH.The hall is fitted up in a manner which, though simple, is perfectly welladapted to the purposes it is intended for, and decorated with full- lengthpictures of the deceased palatines. There is also one representing themeeting of crowned heads at Paris in 1814, beneath which is an inscription that already seems to belong to by-gone times-" Domita Gallorumferocia usurpationibusque coercitis Vindices libertatis Europa Felicifæderejuncti."The hall soon became filled with nobles, young and old, officials and nonofficials, many in simple surtouts, but most in the splendid national costume, and all of course armed. The conversation and movements of theassembly were perfectly quiet, and at length the president entered and thesitting was opened.The President of the Congregation is the palatine of Hungary, who isalso ex-officio, Obergespann of the Pesth Comitat. The archduke, however,has not attended the sittings for some time, but performs his duty by adeputy, or, as he is here called, " Administrator." This administrator, aMagnate of Hungary, now entered, greeting the assembly with the ordinary Hungarian salutation, " Alarzatos szolgaya," that is, " Yourhumbleservant, " of which one seldom hears much more than a hissing sound, andthen took his place at the end of a table occupying the centre of the hallwiththe " Vicegespann, " secretaries, and other officers, on each side. Theother nobles stood round or walked up and down the hall. There were in- deed a few benches, but they were mostly used to stand on. Near thepresident lay a heap of papers, diplomas of nobility, protocols, and printedpamphlets, the latter on the subject of mixed marriages, concerning whicha proposal was about to be made; and as the subject is just now excitingmuch attention in Hungary, all hands were immediately stretched out afterthem. The Vicegespann could not reach to give to every one, and whenthe pressure became too great, he seized a whole bundle of them, and threwthem over the heads of the crowd into the middle of the hall, where theywere laughingly caught by the bystanders.As the discussions were carried on in Hungarian, I could not, unfortunately, understand them, but I was informed they related to some proposalsthat wereto be made at the next diet, relative to a certain government officer,who had defrauded the treasury of fourteen thousand florins, and to themeans of preventing such frauds in future, to the announcement of somepatents of nobility granted by the king, and to the taxes on butcher'smeat, which in Hungary are ofas much consequence as the bread tax with us.The diploma of nobility was written in Latin, and was of extraordinarylength; containing all the long titles of the King of Hungary, and theEmperor of Austria, then the ordinary and extraordinary services renderedto the state by the individual to be ennobled, and then followed the namesofthe archbishops, bishops, prelates, obergespann , and vicegespann, with alltheir titles, which are put in partly for the sake of ornement, and partly,as I was told, because these high and mighty personages are considered insome measure, to guarantee the validity of the patent.Any person who wished to speak, called attention by exclaiming, “ kerem,kerem!" that is, " I beg," and then approached the president's table, orsometimes spoke over the heads of those who were between. Almost allthe speakers appeared to me to be characterized by a manly and dignifiedbearing; many spoke with great fluency, and some with what seemed likeTHE CONGREGATION OF NOBLES AT PESTH. 219impassioned and fiery eloquence. Whenever any thing was said that seemedparticularly to please, the gallery resounded with " Elyen! Elyen!"equivalent to our " Bravo!" or " Vivat!" Another word which I heardoften repeated was " Hayunk! Hayunk!" that is " Hear, hear!" butnot used precisely in the sense in which it is employed in the Englishparliament, but rather in the sense of " Order! or Silence!" and thesecontinual injunctions of " silence, " did not a little to increase the noisealways occasioned in an Hungarian assembly, by the moving about andclatter of sabres and spurs. It was sometimes impossible to hear thespeaker for the vociferations of these lovers of order.The best and most eloquent speaker among them was said to be thenoble deputy, Kossut, who acquired so much fame at the last diet. Hewas, as must be known to a large portion of my readers, imprisoned for aconsiderable time, for having made public some discussions of the diet,is now editor of the most popular Hungarian journal, the " Pesti Hirlap,"which were forbidden to be printed, by distributing a considerable number of manuscript copies. He was subsequently liberated, and is nowthe most fearless and untiring advocate of all that tends to the ameliorationand advancement of his country, the boldest and most unsparing denouncerof the errors and abuses in the constitution and government. He hasmade it his especial care to keep guard over what he considers the weakside of his countrymen-namely, the liability of the judges and otherofficers to corruption and irregular influences, and never fails to discoverand expose offences of this description. Under these circ*mstances itcannot be but Mr. von Kossut, should have many enemies, but he countsa far greater number of friends, the whole public of Hungary being on hisside, and he is the favourite and the political hero of the day. His Hirlap is the oracle on all occasions, and during my stay in Pesth, wheneverany public matter was discussed I continually heard the eager inquiry:"What does Kossut say of it?"

--

HeI looked with much interest at this man, on whom the eyes of all Hungary may be said to be fixed . He is of middle size, and very agreeableexterior; his features are regular and decidedly handsome, but stronglymarked and manly. He is in the prime of life, with rather redundanthair and whiskers, but a mild and modest expression of countenance.was rather pale when I saw him, and his features wore an air of earnestness, slightly tinged by melancholy, though lighted up by his fine flashingeyes. He spoke for full half an hour, without a moment's hesitation, andhis mode of delivery appeared to me extremely agreeable. His voice isas fine as might be expected from so handsome a person, and the soundsof the Hungarian language, powerful and energetic, seemed, from his lips, Imight almost say, warlike, although they come hard and harsh from themouth of an uncultivated speaker. The " Elyen! Elyen!" frequentlyinterrupted him, and the " Hayunk!" was scarcely heard once, for every one was attentive and silent of his own accord.National pride, and the fiery zeal of patriotism in Hungary, tend much,I believe, to the improvement of oratory, and we Germans might takemany a lesson in these things from our Magyar neighbours. I do not,however, mean to convey an impression that all the members of the Pesthcongregation were orators; many remained mute the whole time of thesitting, and others walked up and down, with their plumed Kalpoks intheir hands, appearing chiefly intent on the display of their elegant cos-220 THE BRIDGE AT PESTH.tume. One did nothing but twirl about his rings, and another devotedhimself to the unceasing brushing of his hat, and from many no sounds were heard but an occasional " Elyen!" or Hayunk!"66The office of the vicegespann is something like that of speaker in theEnglish parliament, as he calls to order those who require his interference,and, in case of contumacy, has the power to inflict pecuniary fines, or evento exclude the disorderly person from the hall. Among the anomalies whichare everywhere discoverable in the Hungarian political edifice, is also this;that if the offender can make his escape from the hall before the vice- gespann has had time to utter the words-" For this offence I sentenceyou to a fine of twenty-five florins," he escapes also the punishment.Should the Haiduck, however, at a sign from the Vicegespann, place himself before the door, the offender must remain and pay; and if he havenot as much money, and that it is necessary to send an officer home withhim, he must pay double.I was told that one of the town deputies would very soon find himselfsubjected to this fine, if he presumed too far in his remarks on any privilege of the nobility, " for we deputies of cities, " said one of them to me," have a seat but no vote in these congregations." Upon this topic wewere soon engaged in a warm discussion, in the course of which we foundmeans to withdraw from the hall.THE BRIDGE AT PESTH.I know of no bridge concerning which so much has been in moderntimes said and written as the new one now building over the Danubebetween Pesth and Buda, and there are certainly few works of this kindwhose execution has been opposed by so many obstacles political andphysical. This truly gigantic work is deservedly regarded with pride bythe Hungarians, and is, after the bridge of Trajan at Orsova, the onlyconstruction of the kind, the only permanent bridge, to which the middle andlower Danube have been subjected. With the exception of the Russianrivers, the Danube is one of the poorest rivers in this respect in all Europe,for whilst the little Thames counts almost fifty bridges, the mightyDanube from Ulm cannot number a dozen. The extraordinary breadthof the stream, the rapidity of its current, its irregular course, and thegreat inundations to which it is liable, have been the chief physical impediments to the erection of a permanent bridge, but something also mustbe attributed to the want of energy and activity in the people inhabitingits banks.Between Pesth and Ofen ( Buda) the Danube is about 1800 feet broad,and in early times when there was less intercourse between the two cities,the want of a bridge may have been less felt . Some barges tied together with ropes answered the purpose until seventy-five years ago, when aboutfifty pontoons were substituted, and these, diminished to forty-two, weremoved to their present position by the Emperor Joseph. This contrivance, however, is very insufficient to the present wants of the inhabi- tants, and in winter is of no use at all. From December to March it islaid aside, and the communication between the towns wholly carried onby boats. This is occasionally by no means safe, and there occur days,from time to time, when the twin cities are wholly cut off from each other.THE BRIDGE AT PESTH. 221This bridge is besides much too narrow for the passage of great herds ofcattle, large heavy waggons or bodies of troops, and on some of theseoccasions -the latter for instance--the bridge is for the time closed againstother passengers. In summer when the water is very low, the bridgesinks so much in the middle, that horses are exposed to the labour oftoiling up a wooden hill, and it has sometimes happened that waggonshave broken through and fallen into the river .These evils and inconveniences had often been made the subject of discussion, more especially about fourteen or fifteen years ago; innumerablearticles had appeared in the newspapers, and debates had taken place inthe diet; but the matter did not begin to wear a hopeful aspect till thezealous, patriotic, and influential Count Szechenyi placed himself at thehead of the undertaking, and made a journey to England for the purposeof consulting the ablest architects. An official report was then published, and at length, after many and violent discussions in the diet, itwas determined that the work should be begun.It is hardly possible for us to imagine how the mere building of a singlebridge between two towns, should be a matter of such violent interest tothe whole kingdom, as to give rise to tediously protracted debates in thegeneral diet, but this may be explained, partly by reference to the realimportance of the undertaking for the whole country, and its great cost,and partly by certain existing political evils.The importance of the undertaking is evident, not only for the two citiesimmediately concerned, but for all Hungary, since, for the extent of a hundred German miles (more than four hundred and fifty English) there is nota single standing bridge; those of Komorn and Peterwardein being bridgesof boats, and those at Presburg and Gratz flying bridges; and at thoseperiods when the Danube is full of ice, or the countries bordering on itinundated, so as to render the passage difficult or even impossible, thewhole kingdom is rent into two parts, cut off from all intercourse witheach other. The whole kingdom is, therefore, interested, that, somewhereor other, there should be a certainty of communication, and this is especially desirable in this heart of the country, this central artery through which pours the great tide of its commercial life .The expense of the erection is undoubtedly a difficulty, for it is not easyto raise such a sum as £500,000 sterling, in a country which though richin produce is so poor in money as Hungary. It has been accordinglyfound necessary to entrust the pecuniary part of the business to a Viennacapitalist, the wealthy banker Sina. Many over-zealous patriots have, indeed, uttered grievous outcries on this occasion. " Oh heavens, why didthey not rather make a subscription through the whole country? The summight have been easily raised, I myself would have gladly given a hundred florins, and I know many who would have given more, ratherthan have the whole country made tributary to a foreigner." It hasbeen agreed, if Baron Sina advances the money for the bridge, he shallbe allowed to erect on it a toll, for the space of eighty-five years.It is possible that the patriotic plan might have succeeded, but whoeverknows how little disposable capital there is in Hungary, and how verydifficult these easy things are sometimes found to be when put to thetest of experience, will not be disposed to regard with a jealous eye aplan by which so great a benefit has been secured to the country.222 THE BRIDGE AT PESTH.Another difficulty by which the subject of this bridge was brought before the diet, consisted in certain privileges of the nobility which it wouldbe necessary for them to renounce. The whole body of Hungariannobles, namely, have been hitherto entitled to pass either on foot or horseback over the Pontoon bridge, without paying the toll demanded of all unprivileged passengers. Baron Sina protested against any such exemptionsin the case of the new bridge, and refused to advance the sum required,unless all persons whatever were subject to the toll. The said privilege,however, is so intimately connected with that of passing free over all roads,bridges, and highways of the kingdom, and finding, "I am a nobleman,"accepted at all turnpikes instead of a certain amount of kreuzers, thatthe privileged orders dread of all things an attack upon this right (or wrong)as the first breach in their grand aristocratic circumvallation. Many ofthem,therefore, refused long and obstinately to make this concession; but theirresistance was at last overpowered by the exertions of more liberal men,and the undertaking fairly commenced. The first shot has been fired,therefore, but it will be long yet before the breach is sufficiently widened.For my own part I own I could not witness without disgust the exercise ofthis petty but insolent privilege at the old Pontoon bridge. Let the readerimagine a row of mustached fellows, most of them ( alas) speaking German, opening their barrier not only to every noble, but, according to acustom which has slipped in, to every well- dressed man, and seizing by thearm, and rudely demanding the toll of every poor working mechanic, everyJew or peasant boy that passed. These bridge- guards, by long practiceof their trade, have acquired such a lynx-eyed dexterity, that even onSundays and holidays, when the mechanic is often as elegantly dressed asthe noble, they are never deceived . They know by sight almost all theinhabitants of Pesth and Buda, as well as their children and the inmatesof their houses, and can tell in a moment who does, and who does not belong to the privileged orders. The rich Jews generally pay a certain sumyearly to avoid the annoyance of being stopped whenever they pass, and Ihave been informed, that, curiously enough, the gipsies enjoy the sameexemption as the nobles. "Les extrèmes se touchent" or they are perhaps regarded as such complete nullities in society, that they are allowedlike the free commoners of nature, the birds, to fly in and out as theyplease.I cannot conceive how it happens that the upper classes cannot mustermagnanimity enough to subject themselves voluntarily to this trivial tax,if it were only to avoid the disgrace of the thing; it is strange too tothink, that any people should long submit to such a miserable species ofoppression.Many abuses are no doubt ofmore importance, but this is of so open andbarefaced a character! The great man walks by unquestioned with hispurse full of ducats, while the poor one, the very beggar, is forced to rum- mage among his rags perhaps for his last kreuzer. Blessed, therefore, bethe new edifice which is to introduce a better system! Blessed be itsfoundation- stone, which is to be at the same time the foundation of Hungarian equality and true freedom!I visited the works several times with a card of admission which I obtained at the " Bridge Office, " for the correspondence, the managementof the money, and other matters connected with the building, have occasioned so much business, that it has been found necessary to have anTHE BRIDGE AT PESTH. 223office, and a pretty numerous establishment of clerks and officers devoted toit. In order to support the weight of the bridge, which is to consist ofa system of iron chains, four piers are necessary, two near the shore, andtwo in the middle of the stream. The four main chains which are tobear the greatest burden, are to weigh 24,000 cwt.; they have beenmade in England, as there do not exist in Hungary the machines requisite to try their strength, and subject every part to a rigid examination.This trial machinery is enormously expensive; but in England it is oftenwanted, whereas in Hungary it might never be wanted a second time.1The bridge was begun on the 1st. of May, 1840, and the part nowerected, consists only of the coffer-dams, for two out of the four piers.The construction of these coffer- dams is in itself a gigantic work. Theyare temporary enclosures made in the river, by driving in a doublewall of piles, pumping out the sand and water, and filling the emptyspace with water-tight clay. In order to give them the necessary strengthto resist the pressure of the ice in the Danube, they are fortified by asystem ofcross beams in the interior. For the whole bridge, in the construction of these coffer-dams, no fewer than 7000 piles are required,each the trunk of a mighty pine-tree. Each of these piles is furnishedwith an iron point, weighing near a hundred weight, so that for thesepoints only, 700,000 pounds of iron must be sunk in the bed of theriver. Every pile has to be sunk eighteen feet deep into the bed of theriver, and this is effected by the strokes of an enormous block of iron,every pile requiring about 400 strokes; yet all this toil is of course onlyto serve a temporary purpose, for as soon as the piers are completed,the piles are sawn away under the water, leaving only what is deep in the ground.A steam- engine of twenty-four horse power has been erected to pumpthe sand and water out of the coffer- dams, and if the work proceed only atthe same rate as hitherto, we may calculate that every summer one ofthese preparatory labours will be completed, and the people engaged onthe works may feel tolerably satisfied, that for many years to come thereis no fear of their wanting employment.Some difficulties that existed, however, with respect to certain buildingsbelonging to the government, and which obstructed the works on the Budaside, have been arranged, and they will now proceed more rapidly.I accompanied the principal architect to the place in the middle of theriver, where they were preparing for the middle pier, and was muchamused by the gabble of English, German, Italian, Magyar, and Slavonian workmen, swarming like ants over the scaffolding in the midst ofthe mighty stream. I counted above twenty machines at work, drivingin piles at this one pier, and though it seems a simple thing enough tokeep one's hands out of the way of a machine weighing ten hundredweight, and falling thirty feet, yet the people are so careless and thoughtless, that accidents are very frequent, and the loss of their hands andfingers is often the consequence.The number of persons in the hospital of St. Rochus, who have beenwounded and injured in this way, amounted to fifteen. At this rate wemay calculate on seventy or eighty persons being more or less injured,before the bridge is completed.The English workmen, whom the architect had brought with him, takeprecedence of the rest; next to them are the Italians from Trieste and224 THE RASCIAN TOWN. - TURKISH BATHSVenice, who have much experience in subaqueous building; and after thesecomethe German, Hungarian, and Slavonian workmen. There was only oneof the natives with whom the English architect professed himself satisfied,saying they were in general " stupid people, " but of this one he said,Yes, yes, he is something like an Englishman-there's some spirit about him."66I climbed upon the extreme point of a sort of bulwark erected to breakthe force ofthe ice, and enjoyed a magnificent panorama of the two extensive cities and the mountains around, from the middle of the majestic river;indeed I could not prevail on myself to leave the place till the evening bell sounded across the water.Great anxiety prevailed in Pesth last winter, concerning this ice breaker,and it was thought it must be swept away, as well as the coffer-dam it wasintended to protect. To the great triumph of the English, however, it remained uninjured.As it was Saturday night I rowed ashore in the company of a crowd ofthe workmen who were going to get paid. Under a wooden shed, in thecourtyard of the Bridge Office, where lay vast heaps of building materials,there stood a long wooden table, covered with heaps of money in various coins, of great and small value. " Precious burden!" thought, doubtless,the workmen, as they stood around contemplating it with eager glances.They were called up one after another to receive their week's wages fromthe hands of a smart cashier, who counted out the money with great rapidity, whilst a clerk sitting by entered it in a book. One might tracesomething of the character of each man in the manner in which he receivedhis money. One would clutch it eagerly, as if afraid it might be takenfrom him again, another would come up with a saucy air, with his hat on one side, as much as to say, "Come! give me what belongs to me. " A third,with a sullen and sinister look, would glance round at the cashier distributing all this money with so much indifference, as if he thought, " Ah!you rich rascals, you have money enough, but you give us poor fellows aslittle as you can- if I had but an opportunity! "I noticed that though they all took it without counting, probably out ofrespect, they stopped outside and counted it carefully two or three times over. Some would immediately begin to discharge little debts to theircomrades, some would give it to their wives who were waiting outside, andothers would go singing and shouting along, disputing as to which was thebest public-house to spend the evening in.THE RASCIAN TOWN.- TURKISH BATHS AND ORIENTALPILGRIMS.In the beautiful picture of Buda, on the opposite side of the river, presented from the windows of my hotel, I was particularly struck by a partof the town lying between the Observatory and the Castle Hill, coveredwith its churches and palaces. This was the district particularly inhabitedby the Rascians or Servians, consisting of about a thousand small houses,occupying the side of a steep hill called the Blocksberg, with terraces rising one above the other. These horizontal streets, of which there are five orsix, are connected by little steep lanes or flights of steps, and from the distance, the houses appear to have but one window each. The whole hadAND ORIENTAL PILGRIMS. 225very much the appearance of a great amphitheatre, in which the housesrepresented the boxes. I expressed to a Hungarian acquaintance my wishto take a nearer view of this curious quarter, and he answered according to the odd expression much in use here, " Well, dear thing, if you wouldlike to go, go, but I shall not go with you, for I know there is nothing to be seen."I may remark, en passant, that this word thing is used in a more extended sense, and made more universally serviceable, than, I believe, inany other country in the world. They not only use it as we do ourselves, to signify any inanimate object whatever, of which we cannot immediately recollect the name, but even extend it to persons and abstract qualities ofthe mind.The Rascians have spread all over Hungary from Servia their nativeprovince, principally in the Banat, the Batschka and Syrmia, which weshall have occasion to speak of in the sequel; but in northern Hungary,the land of the Slovaks and Rasniaks, there are but few. They haveestablished themselves as bargemen and traders on the Danube, and almostin every town on its banks a particular quarter is appropriated to them, as in many German towns to the Jews.These people have been drawn into Austria by the spirit of trade, butalso frequently driven into it by the oppressions suffered from the Turks intheir own country. This migration of the Servians has been constantlytaking place since the first appearance of the Turks in Europe-from thetime when their first princes fled to Buda to seek the protection of theHungarian king Sigismund, to the day when prince Milosch came toVienna to solicit permission from the emperor to buy land in the Banat.Something similar has taken place with the Armenians, who also escapingfrom Mussulman tyranny, have spread over the southern provinces of Russia. They were Rascians and Germans, who, at the close of the seventeenth century, were taken as colonists to repeople Pesth, just snatched from the hands of the barbarous Turks. The Rascians chose the Blocksberg, the Germans fixed themselves on the Castle Hill, but these now sofar exceed their fellow-townsmen in numbers, that the whole city maybe considered a German one, -the Rascians themselves being half-trans- formed into Germans.The quarter which they inhabit has no very attractive appearance, noris the aspect of the houses much more inviting. On opening the doorleading into a little courtyard of one of them, the first thing that met myeye was the pigsty, over which, as well as over a shed near it, a picturewas nailed up, comfirming what I had heard of the fondness of these people for all kinds of pictorial representations.The owner of the house, whose name was Bagdonovitsh, (literallytranslated, the son of the one sent from God, ) was not at home, being atwork in the vineyard of a German neighbour. The rooms were very clean,and on one of the walls hung pictures of our Saviour and several saints,although the general character of the Rascians is by no means of a saintlyorder. The opinion entertained here of their cunning and roguery ispretty well expressed by the common saying, that it will take four Jews and five gipsies to make one Rascian. In this condemnation are includedthe modern Greeks and Macedonians; and there is probably some truth inthe notion, for the very same opinion of them is entertained by the peoplein Odessa, and in other places where I have heard them spoken of: and it isQ226 THE RASCIAN TOWN. -TURKISH BATHSpretty much in the same estimate that they were held formerly by the Venetians and Genoese, with whom they were engaged in mercantile relations; nay, even the Romans had the proverbial expression " Græca fidesnulla fides." One must not, however, suffer one's opinion to be influencedtoo much by sayings of this kind, for if we visit and observe these peoplein their homes, we find at least as much to excite interest and sympathy,as to awaken contempt or dislike.The reputation of the Rascian town, in Buda, corresponds exactly withthat of their countrymen throughout Hungary. If any inquiry is madeconcerning the conduct of its inhabitants, the usual reply is, " Well I haven'theard of any thing lately, but it's a bad place to go to at night; one'slife's not safe there at night:" and my own experience did not tend certainly to contradict this unfavourable judgment.It happened one evening that I was strolling rather late up the Blocksberg, on which, as I have already said, the observatory is situated, in orderto pay a visit to an astronomer who had promised to show me something I wished to see on the disk of the moon, and as I climbed up the narrowcrooked lanes and dirty paths which abound in it, I could not but call tomind some stories I had heard of its peculiar propensities. I came backquite safe and sound, but early the next morning, having occasion to retrace my steps, I saw the body of a murdered man lying exactly in thepath I had traversed the night before. The police were occupied in conveying it into a house, and in answer to my inquiry I was told, " Yes, the Rascians killed a man last night! He was a dealer in wood, who used tobring Slavonian oak for the new bridge that's building. He had just beento get his money, and lay down in the moonshine to sleep. Silly enough,but they do it continually, to save the expense of an inn; the money's gone, and there's the man, and a pretty pickle he is in. " " But, good God!how is it possible? here in the middle ofthe street, surrounded by houses! "" Oh, there are people here who never hear any thing, and there are plenty of bargemen or cattle-drivers that may have done it, and be far enough offby this time." I pitied the fate of the poor wood- dealer, and could not but feel that I had had an escape.On one of my visits to the Rascian town, I entered a sort of eatinghouse, over which was inscribed, " This house is in the hands of God, andis kept by Maria Leitherin," and the Maria Leitherin was a German. The intimate association into which the Germans and Rascians are brought, has,however, by no means tended to abate the feeling of jealousy existing between them, and this jealousy is never more conspicuous than in thechurch, where the sermons are delivered alternately in German and Servian.In the pious processions this feeling of nationality often breaks out into indecorous squabbles; as each party desires to have the precedence, and boththe spiritual and temporal authorities are sometimes obliged to interfereto settle the disturbance. A great number of the Servians of Buda donot belong to the Greek but to the Catholic church, having been convertedby the Franciscan monks, but the Servians in general cling with greattenacity to their original faith. The Rascians or Servians (for these termsare in fact nearly synonymous) are said to be more devout than theirGerman neighbours, and more rigid observers of fast-days, but at the sametime far more addicted to brandy.The Rascians have, like all orientals, a passion for warm baths, andit is not unlikely that they were induced to settle on the spot they nowAND ORIENTAL PILGRIMS. 227occupy by the temptation of the sulphur springs, since three out of thefive which Ofen possesses, are to be found in the Rascian town, the King'sBath and the Emperor's Bath only, lying farther up the Danube.These baths were known and used even in the Romans' time, and theTurks, as may be supposed, fairly revelled in them. To them, indeed(I mean the Turks), most of the improvements made in the baths areowing. They are frequented by all classes, and many visit them everyday, sauntering away much of their time afterwards in the theatres andcoffee- houses of the neighbourhood, or in loitering about in the sunshine.A spacious building, enclosing several courts, has been erected over thesprings, from which the water is carried in pipes into a great number ofmore or less elegant bathing-rooms, and finally into a great basin calledthe Common Bath, which is precisely in the state in which it was leftby the Turks. Some of the baths cost as much as two florins the hour,but in the common bath one may sit the whole day for a penny. Onvisiting this we had to pass through several narrow passages before entering the chief apartment, where such a dim twilight prevailed, that forsome time we could distinguish nothing, every object being veiled in athick vapour. By degrees our eyes became accustomed to the light, ordarkness, and we could perceive many naked figures, sitting or swimmingabout in the water, which flowed through the middle of a high-vaultedchamber supported on pillars. To the pillars were attached a few dimlamps, and two or three very small windows, deeply sunk into the very thick wall, admitted a scanty gleam of daylight. A broad stonepavement ran round the basin, and stone benches round the walls. Men,women, girls, and children, of all ages, were splashing in and out,and dressing and undressing themselves in various corners, and the boyswere amusing themselves, by slipping about on the wet marble floor. Myconductor informed me that he knew a painter who often came here to study the " human form divine," and it must be confessed there was plenty of opportunity. No one appeared disturbed by the presence of his neighbours,but packed up his or her clothes in a bundle, and placing them in a dryplace on a bench, very quietly walked into the water, and after splashingabout for a while, sat down under one of the pillars. I was particularlystruck by a young and very pretty girl, who undressed herself in a distantand rather dark corner, and keeping on nothing more than a little shortunder petticoat (a remarkable instance of modesty by the by) very composedly jumped into the bath. No one of the men offered to approach her, every one keeping within the limits of his own domain. One only, itmight have been her brother, or perhaps a bridegroom, did not seem torelish the curiosity with which we were regarding her, and came splashingup towards her. By the feeble light of the lamp we could see the girllooking anxiously and timidly in the direction in which we were standing,and the dark steaming face of her friend, whoever he might be, emergingfrom the flood, and placing himself between the girl and us inquisitivestrangers. I cannot say, however, that I believe the girls who frequent thesebaths to be generally of immaculate character, but poverty and the passionfor baths, does occasionally tempt even these to visit them.In The Imperial Baths, at the other end of the town, immediately on theDanube, resemble these in most respects, but are still more extensive.the centre of this building is a kind of garden, where, when I visited it,numerous bathing guests-Servians, Germans, Hungarians, Jews, and૨ 2228 THE RASCIAN TOWN. —TURKISH BATHS, &c.even Turks, who often come to these baths from great distances, were promenading about, enlivened by the music of a gipsy band. The baths areas much frequented in winter as in summer, for many of the poor areglad of such an opportunity to get thoroughly warmed through, for three kreuzers, or rather more than a penny. I have been told that fish aresometimes found in the warm water of these baths, but I never saw anything but some frogs, and that was in a particularly cool part of them.The water flowing out of these baths serves to turn a mill, and a littlefurther on, where it falls into the Danube, has still warmth enough left toinduce the laundresses to take advantage of it to wash their linen. Thesesprings never freeze in the coldest winters, and flow with equal abundancein the driest summers, for which reason the mill, an old Turkish fortress,with four towers, pays six thousand florins rent, and the miller is, consequently, to be considered as an opulent person, besides having a veryagreeable though rather corpulent wife, and some very pretty daughters.I have, I must confess, an old prejudice in favour of the beauty of millers'daughters, and it was certainly strengthened by what I observed here. Imade acquaintance with the family, and promised to pay them a visit inthe evening after returning from a certain Mahometan house of prayerin the neighbourhood, respecting which many strange, but, I imagine,fabulous stories, had been told me.The keys of this mosque are kept in Constantinople, and the pilgrimswho visit the spot every two years, receive the keys on setting out upontheir pilgrimage, for which they are equipped by some religious society inthe Turkish capital. This mosque is, moreover, the most northerly pointof Mahometan pilgrimages. We ascended the hill after passing the laststraggling houses of Buda, and, leaving the broad road, entered a footpath, which led through the yard of a Buda vine-dresser, up a little flightof steps, and so close to a pigsty that when the Mussulmans pass bythey must have some trouble to preserve their flowing garments from thecontaminating touch of the unclean animal. The sacred building itselfis a solid octagonal stone mausoleum, such as is often seen in Mahometanburying-grounds, and is the tomb of a distinguished pacha of Buda.vine-dresser's wife, a worthy old German dame, who was in the habitof performing little services for the pilgrims, such as bringing themwater to wash, informed me that there seldom came more than threeor four in a year, but that this year, she knew not why, they amounted to fifteen.Most of them appeared to be poor people, but some few brought ser- vants with them. They all pulled off their shoes before entering themausoleum, and those who had their servants with them, had their feetalso fumigated with a costly incense which they brought with them. Thepilgrims all appeared quite well acquainted with the locality, as if it hadbeen previously described to them in Turkey.When they enter the door, they place one foot closely before another,so as to count their steps, till they arrive at the spot where lies the headof the saint. They then fall prostrate on the ground and pray, -manywith such devotion and exhausting fervour, that they are carried out fainting, when their companions or attendants rub them with a certain ointmentwhich restores them to life. They come not only from Constantinople, butalso from the distant parts of the Turkish empire, from Asia Minor, Syria,and even from the Persian frontier. Most, as I have said, are poor, andTHE HOTELS AND THE CASINO AT PESTH. 229travel on foot from place to place, and are usually kindly and hospitablyreceived by the catholic priests of the place, or by the convents, whichliberally afford them shelter and support. The greater number of thesepilgrims are modest and well-behaved people; but it occasionally happensthat some are troublesome, and they are in such cases conveyed, at theexpense of the city, back to the Turkish frontier.We could not enter the mausoleum, as it is kept locked, but our conductor furnished us with a ladder, by help of which we looked in at somelittle grated apertures at the upper part, by which it was feebly lighted.The walls were whitewashed and hung with various articles, -a sword, adagger, a banner, a rag of black cloth (probably from the renowned blackmantle of Kaaba), and other things. I was told that there was also astone suspended there, although from where we stood I could not see it;and that it was half-transparent and written over with sentences from the Koran.It became quite dark and we were still lingering round the mausoleum,and among the boundless stretch of vineyards by which it is surrounded.Times were indeed changed since the Turks poured their conqueringarmies, with the sultan at their head, over these countries, where now comesonly a solitary wandering pilgrim indebted for his bare existence to thedescendants of those very Christians, whom his forefathers regarded astheir slaves. Perhaps this lonely shrine hears many a fervent prayer,that Allah would be pleased to restore this land to the dominion of the faithful.Our hostess of the mill informed me that a Turkish dervish was thenliving at the Imperial Bath, who after he had performed his prescribed devotional duties at the mausoleum, having had a desire to visit the far- famedcity of Vienna, had set out to travel on foot in that direction; but, onaccount of some irregularity in his passport, the poor innocent dervishhad been seized by the Austrian police as a suspicious person, and mostunceremoniously marched back over the Hungarian frontier, as if he hadbeen a person dangerous to the peace of the empire.THE HOTELS AND THE CASINO AT PESTH.I have often had occasion to be surprised at the immense numberof hotels which have sprung up in Germany during these late " pipingtimes of peace;" but I must confess, that what the last twenty years havedone in this respect for Pesth, far exceeds any thing of the kind that wehave to show. The grand style of these establishments, strikes us the more, when we consider what the town was even a few years ago; and itmay serve also as a standard by which to estimate what it probably willbe some years hence. Those of Buda, although twenty in number, cannot be compared with those of the sister-city in elegance. Those of thefirst class in Pesth are usually built round a quadrangle, with two greatdining- halls, one below opening into a garden, furnished with anchestra in the evening, and another on an upper floor, more private andmore frequented by guests ofdistinction; the fittings up of both apartments being equal to any thing we should expect in Paris. There is always acoffee-room well supplied with newspapers, and (as far as I can decide thequestion) the cuisine is unexceptionable. The staircase is generallyor-230 THE HOTELS AND THE CASINO AT PESTH.broad and handsome, being entirely of marble, decorated, wherever it ispossible, with the Hungarian national colours-green, red, and white, thegreen being understood to designate the green hill on which the ancient kingsof Hungary at their coronation were wont to brandish the sword; white forthe four principal rivers of the kingdom, the Danube, the Theiss, the Draveand the Save, and red probably to indicate the royal dignity. Thesecolours meet one at every turn in Hungary; the chairs and sofas arecovered with red, green, and white stuff, and the rays of the sun enterthrough red, green, and white blinds; the servants in all public institutions wear these colours in their livery, -and in the hotels and coffee-houses,where patriotism is " your only wear," they present themselves in everyvariety ofform. I had some curiosity to discover the date of the commencement of this fervent nationality, and in the public shooting-gallery of Pesth, where the targets for a series of years are hanging up, I perceived that the appearance of the Hungarian colours began with the year1829. On one of these, two angels were introduced, and they had hadthe complaisance to appear clothed in red, green, and white.The new private houses in Pesth, belonging to the wealthiest citizens,are like the hotels, built in a very splendid style, and through the openhouse- door, the long vista of columns, and fountains, and beds of flowers,and magnificent staircases, formed out of blocks of red marble, is sometimes really surprising.This peculiar marble, which is very abundant in Pesth, is broughtdown the Danube from the quarries near the villages of Neudorf, Kühgrand, and Domosloch; it is used for every variety of purpose, from thepalaces of the living, to the monuments for the dead. It is rather soft,and does not admit of a very brilliant polish, but it contains many shells andfossils, which often are made to produce a very beautiful effect . One piece, inparticular, I recollect having seen preparing for the headstone of a grave.A stone-cutter was just then employed in carving the outline of a finelydrawn shell of three feet in circumference, and what was once the homeof a snail, is now proudly enthroned over the remains of a human being.This marble appears to be very easily worked, for the letters " LouiseAmalie Friedr" (I did not wait for the family name) were cut while Istood looking on.•Several architects in Pesth have already gained a considerable reputation; some for the solidity, and some for the elegance of their structures;and in general, it is to be observed, the city has been indebted for all itsimprovements and adornments, not so much to the magnates as to thecommercial classes of her inhabitants. The finest house belonging to anyof the latter, is that of the rich tobacco monopolist, U--- n, and themost gorgeous of the palaces of the nobility is that of Count K- TheHungarians just now think nothing good enough for their , capital, and acomparison of both public and private buildings of former times with thoserecently erected, will enable us to form a correct estimate of their progressin the arts during the last twenty years. The last tremendous inundationhas, in its consequences, proved of no little service to the improvements,by sweeping away numbers of small old houses and hovels by whichthey were obstructed . Till then Pesth resembled a lady decorating herhead with feathers and diamonds, while her feet were naked, and perhapsnot over clean. The inundation has washed these feet, with a rough broomindeed, that in some places carried away the skin with it, but the woundsTHE HOTELS AND THE CASINO AT PESTH. 231are now mostly healed, and in place of the miserable clay huts and woodensheds that have been destroyed, there have sprung up rows of neat, prettyhouses. It were to be desired that these dwellings might retain this characteristic of neatness; but if we call to mind the description given byCount Szechenyi of the manner in which a new and elegant steamboatwas dirtied and destroyed by Hungarian travellers, we shall feel no confidence in the duration of the pleasing appearance, unless we suppose thatthe habits of the travelling Hungarian differ materially from those of hiscountrymen in their own homes. As this is not likely to be the case, it isprobable that a new washing will be necessary before long, though hardlyas rough a one as the town received on the last occasion from the Danube.Notwithstanding all we have said of the beauty of the city there are portions of it which make a very unfavourable impression; which in summer aresmothered with dust, and in winter half-buried in mud; and many parts,even including the palaces, have an uncomfortable air of newness, rawness,and want of finish. Another fault also, that should not be passed overwhile we are speaking of the new buildings, is their frequent want ofsolidity, and the haste visible in their construction; but it must be admittedthat this is a failing exceedingly prevalent in our times. I have seen newhouses here with cracks in their beams wide enough to put myhand into. Thenight before I left Prague, a large newly-erected mansion fell in; and thereis at this moment an extensive building in Berlin with such a split in itswalls, that it is a question whether it will be held up by the neighbouringhouses or draw them with it into destruction. I pointed it out to aFrenchman, and he told me that these matters were not a whit bettermanaged in France.The new building in Pesth, the Redoutenhaus, devoted to balls andassemblies, contains two such magnificent rooms as are not often to bemet with in our wealthiest and most luxurious capitals, and the dancingroom has a chandelier, requiring three thousand wax-lights. They are,however, never all lighted at once, as the heat they would occasion wouldbe so great as infallibly to melt them.The most important and interesting public building, however, is that ofthe Pesth Casino; which, as I have before observed, has given occasion tomany similar institutions all over Hungary. This establishment-I meanthe noble-or, as the people here say, the Magnate Casino -is devoted, inthe first place, to social meetings, such as balls, concerts, and dinners; andsecondly, to the purposes of a library and reading institution . It containsseveral comfortable and even elegant rooms, in which all Hungarian publications, without any exception, are taken in, as well as the best German,and several English, French, and even American papers. For the libraryall books published in the Hungarian language are procured as soon asthey leave the press, and so are all those having any reference to Hungarythat appear in foreign countries, besides many others of interest on generalsubjects. I must own that I consider myself as under particular obligationsto this Casino, for I generally had the three pleasant and convenient apartments for my sole use and benefit. The thirty large handsome lamps shone for my accommodation, and the literary treasures of the bookcases and tables appeared to be laid out as tribute at myfeet. Now and then asingle reader besides myself would drop in, but he was sure before long tobegin to yawn, and speedily disappeared. I cannot, however, affirm, that Ishould at all times have enjoyed equal opportunities for this luxurious re-232 THE HOTELS AND THE CASINO AT PESTH.tirement among books, so peculiarly to my taste, without being disturbedbythe intrusion of any visiters; for I generally went there after the theatrewas over in the evening, and it was the time of the year when many ofthebest families are out of town. In winter the institution is probably morefrequented.In one of the reading-rooms there stood always twenty pipes readyfilled, and I enjoyed few more agreeable moments during my stay at Pesth,than when, kindling one of what I may call my twenty pipes at one ofmy thirty lamps, collecting a packet of interesting books and papers, andletting myself down into one of the luxuriously cushioned lounging-chairs,I proposed to dream over what was passing or had passed in the past or present world.The great work of Count Marsigli, " Danubius Pannonico Mysicus,"contains such exact and minute details of every thing connected with therivers Theiss and Danube, that I was quite alarmed to find the field hadbeen so laboriously tilled . Miss Pardoe's book on Hungary, like mostEnglish works on this country, is far too laudatory to be of much value;and I do not think the lady can possibly be acquainted with the writings ofCount Szechenyi, the deceased Count Desewfy, and other distinguishedHungarian patriots, or with the manner in which they have pointed outclearly and boldly all the evils and abuses of their native country, else shewould scarcely have ventured on the exhibition of such an extremely flattering portrait. To show every thing in this deceitful " couleur de rose"style, is to do no true service either to the native or the foreigner.The English sympathize readily with the Hungarians, not only from thecommercial relations between the two countries, but far more on the higherground of a similar enthusiastic love of political freedom. They are apt tooverlook the vast differences between the Hungarian and English constitutions. While the power of the aristocracy in England is balanced by anearly equal power in the third estate, that of the aristocracy of Hungaryhas no similar counterbalancing power at all. The nobility in Hungary=1,000; the people = 0. In Hungary, indeed, there are counted fourclasses or estates, as constituting the diet, namely, the prelates, the magnates, the knights, and lastly, the deputies of the towns; but the threefirst have no interest in common with the latter, who may be consideredto have a seat, but no voice, in the assembly. My favourite book, however, was the Collection of Acts of the Hungarian Diet, a handsome copyof which is always lying at the Casino, ready for reference, on a table appropriated to it. Whatever may be the defects of the constitution ofHungary, it must certainly be a great advantage for the people to be ablethus to make out what is the exact state of the law on any subject. Thetitle of this book is Decreta, constitutiones et articuli serenissimorum etapostolicorum Regum ac inclytorum statuum et ordinum Regni Hungarici. I seized on it eagerly, with a view to examine for myself, whether there really existed that remarkable hiatus I had heard of betweenthe acts of the government of Maria Theresa and of Leopold II.,and I found, indeed, blank leaves in place of the decrees of JosephII., from the year 1791. It is well known that by a decree of theDiet, all the acts of this emperor were annulled, after his death, as illegal,on account of his not having been a crowned king of Hungary; and thisspace in the book was, in consequence, left empty. Immediately afterthe decrees of Maria Theresa, followed those of Leopold II . HadTHE HOTELS AND THE CASINO AT PESTH. 233the Hungarians merely objected to the form of these acts, which was certainly illegal, they might not have been to blame; but, especially after theadvice given to them on this point by the dying Joseph himself, theyshould not have thrown away, along with the faulty vessel, so much that was excellent in the contents. Is it not to be regretted that there shouldremain in Hungary no trace of this excellent and admirable man; who,notwithstanding some occasional errors, was one ofthe most distinguishedsovereigns that ever reigned over the country? Nowhere is his namebreathed. It is as if he had never existed, or as if a curse lay on hismemory. Will not posterity say that they have striven to annihilate theremembrance of the best and most enlightened ruler ever granted to them?The extraordinary, the preposterous value set on the crown, is one of themost curious phenomena in Hungarian history and legislation. The"golden round" of the holy Stephen, studded as it is with pearls and diamonds, is after all nothing more than the outward symbol of that idealcrown which is the key and corner- stone of the whole edifice of the state.These types of sovereignty have a kind of sacredness even among othernations, but among the Hungarians this reverence for the tangible materialcrown is carried beyond all reasonable bounds. It is not only figuratively,but absolutely in itself sacred, and a consecrating power is supposed to goforth from it; it is called " Sacra Regni Corona cum Clenodiis suis," andaccording to the law of the kingdom, whoever has not literally and corporeally worn this metal ring on his head, is not the king. The principlethat the king never dies is not recognised in Hungary; the king is allowedto die, but the crown which is spoken of by the Hungarians as a living,mysterious king, rules then alone till a new sovereign has united himselfwith it. He does not receive the title of " Sacratissima Majestas" tillhe has had the crown on his head; before that he is spoken of as " Neocoronata sacratissima Majestas."The route which the Hungarian projects of law have to pass, throughall the debates and stormy discussions which take place before they canreach the tranquil black and white of the paper code, is a very longand circuitous one. First comes the king with his postulates or "Propositiones Regiæ," and distributes them to the various estates or classesassembled round his throne, as the Hungarians say, " with becomingpomp. "These proposals are now taken into consideration by the two tables,that of the magnates and prelates, and that of the knights and town deputies,who discuss them among themselves, and consider the difficulties (gravamina) which they mean to oppose to the royal demands. The two tablesthen acquaint each other with their respective resolutions, and hold generalsittings, (sessiones mixtæ, or non mixtæ, ) until all, or at least a majorityare agreed concerning the answer to be made. In all these discussions, however, the deputies of thetowns are entirely innocent, let the issue be whatmay. Whenthe king and the states are not ofthe same mind, and at thebeginning of the session, at all events, this is generally the case, there follow innumerable resolutions and representations, and negotiations interspersed with more debates and more sessiones mixta and separatæ,until at last they agree on some points, and agree to differ on others, whichare then put off till the next diet.itAt the end of the session, all that has been agreed upon is summed upin a paper entitled, " Articuli dominorum prælatorum, baronum mag-234 THE HOTELS AND THE CASINO AT PESTH.natum et nobilium cæterorumque, " this et cætera signifying the twelvemillions of Hungarians who are not nobles.These articles arethen read to the king, and his assent required in a respectful manner, but this he does notgrant till he has subjected the paperto anotherrevision in his council. Should it be entirely approved of, he then has itput into the form of a decree, to which he gives his general and specialsanction; declaring that he accepts, approves, and confirms what it contains, that he will observe the same himself, and will require it to be observed by others. To these decrees (decreta serenissimorum apostolicorum&c. ) the royal seal is then affixed, and they are presented to the States with the same pomp with which these had received the royal proposals. Theseacts are then made public in all the comitats, and from that time they have the force of laws.Among all the books, however, which occupied me at the Casino, therewere none in which I was so much interested as in the writings of CountSzechenyi. This unwearied noble- minded friend of his country has beenthe author or promoter of almost every useful and valuable undertakingthat it has witnessed for years past: steam-navigation, the making ofroads as far as the Turkish frontier, the establishment of the LiterarySociety of Pesth, of the Casino, every desirable improvement brings thename of count Szechenyi prominently forward as a chief actor; he hasfound time, nevertheless, for a series of writings, all tending to the same noble end. The first, and most celebrated, is called " Credit," andunder this title he treats of Hungarian affairs in general, of thesacredness of public duty, of agriculture, of the cultivation of the vine,of the wine trade, of trade in general, of road-making, of steam-navigation, and of all those things which would be likely to raise the characterof Hungary in the eyes ofthe world in general.The second work is called " Light," or information relative to the work called " Credit, " and was called forth by an analysis or criticism upon itpublished by count Joseph Desewfy. These, I am sorry to say, are theonly writings of Count Szechenyi which I have read; but I must ownI felt some astonishment, that considering the home truths which he hasspoken, and the free and uncompromising terms in which those truthsare expressed, the countrymen of the count should not only listen to himwith patience, but should even praise and exalt the author to the skies,should hang his portrait in their apartments, and " wear him in theirheart's core" as the first of patriots. Had not the proof been before meI could not have thought that any one in Hungary would have ventured to denounce in such strong terms the national defects and errors . I couldhave fancied I was reading an oration of Demosthenes, or listening to apatriot of the Roman republic pouring out a torrent of indignant eloquenceagainst the follies and vices of his countrymen. Nothing, certainly, couldgive a higher idea of the noble disposition, and great capability of improvement of the Hungarians, than the enthusiastic approbation withwhich they have received these writings, as well as those of Kossut andothers, in which they are thus roundly taken to task.These gentlemen, as I have before hinted, however they may agree in ardent zeal for the progress of their country, are by no means agreed onmany other points. No two ofthem perhaps can be said to be precisely ofthe same opinion. The two counts Desewfy, are, however patriotic, decidedlyaristocratic in their views, and, considering the Hungarian constitution asTHE HUNGARIAN LITERARY SOCIETY. 235essentially such, desire to see it developed strictly in accordance with the intentions of their forefathers. Mr. von Kossut is a patriot of a differentstamp, and of far more liberal principles. He agrees in the main withCount Szechenyi, and in his widely- spread journal, accessible to all, givesutterance to nearly the same views as those expressed in the more elaborateworks of the count, addressed to a more select audience. There has beenindeed some dispute between them concerning the mode in which von Kossuthas deemed it fitting to utter his opinions; and this dispute, which may beconsidered either as a literary or a political controversy, formed, at the timeI was in Pesth, a general subject of conversation. Two editions of CountSzechenyi's pamphlet had been sold off, immediately, and I remained long enough for the publication of von Kossut's answer. At all the corners ofthe streets I saw flaming on red and yellow paper, Felelet, GrofSzechenyiIstvannak Kossut Layosto " (Answer to Count Stephen Szechenyi, byLudwig Kossut); and I heard continually the questions, " Have you seenKossut's answer? What does Kossut say?"We in Germany have no idea of the lively interest in all politicalquestions that prevails at Pesth. It is only at Paris or Brussels that we eversee any thing like it. The public interested in these matters is also by nomeans as limited as might be supposed. The subscribers to the Hirlapalone amount to four thousand, and the editions of the abovementionedpamphlets, which were sold off almost as soon as published, consisted eachof several thousand copies . Those who from their position in society cantake no active part in political affairs, still look eagerly on as anxious andinterested spectators, and read with avidity all that is written on thesubject.THE HUNGARIAN LITERARY SOCIETY AND THE HUNGARIANLANGUAGE.In the middle ages the city of Pesth was always designated as a " Teutonica urbs, " and even twenty years ago, it might still be considered as anentirely German town. In hotels and coffee-houses, at halls and publicentertainments, or in private houses, nothing but German was spoken, andeven those Magyars who had hardly any German to speak, were obligedto make the most of it. Not only many Hungarian Germans, but manyeven among the magnates knew nothing of their mother tongue. In theyear 1825, a bookseller of Pesth published a Hungarian Lexicon, which had very little sale. All at once the tones of this language began to beheard, and since then the tide has risen higher and higher in its favour,until it threatens to overwhelm its Latin, German, and Slavonian competitors. The dictionary, of which, in three years, only a few copies hadbeen sold, went off all at once, and another edition was called for, and disposed of in a very short time. Not much more than fifty years ago,there was not even a professor of the Hungarian language and literatureat the Pesth University, and it was not till the diet of 1790, that a requestwas made to the king "ut in Gymnasiis Academiis et UniversitateHungarica peculiaris Professor Linguæ et Stili Hungarici constituatur," and now it is required not only that every German, Slavonian,or other professor should give his lectures in the Magyar tongue, but thateven the very peasant should take pains to acquire it. The demands of theMagyars, that the Germans and Slavonians should learn their language,236 THE HUNGARIAN LITERARY SOCIETY66may be regarded as an answer, though rather a late one, to the proposal ofJoseph II. , that the Magyars should learn German; the emperor was ofopinion that not only the Magyar language, but the Magyar customs and privileges were altogether obsolete, and ought to be thrown aside, anddreamed not that beneath these ashes a spark still glimmered, that erelong would burst into a bright flame. Immediately after the death ofJoseph, the Hungarian diet addressed his successor on the propriety ofabolishing the use of foreign languages in public business, and imploringut autem Nativa Lingua Hungarica magis propagetur et expolietur."It is from this proposal, doubtless, that may be dated the commencementof that enthusiasm for Magyarism, which would have reached its presentheight long before, if the French Revolution, at the period of Napoleon'spower, had not been interposed. The impulse given by Joseph was, however, so much the more effectual, since the campaigns of Bonaparte hadawakened a powerful emotion of nationality in almost every European state. There arose at the same time a similar feeling among the Germans,and even among the Slavonians.The native language of the Hungarians had, in the mean time, beentoo little cultivated or developed to make it acceptable to other nations . No work of any importance had been written in it, and it couldnot, like the Bohemian and other languages of the Slavonian family, pointto any past period in which it had been more flourishing . Nothing,therefore, it was thought, could better advance the proposed object, thantheestablishment of a Hungarian literary society, which, while it should takecare to foster every remarkable manifestation of native talent, should encourage the publication of grammars and dictionaries, pursue variousbranches of grammatical and philological inquiry, should publish a literaryperiodical, and offer prizes for Hungarian works, and for essays on proposed questions relating to the native language and literature.After the failure of many attempts, the society was at length establishedin 1825, Count Szechenyi contributing sixty thousand florins towards itsfunds, and inducing by this munificent example many others to offer similarsacrifices on the altar of their country. A president was appointed, anddirecting, corresponding, and honorary members were chosen. The society has now been fifteen years in activity, and possesses, besides a considerable library, a capital of four hundred thousand florins. Many philological, historical, and poetical works of considerable merit, have alreadybeen ushered into the world under its auspices, and their authors liberallyremunerated, and the society is, therefore, with respect to Hungary, whatthe French academy is for France.In the antechamber of the hall hangs the best portrait I have seen ofCount Szechenyi, painted by Amerling, of Vienna, and I wish I could produce on my paper, as well as he has done on his canvass, the fine stronglymarked features, the eyes full of fire, and the whole manly, noble,energetic expression, which render it such an interesting specimen ofHungarian national physiognomy. May this portrait long remain in theantechamber-for it is a rule of the society that the picture of no livingmember shall be hung in the hall.Much attention has been paid by this society to the dramatic branch ofliterature, and many translations from German and French, and someoriginal pieces, have been produced, by the aid of which it has becomepossible to establish a national theatre at Pesth. Hitherto there existedAND THE HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE. 237none but German theatres throughout the country. Asum of four hundredthousand florins was granted by the diet for the erection of this theatre,but I cannot say it appears to me likely that these efforts will, for the present, at least, be crowned with much success .However great may bethe enthusiasm for the cause, the obstacles, I fear, are still greater. Thereis an evident deficiency both of national dramas, and of actors and actresses,and the Magyars have certainly no peculiar talent for the art. I was toldthey succeed best in tragedy, which I can easily conceive; but I had theill luck to see one of their comedies-a translation of Scribe's piece," L'Art de Conspirer. " It lasted, I do not know by what contrivance,from seven till eleven o'clock, though in Paris it never takes more thantwo hours and a half. Of the twenty-four boxes only eight were occupied,and the remainder entirely empty, but the pit and gallery were full. Themore refined part of the public, it is said, frequent the German theatreby preference, but the young men, students, and others, prefer the Hungarian.An Art Union has also been established in Pesth, upon the plan of oursin Germany, and I paid a visit to its exhibition . The pictures were mostlyfrom Vienna; but partly from Munich and other German places. I found,I must confess, in the specimens I saw, neither excellence nor the promise ofit, although I have met in foreign countries Hungarian painters of considerable merit; but they were of German and not of Magyar descent. Ayoung German woman from Vienna, whose husband has an appointmenthere, informed me of an instance of a kind of national feeling againstwhich, I trust, his countrymen in general will be on their guard.It wasof a Hungarian from the interior, who had come to the exhibition expecting to find only genuine Magyar productions, and who was quite indignant at seeing so many pictures from Vienna. He objected, too, in German,to seeing the catalogue printed half in Hungarian and half in German, andbegan to tear out all the German leaves, without perceiving that in his rage he was destroying the alternate Hungarian pages also. The lady told methis in a whisper, and was evidently afraid of being overheard, as she saidthe Hungarians were exceedingly touchy on points of this kind.Notwithstanding what I have said, I by no means wish to deny thatHungarians may attain to eminence in the pictorial arts, I would onlysuggest that they should not be too hasty to tear the German leaves fromtheir catalogue, lest many a good Hungarian one should be lost in theprocess.This remark may apply also to the great exertions nowmaking to introducethe Hungarian language. The advantage of employing a language so far more cultivated than the Hungarian, as the German is, appears on manyoccasions so obviously, that the most determined patriots find it hard toavoid doing so, and to feel half-ashamed of their native tongue. They areoften compelled to intersperse, in their conversation, German turns and expressions for ideas, which they cannot otherwise make intelligible. Thetown police of Pesth is in general compelled to speak German, as it cannot otherwise be sure of being understood by the great mass of the public;and this is also the case with another branch of the administration, that ofthe army, (that is the ordinary standing army, and not the militia or insurrection, as it is called, ) in which German is so thoroughly established,that it cannot be displaced. I noticed also that of all fortresses, barracks,guard-houses, barriers, and gates, the Imperial Austrian colours, black and238 OFEN, OR BUDA.yellow, appeared in the place of the favourite red, green, and white, ofHungary. The banishment of what has hitherto been the political and di- plomatic language of Hungary, the Latin namely, will be found an easiertask; I say will be, for the whole matter is still to be spoken of as in futurum. The Magyar language has not, like the German, struck deep rootinto the hearts of the people, but rather resembles those plants which floatloosely in the air. It has been by law excluded from the legislative assemblies, from diplomacy, and in a great measure from the sciences and fromthe schools. Even as late as the preceding summer, the university lecturescontinued to be given in Latin, but the beginning ofthis year was to be thefinal term at which the Latin language was to expire. It was thought thatsufficient time would then have been given for the professors to makethemselves acquainted with the Magyar tongue; but I fancy this will prove, in many cases, to have been a mistake.The Austrian government has in general not opposed these attempts atnational and provincial separation in the several states united under its dominion. It thinks perhaps, " Divide et impera, " but in order to make sureof the impera, it is at least necessary to retain the use of its own language in the army. If every one of the nations composing an Austrian army wereto be commanded each in its own language, the whole would become entirely unmanageable. The question of the employment of the Hungarianlanguage, even in the army, is nevertheless to be discussed in the nextdiet, and the present difference of opinion on this subject with the government has occasioned the handsome building, erected for a military schoolin Pesth, to stand hitherto empty. The Hungarians have built it at theirown expense, and will not consent to give it up, except on condition that the young officers shall be instructed in their native tongue; the government, however, insists upon German being the language, and between thetwo, the building remains totally useless . I shall be curious to see what will be the eventual fate of these now empty rooms.OFEN, OR BUDA.The passion for cold baths which prevails more, all over the Austrianmonarchy, than anywhere else in the world, and to which Graeffenbergmay perhaps have contributed, finds abundant opportunities of gratification in Pesth, and certainly if there ever existed a fashionable mania,which promised wholesome consequences, it is this warm attachment to cold water. Not only in the great cities, but even in many of the mostinsignificant towns of the empire, there are excellent establishments of thiskind to be found. Not only are there baths on the Elbe, and the Danube,and the Moldau, but on the Save, the Drave, and the Theiss; on the Maros,and on the Koros, and on the Neusiedler Lake, so that the river-god maybe said to pour his health-giving floods over the backs of the whole Austrianmonarchy. In all public institutions, in schools, in hospitals, in madhouses, and more especially in the army, every measure is adopted to promote the abundant use of cold and swimming baths. In Vienna they areon the most magnificent scale, and the military man and the civilian, therich and the poor, ladies and gentlemen, young and old, healthy and sick,find their way into the Danube. The river-baths of Pesth are of courseon a smaller scale, and more unpretending in their style, but there is noOFEN, OR BUDA. 239deficiency of any real convenience. There are baths of all kinds and suitable to all classes, and as the entrances, on the rafts on which they float,are in general richly decorated with flowers, with a bright Hungarian flagwaving from the top, they may be considered ornamental as well as useful.The Vulcanic hot baths on the Ofen side, which I have already mentioned,are frequented by Walachians, Servians, and Turks, whilst the river-bathsof Pesth represent the German or West European elements of the country.The former might be called the Vulcanians and the latter the Neptunists,among whom may generally be counted, besides the Germans, the higherclasses of Hungarians. This difference in the two cities may be tracedthrough many other particulars. The people of Ofen have built their cityon Vulcanic ground, on chalk hills, and by the white dust on their clothes,they may generally be recognised; the inhabitants of Pesth have erectedtheir dwellings on a sandy deposit from the river. The existence of thelatter is based on commerce, for which they are indebted to the river; thatof the former on their vineyards which cover their hills, and extend forleagues beyond the town.The people of Pesth are in all things the great rivals and antagonistsof the people of Ofen; and the people of Ofen, although they cannot getso much as a good pin or a ball of packthread without running over thebridge for it to their neighbours, and depend on those neighbours for theconsumption of their wines, are never tired of disputing with and depreciating them. Ofen is built on the right bank of the river in Pannonia,which has always been the part of Hungary most influenced by Germany.Pesth lies on the left bank in the steppes of Dacia, and has thrown itselfwith far more ardour into the recent Magyar movement than its sister city;and has also, as the Americans say, " gone ahead" far more rapidly in trade,in the acquirement of wealth, and in general material development. Pesthhas risen almost with the rapidity of an American city; whilst Ofen, occupied chiefly with the sacred arts of Triptolemus and Pomona, lies like aquiet country-town by the side of its bustling neighbour, and celebratesthe mysteries of Ceres and Bacchus. As on most other subjects, a difference of opinion also exists between the two towns concerning their respective origin, each regarding herself as the original, and the motherof the other. As the early history of both is very obscure, it is not easy todecide the point with certainty, but the probability is certainly in favour ofthe fertile hills and sheltered valleys of Ofen, over the sands of Pesth, exposed to all the winds of the desert. The Pesthians are the stronger party,and now that they are advancing on their rivals over their new bridge,will probably swallow them up. The Ofeners are much opposed to theprojected amalgamation of the two cities under the name of Buda- Pesth,as they consider that they would in that case become mere subjects of thePesth burgomasters. I directed my steps one morning (after a preparatory dip in the Danube) through the silent, dusty, sunburnt streets orOfen to that quarter of the town which may be considered as uniting theextreme ends of her history; abounding in Roman antiquities, Roman baths,Roman tombs, Roman fortifications, and having on the little island of OldBuda which lies opposite to it in the river, the new dockyards, whence thenew steamboats are launched into the Danube. These docks were built byaPesth shipowner, and the whole island, which is overgrown with large trees, isoccupied by them. There are not less than five hundred people constantlyemployed in them, from countries experienced in ship and boat building;240 OFEN, OR BUDA.among them I found eight or nine Englishmen, fifty or sixty Italians, fromthe Italian ports of Austria, which furnish bridge and ship builders for thewhole Danube, and some from the Rhine and from Switzerland, who havesome experience in the steamboats used on inland lakes and rivers. Therewere also Dutchmen among them. Eleven steamboats have been launchedfrom this dockyard, and there are not in the whole more than twenty on theDanube and its tributaries. It is a great disadvantage to these vessels, that ifany repairs for the machinery are required they are obliged to be sent toVienna. On the whole, according to what I heard from one of the Dutchmen engaged here, it appears that the engines are made too small, and thevessels are too heavily laden. No less than two million florins' worth ofmaterials in iron, wood, ropes, chains, &c. , have been collected on thisisland and these when made up into steamboats will, it may fairly be anticipated, yield to Hungary an ample interest for the capital invested.Among the vessels still on the stocks, was one iron one, the thinness of which amazed us. Götz von Berlichingen, and Kunz von Kaufungen,wore thicker plates on their breasts. Some chains made in England,and others made here, were shown to us, and it was a difference likethat of day and night. I trust I shall never have to lie at anchor withany but an English chain.The Roman remains lie mostly sideways from Old Buda, and are saidto be partly sunk in a marsh, but I did not reach them, having spent toomuch time in the Margaret's Island, searching for the remains of anancient bath which are only visible when the water is low. As there isno reason, from the nature of the ground, to suppose it can have sunk,this might afford a standard by which to estimate how much the level of the Danube has been raised since the time of the Romans.This Margaret's Island is about half a mile long, and very narrow;it belongs at present to the archduke Palatine, who has changed the whole surface of it into a beautiful garden, formerly open to the publicat large, but now only to a few visiters, on account of some injury doneto the plantations. A convent, a church, and some houses were erectedhere by the princess Margaret, daughter of king Bela IV. , but thesewere afterwards laid in ashes by the Tatars.Extending from the town along the whole shore of the Danube, lievegetable gardens, producing principally cucumbers, melons, and immensequantities of apples of paradise, as they are called. They remindedme of the Bashtans, the Tatar vegetable gardens of South Russia. Everygarden is provided with its own well, and at a certain time of the dayhundreds of these wells are to be seen in full activity, as the soil is exceedingly dry. In the suburbs of Pesth are also many vegetable-gardens, but these are almost entirely occupied with cabbages, for whichthe people of Hungary have an extraordinary partiality. There areparts of the country where the peasants are in the habit of boiling a hugepot of it at the beginning of the week, and warming it up every day.They maintain, that the oftener it is warmed up, the better it is, consequently never so delicious as on the seventh day.We passed to the Castle Hill through Neustift, and the Water Town; thetwo most villanous parts of the city, inhabited by a population made upof odds and ends, from all the nations of Europe, Italians, Germans,Spaniards, Portuguese, &c. , fragments of the Austrian army which besieged Ofen under Charles of Lorraine, and recovered it from the Turks.OFEN, OR BUDA. 241•After the conquest of the place, they received grants of land and settledhere, and have long since become so completely Germanized, that theycan be distinguished by little else than their names.These family names, and the names of the different hills, are nearly allthat remain to speak of the days of deadly strife by which these fertile lands have been so often laid waste. The Swabian hill where the Germans were encamped; the Eagles' hill where the dead bodies of thousandsof Turks were devoured by great flights of eagles; &c. Of all the buildings that covered the Castle hill-the castle of the Hungarian kings, theChristian churches, and the Mahomedan temples-scarcely one stone is leftupon another. The terrible devastations to which Hungary has been exposed, from the Tatars on the east, in the thirteenth century, from the Turks on the south in the sixteenth and seventeenth, and their fierce warswith the Germans and other European nations for its possession, -haveswept away the traces of former greatness more completely than in anyother capital of Europe. Moscow, Cracow, Warsaw, notwithstanding theterrible storms they have passed through, have still more antique remainsto show than the principal cities of Hungary.There is an armory on this Castle hill said to contain arms for eighty thousand men; and among the objects of interest preserved in it is somearmour said to have been worn by Attila (probably not genuine, but interesting from the long- continued belief in its authenticity), and the armour of Ziska, the renowned Hussite hero, the iron of which is so thickthat it seems scarcely possible that a human being could have worn it.Several of the pieces had to be screwed together on his body. There isalso a relic of the French Revolution in the shape of a red cap of libertymounted on a long pole, and a thick silk banner, once carried by theAustrian crusaders to Palestine-which, if it really made such a journey,is in surprisingly good preservation. There are besides, banners of theFrench Republic, of the Respublica Cisalpina, and of the Carbonari ofNaples, the latter representing a cap of liberty between two daggers, withthe words, " Egualianze o morte! Subordinazione alle legge militari;"a curious collection of trophies! but they may serve to point out the interest which Hungary has taken in these various occurrences.There are in Ofen great magazines of saltpetre, an article produced inthe steppes of Hungary in as great abundance, and of as good quality asin the saltpetre districts of India. The Hungarians, Slavonians, and Russians call this article Salniter, or in Magyar Salétrom, both which wordsare probably corruptions of the Latin words sal nitrum. But whence comesour word saltpetre? Does it, perhaps, originate in a confounding of thetwo words nitrum and petrum? The quantity of this article exported toAustria is usually estimated at ten thousand hundredweight, and smallerquantities are exported to Poland and other countries, the latter chieflyfor the use of the druggists, but at Presburg a great part is made up intogunpowder.The Castle of Ofen, the residence of the archduke Palatine, stands onthe site of that of the ancient kings demolished during the Turkish time.It is a spacious and handsome building, and its position is commanding,but there is nothing very remarkable in the interior. The principalapartments are adorned with pictures, battle-pieces from the events ofthe thirty years' war, Maria Theresa in her coronation robes, &c. Byacourtesy, which in Hungary is seldom denied to strangers, we easilyobtained permission to visit the whole castle, including the apartments R242 OFEN, OR BUDA.of the archduch*ess. On the table in her dressing-room, lay a portrait ofZinkendorf, a bible, and a petition to be presented to her on her return.In her usual sitting-room stood a spinning-wheel-and a little harlequin,and some playthings for her children were lying about. On the wallsof this room hung the portraits of the archduke Stephen, and his twinsister. He is an active, intelligent, amiable young man, and is a greatfavourite in Hungary, where he is regarded as the future palatine. Sincethe last inundation especially, in which he made great and benevolentexertions, he has been exceedingly popular, and his portraits have beenmuch multiplied throughout the empire. The early death of the beautiful and amiable princess Helmine, his sister, has been a subject of general and sincere lamentation.The prospect from the windows of the castle, the majestic breadth ofthe Danube-the magnificent quay running along the opposite shore-the city of Pesth with its far- stretching suburbs encircled by the distant forest,is truly magnificent.In one wing of the castle resides no less a personage than the " Coronacum Clenodiis suis." Whenever one hears a Hungarian speaking of thisbauble, one can hardly help fancying it must be some beloved princess andher children. It has an apartment of its own which no one is allowed toenter, with an antechamber where two soldiers keep watch day and night.It has a guard of its own of sixty-four men, who have no other duty thanthe very entertaining one of relieving guard in this chamber. Theirbarrack or guard-house is situated opposite to that wing of the castle inwhich the crown resides. The windows of its room are walled up, leavingonly two air-holes, and the door is of iron with three mighty locks, thekeys of which are kept by three great officers of the empire. It lies inan iron chest with a costly lining, locked and sealed with the five sealsof the king, the primate, the palatine, and the two other keepers of the crown.At coronations it is taken out in the presence of all these officers,escorted by its own guard to Presburg, and received by the authorities atthe boundary of each comitat . After the ceremony it is returned withthe same pomp to the stately seclusion of its own apartment, before whichtwo grenadiers again keep watch and ward.In spite of all the care with which it is kept, there is, perhaps, no crownin Europe that has seen so many vicissitudes. It was once in pawn withthe Emperor of Germany, once for a long time at the castle of a nobleman in Transylvania, once it fell into the hands of robbers, and Joseph II. ,to the great dissatisfaction of his Hungarian subjects, carried it to Vienna.Its return, under Leopold II. , was like a triumphant procession. Whatappeared to me most curious about this crown was, that it comes half fromthe East-from Constantinople, and half from the West (the GermanicRoman empire), from Rome."The golden ring or forehead band was presented to the Hungarian kingGeysa in 1076, by the emperor Ducas; the two pieces arched over thetop are fragments from the crown sent by pope Silvester, in the year 1000,to St. Stephen. Art and workmanship, language and characters, are alsostrikingly contrasted on the two sides, the one being Byzantine the otherRoman, and thus the whole seems symbolically to represent no less thegeographical position of Hungary between the east and the west, betweenthe Italian and Greek peninsulas, than its religious and political relationsconnecting Byzantium and Rome.243PUBLIC COLLECTIONS.The collections that have as yet been made at Pesth are not of muchimportance. This is owing partly to the Turkish spirit of destruction fromthe east, and the spirit of conservation of the Vienna people fromthe west.(It is strange that at every fresh topic that arises in Hungary, we canseldom shape our reflection properly, till we have cast one glance towardthe rising, and another toward the setting sun. ) The Turks have the de- struction of innumerable convent libraries to answer for, as well as that ofthe celebrated library of Corvinus, which had been formed at Buda, and ofwhich a part was burnt, and the remainder dispersed over all Europe.The zeal of the collectors of Vienna has, on the other hand, deprived Hungary of much of late years, for as soon as any thing interesting has beendiscovered anywhere in the country, Vienna has generally laid claim to it,better prices for things of real value being obtained there. Nevertheless,there is no lack at Pesth of curiosities of one sort or another that will wellrepay a stranger for the trouble he takes in visiting them.My first visit of this kind was to the Hungarian National Museum,which was founded chiefly at the suggestion of Count Szechenyi, who advanced a considerable sum to start the undertaking. I was not able tosee all the fine things preserved there, for in consequence of a new templefor the Muses being in the course of construction, the whole collection hadbeen removed to another house, and many articles had been packed away.The collection, considered as a national museum, is still very incomplete,though it contains excellent specimens of the mineralogy of the kingdom.Among the zoological specimens I saw the genuine Hungarian sheep,the race that the ancient Magyars brought with them over the Carpathians,and which is now becoming every day more scarce. It has large horns,more than two feet in length, standing wide apart. The people of thecountry know the animal under the name ofthe Magyar koss, or Magyarsheep.All the Hungarian fishes of the Danube, the Theiss, and the Balaton,of which so many, well seasoned with paprika, had, at various times,figured before me on the table, were to be seen at this museum, eitherserved in spirit, or carefully stuffed and nailed up against the wall.preThe various descriptions of herons also were not wanting, the birds whosefeathers are particularly sought for, as decorations for the kalpaks of thesons of the Hungarian magnates. The purple heron has only two or threeblack feathers on his head, and these, the most expensive of their kind, aredestined only for the bonnets of the highest and most wealthy.Among the specimens of the fine arts, I stopped to admire, with someinterest, a piece of embroidery, representing the portrait of the King ofHungary. The artist, it seems, was possessed of a piece of white silk as agroundwork, but being too poor to purchase coloured silk, resolved to complete her work with her own auburn hair.In one room there had been collected a multitude of things which couldhardly fail to be of great historical value to the Hungarians; such as asilver shirt of mail that had once belonged to Stephen Bathory, and variousother pieces of armour ennobled by those who in their respective days hadworn them. Among the arms, the most remarkable are the sword, theS244 PUBLIC COLLECTIONS.bow, and the arrows of Attila, whom the Hungarians delight to designateas the Hungarian Napoleon. A banner is likewise shown of the celebrated insurgent Rakozy, with the motto, Deus non derelinquet justam causam.In a few years, when the building I have spoken of is finished, this interesting collection will make a very different appearance from what it does now. It will, at the same time, be much enlarged; for several privatecollections have been purchased, with a view to their being added, and the Museum of Pesth will then be entitled to take a becoming place amongthe museums of Europe, and will present to the learned world many atreasure, the existence of which perhaps is at present scarcely known. Thenew building, which is rapidly advancing towards completion, will be asplendid pile of architecture, and no expense seems to be spared upon it.The only objection I have to it is, that it is placed too far away from the central part of the town, and in a quarter occupied chiefly by small andmean-looking houses. The presence of the museum, however, may havethe effect of gradually improving the quarter.The first hall, on entering, is to be a sort of Pantheon, in which the statues of Hungarian heroes and distinguished men are to be erected. Had the architect consulted me, an unprejudiced layman, respecting the proportions of this hall, I should have told him I considered it a great deal too lofty, in proportion to its length and breadth. The hall is only forty feet indiameter, and seemed to me to be ten or twelve fathoms high. It has, in consequence, the air of a tower rather than a hall, and two rows of long thin columns, one row over the other, have to support the whole. Onleaving the Pantheon, you enter, right and left, upon long suites of rooms,running round a quadrangle; and as there are two floors, besides a basem*nt story, there will be abundance of space to afford the Hungarians room, for many years to come, for the exercise of their antiquarian zeal.Of the libraries of Pesth, that of the University is the most considerable.It contains 90,000 volumes, and, like most of the praiseworthy institutions of Austria, owes its existence to Joseph II. In the anteroom of thelibrary is a relic of another great Hungarian collector of books, kingMatthias Corvinus, namely his coat of arms, wrought in the red marble ofNeszmely, which is still in such general use at Pesth for architectonic de- corations. This coat of arms, I was told, was the only particle of theroyal palace of Buda that was not destroyed during the period of the Turkish occupation. The crest of Corvinus was a raven with a ring inhis beak. It seems that in his youth, a golden ring was stolen from himby a raven, which was said by his soothsayers to denote much and greatgood fortune. When, at a subsequent period, he had reason to believethe prophecy had been borne out, he took the raven and the ring under hisespecial patronage.There was much analogy between the characters of Joseph and Matthias; and it might well reward the trouble, were some one to institutea comparison between them. Joseph, according to a well-known anecdote, once drew several furrows with a plough, in Moravia, that he mightbe able to judge from his own experience what the nature of the labour was. An anecdote of a similar character is told of Corvinus. When hewas once holding his court in the Gömör comitat, he proposed, one day,after dinner, to his noble guests, to go and labour in a vineyard. Theking himself, a vigorous and lively young man, went about his work withTHE JEWS OF PESTH. 245right good will; but his noble assistants were soon tired, and began tocomplain of the exertions required of them. Thereupon the king dismissedthem, but urged them, at the same time, never to forget what labour itcost the peasant to produce what they often expended with so muchlevity. Joseph and Matthias both died in the prime of life, and the deathof each was a signal for rejoicing to the prelates and the oligarchs; of sorrow and lamentation to the citizens and peasantry. At Joseph's death,the peasants cried out one and all, we have lost a father;" and whenCorvinus was taken from them, their saying was, " with him justice is now dead in Hungary."66In the large hall of the library, I found two old globes, executed atVenice at the time of the Doge Morosini, and two new ones of modernHungarian manufacture. From these I was able to judge of the progressthe Magyar language has made, the equator, the ecliptic, and most of theconstellations having already received their several Hungarian appellations.Among the books I took up, was a speech by Count Bathyany, deliveredon the inauguration of a monument of Joseph II. I expected to find anéloge of the deceased emperor, but found to my surprise one of the thenliving sovereign Francis.With picture-galleries Pesth is very poorly supplied, those of the Hungarian magnates who interest themselves for the fine arts, having theircollections generally at Vienna. The only fine pictures I saw at Pesth werethose of a merchant, of the name of Iszer, who is an enthusiast for thearts, and a member of no less than six foreign academies.THE JEWS OF PESTH.The whole kingdom of Hungary contained in the year 17851805 .183475,000 Jews)according to Schwartner.130,000 ""246,000 ""Steller.1837 254,000 """9Accordingly in the year 1842, if we take an average annual increase of3000 souls, their number must have reached 270,000. In fifty years,therefore, the Jews have more than trebled in Hungary, whilst the wholepopulation of the country was in 1785 .183918427,000,00011,973,00012,000,000The whole population, therefore, has not nearly doubled, while the number of the Jews has trebled. This is a remarkable fact. Next toGalicia, Hungary is that part of the Austrian empire which contains themost Jews. Galicia indeed contains as many Jews as Hungary, while itsentire population is only one-third as great.Although there are parts of Hungary where they are by law forbiddento settle, such as Croatia, Slavonia, and the military frontier, yet the Jewshave always played an important part in this country, and there were timeswhen all the money and trade of the country was in their hands. In latertimes, Joseph II. in vain laboured for their social improvement, and theDiet is now occupied, in imitation of the other governments of Europe, in s 2246 THE JEWS OF PESTH.extending their rights, improving their character, and ameliorating theircondition, by gradually blending them with the rest of the population.Much is done by the Jews themselves towards the furtherance of thisobject, and the reform of the Jewish churches and schools at Berlin,Vienna, Prague, and other places, has given an impulse to similar reformsin Hungary. The Jewish congregation of Pesth, amounting at present to 1400 families, are following the example set them bythat of Vienna. TheJews here are divided into two parties, like those at Prague and Vienna;those who support the new and those who support the old system ofthings.My learned Rabbinical friend, M. Schwab, plays the part of a mediatorbetween the two parties, seeking to conciliate them by every means in hispower.The The Jews here are similar to those of Bohemia and Poland, from whichcountries they have received the most frequent reinforcements.Spanish and Oriental Jews, of whom there is a small colony both here andat Vienna, are said to be decreasing in numbers. These Spanish Jewscame originally up the Danube from Constantinople. The immigrationfrom an opposite direction, from Poland and Bohemia, continues even to the present day; and should the liberal intentions of the last diet, which wouldenable them even to possess landed property, be carried into effect, thisimmigration will continue to increase, and the Jews will keep flockingtowards Hungary as towards another land of promise.Four times every year a large number of Jews assemble in Pesth fromMoravia, Silesia, Cracow, and Lemberg, many of whom form lasting connexions in this city, and remain here. The most industrious and enlightened are those who come from Moravia and Bohemia; indeed, the influence of Bohemia on Hungary is always beneficial and improving. Ihave spoken above of the influence of the Bohemian manufacturers whocome to Hungary. Of the six teachers at the new Jewish school of Pesth,four are Bohemians, and only two Hungarians. The influx of well-informed and intelligent Bohemian Jews will probably be somewhat lessenedbythe circ*mstance, that for the future all teachers in these schools are tospeak and teach the Hungarian language. The native Jews of Pesth havetaken up the cause of Magyarism with great zeal, and there are many,among whom are several Jewish ladies, who speak nothing but Hungarian,take in only Hungarian journals, and affect to despise every thing German.I visited the best Jewish boys' - school in Pesth during the writing,drawing, and history lessons. It contained three hundred scholars, amongwhom I saw little beggar-boys in ragged jackets, seated side by side withthe children of the richest merchants in the city. The children who aretaken in their eighth, ninth, and tenth years, speak only German, andseldom understand the Hungarian tongue; they learn it grammatically inthe lower, and speak and write it in the upper classes. It is said to be verydifficult to find competent teachers; for the Jews have never been accustomed to write the Hungarian language. The Jews of Hungary andPoland have a German and a Hebrew literature, but no other.The method of teaching history used among the Jews of Pesth appeared to me very good. The teacher first dictated to the children a short skeleton of the subject in hand, containing the principalfacts, with names and dates, which they wrote down and learnt by roteat home, after which he proceeded to relate the whole in detail.This isTHE HOSPITAL OF ST. ROCHE. 247really the only proper method of teaching history in schools, and it is agreat pity it is not more generally adopted.I noticed that some of the scholars had written down a few Hungarianwords on their slates. It contained a petition for some fellow pupil, butit was some time before the master could decipher and understand it.The Rabbis of Pesth lead a very retired life , almost always at home,never going to any theatre, and very seldom to any other place of public amusem*nt. My acquaintance, M. Schwab, told me that many learnedJewish books are now printed at Zolkier in Galicia; but the Talmudmust always be printed either at Vienna or Prague. Sulzbach and Durrenfort are also places where many Jewish books were formerly published.The rule about the Talmud, probably owes its origin not to any distinctlaw, but to certain difficulties in the orthodox manner of printing it, whichcan only be overcome at the great printing establishments of Prague andVienna. I saw, for instance, in my friend's library, a large Talmud intwelve volumes, printed at Vienna; it was a Babylonian Talmud, forthat of Jerusalem is held in less esteem here, as throughout the Jewishworld. The Mishma and Gemara were printed in large letters in themiddle, and round it ran, in small letters, a broad border of notes, remarks,and explanations, by the celebrated French Rabbi Solomon Jarschi, whoseopinions and observations are held in great veneration by his nation.Round this again, in still smaller letters, flows another border of learnedannotations, by different other celebrated Rabbi's. Is not this symbolicalin some measure of the whole Jewish system of religion-a little text oftruth and wisdom lost amid a flood of learned wordy jargon?THE HOSPITAL OF ST. ROCHE.It is a somewhat melancholy fact, that the Hungarians, zealous asthey are for the attainment and preservation of political freedom, haveforgotten to take precautions for the bodily health and comfort of theirpoorer countrymen, and, whilst admiring the promptitude with whichthey furnished funds for the building of the national theatre, the Hun- garian museum, and the magnificent bridge over the Danube at Pesth,we in vain inquire after the provision made for the comfort of their poorand their sick.In all Hungary, there is not one hospital, poorhouse, almshouse, or lunatic asylum, supported or instituted by government. The care of the poorand the sick devolves entirely (with the exception of a few hospitals builtby benevolent private individuals, or by the magistrates of towns) upon the monks and nuns; the state does nothing for them. This is not so muchthe fault of Austria, as of the Hungarian aristocracy. It is almost incredible, and yet it is a well-known fact, that in the year 1793, attention was first called to this state of things by Dr. Haffner, in a proposal tothe public of Pesth for the erection of an hospital. " By the influence of this benevolent physician, the hospital of St. Roche was at last founded.It is now under the superintendence of the universally respected and es- teemed Her von Windisch, the successor of Dr. Haffner. The presentsuperintendent has very much enlarged the building. It is now capableof containing three hundred patients, and is the largest in Hungary. In66248 THE HOSPITAL OF ST. ROCHE.St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Paris, there are hospitals capable of containing as many thousands.It is not my purpose here to give a full account of this hospital, whichI am indeed not capable of doing, but merely to collect a few facts ofgeneral interest respecting it. It contains some rooms for lunatics, a verynecessary provision, for in all Hungary there is no lunatic asylum, andlunatics are generally confined in the common criminal jails. This isintended perhaps to compensate for the practice pursued in Germany andsome other countries, where criminals are often mercifully considered as insane, and sent to lunatic asylums. The Hungarians are said to be furiousand mischievous when mad; a fact which their choleric and melancholytemperament renders very probable.Sick criminals are also often sent to the hospital of St. Roche. This isnot right, for all the common vulgar prejudices against hospitals are liableto be confirmed in the minds of the people, when they see them used,though only partially, as places of confinement for criminals. All prisonsand houses of correction ought to have their own infirmaries . The present system is, besides, a great encroachment upon the benevolence ofthefounders and supporters of the institution, and a serious hardship to the excellent medical officers attached to it.The Hirlap, a journal of which I have already several times made mention, records the astounding fact that no fewer than 250 corpses are annually found in the streets, of whom no one knows where they come from,or how they died! I was told at the hospital that this number was grosslyexaggerated, and that an accurate computation would reduce the averagenumber to little more than twenty-five. Even this number, however, appeared to me astonishingly large.The country about the lower Danube, the Banat, the Batshka, &c. , is known to be constantly liable to intermittent fevers. Temesvar is considered the centre of the fever district, but in proportion as we ascend theriver we come to regions less and less subject to fever. The summer of 1841had been one of the most healthy ever known at Pesth. The weather hadbeen very hot, but free from any sudden variation . This must have beenbeneficial to general health, for the hospital throughout the summer contained less patients by one-third than the usual average.So small anumber had never been known to be in the hospital since its foundation.On the 18th of July, the day on which I heard this, the thermometer stood at 42° of Reaumur in the shade.During the terrible inundation of March, 1838, the Hospital of St.Roche, which was the largest and strongest building for some distance round, contained no fewer than 4000 inhabitants. All those who fled tothe hospital as to an ark in the waters, were supported there for threedays from the funds of the hospital. Their rations were dealt out to themin small and prudent portions, under the superintendence of an excellent,benevolent, and energetic lady, with whom I had the honour to becomepersonally acquainted during my stay in Pesth. The flood rose rapidly,but the directors had had the timely caution to remove all the patients fromthe ground-floor. The situation of the hospital, with the mourning anddespairing thousands of hungering, ailing, and dying human creatureswhom it contained, must have been at the time indescribably dreadful.After the inundation was over, no less than 450 drowned bodies, mostlyTHE HOSPITAL OF ST. ROCHE. 249those of children, washed up by the waters of the river, or found in thestreets, were laid out in the courtyard of this hospital alone, that theymight be owned by their friends. I have often spoken with the inhabitants of Pesth of this calamity, and found they all remembered it onlywith shuddering and horror. They told me that no imagination couldconjure up a picture at all equal to the terrible truth. I remember hearingan old apothecary of Buda exclaim, " No poet or novelist, or dramatistcould possibly imagine or describe the actual horrors of that dreadful time.If a spectator had noted down the facts as they occurred, those who had not witnessed the inundation would never have believed him."The water began to rise on the 12th of March, but it might have passedoff as harmlessly as usual, had it not been that a little way below Pesth,the ice instead of melting began to accumulate, so as to check the progressof the rising water. The river now began to rise alarmingly, and thepeople prepared themselves for an inundation such as the city had oftenwitnessed before, but they little thought they were about to witness one,such as Pesth is never supposed to have seen since it has been a city. Anumber of workmen were set to work to construct dams, just below thetown, for, contrary to the course of nature, the water rose from below.Thousands of citizens, urged partly by curiosity, and partly by anxiety,went out to see the building of the dams. It was a long earthen wall, towhich numbers of workmen were busily adding, and against which thewild and rapidly rising waters beat incessantly. Already things began to look very alarming. The water rose and rose, the military were orderedout to assist in raising the dams. In vain! The angry flood despised the weak obstacles which human hands raised to oppose it. Whilst the workmen were busy piling up the dams, they suddenly remarked to theiramazement and terror, that the Danube was already roaring behind them.The dams were undermined-they broke, and only a speedy retreat could save the terrified multitude. All fled to their houses, followed by the destroying waters, which rapidly gained upon them.The streets were completely emptied. The lower parts of the town were immediately takenpossession of by the river. Every one began to fortify his own house, and to surround it with dams of earth, boards, and stones. The inhabitants ofthe Vaizner Strasse erected dams of particular strength. No inundation hadever been known to reach this street, and the inhabitants felt perfectly se- cure in this circ*mstance, and in the strength of their dams.Their dams, it is true, held together and were not broken by the water;but as in great political convulsions, the stormy elements often scorn toattack the bulwark raised against them, when by passing round it theycan accomplish their aim equally well, and baffle the shortsighted wisdomof politicians, so the Danube now began to show its strength, in a totally unexpected manner, namely within the houses themselves . All of a suddenthe boards ofthe ground-floors began to shake, and little bubbles to appear all over them. A rushing, splashing sound was heard beneath, and allthe little cracks and rat-holes became so many fountains of water. Verysoon the Danube was dashing through all the beautiful shops, groundfloors, cellars, and warehouses, of the great Vaizner Strasse.The inhabitants did not lose their presence of mind. They dashed into the water, and brought up their chief valuables into the upper stories. Itwas unheard of for the water to come so high; it could not possibly rise250 THE HOSPITAL OF ST. ROCHE.higher, and must soon sink. But the Danube now stood six feet high inthe houses. To make assurance doubly sure, the inhabitants removed totheir second floors; for the Danube had now risen ten feet within thehouses. Many people had been standing up to their necks in water, inorder to get at their deluged property; but the water was freezinglycold, like newly-melted ice, and they could bear it no longer. Poorand rich alike gave up the attempt to save their property, and thought only of life .The ground upon which Pesth stands, is of soft alluvial formation, consisting only of mould and clay. The Danube was now only claiming itsold rights; and it began to form subterranean aqueducts and canals. Inone house which had deep foundations, the boards suddenly rose, and theflood threw up a large thick jar, the property of one of the neighbours. Ithad been torn along through one of the subterranean canals, and thus curiously restored to light. The apothecary of Buda told me, that, to his great surprise, a large piece of furniture, which had been left in theground- floor when the inundation began, was afterwards found standingupright in his first floor, whither the torrent, dashing upwards, had car- ried it.The thickness and solidity of the houses was no protection. Many ofthose most strongly built, were entirely broken up by the force of the river,and fell in. On the second day the flood was at its height. People beganto doubt whether any of the houses would remain standing. The strongestbuildings, such as the churches and hospitals, and the highest spots, suchas the Neumarkt of Pesth, and the Schlossberg of Buda, were filled withfugitives. Great numbers of people put up tents in the Neumarkt, andfled there in spite of the intense cold of the weather; among these weremany nobles and magnates. Whoever had not muchto lose at Pesth, fledto Buda. The citizens of Buda sent over small boats, commanded by theArchduke Stephen, the Count Szechenyi, and other noblemen, who rowedabout through the streets, and picked up every one, who was willing toleave his house.The inundation had now lasted two days, and showed no signs of subsiding. Many began to imagine that the end of Pesth was come-thatthe Danube was forming itself a new bed, and intended to swallow up thecity in its waves. It was generally believed that the whole surroundingdistrict was changed into a great lake, which would never dry up again.At length on the third day the waters began to retire. The icy barrierformed at the island of Czepel had probably melted, the river graduallyflowed off in a southerly direction, and left Pesth to recover from its coldbath as best it might. Many streets were so choked with roofs, walls,rubbish, boards, and the bodies of men and animals, that it was not tillafter several days of hard work, that they were rendered passable. Nearlythree thousand houses were destroyed; some had fallen in, and others hadentirely melted away into the river. The silent gradual influence of waterhad in three days wrought more mischief than a hundred days of bombardment would have done. The appearance of the city after the inundation,was desolate, ruinous, and miserable in the extreme.I do not know what appearance the other shops may have presented,but those of the booksellers, I was told, were filled with an extraordinarystock ofpapier maché, such as I never heard of before or since. Goethe,THE DANUBE IN THE CENTRAL PLAINS OF HUNGARY. 251Schiller, Shakspeare, Voltaire, Jean Paul, -French, English, German,and Hungarian books, -all were softened and melted together into onestrange undistinguishable mass.The cry for help of the poor ruined citizens of Pesth, resounded through all Germany, and generous assistance streamed in from every side. HalfEurope assisted the rebuilding of Pesth, and though building materialswere of course very dear, yet the city rose again from its ruins, its woundsgradually healed, and it became far more beautiful and extensive than before.THE DANUBE IN THE CENTRAL PLAINS OF HUNGARY.On the last day of August, we entered the steamboat which was to convey us down the Danube into Turkey, and the anchor was weighed at fiveo'clock the next morning. It was still night, and the moon seemed unwilling to yield dominion to the coming day. Seated upon a bench uponthe deck, I viewed the river as it lay before me. The Danube is only 250fathoms broad between Pesth and Ofen, but immediately below, it widens tothree times that breadth, and enters the second Hungarian plain whichstretches from the mountains of Central Hungary to those of Servia andand Slavonia. Between the Blocksberg of Buda and the hills behindPesth, the two cities seem to lie within a huge gate, and the view is beautiful. The Schlossberg with its stately buildings is seen in the distancethroughthis gate, and is the central point in the prospect. As the sun rose,every thing became more distinct, and at length it stood completely abovethe horizon, gilding the distant summits of the hills, and illuminating thewhole landscape, as if to display it once more in all its beauty, to the gazeof the departing traveller.These are the last hills seen, and we now entered the broad plains of theopen country, and passed the large island of Czepel, with its fertile fieldsand meadows, interspersed with waving forests and smiling villages .Leaving this island behind us, we entered the most uninteresting district ofall those watered by the Danube. No great towns enliven its banks—no picturesque hills or mountains vary its scenery; wide undiversified levelsstretch away on every side, covered with marshy grass and shrubs, interruptedonly here and there by barren deserts, with low monotonous banks. Theright side of the river is higher than the left, and the villages which lie alongthe Danube, are all on the right side. The other side is almost entirely barren or marshy.We did not, however, find our voyage at all tedious. We had more than400 passengers on board, and such numbers of equipages and bales of goods,were piled up on deck, that we were rather crowded for room. Our fellowpassengers consisted chiefly of market people, merchants, tradesmen, Hungarian nobles, Servians, and Illyrians, who were returning home from thegreat fair of Pesth. We dropped them at different stations on the banks, fromwhich they proceeded inland to their respective homes . Besides these, wehad on board Walachian boyars, who were returning from a tour, SpanishJews bound for Thessolonica, French and Germans bent upon seeking theirfortunes in the provinces of Turkey, in a word, specimens of the population of most of the countries bordering on the Danube. In default of interestin the passing country, I turned my attention to the little community around me.252 THE DANUBE IN THE CENTRAL PLAINS OF HUNGARY.The quarterdeck on which we were seated, near the entrance of thefirst cabin, was the little capital, the court, and the citadel of our floatingcolony. Near us sat some Hungarian magnates, and among them thecelebrated orator, B-, who so distinguished himself at the last ( diet.He was a little man of a rather insignificant appearance. He spokelittle, but was sometimes occupied in reading a newspaper and sometimessunk in deep thought. He was very simply dressed and rather thin, andeat as little as he spoke. He was leaving Pesth to spend the summer inthe enjoyment of rural tranquillity on his estates. "Have you seen B—?Do you know that B- is on board?" were questions continually put tome, which proved the popularity he enjoyed in Hungary.The Walachian boyars, whose round faces and raven black hair showedthem to be such, spoke only just German enough to get on with in anhotel or coffee-house, and by way of complement to these strangers alittle circle was formed on the quarterdeck, in which French was spoken.To this circle a young Frenchman attached himself. He was travellingto Jassy for a Parisian house of business on whose account he was toform some commercial establishment in the Moldavian capital.There were plenty of good citizens and citizenesses of Pesth, going tovisit their friends and relations in the country. One group particularlyattracted my attention, it was composed of a German lady of rank, withher charming children playing about her, and discovering every momenta thousand new sources of delight and amusem*nt within the narrowlimits of the quarterdeck.The space between the quarterdeck and the chimney was crowded withwealthy merchants, Germans, Servians, and Turkish Jews. Among themwas a pretty young Servian lady, who might have served a painter for amodel of a Persian princess. She wore a Turkish négligé; her close silkunderclothes, and upper pelisse edged with fur, became her extremely.Her black hair was laid round her head in two large plaits, like a turban,and was ornamented with gold coins fastened to large pins.She wore ared cap or fez, embroidered with gold, from which a bushy tassel of goldthreads hung down upon her neck, around which she wore a long gold chain. A girdle embroidered with silver confined her slender waist, -so slender indeed, that I thought she could scarcely have more of abackbone than might have fallen to the share of a snake. I expressedsome surprise at the splendour of her undress to a Servian gentleman stand- ing near her. " Oh you should see her dressed for a gala, covered withgold and jewels! " replied he. " That would surprise you much more.'She was past the bloom of youth for she was 22, and at that age Servianladies are no longer young. She had, however, been married 14 years." In Servia," continued my informant, " girls are often married while yet mere infants. "Among the passengers were also two Franciscan friars from Turkey,or rather from Bosnia. They wore broad-brimmed hats and mustaches,and spoke not a word of German, but were able to make themselves understood in Latin. They had finished their studies at Erlau in Hungary,and were returning thence to Czek in Bosnia. They told me that therewere indeed schools in Bosnia, but that they could only learn there"grammaticam, rhetoricem, poesiam; sed philosophiam et theologiamabsolvere in nostris scholis impossibile est, et earum gratia in Hunga- riam venimus. " I heard from these men that there are three convents ofTHE DANUBE IN THE CENTRAL PLAINS OF HUNGARY. 253Franciscan monks in Bosnia, and under them a little flock of about 1000Catholics. In Turkish Croatia the number of Christians is said tobe greater. The principal part of the population of Bosnia belongedformerly, and still belongs to the Greek church, but most of the higherclasses are now Mahomedans. Bosnia was once a Hungarian dependency, the Hungarians are as eager to reclaim this old possession as the French are to be masters of the left bank of the Rhine. The Franciscanstold me that their convents received an annual present of 300 thalerosfrom the Pope, and 400 thaleros " a rege," that is from the Emperor ofAustria, which presents went far to alleviate the extreme poverty in whichthey lived. It is singular that of all the numerous Catholic orders whichformerly flourished in Bosnia, the poor, ignorant, and mendicant Franciscans have been the only monks who have kept their position, and beenpermitted by the Turks to remain. This is owing to the nature and character of the order; for its poverty did not excite the avarice of theTurks, as was the case with the many wealthier orders, and the strikingresemblance of the Franciscan monks to the Mahomedan dervishes,may have contributed to give them a sort of sanctity in TurkishBe the reasons what they may, it is the Franciscan monks who alonenourish the feeble flame of Catholic Christianity throughout the Turkishprovinces, and in Jerusalem the Franciscans are the only guardians of theHoly Sepulchre.eyes.The Walachians were speaking French, the fair Servian and her coterieServian, the oriental Jews Spanish, the Bosnian Franciscans Latin, thecaptain Italian, and different other passengers were conversing in theGreek, Hungarian, Walachian, and Illyrian tongues; but amidst thisBabylonian confusion, German appeared to be the common neutral groundon which all met, and the tie which bound all together. German wasspoken by ourselves, by the whole party on the quarterdeck, and by thecrew itself. The Italian captain mixed up German naval terms continuallywith his Italian conversation; the Servians spoke very good German occasionally with other passengers; and even the Walachian boyars had asmall smattering of the common language.The steam navigation of the Danube has, I am aware, been lookedupon with anxiety by the Germans, and with delight by Hungarianpatriots, as likely to excite yet more the feelings of nationality and patriotism among the Magyars, but it appears to me far more likely to Germanize than to Magyarize the interior of Hungary. It will undoubtedlycarry the seeds of commercial and literary enterprise into the remoterparts of the country, but it will likewise pour into Hungary a strong infusion of German manners and make the German language even moregeneral than it is. The strongholds of Magyarism are in the barrenplains and steppes of Central Hungary; and the more those plains andsteppes are turned into fertile cornfields and pastures, and their straggling villages into prosperous towns, the more the net of steamboats and railroads is spread over Hungary, the more it will assimilate with Germany,to which it owes these benefits.-Towards evening we landed at our fourth station at Baya, which lieson the left side of the river, at the distance of half a German milefrom the marshes of the Danube. The buildings of the village peepedbrightly through the bushes in their new white coverings; for Baya hadthe misfortune to be burnt down last year, and has been entirely rebuilt.254 THE DANUBE IN THE CENTRAL PLAINS OF HUNGARY.The destruction of Baya by fire, was contemporaneous with that of manyother Hungarian towns. Indeed, at dry seasons of the year, a regular fireepidemic sometimes destroys half the towns in Hungary.From Baya we proceeded to Mahacs (pronounced Mohatsh) . Thepicture before our eyes remained always the same. Green plains withlime-trees and poplars to the left, high barren shores to the right, and before us the broad and beautiful Danube. As we sat upon the quarterdeck, an old soldier came limping on crutches towards us, and having madean appeal to our charity, he related the story of his misfortunes, which mayserve as an illustration of the sufferings and dangers to which the soldierswho guard the military frontier are exposed. On the 31st of January,1838, he had been sent to carry a message from one of the posts on thisfrontier to another. Night overtook him before his return, accompaniedby a violent snow-storm. While he was struggling against the storm, he began to hear the howling of wolves around him. He at first went on asfast as he could without minding them, but they came nearer and nearer,and at last he was obliged to climb into a tree. He was indeed safe forthe time, but he was a close prisoner, for the wild beasts came round thetree in great numbers. They kept walking round with wild and incessant howling, looking up at the tree, and sometimes crouching as if to make a spring upon him. He fired, but without effect. As he was afraid oftheir climbing up, he endeavoured to make a fire to frighten them away.He scraped together a few dry sticks and some moss upon the boughs,and with his flint and tinder he managed to kindle a small flame which warmed him a little; but the wild beasts did not leave him. The coldgrew more and more intense, and he felt a numbness stealing over him.He therefore bound himself round the waist firmly to a strong branch,and clung round it with all his strength, in order not to fall into the jaws of the ferocious creatures. In this position he was found the next morningquite insensible, and to all appearance dead, by some comrades who cameto look for him. He recovered, but remained a cripple for life, for bothhis legs were frozen and had to be amputated. He was now returningfrom Vienna, whither he had gone to petition the emperor for a smallpittance which he had received. We collected for him a small pecuniaryaddition, and gave him two " pistoles" of " Turk's blood" to drink.may be necessary, by way of explanation, to add, that in Hungary a smallmeasure in common use is called a pistole, and a certain kind of red wineis designated by the tempting name of Turk's blood.ItWe had a painter on board who had often complained to me that hecould find no picturesque subject for his canvass in any thing about thesteamboat. I advised him to paint the soldier in the tree at the momentwhen he was cowering over his feeble little blaze, while through the darkness gleamed the fiery eyes of the hungry wolves, whose dark outlines aswell as those of the forest trees covered with snow, would be partially seenby the light of the scanty fire. This appeared to me a very good subjectfor a night piece. He was, however, of opinion that a common story froman obscure and vulgar soldier could hardly be a fit subject for his pencil. Ianswered, that with such notions he would never become great; for themost beautiful subjects and situations were often associated with the mostcommon events of life. Diamonds are not found ready cut and polished in the mines.We reached Mohacs by nightfall. It was here that poor King Louis ofTHE DANUBE IN THE CENTRAL PLAINS OF HUNGARY. 255Hungary was betrayed by Zapolya, and defeated by the Turks, and diedalone in a desolate marsh, to which he had fled for safety. The battle ofMohacs (which took place in the year 1526, on the 29th of August) decided the melancholy fate of Hungary, for its conquest by the Turks wasthe consequence of that battle. The young King Louis, after holding a dietwhose sittings much resembled the uproarious merriment of a Bacchanalianfestival, had marched at the head of 20,000 men against Sultan Soliman,whose armyamounted to 200,000 soldiers. Louis's generals themselves sawthe folly of their undertaking, and said in jest that whoever survived thebattle should go to Rome and get all the rest canonized, for every one ofthem would certainly fall a martyr to the Christian religion. But, as ifurged forward by an irresistible fate, they went cheerfully to meet theirdestruction; indeed, a Hungarian author exclaims, that surely no kingdomever faced its downfall with such careless levity and merriment as Hungary. In this battle fell no less than six bishops and archbishops. It isa curious instance of retribution, that 200 years afterwards the Turks weredefeated onthis very field by the Prince of Savoy.The former battle is celebrated here every 29th of August.The population of Mohacs and its neighbourhood assemble on the battle-field andmake speeches in the Hungarian, Illyrian, and German languages to oneanother. Upon the spot where King Louis died, it is proposed to erect asmall chapel. The palace of the Bishop of Mohacs contains many plansand pictures of the battle, and five cannons left behind by the Turks arepreserved as relics in the town. As our steamboat stopped to take in coalsat Mohacs, we had ample time to empty a glass of wine in honour of theseinteresting remnants of antiquity; yet of all moments the present is infact the most interesting and romantic; for it is the flower and crown ofall preceding moments, the youngest born of time, round whom is collected all the glory of the past, and before whom the future lies a dark unexplored abyss.To the old Romans whose dull task it was to make a beginningto its history, how uninteresting must have appeared this Danube, whichwas to us invested with all the charms of a long eventful history! Andhow full of an interest surpassing all that we can now feel must thathistory be to a traveller 2000 years hence, to whom it comes laden withthe rich fruits of the next twenty centuries! I always lament that Iwas born so early; of all things, I should like to have been born in thelast age of the world, to have been the heir of all the ages in the foremostfiles of Time!Towards midnight we proceeded on our way. The passengers beganto retire to rest. The ladies' cabin and the state cabins were crammedfull of ladies, and the deck was strewed with the peasants and others, wholaid themselves down enveloped in their sheepskins. Some of the gentlemen lay down on the quarterdeck; others, among whom was I, preferredretiring to the gentlemen's cabin; but no sooner were all settled in theirplaces, and silence began to prevail in the cabin, than certain mischievousand diminutive little beings began hopping about from one to another in amost tormenting manner. I could not conceive how the passengers couldlie so still and even go to sleep while suffering from their attacks; for myself, I thought I should be eaten up alive if I remained much longer. Iaccordingly went on deck, preferring to spend the remainder of the nightin walking to and fro, and contemplating now the dark river and shining256 THE BATSHKA AND ITS GERMAN COLONISTS.stars, and now the various expressive countenances of the sleeping pas- sengers. The human countenance is to me a source of endless interest anddelight; and in the contemplation of the national and individual peculiarities ofphysiognomy around me, I found ample entertainment for the remainder of the night.THE BATSHKA AND ITS GERMAN COLONISTS.The morning soon dawned. It is always an interesting thought tome to remember, when the sun rises, that the day before me is the youngestday that has ever been. Yesterday (I speak of common yesterdays, undistinguished by any remarkable occurrence), yesterday is like an extinguished light, an old newspaper, a piece of stale bread. It has beengathered away into the stores of the past, and we think of it no more.But the young day rises before us, fresh, beautiful, portentous. Tomorrow is hidden in the dark womb of the future; the unborn child ofTime; but to-day is ripe, ready, and near at hand. The warm rays ofthe sun shine over the broad Danube, and wake the sleepers with its kindlygreeting, which announces the coming day; yet, near as it is, who knowswhat it may bring forth, what mighty events, what strange occurrences?How many future generations may labour to find out what this day was,and how it lived and died! how happy then ought we to deem ourselves,who are so soon to know its history!Below Mohacs we entered a more interesting part of the Danube. Itdivided frequently into broad arms, which, after winding round largeislands, again met and flowed together; so that we seemed to be passingthrough a gigantic park, with large rivers for little brooks, high grassyplains for smooth lawns, and vast forests for picturesque woods. At the unionof the Drave with the Danube, however, this multiplicity of arms andislands entirely ceases. At this juncture an entirely new kind of countryand population begins, both onthe northern and southern sides of the river.On the northern side lies that interesting district called in geography books the Batsh comitat, but which the Hungarians never call by anyother name than that of the Batshka, which name I shall here adopt. Thesituation of this country is as follows:The parallelogram lying between the Danube and the Theiss, a desertlevel district frequented only by hunters and herds of horses, rises towardsthe south, into a low, barren plateau, which extends southward for somedistance, of which a curve line drawn from Zombor to the mouth of theTheiss, would form the southern boundary. Between this and the Danube,lies a small alluvial plain, extremely fruitful, and watered by small rivers.This is the celebrated Batshka.Most of the land in the Batshka is laid out in cornfields, and is in thepossession of German colonists . Of its 120 little inhabited spots, only 29are inhabited by Hungarians, and these places lie entirely in the northernand less fertile part. The Servians occupy 25 of its 120 divisions, andthe Germans 41. An intelligent and amiable Hungarian nobleman, wholived in the Batshka, related to me many interesting particulars of theGerman colonists there. He said that the Germans often bought a pieceof land for 100 florins, and by their good management and cultivation,were able to improve it so much, that after a time they could sell it againSYRMIA AND PETERWARDEIN. 257for several hundred florins. The German villages, he added, were all rich,not only in land, cattle, and stores of various kinds, but also in readymoney. A German village in the Batshka was once condemned to a fineof 40,000 florins. Every one was curious to see what the peasantswould do in this case; but the very day after they were apprized of it, theelders of the community came and laid the exact sum before the magistrate . On one occasion a nobleman of the Batshka laid a wager withanother nobleman, who had doubted the vaunted wealth of the Batshkapeasants, that at one day's warning he could obtain a loan of 100,000florins from his German colonists. Before evening he had levied the required sum from five peasants alone. The next morning he told them ofhis wager, and would have returned the money, but they replied that theydid not want it; they had bargained for the loan, and should insist on theexecution of the contract.Both the ancient Romans and the Hungarians, observing the singular fertility of the Batshka, cultivated and colonised it with great care. TheTurks, whose devastating habits made no distinction between a fertile anda barren country, allowed this valuable and beautiful tract to run to waste and become a mere marsh. Under the hands of the German colonists however, it has reached more than its former state of cultivation and beauty.SYRMIA AND PETERWARDEIN.On the right side of the river, opposite to the Batshka, between theDanube and the Save, lies the land of Syrmia, a little paradise, abouteighteen (German) miles long, and three or four broad. Through themiddle of Syrmia runs a line of hills called the Frushka Gora, which arecovered with picturesque forests, and beautiful vineyards. The grapesproduced in these vineyards are much esteemed throughout Hungary.Another principal production of Syrmia are its hogs, from which are supplied all the principal hog- markets of Hungary. They are mostly of theMongulitza race, short- legged, with woolly curly hair. They eat less, andcan bear more fatigue than common pigs. No less than 70,000 of theseinteresting grunters are supposed to emigrate yearly from the land of Syrmia to the several markets of Hungary.The first thing in Syrmia which we saw were the ruins of the Erdôdycastle, belonging to a far-famed noble family of Hungary. It is almostthe only Hungarian spot in Syrmia. We next came to Dallya. Here,as at all our landing-places in Syrmia, many Illyrian women had collectedon the shore, to stare at us. It is now becoming more and more the custom, to call all the Slavonic nations of the Southern Danube, the Croatians, Slavonians, Servians, and Bulgarians, by the common name of IllyThis name pleases their national pride, for they believe, contraryto the opinion of the learned of other nations, that they are immediatelydescended from the old Illyrians mentioned by the Romans. The Illyriansof Croatia and Slavonia, are not without their provincial patriotism, andwhile they look down with contempt on the Magyar nationality of Hungary, they encourage an Illyrianism, to the full as hot in its patriotism asthe former.rians.Beyond Dallya we came to Vukovar, or the town of the " Vuka," asmall river rising in the Frushka Gora, and running into the Danube.258 SYRMIA AND PETERWARDEIN.At Vukovar we took up two new passengers; two Syrmian ladies, youngand pretty. Their costume, much resembling the riding-habits of German ladies, was of a light green colour, and set with rows of bright buttons. They said that this costume was very prevalent in Syrmia. Theyspoke good Austrian- German, and told us the language was generallyspoken by all who belonged to the upper classes.During the whole of the time that we continued to coast along theSyrmian district, I was surrounded by Servians, who were full of conversation about their native land. They were deeply versed in the ancient his- tory of the country, and had an abundance of anecdotes to tell me aboutmore modern occurrences. Of the new Servian hero Gregory PetrovitshTshornoi, they seemed to know quite as much as our own German news- papers. I asked them whether it was true that the Servians felt moresympathy for Russia than for Hungary. Their reply was, that the common people among them had a saying " Never quarrel with him whodrinks with thee out of the same cup at the Lord's Supper." We wereengaged in such discourse as our vessel rushed past Opatovacz, past theruins of Sharingrad castle, the Illock convent, and the castle and garden ofKameniz. Most of these castles and villages in Syrmia belong to theDuke of Odescalchi, Count Eltz, M. Yankovitch, and the Lords of Marzipani. The Odescalchis are not the only Italian family possessed of largeestates in Hungary, but there are many of the great families, who, thoughtheir names have an Italian look, are of genuine Magyar descent.ThePalfi and Sappari, for instance, are old and unquestionable Hungarianfamilies, and the Marzipani, a family of which various branches exist inthe country of the Slovaks, are genuine Slavonians.serfs.The few great men I have named possess nearly the whole of Syrmia,except what belongs to the convents, and the peasants are all more or lessThis circ*mstance tends to deprive the people of all interest in my eyes. I can sympathize with the poorest labourer that maintains his wifeand children with the work of his hands, but cannot help feeling something like contempt for the being who toils only for a master. The reflection has often occurred to me when I have seen German, Italian, andFrench peasants appearing as heroes on the stage; but as to the rural population of Eastern Europe, they are one and all unusable to the dramatist.In the Slavonian provinces subject to Turkey, Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria,&c., it is a remarkable fact that the principal nobility have all allowedthemselves gradually to be converted to the Mahomedan religion. Thiswill at least have one good consequence, namely, that when these provinces are rescued from the Turkish domination, they will at the sametime be freed from their nobles. Something of this kind seems already tobe taking place in Servia.It was some time before we reached Peterwardein, the most considerabletown in Syrmia. Peterwardein and Neusatz are miniature counterpartsto Pesth and Buda. Peterwardein, like Buda, lies round a fortress on theright side of the river; Neusatz, like Pesth, is a trading city situated in aplain on the left side. Again Peterwardein is as much older than Neusatz, as Buda surpasses Pesth in antiquity. Such pairs of cities are very common on the Danube; Belgrade and Semlin, Old and New Orsova, are other instances of the same kind. Of Neusatz we saw very little, for theship lay so low, and the city so flat in its level plain, that the fronts of thenearest houses hid all beyond. Every river steamboat ought to have aSYRMIA AND PETERWARDEIN. 259convenient seat at the masthead, for the benefit of travellers who wishto see the country.Peterwardein we saw pretty well, for the fortress rises from a hill of the Frushka Gora, round which the Danube makes a bend. A young German girl, who was on board the steamboat with her mother, shewed suchenthusiastic delight at the sight of Peterwardein, her native city, that itlent to the place a peculiar interest in our eyes " Oh see, dear mother,there is our vineyard! And there is the summer-house round which I plantedso many flowers last year! Ah, good Heavens! There is our dancingmaster standing on the bridge. How he will wonder when he sees usback again! Come now, make haste, don't let us squeeze our bonnets in the crowd. " They had bought two fashionable Vienna bonnets, as presents for the sisters at home. The traveller is often too much inclined topass by with indifference the little home traits , which animate and fillwith interest strange and foreign places. The idea of a dancing- masterat Neusatz had never occurred to me, and Peterwardein gardens andsummer-houses, tended with as fond a care as that felt at home, seemedsomething curious and unexpected to me.Round Peterwardein grow the best wines of Southern Hungary. Passing Peterwardein we soon reached Karlovitz. These three cities are thethree capitals of the Military Frontier; Neusatz is the trading, Peterwardein the military, and Karlovitz the religious capital, for it is the residence of the head of the Greek church in Austria. The Archbishop ofKarlovitz, the Greek Synod, the Bishop of Montenegro, the Patriarch ofConstantinople, and the Emperor of Russia, are the five independent headsof the Greek church in Europe.A steamboat down the Danube tears along with such inexorable speed,that scarcely has an interesting object appeared above the horizon, when italready lies far behind, and scarcely any vigilance is sufficient to preventthe traveller from losing many objects of the highest interest. We wereconversing with some entertaining young Austrians, who were describingto us the proceedings ofa Hungarian Diet, at which they had been present,and while thus pleasantly occupied, the inexorable steamboat swiftly spedpast the mouth of the Theiss, and when I turned to my map and to theriver, I saw it lying far behind me, on the edge of the horizon. I had beenparticularly anxious to see this river, because I had hoped to discover thereason why the juncture of two such great rivers as the Danube and theTheiss, is not marked by any town or city. The confluence of the Danubewith the Drave, and with the Theiss, are the only two exceptions I knowof, in this part of the world, to the rule that all the mouths of great rivers are marked by considerable towns. These two mouths have not so muchas a village or single house in their neighbourhood. The immense marsheswhich cover these two places may perhaps be the cause of this singularfact. The nature of the country made it, in consequence, impossible thatlarge towns should arise exactly at the mouths of these two rivers. Nevertheless, their traffic required the existence of staple places, where the tradeof the rivers might concentrate, and such places are Eszeck (the Mursia ofthe Romans) for the Drave, and Neusatz for the Theiss .The corner of marshy land formed by the confluence of the Theiss withthe Danube, is peopled by the Tshaikists, who form the crews of the Austrian gunboats on the Danube. Their territory belongs to the MilitaryFrontier, and, like all the peasants of that portion of the empire, they areT260 THE MOUTH OF THE SAVE.liable to military duties, with this difference, that it is not on land but onwater that the Tshaikists are employed. Their capital is called Titel, andthere is the chief station of their flotilla, of which, however, detachmentsare constantly to be found at Semlin, and at other points of the Danube.The Tshaikists form a battalion of about 1000 men. They are boundto patrol about upon the Danube, and their services are sometimes takeninto requisition for building bridges, passing troops across the river, and incase of inundation to keep up a communication between the different insulated points. The portion of the river on which the people are chieflyemployed, is that which intervenes between Belgrade and Orsova.THE MOUTH OF THE SAVE.Passing between the marshy country of the Banat on the left hand, andthe dry Syrmia on the right, we arrived at night at Semlin, at the mouthof the Save, opposite to which lies the far famed city of Belgrade. Semlinis the last town in Hungary, and Belgrade the first in Servia. At thispoint we passed through one of the principal openings into Hungary; oneof those gates broken in its mountain wall, by the rivers that water itscentral plains. Hungary is a large and hollow basin of land, enclosed onthe North and North-east by the Carpathians, on the South and Southeastby the Walachian and Illyrian mountains, and on the West by the Alps.The principal rivers which water it, are the Danube, the Theiss, the Drave,and the Save. The two former of these, which are by far the most considerable, have broken three gates or openings in the mountain wall whichencloses the country. These three are,1stly, that of Presburg, where the Danube enters Hungary, cuttingthrough the northern extremity of the Alps, and the southern extremityof the Carpathians; 2dly, that of Belgrade, where the same river leavesHungary, piercing the Servian mountains; and 3dly, that of the sourcesofthe Theiss, where the valley of the Theiss winds through the mountainmasses of Transylvania.The first opening, that of Presburg, connects Hungary with the West ofEurope. Through this passed the torrent of Huns, that, headed by Attila,poured forth to devastate Europe: through this pass swarmed the wildMagyars to torment Germany, and the fierce Turks to besiege Vienna.This was the gate by which the Germans entered Hungary to turn herwild nomadic robber hordes into peaceable and industrious citizens; throughwhich the pious crusaders, the penitent princes of Germany, and the devoutsovereigns of the West, journeyed towards Palestine; through whichmarched the Austrians to claim their hereditary rights, and finally theFrench under their great Emperor, to crush in Hungary the last remnant of Austrian independence.Through the second great gate at Belgrade, passed the Roman emperors,and the generals of the Byzantine Empire, into the valley of the Morava.Through this opening the soldiers and janizaries of the Padishaw pouredforth continually, to lay waste the Hungarian plains; here also the Hungarian and Austrian armies passed along to do battle against the Turks. Itwas through this opening, moreover, that the plague first entered Hungary from the East.The third gate first admitted the Huns and Tartars, and afterwardsthe original Hungarian tribes themselves, into the valleys of the TheissSTEAMBOAT LIFE. 261and the Danube; and through this gate it is the Hungarians alreadybegin to dread that they will one day behold the armies of Russia enter the country.The first of these openings leads into Germany, and may therefore becalled the German gate. The second is flanked on either side by Servia,and may be called the Servian gate; and the third, where the Russians,or Ruthenen, may be said to hold guard, must be called the Russian gate.Every thing now began to look very Oriental. Semlin resembles morea Turkish than an Hungarian town. The steamboat stopped here thewhole evening, and we visited many shops, which were full of Turkish wares. Men in Turkish costumes sat cross-legged on the shore, smoking.The French consul of Belgrade came on board, and we learnt from him that many Germans emigrate to Servia from Semlin and Neusatz, as servants, innkeepers, and shopmen, and that they are much sought for, andwell paid for their services. The Magyars, on the contrary, never cross the borders of their native land. A French courier also came on board here.He was a hard, cold, sharp, clever man, whose brown, spare, and weatherbeaten countenance, bore marks of long exposure in travelling. He broughtwith him some excellent Turkish tobacco, of which he offered some to several among us. He had travelled in Africa, Europe, and Asia, namelyinAlgiers, France, and Asia Minor, and had journeyed eight times from Con- stantinople to Belgrade, and twice from Belgrade to Thessalonica. He toldme that upon the Bulgarian roads, gipsies are the usual postilions, andthat these, as well as the horses, are often beaten to death by travellers; inwhich case they lie by the roadside, and no one takes the least notice of the occurrence. He knew a Tartar who had in this way beaten to deaththree gipsies during his life. The whip, he said, and the Turkish costume,were indispensable appendages on that tour. Merchants, couriers, and nowandthen an Englishman, he added, were the only travellers along the road.Early the next morning the tall white minarets of Belgrade lay far behind on the horizon. It vexed us that the wind, or the noise of thesteamboat, hindered our hearing the cries of the Muezzins from the towers.This is the most northerly point, from which the Fateh of the Prophet isever proclaimed, but it is surrounded by foes, and will probably not longremain a Turkish possession.We nowproceeded with the Turkish shores on one side, and the Austrian Military Frontier on the other. On the Austrian side all is levelmarsh; the hills of Servia give a far more agreeable appearance to theother side. Out of the Austrian marshes rise at regular intervals the solitary Tshardaken, or military posts, surrounded with bushes. They are allbuilt ofwood, and raised on piles, on account of the frequent inundations.The posts are placed near enough to one another for the soldiers to seefrom one to another in the daytime, and to hear each other at night.The situation of these posts during a general inundation, surrounded on all sides by water, must be tedious and monotonous enough. Whensmuggling or the plague demands it, the posts are thickened and the soldiers increased in number.STEAMBOAT LIFE.The Morava is the principal river in Servia, and winds through thewhole of that province. At its mouth it divides into two arms, one of T2262 STEAMBOAT LIFE.which is called the Yesoba. On this arm lies Semandria, a fortress of a verypeculiar appearance and construction. Belgrade, Orsova, and otherTurkish fortresses on the Danube, belonged formerly to Austria, and werealtered and arranged according to the modern rules of fortification, andconsequently do not differ much in appearance from those of Germany.Semandria, on the contrary, has remained unchanged and unmodified, fromthe times when cannons and gunpowder were unknown. The walls forma large triangle of great height, and are surmounted by rows of littleturrets with loopholes. At the corners of the triangle are high sexagonalor octagonal towers, also surmounted with turrets, and between these atregular intervals along the wall, other smaller towers of a similar form.The walls and towers seemed to me to stand within one another in adouble triangle. I counted twenty-five towers, but there appeared to bemany more. The whole fortress was in good preservation, and was abeautiful object, with the morning sunrise shining full upon it.The Austrian shores remained very military in appearance, and ofstern, barren, warlike aspect. The Servian afforded more matter fordescription and for observation. There were cattle grazing in the meadows,and oxen drinking at the streams; there were villages, and women washing clothes in the river near them; there were Turkish and Servian boatmen,rowing boats, in which sailors in picturesque costume were stretched underthe shade of bales of goods. All was peaceful, quiet, idyllic; and yet thisharmless aspect concealed war, and pestilence, and tyranny, and socialanarchy, while the rough bristling coast opposite, protected a land of peace, commerce, industry, and civilization.At Drenkova, a new settlement recently formed by the steam navigation company, our number of passengers, originally 350, had dwindledaway to thirty. The steamboat proceeds no further than Drenkova,where accordingly we were all turned out into a small convenient sailingvessel; but before quitting the agreeable and expeditious steamboat, thebest vehicle certainly ever invented for river travelling, I cannot forbearrecalling a few of its pleasant scenes and reminiscences.The more the small community dwindled away, the more familiar and intimate with one another became those who remained. In the steamboats along the Rhine none of this amalgamation takes place, because ateach station, the boat takes up as many new passengers as it deposits oldones. Not so on the Danube, where the intermediate stations areas yet of very little importance. As our journey was throughout accompanied by the most beautiful weather, we were almost always, dayand night, upon deck. The German lady mentioned above always satin her coach, which served her as an arbour, and protected her from the heat of the sun. The coach- doors were always left open, and herchildren were incessantly climbing and flying in and out, like pigeons in a dove cot. This little group formed the general centre of our conversation, and never failing topics arose from the countless objects of interestwhich we passed in our course. The watermills of the Danube, whichoccur in great numbers, afforded us frequent amusem*nt. The millersappear to live in a perpetual state of hostility with the sailors. Theywatched us as we past their mills to make grimaces at us, and when theywere sitting at dinner, they would hold out their plates and spoons at uswith an air of grinning defiance, as much as to say, "Wouldn't you wishto have some? But you shan't!" Sometimes they would roar out as ifTHE CATARACTS OF THE DANUBE. 263in great terror, "the boat's lost!" " going down!" and when the passengers turned round with startled faces, the millers would laugh at them for their pains.While passing the Batchka our discourse turned a good deal on the bad harvest of 1838, which was universally complained of. The summer hadbeen so dry that all the corn had withered; and the Banat province,which usually sells 6,000,000 metzen of grain, had this year sold scarcely1,000,000.One day as we were sitting together engaged in cheerful conversation,the little painter of Pesth took out his apparatus and began to take ourportraits. I told him that I would rather have seen him engaged on someof the more picturesque figures which abounded among the lower class ofpassengers. One day I led him aside and pointed out to him a poor sickJew in Turkish costume, who was lying stretched on mats and sheepskins,but I could not prevail upon him to paint this man, and yet his appearanceand ragged costume were in the highest degree picturesque and interesting.He wore a tattered turban and a faded old silk girdle, and his beard andhair were ragged and disordered. His countenance wore an expression ofthe deepest misery; his complexion was pale, corpselike, and white asmarble; his eyes were dull and destitute of fire; the lines and features ofhis face were sharply cut but regular; his forehead and head were of abeautiful form, and the whole expression of his countenance was so noblethat when young and in health he must have been remarkably handsome.I addressed the unfortunate whom, because he was covered with vermin,every one shunned, but I received no answer. I questioned some Jewishmerchants about him, and was informed that he was a poor, sick, and distressed rabbi of Constantinople, who had been sent for to Vienna by somebrother rabbis in the vain hope of his receiving relief from the skill ofour German physicians.THE CATARACTS OF THE DANUBE.The Transylvanian and Walachian mountains, which branch off intoServia in a south-westerly direction, divide the great plains of CentralHungary from those of Walachia. These plains probably once formedgreat lakes, which gradually wore a pass through the mountains, and thepass so formed became the channel of the present Danube.This pass,through which the Danube winds in its serpentine course for eighteen(German) miles, is called the Clissura .At Moldova the mountains on each side first begin to be of importance.They rise to a gigantic height, and if the river were narrow, these steep,bare, narrow mountain walls would be terrific in appearance, but the broad,calm stream which flows in tranquillity between them, softens their ruggedgrandeur. A little below Moldova, however, a very startling phenomenonmakes its appearance, for to the height of twenty fathoms there arises fromthe very midst of the river a huge rock with frowning chasms, jaggededges, and pointed teeth. This rock is called by the inhabitants the Babagai, or " wicked woman. Immediately below it is the commencement of a series of perilous whirlpools and rapids .ووI am unable to speak with any certainty of the height of the mountainwalls at this place, but I was told by those whom I questioned, that their264 THE CATARACTS OF THE DANUBE.height could not be under 300 fathoms. Rocks and mountains then of thesame height as these walls, similar in all respects, jagged and rough, and cut by deep ravines and valleys, are sown in the bed of the river itself, andtower out of the water on all sides. The highest of these is the Tristovaczer Spitze, below which the cataracts of the Danube begin. Scarcelyhad we passed this rock than we heard a dull hollow roaring in the water,and saw the dark heads of the dangerous reefs which here run rightacross the river. The rowers exerted all their strength and redoubledtheir exertions, for it is not enough that the excited waters drive on the boat till it flies before them with the rapidity of an arrow, the rowersmust labour with all their might and main to increase this rapidity. Ifthey were to proceed slowly and cautiously, by way of avoiding the rocks and reefs, they would inevitably be caught and swallowed up by one of thenumerous whirlpools. The boat must cut them rapidly and decisively, like a knife, and the utmost precision, boldness, and local knowledge are required in the steersman. As in human life, wherever whirlpools and rapids lie in our course, the timid and fearful are sure to sink, while the courageous steersman, who redoubles his energy, and exerts all his experience and judgment, passes victoriously through every peril.The transition from a quietly-flowing river to a wild eddying and whirling torrent, is, of course, gradual. At first the water only runs withgreater rapidity. By degrees, small vortices and then greater ones beginto appear. As we advance, the pools increase in depth and circumference, and their edges lap over more and more upon one another tillthe whole becomes one vast, roaring, foaming, eddying, whirling vortex.We all stood in the forepart of the boat, near where the rowers sat,many of us stretching our heads over the side, to witness the wild and aweinspiring tumult of the elements. The children alone still continued toplay with careless unconcern, regardless of the dangers around them. Thesteersman stood aft, gazing steadily upon the stream. Upon his energyand skill our safety depended. The measured, steady motion of the oars,as they cut the convex swelling bubbles in the whirlpool, formed a finecontrast to the wild, stormy confusion of the waters. I cannot say exactlyhow long the tumult lasted. It began three times anew, forming threeseparate whirlpools.The breadth of the Danube, in the narrowest part of this pass, is only ahundred fathoms. Below Pesth it is 600 fathoms broad, and below Belgrade it is a perfect sea. This vast mass of waters, enriched by innu- merable tributaries, is here forced through a channel so extremely narrow,and no vent is to be obtained either by inundation, or by any other means.It is this which gives the whirlpools, and the cataracts which follow them,such tremendous force and impetus. It is wonderful to see the wholeunited volume of water pouring itself down one steep and narrow defilewith the rapidity of lightning, and more than the noise of thunder.To estimate the exact quantity of water which is poured down the Clissura is impossible, for the depth of the river has never been ascertainedwith any degree of certainty; indeed it is so very various at different parts,that to find a just average is scarcely possible. At one place the boatmen said, " Here the river is forty fathoms deep;" and at another, "Herethe rocks are only two feet below the bottom of the boat." Sometimes ithappens that the boat, dancing wildly upon the waves, scrapes upon arock, yet it is very seldom that an accident occurs. Out of 100 vessels,A NIGHT ON THE MILITARY FRONTIER. 26599 get through the pass in safety. One may afford to risk life with such odds in one's favour.Our Tundér, the name given to the description of large row-boat inwhich we were embarked, brought us safely through. We passed theIslaz, and the less formidable Tachtalia and Yutz,* successfully, andreached again a peaceful and quiet part of the river. At Svinitza, wherestands a great rocky outlet called the Greben, the Danube flows quietlyout into easy ground, and pursues a tranquil course. Svinitza is the southernmost point of the kingdom of Hungary. It was now evening betweenour rocky walls. The plains of central Hungary still basked in the raysof the setting sun, but gray twilight was spread over the gloomy mountain-pass. We had been told that we should reach Orsova that night,and were very much disappointed to see that the sun had set before we emerged from the Clissura.It was a beautiful evening. The river was now three times as wide asbefore, and the mountains began again to be covered with green herbage.Here and there wild glens and defiles afforded a glimpse into the interior of the country. All was as silent as if we were travelling through theprimeval forests, along some mighty American river. On the Austrianside the solitary fire of a military post lit up the heights here and there;and on the Servian side, the mountains were more frequently and brightlyilluminated by fires kindled to frighten away the bears. We had allfasted the whole day, with the exception of our breakfast on board thesteamboat, and all began to feel extremely well inclined for somethingto eat and drink. The children complained a little, though in a verymodest manner, of being very hungry and thirsty, particularly as they werewrapped up in their cloaks, and forbidden to run about any more.of our passengers, therefore, who had liberally provided for his own wantsupon the journey, took pity upon us, and produced a little tea-service,with some sugar, biscuits, and glasses. One of the Jews on board strucka light, and lit a fire, another fetched water, and very soon a very comfortable kettle of hot water was boiling for tea, over a pleasant little fire.OneThe little ones were fed and satisfied: and we grown up children enjoyed our cups of warm tea that diffused more comfort, and good humouramong us at that moment than the best champagne or tokay could havedone under different circ*mstances. Here was again a picture I wouldfain have painted, but for want of a pencil, I contented myself with impressing the scene upon the canvass of my memory.A NIGHT ON THE MILITARY FRONTIER.As it grew darker, our boatmen took care to keep to the Austrian side.This was very necessary, for if we were not to keep within sight of theAustrian sentinels, we should be considered to have incurred infection, andshould be subjected to quarantine on arriving at Orsova.We could not get our boatmen to declare positively whether theythought we should reach Orsova that night or not.Our uncertainty was,however, soon terminated. Laÿ u krayi!" shouted a sentinel from theAustrian side. I did not understand the cry, but the rowers did, and im66

• These are the Walachian names for the three principal whirlpools.

266 A NIGHT ON THE MILITARY FRONTIER.mediately rowed towards land. When we reached the post, we were atfirst forbidden to proceed, but on our using many persuasive remonstrancesand arguments, the soldiers consulted together, and agreed that there wasstill light enough for us to reach the next sentry post, and that the sentinels there might decide upon our further proceedings. Accordingly theysent a soldier into our boat, by way of escort or spy, and we were allowedto go on. We proceeded with our tea-drinking in all possible goodhumour, until the unwelcome sound, " Laÿ u krayi," again resoundedfrom the heights. Here we were compelled to disembark, and we did soin the confident hope of being allowed to proceed, under a guard of anothersoldier; but no-the corporal declared that it was too late, and we mustspend the night where we were. In vain we pointed to the ladies andchildren, and remonstrated on the severity of compelling them to put upwith the scanty accommodations of a military post. In vain we representedthat they might send as many soldiers as they pleased with us, so as to hinder the slightest chance of any intercourse with Turkey. The sentinelswere deaf to all arguments and appeals, replying that they could not takeupon themselves the responsibility of allowing us to go on, and that wemust stay where we were. We were therefore obliged to submit, and tosurrender ourselves prisoners to the soldiers of the 13th military post ofthe Illyrico-Walachian frontier-regiment.The post was called Plavishevitza, after a neighbouring Walachianvillage of that name, into which we now hastened, to endeavour to findsome quarters more suitable to the sex and age of a part of our fellowpassengers, than the little sentry-house, filled with the rude soldiery ofthe frontier. We searched through the whole village, but found nothingexcept the most miserable huts, which were all obstinately closed against us.At length we determined to look after the priest of the village. Thisseemed to us a capital idea. Where could we be more likely to meet withcivility and hospitality, and where were we more likely to find fit lodgingsfor the ladies and children? We knocked. A gigantic man, with agloomy countenance, and long ragged beard and hair, made his appearance, clothed in a coarse linen shirt and trousers of the same material, overwhich was thrown a loose caftan. We spoke to him in German, but thevillage priest, for such he was, appeared to know but two German words,which he repeated incessantly, shaking his head all the time:"Nik'sWirthshaus! Nik's Wirthshaus!" (No inn! No inn! ) We began tospeak in Russian, and entreated his hospitality, representing to him thehelplessness of our situation. Our arguments, now perfectly understood,softened his heart, and he agreed for a reasonable remuneration to allowthe ladies and children to occupy his two bedsteads, and the only room inhis house, a miserable place enough; and moreover, he undertook to pro- cure them a little milk and bread for supper.TheThe ladies who had remained on board the boat, were now fetched up,together with the children, of whom we each took one in our arms.ladies and children took possession of the two beds; the priest with his wifeand children stretched themselves in the ashes by the fire: our Ragusanlay down upon his cloak before the door, and I, my friend, and the Frenchman, returned to take up our quarters on the shore. Here we found twolittle carts, which the Walachian boyars had obtained, and in which theywere determined to drive the remaining seven miles to Orsova. The TurkishA NIGHT ON THE MILITARY FRONTIER. 267Jews and Servians were stretched on the sands by the river-side, wrappedin their furs, some smoking, some talking, and others sleeping. Some werelying on the benches and trunks in the boat.The sentry-house or Tshardak, stood on the height immediately overlooking the sands. It had two divisions, one for the watchfire, and theother for the soldiers to sleep in. Before this little shed, under the projecting roof, the men had piled their arms, There were six or seven soldiers at the Tshardak, and their dress like their political constitution, washalf military and half peasant-like. Over the usual peasant's frock theywore knapsacks, fastened to a leathern strap. Their legs were wrappedin linen or woollen cloths, and their feet covered with those sandals, fastened with red bindings, common to most Eastern Slavonian nations. Theywore peasants' caps, and most of them had a knife sticking in the girdle.Those who were on watch, marched up and down before the Tshardakwith a very unsoldierly gait, and with the long musket thrown clumsilyover the shoulder. For the cordon service on which these men are employed they are admirably fitted; on parade they would certainly not showto advantage. They are truly a rusticorum mascula militum prolas:All the soldiers of the frontier regiments are now taught the Germanlanguage. Most of them forget it as fast as they learn it, except the fewmilitary phrases they are in the daily habit of using, but the non- commissioned officers generally speak German tolerably well.We were very hungry and thirsty, and asked the soldiers whether wecould have some bread (the Frenchman had actually the conscience to askfor white bread) or some dried fish, or a piece of bacon, or a glass of milk,or Raki, the common liquor of the country. They shrugged their shoulders, and said they had no such dainties, but they would get us plenty ofwater from the river, and would mix us some flour and water and boil itinto a mamaliga. A fire was accordingly kindled, some flour and waterput into a kettle, and a thick gruel soon prepared. One of the soldiersbrought us a little salt in a wooden spoon, and another some powderedcheese. This supper was certainly no feast, but we were obliged to put upwith it . As for the Frenchman, he protested that the first mouthful almostchoked him.As we were sitting round the fire, the cry of the sentinel, " Hold! Whogoes?" was heard. It was a messenger with a letter. The corporal immediately despatched one of the soldiers with it to the next post. In alittle while the sentinel hailed again. " A friend" was the reply. It was apatrol sent out by the chiefs of the Cordon, to see that all was right at thedifferent posts. Sometimes these chiefs themselves make the circuit frompost to post, without any previous warning.Once more the unwearied sentinel repeated his challenge, and received a friendly answer. It was the newguard, come to relieve the others. Nosoldiers remain more than seven days together at a sentry post; they arethen relieved by six or seven others, who likewise remain a week. Everysoldier spends ninety days of the year on guard at these places. Each ofthe new comers had in his knapsack a bag, containing seven Ocka offlour, their sole provision for the seven days. Some of them had also alittle powdered sheep's cheese, and some of them, though not many, were even without salt-at least so they assured us. Salt is very dear upon theMilitary Frontier, though extremely abundant on the Turkish side. Thesoldiers look with longing eyes upon the shiploads of fine green salt, which268 A NIGHT ON THE MILITARY FRONTIER.pass along the Turkish side ofthe river, and there is probably a littlesmuggling carried on in so tempting an article.The soldiers had come very far that day, having set off early in themorning. They were very tired, and after throwing their thick browncloaks over their weapons, they stretched themselves on the ground beforethe Tshardak, and immediately fell asleep . I never saw so little accommodation for a week's lodging. Their arms alone received any care or attention. We asked them why they did not sleep within the Tshardak,but they replied that it swarmed with mice and vermin, and that they always preferred sleeping in the open air.The hardships and privations to which the daily life of these hardy and courageous menis exposed, even under the most favourable circ*mstances,is almost incredible. What must it be when bad weather renders thecountry entirely impassable, and shuts them up in the miserable Tshardak,and when the mere keeping of their weapons in good condition, requires incessant labour and care. But when the alarm-bell beats from the chiefsentry-houses, when signal fires are lighted from the heights, when perhapsa robbery is proclaimed, and the soldiery have to roam the country fordays together, in search of banditti, to recover perhaps some miserablecloaks and guns, then the frontier soldier is quite in his element!he sings the warlike songs of his country, and shouts the praises of theAustrian emperor, for privation and hardship are not felt by the hardy borderer, and war and tumult are his delight.ThenWe seated ourselves on the edge of the height overhanging the sands,to enjoy our feast of mamaliga and water, and the corporal sat down beside us, with his knotted corporal's stick in his hand. The Corporal of theMilitary Frontier is a king whose sceptre is never out of his hand. Thereis no more certain way by which to win his royal favour, than to offer hima pipe of tobacco, as we now did. He immediately began to converse."We have had peace for some time with the Servians, " said the corporal. "Under Prince Milosh they were kept in very good order, butsince the new governor's accession we have been obliged to redouble ourwatchfulness, and we know not how it will be in future. The country isnot as secure as ours just now, for even their officers of government mustalways go about armed. "Now and then from the Servian side we could hear the barking of dogs,the only sound which broke the silence around. We did not hear thehowling of the wolves in the forests, although we listened for it attentively,for the barking of the dogs completely overpowered them. The fires inthe Servian fields gleamed out here and there from among the dark trees." There are plenty of wolves and bears over there, " said the corporal."We have some, also, but not so many. They have also more usefulanimals, such as stags and deer, than we have. Last winter they killed300 stags and deer in the snow. Sometimes the bears swim over to ourside, and the soldiers have to look after them pretty sharply.It maybe seen how various are the labours necessary to protect a civilized against a barbaric frontier. The usual number of soldiers kept constantly on watch along the banks of the Danube and Save is 6000, butwhen any peculiar danger demands increased vigilance the number is in- creased to 8000 and 12,000 men. The whole number of able- bodiedfrontier -soldiers is 60,000, and they keep watch in rotation as above de- scribed.POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE MILITARY FRONTIER. 269"As a German I feel proud of this institution of the Military Frontier,"said I, turning to the Frenchman, " for it is one ofthe most remarkable projects which Germany has ever executed, for the defence of her own civilization and that of Europe.""Comment ça? Vous êtes fier! je n'en comprends rien. Je ne saisni comment ni pourquoi.”This phrase " je ne sais ni comment ni pourquoi, " was continually onthe lips of my Frenchman, who having lived all his life in Paris, was com- pletely ignorant of every thing out of it. He turned round and went tosleep, while I continued to occupy myself withTHOUGHTS ON THE POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE MILITARYFRONTIER,which appears to me of the highest interest, as considered,1stly. With reference to Germany as a German institution.2dly. As a school of civilization for the neighbouring countries.3dly. As a protection for the civilization of Europe against the barbarism of Turkey.The foundation and development of this institution began with the fallof the Hungarian kingdom at the battle of Mohacs ( 1525) , with theaccession of the Austrian Emperor to the Hungarian crown, and with thebeginning of the great war between the Turks and the Germans for thedominion over these Eastern countries, which lasted nearly two hundredyears.The Emperor Ferdinand, the brother of Charles V., first quarteredGerman troops in those districts of Croatia bordering on Styria, in order toprotect his new kingdom of Hungary against the incursions of the Turks.This garrison afterwards received numerous additions of Servian andCroatian fugitives from Turkey, who were endowed with lands, on condition of serving as military frontier guards against the Turks. In thismanner was first organized the Military Frontier of Styria, which wasafterwards formed into a distinct Margravate, under the name of "the oneperpetual Generalty" of the Croatian Frontiers.structure.This Generalty is the basis and foundation of the whole subsequentThe more the conquests of Austria extended in Hungary, themore the frontier lines were lengthened. The more the Christian powerbecame consolidated and strengthened, the greater was the number ofChristian fugitives who took refuge on Austrian ground from the tyrannyof the Mahomedan government. All these fugitives, Uskoks, Croatians,Albanians, Macedonians, Servians, and Walachians, were hospitably received by Austria, and settled as before on the waste lands of Slavoniaand the Banat, for the defence of the frontier. As more and more provinces were added to the dominions of Austria, the frontier was finallyextended to its eastern boundary round Transylvania, in the years 1765and 1766.It is probable that as civilization and culture spreads southward into theTurkish dominions, this living wall of protection against barbarism maygradually become unnecessary, but at present it is very far from being so.The internal disturbances and convulsions of Turkey, and the unsettledstate of the Oriental question on the one hand, and the spirit of discontent,the passion for nationality now so dangerously prevalent in Hungary, on270 THOUGHTS ON THE POLITICAL IMPORTANCEthe other, render the preservation of the Military Frontier of the veryhighest consequence to Austria.No one who has ever had an opportunity of comparing the state ofcivilization in the contiguous districts of Hungary and Turkey, can doubtwhat vast benefit this institution has conferred on the inhabitants of thecountries immediately within its influence. In the first place the securityof the inhabitants is placed upon a firmer footing than in the neighbouring districts of Hungary, to say nothing of Turkey. Within the MilitaryFrontier very few robberies take place, and the traveller is as safe as in aGerman Province. To secure life and property ought to be the first con- sideration of rational civilization. The second is the security of judicialrights, and in this respect also the Military Frontier has an immense advantage over the neighbouring countries .A great deal has also been effected for the morality and social order ofthe inhabitants. Their temperance, domestic peace, and the punctual fulfilment of their duties is subjected to a wholesome surveillance, but whichmust by no means be supposed to degenerate into a tyrannical and inquisitorial spirit of meddling. The highest as well as the lowest are restrainedby military and moral regulations, of which they feel the salutary influence, and I myself, in the sequel, met with many Hungarian peasants whohad taken refuge in the Military Frontier from the tyranny and severity oftheir masters, and who assured me that they were far better off in their newhomes than they had ever been before. The frontier is, therefore, peopledfrom two sources, from Turkey and Hungary, by fugitives from oppression,who seek a refuge, in the order, security and peace established in the frontier districts.Education has likewise been in many ways promoted here by theAustrian government, and if the schools of the Military Frontier do not yet quite answer their ends, owing chiefly to the want of qualified teachers,yet what I saw of these schools agreeably surprised me, and when we con- sider the state of education on the right side of the Danube, we cannotsufficiently rejoice at the mental illumination which has been shed on these dark regions by the Austrian government.It is a no less agreeable surprise to the traveller coming from Hungary,or still more from Turkey, to observe the good state of the roads and bridgesin the Military Frontier. The advantages which this institution has conferred upon the inhabitants, are the more striking, because the countriesfrom which the different elements of the population are derived, lying soclose to the frontier itself, invite comparison. Turkish Servia has foundeda real New Servia in the Military Frontier, which might with more truthbe called so than the Province of that name in Austria; Walachia, andTurkish Croatia, have also a little Walachia and a little Croatia, within theMilitary Frontier.The work here accomplished by Austria, and indeed by all Germanyfor it was only with the help of the money and troops supplied by the rest ofGermany, that the Austrian government was enabled to found the MilitaryFrontier has been of the greatest service, not merely to Germany, but toall Europe; for it was this effective and energetic institution alone whichformed a permanent rampart against the Turks, and preserved Europefrom that dreadful disease to which it was so long subject, and which stillrages throughout the East.If, as is not improbable, the Frontier continues to advance in a rapidlyOF THE MILITARY FRONTIER. 271progressive course of civilization and prosperity, it will perhaps graduallylose its military character, and blend with the rest of the peaceful andindustrious Austrian community. It is remarkable to observe how thetables are now turned between Austria and Turkey. In ancient times, thelands of civilization and refinement lay on the right side of the Danube, anda frontier line, similar to the present Military Frontier, was drawn by theByzantine emperors, to protect their dominions against the incursions of theNorthern barbarians.While I still sat on the shores of the Danube, making reflections uponthe importance of the Military Frontier, the first gray light of morningbegan to dawn. The old corporal, giving up his post to his successor,took his departure with his soldiers. I observed that each soldier, as hewent away, carefully took his cartridge from his gun-barrel, and put it into his cartridge- box. This is on account of the scanty supply of ammu- nition allowed to the frontier soldiers . On the Military Frontier, nounnecessary shot must ever be fired; the cartridges are sparingly dealt out,and must be used with equal parsimony. They are sometimes put three orfour times into the gun, and then drawn out again, for the soldier must never go armed into the interior of the country. To any one not acquaintedwith these circ*mstances, the fuss made about a missing or spoilt cartridge,sometimes appears highly ridiculous.We now set off for the village to look after our fellow travellers. Whenwe arrived there, we found all still sunk in deep repose. The Ragusanlay sleeping before the door, and the window of the ladies was still covered with a little curtain. We went on into the village to try and obtain somewarm milk for breakfast.Here also all were asleep. No smoke yet rose from the chimneys ofthe little houses built of wood and clay, and in the narrow courts in front,surrounded with high basket- work, the little carts, ploughs, and agricultural instruments of the peasants, were still piled up together as if theytoo were fast asleep.As the inhabitants, however, neither spoke nor understood a word ofanylanguage but Walachian, it was impossible to wake them in a polite and courteous manner. The only thing we could do was to break through ahole in the fence, and, putting our mouths to the door, to raise an inarti- culate kind ofcry. This we accompanied with a bombardment of kicksand knocks at the door, and after some time it was opened by a boy.The Frenchman began " Eh bien! mon cher, faites vite! donnez nous unpeu de lait! du lait-du lait!" The Walachian lad was not muchthe wiser for this communication, and would doubtless have slammed thedoor in our faces, if I had not flown to Wallachian Latin as a last resource,exclaiming " Lapte dulce! Lapte dulce!" while the Frenchman held out some money.The chink of money is the most intelligible of all languages, and it wasnot long before a slender Walachian girl appeared, leading some cows out into the courtyard.We here saw for the first time the ordinary costume of a Walachian girl of these districts. Her head was bare, and her hair was laid roundher head in thick plaits like a crown. These plaits are made so firmly,that the girls sleep in them. She wore a long, white loose chemise, decorated with pink threads, and over this, two long garments like aprons,one before and one behind. These aprons are the principal parts of the272 THE LOWER CLISSURA.1dress of a Walachian girl, who usually expends a great deal of care uponthem. They are woven of bright coloured wool, and embroidered withpatterns in yellow, blue, and white. They are called " Pregacsen." Theholiday Pregacsen are bordered with gold and silver thread. They aremade quite alike, both being rather more than an ell long, and an ell wide.They are fringed at the bottom with an immense number of long tasselsand ribbons, which hang nearly to the ground, and fly about atevery movement. This is the part of their costume most striking to thestranger.The cows, which the Walachian girl now began to milk, were miserably small, and she had to milk a whole herd to get a pailful. I remarkedthat these people, like those of South Russia, have never properly tamedtheir cows, or accustomed them to give their milk freely. They havefirst to put the calf to the udder, and then drive it away, while the milk.maid takes its place. The whole operation lasted an hour, at the expira- tion of which, we ran off with our milk, which we handed in at the littlewindow of the priest's house, and which the ladies, being now awake,received with thankfulness.THE LOWER CLISSURA.At five o'clock we were again all seated in our Tundér, relating to oneanother the adventures of the preceding night. If our yesterday's voyage had been interesting, to-day's was no less so. Below Plavishevitza, theDanube is tolerably wide, but we soon saw before us a gate formed oftwo projecting rocks, beyond which the river ran through a very narrowchannel. The place was beautifully picturesque. The broad Danube beforeand around us, the lovely verdure on the shore in the foreground, and inthe background the gigantic gate, over which towered the highest peakin the whole range, the Sterbezo al mare, -all this formed a beautifullandscape. Through the rocky gate we caught a glimpse of a furtherperspective, formed by projecting rocks towering over the troubled channel of the river, and terminated by light morning clouds and vapours.We floated into the gate or Kasan, the water of which was ice-cold.In the middle of the stream rose a high rock, round which the angrysurges foamed and dashed in wild fury. On each side of the shore laygloomy caverns, and upon one of these rocks sat a majestic eagle, who didnot deign to notice us as we passed. Crippled oaks and beeches nestledin ruts on the rocks. We glided quickly through, and though the riverwhirled and roared as before, this second pass, in which there are not somany little treacherous rocks, is not nearly so dangerous as that of the Islatz. We soon passed out again into the broad and quiet channel.On the Hungarian side a new road is being constructed, which is tolead from Orsova to Uipalanka near Drenkova, along the Clissura. Whenit is finished the passengers and goods going to Orsova will proceed by this landway from the steamboat, instead of incurring the dangers of theClissura pass. The work proceeds very slowly, because in many places the road has to be cut out of the solid rocks, and in others viaducts must be raised over clefts and chasms in the mountains.On the Servian side may be seen the traces of an old Roman road,built by Trajan, and called by the Walachians the " Trajan uht.” IVISIT TO A TURKISH PASHA AT NEW ORSOVA. 273" Imasked the Walachian boatman who Trajan was, and he answered,perator Rumanescu," which might mean either Roman or WalachianEmperor. It has been proved that the Walachians are far more directly descended from the Romans than the Italians. Their corruption of theLatin tongue bears a curious and striking resemblance to the Italian language." That road is Trajan's, the other is Szechenyi's," said one of my fel- low- passengers. The road has been indeed built at the cost of the steamboat company, but the noble Hungarian patriot, Count Szechenyi, is thelife and soul of the undertaking, and the road is always called after him.Again the Walachian boatman called out " Ikonalui Trajan!" (See the Tablet of Trajan. ) This is the celebrated inscription cut in the rockby Trajan to commemorate the work of his legions. The point where itstands is extremely beautiful. Emerging from the narrow rocky pass,thewooded shore lay before us, and beyond, a little island, covered with shrubs,cornfields, and grassy meadows. The tablet was too high above the riverfor me to read, but the remains of the inscription, which are well known,will be found in almost every guidebook:Imp. Cæsar. Divi. Nervae. F.Nerva. Trajanus. Aug. Germ.Pontif. Maximus. T. P.Pater Patriae. Cos. P. P.Monti D... ... Bu.S ..... ati.After passing the Tablet of Trajan we entered a broad and sunny valley,and in rather less than an hour we saw Orsova, the last town in the Military Frontier, lying before us on a bend of the river, at the entrance of afertile valley.VISIT TO A TURKISH PASHA AT NEW ORSOVA.At Orsova we encountered our Walachian boyards again, but the mostamiable part of our travelling society quitted us, to the regret, particularly,of the Frenchman and myself, who resolved to drive away our melancholyby some new expedition. We prepared accordingly for a visit to theneighbouring Turkish Pasha of New Orsova. A permission from theAustrian major commanding at Orsova was of course necessary (the superior magistrates of the military frontier are all military) , and it was requisite we should have a double escort of health officers and custom-houseofficers, in order that we might not smuggle either the plague or a pocketful of salt into the country. The health office provided us likewise with agood boat and six oars, in which we embarked, well provisioned withgrapes, cheese, butter, bread, meat, &c.We were soon again floatingupon the centre stream of the Danube, whence the prospect ismagnificent.Austrian Orsova has the appearance of a flourishing place, stretchingfor some distance along the Danube, and to some extent into the country.Its trade is considerable, and was more so during the French continentalsystem, when astonishing quantities ofgoods were sent up the Danube, andoverland to Orsova, on account of the merchants of Trieste, who derivedhandsome profits from their speculations, though the merchandise was274 VISIT TO A TURKISH PASHA AT NEW ORSOVA.often doubled and trebled in price on account of the eccentric routes by which it had to be forwarded. This branch of commerce has now vanished,but the animation which it imparted to the trade of the Danube has notwholly disappeared .Turkish Orsova lies on an island which divides the Danube into two armsof nearly equal breadth. The fortress was originally built, in a very solidmanner, by the Austrians, when they were in possession of the island. Itwas then ceded to the Turks, but in the last war but one between the twocountries was bombarded for several months, and was retaken by the Austrians after they had pretty nearly destroyed it. In this condition it was restored to the Turks at the peace.On our landing, the health officers placed us between them, and marchedus along to the pasha's house, which lay close to the water.We wereshown up stairs, a health officer going before, sweeping and blowingthe steps clean, and warning us, as we valued our liberty, not to touch any thing but what we received from their hands. We observed all possible caution, keeping our arms tightly pressed to our bodies, and theFrenchman, as he told me, was so careful of his extremities, that he did"his possible" to contract even his nose and ears to somewhat less thantheir customary dimensions.A Turkish sentinel was walking up and down on the upper floor. In thebackground were some barefooted negroes and Arabs, staring at us with all their eyes.These were the household attendants of the pasha, theirjackets and fezzes embroidered with gold, and their trousers of vast capa- ciousness. I was somewhat startled at seeing every thing so completelyoriental. I hardly know what I had expected to see, but I had scarcelyfancied I should so immediately find myself surrounded by African and Arabian elements.Their It pained me to see the poor people shrinking timidly back, in theirconsciousness of our dread of coming into contact with them.notions about plague and quarantine are so different from ours, that Ibelieve they think the Europeans hold them for unclean, and are too proud to touch them.We entered the pasha's room, the doors and windows of which were standing open. It was a small apartment, and contained no furniture buta few chairs, and, in the corner opposite the door, a divan, on which satthe pasha and his interpreter. The pasha was a handsome man, about 45years old, with a decided tendency towards corpulency. He had a red fezon his head, wore a blue frock coat with a standing collar, and from his neck hung a large crescent, radiant with jewels. This was a mark ofhonour bestowed on him, for his public services, by the late Sultan, for, itseems, we had now before us the architect of the fortress of Varna, a mandistinguished for his military and mathematical acquirements, enfin unhomme de méritepour la Turquie, as some of my boyards afterwards ex- pressed themselves.In saluting him we took care not to strike out too far, either before orbehind, lest we should fall into collision with some contagious object. Thepasha returned our salute, and his servants placed chairs for us in the middle of the room, on which we were permitted to sit down, after they hadbeen inspected by the health officers.We expressed a wish to see the fortress, telling him we had come from Vienna for the purpose.He immediately said he would order one of hisVISIT TO A TURKISH PASHA AT NEW ORSOVA. 275officers to show us over the works, but requested us, in the mean time, toremain with him a short while. There was nothing remarkable, he said,about his own house, but he had a better one in Constantinople, whitherhe was about to return, and where he prayed us to visit him. He said all this with the most obliging civility.Pipes and coffee we were allowed to accept. The negroes handedthem with outstretched arms to the health officers, and these presentedthem to us. The pipes were the costliest and most splendid articles of furni- ture in the house, and the coffee and tobacco were excellent of their kind.The pasha told us he should very soon return to Constantinople, and had already packed up most of his things, or he would have shown us some fine mathematical instruments. He called our attention, however, toa fine Geneva watch, which he carried about with him, and also to a handsome telescope, through which we were all in turn requested to look. I,for my part, looked to the snug little houses on the Austrian side of theriver, and felt as if from the very heart of Asia I was casting a glance intoEurope. Nowhere, I believe, do the customs of the two continents meetso closely front to front, as in Turkish and Austrian Orsova.After the pasha had made me give him the address ofa good optician inVienna, he offered us a second pipe and a second cup of coffee. Mycompanion was for declining them, but I insisted on accepting the offered civility, as it might be some time before we should again have an opportunityof experiencing so courteous a reception from a Turkish pasha; the moreso as in the interior of Turkey, travellers arriving from Germany were notlikely to be so well received as on the Austrian frontier, where the pashaswere often dependant on the Austrian officers for many little acts of kindness. My Frenchman grumbled, and was evidently out of all patience, butI was firm, and as he could not leave me, seeing he would then have beenobliged to abandon the escort, he was forced to submit, though with a very badgrace.I was particularly amused to see a copy of the Augsburg AllgemeineZeitung inthe room. The pasha told me he received it regularly, and thathis interpreter had every day to read it to him in Turkish. It was hisprincipal source ofinformation, he said, with respect to what was going on at Constantinople. I told him he could not have chosen a better paper:that it was the one most generally read in Germany, and throughout theAustrian dominions, and even on the shores of the Black Sea, in all the bestcoffee-houses of Odessa. In Hungary I told him I had often seen, over thecoffee-houses in small towns, a sign on which nothing was painted but a pipe,a cup of coffee, and a number of the Allgemeine Zeitung. I added that the paper was believed to have a circulation of ten thousand copies, and apublic of at least a million of readers.Thus conversing on various matters our second pipe came to an end, andthe pasha, after thanking us for our visit, dismissed us most courteously.As we went out, I observed an enormous whip hanging against the wall:was afraid to ask the use to which it might be applied.IA captain of a colossal size accompanied us as our cicerone. The town,we found, was thoroughly Turkish, the small houses lying concealed amongbushes, trees, ruins, and heaps of rubbish. In the centre was a market witha number of stalls, and several streets, built with some regularity, ran off in various directions.U276 VISIT TO A TURKISH PASHA AT NEW ORSOVA.We were obliged to take especial care of the cats and dogs, and of thepoultry, these animals being supposed to be particularly apt to carry theplague about in their furry and feathery habiliments. Our Turkish captainwas kind enough to afford every assistance in these our labours, and wasevery moment taking up a stone to pelt some four-footed herald of thepestilence, that seemed disposed to intrude himself into our company.Allstrangers whom we met he beckoned with his sabre to keep out of our way.In the market-place we found several merchants, who kindly invited usto sit down, and again presented us a pipe. I saw a public writer, in theold oriental costume, perched on a counter, and busily engaged with somemanuscript that rested on his knee. We did not remain long here, as our conversationgot on but lamely; we accordingly proceeded to the mosque, lookinginto a school on our way. The school wasa low shed surrounded by trellis work.The little Turkish students were making a most heathenish noise, whichcontrasted amusingly with the quiet and sedate demeanour of their teacherwho lay stretched upon a bench, where he smoked his pipe and saidnothing.The fortifications we found in a deplorable condition. The walls hadnot been repaired since the last cannonade, by which they had been all butdemolished; or where a breach had been stopped up, it was only with a fewwretched palisades, of which many were in a very dilapidated condition.Everywhere we had to climb over rubbish, dirt, and ruins; of cannons therewas no lack, but there were few of which the carriages were not rotten, orthat could have been made to bear on any object but the one immediatelybefore them. Piles of cannon-balls of all sizes, covered with dirt and rust,lay about in all directions, and here and there we saw a sentinel, with hismusket in one hand and his pipe in the other. They were mostly barefooted, and their clothes in rags. The force under the command of thePasha of Orsova, to garrison the town and the two adjoining forts, consisted oftwo hundred men. Of guns, such as they were, there were upwardsof eighty.We made a present to the captain and to the interpreter, and embarkedfor Fort Elizabeth, or Shistab, as the Turks call it. There we found abouttwenty-five soldiers smoking under a shed, and clad in uniforms, in the arrangement of which every man had been left to the free exercise of his owntaste and ingenuity. Here also every hole and every heap of rubbishbristled with artillery, and on the ground lay a number of shells or hollowballs, which they assured us were filled with powder and other combustibles. Yet the soldiers smoked among them unconcernedly, and allowed us to do the same. Our Austrians assured us that we saw a fair specimen ofall the Turkish fortresses along the Danube, and several travellers haveassured us that we might see similar proofs of negligence and decay onevery frontier of the Turkish empire. Exceptions, I suppose, there mustbe; it is scarcely possible that such places as Viddin, Varna, Silistria, andthe Dardanelles, can be left in the same ruinous condition.In the evening, when we had got back to Austrian Orsova, we found, withour Walachian friends, a gentleman from Constantinople, who told us that he had seen worse instances of carelessness in Asia Minor. He had therebeen one day in the tent of a pasha, where some wet powder was dryingand being made into cartridges, and the men engaged in the work weresmoking all the while. Our friend threatened to leave the tent if theyAUSTRIAN ORSOVA. 277would not lay their pipes aside, but they contended that as they were engaged in war they ought to accustom themselves to every kind of danger.AUSTRIAN ORSOVA.In Austrian Orsova, as in most of the towns belonging to the militaryfrontier, many Turkish customs continue to prevail, particularly amongthelower orders, although not the least trace remains of any Turkish, that is,of any Mahometan population. Even the Turkish weights and measures,the okkas, &c. , have continued in use.A proof of how the country must have improved of late years was afforded me bythe complaint of a merchant. "Eighteen years ago," hesaid, “ a man might go into the market-place and choose his workpeople;might say to one, ' You're strong, I'll give you eighteen kreuzers,' and toanother, ' You're young, I'll give you only twelve.' Now, a mere childwill ask you for twenty- four kreuzers, and a good labourer is not to be hadfor less than thirty-six. Land, too, is everywhere dearer than it was. 'Our Walachian boyards had several times made a similar report to usrespecting their country.""In the market-place of Orsova may constantly be seen a number of Walachian women, selling grapes, peaches, and other fruit. It would be wellif the dealers in the same line at Vienna would take example by the poorWalachians here at the extremity of the empire. Of the Fratschelweiberofthe capital I have already spoken. Those of Orsova sit quietly by theirbaskets, quarrel neither with one another, nor with those who happen to pass by, but are almost always busy, either with their spindles, or embroidering their linen with red threads, which they work into an endless varietyofneat patterns. Most of them, however, are engaged with their spindles,-thefurka, ofwhich I have spoken above, as being carved by the Austriangranitsharis, and from which the Walachian women seem incapable of se- parating themselves for a moment. The furka appears to be deemed an indispensable part of their costume. It is ever to be seen stuck in thegirdle, and whether they be tending cattle, walking about, chatting with their neighbours, creeping behind the stove, or selling fruit in the marketplace, the woollen thread never fails to dangle from the spindle. The Roman men were proud of saying that their swords lived in their hands aspart of themselves. As far as the sword is concerned, the modern Walachians retain but little of the character of their Roman ancestors, but noRoman matron could have been more diligent with her spindle than areher Walachian descendants of the present day, and the idle quarrelsomeFratschelweiber of Vienna would find it for their own good, and for thegood of all who come into contact with them, if they would take as diligently to the furka as do the poor market women of Orsova.We made acquaintance also at Orsova with a teacher of the Greek language, who had arrived there from the islands about a year before.He had obtained an appointment to the city school, where I was told hereceived a salary of four hundred florins. In many of the Austrian citiesalong the Danube, Greek teachers are appointed in a similar manner.The want of them, it seems, had long been felt, but it is only within thelast two years that regular appointments have been provided for them.U 2278 AUSTRIAN ORSOVA.At present the Greek language is studied with great industry at manyplaces all along the Danube, even as far as Vienna; and even at Neusatz Iheard a mother complain grievously about the difficulty her son experiencedin learning Greek, a language which it was so very necessary for him toknow.No where had I heard the subject of health so constantly discussed asat Orsova, and indeed throughout the Banat, whence I concluded thatthe country must be very insalubrious. It is so. Of the fevers in the districts, watered by the Theiss and Marosch, I shall have occasion to speakhereafter, but I was surprised to find that the marsh fever prevailed evenamong the mountains of the Banat. I was told, this might be owing tothe want of cultivation in the valleys, where the waters accumulated inconsequence, forming swamps, from which pernicious exhalations issued.Towards Mehadia the country becomes healthier, but on coming nearTemesvar, we arrive again in a region in which fevers prevail to a seriousextent.On the following day, being market day, I had an opportunity of witnessing the singular manner of carrying on the traffic at the Rastel orSkela. The two words appeared to be used promiscuously. The Skelaat Orsova is a large wooden shed, surrounded by a courtyard and aninclosure. The shed lies lengthways along the shore of the Danube, andis divided lengthways into three sections by two wooden railings. TheServians ( or Turks, as they are here called) come to the railing nearestthe river, after landing from their vessels, and the Austrian subjects cometo the land railing. Both parties bring their merchandise with them, andshowthem to each other from their respective railings. The Austrians areat liberty to sell every thing to the Turks, but are allowed to purchasefrom the latter only such merchandise as are not deemed liable to infection,such as corn, fruit, meat, wood, and the like. As soon as they have agreed on the price, if it is the Turk who has to pay, he throws his money into avessel filled with water, whence it is the Austrian's business to fish it upagain. Austrian health officers and sentinels meanwhile are walking upand down in the intermediate inclosure, to see that the rules and regulations are strictly complied with. To me this was a highly interestingspectacle, and I thought the scene of the Rastel, if neatly produced on thestage, might be made highly effective as the opening of an act, provided themagnificent scenery of the Danube in the background was well represented,the Walachian, Servian, and Turkish costumes well preserved, the incessant border animosities between the Christian and Mahomedan populationduly portrayed, and a little love story skilfully introduced, he being on theone side, she on the other, and the interest of the whole heightened byallusions to the dreadful pestilence, and the scarcely less dreaded severitiesof the quarantine laws. Indeed the whole military frontier is full ofdramatic and poetical materials, and I believe a manager, a dramaticauthor, and a scene painter might find it well worth their while to journeyhither together, and take a view of the whole country along the Danube,from Bosnia to Moldavia. It would be necessary, however, that theyshould travel on both sides of the river, for it is just the contrast betweenthe Austrian and the Turkish sides, that might most effectually be turned to account.279THE HERCULES BATHS AT MEHADIA.On the following day, I started in a carriage, to pursue the remarkableroad along the Tsherna, with a view of visiting the celebrated baths ofMehadia. The Austrians have made an excellent road here. My Frenchman took leave of me with a promise to follow me to Mehadia, if hisengagements allowed him to do so; but shortly after my arrival there, Ireceived a friendly message from him, informing me that it would not bein his power to visit that interesting place. I am sorry to say I never sawhim again.Near Orsova, beyond the mouth of the Tsherna, is situated a small territory which is considered the common property of Turks and Austrians.It is a small uninhabited grassy marsh opposite the island fortress of Orsova.At ordinary times neither Austrians nor Turks must visit the place; butwhen the grass is ripe, the Turks come and mow it, and make it into hay.They then retire, and the Austrians proceed thither, divide the hay intotwo equal portions, take one of these away with them, and leave it to the Turks to come and fetch away the other.Although the place lay a little away from our road, we visited the Austrianfrontier post on the Tsherna, a post remarkable for being the place whereall the Walachian cattle have to cross, that are constantly wandering intoHungary, to supply the deficiency caused by the demand of the Austrianmarket. The commandant of the post conducted us into his garden, inwhich there were excellent peach trees and Muscat grapes. The garden,and indeed the whole post, were situated on a small elevation, where therehad probably been once a Roman fortress; behind the garden we foundsome deep and solidly constructed vaults which the commandant made useof as a wine cellar. Beyond the Tsherna we sawimmense droves of Wallachian cattle . " They are still mixed, " said the borderers, " but this afternoon they will be driven into the water, and after having been well washed,they will be considered to have been purified."Mehadia is a large Walachian market-town in the valley of the Tsherna.In the time of the Romans the place was called ad mediam, which wascorrupted, first into me-ad-diam, and in the course of time into Mehadia,by dropping the m, and introducing an h, to preventthe hiatus. Thevalley of the Tsherna to Mehadia is pleasing enough, but far less remarkable and interesting than the road farther up the valley from Mehadia to the Hercules baths. We remained, in the first instance, in the lower valley,whose several parts again have their different names, as the Shupanekvalley, the Koramnik key, &c. In the Koramnik key, we descried, bytheriver side, a gipsy encampment, which we proceeded to inspect. Therewere about half a dozen families in as many tents. They were forgingnails, and in doing so made use of a pair of bellows constructed of goat skins. Their domestic establishments were not a whit better than those ofso many South American Indians, yet they cherish an extraordinary degreeof pride, as I was assured by my companion, an inhabitant of the Banat.He told me, he had observed that the gipsies had even more nationalpride than the Jews, maintaining that they were the oldest nation inEurope. There are more gipsies in the Banat and in Transylvania than any other part of Hungary. This is owing to the circ*mstance thatthe population is chiefly composed of Walachians, who more than anyin280 THE HERCULES BATHS AT MEHADIA.other people seem to harmonise with the gipsies. Schwartner, a trustworthy writer on Hungarian statistics, says " The gipsy attaches himself more readily to the Hungarian than to the Slavonian, but of allnations he sympathises least with the German. " Many Hungarians havemade me a similar assurance, which, for my part, I am disposed to lookon as a compliment, rather than otherwise, to us Germans. In the Banat, and, indeed, throughout all Dacia, the gipsies live under tents insummer, but in winter they have their particular places where they congregate, many hundred families living together in caverns and clay huts.They all speak the Wallachian dialect, but among themselves they con- verse in their own gipsy jargon. The Walachians, who have most intercourse with them, have adopted a number of words by which to designate them and their doings. Tshiganu is the Walachian for a gipsy, butis meant as an opprobrious designation when applied to any one else.Tshiganié means gipsyism, or ratio Zingarica. Tshiganosu means importunate, or as importunate as a gipsy. Tshiganescu is used as a verb,to signify importunate solicitations (petesco importune), to beg as importunately as a gipsy. Tshinganesce, an adverb, means as much as gipsy- like or filthy.part ofIf the gipsies are really of Indian origin, as there is every reason tosuppose they are, and if they have left many kindred tribes in thatthe world whence their ancestors formerly came, the fact would say butlittle in favour of Indian susceptibility of improvement, seeing that the race has spent four centuries in the midst of European civilisation, withoutdivesting itself of any part of its original barbarism. One thing, however,is certain. The gipsies are decidedly decreasing in numbers everywhere.At present, in Hungary, they confine themselves to the occupations ofsmiths and musicians, having lost the office of public executioner, whichthey formerly held. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries manyTransylvanian grandees had their heads hacked off by the unskilfulhands of gipsy hangmen, and it was by gipsy hands that the celebratedpeasant king, Dosa, was placed on a red hot throne, and had his head encircled by a red hot crown.We found it difficult to tear ourselves away from our gipsies; firstly,because I am never tired of contemplating this wild race, and, secondly,because they seemed in no hurry to allow us to depart. They had begun to beg, and as my travelling companion had shown himself tolerably liberaltowards them, they redoubled their importunities, rushing out upon us en masse from all their tents. Their beggings and supplications increased inintensity till they had formed an impenetrable barrier around us, and, at last, they began even to lay hold of us by our clothes. We had the utmost difficulty in forcing our way through them, and our driver afterwardsassured us, that if we had been stripped to the skin, we should not have been the first to whom such an incident had occurred.Above the Koramnik key, supported by the steep wall of a rock, arethe remains of a beautiful aqueduct. Eleven arches are still perfect, theothers have been destroyed. Antiquaries are at variance as to the originof this aqueduct. The magnificent style in which the work is constructedmight lead us to attribute it to the Romans, still the details of the workmanship seem to argue against such a supposition. The arches are composed of large field stones and red bricks, a double stratum of bricks restingalways on a fourfold stratum of large field stones.THE HERCULES BATHS AT MEHADIA. 281Towards evening we diverged from the great military road which leadsto the Terregova pass, and after passing several Walachian villages, andcrossing the river twice by two elegant suspension bridges, the sulphuroussmell by which we were assailed, announced to us that we had arrived atthe main building of the great bathing establishment.After having arranged natters a little in my room, I proceeded to readthe laws and ordinances of the watering- place, a complete code havingbeen suspended against the door. One of the first rules that caught myeye was the following: " Any guest wishing to a kill a lamb, a calf, orany other beast, is not allowed to do so anywhere except at the regularslaughtering- block fixed for that purpose." This article of legislation appeared to me to be characteristic of the kind of visiters in the habit offrequenting these celebrated waters. The Hungarian and Transylvanian aristocracy who come hither in search of health, are, of course, furnishedwith their meals by the restaurants of the place, in the same way as atour German watering- places; but, owing to the passion for sulphurbaths, which prevails among all classes, there are constantly among thevisiters many Hungarian and Walachian peasants, many townspeople ofsmall means, and many of the petty boyards of Walachia and Servia, andthese people, by way of economy, bring their own provisions and cooking apparatus with them, and to them it is that the ordinance I have justquoted is meant to apply.This passion of the Walachians for sulphur baths occasions frequentdisputes with the Austrians on the subject of the boundary. The Austrianshave drawn their line on the top of a high ridge of mountains east of theriver, while the Wallachians of the neighbourhood maintain that it shouldbe formed by the river itself; but I confess I can just as little understandthis claim as that of the French to the left bank of the Rhine, for theboundary as it exists was determined by the treaty of Belgrade, in the 1739.yearWith the left bank of the Tsherna, however, the Walachians wouldgain some of those much coveted hot sulphurous baths, which they cannow only enjoy after having performed quarantine, and the temptation hassometimes proved so irresistible that great bodies of peasants have goneout, armed with swords, pistols, cudgels, and pitchforks; have attacked,and sometimes driven back, the Austrian frontier posts, and have seizedon the disputed territory. Only a few months ago, we were informed,the Austrian government had to send several companies of soldiers to drive them back. This little frontier war has been continually breakingout for more than a century.Besides Mehadia, there are among the mountains of Transylvania manyofthese sulphur baths, which are much frequented every summer both byboyards and peasants, and as the Slavonian women of the military circleswash their infants with brandy to strengthen them, so the Walachians diptheirs in the sulphurous waters of these springs.Even in the time of the ancient Dacians they were probably not entirelyunknown, and the emperor Trajan discovered and took possession of themfor the Romans, who erected here many buildings, -temples, bathinghouses, and others, so that the whole valley is full of Roman antiquities.An intelligent and well- informed Austrian colonel of the military circlesassured me that he had never made an excavation in Mehadia, withoutsome discoveries of coins, bronze statues or votive tablets. The present282 THE HERCULES BATHS AT MEHADIA.1name ofthe Hercules bath has its origin in a temple of Hercules, thatformerly stood here. The name is given particularly to the main spring,which is indeed a Hercules among all the sulphur springs in the world.It is larger even than the great spring at Ofen, and gives out no less than5,045 cubic feet of water in one hour.Many of the statues, inscriptions, &c. , had been fastened into the rocks,and my Walachian guide spoke of some of them as familiarly as ifhe hadbeen present at the time at which they dated. "Look there," he said,pointing to a half effaced bas- relief of two Roman women, " that's a ladyand her daughter who came here to use our baths. The young lady hadlost the use of her hands and feet, and before she went away she was ableto dance." On one of the tablets a Governor of the Dacian provinces"Præses Daciarum" and on another a Prefect Mercurius and his family,returned thanks to Hercules and Venus, or to the Gods and Genii of thewaters (Diis et numinibus aquarum) for restoration to health. UnderTrajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, up to the time of Decius, these bathscontinued to be used, but the great irruption of the Northern nations threwevery thing into confusion, the place was forsaken, and for centuries a fewhuts or tents occasionally appearing among the Roman ruins, were theonly signs of human occupancy which it presented. About a hundred yearsago, it began to grow a little more animated, and at present the establishments are on so good a footing, and the reputation ofthe waters so widelyextended, that it has become quite a fashion among the Hungarians ofdistinction to visit Mehadia.Like every thing else in this frontier country, the whole bathing establishment is under military command. An Austrian captain resides herewinter and summer, and is intrusted with the regulation of every thing.The two principal buildings, occupied by guests of the highest rank, arebuilt in a long regular form, like barracks, on each side of a broad street,and their interior, it must be confessed, presents no more comfort and elegance than might be reasonably expected in a barrack. The attendants aremostly invalid soldiers. Further on are other buildings, inhabited by thegentlemen above mentioned, who are requested to slaughter their calvesand lambs at no other than the appointed place. There are always a number of quite poor visiters, who come with their families and their wholestock ofgoods and chattels, and quarter themselves here for a considerabletime; and there is a place appointed for the tents of the gipsies, who come in the bathing season to play music, tell fortunes, mend pots and pans, andbeg. There are also shops and booths for the traders, who bring jewellery,manufactured goods, and various other articles, in the hope of disposing ofthem during the season.We arrived at Mehadia at the end of the bathing season, when the littlecompany that remained was expected to leave it the next morning. Among them was a Wallachian lady from one of the most distinguished Greek families formerly resident in Constantinople. She had been born and broughtup to the age of thirteen in the Fanal, and had lived a most monotonouslife, her only recreation being an occasional row on the Bosphorus. Sincethe revolution, however, all these families have emigrated to Russia, Wallachia or to Athens. The lady of whom I am speaking was herself marriedto a principal boyard of Bucharest.I passed one very pleasant evening in this little circle, but the followingmorning came a row of carriages, each drawn by a team of horses, whoseTHE HERCULES BATHS AT MEHADIA. 283collective energies would probably be all found necessary to drag the vehicles through the almost bottomless roads of Wallachia and the Banat.I employed the rest of the day in rambling about the environs, and as faras the neighbouring frontier village Pechineska, which is reached by apretty path along the banks of the Tsherna. We found this little place ina most extraordinary state of bustle and excitement, and all the inhabitants working away with a most tumultuous activity.It appeared that an ordinance had been issued by the military authorities, directing the ruinous old hovels of the village to be pulled down, and new ones to be built in their stead. This was sadly in opposition to thefavourite old Walachian saying, " So I have found things, and so I haveleft them," a saying that well expresses their partiality for the dirt anddilapidation inherited from their forefathers. In the neighbourhood of sofrequented a watering-place as Mehadia, a different race of peasants wouldlong since have bethought themselves of improving their houses, and rendering them attractive to visiters; but these people had to be driven bythehand of authority to care for their own convenience and their own advantage. A certain term had been fixed, within which they were requiredto complete their buildings, and they were therefore now toiling like so many ants, with beams and stones, and mortar. Even the women werehelping, and some gipsies had been hired for a dram and a few kreuzers,to put a hand to the good work. "You are very busy here, " said I."Must be, sir-must be!" was the answer. Beyond the village, embosomedamong the high hills that stretch towards Turkey, lay a lovely little valley,through which wound a silver streamlet that had just force enough to turnwhat is called a Walachian spoon-mill. The little wooden building, a sortof square box, stood click-clacking upon four tottering feet over the slenderthread of water, and we ascended by a small ladder and through a lowdoor into the upper part of the mill. Here we found a handsome youngWalachian woman in full costume, with her beads, coins, long plaits ofhair, her Opinches and Opraches, spinning away with her distaff, and atthe same time looking after the grinding of her Kukurutz, or Indian corn.A mill of this kind usually belongs to a whole village, and every one, whenhe has occasion for flour, brings his sack of corn, and grinds for himself.The mill appeared to do its work very thoroughly, if we might judge fromthe slowness of its operations, for we could count each grain as it fellthrough, and it seemed to grind each separately.As we left the mill, the Walachian woman began to relieve the tediousness of her employment by singing. Some goats, which she had brought with her, frisked about in the rich grass, and among the nut, plum, andwild cherry trees, that grew in abundance around; and the whole scene,enlivened by the click-clack of the mill, the murmur of the brook, and thewarbled song, was really so pretty a picture of Walachian rural life, that Icould hardly prevail on myself to return to the baths .At every turn there, we were reminded of the Romans; the rocks areexactly in the same state as when the abovementioned prefect (cum suis)sought health among them. The people are dressed precisely as they aredepicted on the Trajan's column at Rome, and much even of the languagewhich the barbarians learnt from their conquerors still lingers in our ears.A letter which a Dacian messenger brought to a lady of our company beganthe address with " Domine, " and when he had been waiting some time,he inquired if there were any " Responsum.” He was answered in the284 THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE TSHERNAnegative, but money was given to him, which he was going to put up without counting. "Numera, numera! " exclaimed the Roman centur-Imean the Austrian lieutenant. It is to me inconceivable, considering theshort time the Romans held Dacia, the torrents of different nations thathave since streamed over it, and the storms of political anarchy, in whichtheir empire has been wrecked, that so many traces of their existence hereshould still remain. Their language and character seem to have somethingof the tenacity of musk-where it has once been, its scent is left for ever,though all the winds of Heaven should blow over the place.THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE TSHERNA AND THE LIFE OF THEBORDERERS.Onthe following morning, which rose clear and bright after several rainydays, we prepared for an excursion into the upper, wild part of the Tshernavalley. Some of the mountain horses had been ordered by the officerswho were to accompany us, and we found them at the appointed place,and at the time fixed on. These horses are as small as those of the Tatarsof the Crimea, and distinguished by similar qualities, being surefooted,sagacious, and capable of enduring an immense deal of fatigue, but rathervicious in their dispositions, and ugly in appearance. They are native tothe whole Alpine chain which separates Walachia from Transylvania, andare used by travellers and huntsmen on the military frontier, and for allkinds of transport; -for instance, for dragging timber out of the forests ,which are inaccessible to carriages. They are called " Morani," that is,"inhabitants of the Alps." When we first set off, they kept continuallykicking, and biting one another's tails, but as we began to climb the mountains they became quieter.The groups of rocks which lie round Mehadia are piled up in enormousmasses, above which some peaks rise still more conspicuously. The highestis the renowned Domoglett, from which it is said one can see into Roumelia.No geologist has ever yet described these rocks and mountains, -no botanist investigated their rich and interesting flora, no ethnographerexplained the peculiar features of the life of man on these lofty regions.They offer a wide field for discovery in each of these branches of science,but the few observations I was able to make were directed only to the last- mentioned subject.Along the topmost ridge of these mountains runs a chain of Austrianoutposts, as far as Tsherna-the limit of her eastern frontier. From herethe line runs along the western bank of the Tsherna, the upper part of which is on both sides Turkish! The lower declivities of the range present many abrupt precipices and rocky ravines, but the summits are finelyrounded, and covered with beautiful meadows and pasture grounds. Onthese have been established little pastoral communities resembling those ofthe Swiss Alps; and the Germans of Transylvania never call these mountains by any other name than that of the Alps. These long grassy ridgesusually belong in common to several neighbouring villages, and the manner in which the property is distributed is this:-In the spring of everyyear, a general assembly is held of the inhabitants of these villages, eachbringing his flocks and herds with him to the place of meeting. These arecounted, and, according to their numbers, a longer or a shorter period isAND THE LIFE OF THE BORDERERS. 285assigned, during which the owner shall enjoy the whole produce andemoluments of the cattle belonging to the whole community; to one twodays, to another three, to the richer a week. Each then proceeds in histurn with all the herds to the mountains, where he occupies a cottage,erected for the purpose, and makes into cheese and butter all the milk hecan obtain from the cattle of the community, and then gives way to hissuccessor. These general meetings (of which unluckily I have forgottenthe name) are so important to the people that they serve them as epochswhence to reckon the different times of the year, as we do from Easter orChristmas. Their principal wealth consists in their flocks ofsheep, as theirhorned cattle is of a small and poor breed. I was told they were in thehabit of mixing the milk of sheep, and even of goats, with that of their COWS. Here and there are herds of horses, of which the borderers havesometimes so many, that they scarcely know their number. According toHietzinger, this military frontier, which has not more than one-fourth ofthe population of Bohemia, has 50,000 horses more than that kingdom.Themilitary frontier of Transylvania is not organised like that of Hungary. It forms no separate territory in which the whole population incursthe obligation of military service, but the troops, on whom this duty islaid, live scattered about in various parts of the country, and come at theappointed time from great distances to the " Cordon. " The finest of thesetroops are the Szekler hussars, though the Szeklers have besides twoinfantry regiments. These Szeklers form one of the three nations inhabiting Transylvania (Saxons and Magyars are the other two), for the mostnumerous people, the Walachians, pass for no nation at all. The Szeklersboast of being the direct descendants of the men of Attila, although thiscan be just as little proved as that they are a Magyar people, as is assertedby the Hungarians. One thing, however, is certain, that the Szeklersspeak the purest Hungarian, and have longest preserved the ancient customs of their supposed ancestors . Each of the houses on the frontierbelonging to the Szekler regiment are obliged to furnish one hussar, andto equip him from head to foot. The officers equip themselves, and inconsideration of this are released from all other public burdens.The Szekler hussars have the best horses and the best uniform; andwhile the other eleven Hungarian regiments of hussars are said to excel allthe other hussars in the world, these Szeklers again are considered to bethe aristocracy of the hussars of Hungary. They are the lightest andmost skilful cavalry in the world, and at the same time a bold, frank, andnoble spirited set of men. Their high reputation, and their romantic lifeon these Turkish frontiers, has induced many English officers to join them.The whole regiment does not come together above once in every four years,but to those who take an interest in these things, to see the Szekler hussarsgo through their exercise, is counted one of the prettiest spectacles inEurope, and alone worth a considerable journey.The whole valley of the Tsherna from the Hercules baths to the sourceof the river at Pietrilla Alba, a distance of eight German miles (nearlyforty English), contains not a single village, nay, not a single house withthe exception of the Austrian and Walachian guard-houses, and is a perfect wilderness bearing not a trace of human cultivation, but the pathstrodden by the shepherds from the mountains to the river side, and thepatrol- roads made in particular directions across all these desolate military frontiers.286 THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE TSHERNAThe enormous rocky chasm which forms this valley, resembles in many particulars that of the Clissura through which the Danube flows. Thereare the same chalky cliffs, assuming the same forms, and about the sameheight, almost the only difference being that through the one rushes themighty Danube, and through the other the little Tsherna. I shouldtherefore think that, geologically considered, this valley must be a northerlycontinuation of the Clissura, and that both have had a common and simultaneous origin in consequence ofsome volcanic developments. In an historicalpoint of view, this ravine is one of the most remarkable in Europe, and itsappearance is the more striking, from the contrast of the dry and desolatecharacter of its north-eastern parts to the well watered and cultivatedcountry that lies on the west.In proportion to the scantiness of the human population of this valley,-that being indeed no more than a few frontier guards, and wanderingshepherds, is the abundance of animal life, especially of the wilder sortsof each species eagles, chamois, and bears. The eagles settle on therocky peaks, and during our day's ride I saw several rise up rejoicing intothose fields of light to which we can scarcely look up. The chamois, calledby the Walachians " capra de munte," inhabits the whole range of DacianAlps, and is found generally thoughout the Carpathians. With respectto the buffalo, it is singular that neither the natives of the country, northose who have written about it, can agree whether the animal is really an inhabitant of these mountains or not. Bears are said to be very frequent,though I saw none; but there were many wild rocky caverns, which imagination might easily people with such tenants. The gates formed by thesemighty masses of rock that lay across the valley, had seemed to close andopen, and close and open again many times, showing at intervals longvistas of gigantic fragments and columns, at which the Cyclops might havetoiled a long time, ere they had succeeded in piling them up. At lengthwe reached the little frontier post which was to form the goal of our presentjourney. The sentinel who was pacing his lonely round, looking first intothe Austrian, and then into the Walachian territory, informed us that theofficer in command was unluckily, not at home, having gone out to inspect his cordon, but he might be back every moment. We entered his abodeand found but little provision for the comfort of thelieutenant, beyond awooden camp bedstead, and a small table on which lay some German books. The space allotted to him lay on one side of the door, and that tothe common men on the other. The latter was almost taken up by a broadwooden bench without straw, for sleeping on, and on the wall hung a rowof bags made of goat- skins, for holding flour, cheese, and even milk, whichis always kept in skins.The life of the officers of these frontier stations is extremely hard, andfull of difficulties and privations of all kinds, and they doubtless oftendream of the gay societies and balls of Karlsburg or Hermannstadt; butman accustoms himself to no kind of life more readily than to what isstrange and peculiar, and there are many officers who have a passion forthese frontiers, just as sailors have for the sea. If from their lonely poststhey sometimes look with longing to the social joys ofthe town, it is noless sure that from the midst of these exciting pleasures, they often thinkwith regret of the freedom of these romantic solitudes, and the unlimitedpower which they exercise over a great extent of wild country. Everyofficer is expected to keep a vigilant watch over the district intrusted toAND THE LIFE OF THE BORDERERS. 287him, though the majors and generals do not, of course, visit the cordon so often as the subalterns. The most active and difficult service is at bothextremities of the Military Frontier, namely, at the Bosnian and Dalmatian border, and at that of Transylvania. In the centre, on the Danubeand the lower Save, it is easiest, partly because a water frontier is moreeasily guarded than a dry one, and partly because the people are moreunited and civilized . The dwellers on the western border are unruly andbarbarous, and strongly inclined to a predatory mode of life: and as the Turkish government has not found itself strong enough to repress theexcesses of the Bosnians, it has given the Austrians permission, once forall, to disregard the inviolability of its territory, and to pursue and takeoffenders on Turkish ground. Should the Bosnians, as it has sometimeshappened, make an onslaught and burn an Austrian village, the Austriansare allowed, in their turn, the " gentlemanly satisfaction" of setting fireto a village in Bosnia, or driving off cattle, without incurring any danger ofa war with Turkey. Such proceedings as these have been sometimesnecessary among people who would be kept quiet by no other means. Itis not long since two companies ofthe Austrian frontier guard crossed theborder on an expedition of this nature, and, of course, on their returnfrom Turkey, had to perform quarantine.The Transylvanian cordon has also peculiar difficulties to contend with.In the first place the frontier is a dry one, and the line runs either throughrocky ravines, or along the top of wild desolate and naked mountainridges, where for leagues around no human creature is ever seen,but anoccasional wandering Walachian shepherd. These mountains are said to bevery insalubrious, and as liable to fever as the plains of the Banat.This information, at least, I had from an officer whom I met returning,sick and languid, from an excursion among those hills, where he had beeninspecting his cordon. In the second place, the neighbours of the Transylvanians, the Turkish Walachians, are less peaceable and honest than the Servians. The Germans accuse them of being a mere nation of robbers, and certainly the stories of banditti, and of the famous band in particular which ravaged the country under the renowned chief " Harumbassa," to whom they had sworn obedience in life and death, are repeatedtill the traveller is weary of them. He must listen a thousand times tothe narrative ofall that took place, about two years ago, at Kimpolunga sort of robber fortress on the borders of Bukovina, and how therewas a certain chief at the pass of Boza, who made all the roads in thecountry unsafe for travellers.were,"At Kimpolung," said an Austrian to me, " the robbers were whipt,broken on the wheel, hung, but it all did no good. About a year ago we had a great robber hunt. There was a numerous band which for monthshad scoured all the frontier countries. There was no finding out who theyfor they never allowed any of their companions to be taken prisoners,dragging them away when wounded, or if they could not do that, killingthem and cutting off their heads, which they carried off, so that the bodiescould not be recognised. At last when they had been driven into a corner,and much reduced in number, they mutinied against their captain, murdered him, and sent in his head, on which they imagined all their sinsmight be heaped. In time however they were all taken and hanged, forhere on the frontier, every act of robbery is punished with hanging, evenwhen unaccompanied by murder."288 THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE TSHERNAThe Austrian posts are sometimes attacked bythe Walachians, as Ihavealready mentioned, without any view to plunder, but merely on the supposition that the boundary line has been unfairly drawn. One of the officerstold me that only a short time ago, a mob of sixty Walachians had cometo his post, and demanded that the Austrian eagle should be torn down,and the guard-house destroyed, since it stood on Walachian ground. Fortunately he had at the time twelve men with him, as the relief had come, andthe old watch was not yet gone, so that he found himself able to resist forceby force, and with his twelve men drove back the sixty, and pursued themfar into the Turkish territory. He and his troop had then as a matter ofcourse to march into quarantine. Along the whole Transylvanian frontierare little quarantine establishments for daily communication, such as theRastell I have described at Orsova.The Transylvanian Alps present many remarkable natural phenomena,such as the whirlwinds, which in hot summers are very frequent. An Austrianofficer told us that he had been lately wakened in the night by a terriblenoise, the cause of which he could not at the time conjecture, as the airand every thing around appeared perfectly still; but that on the followingday he had discovered, not far from his post, a number of trees torn up bythe roots, and lying in many places in a circle. Forest conflagrations alsooften take place in these woody regions in the month of August, and sometimes darken the sky with smoke, so that for weeks neither sun nor moon nor star is to be seen.I was sitting with my companions the Szekler hussars, in a sort oflittle arbour, which the soldiers had built near the guard-house, when Iheard the exclamation, " See there he is, and the Szeklers sprang up tomeet their friend, a young Croat officer, who came well armed, and riding on a stout little mountain horse, over the high wooden bridge which crossesthe rocky bed of the river Tsherna, meeting the patrol road on the other side. In his company came also two " Serreshans," mounted like himself,and completely armed. The Croat, who was the commandant, returningfrom a night patrol, bade us welcome to his hut in a most friendly manner.He appeared to be a well-informed, intelligent, and most amiable man,and spoke moreover very good German. I must remark, by the way, thatthough we were of various nations ( Germans, Magyars, Slavonians andWalachians), yet our conversation was always carried on in German. We returned to the arbour, where after a time some wine, some good riverwater, and a sort of frontier national dish, made of lamb and bacon chopped up with onions and herbs, which must have been a most elaborate prepation, to judge from the time the soldiers were cooking it, was served up to us.My attention was soon turned to the companions of our hospitable entertainer, the Serreshans of whom I have spoken, and with whom I had been much struck on account of the peculiar and very complete equipment by which they were distinguished from the rest of the troops on thefrontier. Their uniform has been probably modelled on some national cos- tume, which has now become extinct. It consists of a close doublet withfour rows of glittering buttons, fitting like a coat of mail, and over this awide cloak with a hood, which in rainy weather is drawn over the head.Their pantaloons were in the Hungarian fashion, very tight, of a sky bluecolour, and gaily embroidered. Their thick stockings were also worked in coloured thread, and their hair, like that of the Hungarian shepherds,AND THE LIFE OF THE BORDERERS. 289woven into thick plaits, and hanging down over their ears. Their featureswere the most regular and handsome that I had seen on the Walachianfrontier. In their girdles they carried Turkish weapons, a yataghan andtwo very long pistols; a cartouche box hung down before, and a rifle,highly ornamented in the Turkish fashion, was thrown over the shoulder.Their whole dress and appearance was as picturesque and poetical, as thatof an ordinary peasant soldier is prosaic.These Serreshans form a separate corps in the service of the militaryfrontier, and have had time out of mind their peculiar duties, and peculiarorganisation. It may be that in them is to be sought the kernel oftheold military inhabitants of the country, or they may be successors of theold frontier guard of Matthias Corvinus. They are in some measure thegendarmes of the frontier, and a small troop of them, a hundred or twohundred men, is attached to each frontier regiment. On the whole thereare about a thousand of them, including a company on the Dalmatiancoast. They are like bloodhounds in the pursuit of robbers and smugglers, and every officer takes some with him, on his visit of inspection tohis cordon. They are as well acquainted with the ground and with thepeople on the Turkish as on the Austrian side; know all the affairs ofall theirneighbours; have immediate information of any design that is set on footon either side, and are respected and feared by friend and foe; besidesbeing the heroes of most of the daring feats that are performed in the frequent skirmishes with the Turks. Like all borderers the Serreshansserve without pay, service being, as the Austrians say, their " robot"or feudal service. Curiously enough, their officers are called by theTurkish name of " Bassi." The colonel is called Haram Bassi or UpperBassi, the subalterns Vice Bassi.These Serreshans, the commandant of the Cordon, my Szekler friendsand myself, the six soldiers who had returned from the patrol, and all ourhorses, made up a tolerably large party; filling not only the arbour, but also a little hut made of the bark of trees, such as the officers often put upnear the guard-house, and where they like to pass the warm nights of summer. There we took our meals very pleasantly al fresco, and to me,the native of a Hanse town, it was a pleasurable circ*mstance that the watchword given for the night along the frontier happened to be." Thecity of Hamburg. " The Hofkriegsrath, or Imperial Council of War, inVienna gives the word for every day in the year, and this passes not only along the frontier, but through the whole army. It is usually a propername, of some individual or of a city, as for instance, Aloysius,"" Jerusalem, " or, as to-day, "The city of Hamburg."66After the conclusion of our repast it was determined to pay a visit tothe neighbouring Walachian frontier station, which lay opposite to theAustrian one of Tsherna where we were. Weproceeded accordingly alongthe Austrian patrol road, and, crossing the Walachian boundary line,came to a high terraced land, covered with grass, behind which the rocksrose again to a giddy height. A more remarkable contrast, than that between the Austrian and Walachian station can hardly be imagined.The ancient Dacians cannot have existed in a more barbarous state than that in which we found the people on the Walachian frontier. We hadscarcely entered the terrace or "plateau, " when three or four roughWalachian dogs, such as are always kept about their frontier stations,sprang at us. Our Serreshans kept them off with stones and cudgels, it290 THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE TSHERNAbeing desirable, no less on account of the plague than out of regard forthe safety of our legs, to keep them at a distance. A Walachian sentinelclad in sheep-skins, with a cap of the same material so covered with largewoolly curls that it looked almost like a wig, was walking up and downbefore a hut made of boughs and moss; our call as well as the barking ofthe dogs summoned a few Dacians, also clad in sheep-skins, who came crawling out of the hut and approached us. We ordered them to standstill at a distance of twenty paces, which they immediately did, and called off their dogs. We entered into conversation with them andasked them how it happened that they, " Romani," that is, descendantsof Romans, should not appear to be in a more prosperous condition."Nay," they answered " Domini! Imperatu nostru is not so great and rich as your's. He takes our money from us, and never gives us any back. "We asked whether their officers often visited them? "They had not beenthere for some weeks, " was the answer; so that it appears that the Wallachians take their duties easily, whereas the Austrians patrol day and night on their border. "These Walachians, however, " said one of theAustrian officers, " are good-tempered, obliging fellows, though somewhatgiven to thieving. They are often of great use when we want to have abear or chamois hunt on their ground, for they trace the game with almostcanine sagacity, and clamber up the steepest and most difficult paths to drive it down to us. "It is not surprising that a people so barbarous should be subject to thegrossest superstitions. They believe, for instance, most firmly in thevampire, as it is called; that is, in a dead body which they suppose risesfrom the grave to suck their blood. Many who have believed themselvespersecuted by such visitations, have even died from the effect of theirexcited imaginations. The idea that people can be rendered bullet proofis also common among them; and a frightful and disgusting notion prevailsthat this impenetrability can be obtained by eating the heart of a youngchild. This dreadful superstition is found also on the Austrian side ofthe border, especially among the Serreshans.The Walachians brought from their hut a quantity of tobacco-pipetubes, which they had cut from a very fine kind of shrub, called Weichsel,or Vistula reed, which grows all over these mountains. An extensive tradeis carried on in this article to various parts of Europe, and visiters to thebaths of Mehadia usually carry some of these tubes away as souvenirs.They are found also in the military circles, but the people are not allowedto gather them. They are of course much cheaper here than in Viennaand Leipsig, where an amateur would pay several florins for what herewould cost only a few kreuzers; but like all that is rare in its kind, theyare apt to withdraw from the common haunts of men, and are found best,and in greatest abundance, on the highest and most inaccessible rocks. Wecould not unfortunately make use of any ofthe pipes, but we presented ourWalachians, on leaving them, with some tobacco, which they dividedpeaceably among them. On leaving them we passed up a little shepherd'spath, through a wood, to another terrace similar to the first, and thence wehad a most beautiful and romantic prospect of the wild valley beneath;the upper part of the Tsherna breaking through wild craggy rocks. Atmany apparently inaccessible points we noticed caverns, which, like thoseof some of our mountains at home, are full of bears' bones, with this difference, that our bears' bones lie buried in antediluvian clay, and thoseAND THE LIFE OF THE BORDERERS. 291found in these Transylvanian caverns are covered with warm flesh and blood.The bear of these regions is, according to the description of my companions, the Szekler officers, of a very large and strong race, but not the less on that account, like all his wild brethren, inclined to shun the face of man. Whenever he meets one he usually stands still , and, after reflect- ing for a moment, turns round and walks off. He eats almost every thinghe finds; Indian corn, roots, fruits, goats, sheep, and even young wolvesand foxes; but he is himself eaten by none in return, not even by man,for the people of the country have a superstitious dread of eating bear'sflesh. Helives mostly in caves in the chalky cliffs; but in the valley of the Tsherna, there is some moist meadow land covered with fern of extraordinary size and thickness, among which, either to cool himself, or to watchsome other animal, the bear is frequently found lying, and at certain times of the year he is never absent from it. He sometimes goes to the river tobathe, and sometimes to catch fish; and when the clumsy beast comestumbling down over stock and block from his den among the high cliffs,there is a noise as if a fragment of rock were rolling down into the valley.The best fish in the Tsherna are the trout, and these are also the favouritemorceaux of the bear, who sits watching his opportunity near the stones under which the trout lie, and from time to time hooks them out verycleverly, and tosses them on the bank. Sometimes he will strike on thestone where he suspects the trout are lying, in order to drive out the fish;and when he is pursued he will snatch up stones or logs ofwood, to flingthem at his assailants, not, however, until he is wounded, for till then hethinks only of making his escape. Many of the caverns in these moun- tains, from which bears or banditti have been driven, now serve as dwellings to the Alpine sheep or goatherds, and some of them even pass the winter in these holes, and keep their cattle the whole year out, feeding onwhatever scanty herbage they can find. The goats are generally, in these cases, accommodated with the interior of the cave, whilst their herdsmanlies by the fire near its mouth.On one of the terraces above the Tsherna we found a little Walachianshepherd, who enjoyed the privilege of coming thus far, because he furnished the officers of the guard-house with goats' milk; in general the shepherds are obliged to keep at a respectful distance from the frontierposts, as it is feared the temptation to carry on a little smuggling trade with their Turkish neighbours would be too great for them to resist. Abag, or even a large lump of crystallized rock salt, that any of these poorfellows may be tempted to buy on Turkish ground, where they can get itso much cheaper, is sure to be spied out by the argus eyes of the Serreshansand frontier patrols. When they find themselves closely pursued on theseoccasions, they sometimes let it fall, taking care at the same time to leavesome rags behind, or some piece of clothing, as these articles are supposed to carry contagion . A separate sentinel is then left to watch every scattered article, and the number of pursuers being thereby much diminished,the offender has a better chance of escape. Some very formal and elaborateproceedings are then commenced, to determine the proprietorship of theabovementioned rags, which, however, must only be contemplated from acertain distance, and after an immensity of writing, and long examinationsand investigations, the question, who is the owner of the rags and the salt,X292 THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE TSHERNA, &c.often remains undecided. The forest round has then to be scoured, to seeif any more salt and rags can be discovered, and wherever they are foundthey must be left lying, and a guard stationed over them. A report mustthen be made to the nearest quarantine establishment, running nearlythus-"Yesterday evening certain Walachian smugglers attempted tocarry salt across the frontier, but were detected and put to flight. Theyhave, indeed, escaped, but they have left their salt behind them. Onebag has been found under such a tree, a lump behind this or that rock-acap or a waistcoat here or there. Proper persons have been stationed towatch these things, and it is now requested that some of the health officers may be sent to carry them away. " After the lapse of a certain number ofdays the health officers arrive, and taking up the dangerous commodities

• with iron tongs, carry them to the place appointed for the purpose, where

the rags are burnt, and water being dashed over the lumps of rock salt, itis regarded as purified by the baptism, and fitted for the service of westernEuropeans, who little think by what an expenditure of toil and trouble Austria defends them from the contagion of the plague.66Our friendly host the Croat commandant, with some of his soldiers andSerreshans, escorted us to the next post on our way back to Mehadia, butI was tempted to linger behind the party to explore one of the caverns ofwhich I have spoken, formerly the abode of a renowned band of robbers.As it had by this time become late in the evening, my faithful guide,Juri," (whom I had hired for the period of my stay at the Baths, ) kindleda torch which he had brought with him for the purpose, and after tyingour horses to a tree, we climbed a little way up the rock to the mouth of the cave. It is one of the largest in the whole Tsherna valley, beingcalled, par excellence, the Robber's Cave, and must have been used as a sort of fortress or robber castle, as before the entrance in the rock are tobe seen the remains of walls by which it was completely enclosed. In theinterior it is divided into several compartments. We had to crawl on our hands and knees from one to another; but after passing through several, wearrived at a more lofty and spacious chamber, which may have been used bythe robbers as a magazine, or a dormitory, or a banqueting-hall, or for all these purposes. The largest chamber is a hundred feet long, sixty feethigh, and fifty broad, and the gentlemen of the road may have resided here with more comfort and convenience than their brethren, the robberknights of Germany, within the narrow bounds of their castle- walls. Inthe background the cave narrowed to a mere cleft, which is said to continue quite through the mountain, and to communicate with other strongholds of the same description on the other side. My guide muttered to me, half in German and half in Walachian, something which I did notentirely understand, but as well as I could make out, he was informing methat in ancient times the famous RobberCaptain, Hercules, lived in this cave.As we rode on to follow our companions, I noticed a peculiarity in mylittle " Mokanu, " (mountain horse, ) that I had not observed before. Whilehe was trotting along at a good pace, he held down his head as near aspossible to the ground, and let me pull him up as often as I would, downwent his nose again on the first opportunity. My guide told me the creature was tracking our party who had gone on before, as a dog would havetracked them, by the scent.I could not hope to overtake my party after the time we had spent in theTHE KEYS OF TEREGOVA AND SLATINA. 293cavern, so I resolved to take this opportunity of visiting, before my depar- ture, the cave of the Hercules spring. Through a narrow cleft in the chalkcliff, we penetrated to the spot where the clear hot water rushes impetuouslyout of a natural aperture, whence it is carried into the adjoining bathinghouse, and distributed over various apartments, as well as into a largecommon bath. On the sides of the rock are inscriptions, as well ancientas modern, and near the common bath is a statue of him whom my guide,"Juri," persisted in calling the great Captain Hercules. Here was thegreatest destroyer of robbers that ever existed, metamorphosed into a chiefofbanditti! The statue is always said to be of Hercules, but the linesand features are so much defaced as to be scarcely recognisable, for theWallachians have a habit of scraping it, and drinking the dust mixed withthe warm water of the spring, as a cure for some diseases .The Romans, according to Mr. von Dorner, in his interesting work onMehadia, as well as the moderns, esteemed this Hercules spring more thanany of the other one-and-twenty. The cavern from which it proceeds, issaid to perforate the mountain completely, and above is another openingfrom which sulphureous vapours ascend.THE KEYS OF TEREGOVA AND SLATINA.I had now reached the extreme limit of the Austrian monarchy on thesouth east, where it meets the Turkish territories, and I had to seek an interesting routefor my return. I chose for that purpose the great diagonalrunning from this south-eastern corner of Hungary through the Banat by Temesvar and Szegedin, to the centre of the country, Pesth. It is bothin an historical and a commercial point of view a most remarkable tract,being the way by which Trajan penetrated into Dacia, and that by which,in the last century, Joseph advanced against the Turks. The greatest partof the trade with Turkey also travels this road .The equipage which I hired for this journey, was no other than acommon peasant's cart, the boards of which, patched very neatly in variousplaces, and covered with hay, formed a very comfortable seat. It was drawnby three stout little Makanus, harnessed together with ropes and thongsand strings of all kinds, whilst my own costume was not much more elegant;for, having found it rather too light for the cold of these mountain regions,I had supplied its deficiencies with various handkerchiefs and wrappers,and a large sheep-skin which the commandant of Mehadia had kindly bestowed upon me. It seemed to me as if I ought to be ashamed of such anequipage when I entered on the fine smooth road that might have befitteda very different kind of carriage. Since, however, no one here knew me,and no one could meet me the next day, and say, " My dear Mr.what a pretty figure you cut yesterday," I managed to console myself, especially as the subaltern officers of the Præfecti Daciarum always travelin the same style; and I kept up my courage, even though I met severaltravellers differently equipped, who undoubtedly looked down upon me as a person of very little consequence. I met for instance the family of agreat Walachian boyard, returning from where I know not, to their owncountry. They had several large Vienna travelling- carriages one behindanother, each drawn by a dozen horses, and each crammed full of variousmembers of the family, with their waiting-maids, valets, cooks, footmen,x 2294 THE KEYS OF TEREGOVA AND SLATINA.&c. Behind came a waggon-load of hay, sacks of oats, kettles, pots, andpans, and all kinds of cooking utensils, on the top of which, other attendants were perched. This is the usual manner of travelling for the greatin this country, and I can honestly say, I preferred my farmer's cart.The valley of Bella Reka, although not to be compared with that oftheTsherna, is pretty and variegated. The higher one rises, however, themore it assumes the character of a wild and monotonous highland. Thehills are mostly steril with occasional intervals of wood, and some scattered patches of cultivated land, besides a few Wallachian hamlets, defendedbyhigh thorn hedges, against the wolves and bears, and the ill - attendedcattle which are almost equally mischievous. On some of the hills wesaw the remains of castles and fortresses formerly erected against theTurks. They were mostly of a quadrangular form, from ten to fifteenfathoms high, and divided into three compartments or stories, much likethe towers now built as a defence against the Russians by the people ofthe Caucasus. These towers are met with as far as Karansebes, wherethe last bears the name of Ovid's tower, because it is said that Ovid passedhere a part of the period of his renowned exile. From the Banat to Varna,and from Varna to the mouth ofthe Dniester (Ovidiopolis), every districtseems to claim the honour of having inspired the Tristia, for there are noless than five different places where Ovid is said to have poured forth hismelodious repinings over his misfortune of having seen at the court ofAugustus more than he ought to have seen. It appears, however, tolerablycertain, that the name of Karansebes, is not, as some learned patriots oftheBanat will have it, derived from Ovid's Cara mea sedes, for he died seventeen years after the birth of Christ, and the Romans did not conquerDacia till about a hundred years after our era.The little thrashing- places of the Walachians in the open air, formedalso a characteristic feature in the landscape, but on the whole we were lessindebted to Triptolemus than to Pan for amusem*nt on our road, that issupposing the latter divinity to take under his protection not only theIdyllic sheep and oxen of Arcadia, but also the great herds of Walachiancattle destined for the slaughterhouses of Vienna. In no country inEurope, perhaps, is so much butchers' meat eaten as in Austria, and, notwithstanding the quantity raised within her own territories, she requiresa very considerable importation. It appears to me that as Hungary possesses about 5000 German square miles of pasture ground, it ought to beable to satisfy the appetite at least of the city of Vienna, but such is notthe case, and the void created by the hungry tooth of man, in the greatHungarian herds, has to be filled up from foreign countries. The swine which come up the Danube we have already mentioned. The roadschiefly traversed by these great herds of foreign cattle, are two: the firstfrom Moldavia, Bessarabia, and Southern Russia, through Galicia, Moravia, and overthe Carpathians; and the second from Walachia by Orsova,on which we were now travelling. We passed continually great herds of beasts whose horns were all turned towards Pesth and Vienna. As wedrove through them at a rapid pace there was usually a tremendous hallooing between the herdsmen and my driver, Martin, who I must confess was not over careful. The wild voices and gestures, and the barbarousexterior of these men, exceeded any thing of the kind I had ever seen,but their cattle were just as civilized in appearance as our own.It is a well-known and indisputable fact, that all the herdsmen in theTHE KEYS OF TEREGOVA AND SLATINA. 295world are thieves; this phenomenon has never yet been sufficiently explained, but its truth is not to be controverted, and it may be inferred thata road, so much frequented by herdsmen, is not likely to be a very secureone. Fifteen or twenty years ago, I was told, even in broad daylight, itwas dangerous to travel here without being well armed and accompanied.At present accidents of this kind only happen in the night; the police ofthe military circles is much improved, and the fine new road that has beenmade has contributed greatly to the security of travellers. As a proof ofthe necessity of vigilance, and, at the same time, as a guarantee that it isafforded, I noticed all along the road guard-houses erected, usually in thevicinity of the toll stations. Formerly the Serreshans patrolled here dayand night, but this is now done at night only. What the Serreshans arein the military part of the Banat, the Playashes are in the interior of theprovince -namely, a police against banditti. The leaders or officers ofthese Playashes, I was told, had a Turkish appellation, and were called"Bulibashas," and throughout southern Hungary, almost every comitathas a different name for its gendarmerie. They are in some places calledTshetniks, from the Turkish word " Tsheta," meaning "the troop; " sometimes Hadnagy, Haiducks or Persecutores-words which have all the samesignification.We passed over a mountainous ridge, and arrived towards noon atTeregova, which lies near the source of the Temes, and at the entrance of the celebrated " Key, " or narrow pass. The form of the country at thisplace is the following; the land is high, but still much lower than themountain masses which lie on the east and west. The highest westernpoint is the sem*nik, and in the east the Sarko; from these two mountains,-the latter of which is seven thousand feet high, the former five thousand,-run three ranges of less elevation, which connect the two together. Thefirst of these ranges the one we had just passed over, has only a slightdepressiom from which the waters on either side flow into the Danubeand the Theiss; the second and the third range are broken through byrivers; from the sem*nik flows the Temes, and from the Sarko the Hideg,which unite near Teregova, and force their way through the second andthird ridges. The first of these is called the Teregova Key; the second,that of Slatina, and key appears to be the usual term for these narrow ravines, as " Irongate" is for the greater mountain passes.At the desolate Teregova we found an inn kept by a handsome youngGerman married couple, where we dined better than we had done in manya coffee-house at Vienna. They brought us, as a great rarity in these cold regions, some grapes, which had been sent to them from Orsova. A fellowguest, a huntsman, who was also going to Karansebes, determined to takea place by my side in the hay- cart, and only begged permission to take upwith him a large sporting dog, alleging that the shepherds ' dogs of Walachia were so vicious, that he could not venture to let him run behind,since a wolf could hardly defend himself against them, much less asporting dog.seen aOur host informed us that if I had come a little earlier, I might havewaggon-load of leeches with which a Frenchman had passed by inthe morning. He added, he had for many years furnished horses for theseFrench leech dealers, and that these animals were obtained mostly fromWalachia, Hungary being no longer able to supply the demand of Paris296 THE KEYS OF TEREGOVA AND SLATINA.for leeches, any more than that of Vienna for beef. This leech trade isquite a separate trade, and the waggons pass from stage to stage throughall Hungary, Austria, and Germany, direct to Paris. The French tradersare supposed to belong all to one company, some members of which residein Orsova, where they contrive to get the leeches smuggled in small parcelsfrom Walachia, whence their exportation is prohibited. At Orsova theyhave a great pondin which they collect all theyget, and from there they transport themto Paris, it is said, in fourteen days. The waggons are very carefully constructed for the purpose they are intended for, in the form of ahuge chest pierced with holes, and divided inside by a kind of trellis work,into a great number ofcompartments, each capable of containing abagweighing six Okkas, that is sixteen pounds and a half of leeches. This chest is verycarefully placed on springs to avoid jolting. The leeches, when first takenfrom the ponds are put into the bags and hung up to dry in the air, forthey must not be carried wet. They then roll themselves up like balls, andremain in a sort of torpid state during the journey. A hundredweight ofleeches costs the French dealer in Orsova four or five hundred florins, andto the value of ten or fifteen thousand florins are often carried at onejourney. The trade in leeches is one ofthe most delicate and critical thatcan be imagined. Should the weather be very sultry, the greater part of thecargo die onthe road, and a frost suddenly coming on is equally fatal to them,moderately cool weather being the only weather that agrees with them.In order that there may be no delay on the journey, the traders agree withthe peasants of the villages they pass, or with the landlords of inns, to havethe required number of horses in readiness, and they send some one forward,or make some signal previously agreed on, such as cracking their whips in aparticular manner as they approach, to announce their arrival. When this isheard, the people hurry out and have the horses ready on the road by thetime the waggon comes up. In many places on the road by which theleeches come, as at Baya on the Danube, French traders are settled, whohave ponds in which the leeches can be placed to be refreshed after thejourney, and those who may have died on the road are carefully picked out. In this manner this description of merchandise is carried the wholeway to Paris where the leeches are often sold at half a florin a piece.In some places there are regular leech plantations in which the animalsare bred; these are large ponds, the banks of which are covered withturf, and where the " Calamus Aromaticus," a plant considered to bepeculiarly wholesome for them, is often planted. They sometimes, however, die by thousands, in spite of all the care taken of them, without itsbeing possible to discover why. Much depends on the manner of catchingthem; the French often fish for them with Russia leather, probablysmeared with something agreeable to the leeches, for they fall on it, andcling to it with the greatest eagerness . Others are caught with sieves,which some of the dealers regard as the best method. The growth ofthese creatures is astonishingly slow; in the space of five years, their increaseof size is scarcely perceptible. In winter, it is necessary to take themfrom the ponds for fear of frost, and put them into vessels in undergroundcellars, with a layer of clay alternating with every layer of leeches.There is a great trade in leeches from Wallachia and Poland, as well asfrom Hungary, where indeed the trade is falling off. Berlin, Bremen,Hamburg, and the whole North of Germany is furnished from Poland;THE KEYS OF TEREGOVA AND SLATINA. 297and many barrels of them go, viâ Hamburg to London, where they fetcha higher price than anywhere else —often five or six times as much as in Berlin.Beyond Teregova we passed the first " Key," a deep narrow winding,woody ravine, about half a German mile long; this led to a wide valleyor basin, which again narrowed to the second " Key," or pass, that of Slatina. This place is called by the Walachians, " Prolaz," a wordwhich like " Islaz," appears to signify merely a Pass or Passage. Afterpassing Slatina, the valley of the Temes widens more and more, until itbecomes a complete plain, on which is conspicuously placed the town of Temesvar.As we descended into the valley, the mountains seemed to close behind us into a perfect wall stretching from summit to summit. Our eyes hadso long rested on nothing but rocks, that they now wandered with delight over the beautiful surface. It was very warm-nay sultry, and Martin,my driver, stopped at a well to water his horses; our thirst also was nomore to be extinguished than Greek fire, and most gladly would we haveindulged ourselves with some of the fine blue plums with which the treesin every village were loaded. They were so covered, that the foliagecould scarcely be seen for the fruit, yet we did not dare yield to thetemptation, for the plum is said here to occasion fever. Our driver, whohadbut just recovered from this malady, made a wry face at the temptingfruit, and the delicious blooming plums proved but a deceitful FataMorgana to our parched throats. Instead of refreshing the thirsty wanderer, the fruit serves only for the manufacture of a coarse spirit, the fataland pernicious "Raki;" and for this purpose only, it seems, are the greatplum orchards maintained, which soon began to weary me by their frequent repetition.The last terrible Turkish deluge, that swept over this region, that laidits villages in dust and ashes, and destroyed or put to flight its wholepopulation, took place in 1787, and many terrible scenes connectedwith it, are still fresh in the memory of some of its inhabitants. Thelandlord of an inn I stopped at, related to me that he and his parents hadfled before the advancing Turks, and he remembered well, with whatlonging, they and countless other fugitives had daily watched for thecoming of the Emperor Joseph, and with what fear and trembling on theother hand, for the approach of their barbarous enemies. On their return,after the Turks had been driven back, they had found their city razed tothe ground, with the exception of the Franciscan convent, which was stillstanding. Before the altar of the church was found the body of the prior,in a state ofdecomposition.The invasion of the Turks about fifty years before, in 1738, was somuch the more terrible, that the plague broke into the country with them,and carried off six thousand persons in Pesth and Ofen.At a village called Petroshnitza, Martin made another halt. He usuallyunharnessed the horses, and left us and the cart under a tree, while he tookthem to the water, and let them drink to their heart's content. The weather had become extremely hot, and my shawls and sheep-skins of themorning quite superfluous. The whole village seemed to be enjoying itsafternoon's nap, for not a creature was to be seen; the cows dozed roundthe farms, and only the geese, the ever wakeful guardians of the capitol,screamed the announcement of our arrival. Two hogs, feeling, like the other298 KARANSEBES.inhabitants, an inclination to repose, lay down by the wheel of our cart.Like all their swinish brethren of this country, they had a long thick stickfastened in front of the breast by a string round the neck, to hinder themfrom breaking through the hedges into the gardens, which they are veryfond of doing. At the window ofa house a kitten was awake, apparentlybecause she could not succeed to her mind in an attempt she had madeto get a comfortable seat in the cap of an Austrian official personage,the said cap being too small and of too narrow a shape to answer her purpose. The bees, however, did not yield to the luxurious laziness of this"sleepy hollow," for they were humming away on the garden side of thehouses as busily as ever."There will certainly be a storm," said the huntsman, my companion, aswe drove away from this drowsy community. This was by no meansagreeable intelligence, so I resolutely maintained there would be no storm.The huntsman desired me to look back at " Muntje Sarko" and "MuntjeMik," how black the clouds were that hung over their summits, and besides,the lightning was already flashing among the mountains. Like certainstatesmen, however, who, when they see threatening appearances in thepolitical horizon, look the other way, and deny their existence, I kept myeyes resolutely fixed in the direction where the sun was still shining, anddenied that matters looked so menacingly upon us. The dispute was over,however, by the time we arrived, wet to the skin, at Karansebes.KARANSEBES.The magnificent storm, which, however inconvenient in some respects,had certainly in others enhanced the pleasure of our journey, was so soonover, that I had time, on the evening of my arrival, to deliver a letter withwhich I was furnished to a worthy ecclesiastic of the place. In a countrycirc*mstanced like the Military Frontier, there can never be any want ofsubjects of conversation among those interested in literature and science.The materials are so abundant and so fresh, that two persons of any degreeof cultivation meeting here soon become as of one heart and one soul, asI and my priest did when he invited me to spend the evening with him inhis arbour. Our conversation naturally turned upon Trajan, for all whohave been here since, have been, more or less, barbarians. The countrybelonged, it is well known, to the Roman province of Dacia Ripensis. Itwas conquered by Trajan at the battle of the Iron Gate, in which hetotally defeated Decebalus, who, preferring death to slavery, put an end tohis existence by poison. He and his predecessors, -Dorpora, Kotiso, &c. ,-must have been people of some character and energy, since they gavethe best of the Roman emperors such hard work to subdue them, and it isbut fair to conclude, that the people ruled by such sovereigns must havemade some progress in civilisation. Yet of this people and of their civilpolity no record has reached us, and of their history we know only theclose! Here too Lysimachus waged war even before the appearancethe Romans. I know not whether our learned antiquarians have yet decided in what part of the country it was that he fought the disastrousbattle which ended in his captivity; but it was probably in the neighbourhood of Karansebes, where some of the coins of Lysimachus continueto be found to the present day.ofKARANSEBES. 299ofThe whole country round Karansebes is so rich in coins of various kinds,-Thracian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine, -that it does not redound muchto the credit of our learned inquirers on these subjects, that the groundhas been so much more diligently explored for purposes of pecuniary profit,as by mining operations of various kinds, than for those of science. To showhow rich the field is for research, I may mention one fact, on the authoritymy ecclesiastical friend. Four weeks before my arrival at Karansebes,it had been formally notified to the commanding officer that a quantity ofsilver coins had been found in a hole recently dug in a field in the neighbourhood. The coins were brought to him and recognised as Roman; -there were ninety- five of them ofpure silver. A chest appeared at one timeto have been placed in the hole, as the impression of its shape was stilldistinctly visible, and there were evident traces of its having been lifted out with a lever. The coins thus carelessly left by those who had taken itaway, may give some idea of the number and value of the rest. From theapparent size of the chest it might have contained more than a hundredand fifty pounds weight of coins, -enough to make an antiquary's mouthwater! But let him hear the end of this story, and the water will comeinto his eyes instead of his mouth.Inquiries were set on foot to discover the thieves, and at length awoman, whose husband had absconded, confessed that he had been one ofthe treasure finders, and that he and some others had turned what theyhad found to their own use. They had intended to melt the coins, andsell the silver to a silversmith, and this had actually been the fate of a partof the treasure. They had melted " about seventy pounds. " Seventypounds of historical documents! Seventy pounds of finely-executed,speaking witnesses to a certain extent, of the state of things in thatold time! Nor is this instance by any means a singular one.grayAmong the many remains of Roman enterprise and industry which thiscountry presents, some of the most remarkable, perhaps, are the " hundredshafts" (Centum putea) sunk in the Banat mountains, which are cut, in a very laborious manner through the solid rock. As the Russians havetheir Siberia, so had the Romans their Dacia, and, with the one as withthe other, to be condemned to work in the mines, " ad metalla damnari,”was considered as a severe punishment. The wonderful works to which Ihave alluded, were executed entirely by poor " ad metalla damnati,” underthe guidance of Roman officers. I was unfortunately not able to visiteither these, or the iron mines of Russberg lying tothe right of Karansebes,and which have of late years again acquired celebrity.These were formerly " Ararisch," that is they were worked for the benefitof the government. Such a mode of exploitation, however, is sure to be productive of little profit; and, in this, as in many similar cases, the carelessness, indifference, or dishonesty of the persons employed, prevented anyadvantage from being derived from the mines. In the year 1826, theywere, therefore, disposed of to private persons, and since then they have become, all at once, so productive, as to supply nearly all the most considerable iron-works in Hungary, and the iron mines of Russberg have, in consequence, assumed a very important position in the Austrian monarchy.There are mines of all kinds in the Banat mountains, which are but acontinuation of the Transylvanian chain, so abounding in metallic riches,a great part of them probably still undiscovered. Gold is generally obtained here, as in most other parts of Hungary, by the gipsies, from the300 KARANSEBES.sands of the rivers, no gipsy being suffered to continue in the militaryfrontiers who cannot deliver at least three ducats weight of gold in thecourse of the year to the government at a very low price. Whatever theybring above this quantity is paid for alpari. The gold is usually procuredfrom the sand in the manner I have already described, but they frequentlydig for it in the mountains, where there are often found, very little belowthe surface, strata of earth containing the precious metal . In most casesthe gipsies have much trouble to get together the required quantity ofthree ducats weight, but they sometimes make a lucky hit. Thus, for instance, a gipsy found, in the year preceding my visit to Karansebes, a piece of pure gold of the value of seventeen ducats.On the following morning, by permission of the commanding officer,and in company with my new friend the priest, I visited the schools ofthe place. They consist, as in all the principal places on the frontier, ofthree classes, there being a girls' school, an upper or normal school, and several elementary, or, as they are here called, " Trivial" schools. Thereare also, for the whole Walachian- Illyrian military frontier, four divisionschools; and besides these there is, or should be, in every village, anational or commune school.The normal and division schools are maintained by the government,and stand under the immediate superintendence of the War-office at Vienna. In these schools instruction is always conveyed through themedium of the German language. The " Trivial" schools are often private establishments. The commune schools, in the villages, though instituted by the government, are maintained at the expense of the parish, andinstruction is given in the language of the place. Besides those I havementioned, there are in almost every considerable town of the militaryfrontier, German town schools. The same system prevails in the Tran- sylvanian military frontier.The school buildings which I visited at Karansebes, are not only good,but excellent. As it happened to be vacation time, I could not attend anyof the lessons, but I saw some performances ofthe pupils, which were to besent to the Hofkriegsrath in Vienna. They consisted mostly of specimensof calligraphy, exercises from dictation, themes, and mathematical andmilitary drawings; and I must say that, had they not been provided withGerman teachers, I do not think Walachian, Slavonian, and Illyrianchildren could have produced such creditable evidence of their aptness toreceive instruction. The object in view in their education seems to be,not only to educate them as men, but also, before all else, to make themgood and well-taught frontier soldiers. For this purpose the subjects of theessays or themes, were very suitably chosen, such, for instance, as " Report to the captain concerning a case of smuggling, " "Account of thedamage done by a mountain torrent," &c. The maps and surveys taken,were also of the immediate environs, such as drawings of a neighbouringmountain, charts of the patrol roads of the frontier, and so forth. Themathematical pupils form a separate class of the upper school, from whichthe best scholars are taken for non-commissioned officers. From theseposts it is possible for them to rise, even to the highest ranks, and thereare many instances of Walachians of low birth who have done so. Asthere exists in the military frontier no class of privileged nobility, and asthe noble officers of the Austrian army are not very fond of this frontierservice, there prevails perhaps more freedom and equality of competitionLUGOS, TEMESVAR, AND THE BANAT FEVER. 301in this division of it, than in any other. In the mathematical class Ihave mentioned, there were in the year 1841, eighty-six scholars, and inthe other three hundred. This number, I was told, was greater than it hadbeen in preceding years. I was sorry to hear that a general aversion tothese schools prevailed among the frontier population, and that it wasgenerally found necessary to use some constraint to induce the parents tosend their children. One branch of instruction appeared to me quitepeculiar to these schools; that, namely, of " Instruction of the children inthe duties of subjects, " for which three hours in the week were set apart.This may perhaps be, among people whose notions of political institutionsare so very confused and imperfect, and from whom, nevertheless, so exactand precise a fulfilment of duty is required, a very wholesome kind ofinstruction. It seems to me a very remarkable circ*mstance in thehistory of these frontier provinces, that the inhabitants have often appearedto prefer a military to a civil administration. On many occasions whereparts of them have been placed under civil jurisdiction, the people havepetitioned, of their own accord, against the change, and have received asa boon, a restoration of military rule.LUGOS, TEMESVAR, AND THE BANAT FEVER.After taking leave of my ecclesiastical friend, I ascended a vehicle belonging to my German landlord, who drove it himself. He had two finehorses that, to use an allowable hyperbole, carried us away with the rapidity of the wind, and for which he had paid only three hundred florins ,Walachian money—that is, about fifteen Louis d'ors. On the right ofthe new Austrian road, after leaving Karansebes, are seen the remains ofan old Roman road, partly covered with earth and grass, and in some partscompletely obliterated by the plough of the husbandman. This country isthe classic centre of ancient Dacia, and the spot towards which the wishesand dreams of Walachian patriots are oftenest turned, for we must notimagine the Walachian nation has entirely lost the remembrance of itsformer greatness. I have been informed on good authority that in Bucharest, the question of the revival of the kingdom of Decebalus has beenseriously entertained. Its capital, destroyed by Trajan, was replaced byhis flourishing colony of " Ulpia Trajani Augusta, Colonia Metropolis;"and a chain of Roman colonies ran thence through Transylvania, as farnorth as the sources of the Theiss, where the last was called " ParalissumColonia." The town of Hatzeg, in the Hatzeg valley, is supposed to occupy the precise spot on which stood formerly the capital of Decebalus.As we were now crossing this chain of Roman colonies, the wars ofTrajan naturally occurred to us, and certainly when we consider the enormous extent of the Roman empire of that day, it is difficult to conceive howso great a man could allow himself to be entangled in almost purposeless wars in this obscure corner. When we recollect the provinces of Spain,and Gaul, and Britain; of the Euphrates and the Tigris; of Egypt andAfrica; and when we think of all that might be taking place over so vastan extent of the earth's surface, one would imagine the ruler of such anempire, to be desirous of occupying a central position, where he might receive information from all sides, and send forth his messengers to every quarter,instead of fighting among these obscure mountain passes, and exposed302 LUGOS, TEMESVAR, AND THE BANAT FEVER.every moment to personal danger. My reverie was disturbed by an Austriansoldier demanding my passport, and reproving me sharply for not havinghad it visé at Karansebes. Through the whole Military Frontier, they arevery strict on the subject of passports, and it is necessary to have them inspected at every turn, athing by no means necessary in Hungary.At this point the black and yellow flag of Austria appears for the lasttime, and is replaced by that of Hungary. The advantages of Austrianorder and regularity are also exchanged for Hungarian freedom, whichis sometimes very inconvenient in its peculiar mode of development. Inthe military frontiers, where the Emperor is the original proprietor of allland, which can only be held as a military fief; and where no officer canpossess more than his fruit and vegetable garden, and is not allowed tohold other land even on lease, there is not a trace of a landed nobility.As soon as we cross the Hungarian border however, we hear on all sidesof the great landlords and their estates. The principal nobility of thethree comitats of the Banat, consists chiefly of new families, of Servianor Armenian origin. They are great cattle dealers, who, frequently amassing considerable wealth in this occupation, purchase estates in the Hungarian territories, where nobility is more easily obtained, and confersgreater privileges than in any other country. These emigrations and settlements of Servian families in the Hungarian Banat, have been so numerous, that it has become quite a New Servia, the capital of which isTemesvar. Prince Milosch wished to purchase an estate in the Banat,but was not allowed to do so.My coachman of this day had a very different opinion than he of yes- terday, concerning the fine plums of which I have made mention. He saidit was all nonsense and prejudice to suppose that the fever proceeded fromthe fruit, for that it was caused by the water ofthe Banat; and thereuponhe plucked me a beautiful branch covered with plums as large as hens'eggs. He said so much, however, concerning the raki made from them,that I ceased to regard them with admiration. Fromthe most beautiful anduseful things, does man in all countries learn to procure this fiery poison;here from plums, in Russia from potatoes, in Sweden from corn, in France from grapes, in India from rice, and the Calmucks even from milk, apparently the most innocent substance in the world.I heard a great deal of good of the Germans of the Banat, of their modesof agriculture, especially of their fields of tobacco, a plant which requires most careful cultivation; the Walachians think more of their fields ofKukurutz, or Indian corn . The warehouses for the preservation of thisgrain are peculiar to the country, and apparently well adapted to the pur- pose they are intended for. These buildings, which are seen by the side of every Walachian dwelling, and which, even on the estates of the greatproprietors, occupy no small portion of the farm buildings, are called Kukuruztkoras, and are built in the following manner. A barn is constructed, exceedingly narrow, -about five or six feet in width, and fromthirty to forty, or even as much sometimes as two hundred feet long,according to the wealth of the proprietor. This attenuated looking edificeis raised upon piles, to guard against damp, and is made of a kind of basketwork, that the air and the sun may penetrate into it. The maize, whichcannot, like other corn, be thrashed immediately after it is reaped, ispacked closely in the Kora, and left there the whole winter to dry andripen.LUGOS, TEMESVAR, AND THE BANAT FEVER. 303Walachian pigs, Walachian oxen, Walachian buffaloes, Walachian sheep, were our fellow-travellers the whole way to Lugos. In attendanceon every herd, were commonly several Walachian drovers, wild ferociouslooking half savages, though, perhaps, all the while, good honest fellowsin their way; and some Servians on horseback, the owners of the cattleor their agents, armed with two or three pistols and a yataghan. Someof the animals had bells, which awakened pleasant thoughts of the SwissAlps, till I came in sight of the bearer of the bell, when, instead of acomfortable-looking cow, adorned with garlands of flowers, I generallyencountered a great ugly grunting sow.One of these great herds, not long ago, actually broke down the ironbridge of Lugos, and it lay in lamentable fragments when we passed it,driving through the water to enter the town. It happened that just as aherd of buffaloes was crossing the bridge, they were met by some dogswho began barking at them. The front rank retreated, the whole wasthrown into confusion, the noise of their trampling feet on the bridge rendered them still wilder, and at last they got wedged together in the centreof the bridge, where they stamped and raged, till down came buffaloesbridge and all, into the middle of the river. Many were killed, and othersso badly hurt, that they had to be immediately slaughtered, and on manya table in Lugos, roast buffalo beef was had that day at a very low price.Some people maintained that the bridge had been badly constructed, othersthat the timbers furnished for the purpose had been bad and rotten, andthe comitat which had furnished it must pay the damage; some laid thefault on the drivers, and some sought to find out the owners of the dogs,but on whom the responsibility was finally laid I know not. The case mayserve to show that public works of this kind should be prepared for extraordinary, as well as for ordinary accidents.At Lugos the mountains gradually sink into low hills, and thence, byimperceptible gradations, from hills to downs, from downs to mere slopes,until they gradually melt into a perfect plain.At the inn at Lugos, not a creature came near us till we had stood along time stamping, knocking, and vociferating, and this was the more inconvenient, as the rooms were all double locked. I recollect observing thesame thing on my first entrance into Hungary at Eisenstadt, but no wherethroughout the whole military frontier. There we invariably met withgood attendance, clean apartments, and excellent provisions. It would bestrange ifthis were the result of mere accident.Lugos is divided into German Lugos and Walachian Lugos, and thisseparation occurs in many of the towns of the Banat, nay, even villagesare sometimes so arranged that the Germans live on one side of the street,and the Walachians or Servians on the other.I was awakened on the morning after my arrival in this city, by anoise,which, however unpleasant, is by no means uncommon in the Hungariancomitats the clank of fetters. Criminals are not only employed by thegovernment, but are even allowed to go about to private houses to earn afew pence by their work, though never without their fetters; and, I haveoften met them clattering about the streets without any superintendencewhatever. It was Sunday morning, and I visited the different churches ofthe place, both Greek and Roman Catholic. In the former, which is herecalled the Illyrian church. I found a few Playashes, in very showy uni- forms, and many Wallachian men, but few women. In the Roman Ca-304 LUGOS, TEMESVAR, AND THE BANAT FEVER.tholic church, which I attended afterwards, the case was reversed. Inthearrangements of the Illyrian church, the mode of crossing, the kissing ofimages, the manner of performing mass, and all but the melodies of thechoirs, there seemed to methe most perfect conformity with what I had seen in the Russian and other Greek churches. The men all stood infront, and formed the main body of the assembly, while the women werescattered about behind. This circ*mstance also was precisely reversed in the Roman church. In the latter there are at least three times as manywomen professedly devoted to the service of religion as in the former.May not these differences be traced to the different spirit that prevails inthe two religions? The Greek is by far the most prevalent form of worship throughout these eastern frontier provinces of Austria; in the " Gespannschaft," to which Lugos belongs, there are 156,000 Greeks, to15,000 Catholics, and no more than eighty Protestants.Among the few things worth mentioning, that my short stay at Lugosallowed me to see, I should not perhaps omit mentioning some pictures,by an Austrian artist named Prestel, not merely on account of their meritas works of art, which was considerable, but partly also on account of thelocal and characteristic nature of the subjects . The one represented a partof the Hungarian steppe, a wild boundless desert waste, over which hungthe veil of evening twilight, rendered still more obscure by a low hangingcloudy sky, with only a faint streak of light on the distant horizon. In theforeground rides the principal figure, a Hungarian herdsman, on a wild,rough- looking animal, at full gallop. Before him, across his horse, lies ableating calf, which he is carrying off like a wolf, having taken advantageof the twilight to steal it. The robber's hat is plucked down over his face,his spurs are plunged into his horse's side, and he is looking fearfully backto see whether he is pursued. The other picture also represents a part ofthe Hungarian steppe, on which a race of Walachian and Hungarianpeasants is taking place; many of their waggons are seen in the distance,some drawn by as many as fifteen horses, three and four abreast, withtroops of foals gambolling by the sides of their mothers. In the foreground is one, I believe a Hungarian waggon, drawn by only four horses,the long whip is flying about, the dust whirls up in clouds, the driverbends forward to animate his horses, who seem ready to spring out of thepicture, for the painter has turned all their heads and breasts towards thespectator, and no foreground intervenes. The execution of both pictures is admirable.I know not whether it was from the lively impression made by thesepictures, or from any other cause, but I felt the greatest unwillingnessto leave the hill country, and the greatest dread of the monotony ofthe desert steppe I was about to enter upon. It was a dismal rainymorning, and the little open waggon in which my goods and chattels werepacked, looked uncomfortable enough. Remembering the manner inwhich the Hungarian peasants tear along the road, I was about to inquireofmylandlord the Walachian word for " slowly." On glancing, however,at the little wretched-looking pair of horses that I had to draw me, I madeup my mind that it would be more useful to have the command of somenative word, or phrase, implying " get on."On the road from Lugos to Temesvar, the greater part of the villagesare inhabited by Walachians, but here and there already German coloniesare met with. The Walachian villages are all, like the other villages ofLUGOS, TEMESVAR, AND THE BANAT FEVER. 305the Banat, built on a regular plan, and very few of them are older than thelast century. Some are in the form of a square, or parallelogram, havinga free space in the middle, for the church and government buildings,with immensely broad streets, regularly crossing at right angles, throughtheir whole length and breadth. Some are built in a circle, with thechurch lying in the centre, and the streets radiating from it in all directions; and some form merely two parallel lines along the road; but sincethe ground of a great part of the Banat is as flat as a chess-board, anyplan maybe carried out without difficulty. I found the drive through theseWalachian villages exceedingly amusing, and always rejoiced when I dis- covered a church steeple in the distance. The broad streets were usuallycovered with geese, turkies, pigs, and other animals, as far as one couldsee, and the women and girls diligently spinning their white wool, andtwirling their spindles, moved about among them, gossiping with theirneighbours, or carrying a meal into the fields for their husbands or sons.They all wore the hair in great broad plaits, and adorned with silver pinsand buttons. The men I saw but seldom, partly because they wereoccupied with the vintage. It rained the whole day; but this to theWalachians was matter of rejoicing, for they say the skins ofthe grapesare softer, and that more wine is obtained, after a rainy vintage than whenthe fruit has been gathered in fine weather. The vineyards lay in thefield, and round them were drawn up numbers of small waggons, nearwhich oxen were grazing. Upon these waggons were placed vessels forreceiving the fruit of the grapes trodden out in the field, an operationusually performed with the feet, but for which there is also a woodenimplement, divided at the bottom like the fingers of a hand. With thisthey crush the grapes, and then dip in a pot to take out the juice. Thisgives the best kind of wine; the grapes are afterwards pressed a secondtime, and from this second pressing an inferior sort of wine is made.theopenAt one place I saw the vintage carried home. The master and ownerof the vineyard walked in front of his waggon, drawn by four oxen, whofollowed, almost without any other guidance, precisely at the pace headopted. On the top was seated a lad, his son, acting as driver; and thewhole waggon-load consisted of three barrels of " most," or first juice ofgrapes trodden out in the field, and these were covered with largebranches of vines bearing the most magnificent bunches of grapes thatcould be found. These were intended to be carried home for a feast, andto make the vintage garlands, nevertheless, some of them were readily bestowed upon us wanderers. Behind the waggon came a row of gossipingspinning women, the wife, mother, and daughters, of the lord of the harvest, and near them the servants and assistants in the work.The largest village between Lugos and Temesvar, is Rekas, an extensivecolony, mostly inhabited by Germans, though partly also by another people called here " Shokatzes." I inquired who these might be, whetherthey were perhaps Rascians or Servians? The answer was in the negative.One said they were Roman catholics from Illyria, another that they were baptized Turks; another and a better founded notion seemed to be thatthey were Dalmatians. I mention these various opinions merely to showthe confusion of nations that has taken place in Hungary.I stopped at Rekas to dinner, and found a very good inn, full of life andbustle. Here, as in most ofthe places I had lately passed through, I founda good German inn. The fever was said to have raged terribly at this306 LUGOS, TEMESVAR, AND THE BANAT FEVER.place last summer, as well as over nearly the whole of the Banat. TheGermans told me that every individual of their community, without a single exception had been attacked by it. Often not more than one third ofthe inhabitants of a village were capable of work at one time, and even atthe period of my visit, not more than half of them were convalescent.Many had seriously injured their health by exerting themselves to work inthe day, whilst they were suffering from fever every night. The peasant who gave methis information, said, that the fever had left him so weak, thathe was hardly able to lift his whip to drive his horses. The hussars atthe time in the Banat had also suffered severely, and the more so on accountof the imperfect arrangements of their barracks. They had been incapableof performing their usual duties, and had been obliged to call in the assistance of a company of infantry to take care of their horses. This hadnot, however, been the sole misfortune to which the country had beenexposed during the year, for the crops also had failed. The oat harvesthad been the worst of all; and I saw on the road many of the peasantsfeeding their horses with gourds. The poor animals were very neatlygnawing off the rind from some halves thrown down before them on thegrass. The Germans of the beautiful village of Rekas are "Kammerbauern,”that is to say, they are obliged to pay an hereditary quit-rent to the treasury of the king of Hungary, and are subject immediately to his officers.Whether they are on the whole satisfied with their administration, I do notknow, but as I stood before the door of the inn, some peasants who hadbeen long looking at me, approached me in the most polite manner, cap inhand " They took the liberty-they begged I would excuse them, butthey had heard the report had been spread, that I was an imperialengineer, sent from Vienna to inquire into their condition. They beggedthat I would have the goodness to accompany them to their dwellings, andthey would show me every thing, and explain to me all their grievances."I answered that as a simple traveller, desirous of all the information hecould gain, I should be happy to accompany them. They accordingly toldme many long stories of the injustice they had suffered, which I shall notrepeat, as I had no opportunity of ascertaining how far their complaintswere well founded. On my departure they stuffed my hands full of thefinest walnuts I had ever seen, and would willingly have given me a sackfull, possibly with some notion of winning me over to their side, for to thelast they would not be persuaded that I was invested with no such dignityas they had attributed to me.In no province of Hungary, perhaps in no province of the Emperor'sstates, does the treasury possess so many lands as in the Banat. Theseare called fiscal estates, and are distinguished from the Crown domains,which cannot be alienated, whereas the fiscal estates may be sold by theEmperor, or given away. From these estates, together with the produceof the Hungarian mines, the Emperor must derive a very important partof his revenue; the salt monopoly, however, is worth all the rest puttogether.I have already had occasion to mention one instance of the fragile construction of some of the bridges in this country; and as I proceeded on my journey, I found that it was by no means a solitary instance. It waswhispered that many official persons found their account in delaying therepairs of these broken bridges as long as possible, or leaving them to be done by their successors.LUGOS, TEMESVAR, AND THE BANAT FEVER. 307A bridge, in most countries, is considered to be a sign that in that placeone may cross the river; but, here, it is on the contrary, rather regardedas a warning that one shall by no means attempt so rash an act. MyWalachian and I always turned aside when we descried a bridge fromafar, and sought for a place where we might drive through the water.is only fair, however, to observe that I have occasionally met with veryfine churches in this part of Hungary, and that all these things dependvery much on the spirit which reigns in the comitat, and they varyexceedingly in the different comitats, which may be regarded as so manylittle independent republics.Temesvar is the most important town in the whole Banat, -the principalplace of residence of the Servian nobility of the province, and the headquarters of the Banat fever. All along the road I had been told, “ Whenyou come to Temesvar you will see what the fever is. The people therecreep about with pale faces, and almost every one you meet is an invalid. ”This account I found literally true. At the very entrance of the town Imet a waggonful of these poor fever-sick people, who, I was told weregoing outside the town to look for a certain herb, supposed to be more effi- cacious as a cure for the fever, than all the doctors' medicines.""After driving through a long suburb, and across a broad marshy glacis,I at length reached the inner kernel of the fortress, and stopped at a veryexcellent inn called " The Trumpeter, " whence I went to pay a visit toan official personage, to whom I had a letter. His valet came to me witha slow heavy step and a dejected look, and begged I would be so good asto call the following day, as his master had the fever, and was just then in a paroxysm in bed. I asked what was the matter with himself that heseemed so cast down? 66 Ah, sir," he replied, " I've got the fever too."From this house I proceeded to another, where lived a lady, to whom I was charged, by some friends in Vienna, to pay my respects. "Oh, sir," saidthe waiting- maid, " my lady has had the fever these three years, and sheis just now at her worst.' Opinions are very various as to the cause ofthis distressing malady. By some it is ascribed to the fruit, especially tothe water-melons; by others to the bad water, by others to the marshes,whence arise that other plague of the country, the gnats. The latter opinion seems the most probable, when the position of the town is considered.It lies, notwithstanding its name, not on the Temes, but on the Vega, inthe midst ofthe many marshes which the latter stream forms. In summerthe heat is suffocating, and for weeks together there is sometimes a perfect calm. An attempt has been made to remedy this evil, by means of acanal, twenty German miles long, which serves not only to drain thecountry, but from Temesvar downwards, is used for the purposes of navigation; but one canal is quite inadequate to meet the extent of the evil. Itmust be intersected in every direction , like Holland or Egypt, before anygood can be done. In this extremely hot summer, the fever had beendreadful. The inner fortress of the town felt like a baker's oven, and theair was so close and sultry, that a person coming in from the country couldscarcely breathe in it. The great majority of the population had beenattacked by the malady, and even those who were said to be free from it,felt more or less unwell. Of the two thousand soldiers of the garrison, ninehundred were in the hospital in one week, and there they had to lie orstand, and get through the fever as well as they could. The garrison became at last so enfeebled that it was found impossible to get through the Y308 FIRST SHOWER.ordinary duty. This Banat fever exhibits itself under forms as various asthe gourds and melons that grow in the country. With some the attacksoccur every day, with others every night. In some cases it appears as anintermittent fever, but the attacks return sometimes every second day,sometimes every third or fourth day, and these are said to be the severestcases. The symptoms also vary in almost every instance, some beingattacked the very day they enter the city, others not till they have lived init a considerable time. A journey to Pesth will often rid a man of hisfever, but this rule is liable to exceptions, as there are instances ofpersonswho have left the country, and yet retained their fevers for years. Duringthe first days of my stay at Temesvar, I could absolutely find nobody whowas free from fever, so I resolved to employ some time in rambles aboutthe city and its environs. I was lucky enough to find a man in tolerablehealth, whom I engaged to act as valet- de-place, and fortunately he wasable to walk pretty well, having now been free from fever for six days.He told me he was by birth a Croat, but could speak Hungarian, Walachian, Servian, and German, as well as his native tongue. Among us, aman who spoke five languages fluently might at least have had a decentcoat on his back; but here almost every one can muster some half-dozen ofthese barbarous dialects, no one of which is of the least use to him when hecomes to western Europe. German of course is an exception, being thelanguage most cultivated in central Europe, and enabling one to enter intocommunication there with a greater number of people than any otherlanguage. With the knowledge of German one may travel with advan- tage in the following countries, in addition to all the German states:Holland, Denmark, Livonia, Esthonia, Finnland, Russian Poland; almostall the Slavonian countries as far as Servia; Hungary to the Black Sea;the Alps, Switzerland, and a part of France. Neither French, which isusually spoken only by the higher classes, nor English, which is confined toamateurs, nor Slavonian, which is not known out of the countries to whichit belongs, can be made as extensively useful.The town of Temesvar is one of the largest and best built in Hungary,and quite worthy to be placed in the same rank with Ofen, Pesth, Raab,and others, all of which have been built by Germans or under German ad- ministration. It has many fine streets and some really admirable buildings, especially the inner town or fortress. The inhabitants amount tonearly twenty thousand.During the whole of my walk I had a perpetual vicissitude of sunshineand rain, and as during the rain I generally went in somewhere, and con- tinued my tour of observation again when it left off, I might divide theresult of my inquiries into chapters of fair weather and foul, somewhat inthe following manner:FIRST SHOWER.I took refuge from this in the Comitat-house on the market-place.Here I found what in Hungary is common enough, a crowd of men andwomen heavily ironed going in and out, carrying water, dragging stones,&c. I inquired who they were, and was told they were people who had committed robbery and murder. "Such as hide in the forest and watchfor a traveller, and when they see one, spring out and kill him. That'sFIRST INTERVAL OF SUNSHINE. 309what they're put in chains for and obliged to work in the comitat's house,and every third year when it's congregation, they get whipped; thirty,forty, or fifty strokes, according to what they've done." It is an intolerable abuse that people thus circ*mstanced should be left to roam about thestreets, instead of being confined in houses of correction . Their treatmenttoo, as prisoners, is in many respects shameful. Here in Temesvar, whereon account of the exhalations from the marshes, even theground-floors ofthehouses are unwholesome; the cells of the prisoners are damp subterraneandungeons, a fit dwelling only for frogs and toads. From twenty to thirtycriminals are sometimes crowded together into one of these dungeons; andin the preceding summer the typhus fever broke out in one of them, andthreatened the whole city with infection. In order to bring a little fresherair into the prison, the holes in the wall were enlarged to something likewindows; but no sooner was the fever over, than they were absolutelywalled up again! Among the many improvements which the patrioticHungarians are looking forward to introduce into their country, it is to behoped they will not fail to devote some attention to the state of the comitat prisons and the sufferings of those confined in them.FIRST INTERVAL OF SUNSHINE.The rain ceased, and I continued my wanderings through the streets.Many, I might perhaps say most, houses in Temesvar are built uponpiles, for the soil is generally marshy; turf and peat bog, or coal, which iscertainly abundant throughout the Banat. A very considerable bed of ithas lately been discovered in the neighbourhood of Lugos, near a spring,but it has not as yet been turned to any account, though it might be mademost valuable for the steamboats on the Danube. Marshes were formerlyto be found in the very centre of the town of Temesvar; and I was told thatseventy years ago wild ducks might be shot within the limits of the fortressitself, on a spot now covered with good solid houses. The luxury of goodwater is not to be had in Temesvar, although many attempts have beenmade to sink artesian wells. In the suburbs only is there any waterreally drinkable to be had. Atthe best and most productive of these springs,the Empress Maria Theresa had iron pipes laid down to conduct thewater into the town, but in summer it becomes half warm, and sometimesthe pipes get stopped up, or there is something else out of order, so that nowater, fit for drinking, is to be had; and the inhabitants are obliged tocontent themselves with what they can get from the canal. The unfortunate city, therefore, at such times, suffers simultaneously from too greata scarcity and from too great an abundance of water.TheThe fortifications are very extensive; so much so, indeed, as to make their defence no easy matter. I took a view of them from the low tower of aRoman Catholic church. Most of the churches, however, are Illyrian here,and one I noticed, which had just been freshly decorated, presented a mostgorgeous appearance, glittering in pink, blue, white, and gold.Iconostas was also adorned with freshly-painted saints, the work, I wastold, of a young self- taught Walachian painter. I felt therefore the lessinclined to blame some little faults of outline which I discovered, andadmired the more the skill with which he had blended the bright anddelicate colours.Y 2310SECOND SHOWER.The sunshine had just lasted long enough to dry my umbrella, and toprepare it for the reception of a new shower, which did not keep me longwaiting for its appearance, but soon came down so violently that I was gladto seek some better shelter. I found it in the house of a Servian merchant,with whom I entered into conversation on the subject of the commercialaffairs of the Banat. Temesvar, lying nearly in the centre of the province,and enjoying besides the advantage of shipping goods on the Vega canal,is naturally the principal trading- place in the Banat. This canal traverses the whole province, and is the great medium of transport for allthe commodities which the rich country yields. Through this canal, itscorn and fruit can reach the Danube by a shorter road than through theMaros and the Theiss; and when once there, the corn vessels of the Banatproceed up as far as Raab, and thence to Wieselburg. Raab and Temesvar may be regarded as the two extremities of a line of navigation of whichthe one end, Raab, lies near a country (Vienna and its environs) wherethere is a great and constant demand for these blessed fruits of the earth;while the other end ( Temesvar) lies in a country that produces them inabundance. Temesvar carries on a more active trade with the former city than with any other; and in both is established , in consequence, a considerable colony of Servian traders .The second great commercial channel of communication from theBanat, although a less important one than the first, is up the Drave andSave, bythe way of Semlin. Bythis road the corn of the Banat goes bytheKulpa, or the Upper and Lower Save, to Laybach, and thence to the portsof the Adriatic. The Vega canal has operated very beneficially on allthis traffic; but, unfortunately, the canal shares the fate of the countrythrough which it flows, and has sometimes too much, and sometimes too little water. The Vega is occasionally quite inadequate to feed it, andyet it sometimes overflows its banks and dikes; and it is less to beregarded as a canal regulated by locks, than as a river rendered navigableby artificial means.SECOND SUNSHINE.Like most things that are violent, the rain was of short duration, and Iemployed this new intermezzo in a walk on the glacis of Temesvar, which,like that of Vienna, is laid out as a garden. Some parts of it are verypretty, but the effect is injured by the myriads of frogs that hop about inall directions, as indeed they do through all the cellars and undergroundplaces in the city, as well as in the prisons. Along the glacis I made ashort round, to the house of a lady to whom I had letters from Pesth, andthrough the kindness of one of her friends obtained permission to visit thearsenal. This interesting old building, which in many respects remindedme of the ancient castle of the kings of Poland, in Cracow, formerlybelonged to Johannes Hunyades, the father of Matthias Corvinus, and wassubsequently inhabited by the Turkish commandant of Temesvar. It nowcontains about thirty thousand stand of arms, and in one division, whichparticularly interested me, I found a mass of ancient lances, spears, andscythes, used for the Hungarian " landstorm” or militia, or for occasionsSECOND SUNSHINE. 31166 when, as the sergeant who accompanied me said, one wishes to armthe people. " Even the old worn-out muskets of the soldiers are brought into the arsenal for this 66 purpose. They will serve," it is said, " for thepeasants to shoot at the Turks. " I do not know whether here, in theBanat, on the frontier of Turkey, the organization of the militia may notbe different from that ofthe east of Hungary. There were many Turkishweapons also in the arsenal, which a hundred years hence perhaps, whenthe Turks shall have been expelled from Europe, may be looked at withgreat interest. On one yataghan was a pious inscription- " The Lordalone is my hope and my trust; may God bless the owner of this sword,Halil."In Temesvar I also saw many beautiful specimens of the cannon ofCharles VI. , cast in Vienna, and remarkable for the beauty and eleganceof their workmanship.The sunshine lasted so long this time that I had still enough left to paya visit to a highly estimable clergyman, in whose instructive society Ipassed a very agreeable hour. Knowledge and intellectual cultivation arealways pleasant things to meet with, but never so welcome as in countrieslying, like this, far out of the centre of European culture. This gentleman told me that a short time since he had had occasion to entertain oneof those oriental pilgrims who often pass through Hungary to Ofen. Hehad been accidentally from home when this guest from a distant landarrived, and going to seek him in the garden where he was told he waswaiting, he found him on his knees, on a mat, performing his eveningdevotions. The Catholic priest retired till the Moslem, having finished hisevening prayers, arose and claimed his hospitality. On the following daythe priest gave his guest a dinner, at which several other Catholic clergymen were present. He would not take any soup, but eat heartily of a sortof pudding presented to him; declined the fine Menescher wine, exclaiming, with an appearance of disgust, after having tasted it, " Raki! Raki! ”that is to say, " brandy, " for which he probably took it, but he willinglydrank champagne. He was asked whether he had money enough for hisfurther journey; "No more," he answered, " than is necessary to enableme to reach the next town. Allah will provide for me then, as he hasdone to -day in bringing me beneath your hospitable roof.God is great,and nourishes all his creatures."North of Temesvar, on the Maros, lies the convent of Radna, a celebratedplace for pilgrimages. It is said to lie in a beautiful district, and is close tothe Menescher mountains, where grow the delicious honey- sweet grapes,from which is extracted the wine that bears the same name. This rangeof mountains is one of the last spurs of the Transylvanian Alpine chain, asthe Hegyallya is of the Carpathians; the latter produces the Tokay grape,and both border on the plain of the Theiss.The convent of Radna, probably, owes some of its renown to the courageous and persevering conduct of its inmates during the time of theTurks. The monks, who belong to the order of St. Francis, found meansto keep alive all that was left of catholicism in Hungary, under the Mahometan rule, and to defend it equally from the infidel and from the heresiesof protestantism, which, partly perhaps out of opposition to Austria, hadmade great progress in the north of Hungary. Many attempts weremade by protestants to spread their doctrines among the catholic subjectsofthe Turk, but the Franciscans, by some means or other, always managed312 THIRD SHOWER.to frustrate their designs. On one occasion in Szegedin, a protestant missionary presented himself to the pasha, begging permission to preach hisnew and excellent doctrine. The Franciscans begged the pasha wouldallow no such thing. The protestant said that if the pasha would allowa public discussion to take place between him and one of the monks, hewould soon see who was in the right. The pasha agreed to the proposal,and listened to the dispute, which was carried on in the Hungarian language, usually understood bythe Turkish officers, who, indeed, were oftenenough renegade Hungarians. The dispute was a very long one, and thepasha was not much wiser at the end than at the beginning: he thereforebethought himself of a clear and simple method of finding out who was inthe right, and demanded of the protestant who were the greatest prophets the world had ever seen. The answer was, 66 Moses and Jesus Christ.""What?" screamed the Franciscan, " don't you reckon Mahomet?"settled the business. The protestant was ordered forthwith to leave thetown; the Franciscans rose high in Turkish favour, and the town ofSzegedin gained the reputation which it has ever since retained, of beingone of the most catholic cities of Hungary.ThisTHIRD SHOWER.Temesvar is, as I have before mentioned, the residence of most of theServian nobility of the Banat, and it may be regarded as the capital ofAustria, as Belgrade is of Turkish Servia. These are the two largesttowns in which Servians play any important part. They are often verywealthy, dine off silver and gold, but have in general very little educationor taste for inquiry. They are mostly of new families, and very devoted admirers of Russia. Their wealth is derived from the rich plains of theBanat, which for fertility can only be compared with Egypt. In thecomitat of Torontal especially, which stretches to the mouths of the Theissand the Maros, there are not less than sixteen or eighteen Servian families,each of which has a revenue of from a hundred to a hundred and fiftythousand florins; having, about a century ago, bought estates for a merenothing, which now, by the colonization of the Banat, and the great increase of traffic, have risen six, eight, and ten fold in value. The repulsiveforce which appears to exist between the Servians and Hungarians (asbetween new and old nobility, new and old cultivation , the Greek and theCatholic churches) has hitherto prevented any of the ancient Magyarnobility from settling in this province, and as there are here many Germans, the language ofthe latter is more used, and the Hungarian less thanin other parts of the country. This circ*mstance, is of course ratheragreeable to a travelling German, and he is sure to meet in the Banatmany well-educated countrymen. The phrase " countryman" is of courseused in a rather more liberal acceptation than with Germans at home, whodivide themselves into Prussians, Hanoverians, Saxons, Coburgers, &c.,and find themselves separated by little national differences from each andall. When, however, the Saxon and the Prussian meet in Austria, theyrecognise each other as north Germans and brothers; and when the Prussian and the Austrian meet in Hungary, the distinction of north and southis forgotten in the common tie of Germanism. It is not indeed till aGerman has lived in foreign countries, that he becomes capable of a reallyTHE COLONIES AND LOWLANDS OF THE BANAT. 313patriotic feeling, and can embrace the whole German nation in the circleofhis sympathies. If we go into still more remote lands, Germans beginto fraternize with Italians; and in Africa or distant Asia, the differences ofSlavonian, Germanic, and Romanic nations are lost, and all may join handsas members of the great Caucasian family. Perhaps, should we journeyamong the strange and to us monstrous inhabitants of the moon, the differences and antipathies of European and Asiatic, African and Australian,North and South American, Christian and Mahomedan would be swal- lowed up in the kindness we should feel towards all terrestrial beings, andthe heart of a Parisian dandy might overflow with brotherly love towards a Hottentot. Who can measure the powers and capacities of love andhate that fill the universe? Upon Sirius perhaps all who belonged to ourSolar system would feel inclined to shake hands, and a native of Uranusbe greeted as a dear countryman. Where is that centre of the universewhere all these external differences sink into nothing; where the hostileseparations of countries and systems are lost in all- embracing love andsympathy, where all these discords are resolved into universal harmony?The last shower of rain I have recorded continued so long that nightcame on before it ceased, and I took refuge at length in the family circleof an amiable countryman, whose wife was busied as German housewivesare wont to be, in domestic affairs. She was engaged, I was told, in thepreparation of " Ribisel" and " Agresel," and as I had often heard thesewords without being able to make out what they signified, I begged tohave them explained. I was accordingly introduced into the kitchen, andI there discovered that under these strange names were concealed dainties noless familiar than agreeable; that is to say, preserved currants and gooseberries. I here learned also some particulars concerning the preparation ofthe Hungarian wine, " Ausbruch," of which I had so often heard. It isonly prepared from the finer kinds of wines, those of Tokay, Menescher,Rust, and Ofen, as the inferior sorts will not repay the trouble. It is madeby first clearing the vines of all the poor and half-ripe grapes, and leavingall the fine rich and ripe ones hanging till they are almost as dry as raisins.They frequently hang till the month of November, but in wet and coldyears, the " Ausbruch" cannot be made. When the grapes are consideredsufficiently ripe and dry they are gathered, and good wine is poured uponthem. They are then crushed and the wine drawn from them by the usual process. Wine is sometimes poured a second, and even a third time uponthe dried grapes, but the first " Ausbruch" is of course the finest.THE COLONIES AND LOWLANDS OF THE BANAT.On the following morning I found that the showers which had beencontending with the sunshine the day before, had now made common causeof it, and fairly beaten the sun; the blue patches of sky had all disappearedin one uniform gray, and the rain, which had been vainly invoked duringthe summer, poured down with a fury that seemed, now when it came postfestum, to serve for nothing but to help to fill the wine-tubs of the Walachians, and to spoil the roads for us wayfarers. The rich, heavy soil of theBanat becomes in such weather as this almost impassable; the made road,as it is called, continues only a few miles beyond Temesvar, and thenceforward the traveller must struggle as he best can through the difficulties314 THE COLONIES AND LOWLANDS OF THE BANAT.which nature has opposed to his progress. The diligence in which we werenow to travel, was drawn by six stout horses, yet we looked forward to avery slow journey. My fellow-travellers were a poor sick young woman,going to Pesth to recover her health; a young German mechanic who hadcome to Temesvar four weeks ago, to look for work, but had found onlythe fever; a coachman who looked quite well every other day, but on theintermediate days complained grievously; an incredibly dirty Jew, alsosick of the usual malady; and one passengerbesides myself in health. Withthis cargo the six strong Hungarian horses plunged into the mire of thecomitat of Temes. We soon discovered howfallacious had been our hopesof reaching Szegedin that day, and how fortunate we might esteem ourselves ifwe could even get as far as the intermediate station of St. Miclosch.After passing Temesvar, the population of the Banat, always chequeredenough, becomes still more diversified, and is nowhere more so than where the ground is most fertile, in the district of Torontal. This tract ofcountry, lying between the Theiss and the Maros, is so extraordinarily rich,that it produces, year after year, the heaviest crops of wheat, without everbeing manured, and is commonly called by Hungarian writers, the Egyptof Hungary, ubertate locorum cœlique benignitate nulli terrarum secunda.Thence to Pesth the fertility of the soil declines, until the comitat of Pesthitselfpresents nothing but a barren surface of sand. Under the Turkish rule,the rich plains were the least populous parts of the country, for the inhabitants naturally fled for protection to the mountains, and to the vicinity ofthe great towns. At a subsequent period an attempt was made to supplythe difficiency thus created, by the establishment of colonies of Italians,Spaniards, Frenchmen, Germans, Servians, Dalmatians, Bosnians, andBulgarians, and where, a hundred years ago, was to be found only a dirtyshepherd's hut, an Armenian farmhouse, or a lonely well, are now to beseen villages of five thousand, six thousand, eight thousand, or even thirteenthousand inhabitants. Much, however, still remains to be done before thecapabilities of the country can be developed to any thing like their full extent, and the comitats north of the Maros and Koros, where the influenceof the Austrian government is not so powerful, are far behind those of theBanat. It is rather remarkable, that throughout the whole Banat, thereis not a single Magyar village to be found, and the scattered families ofthat race, which may be met with, are so few as to be not worth takinginto the account of the population. The Magyar population was entirelyexterminated by the Turks, and the Magyars are now as firmly rooted totheir native soil, as they were formerly restless and nomadic in their habits.The Banat may, nevertheless, be regarded as a part of the kingdom ofHungary; but I know of only three cases in which I have ever heard ofHungarian villages existing beyond the limits of Hungary proper: thoseI have already mentioned between the Drave and the Save, a few Magyarvillages on the Dniester, and some in Walachia and Moldavia, which wereoriginally colonies, forcibly planted there by the Turks. Very seldom,and with the greatest unwillingness, does a Magyar leave one comitat foranother, as if the restless, wandering spirit of the early Magyars, whochanged their country at least ten times before they finally settled on the Danube, had rendered the whole nation so weary of change, that theynever wished to move again.The landed proprietors of the Banat, in founding new villages, (a workwhich is continually going on, ) always seek for German peasants to inhabitTHE COLONIES AND LOWLANDS OF THE BANAT. 315them. One of these, a beautiful place called Shandorhatz, we passed aboutmidway, between Temesvar and St. Miklos. It has a handsome spaciousmarket-place, and a church with two towers, from which the streets divergein a fanlike form, as in Karlsruhe. The houses are prettily painted ingreen and white, and the inhabitants are mostly young offshoots from theold German villages of the Banat. A particular term has been found herefor the country-people, who come by agreement with the owner of the landto inhabit a spot of this kind: they are called " Contractualists," and theystand in various relations to the proprietor, according to the more or lessadvantageous bargain they have made.On a "Puste" where we stopped, I met with a German schoolmaster,who, though he wore such a pair of mustaches, as many an hussar amongus would envy, was nevertheless a very intelligent and well- informed man.He gave me a very good account of his school, which contained no lessthan six hundred children, divided into three classes. Of these, more thanfive hundred were from amongthe three thousand German inhabitants, andnot above forty from the three thousand Walachians.In the villages thus inhabited by a population half German, half Walachian, it is singular that they never mingle; they live on opposite sidesof the street, and though handsome girls are to be found on both sides,Love has never been known to send an arrow across. Cupid is not soblind, it appears, as not to distinguish between Germans and Walachians,between Catholics and members of the Greek church. An inhabitant ofthe place assured me, that since its foundation no marriage had ever takenplace between the opposite factions . "They do come together to fightsometimes," said my host, joining in the conversation, "but never to marry." In other villages we find similar relations subsisting betweenGermans and Servians, and Germans and Hungarians, but with the latterthe distinctions are not so strongly marked. It is worthy of remark, that the Italians, Spaniards, and even Frenchmen, settled in the Banat, have all, more or less, merged their several nationalities in that of the Germans,which, considering that the Servians and Walachians, are in a decidedmajority, shows a far greater inclination of the Romanic people to the Germans than to the eastern nations.The Italians were invited to the Banat, chiefly on account of the cultivation of rice and silk; but these branches of industry, like the cottongrowing in the Banat, are as yet ofvery little importance. In the countryitself, indeed, one scarcely hears any thing of them, and it gave mesome trouble to make out where the plantations of rice and cotton andmulberries were really to be found. The Germans, it is said, are nofriends to the rearing of silkworms, and often do no more than justplant the number of mulberry-trees agreed on with the owner of the land, and trouble themselves no more about them. Some are even sodecidedly hostile to this branch of industry, as to root out the treeswherever they find them, and the country-people in general through- out the Banat, pay no sort of attention to it, so that it forms in factlittle more than the employment of the leisure hours of a few widows,clergymen, and people who have places under government.and Indian corn, tobacco, wine, and potatoes, flourish abundantly underthe hands of the Germans; the Magyars are almost exclusively occupied with the two last mentioned. The rearing of horses, is mostlyWheat316 THE COLONIES AND LOWLANDS OF THE BANAT.in the hands of the Germans, that of horned cattle in those of the Rascians and Bulgarians. It is a remarkable proof of the great confidenceentertained by the government in their German subjects, that these areallowed to carry a musket, while such an indulgence is positively prohibited to the Rascian and Walachian races.It is said in the Banat that the Empress Maria Theresa, when distressed for money during some of her great wars, had offered to sell theentire province (or at least what she possessed in it, which was nearly the same thing) for three millions of florins, and that Prince Bathyany, had visited it in order to judge of the bargain, but returned, saying there was nothing to be seen but sky and boundless marsh, forwhich he could not agree to pay such a sum. The land was subsequently sold to Armenians from Transylvania, for incredibly low prices;the yoke of sixteen hundred square fathoms for two florins or even less.At present, by dint of draining the marshes and cultivating the land,the value has been so much raised, that a small estate possessed byPrince Bathyany in the north-west corner of the country, yields alone arevenue equal to half the interest of the above-named sum for whichnearly the whole province might have been bought. Estates sometimesfetch even more than their real value, on account of the privileges ofnobility which they confer, and the rich Servians often contend witheach other in the purchase. There can be, however, no doubt that ifthese rich and fertile tracts were more favourably situated, in a countrypossessed of a better system of roads and canals, they would be worth four or five times as much as they are now. Nature appears to havebeen needlessly profuse in bestowing on the Banat a rich soil of fouror five feet deep, so that six or eight oxen must be yoked to a plough,while some countries have scarcely as many inches. How many poorbarren sandy regions might be clothed from what is here superfluity.The description of the whole Banat given by Prince Bathyany,that it is nothing but sky and water, is in some measure confirmed byanother saying, of I forget whom, concerning its roads, that they arestrips of bog enclosed between two ditches. This definition I found perfectly correct, especially towards evening, when the last traces of themade road from Temesvar had long since disappeared. Notwithstandingthe incessant cries of our lively charioteer, and despite the most heroicefforts on the part of our poor horses, our diligence progressed at aboutthe rate at which an active snail might be expected to get on througha puddle of mud. In the mean time it grewcompletely dark, and the rainfell incessantly. All topics of conversation had been exhausted duringthe tedious day, and a moody silence settled gradually upon all my companions. They either slept, or abandoned themselves to their ownthoughts. I was the sole occupant of the hindmost seat, whence I had a clear view of the whole contents of our vehicle, and I too gave myselfupto my own reflections with tolerable resignation. They turned naturally towards the subjects that had occupied me during the day, namelythe colonies of the various nations that had settled in the Banat. Thisled me to meditate on the entire system of colonization, and graduallymy cogitations fashioned themselves into317THOUGHTS ON THE PEACEFUL MIGRATIONS OF EUROPEAN NATIONS, AND THEIR VARIOUS SETTLEMENTS IN OUR OWNQUARTER OF THE WORLD,which, during my three hours of a nocturnal snail's gallop, moulded themselves into a kind offragmentary essay, the defects of which my readers willperhaps overlook, partly in consideration of the circ*mstances under whichit was composed, and partly, I hope, in consideration of the novelty of the subject.There are in Europe several nations that form no establishments beyond their own borders, or at least none but insignificant ones. Let us commence with these non-migrating nations.-1. THE MAGYARS. They have founded camps, villages, and detachedhouses in the Slavonian and Dacian lands that they have conquered, andfrom these camps they have traversed half Europe, -Germany to theNorth Sea, Italy to the Adriatic and the Gulf of Genoa, and a large portion of France, but without leaving behind them a single colony or settlement, or even a useful trace oftheir passage. They have at various periodsborne sway in Bosnia, Bulgaria, and Servia, without forming a permanentsettlement in any one of those provinces; even of those which they stillreckon as a part of their own country, there are several where the mainbody of the population is entirely strange to them; as, for instance, inSyrmia, Slavonia, Croatia, the Banat, &c. Beyond the limits of Hungarythere exists nowhere an important Magyar colony, except in Vienna,where about fifteen thousand Hungarians are said to reside; but even ofthese, probably, only a small proportion are of pure Magyar descent.2. THE RUSSIANS. These also seldom leave their own country, andhave nowhere beyond their own borders, formed any permanent settlement.The only exceptions I know of, are a few Russian merchants who reside atBerlin, and a small colony of Russian peasants near Potsdam. In Leipzig,to be sure, on account of the fair, several Russians establish a temporaryresidence, and the Russian aristocracy are incessantly travelling about inall parts of Europe. In Asia, and on the north-west coast of America, Iam aware, there are Russian settlements, but these, as we are now confining our attention to Europe, form no part of our subject .These few exceptions, however, are so trifling as scarcely to merit consideration; and taken on the whole, we must reckon the Russians amongthe nations that hold themselves aloof from the great European migrations.They keep themselves in general strictly within the borders of their " Holy Russia," and feel themselves nowhere at home where their czar and theirchurch do not bear sway.Within the range of their own empire, however, the Russians, in complete contrast to the Hungarians, manifest a perfect passion for migratingand colonising. They have covered the whole face of their vast territorywith settlements of one kind or other, with colonies of hunters and of fishermen; with military and with agricultural colonies.The Magyars are entirely wanting in industrial skill. They cannot,therefore, be useful to other nations; and this circ*mstance may contribute fully as much as their attachment to their native country, to keep them at home. The Russians are by no means without a taste for industrial occupations, but they can do nothing which is not done better by the318 MIGRATIONS OF EUROPEAN NATIONS, &c.inhabitants of other countries; and they are, besides, mostly gleba adscripti, bound to the soil on which they are born. This is also true withrespect to the nations subject to them, such as the Lettes and Lithuanians,who are devoted to agriculture, and are fettered to the estates of theirmasters by their political condition . The Tartars of the Crimea, and ofthe country watered by the Volga, are gradually disappearing. It is onlyin Russia itself, at Novogorod, Moscow, and other places, that little Tartarsettlements are still to be found. They are thinly scattered all over thevast empire, as drivers, coachmen, and dealers in particular wares, such asshawls and dressing-gowns. Many Finnish races also appear to be dyingaway under the Russian sway.3. THE POLES have certainly always taken more part in the movementsof European colonization than the Russians, and all the countries ofEurope contain, in the different branches of their commercial industry, afew widely-scattered Polish emigrants; but of voluntary Polish colonies,or of Polish settlements in foreign lands, we nowhere find a trace. Themisfortunes and convulsions of their native country have been the sole impulses which have formed in modern times so many little communities ofPolish exiles in Germany, France, England, and America, in the west,and in the desert plains of Siberia in the east.4. THE SPANIARDS and PORTUGUESE, notwithstanding the grand scaleupon which they colonised the new world, have taken but little part in thenational intercourse of Europe. The Spaniards have founded no coloniesin the other countries of Europe, with the exception of a few trading establishments in England and France, and a few military settlements inAustria, drawn together by the connexion of the royal houses of Spainand Austria. The whole energy of these peninsular nations was directedto the south and west, to Africa and America, where they founded largeand powerful kingdoms, and empires peopled entirely by the Spanish race.5. THE TURKS must occupy a part of our attention, in so far as theyare now to some extent a European nation. In all the countries whichhave at different times been subject to them, they have founded only military settlements of governors, officers, and soldiers. They have veryseldom been able to introduce their language, religion, and customs, intoany of the classes of society subject to them, if we except the nobility ofBosnia and Albania, and whenever their yoke has been thrown off, as inGreece, Hungary, Servia, and Walachia, almost all traces of them havesoon vanished, with the exception of a few military posts and fortresses.Those men, known among us as trading Turks, are mostly of other racessubject to the Turkish government, such as Jews, Armenians, &c. , and not genuine Osmanlis.6. THE DACIANS, or WALACHIANS, are withheld by their politicalcirc*mstances, and their want of culture, learning, and industrial skill,from often crossing the frontiers of their native countries; but they havefounded a few agricultural colonies in Hungary, Transylvania, and themilitary frontier. The principal towns of these countries, particularlyVienna, Pesth, and Lemberg, also contain a few Walachian civil officers,and several Walachian noblemen have taken arms in the Russian service.These, however, are trifling exceptions.The above-named nations, therefore, as well as a few others of less importance, may be distinguished as those who take little or no part in thenational intercourse of Europe, and who, on account either of a naturalTHE SLAVONIANS. 319distaste for emigration, or of a want of skill in the useful arts of life, orof the political circ*mstances which chain them to their native soil, seldomor never found colonies in the other parts of Europe; in short, as the noncolonising nations of Europe.The following European races, then, remain to be considered:1st. The Slavonians of Southern and Western Europe (Bohemians,Servians, &c.)2d. The Greeks and Albanians.3d. The Romanic races of France and Italy.4th. The Germanic nations of England, the Netherlands, Denmark,Norway, Sweden, and Germany.5th. The subordinate and dependant races; Jews, Armenians, Gip- sies, &c.THE SLAVONIANS.Of the Slavonians, none are so much addicted to wandering habits, as the Bohemians and Servians.The Moravians and Slovaks, who inhabit the north-western part of Hungary, are all minor branches of the great Bohemian race, which includesmore than six millions ofhuman beings, and plays no unimportant part inthe national intercourse of other European countries.At very various periods, from very various reasons, and for very variouspurposes, the Bohemian Slavonians have emigrated in large bodies toforeign countries. We find them settled in different parts of the Austrian Empire, as agricultural colonists; and in all countries of Europe, asreligious fugitives; in some places as Catholics, seeking refuge from persecuting Hussites; and others as Hussites, seeking refuge from persecuting Catholics. Berlin and its vicinity still contain a little colony ofBohemian religious fugitives, and the most distant regions of the world,the far West of America, and the Hottentot lands of Southern Africa, arethinly sown with small communities of Moravian brethren.The Bohemians are among the most industrious subjects of the Austriangovernment, and are settled in all the towns of the empire, as manufacturers and mechanics. The Bohemian colony at Vienna, is the most considerable of all, and they are there to be found in all classes of society,from the poorest day-labourers to the highest officers of state. Numbersof Bohemians emigrate annually to Vienna, stay there for some time,and return afterwards to their native country, with the fruits of their industry.The valleys and mountains in Northern Hungary, inhabited by theTshekhs, likewise send out numerous colonists southward. According to the account of a native Hungarian author, " of all the inhabitants ofHungary, they have the greatest industrial skill, the most energetic spiritof enterprise. Wherever they take root, they accordingly soon supplantand displace the original inhabitants, whether Germans or Magyars.'There are, in fact, numerous examples of entire towns and villages, oncesolely inhabited by Germans and Magyars, but now entirely occupied by Bohemians.""The Tshekhs visit all parts of the Austrian Empire, and many parts of Poland, as retail dealers, with linens, stuffs, and other wares. As vendersof medicine they are found even in the remotest parts of Siberia, and as320 THE GREEKS.mechanics and musicians all over the world. The Bohemian musicianstraverse all parts of Europe and Asia, as veterinary surgeons; the Moravians are found in great numbers in Russia, and the Bohemian Oleykari(oil- merchants) , Safrannitschi (saffron-brewers), Platennici (linen-dealers),glass-merchants, and wax-dealers, if they abound nowhere else, abound, atleast, in all parts of Hungary and Galicia.Next to the Tshekhs, the Servians are the most important ofthe colonising Slavonian races. They have, like the Bohemians, founded many agricultural colonies in the Military Frontier and the Banat. The persecutions of Turkish fanaticism have had the same expelling influence inServia, which the Hussite tumults had in Bohemia. The Servians havefled into Austria in great numbers, at different times, and have settledthere as agricultural soldiers.The Servians have a great spirit of trade, and have founded manytrading establishments in Hungary. Almost all the Hungarian townshave a Servian quarter, as well as a Jewish quarter. The Servians beinga less cultivated nation, have less taste for the arts and manufactures thanthe Bohemians, and employ themselves almost exclusively as agriculturists,soldiers, and retail dealers.Although the whole Austrian empire has been colonised in different partsby the Tshekhs, the Servian colonies are entirely confined to the kingdomof Hungary. Their most western settlement is at Vienna, beyond which no trace of the Rascians is to be found. In Russia and Turkey there arelarge Servian colonies.The Croatians and Bulgarians are closely related to the Servians. Theformer people occupy several little villages in different parts of the empire,and the Bulgarians have formed agricultural settlements in Walachia, the Banat, and South Russia.THE GREEKS.The Greeks were formerly to southern Europe and western Asia, whatthe Germans afterwards were to eastern and northern Europe; namely, thefounders of colonies, and the builders up of towns, in uninhabited or barbarous countries: but it is not here our purpose to speak, in detail, of thenumerous, extensive, and important colonies founded by ancient Greecealong the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea, and in the depths of Scythia.This colonising spirit, however, is far from extinct among the Greeks ofthe present day. Not only in all the towns of the Turkish peninsula, bothin Greece itself, and in Macedonia and Thrace, but in the islandsof the Egean Sea, the towns of Asia Minor, and the Russian cities onthe Black Sea ( Odessa, Taganrog, &c. ), the Greeks still play an important part as merchants, bankers, and seamen. Even the great cities inthe interior of Russia, as far as St. Petersburg itself, contain numerouslarge Greek trading establishments.Another chain of Greek trading settlements intersects Walachia, Hungary, and the whole Austrian empire, as far as Vienna and Leipzig; but,with the exception of a few agricultural colonies in Russia, the Greeks arenever the sole inhabitants of towns and villages. In Vienna, the greatestbanker, next to Rothschild, is a Greek, named Sina, and Leipzig containsmany Greek commercial houses of a high standing.321THE ITALIANS AND FRENCH.The principal Italian colonies of the middle ages were trading colonies,and they mostly had their origin in the great commercial cities of Veniceand Genoa. After the discovery of America, when their neighbours ofthe western peninsula turned their attention to grand schemes of colonization in the new world, the colonising Italians still concentrated all theirenergies in their trading settlements in Europe. Trieste, the Dalmatianharbours, Odessa, Taganrog, Smyrna, and Constantinople contain greaternumbers of Italian merchants than any other foreign cities. All overRussia, Poland, Germany, and Hungary, certain branches of trade were,at one time, so exclusively in the hands of Italian emigrants, that theshops where the Italian and Levantine fruits and wines are sold, go still bythe name of Italian shops, even when not kept by Italians.In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when it became customary torepair to Italy in search of kings and queens, many Italian priests emigrated to Hungary, where most of them were provided with lucrativebenefices. Italian agriculturists have also settled in the Banat, to cultivatethe rice-plant and the mulberry-tree. The inhabitants of Savoy and theTyrol are plentifully dispersed all over Europe, as chimneysweepers, musicians, and dealers in images. The singers and musicians of Italy standall over Europe at the head of their profession.Widely and numerously diffused, however, as Italian emigrants arethroughout the countries of Europe, they are always scattered singly.There are nowhere Italian quarters in the great towns of Europe like theGerman quarters in Russia, the Rascian quarters in Hungary, and theJews' quarters in Germany; and they nowhere form large factories, likethe English factory at St. Petersburg.THE FRENCH. -It is a somewhat remarkable circ*mstance, that the French have upon the whole founded so few colonies, and that what theyhave done in this way can in no way be compared to what the Spaniardsand Portuguese have effected in the new world, the Italians on the shoresof the Mediterranean, and the Germanic nations in all parts of Europe. Allthe French colonies in other parts of the world appear very insignificantcompared to those of the Spaniards, English, and Dutch.Though a few colonies of French emigrants are to be found in Londonand the great cities of Germany, yet they mostly owe their origin to thereligious and political disturbances of France, and not to a colonising spirit in the people. With these exceptions, the French residents in differentparts of Europe, the French hairdressers, milliners, cooks, dancers, &c. , whoabound in the great capitals of Europe, are always scattered singly among the native population.THE GERMANIC NATIONS.We now come to the Germanic nations, of whom it is not too muchto say that they now stand above all other nations, ruling and directing the great affairs of the world, and that no great event, no great movement of any kind, can take place in any part of the worldwhich the Germanic nations, among whom we include the English,322 THE GERMANIC NATIONS.Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Dutch, and the Americans of theUnited States, do not directly or indirectly guide and control. TheEnglish, notwithstanding the immense extent and importance of theircolonies in Asia, Africa, America, and Australia, have settled very little inthe other countries of Europe. There is no European continental district whatever, in which the English have established important agriculturalor commercial colonies. Their whole love of conquest, their whole colonising energy, has turned to other parts of the world; and yet withoutpossessing a single foot of land over the continent (with the exception ofGibraltar) they exercise an influence upon the rest of Europe equal todominion over at least one-fourth of its soil.Throughout Europe, English manufacturers, mechanics, and engineers,take a prominent part in all great public works and manufactories. Theyshare in all our great companies for the construction of railroads, the starting of steamboats, and the lighting our towns with gas. Even inRussia they stand at the head of many public enterprises. The buildingof the great bridge at Pesth, and of a great Gothic palace in the Crimea,are conducted by Englishmen. There are also small bodies of residentEnglish established in all the great cities of Europe, for pleasure or economy;but these classes of English residents in other countries are only passingvisiters, and exercise no lasting influence on the places they inhabit. Farmore important than these are the English commercial houses establishedon the continent, at Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Leghorn, Smyrna,the Ionian Isles, Constantinople, Riga, &c . , and, above all, the greatEnglish factory at St. Petersburg. Many English missionaries also visit,and wander about, different parts of Europe, bent on the distribution ofthe Bible, the improvement of prisons, the conversion of the Jews, or someother work of piety or benevolence.The Germans of Scandinavia are among the greatest of Europeancolonisers . I shall not here go back to the old Northern colonists, afterwhom Normandy is still called, from whom the great English nobilityderive their lineage, and the Neapolitan ducas and nobilis claim descenton account of their flaxen hair and light complexions; but, in more moderntimes, the colonies of the Scandinavians, in different parts of Europe, havebeen of great extent and importance. The Danes found a wide field for colonization in Iceland, and the Swedes in Finnland; which, although nowa Russian province, is still Swedish in manners, customs, and language,and whose great towns are all of Swedish origin. They also establishedmany colonies in Livonia and Esthonia, and exercised a considerable in- fluence over those countries. The Scandinavians have, however, in latertimes, vanished more and more from the great European stage, and now play but a very inconsiderable part there.The Germanic tribes of the Low Countries have always been muchaddicted to wandering habits. Not only have they peopled Java, theCape countries, and other barbarous lands, but they have gone hand inhand with the Germans in European colonization. Frieslanders accompanied the Anglo- Saxons to England, and citizens, and peasants, fromFlanders, settled in various parts of Germany during the middle ages.

• Yet there is scarcely a commercial city of importance, from Lisbon to St. Peters- burg, in which an English colony may not be said to exist, to say nothing of the little communities of English residents scattered over France, Italy, and Switzerland. —Tr.

THE SUBORDINATE AND DEPENDANT RACES. 323The German nation itself, situated in the heart of Europe, and thusconnected by position with the French, English, Normans, Slavonians,Turks, and Italians, is calculated no less by its cosmopolitan character,than by its geographical position, to adapt itself readily to foreign lands,climates, and circ*mstances, and to amalgamate easily with other nations.The Germans are well acquainted with all the useful arts of life, and thevariety of climate contained in their native country, renders them well acquainted with the cultivation of almost every European production, fromthe larch, the fir, and the pine, to the chestnut, the mulberry, and the vine.The Germans are experienced and skilful in commercial enterprises,as the prosperity and reputation of the Hanseatic merchants sufficientlyproves. They are vigilant and careful, equally willing to teach what theyknow, and to learn what they do not know, in their various avocations.Moreover, the saying concerning German faith and German truth, is nomere saying, but a real fact, soon understood, acknowledged, and valuedby foreigners.Although there is scarcely a country in Europe in which large numbersof Germans have not settled and prospered, yet their colonising powershave in modern times been chiefly turned to the north and east. Theyhave settled in great numbers in Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Russia, theBaltic Provinces, and even in Tartary; and there is scarcely a branch ofhuman industry which the German colonists in those countries do not carry.on. They have established commercial seaport-towns all along the Baltic,and commercial houses in Novogorod and other Russian cities. They haveintroduced a better system of agriculture among the Russians, Poles, andHungarians, and set them an example of industry, care, and honestywhich they would do well to follow.German miners have established themselves in Hungary and the Banat,as far as the Turkish frontiers, and in Russia and Tartary, as far as theChinese boundary. The gardeners and vinedressers of Germany are to be met with all over Europe. German emigrants have established themselvesin great numbers at Paris, as mechanics; at London, Bourdeaux, and Hull,as merchants; and in Northern Italy, as government functionaries . Thebroom-girls of Bavaria are scattered all over western Europe, and France contains great numbers of German cattle-drivers. The Tyrolese with theirgloves and carpets, the Black Foresters with their watches, are often to bemet with in France and Spain, and the German Military Colonists, theSwiss guards and others, have often played a conspicuous part in French history.THE SUBORDINATE AND DEPENDANT RACES.Besides the great nations of Europe, there are several subordinate races,who, although not originally belonging to this part of the world, have beenlong settled in great numbers in almost every country of Europe. The chief of these are the Jews, the Armenians, and the Gipsies.There is no country in Europe in which the Jews have not establishedthemselves, but it is in the Slavonian, Hungarian, and German lands, thatthey play the most conspicuous part. In Germany they are still mostlyconfined to certain branches of trade and commerce, but in the Slavoniancountries they monopolize many other occupations, which nowhere elsebelong to them, such as those of the tailor and shoemaker. The Jews areZ324 THE SUBORDINATE AND DEPENDANT RACES.always fonder of dealing with persons than with things. They never devote themselves to agriculture, or the herding of cattle, or the building ofhouses, or any kind of masonry or carpentering. In the Slavonian countries, they are still the only keepers of inns and alehouses , and formerlythey monopolized in those parts of Europe the postage and tollkeeping departments. The transport of persons in those districts is still entirely inthehands of the Jews, but strange to say, they never meddle with the conveyance of goods.There is a close connexion, and a continual intercourse, kept up betweenthe Jewish colonies in different parts of Europe. Germany, as the mothercountry of these various colonies, is continually sending out new reinforcements. The Spanish Jews, who established themselves in Africa andTurkey when expelled from Spain, and who have founded little coloniesalong the Danube cities to Vienna, where they form a separate congregation as subjects of the Turkish government, are a distinct and separatebranch of the race; as are the Portuguese Jews, with their settlements inFrance and Holland; and the Caraïte Jews, who inhabit the towns ofSouth Russia and the Crimea, and who possess small factories in Turkey.The ARMENIANS are a far more modern appearance in Europe. Theyfirst entered it at the period of the conquest of Roumelia by the Turks;and when the Russians took possession of the Tartar kingdoms of Casanand Astrachan, and extended their dominions to the Caucasus, numbers ofArmenians fled from the oppression of the Turks, and settled in SouthernRussia. They afterwards spread into Poland, where they have a considerable colony at Lemberg; and in later times they have settled invarious parts of Walachia, Transylvania, Hungary, and the Banat.There are small commercial colonies of Armenians settled at St. Petersburg and Moscow, and even at Marseilles, Amsterdam, and London; butthe countries of Europe most abundantly peopled by Armenians, areTurkey, South Russia, Walachia, Transylvania, Southern Galicia, and Eastern Hungary.Throughout the east, the principal merchants are all Armenians; and inthe Walachian countries, all the innkeepers who are not Jews are Armenians. In the steppes of Hungary and South Russia they are settled ingreat numbers as farmers and cattle- dealers, and the breeding and tendingof bees is carried on by some of them on a very large scale. WealthyArmenians have also often been admitted among the Polish, Walachian,and Russian nobility.Of many other races, of whom small numbers have settled in differentparts of Europe, such as the Persians at Moscow, Petersburg, and Astra- can, the Bucharians who wander about Russia, and even sometimes comeas far as Leipzig, the Parsees who have established a little settlement atAstracan, the negro communities to be found in so many great cities, theArabs of Constantinople and Moscow, the Moors of France, the Malays ofLondon and Amsterdam, we need not speak in detail.The most extraordinary of all these subordinate races are certainly theGipsies, who, living for centuries in the midst of civilized nations, haveremained unchanged in their old barbarism and wildness , and have strenu- ously resisted all efforts for their improvement and civilization. There isno country in Europe which does not contain gipsies, but as Poland hasbecome a second Palestine to the Jews, so the Walachian lands (Transylvania, Eastern Hungary, Moldavia, Walachia, and Bessarabia) have be-THE SUBORDINATE AND DEPENDANT RACES. 325come a second native country to the gipsy race. Throughout Europethey only follow three regular occupations; those of the smith or tinker,ofthe horse-dealer, or of the musician. Otherwise they employ themselves in the more irregular professions of thief, soothsayer, and beggar.I will conclude these observations by a statistical table, as accurate as Ihave the means of making it, of which the first column shall contain thenames of the different races of whom I have spoken, the second the principal occupations which they follow in foreign countries, and the third thenames of those foreign countries in which they have chiefly settled.MagyarsRussians .PolesSpaniards TurksDacians or Walachians.Tshekhs .Servians .GreeksItaliansFrench ·English .ScandinaviansNetherlandersGermans .JewsArmeniansGipsies. ·Courtiers at Vienna or Vienna. A few Turkishscattered indifferentvillages.provinces.Wealthy persons tra- Germany.velling for pleasure . Italy.2. Emigrant nobility.Lithuania.1. Political exiles . France. England.Podolia.Volhynia.Political fugitives. France. Italy. England.Military colonists. Along the Danube.Civil and Military of- Austria. Russia. Turkey.ficers.1. Industrial colonies. Austria.2. Musicians and retail All Europe.dealers.Fruit and cattle deal- Hungary.ers.Brokers, bankers, and Hungary. Turkey. Rus- tradesmen. sia.1. Commercial colonists. The Levant.2. Chimney sweepers, All Europe.-image dealers, musicians, dancers, &c.Cooks, hairdressers, All Europe.dancers, milliners,teachers, &c.1. Sailors and merchants. Portugal. Spain. Rus2. Manufacturers.sia. Turkey.Germany.Agriculture and com- Iceland. Finnland.merce.Agriculture. Germany.· Agriculture, mining, Eastern Europe.trade and manufactures.Money dealing and All Europe.retail trading.Trade, agriculture, South-eastern Europe.and cattle -dealing.Music, horse-dealing, All Europe.soothsaying, &c.z 2326 THE SUBORDINATE AND DEPENDANT RACES.I amused myself with these reflections and calculations, on the long dirtyroad through the Banat, but could not thereby hasten the speed of ourheavy coach through the wide waste of mud. We arrived at the village ofSt. Miklos time enough to witness the last scene of the Gamin de Paris,performed by a strolling company of players at the village inn. The partof the Gamin himself was represented by an old man nearly seven feethigh, who moved about like a great awkward jointed wooden doll. Theperformance did not much entertain me, since I had seen the playboth better and worse acted; but I was interested in the condition of thepoor players. The sudden rise and spread of Magyarism, had done themmuch mischief, for the Magyar patriots although they have no nativedramatic genius with which to supply their place, are very anxious to suppress the German actors in Hungary. At Pesth and other towns where thereare many German inhabitants, the attempt has not succeeded, and theBanat, being the residence of many Germans, has also become a place ofrefuge for the poor German players, driven from other parts ofthe country.In one ofthe large towns of Hungary, a number of citizens lately agreedto subscribe a certain sum, in order to retain a regular German theatricalcompany in the town for the winter: but the patriots interfered; theyalso wished to have a theatrical company, but it must not be a GermanBeing determined to have a Magyar company, the question arose how was this to be done. There are as yet so few Magyar actors in Hungary, that they rate their services very high; and in these egotistical days,expense is just the thing of all others, which the most rampant and noisy patriotism cannot stand. It was therefore decided to have an amateurcompany ofpatriotic Magyar ladies and gentlemen; the result of which, ofcourse, is that the city must yawn all through the winter over stupid amateur performances, and that the poor German actors are turned out of employment.one .The inn was full of Austrian officers, intelligent and agreeable men, withwhom I passed a very pleasant evening. They related to me a curiouscirc*mstance which had lately occurred in a Hungarian village of nobles.These peasant nobles had for some time been in the habit of committing va- rious offences with impunity. They had stolen cattle, insulted the commoners, and finally refused to furnish their quantum of recruits at the order of the last diet. The country administration, finding it impossible to bringthem to order, summoned to their assistance the Brachium, or militaryforce. These people, however, being nobles, and possessed of all the privileges of nobility, the commander of the military force was very cautiousfor fear of exceeding the limits of his authority. He received the written directions of the county magistrates, and then marched upon the rebelliousvillage. He ordered his soldiers to load and present their muskets, andmarched up the village street, where the belligerent nobles assembled, andbegan throwing stones at the soldiers, laughing at them, and defying themto fire, for their guns were sure to be only loaded with paper. The commanding officer, anxious to avoid bloodshed, gave a private sign to one of thesoldiers to let fall his musket as if by accident. This was done, and it waseagerly seized by the rioters, who immediately examined it, and contrary to their expectations, found it laden with a solid leaden bullet. Theircourage was wonderfully cooled by this discovery, and they quietly surrendered to the enemy. This Brachium is very often called to the assistance of the law in Hungary, but its operations do not always pass off soTHE BANAT. 327harmlessly, as on the occasion I have described, where the prudence andhumanity of the commander prevented the bloodshed, which, under a lessconsiderate officer, must have ensued.THE BANAT.The appearance of the Banat beyond St. Miklos, was very peculiar. Thecountry is, as I have said, a perfect level. Many parts of Prussia andHolland are also quite flat and even, yet there is an immense difference between the flatness of those countries and that of the Banat.The neighbourhood of Berlin, level as it appears, does yet contain smallswellings of the ground, little insignificant hollows and rises, and here andthere sandy hillocks six or seven feet high. If we view the country from achurch tower, or any other elevated point, there are sure to be visible somewhere in the wide landscape hills thirty or forty feet high. Not so in theBanat, where every landscape is as perfectly level as if marked down withplummet and line. Here are no hills forty feet high; not even the smallest hillock or hollow is to be seen. All is smooth, unruffled, and flat, as theocean during a dead calm.The landscapes of the Banat might be compared to those of Holland,but there is one great difference between them. Holland is full of rivers,canals, ditches, and dikes; all the country is intersected by them, and the boundaries of the fields are everywhere marked out by water. This featureis entirely wanting in the Banat, which is a very dry country. From St.Miklos to Szegedin, nearly ten (German) miles, we saw, with the exceptionof a small arm of the Maros, on which Szegedin stands, but one trumperylittle brook, which was running about, to what purpose I know not, and inall probability it would have been puzzled itself to assign a reason for itsexistence. No canals intersect the country; the fields are divided neither byhedges nor ditches; all is one monotonous, dry, unbroken level.Holland is richly cultivated, and is thickly sown with populous towns andthriving villages. The whole Torontal province contains not a singletown, and but one hundred and sixty villages and hamlets, making on an average about one inhabited spot in every square mile. These villagesare very unequally arranged, lying sometimes close together, and sometimesthree or four miles apart. Between them, all is one dreary and desolateplain, without bush or tree, without hillock or stone.Among the excellent sketches of Hungary, lithographed by the Englishman Hering, which preserve the true character of the country with a re- markable accuracy and fidelity, unlike any other representations of Hungarian scenery, which I have ever seen, there is a view of one of thedesolate plains of the Banat. The print although large, represents nothing whatever but one broad expanse of country, with a broad expanseof sky above; the only object of relief being a stork, who stands beside awell in the foreground. In spite of its monotony, the picture is striking,impressive, indeed I may say highly-picturesque and poetical, as everygenuine representation of nature is sure to be. The sky is covered withlight clouds, faintly tinted bythe morning sun, which follow one another inlong gradual perspective to the distant horizon. The plain lies quite desolate and level in the foreground, and further and further, the long evenparallel lines repeat themselves again and again, fainter and fainter, into328 THE BANAT.the boundless distance of the far-off horizon. As the eye follows theselines, it seems to descry continually a further boundless desert, beyondwhat at first seemed the horizon. The colours change on all sides in thesame gradual manner, from the bright green of the foreground to a morebluish green, then to gray, and lastly to a pale distant blue. There is astrange dreary solemnity in the spectacle; not even one little bird is tobe seen fluttering through the air. A slight line of shading on the horizon, alone indicates the possibility that some solitary herdsmen havekindled a fire at a distance. The lonely stork in the foreground standsmotionless; the only living thing in the wilderness, save the frogs hoppingabout in the marshy ground around him. The pump at the well, is desolate and seldom visited, and the clanking of its handle as the wind movingover the plain raises and stirs it, accompanies the croaking of the busyfrogs, and thus forms a dreary concert, which night and day is the onlysound that disturbs the perfect silence.This excellent picture of Hering, is a true representation of a greatmany scenes in Hungary. Let the reader imagine a great picture-gallery, containing 500 such pictures, each representing the same objects,sky, plain, pump, and stork, with only this variation, that in one picturethe clouds shall be grouped differently from what they are in another;in one, the pump- handle is swinging to the right, in another to the left;in one the stork stands on his right leg, in another on his left; in one heis routing among his feathers with his beak, in another he has caught afrog. At every tenth picture, the prospect might be varied by the presenceof a solitary herdsman with his herd, and at every twentieth by some distant village steeple on the horizon. The marsh in the foreground mighthere and there contain a few reeds and rushes, with which variation, however, the painter must by no means be too liberal; and finally, everyhundredth picture might represent the interior of a village. Such agallery would be a perfectly correct representation of the plains of Eastern Hungary.It was the most beautiful weather possible, and the plain betweenSt. Miklos and Szegedin therefore, appeared to the greatest advantage to us. The rain had softened the ground, and it was only at a very slowpace that we could crawl through the thick heavy mud. In Germany,when the roads are in this way almost impassable, there are many remedies. The traveller may, for instance, get out, and walk in some pleasantdry little footpath beside the carriage, or if none such is to be had, he canat least jump from stone to stone. In the Banat, where there are no footpaths through the fields, and no large stones in the roads, this is impossible. The grass by the roadside often invited us to try and walk there,but we found this to be quite out of the question. The earth everywherewas one thick pudding of mud, I even wondered how the blades of grasscould stand erect in it. It is a most disagreeable situation to find oneself thus in the midst of a boundless expanse of mire, in which not onespot is to be found where a man can firmly plant his foot.The warm sunshine only increased our difficulties, for the higher thesun rose the hotter it became, and the more the mass of mud thickened.The day before, the rain had kept it all fluid, and the mud was washed offour wheels as soon as it stuck there. To-day, on the contrary, the mudwas thick, tough, heavy, and adhesive. As I had nothing else to do, Iattentively watched the process of mud coating on the wheels. First, theTHE BANAT. 329iron wheelhoops were covered with slime, then the sides of the spokes:the coating became thicker and thicker, and heavy masses of mud clungto the axletree. From these small pieces continually fell, and clung roundthe spokes, enveloping the whole wheel with tough slime, and finally, allthe spaces between the spokes filled up. The poor horses toiled andpanted, the wheels grew heavier and heavier with their tough load, andat length they were no longer distinguishable as wheels, but appeared four,thick, solid, balls of heavy mud, in which, literally, no trace of a spokewas discoverable!As in Russia people are sometimes frozen in, so in the Banat we were nowmudded-in. It was quite impossible to get the carriage an inch further,and we had all to get down, and arming ourselves with hatchets andthick sticks, which had been taken with us in anticipation of such anemergency, we had to set to work at knocking and scraping off the mudfrom the wheels. This was to be done very quickly, for as the sun grewhotter and hotter, there was now some danger of our being dried in. Thetough slime of a Banat plain very soon dries, and then becomes as hard asstone. We were in dread, every minute, of seeing ourselves locked in thestony earth, but we worked away on that very account, with the moreactivity, and in ten minutes the horses were able to proceed a little.Each of us taking a thick club in his hands, and walking beside the carriage,took one of the wheels under his protection, from which we were engaged incessantly in knocking off the adhering lumps. In spite of theseprecautions, however, we twice came to a dead lock, and had to stop andgo through the old operation.Such is travelling in the Banat, after rainy weather. Towards noonthe fields by the roadside, to our great joy, became dry enough to walk in.We had been told that the by-roads were somewhat preferable, and hadtherefore abandoned the main road. Although we found ourselves miserably deceived in this respect, yet we were amply indemnified for our mistake,in my opinion at least, as it procured us the interesting spectacle of thegreat Bulgarian colony of " O Beshenyo, " or " Old Beshenova. " Thisplace is inhabited by nearly ten thousand Bulgarians, although it is only called a village.These Bulgarians emigrated to the Banat in the middle of the last century. Bishop Stanislavitsh, their countryman, who was living under Austrian protection, invited them over. They are said to have beentolerably wealthy when they came, but, having been endowed with largetracts of land, which they knew well how to turn to account, they have sincethen become much richer. Their principal colonies are at " O Beshenyo "and at Vinga. There are in all about twenty-five thousand Bulgarians in the Banat.It was interesting to me to have an opportunity of comparing theseBulgarian settlements with those which I had formerly seen in South Rus- sia. The manner in which the houses are built, their exterior appearance, and the reputation of the Bulgarians among their neighbours arethe same in both places. In both the Bulgarians are considered frugaland penurious, but very industrious and prosperous in their dealings in cornand cattle. It happened that we arrived at the place on a market- day, andseveral thousand inhabitants, men, women, and children, were assembledin the open market-place. The appearance of the groups was pleasing.The women were all neatly and prettily attired in their national costume.330 THE BANAT.Little tents and booths were scattered over the market-place , and carpetsand cloths were spread out on the dirty ground, upon which grapes, melons, fruits of all kinds, honey-cakes of all forms, pipes, pipeheads, sheepskins, and woollen garments, were laid out for sale.A few venerable old beggars sauntered among the merry groups ofchaffering bargainers and cheerful holiday-makers; and in several placessat a few blind singers and gusle players, sometimes on little grass hillocks,and sometimes on the muddy ground itself. I stood listening to one ofthese players, whose melancholy and monotonous voice was lost in thenoise around, and attentively examined his instrument or gusle. It is astringed instrument played with a bow, but instead of being held betweenthe knees, or between the chin and shoulder, the player sits on the groundand lays the gusle on his knees. The case is shaped like a half drum, orsomething like a tortoise. This case is covered with skin, and over thesounding-board is drawn one long thick string, made of black twistedhorsehair. It is struck with a strong bow, made of wood, bent into acrescent shape with light strings of horsehair covered with rosin.bowis bound with iron, by way of greater security, and little iron rings areloosely hung along it, so that when the musician plays quickly, the song and the music is accompanied by a lively tinkling, like that of bells. Thegusle is never played except as an accompaniment to the voice, and theslow, melancholy, but often pleasing melody of the voice, united to themonotonous tones of the gusle, and the quick tinkling of the iron rings,forms a musical ensemble, very peculiar, but by no means displeasing.ThisThe poor blind singer whom I was observing, sat half-naked on thebare muddy ground. His bare feet and legs were covered up to the kneeswith the black thick slime of the marsh. His garment was all in holesand tatters, his long black hair flowed wildly over his naked shoulders, andhis sightless eyeballs were raised to heaven, as if vainly seeking for light,while his voice gave forth in melancholy music, the words, "O, velikaBogu slava! O, velika Christi ima!" (Oh, the great name of Christ!Oh, the blessed name of the holy mother Mary! ) These were the onlywords I understood of the song, and never had the praise of God's gloryand the name of Christ sounded to me so touchingly as from the lips ofthis poor blind beggar, on whom the blessings of Providence seemed tohave fallen so sparingly.Oh, yes,I asked one of the public officers of the village, who was pacing themarket- place, whether they did nothing for these unfortunates .we do," said he, " but there are a great many destitute blind here." Iremembered the numbers of blind beggars I had seen in South Russia,four or five wandering about together in a row, hand in hand, and I beganto consider whether there could be any peculiarity in the climate of theseSlavonian countries, or in the physiology of the race, to cause this frightfulprevalence of blindness.When we left O Beshenyo, and proceeded through the muddy plainbeyond, I had occasion to notice the astonishing quantities of cattle ownedby the Bulgarians. The wide grassy plain was covered, as far as the eye could reach, with herds of sheep, oxen, geese, pigs, and horses. I noticedthat these herds were divided into innumerable small detachments, and wastold that this was occasioned by the circ*mstance that a Bulgarian peasantwhen he dies always divides his land and live-stock into small portions,one of which he leaves to each child. The Germans of the Banat, on theTHE BANAT. 331contrary, always leave their property undivided to the eldest son, who paysto the other sons a certain compensation in money for their inheritance.I have seen three Bulgarians ploughing at the same time on a field whichwas scarcely a yoke in extent, but of which each possessed a separate corner.After passing the last of these Bulgarian herds, we again entered thevast, monotonous, dreary marsh. One of my travelling companions related a curious anecdote of a wolf, which seems to prove the impossibility of everthoroughly subduing the savage nature of these creatures. A herdsmanhad bought a young wolf with the intention of taming and bringing itup. The animal grew very docile, soon learning to come at his call, andto eat the bread, milk, vegetables, &c. which were offered it . As long asit remained young and small, the herdsman took it out with him on hisrides through the steppes, putting the creature before him on horseback,where it clung fast to the saddle, and gave no trouble. As it grew up,he allowed the wolf to run beside him like a dog. When its master wasabsent for a few days, it gave every sign of sorrow and trouble; when hereturned, it was beside itself for joy. The animal was now more thana year old, appeared totally to have forgotten the savage habits of itsrace, and was thought to have been thoroughly tamed and domesticated.All at once, and without any warning, it resumed its old nature. Theherdsman came home one day from a long journey, and went as usual tocaress his wolf, but the creature knew him no longer, it crept growlinginto a corner of the stable, and when its master approached, snapped fiercelyat him. The herdsman adopted his former method of education; he gave hispupil a severe beating, left him to fast for three days, and then beat him again,and after this discipline, offered him food. The hungry wolf eagerlysnapped up the food, but from that time forward became so fierce, untractable, and savage, that inthe end his master was obliged to shoot him.66I soon after heard the melancholy story of the death of the youngServian above mentioned, with whom I made acquaintance at Raab. We were in the midst of a dreary waste or Puste," as they are here called,when we reached one of those lonely pumps which I have mentioned indescribing Hering's picture. To the right and left of these pumps are large troughs for cattle to drink at. Our horses were unharnessed andtaken to one of these troughs: at the other sat some gossiping herdsmenbeside their cattle. It was a tremendously hot day, and the bare unsheltered plain lay far on every side, scorched by the heat ofthe sun. I noticed at some distance a little hillock, upon which was raised a rude cross. Iasked our coachman the meaning of it. He replied in broad Austrian,"'Tis the grave of a poor young Servian, who was murdered and buriedhere. " " Didyou know him?" " Ah, Jesu Maria! yes, very well. He was agood young man, and a great friend of mine. Four weeks ago he was inRaab, where he sold pigs, and got 17,000 florins ready money for ' em.He was going back to Servia with his partner, who was a rascal, and notcontented with his own share of the profit, wanted to have his partner's17,000 florins. He plotted with the coachman, and in yonder tshardeover there they settled all about it. " As he spoke he pointed to a solitarytsharde, or wayside public-house at some distance, which was the only object that broke the dreary uniformity of the scene. He then proceeded torelate how the Servian wished to spend the night at this tsharde, but it wasafine night, and his treacherous companions persuaded him to proceed, as332 THE BANAT.they had yet time to reach the next house. Atthis well the murderers fellupon and killed him. This, however, they did not succeed in doing at once, for the earth was found marked with footsteps, and traces of bloodfor some distance. He was a strong and brave young man, and probablydefended himself gallantly for some time, so that the murderers, after stab- bing him in several places had to despatch him with their pistols. They then threw his body into the well, and made off with his money. The nextday some herdsmen coming to the well, found the water tinged with blood,and on examination discovered the body. " They pulled it out, threw earth over it, and stuck that cross upon the mound. ” "But the people atthe tsharde must have heard the sound of the pistols?" " I don't knowthey might." "Perhaps they were accomplices in the murder?" " I don't know-they might be." On inquiring the age, name, and date, of theevent, I soon identified the unfortunate victim with myyoung acquaintanceat Raab. I could not overcome for some time, the melancholy sensationsexcited by this story. The conversation having been led to this topic, my travelling companions continued all day long to relate various dismal stories of robberies and other atrocities committed in these lonely wastes. I shallnot repeat them, partly because I am not sufficiently convinced of theirtruth, and partly because I take little pleasure in again occupying my mind with such revolting narratives. Certain it is, however, that these things are fearfully frequent in their occurrence in the Banat.We had been told of a little sandy tract of country lying in the midst ofthe marsh, and in order to advance quicker on the sandy ground, we madea little round to pass over it. Such little sandy tracts are very scarce inthe northern part of the Banat, though very common in the south.At noon we reached a German village, where we dined. It was at thisplace that our coachman fell sick of a fever, and for the rest ofthe journeyour Jew had to do his business. Here, as in South Russia, all the housesin the country, even those of the better sort, are made of earth. The manner of building them is as follows:-The extent and outline ofthe house to be built is marked out onthe bare ground with a spade. Two planks are thenstuck on edge, parallel to one another, leaving them as far distant as thewall is intended to be thick. Earth is next put in between those boards,and carefully stamped down. The same operation is continued with other boards, and more earth, till the wall is completed. The boards are fastenedtogether with iron clasps. The earth very soon becomes extremely solid,and forms a good wall.The further we proceeded towards the north- western extremity of theBanat, the more every thing began to wear a Magyar appearance. Eventhe German colonists became fewer and fewer, and the last few villageswere almost exclusively inhabited by Hungarians.We spent the night at one of the tshardes mentioned above. Thesetshardes all consist of two buildings, one for travellers, and the other for horses. Between these is a large courtyard, in the middle of whichis a shed for carts and coaches. The whole is surrounded with a high wall,in which are two gates, one for ingress and the other for egress. Thesegates are regularly closed and barred every night, like the gates of a fort-"Else," said our coachman, " no horse would be secure in his stable."The courtyards of the houses in the Hungarian villages were all tapestried with quantities of tobacco-leaves strung together, beside which, busiedin sorting and arranging them, sat the members of the household. In oneress;SZEGEDIN, THE SODA MANUFACTORIES, &c. 333of these villages I observed the manner in which sheep are milked in thisdistrict. The great, brown, cyclops-like shepherd, sat half-naked on ablock of wood in the doorway of the courtyard, within which stood the sheep. A boy came behind and chased them out one by one. As eachsheep came opposite to him, the shepherd seized its hind leg, forced downits head with his elbow, and squeezed the udders roughly in his other hand.This done, he let it go, and the boy drove out another, and so on, till allwere milked. The operation was very rapidly performed.We now passed the Bathyany estates, which I have already spoken of.The inhabitants of a lonely tsharde, near where our horses stopped toeat hay for the last time in the Banat, were ignorant whether there wasany steward or administrator on the estate, or whether it was let on leaseor not; they said they knew no one but the cashier, who came to themonce a year, and who was the only person they had to do with. Nearthe borders of the Banat, we came to some bridges running over the nowdry bed of an arm of the Maros, which I was told often rose high enough,in the spring, to overflow the surrounding country. The course of theMaros towards the Theiss is peculiarly calculated to promote inundations.Just before its confluence with the larger river the Maros makes a suddenbend, so the waters of the two meet each other, when they join. Theconsequence is, that when both the rivers swell, in the spring, the watersofthe Maros have no chance of an escape, and are pretty sure to overflow the whole country. Dams and dikes, indeed, run along the banks ofboth these rivers, but they are very imperfect, and quite inadequate to theproposed end. A plan has long been on foot for conducting the watersof the Maros into those of the Theiss, in a more favourable direction, bymeans of a canal, but, practicable as the scheme appears, it has never been carried into effect.SZEGEDIN, THE SODA MANUFACTORIES, AND THE ITALIANPRISONERS.Szegedin, the most important of the cities of the Theiss, is situatedon the right bank of that river, at its juncture with the Maros, and con- tains nearly forty thousand inhabitants. We entered the town towardsevening, accompanied by large herds of cattle, and by innumerable flightsof starlings and other small birds, such as seldom fail to follow the courseof great herds of cattle. In the suburbs we saw small parties of Servian cattle-dealers, all armed with abundance of daggers and pistols, riding out to meet their herds. In the suburbs of Szegedin, every thing we sawbore reference to cattle, cattle-dealers, and cattle-feeding. We observedlarge open spaces, in which several men were busied in sorting hayinto small heaps for the cattle; and in other places we saw the long grated barns, or koras, of which mention has already been made, and whichwere full of Indian corn gathered together for the consumption of man.The suburbs of Szegedin, as well as the town itself, are very extensive;and the saying that Szegedin is as large as London, is no great exaggeration, though the population of the one town is nearly fifty times that ofthe other. This straggling manner of building is common to all genuineHungarian towns, and such an one is Szegedin. Its insignificant littlehouses stretch along in broad, unvaried, unpaved streets, full of dust ormud. Not that these houses are in themselves ugly, for although they334 SZEGEDIN, THE SODA MANUFACTORIES,make no pretensions to solidity and architectural beauty, yet their coatings of green paint, and the trees which stand before many of them, give them a neat and cheerful appearance.The principal streets are intersected by long wooden trottoirs or bridges,a very necessary precaution to keep the pedestrian from sinking into theheavy, tough slime of the unpaved mud. Upon these wooden bridges, thestranger may perambulate for hours through the wide, straggling, tiresomestreets, till at last the city, without walls or gates, without prologue orepilogue, loses itself in the green plains around.66All genuine Hungarian towns are built in this manner, resembling, according to our ideas, not so much towns as immense villages, both in their appearance and population. Most of the citizens of these towns, the mechanics, tradesmen, and petty nobility, follow not merely a civic occupation, but also some agricultural pursuit, such as cattle-dealing, corngrowing, or vine-planting, which in other countries is exclusively in thehands of the country- people. Each of these towns has its so- calledHatár," or agricultural territory, or city environs, the lands of which arenot occupied by agricultural villages, but are portioned out among thecitizens and guilds of the town itself. The Határ of Szegedin containsmore than twelve (German) square miles. Each citizen has here his littleestate, with its lonely country-house, or Szallash, in the middle. Herethe mechanics, tradespeople, &c. , of the city, come out in the summer tolive in their lonely Szallashes, and feed cattle, tend vines, plant tobacco,sow maize, &c.; and having thus provided themselves with a winter stockof health and eatables, they return in the autumn to their various civic avocations. Without the produce of these little estates, the business ofthewinter would scarcely suffice for the support of the town.Passing over the long bridge of boats which crosses the Theiss at Szegedin, we entered an inn, whose spacious rooms, good beds, satisfactorycookery, and excellent company, left us nothing to desire. The nextmorning, I hastened as early as possible, to the fish-market to see the cele- brated fish of the Theiss, which are to be had at Szegedin in the greatestperfection. The market was intersected by long rows of fishtubs and barrels, between which the buyers and sellers moved up and down, allnoisy, busy, and animated, chaffering and bargaining, while fresh partiesof fishermen were continually entering the market, lugging along heavy nets full of fresh, active, lively fish of all kinds. I was told that 100large fat carp may be purchased here for a ducat! The prices of otherfish are in proportion . Twenty-five fine crabs cost but one Kreuzer Münze. The fishermen told me that they often drew as many as 8000crabs out of the water at once. A certain embarras de richesse arises inconsequence; namely, the difficulty of getting consumers for this abund- ance of fish .The pigs are valuable assistants in this dilemma. AllSzegedin smells of fish, and below the city the Theiss is continually castingup multitudes ofthe finny race to die and putrify along the banks. Theconsequence is, that at times the place stinks of fish beyond endurance,which is the more unpleasant, as the whole population is obliged to drink the water of the Theiss, the wells and springs of the vicinity being almostall bad or impregnated with saltpetre. Szegedin supplies all the Banat and a great part of Hungary and Turkey with fish. The Walachians dryfish in the open air, and eat them raw like bread. It is strange how much embarrassment and evil, her very wealth causes at present to Hungary:or rather, it is not strange; for Hungary, though rich in natural produc-AND THE ITALIAN PRISONERS. 335tions, is poor in human energy, power, and intelligence, in arts, industry,and cultivation; so that the teeming fertility of her soil, her rivers, andher mountains, is often worse than unavailing to her.Having seen the fish- market, I proceeded to another of the importantand interesting sights of Szegedin, -namely, the soda manufactories; with one of the inhabitants of the town, who was kind enough to give up histime to me, I drove out into the suburbs, where these manufactories are situated.Not merely in the neighbourhood of Szegedin, in the great steppesbetween the Theiss and the Danube, but also in some part of the countryon the other side of the Danube, as well as in all the flat country up theTheiss as far as Debretzin, the soil is more or less impregnated with alkaline particles. The earth, thus impregnated with mineral salts, is calledby the Hungarians Szek, or Szeg, from which is derived the Hungarianname Szeged, afterwards lengthened into Szegedin. These alkaline particles are gradually conducted by a series of natural operations , to the surface of the earth. The frequent dews and rains are very useful in piercingand loosening the earth, in dissolving the salt crystals and drawing themto the surface; when these rains are followed by sunshine, the water evaporates, and leaves numberless little particles of alkaline salt on the ground,which cover whole tracts of country with a fine, white, crystalline powder.Continuous rain and drought are alike unfavourable to the productionof these crystals; but a gentle dew during the night, and fresh sunshinein the morning, ensure a plentiful supply. Early in the morning, the peasants sweep together the white powder, and take it into the city to sell itto the manufacturers. It is brought into the manufactories in a very impure state, of a gray colour, mixed in the proportion of one to three parts,with earth. The business of the soda boilers, is to separate the pure alkalifrom the impure alloy of earth. The Szek is often gathered from naturallydamp places, marshes, morasses, bogs, &c. , where the evaporation of thewater effects the desired end without rain or dew. Nevertheless, a longdrought is hurtful even here, because the salt particles cannot pierce thehard dry crust of earth. The Hungarians call these places " SzeksoStavaks," which may be translated by " alkaline bogs. " These alkalinebogs present numberless curious phenomena to the observing naturalist.Sometimes they become what is technically called " blind," that is, theiralkaline stores having become, apparently, exhausted, they cease to be productive, though, generally, after some time, they begin to yield again.Sometimes soda appears in a place where it has never been found before.Most of these alkaline bogs appear to be inexhaustible.The manufactories, in which the impregnated earth is purified and concentrated into good soda, are called in Hungarian, Szekso- Gyars. Thesoap manufactories of the city, of which I was told, though I somewhatdoubt the fact, that there are no fewer than one hundred, prefer buying theimpure Szek as it is brought to town by the peasants. This old custom isextremely injudicious, for a hundredweight of pure soda would go as faras three hundred weight of the impure Szek; besides, were it not for thishabit, the process of boiling the soap would be considerably facilitated, andsoap itself would be better in quality; there would be less waste, andfewer pigs would be killed for soap. They, however, keep to their oldpractices with conservative tenacity; and the fine, pure, snow-white soda,produced in the manufactories, is sent to Vienna or Pesth.the336 SZEGEDIN, THE SODA MANUFACTORIES,The soda manufactories of Szegedin differ in nothing that I am awareof, from those of other places. The gray Szek is kept in great coveredmagazines, soaked in large wooden vats, and then boiled in great kettles;the dirty sediment is next melted in pans, and the earthy particles burnt orskinned off, so that the pure soda is at last collected, and poured into forms.Driving back into town, we went to see the third of the Lions of Szegedin,namely the interior of its fortress, in which is situated the Italian ConvictInstitution. The fortress of Szegedin, once the residence of the TurkishPasha and his janizaries, is a lofty building, with spacious inner courts,and two or three large gates. It lies on the banks of the Theiss, in themiddle of the town, surrounded by the busiest part of the city. The fish,fruit, and vegetable markets stretch up to the fortress walls, and on theother side lies the public promenade of Szegedin, along which we now proceeded as best we might, by means of wooden boards and stepping-stones,through the mire and squash, into the fortress, with the purpose of visitingthe Italian Convict Institution.Szegedin is known to contain no less than 560 political Italian captives;a fact which occasioned a great deal of discussion in the last Hungariandiet, when the celebrated orator, Gabriel Klauzal, deputy for the Tshongrad comitat, in which Szegedin is situated, proposed a petition to government for their liberation. The motion was adopted unanimously by theChamber of Representatives. Many dreadful stories are circulated inHungary ofthe miserable situation, and of the ill -treatment which these pri- soners have to endure. I shall here simply record the result of my own observations, which I think will suffice to prove the falsehood ofsome of these calumnious reports.Wepassed through the old Turkish gate, and entered a courtyard full ofAustrian soldiers, which was divided from an inner courtyard by awoodengrating. At this grating sat women with baskets of fruit, needles, cotton,and other trifles; the inner courtyard was filled with the Italian prisonersthemselves. Theylooked neat and clean, and weredressed instronggraylinen,with caps of the same material on their heads. I had heard that their aspectwould excite compassion and pity, on account of the harsh treatment it indicated. Compassion and pity their aspect certainly did excite, for thesem*n were exiles from their country, and deprived of their liberty; but therewas no sign whatever of their having suffered from close confinement, badair, and scanty food. They all seemed in good health, and moved aboutin the large courtyard-I will not say with gaiety, for that would havebeen strange indeed , —but at least with animation and activity. Theyhave plenty of time allotted them for exercise in this courtyard, duringwhich time they can buy any trifles they want, of the women at the grating, and at the same time sell the products of their own labour. They manufacture many little articles ofhorn, wood, and paper, such as needlecases,saints' effigies, folding sticks, little baskets and boxes, little rings of plaitedhorsehair, &c. They were all standing about the grating, and as soonas everany one appeared in the outer yard, they stretched their arms and handsout as far as possible, holding out their various merchandise, and screaming with much animation in a strange jumble of Italian, German, andHungarian. " Nobile! kaufend Nobile! gigi! gigi! (gigi is an Italianized corruption of a Hungarian word for rings) or " Nobile! kaufen!Napoleone, Napoleone!" The countenance of the great Corsican is re-AND THE ITALIAN PRISONERS. 337peated upon almost all their little wares, and most of them had their hands full of Napoleons.The fortress is commanded by an Italian general, who is the superin- tendent of the convict institution, which forms a regular little militarycommunity of prisoners, having its own priest, its own provision-masters,its own overseers, secretaries, physicians, &c. I presented myself to oneof the authorities, and easily obtained permission to view the interior.Round various inner courts were ranged the separate habitations of theprisoners, which were formerly the casemates of the soldiers. They wereall above ground, very spacious and airy, and at regular distances from one another. The bedsteads were clean and good, and indeed I have seenmany barracks in our best German cities, where the soldiers were not sowell lodged as were these prisoners. Over each bedstead was inscribedthe name and birthplace of the prisoner to whom it belonged: for instance,"Giovanni N. N. of Rodrigo;" " Martino N. N. of Verona;" " Ludovico N. N. of Venice," &c. "The national jealousies of these people are continued even here,” said one of the Austrian officers to me. " The Milanese and Venetians here, for instance, are sworn foes to each other. "The casemates are lighted from the inner courts, but some of them havealso strongly grated windows on the outer side. Many prisoners hadhung up little stores of grapes on their window-bars, and others had littlesinging-birds in cages in their cells. I did not see their food, but theirappearance proved that they did not suffer from hunger; and I have noreason to doubt the assurance of the Austrian officer, that they not onlyhad abundance of meat and bread, but also a small portion of wine everyday. They also procure themselves many little comforts, partly bythemerchandise that they sell, and partly by the money sent them by their Italian friends and relatives. It is said that these 560 prisoners annuallyreceive no less than 40,000 florins from Italy. If one could but learn thehistory of the various little savings which make up this important sum,what proofs of tender constancy, generous self-denial, and yearning affection, might they not disclose!The workshops of the prisoners were separate from their sleeping-rooms.Their work is not voluntary but compulsory. Each is obliged to followtheprofession or trade that he practised at home, or else to choose for himselfanother. This compulsion is truly a benevolent one; for nothing is morelikely to render captivity endurable than regular occupation, particularlywhen, as is here the case, it is neither excessively laborious, nor continuedfor an undue length of time. Some work as carpenters, others as turners,and others, again, manufacture articles in papier maché, &c. They aredivided into various workshops, according to their occupations, and overthe door of each workshop the names of the trades carried on there are inscribed in Italian. In one of the turning-rooms I found a great manylittle busts of Napoleon in different stages of progression, in each ofwhich the characteristic features, indelibly impressed on the retentive memories of the prisoners, were accurately repeated from recollection alone."They often, sing, jest, and gossip, over their work," said the officer,"and sometimes they dance." Thank God, thought I, that their light volatile dispositions enable them so far to forget their unhappy fate and theirdreary situation!I had asked while yet in the Banat, of what crimes these people wereguilty. " Oh, I don't know, I'm sure," replied every one; " probably338 SZEGEDIN, THE SODA MANUFACTORIES,they are gamblers, drunkards, and riotous persons, sent from Italy to Hungary to learn better manners. They are the refuse of their nation."I do not believe this, for the refined, intelligent, and cultivated countenances of many, proved to me that they were not of the lowest classes.They are accused of no crimes, at least of no legally punishable ones, andhave never been regularly condemned. Many are only political enthusiasts and patriots, arrested in 1830 and 1831 , and sent here for an in- definite time. This is the true misery of their situation, that for nodefinite offence whatever are they sent here, where none of them knowhow long they are to remain. They are tortured by continual suspense,doubt, and anxiety; by fear, lest perhaps they may never more beholdtheir beautiful Italy, and by the hope that liberty perhaps may be each moment awaiting them. It seems to me that this agony of suspensemust be a great deal worse than if they knew distinctly how long theywere to be prisoners, were it even for 30 years; and it is dreadfulto know that they are kept here by no law, but by the mere exerciseof arbitrary power. It must be allowed, however, that these enthusiasticlovers of national independence, these haters of foreign domination,though we may regard them with pity, cannot be looked on otherwisethan as necessary victims. It may fairly be argued that Austria, havingonce asserted her right to rule in Italy, she must vindicate her powerthere against that of France; that to support the existing order andpeace, and for the sake of the Italians themselves, it is necessary torestrain restive patriotism; that consequently though the individuals maybe pitied, the precautions of the government ought to be lauded. Still,allowing all this to be true, it remains certain, that in the absence of anyregular trial, condemnation, or even accusation, many completely innocentpersons, many, I mean, who are even innocent of the remotest approximation to rebellious or unruly patriotism, are probably suffering the painsof exile and captivity at Szegedin. It were more creditable, therefore, tothe Austrian government, to institute a regular inquiry and examination,to find out whether it is really true, as is often stated, that many prisonersare at present confined here, who are as ignorant themselves as all therest of the world is ignorant of any valid reason why they should not beat liberty.When I picture to myself how many fond Italian hearts, now languishing in doubt and uncertainty, would have longed to accompany me in thatday's walk through the chambers, courtyards, and workshops of the convict institution, to search out some dear familiar face, among those to meso unfamiliar and unknown, —when I reflect how dreary, how disconsolate,how utterly miserable and gloomy, is the life which those fond heartsimagine to be endured by their dear ones at Szegedin, -I feel nolittle pleasure in the hope that I am doing some good by recording in printwhat I saw and heard there (which I frankly confess was but little,and perhaps of no great value), in the hope that these pages may meet the eye of some who will derive consolation from the assurance that thenecessary privations and sufferings of exile and captivity, are not, atSzegedin, yet further imbittered by unnecessary harshness, neglect, orcruelty.I was informed that it was the intention of government very soon tosend back to Italy eighty of the prisoners, who were considered as havingsufficiently expiated their offences. May this prove no empty report, andAND THE ITALIAN PRISONERS. 339may the rest of the captives soon follow them! I confess that I scarcelyliked to meet the glances of those prisoners whom I saw, for I reflectedhow many of them, far less guilty than I was myself, might be spendingtheir days in dreary captivity, while I, deserving it as much as they,enjoyed freedom to go wherever, and do whatever, I pleased." for" At Christmas we are very merry here, " said the officer to me;then the prisoners have a little festival. The doors of the Rastell (so theycall the wooden grating) are opened, and every one may pass in and out.Then the prisoners have a fair, and the townspeople come and buy of them,and talk to them. Both the townspeople and the Italians look forward tothis festival with great pleasure! It may afford some little comfort to many a friend and relative in Italy, to hear of this Christmas festival.The Hungarians, who are themselves such fiery patriots, such enthusiastsfor political independence, are naturally very averse to havingtheir countrycalled the Siberia of Austria, and used as a place of banishment for thepatriots of other countries. It was this feeling that occasioned the discussion in the last diet, and in the next the Hungarians will, no doubt,again exert all their influence in favour of the captives . The Hungariansthemselves dread nothing so much as exile, and transportation would bethe most terrible of punishments even to the vulgarest Hungarian criminal.It has long been the intention of government to constitute one of thedesert islands on the Dalmatian coast, a place of banishment for Hungarian criminals. The bandits of the Bakonyer Forest, the cattle- stealers of thesteppes, and the robbers and murderers of the tshardes, would certainlydread such transportation much more than the gallows.The fortress, with its convict institution, lies in the middle of the town,surrounded by the Palanka, the original nucleus of Szegedin. ThisPalanka contains the principal buildings, the Town-house, the Gymnasium,the Guard-house, several good inns and hotels, plenty of private houses,and also the Military School, which was the next place I visited. Unfortunately, I could see but little of the school, a more important visiter thanmy humble self was there at the time. This was the commanding officer,who but seldom visits Szegedin, and in whose honour all the soldiers of thetown, as well as the future soldiers of the Military School, wore on thatday large oak boughs in their hats. This custom is observed on every festive occasion in the Austrian army. I do not know that any otherarmy does the same, and yet no cheaper, handsomer, or, for Germansoldiers, more characteristic ornament could be devised . A branch ofoak-leaves is a more really beautiful object than a plume of feathers, andgreat numbers of them together have a very gay and cheerful appearance.The oak is to the Germans what the laurel is to the Italians, and the oliveto the Spaniard. Linden-leaves would be too large, birch-leaves too limp,and willow-leaves too fragile; but the graceful and elegant appearance,the durability, and erect stately position of the oak-leaves, no less thantheir symbolic attributes, make them a characteristic and suitable ornament for German soldiers.At the military school all the scholars learn to fence, write, &c. , with theleft hand as well as with the right. This is certainly an excellent practicein a military school, whose pupils in after life may so often be exposed tolose their right arms. By this practice both arms are made equally useful.After seeing the military school I went to that of the priests, who havea great Lyceum at Szegedin. Here I saw many interesting things; for 2 A340 SZEGEDIN, THE SODA MANUFACTORIES, &c.instance, in their library, which consisted of six thousand volumes, was acoin of Rakostky, the celebrated Hungarian patriot, who atthe beginning ofthe last century stood at the head of the Hungarian rebellion. This coinhas the motto " Pro Libertate." I was told the following anecdote ofthis coin:-TheEmperor Leopold, during the insurrection of Rakotsky, tookone of these coins in his hand, and turning to an Hungarian near him,asked the meaningof the words " Pro Libertate." He was told that each ofthe letters stood for a separate word, and that the whole signified " Princeps Rakotsky Ope Legionis Inclyti Bercsenii et Reliquorum TotamAustriam Trucidabit Ense" (Prince Rakotsky, with the half of the legionof the illustrious Bertsheny and of his other companions, will destroy allAustria with the sword). The emperor laughed, and said that he had understood the letters to signify a different prophecy: "Peribitis Rebellantes Omnes Laqueo, Igne, Bello, et Reliqui Toti Austriæ TributariEritis" (Ye shall perish, ye rebels all, by the rope, the fire, and thesword, and the rest will become tributary to Austria). Although Leopold,having been educated for the church, must have been a good Latin scholar,yet both the mental feebleness and the mild disposition of that emperor,render the truth of this story extremely questionable.I dined with these ecclesiastical gentlemen, to whose learned provost Ihad been recommended. There was a numerous party assembled, andour conversation was animated and instructive . An old Swiss gentleman,the father of the provost, presided at table. The conversation turned onthe great age which the Hungarians often attained; and a story was related of a woman who had died at Szegedin a fortnight before, at the ageof one hundred and fourteen, and who was in good health to the end of herdays. I was also told of another family now living, in which a brother andsister were eighty and ninety years old, yet their parents and grandparents were all living and in good health.After dinner I viewed the town from the steeple ofthe parish church, andthoughthe daywas remarkably cloudless, to myastonishment I sawthe wholeof Szegedin enveloped in a thick, cloudy mist, precisely like that of Pestk.I know not what it is in these cities, whether perhaps it is a kind of dustfrom the steppes, or some other cause, that gives them this appearance.Towards evening the sound of music attracted us to the Szegedin promenade. It is decorated with a few young linden and acacia trees, andthough by no means an attractive promenade, it is a new and useful un- dertaking. The ladies of the upper classes at Szegedin do not as yetfrequent its walks. The musicians were gipsies, of whose performancesthe Hungarians are passionately fond, but as they sat there in decent,regular, orderly clothing, playing the waltzes of Strauss and the airs ofAuber and Bellini, they pleased me far less than when, clad in their own wild, picturesque attire, they poured forth the melancholy songs of their The musicians were close to the walls of the convict institution, andit is to be hoped that the sound of their cheerful melodies might reach theears of the poor captives, and amuse their evening leisure; but the walls I fear were too thick and high.race.It is strange that the province of Tshongrad should have been namedafter the insignificant town of Tshongrad, rather than after the far morepopulous and important Szegedin; and again, that the county assembliesshould be held, not at Tshongrad or Szegedin, but at the village of SzegThis is the case in many other provinces; the reason being that the var.THE PUSTEN AND THEIR INHABITANTS. 341Hungarian nobility, who conduct the county assemblies, are not fond ofthe cities, in which, like other citizens they are subject to the superintendence of the city magistrates and police. The magnates therefore prefermeeting in a village, where they are more free and uncontrolled.Szegedin is one of the most patriotic cities of Hungary, far more so thanPesth. Indeed it often happens that provincial towns exceed the capitalof the country in patriotism; besides, it has been often observed that theSlovaks and Servians converted to Magyarism, go further in their Magyarmania than the original Magyars themselves.I spent the evening at the Szegedin club, in very entertaining mixedsociety. Throughout my journey in Hungary I always greatly enjoyedthese clubs, which are now established in all the principal towns of Hungary, and I often anticipated during the whole day the pleasures of theevening's social meeting. Our conversation at these meetings turnedusually on politics, and mostly on German politics. The Hungarianswatch the proceedings of the Germans as we do those of the French andEnglish. They take a lively interest in the proceedings of our constitutional states; receive with indignation the tidings ofany unconstitutional orarbitrary movement onthe part of a Germangovernment, and manifest thewarmest admiration and sympathy when they perceive any evidence ofhighspirited and independent patriotism in the people of a German state. I foundall the Magyars full of admiration and delight at the noble bearing oftheHanoverians, and many a distinguished and warm-hearted Hungariancommissioned to carry back with meto Hanover the assurance of his heartysympathy, and cordial admiration to Rumann and his noble associates.If Rumann were ever to come to Hungary he would be welcomed with thesame universal respect and esteem which greeted Lafayette in America- but certain other people who shall be nameless, had better keep away fromHungary.THE PUSTEN AND THEIR INHABITANTS."Mektshemerek teck peckf*ck!"" Ah, my boy, what do you want? My clothes? There they are!""Nintsh! Hayuk muk pukf*ck tellemtelletell! ”"What do you mean? Do you want my boots to black? There they stand. "Nintsh! Yöngörtöryömfüggo mesh müggo!"" My good fellow, I don't understand a word of Hungarian.'""Such was the conversation that I held at four o'clock the next morning(two weeks before sunrise, according to the Hungarian saying), with a little boy who approached my bed, and in vain endeavoured to express his meaning inthis, to me, unintelligible gibberish. Seeing, however, that the littlefellow was growing quite exasperated , and looked as if he was just going to cry, I sprang out of bed, and calling in the drowsy waiter, learned thatI must make haste and dress, for the diligence would be there directly.My travelling companions were this day particularly agreeable; and, didnot circ*mstances make it inexpedient, I could give the reader a very attractive description of them. As it is, however, I shall content myselfwith stating there were four of them, a lady, her little daughter, a clergyman, and myself.The city of Szegedin soon lay far behind us, and we found ourselves in2 A 2342 THE PUSTEN AND THEIR INHABITANTS.66the midst of the Puste between the Theiss and Danube. The word Puste,is a Slavonian word, signifying desert, and has been adopted into theHungarian language. They speak of the Sahara Puste, the PersianPusten, &c.; but the word has also another signification. It stands forempty," or " void, " and is, therefore, used for a tract of country withouttowns and villages, in which sense it by no means necessarily implies awaste barren country. The Pusten of Hungary are often covered withluxuriant herbage, and inhabited by large herds of cattle; but they arealways voids, containing neither town nor village, nor even a cluster ofsolitary farmhouses. The word is, in short, synonymous with the RussianSteppe. It has always struck me as somewhat singular, that while thewords Steppe, Pampas, and Llanos have been regularly adopted amongthe terms of geography, that of Puste is nowhere used but in Hungary.Immediately after crossing the Theiss, the traveller perceives that he hasentered a new kind of country. At Szegedin, the first sand-plain begins,and the ground is no longer as perfectly flat as I have described it in theBanat. The plain is broken by little sand-hillocks; agriculture more andmore gives way to grazing. The population consists either entirely ofMagyars, or, at least, is thoroughly Magyarized. The sand of this district is very fine, and is mixed with fragments of shells. It extends sodeep that nowhere have the inhabitants yet succeeded in boring throughit, and reaching its clayey foundation. Large tracts are entirely desolate,without any trace of vegetation. In such places the sand is often raised by the wind into the air, as in the sand- storm of the Sahara. This sandwind is much dreaded by the Hungarians, for in its course it often destroysthe most fertile fields.Among the remarkable attributes of these deserts, is the total absence of water. In the two hundred German square miles between Pesth andSzegedin, there is no trace of running water, no single brook, river, orstream, and not even a solitary well, with the exception of one little bubbling spring which rises in a marsh near Ketskemet. Another peculiarityof these deserts is the total absence of trees. Every thing is bare, desolate,and naked; nowhere rises a cooling grove, or even a solitary bush or tree.Sand-plains with sand-wind, green patches with wild birds, marsheswith cranes and storks, soda bogs covered with white powder, and occasionally meadows with fine cattle; such are the only varieties seen when travelling on a Puste. Occasionally a lonely Sallash or Tsharde, or asolitary herdsman's hut, gives token of human habitation; now and then afar-off pump, rears and sways its long arm before us, and sometimes, too,though more rarely, we behold the unfailing token of our approach to atown or village, namely a handsome, well kept, large, white-gallows!The drivers of the diligences, unless they have very effeminate travellers, trouble themselves little about where they stop for the night. Theydo not look out for a tsharde, but when night comes on, they unharnesstheir horses, and camp out on the plain. Some of them have their littleholes or caves grubbed out in the sand, of which no one knows but themselves, and into these they creep for the night. A clergyman at Szegedintold me the following story of one of these campings out:He was studying at Pesth, and wishing to make a short excursion intohis native Banat, he engaged a driver and set off towards Szegedin. Thedriver was a dark, wild, fierce-looking fellow, and as night came on, seeinghimself quite alone with him on the desolate Puste, far from any sight orTHE PUSTEN AND THEIR INHABITANTS. 343,sound of human habitation, and recollecting the bad reputation enjoyed by the Szegedin drivers, he began to feel very uneasy. He asked severaltimes when they should come to an inn, without receiving any answer,and the driver at last explained that they were very far from any inn, andthat as it was already night, they had better camp out on the Puste.knew, he said, a place where this could be very conveniently done.HeHeThey went on for a little while, and at length stopped. " Here," saidthe driver, " is a hut where we can stop. " The young ecclesiastic becamemore and more uneasy, for he saw no hut at all. He got out, however,and perceived, at a distance, a little straw-covered hole in the sand.had, on the way, several times given the driver to understand that he wasno rich merchant or nobleman, but only a poor ecclesiastical student, andhe very emphatically repeated this assurance, as he saw the other disappearinto his hole, and presently emerge with a hatchet, and a large knife. Thedriver replied, as he sharpened his knife, "that that was no matter, that if hehad ever so little money, it should make no difference between them. " Theterrors of the poor ecclesiastic, now raised to the highest pitch, were, however, happily relieved, when he saw his suspected fellow-traveller again disappear in the sand, and fetch up the hind- quarter of a slaughtered calf, ofwhich he cut off a large piece and reinterred the rest. He then made afire, and roasted the meat on little sticks. The young priest produced abottle of wine from the carriage, and his fears being allayed, they werevery merry over their supper, which was eaten with a good relish, for thesand of the Puste cools and preserves meat extremely well . They thenlay down peacefully together on the dry sand, and slept quietly tillmorning.The driver's calf was doubtless not bought, but bestowed upon him byfate. He probably rode out one day merely to amuse himself, and it happened quite by chance, that a little calf met him on the way. He rodeup to examine the animal, merely out of curiosity, and it chose to leap into his arms of its own accord. He took it into his hut and killed it, that hemight examine it more closely.The herdsman and drivers of the Pusten are all extremely hospitable in their way, and will rob their neighbours without hesitation to entertain aguest. An Hungarian gentleman told us, how, stopping once at a lonely Sallash in the Puste, he found there was nothing whatever to eat in the house. "That is no matter, I'll manage," said a little lad twelve years ofa*ge. The boy went out, and in a little while the traveller heard a sheepbleating, then a fire blazing, and finally a joint of meat crackling and hissing before the fire. This little urchin had stolen a sheep, killed it,lighted a fire, and roasted the mutton for the stranger's entertainment.The fact is, that sheep and oxen are looked on in this part of the world almost in the light offeri naturæ.The herdsmen of the Puste are not only attentive observers of the courseofthe sun, but, by continual observation of the stars, they have become familiar with many of them, and can calculate to a great nicety the time ofnight by their position. They also practically carry out many scientificprinciples, which with us are never used in common life . For instance,when they wish to keep any thing cool, they do so by the aid of fire and inthe following manner: They dig a hole in the ground, into which theyput the milk or whatever else they wish to cool; they leave a long narrow opening at the top, over which they light a fire; this fire draws away all344 THE PUSTEN AND THEIR INHABITANTS.the heat from the hole beneath and leaves it quite cold. Theythen quickly cover up the hole, and in this manner preserve their food fresh and cool.These people are very superstitious, and, probably, like all uncultivatedraces, they are firm believers in the power of the evil eye. They have many other ways of enchanting their enemies; for instance they write certainevil words on a little piece ofpaper, twist it up into a ball covered with cottonand throw it in their enemy's path; if he treads upon it , they confidentlyexpect that the evil wish will be fulfilled. On this account. the Hungarians take great care to avoid treading upon any thing that lies in theirpath. Another favourite superstition of theirs, is a firm beliefin the power of exciting love through the agency of sorcery. The process consists inboiling certain herbs by moonlight, at a certain hour, and immediatelywalling up the hot scum in the fire hearth. The name of the person whomit is wished to inspire with love must be solemnly pronounced over the operation, after which he or she so ensorcelé will be filled with an irresistibledesire to share the said hearth with its possessor.It is singular how many superstitions are common to all times and na- tions. Some incantations will be found in practice in the most distantparts of the earth, in precisely the same forms, often to the very same ca- balistical words. This is often the case where it is as difficult to believe inacommon psychological origin, asin an historical transmission from the one nation to the other.The belief in witches has been prevalent even among the higher classesof Hungarians till very lately. There is an island on the Theiss, nearSzegedin, upon which a lady of high rank, after a regular trial, was burntas a witch, in 1746. This is, however, the less to be wondered at when weremember that in Holland, so late as the beginning of this century, awomanwas drowned as a witch by some peasants. The general gatheringplace of Hungarian witches, bears the same name as that of Germany,It is the Blocksberg near Buda.The weddings and funerals of Hungarian peasants, are conducted withthe same stiffness, formality, and ceremonious etiquette, as those of aSpanish court. My ecclesiastical travelling-companion whiled away thetiresome journey over the dreary Puste for me, by relating the followingparticulars of an Hungarian peasant's wedding.When a young peasant takes a fancy to a girl, either for her beauty, orher other good qualities, or perhaps from some prudential consideration, heimparts his wishes in the first place to some friends, whose duty it is topresent themselves before the lady, and acquaint her with the amorous desires of their friend Andresh, Yanosh, or Petrushka. It is customaryalways to make this visit at twilight. The ladywill, of course, not hear of it at first; she declares that she will never marry, and least of all this sameunlucky Andresh, Yanosh, or Petrushka. This declaration is a matter ofcourse and means nothing. The suitors must repeat their twilight visits,and use all their persuasive eloquence, to which the lady gradually yields,and at last declares that if they will have it so, the lover may presenthim- self, and try his own powers of persuasion.The lover's first visit is a very important step towards marriage, and isthe stiffest and most embarrassing scene possible. The relations are allpresent, and present the young girl to him, who from this time forwardcalls him her Volageny, or bridegroom. It is etiquette for the bride tobe extremely timid, shy, and bashful, during this visit. She has in theTHE PUSTEN AND THEIR INHABITANTS. 345meantime embroidered a fine handkerchief, which she holds in her hand,till she can take courage to present it to him. This presentation of the handkerchief is the token of the bride's consent, and constitutes a regularengagement. The bridegroom places it in his bosom, but in such a waythat a large portion of it may hang out ostentatiously, which it continuesto do on every festive occasion in token of victory.Many other visits follow, all of the same stiff and ceremonious nature,and all marked by various gifts, until the wedding-day. After the ceremony, the bride and bridegroom each return to their own houses to entertain separate parties of guests. After this has continued for some time,the bridegroom sends to the bride's house, inviting her and her guests to come and join him. She at first refuses to come. He sends a secondtime and she promises to come, but does not do so. It is not till the thirdinvitation, that she leaves her paternal home, and enters that of her husband. Here a great feast is held, of wine, white bread, meat, fish, brawn,porridge, Belesh (a kind of cake made of twenty thin flakes of dough withslices of apple between), and other favourite Hungarian dishes. Etiquette,however, forbids the sad and timid bride to taste any of these dishes; if shewere to do so, the whole Puste would be scandalized.The wedding feast ended, one of the most important of the marriageceremonies, the " binding of the head," follows. The bride's hair, which,until now, she has worn loose and hanging down, is gathered up into a veryelaborate knot, and the plaits are smoothly laid round her head, after whichthe head-cloth, worn bymatrons, is carefully folded upon it. This done, thefriends ofthe bride go round, taking a washhand-basin, in which each washeshis hands or affects to do so, and at the same time drops a small piece ofmoney into the water. With this the day's ceremonies conclude. Thenext morning a grand breakfast concludes the whole wedding ceremonial.It is customary at Hungarian funerals, for the sexton to make a long speech in the name of the deceased, taking leave of his relatives, and ex- pressing all he might be supposed to feel on leaving them. This funeraloration the Hungarians call the Butsusztato, and they are very particular to have it ofgood quality, and well delivered.For five or six miles, our way lay through the Hatar of Szegedin.Allthe land here belonged to the citizens, and many Sallashes were scatteredaround. These Sallashes sometimes contain nothing but a fire-hearth, anda single room, and perhaps a store-room at the side. Sometimes, however,they are convenient and handsome houses, with trees planted round, and alittle garden.At the end of the Hatar, stood a frontier hill, such as is used to mark allboundaries in Hungary. After passing this place, we entered the truePuste, inhabited only by solitary herdsmen. It became more and moredreary the further we advanced. Bare sandy plains, broken by little sandhillocks, stretched along on every side, and in many places the air was fullof whirling clouds of sand. Here and there a little patch of bright verdure, generally situated in a hollow, where the moisture is better preservedthan on the plain, gladdened our eyes and cheered the prospect. Towardsnoon the weather became extremely hot, and our horses had much ado todrag our coach through the sand. They did their best, however, as didlikewise our lively coachman, Andresh, coaxing and driving them alternately.The Hungarian, like the Russian coachmen, have for their horses an infinite number of terms of endearment, with which they are at pains to en-s346 THE KUMANEN, YAZYGEN, AND HAIDUCKEN.liven and cheer their cattle. The horses soon come to know their petnames, and certainly appear to redouble their exertions when addressed inthese coaxing terms. Our five horses bore the following appellations.The first was called Burkush, that is, the Prussian, being a native of Prussia;the second Keshey, or the Piebald, on account of his colour; the thirdVidam, the Cheerful, or the Merry, in compliment to his disposition; thefourth Gyilkos (pronounced Yilkosh), or the Murderer, because of thefierceness of his nature; and the fifth Szikra, or the Spark, in deferenceto his fiery courage and impetuosity.It wasAt length our coachman, toiling with his weary horses through the hotsand, cried out with delight, " Ah! thank God, I see the gallows ofFelegyhaz!" We knew that we were to dine at Felegyhaz, and stretching our necks out of the window, we saw the great white " hangingwood" of that city, rearing its stately head from a sandy hillock.a large, square, solid building. The lower part consisted of a square wall, in which there was a small door by way of entrance. At each ofthe four corners arose a stout pillar, and on the top of these pillarswere laid crosswise the beams on which criminals are hung. It is extraordinary in what good condition these edifices are kept throughout Hungary.We all heartily chimed in with the coachman, and cried, " Ah! thankGod, there is the handsome white gallows of Felegyhaz!" as the lowstraggling capital of the Kumanen, began to emerge from the sandyplain.THE KUMANEN, YAZYGEN, AND HAIDUCKEN.Germans, in every grade of Magyarization, Magyars of all imaginablevarieties, Russians, Slovaks, Servians, Walachians, Croatians, Slavonians,Dalmatians, Italians, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Gipsies, Bulgarians, andBosnians, such are the nations with whom we have as yet come in contact, during our course through Hungary. The Kumanen, Yazygen,and Haiducken, now demand our attention.The territory ofthese two last-mentioned nations lies in the plain betweenthe Danube and the Theiss, where the kings of Hungary at differenttimes have assigned them considerable portions of land. The variousdistricts inhabited by them may contain a superficial extent of aboutfour hundred square miles, the population is reckoned at one hundredand sixty thousand souls.The Slavonians maintain that the Yazygen, are the remnant ofthe old Slavonian nation, whom the Romans speak of, under the samename, as the aborigines of the country, and that they derive this name fromthe Slavonian word Yasyk (the tongue). The Hungarians, however,assert that the Yazygen are descended from a tribe of Kumanes, who,in the year 1125, made an incursion into Hungary under a leader namedTatar, and that they derive the name from an Hungarian word, signifyingbow, their name signifying archers, or "shooters with the bow."The Kumanes, a nation probably of Tatar origin, were formerly settled,like the Magyars, on the other side of the Carpathian mountains, in thesouthern steppes of Russia. Many of them, under seven leaders, whosenames history has transmitted to us, passed with the Magyars intoPannonia, and Dacia, and became mingled with them like many other tribes. The greater part of the Kumanes remained behind on the otherTHE KUMANEN, YAZYGEN, AND HAIDUCKEN. 347side of the Theiss. Individual tribes of them continued to make frequentincursions into Hungary; one for example, in the year 1074, under Öscu,another under the khan Tatar, in 1125. They were conquered orslain, or scattered as prisoners, and settlers, in different parts of thecountry. When the Mongolians broke in upon these eastern countries,other Kumanes flocked hither, as fugitives in search of protection, onegreat horde in 1227, another 40,000 strong, in 1239. The Hungariankings received them willingly, because they found in them a supportagainst their own discontented subjects, and also because they hoped to make a merit at the papal court, of their conversion to Christianity.One king of Hungary, Ladislaus, at the latter end of the thirteenthcentury, lived entirely among the Kumanes, let his beard grow as theydid, and exchanged the close-fitting garments of the Hungarians for thewide oriental vesture of the Kumanes, wearing a pointed felt hat, anddwelling with them under tents of felt. They did the Hungarian monarchs good service as body-guards, but obliged them also, by theirmutinous behaviour, to adopt severe measures, and even caused civil wars more than once. The extensive territory, and extraordinary privilegesgranted them in former times, are no longer enjoyed by them in thesame degree; they are now, for example, compelled to pay a tax tothe king from which they were formerly exempt.Their peculiar rights and immunities confirmed to them by MariaTheresa are principally as follow:-Firstly-as free men they aresubject to no lord of the soil, have their own tribunals, and even exercisethe jus gladii, having a chief or captain named by the Palatine, andchoosing their own subordinate officers.Secondly. Their territories, Great Kumania, Lesser Kumania, andYazygia, are represented by two deputies in the Hungarian diet.Thirdly. Like the Hungarian nobles they are exempt from all land orwater tolls, from episcopal tithes, and exercise various regalities in their own land.The Haiducks have a different origin from the Kumanes and Yazyges.They are called in the Hungarian language " hajdu," and in theHungarian Latin haidonici.The name comes probably from theHungarian word hajadon (an unmarried man), and the haidonici wereprobably young bachelors who took service with various leaders, orcondottieri, in Hungary. They were also a kind of " landsknechts,"like the Cossacks, in South Russia. The word kosak has much thesame meaning as haiduck; that is, free, unmarried man. The kingswhom they served in war bestowed lands on them. The people nowknown under this name inhabiting an extensive swampy district to thenorth of Debrez,-the six Haiduck towns (oppida haidonicalia), asthey are called, are descended from a free corps offoot- soldiers, formed inthe beginning of the seventeenth century by a prince of Transylvania,Stephen Botshkai, of Servians, Walachians, and Hungarians, whom,when the wars were ended, he rewarded by grants of land, particular pri--

• Many kinds of troops have been formed in Hungary, several of which have be- come renowned in Europe as the Haiducks, Hussars, Redcloaks, Browncloaks, Serres- chans, &c. The Haiducks of Botshkai were good foot-soldiers, and, perhaps, were

originally employed in Hungary as messengers for the tribunals. A messenger of acourt oflaw is still called in Hungarian a Haiduck; the majority ofthem, however,are now mounted.348 THE KUMANEN, YAZYGEN, AND HAIDUCKEN.vileges, and the right of choosing their own chief. These privilegeswere subsequently confirmed bythe Hungarian kings, and these Haiduck'salso send two deputies to the diet of Hungary.The Haiducks who, as before said, are of Magyar origin, and the Kumanes,probably akindred race, are nowin speech, costume, and manners, completelyMagyarized. This is the case, also, with reference to their religion; andalthough they remained heathens longer than any other part of the population, they, as well as the Hungarians, took a zealous part at the time ofthe reformation. The Haiducks and the people of Great Kumania, arenearly all protestants; the Yazyges, nearly all catholics; the inhabitantsof Lesser Kumania are divided pretty equally between the two religions.Nevertheless, pure Magyars, as they are all esteemed, there exist, Ithink, many differences, though they are little heeded. That their freeconstitution, and the warlike spirit yet alive among them, must call forthsuch differences, may be à priori understood. That they have had thiseffect was made evident at the time of the last recruitment in the year1840. In other parts of Hungary the recruits, although chosen by lot,were occasionally brought to their colours by force. The Kumanes (those ofLesser Kumania at least) took up the matter in a more soldierlike spirit.All the male population, capable of bearing arms, were called together, andassembled with drums and military music, on the market-place of Felegyhaz.Here a table was placed, at which their captains, with their secretaries,presided. Near at hand uniforms, with shakos and arms, were displayed;all who felt a desire for martial glory came forward of their own accord,and had their names inscribed. Auniform was then fitted on, and thenew candidate for military honours marched off, fully equipped. In thismanner their whole contingent was furnished."Ay,While we were at table, at Felegyhaz, an article in a Transylvanianjournal, similar to one I had heard of at Szegedin, was spoken of.the Transylvanians have whistled our Hungarians handsomely off theirmountains once more, " observed one of the guests. I noted this charac- teristic expression, but could not obtain a sight of the article; the paper that contained it was not forthcoming.TheIn theirIt is delightful to find in these Hungarian wastes, even on the heaths ofKetskemeter, such fine grapes and cherries. In this they enjoy a greatadvantage over the heaths of Lüneburg, and the sandy plains of Brandenburg. The finest, freshest grapes were offered for sale on all sides.pujkas (turkeys) likewise deserve honourable mention for flavour, althoughnot to be met with in such numbers as in the Banat, and in other placesinhabited by Walachians, who have taken these feathered productions ofIndia, as well as its corn, under their particular protection.villages large flocks of these fowls are to be met with. These "pujkas"are called " pockerl" by the Hungarian Germans, and this makes theseventh or eighth German name for one and the same domestic fowl, whichseems to have propagated itself with tolerable rapidity over all Europe.What, in Hungary, is called a pockerl, is a puter in Berlin, a kalkuhnin Courland and Livonia, an Indian in Austria, in other parts ofGermany, a truthahn, a welschhahn, a kabkuter, and a consistorial bird;while the goose, the duck, the stork, the swallow, and other domesticbirds, have the same name everywhere. How happens it that this birdrejoices in such an abundance of appellations? It is more unaccountable with a tame animal than with one in a wild state. The latter comes fromTHE HEATHS OF KETSKEMET. 349various lands unannounced, but the turkey, owing its increase to thefostering care of man, might, one would think, bring its name with it, topass from seller to buyer. It is certainly a bird that seems entitled tosome distinguishing appellation .AtIt is not long that Felegyhaz, Szegedin, and the majority of the genuineHungarian towns, have had any other chimneys than wooden ones.present they are for the most part constructed of stone. However, thebeneficial metamorphosis of wooden cities into cities of stone, which progresses so rapidly in Russia, makes a slower advance in Hungary, wherecommands are neither so roundly given nor so promptly executed. Thegreater part of the houses are roofed with shingles; very few have attainedthe dignity of tiles.THE HEATHS OF KETSKEMET.sparks, "After dinner we advanced farther into the deserts with our 66"murderers," and " Prussians. " One ofthe most remarkable features ofthese wastes is, the non-occurrence of scattered fragments of rock; and itis often as interesting for science to know what a neighbourhood does notas what it does contain, but the former point is more apt to be overlookedby travellers than the latter. The Hungarian plain between the Danubeand Theiss is, after the North German or Baltic plains, and those north ofthe Black Sea, the largest in Europe. It has a superficial extent of morethan a thousand (German) square miles. There is nothing similar to bemet with in England, Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, or Southern Germany.It is surrounded by high mountains, the Alps, the Carpathian, and theirseveral spurs; but none of these mountains have scattered their fragmentsover the plains, and if the presence of these rocky masses in North Germany, Switzerland, and other countries is enigmatical, and has given riseto a variety of theories to account for it, we ought to be equally curious toknow whether the newest of these, the ice theory, can explain the nonappearance of such masses here, or whether this circ*mstance be a newenigma and stumbling-block in the path ofinquiry. That the Carpathianmountains have never scattered their fragments around them I would certainly not venture to maintain, and of course such fragments, forced downby torrents, are to be found in the valleys; but so much is certain, that inmytravels through Bessarabia, Galicia, and round the Carpathians, I havenever seen such masses of rock in the fields, nor have I ever found anyperson in the larger or smaller plains of Hungary who could show me any,after all my inquiries. The plain of the Banat, although it lies close tothe mountains, has not, I believe, anywhere a cubic inch of rock lying onits surface. The same may be asserted of the plains of Southern Russia.Our next station was Ketskemet, the largest and most noted markettown of Hungary. Ketske signifies the goat, in the Hungarian language,-is there a connexion perhaps between the name of the town and that of the animal? This town has above 30,000 inhabitants, for the most partemployed in the breeding of cattle. The fields are the pasture-grounds ofcountless herds of noble oxen, spirited Hungarian horses, and long-hornedsheep. The whole surrounding country is called the Ketskemeter moors,and includes, under this name, a considerable portion of the plain betweenthe Danube and Theiss. It is difficult to comprehend how so many human350 THE HEATHS OF KETSKEMET.beings have congregated, in a neighbourhood, where there is neither ariver to afford facilities for commerce, mountain or rock whereon to erecta fortress, or any other relation subsisting that could tend particularly tothe promotion of social communion. The existence of 32,000 townspeoplein this place is a riddle hard to be explained by a geographer.The inhabitants are nearly all genuine Hungarians, noblemen, artisans,and peasants. The nobles have established a Casino. The most strikingthing about the peasants—the same dark-skinned, dark-haired race wehadseen in Pesth, but more properly belonging to these plains-was the shortshirt. It does not reach so far as the middle of the back, -sometimes thewhole garment is nothing more than a narrow middle piece, connecting the sleeves . As in this fashion a broad strip of flesh between shirt andtrousers remains undefended; the sun burns it into a dark-brown indelible girdle, by which the Hungarian peasant will, in the Elysian fields, bedistinguishable from all other peasants of the world. The Hungarianshirt, indeed, deserves particular mention, as it is certainly the most peculiarof its kind to be met with in Europe. Another odd fashion of these peasants is that they stick their short pipes not in front as other people do,but behind. The waistband of their trousers, in the middle of the back,is the chosen resting-place for the familiar fumigating tube. Some, how- ever, prefer the brims of their hats.To usAt Ketskemet we were present at a review of Italian cavalry quartered there. These people, who, it is well known, are very bad horsem*n, nodoubt afford abundant diversion to the Hungarians, who are the best inthe world; and the Italians on their side may revenge themselves by a comparison of these Ketskemeter moors with their lovely fatherland.Germans, Ketskemet is an ungenial spot; with us there would be morejoyousness in a town containing 30,000 human beings. Nevertheless, theplace is not to be despised. If it be measured not by a foreign but an Hungarian standard, its handsome town-house, reformed and catholic gymnasium, and many gaily-painted houses, possess a claim to admiration, as wellas the richly-filled gardens without the gates. The fruit we tasted therewas excellent, and the wheaten bread of the town is celebrated throughoutHungary. The Hungarians are great consumers of white bread like theFrench; even the humblest enjoy daily their white bread in considerablequantities. Perhaps this is the cause of their indifference to the potatoe.It has been said that the potato rarely finds a ready admittance into awheat country.Between Ketskemet and Pesth, a distance of eleven (German) miles,there are only three villages, Orkeny, Ocsa, and Soroksar. We passed thenight in a solitary inn, named Fuldeak ( Student's Ear), an extensive build- ing enclosed bywalls like a fortress. The host and waiters were Germans.The establishment, on the whole, was a very tolerable one, and the guestsnumerous: the supper might even be called good, and the conversation wasagreeable. Many things, highly characteristic of the country, were mentioned in the course of it. But this a traveller seldom finds wanting, forevery thing he sees and hears is more or less characteristic; the difficulty isproperly to retain and arrange the materials that present themselves con- stantly in the greatest profusion.Only one anecdote related that evening has retained a place in mymemory. It is of an Hungarian scholar, who found means to administer alesson to an Hungarian nobleman. The latter had built a magnificentTHE HEATHS OF KETSKEMET. 351house, and misused his poor peasants most cruelly while erecting it.When the house was finished, he desired to have a Latin inscription for it,for which he applied to our scholar, who happened to be known to himas the author of some happy Latin verses. The inscription was promisedfor the following morning. But in the morning the scholar had vanished,and over the door of the house, written with a coal, were found theselines:Congeries lapidum, multis congesta rapinis,Corruet et raptas alter habebit opes.*The anathema, I was told, pronounced in the middle of the last century,has already been fulfilled. The nobleman is dead, his race extinct, and his estates have reverted to the crown.The mounted patrol who guard the moors from Sallash to Sallash, haddone their duty, and we found, onthe following morning, that we had beenneither robbed nor murdered during the night, but were all alive and merry. A thick fog that hung over the fields soon cleared away and gaveus very fine weather, which our driver assured us would continue. Weshould have a beautiful autumn, he added, because the "pipatsch" (redfield poppy, Papaver Rhoeas), remained so long in bloom; which waslooked on in Hungary as an unfailing sign.We saw on the way a pond of a milky whiteness, coloured by a chalkyearth which abounds in the country. This earth is dug from the Pusten,and is used to whitewash the houses that have, in consequence, the samefreshness of appearance which I had before noted in Southern Russia.There are many points of resemblance in the nature of the soil, and thecustoms of the people, between the Hungarians and the natives of Southern Russia.The water of the steppes impregnated with salt, is sometimes made use of by the people for household purposes. Salt is dear in this country, asit is a royal monopoly, and the people of the steppes have often recourseto the expedient of digging for salt springs, in order to boil their food inthe waters. This practice is said to be injurious to the health, and has,therefore, been prohibited.In Ketskemet, and other places in its neighbourhood, there arenumerous establishments for soap- boiling. The soap is made mostly ofhogs' lard, and candles are generally composed of goats' tallow, eitherobtained from their own animals, or, what is more frequently the case,from the goats of the mountains of Servia and Transylvania, of which Ihad seen numbers at Orsova. Pomatum for the hair is also made ofhogs' lard, which is held to be very wholesome, both for the hair and thehead, and is, therefore, sometimes used in such quantities that the locksfairly " drop fatness" in very warm weather. With us, pomatum is moreused by women than by men; here, on the contrary, it is the men whoanoint themselves rather than the " ingrins," as the women of Magyar raceare termed throughout Hungary, where they generally envelop their headsin a quantity of handkerchiefs.At one station, where we stopped to breakfast, we saw a couple of Hun- garian shepherd- dogs. These animals, who, when they are left alone toguard the flocks, show no mercy to either wolf or stranger, are called in

• This pile of stones, heap'd up by many a wrong,

Shall pass away to stranger hands ere long.352 THE HEATHS OF KETSKEMET.Hungarian, Szelindek. They have long hair of different colours, white,gray, and brown, and look very like wolves themselves. The same likeness may be traced in the large dogs which the Tshabauns of Southern Russia lead in chains when they pass inhabited places. I was told that an Hungarian once travelled into Italy with four of these dogs, and exhibitedthem as wolves. The shepherds make use of these Szelindeks only as aguard against the wolves; for the purpose of keeping their flocks together,and directing the sheep, they have generally a common kind of small dog called a "kuty."In the steppes where so many genuine Magyar physiognomies are to bemet with, I found a further confirmation of an opinion I have before expressed, namely, that the Hungarian physiognomy inits principal features,is a very handsome one, and has no trace whatever of the Mongolian, as some have asserted.As the gibbet is to be seen at every Hungarian town, so the ugly formof the stocks orthe block of punishment (strafblock, or schandklotz) presents itself in every Hungarian village. The Hungarians call this instrument " Kaloda," a Slavonian word in use among the Russians, Moravians,Illyrians, and Croats. It differs in form from similar instruments of chastisem*nt among us, consisting of two thick planks fastened together likethe two halves of a pair of scissors. In the lower plank are two semicircular holes, through which the feet and legs of the delinquent are passed;similar holes, corresponding to those in the lower, are cut in the upperplank; the two are secured at the ends, and the poor captive, with his limbs thus confined, lies for twelve and twenty-four hours together,stretched on the ground, exposed to all the inclemency of the weather and the gaze of the passers-by. Such a "schandklotz" figures before thecourthouse of every village. However, I must admit I never saw the apparatus decorated with a prisoner.Stealingof cattle is as common an offence in these steppes as stealing woodis in many parts of Germany. Robbery of the person is far less frequenthere than in the Banat among the Walachians, and therefore the comitats,through which we were now driving, are not under martial law, while the Torantal comitat in the Banat has not been free from it for years.When a number of robberies take place in a comitat, and the neighbourhoodis unsafe in consequence, such a comitat can, on application to the king,have martial law proclaimed. Immediately very summary proceedings areadopted; criminals caught inflagranti delicto, are not even brought undera roof; the legal authorities repair to the spot, and when sentence is passedthe unhappy sinner has only three hours to live: whereas, when this lawis not in operation, he has three days granted him. The clergy (and thenobles?) are exempt from martial law. This law is never granted to acomitat for longer than three years; application must then be made for arenewal of the favour. When I was in Hungary, I heard of three comitatsin which martial law had been proclaimed. Notice of it was sent to allhouses of public entertainment.On our road we came upon the settlements of a gipsy colony. Therewere a considerable number of putri and gunyho (clay and reed huts), andin one I found, to my great astonishment, a German woman, who assuredme that she liked the gipsy life and would not quit it. I should have likedto have had a longer conversation with her, for, in the course of her constant rambling with the gipsies, she had acquired a considerable knowledgeTHE HEATHS OF KETSKEMET. 353"otyeof the country. She said that the worst and most vindictive people inHungary were the Zinzari. Their first word when affronted wasspantiti " (you shall remember it), and they mostly kept their word bysetting the house of the offending person on fire, or doing him some otherinjury. She also mentioned some peculiar customs of the Servians. Theyhave regular lamentations for the dead, and at funerals serve up a particulardish, composed of wheaten flour, mixed with raisins. (The Russians do thesame. ) The seventh, fourteenth, and the anniversary of the funeral aredays kept sacred, but this only among the wealthier classes. Among theirmany church festivals, they have the " Blessing of the Fields." On thisoccasion, persons place themselves in the churchyard to scatter wheat inthe path of the procession as it passes round the church.It can scarcely be imagined with what joy a German greets a Germanvillage, after seeing, for some time, nothing but gipsies, Sallashes, andPusten. Ocsa, a place, according to all accounts, highly interesting formore reasons than one, we saw only in the distance, because, as I have before said, we drove, according to the good pleasure of the Szegedin driver,through all manner of by-ways. The first German town we reached wasthe market-town of Soroksar on the Danube, the population of which isGerman. It was Sunday, and the German maidens were coming out ofchurch, all clean and neat, and clothed in their native costume.The menhad adopted the Hungarian bunda (fur garment). It is singular enoughthat in Hungary and Southern Russia they should never lay aside the sheep- skin even in summer.God bless the German nation and all that belongs to it, thought I inmy heart, and added, aloud, " Vivat Soroksar." "Not so loud, don't saythat so loudly," said one of my travelling companions, " some of theseworthy people may take it amiss; in Pesth they make use of that expression, Vivat Soroksar, to tease the natives." The phrase, at full length, runs"Vivat Soroksar, Maria Theresa is a market-town;" and it refers to thetime of that empress, when this place from a village was raised to the dignity of a town. When this grace was made known officially, the honestfolks of Soroksar meant to cry " Vivat Maria Theresa, Soroksar is a markettown!" but, unluckily, in their joy, they made a slip of the tongue, andshouted unanimously, " Vivat Soroksar, Maria Theresa is amarket-town."They were so laughed at in consequence that the words " Vivat Soroksar,"are, at any time, enough to throw a native of the place into arage.The road from Soroksar to Pesth is paved, and on this chaussée, whichruns along the Danube, there is an active and constant traffic.We weredriving in company with a number of coaches, with five and six horses,and some waggons, and the nearer we approached the capital the harderthey drove. At last, as it generally happens with Hungarian drivers, and their fiery steeds, our course became a regular race. The Hungariandrivers carry enormously long whips, as they seldom drive less than six,and sometimes more horses from the box. The whip is flourished continually over their heads, the driver playing constantly with the immeasurable lash, which waves at one moment freely through the air, andthen, by a dexterous movement, is as suddenly twined round the handle ofthe whip. We represented at last a tableau vivant, almost a copy of the painting we had seen in the Banat. Our coachman, having once made asilent wager with another coach-and-six, was no longer to be restrained;nor were his horses, although, after their toilsome journey, we had supposedthem to be quite exhausted, and thus ventre à terre, and veiled in a cloud354 STUHLWEISSENBURG.- VESPRIM.of dust, our great clumsy vehicle lumbered into Pesth, we insides pantingfor breath and shaken to a jelly.STUHLWEISSENBURG.- VESPRIM.The forest of Bakony stretches in its chief direction from the south-west to the north-east across the Buda mountains to Buda and Pesth. On thenorth lies the great artery of the Danube with the towns of Raab, Gran,and Waizen; to the south the long Platten see lies parallel to the Forest,which in its length skirts the southern plains at the foot of the mountainsas far as Buda. In the same direction runs another of the most considerable Hungarian roads, leading over Stuhlweissenburg, Vesprim,Schumegh, and Kormond to the Styrian Alps; and for the sake ofthosenoble objects, I chose this road to return to my dear German fatherland.There is no regular communication between the places lying in thisdirection and the capital, but carriages may be hired at a tolerably reasonable rate, expressly for the journey. On the morning of the 26th ofSeptember, I began myjourney in one of these. So thick a fog from theDanube veiled the cities of Buda and Pesth, that after we had driven afew yards from the gates they were no longer to be seen. The pain ofparting was thereby greatly shortened and we soon found ourselves in anew country. There are many villages peopled by Germans on this sideof the Danube as well as on the Pesth side. We passed among others Hanselbeck, a German village with a Turkish name. Like St. Petersburg and Odessa, Tiflis and many other cities of the East, the Magyarcapitals have planted German colonies in their neighbourhood, in order toprovide themselves with milk, butter, and other dairy and garden produce.In St. Petersburg and Odessa pleasure-parties are made to the German villages of Pawlowski and Lustdorf, and the same thingis done at Pesth and Budato the German colonies. Our horses took fright at a variety of objects onthe road, among others at a comitat Haiduck, who passed us at full gallop.These people patrol the country day and night, to the no small hazard of their lives: many are " blown away by the robbers, " we were informed.The second alarm of our steeds was a drunken mail-driver, who had let thereins of his solitary steed fall, and drove up against us. In endeavouringto catch at the reins he tumbled from his seat, and he might have lain along time on the ground if our people had not been good-natured enoughto pick him up, replant him in his place, and put the reins once more in hishands. I understood, from this incident, how the correspondence ofHungary might easily be somewhat tedious. In the mean time the passengers in our carriage were frightening each other with their horriblestories of robbery and murder. These passengers were an Austrian, highlydisdainful of every thing Hungarian, the ancient chamberlain of an"Excellenz Graf," (a count who has any office constituting him "Excellenz" is always thus spoken of in Hungary and Austria, ) and an Hungarian excise-officer. They told of a tsharde that had been completelyplundered, although there were fourteen persons in the house at the time;of a lad of eighteen who had murdered his master's whole family; of a manwho had killed his own brother because the latter had formerly committeda murder, the remembrance of which tormented the other and demandedvengeance; of a family in which murder was hereditary. The details ofthese horrors, although some were extremely curious and interesting,purposely omit, as they were not, to speak it mildly, exceedingly edifying.ISTUHLWEISSENBURG. -VESPRIM. 355I really felt uncomfortably for the poor exciseman, obliged to listen tous Germans enlarging on themes so little to the credit of his country andhis class. I tried several times to turn the conversation to other subjects, butthe speakers always returned to the same " raw-head and bloody-bones"stories in which they seemed inexhaustible. I learnt here the various appellations for the different species of rogues, and was glad to inquire about them,hoping bythis means to lead the conversation by degrees to the subject oflanguage. The terminology runs thus: Tolvai is simply a thief; Rablois a general term for robber; Haramia is a highwayman or a marauder,who conceals himself in a forest; Gyilkos (pronounced Yilkosh) is a thiefand murderer by profession.Towards evening we came in sight of the city of Stuhlweissenburg, inHungarian Fejervar, in Slavonian Belgrade, and in Latin Alba regia, all ofwhich signify nearly the same thing. There is something very peculiarin the aspect of this city. It lies in the midst of a swampy plain, with itsvineyards, or rather vine-hills at some distance from the gates . On thesevine-hills, each citizen has his little possession, and each contains a house.These vineyard-houses are so numerous, and some of them so large, thatthey form a town in themselves, so that the vineyard town and the townStuhlweissenburg properly so called, which are divided also by a portionwholly uncultivated, of the swampy plain, are completely distinct from each other.We drove first into the vineyard-town. Right and left lay the vineyardor press-houses as the Hungarians call them. The vineyard-town is surrounded by them as the cattle-breeding shepherd towns of the Pusten arewith the Sallashes. The arrangement of these houses is also similar to thatof the Sallashes, insomuch as they contain a hearth and a dwelling, andthat the whole population of vinedressers take possession with bag andbaggage in the season of the vintage, and there abide till it is over, as isdone by the cattle- owners in the sallashes at one time of the year. Theyhave generally but one or two windows, one large room with a press, anda large door leading into a cellar, and are one story high, but in the largerpossessions of the wealthy owners there are some houses of considerablesize and elegance, as the bishop's for example, which may almost be termed a palace. Around the bishop's press-house are those ofseveral nobles; then come the houses belonging to the trading part of the community, and to the left of the road the Rascians of Stuhlweissenburghave theirs. The vineyard-town is a faithful reflection of Stuhlweissenburg itself.The fortnight or three weeks spent among the vineyards in the vintage time is a season of great gaiety and enjoyment. The labours over whichBacchus presides are in themselves more of a festival than a toil. Everyleisure hour is devoted to merriment, especially when the vintage is asabundant as it was this year. Gipsy musicians were roving about fromhouse to house, the vinedressers danced in the open air, and in the midstof the treillage of vines a temporary saloon for the same purpose was erectedfor the more aristocratic part of the assembly. The bishop has built achapel among the vines in which service is performed on Sundays.the commencement of the season, when the " vintage is opened," numbersperform a pilgrimage to this chapel when there is service.AtWe came unfortunately too late to witness these joyous labours; thevintage had taken place in this hot year two or three weeks earlier than 2 B356 STUHLWEISSENBURG.-VESPRIM.usual, and was just over when we arrived. The press-houses were alllocked and barred, and stood among the despoiled vine-branches, likebodies whence the spirit has departed. Only here and there the door ofsome lingerer remained open, and a few poor girls were diligently employed in seeking the remaining grapes among the waste leaves. Someof the wealthy owners permit these gleanings.The vintage of Buda was formerly one of the most celebrated, and thegayest in Hungary. No vinedresser formerly omitted to twine his vinewreath from the finest branch of thevine, and bring it home in triumph withsong and dance. This custom has now fallen more or less into disuse;the vineyards of Buda have increased enormously in extent, wines arecheaper, times worse, and the vinedressers no longer so gay and frolicsome as they were.In Hungary they do not in general allow the plant to shoot up to anygreat height, but cut off the shoots of the year close to the ground asis done in Provence. In consequence, the stem swells to a thick knottygrowth from which in spring new shoots burst forth. These knotty stemsnaturally assume various and sometimes very extraordinary forms. Thesetoo figure sometimes among the emblems of the vintage feast. Pieces ofthese strangely distorted stems are often carried home with the vinewreath and preserved as memorials, like the antlers of the stag in ourhunting-seats. Some of the pieces are occasionally fashioned into drinking-cups.The wine of Stuhlweissenburg is not one of the most distinguishedkinds in Hungary. It is said the cellars are not well constructed for itspreservation. The quantity, however, is considerable, and a large portionis consumed in Stuhlweissenburg itself in Johannissegen and Stehwein.This steh (standing) wine is what a person takes at a friend's house withoutsitting down; and there are people, it is asserted, who often swallow so manydrops of " standing wine," that they lose the power of standing altogether.The Johannissegen is another " drop" offered at parting. "Well, youmust drink the St. John's blessing with me," says a man to his friend,when he sees him preparing to depart. " The origin of the expression,said a Stuhlweissenburger to me, " is derived from a custom which prevails of taking some bottles to a priest (on St. John's day?) to be blessed,a portion is then poured into the various casks, and from these the segen,or blessing, is offered to the guests.As before mentioned, a wide, uncultivated plain lies between the vine-hills"9and the city. A few hundred paces from the gates, we came upon theruins of a church, and were told that the city had formerly extended thus far. The great morass of Stuhlweissenburg is called the Sarret Marsh.Thelarger portion, three German square miles in extent, lies to the west ofthe city, and another, of considerable extent, stretches to the east. The city,between the two, stands on perfectly dry ground; formerly it stood on islands in the morass, on which account its different divisions were calledSzigeth (islands), in the old chronicles. One great suburb, (the Budasuburb) was a short time ago all swamp. By means of a great canal, the Sarvitz canal, which crosses the swamp in several directions, and descendingthe Sarvitz valley carries offthe waters to the Danube, a considerable portionhas been drained, and a quantity of arable and garden ground reclaimed.This draining might be carried much further; "but," said a Stuhlweissenburger to me, "we have so many lovers of the chase, and there is such ex-STUHLWEISSENBURG.- VESPRIM. 357cellent wildfowl shooting in these swamps, that many people dislike thedrainage. There are here multitudes ofblack and white billed bittern, geese,swans, and ducks of all kinds; even stags and wild boars are very plentiful.Part of theswamp preserve belongs to the town, and part to the nobles; andsome of the citizens are as passionate lovers of the chase as the noblemen.Our city-hunting parties in the swamp of Sarret are often as gay as our vintage; we have built a saloon for dancing there; and on grand occasions wetake the ladies and the gipsy musicians out there. Besides this, many smallhouses have been erected in the swamp, in which to pass the night occasionally, and for snaring birds, &c. People who have laid out money on thesethings, and take pleasure in them, of course are not very fond of thedraining: and then, we have vine and arable land enough without it.”West of the Danube, and north and south of the Platten Lake, lie themost productive hunting-grounds in all Hungary; and there, on the landsof Esterhazy, in the Oseral district, are held those grand hunting-parties ofwhich so many incredible stories are related.Stuhlweissenburg was formerly the coronation and burying place of theHungarian kings, and, for a short period, their residence also. For fivehundred years it was for Hungary what Cracow was for Poland, Upsalafor Sweden, and Rheims and St. Denis together for France. It is singularenough that the burial-places, residences, and coronation towns of kings,should be so often separate from each other. The first king buried inStuhlweissenburg was Stephen the Holy; the last, John Zapoyla. Thelast king crowned there was Ferdinand, brother of Charles the Fifth.The same ceremonial was observed then as is now observed at Presburg.The new king ascended the " coronation hill," and waved his swordtowards all four points of the heavens; the oath was taken upon a loftyscaffold before all the people, the red velvet carpet, over which the king rode to church, was abandoned to the populace, &c. Of all these detailsscarcely a trace is now remaining. I asked in vain for the " coronationhill. " The noble old cathedral in which the monarchs were crowned, andwhich contained their mausoleums, was entirely destroyed. Where itonce stood even is now a disputed point. A priest told me that the Turks,not content with levelling it with the ground, had filled the vaults withpowder, and blown them into the air. In the course of five hundredyears, a long series of kings had not only bestowed so many bright ducatson their coronation day, but had adorned the cathedral with so many royalgifts, as to render it one of the richest in Europe. On a pallium ofStephen's, nowin Vienna, it is said, a picture of the cathedral, as it thenstood, was embroidered by the royal hand of his consort, Gisela. It isknown that the first queen of Hungary embroidered the mantle now wornby the kings of Hungary at their coronation-is this the pallium meant,perhaps?Lately, on boring for an artesian well, the skeleton of a headless corsewas discovered; and, close to it, several golden buttons and fringes, andon its finger a gold ring. A red stone containing a drop of some fluidmatter, in a little cavity, was set in the ring. From the ring it was concluded that the body was that of King Charles Robert, of the Neapolitanhouse of Anjou, who died of hunger and poison in the castle of Vissegrad,and who, dying under the ban of the church, was left there to decayunburied, till the remains were subsequently removed to Stuhlweissenburg,2 B2358 STUHLWEISSENBURG. -VESPRIM.and placed in the royal mausoleum. This skeleton, and a piece of theskull of King Stephen, brought with his hand from Ragusa to Hungary,are the only relics of the royal race who moved and had their being here for so many centuries. The brethren of the Hungarians, the Poles, havemore carefully preserved historical monuments so dear to them; the wallsand statues of their royal mausoleums are yet standing. The Hungarians,on the other hand, have preserved in a most admirable and remarkablemanner the venerable edifice of their ancient constitution; while that ofPoland lies in the dust, the Hungarian remains nearly unimpaired.-The present city of Stuhlweissenburg is quite modern; nothing antiqueis to be discovered in its architecture. It is built like all the new Hungarian cities, but has a far more stately appearance than Szegedin, or theother Pusten cities. The population is half Hungarian, half German, andhas a Rascian suburb. In one of the gates some Roman stones with inscriptions are inserted, perhaps remains of the ancient Floriana, which formerly stood here. The invention, or rather the generally extended practiceof boring for artesian wells has been of immense benefit to this city; formerly it contained but one well that afforded really good water for drinking, now there are ten. In boring for one of them, the labourers piercedthrough the ruins of some building a fathom and a half below the surface.In Stuhlweissenburg, I learnt one Hungarian phrase by heart which displeased me excessively- -“ Nintsch haz,” (not at home). These fatal wordswounded my ears the first time from the lips of Frau von N.'s servant. I hada letter of recommendation to her, but she, with her whole charming family,were gone on a visit; I heard them next from the maidservant of aFrench gentleman whose leech-pond I wished to see, but he too was absent on business; and lastly from the haiduck of Herr von C. to whom Ibrought a greeting and an introduction from a friend in Pesth. I felt myselfthe more forlorn and abandoned, as I had reckoned upon enjoying a pleasantand social evening with one or other of these good people. The city ofStuhlweissenburg contains twenty-three thousand souls, and yet I could notget at one! I felt the despair of one pining for water in sight of a streamhe cannot reach, and prayed fervently to Heaven to warm some heart inmy favour. It occurred to me, that the same laws are not valid for thehungry as for the full, and hearing that there was a Cistercian convent inthe place, I knocked at its gate without further ceremony, begged thesuperior for the charity of a little society and conversation, and was badekindly welcome.The Hungarian clergy are very hospitable, and like all their countrymenhave something frank and cordial about them. The shadow side of theirlife has been often enough brought forward and insisted on; but with allthe shades, which are undeniable, I have always found so much light, that,for my own part, I am right well pleased with them. There is a greatdifference between the catholic and the reformed clergy in Hungary: theformer are imcomparably more learned and more imbued with the westEuropean civilization than the latter; a circ*mstance which arises probably from the fact, that while the latter have almost confined themselves to thestudy of their own language and literature, the catholics, in the study ofLatin, have prepared a soil more favourable to further cultivation. Thereis also more knowledge of Germany and German literature amongthe catholics, owing to their connexion with the Austrian clergy; while theSTUHLWEISSENBURG.-VESPRIM. 359reformed ministers rather keep aloof from them, and call their own doctrine in opposition to that ofthe German reformers " Magyar hit," or theMagyar faith.The noble and learned Hungarian priests look down somewhat scornfully upon the simplicity of their reformed brethren. It is somewhat different with the Lutherans in the Slovak country. These live in another andvery dissimilar spiritual element. I was assured by many enlightened catholics, that taken on the whole, the protestants in Hungary were farmore intolerant than the catholics. "It never occurs to a catholic, " saidthey, " to inquire after a stranger's religious belief, which a protestantwould do immediately; the protestants keep much together, and are farmore exclusive than the catholics. " A lady assured me that although shehad been brought up in a convent, she had never till her eighteenth yearknown any difference between protestants and catholics: the former bandy the reproach of heresy amongst each other far more than the ca- tholics do towards them. I give these remarks as they were made to me,having had no experience on the subject myself; so much, however, I mustsay, that no question respecting my religious faith was ever put to me, go where I would.When I told the Cistercian that I was a native of Bremen, he began toquestion me about the schism among the clergy there, and I found to mysurprise that he was far better informed on the subject than I was. They also made some inquiries respecting the lead and wine cellars of my nativecity. I told them that I was astonished things so insignificant in themselves should have obtained so wide a celebrity, and spoke of some other ресиliarities of the place which seemed to me far more deserving of notice.In this convent I read for the first time the celebrated ninth article inthe first part of the Hungarian code of laws, containing the four fundamental rights (" libertatesfundamentales" ) ofthe Hungarian nobles. They are as follow:1. That everyhis comitat;nobleman has a voice in the enactment of the statutes of2. That before conviction of a crime, and before a legal sentence hasbeen pronounced, a nobleman cannot be arrested;3. That a nobleman alone can possess a landed estate; and4. That none but the king is above him."The sum of which is," said the priest, " that with us a nobleman bylaw, may do every thing that pleases him." These famous articles arefamiliarly known throughout Hungary by the name of " Prima Nonus,"by which every one understands "Prima Partis Codicis Articulus Nonus. "Formerly a clause was inserted in the fourth privilege, that the noblemight oppose lawfully the reigning unconsecrated king. This clause wasstruck out of the statute-book by the emperor Leopold, since it not onlymade the nobleman the judge of the king's actions, but tended to the destruction of the state altogether; but as it still remains in the Tripartitumof Werhotzy, a law-book written by the celebrated prothonotary and palatine Werhotzy, which is so esteemed in Hungary, that its dicta have al- most the power of law, many of the Hungarian nobles bear it well in mind,and will still appeal to it.I found a copy of the Allgemeine Zeitung in this convent. My spiritual friend thought that about twelve copies were brought regularly to the city. It may be a question whether in Northern Germany more than360 STUHLWEISSENBURG.- VESPRIM.one city of 20,000 inhabitants may not be found, where a smaller numberof this journal would be sufficient to supply the demand.The next morning I drove with a pair of fleet horses (easily obtainedhere) to Vesprim. To the right I saw the Vertesch mountains, in whichthere is a very remarkable break at this part. It cuts through the mountain back of an extensive valley, leaving the hill standing at a considerabledistance on either side, like a vast portal. Through this gate runs the high- road to Raab. Much merchandise from Pesth takes this circuitous routeover Stuhlweissenburg to Raab and Vienna, because the roads are betterthan those leading more directly through the Buda mountains. Leavingthe mountain gate, and the city of Stuhlweissenburg behind, the roadpassed along the skirts of a branch of the Bakony forest. The hills werefor the most part planted with vines. Our horses took objections to a deaddog and a dead horse, both of which lay across their path, and then to agipsy-cart drawn by an ass. The cart was two-wheeled, and about largeenough to accommodate a couple of flour-sacks, but three gipsy-women with their children, had contrived to pack themselves in it, a young ladsat on the animal's back, and an old gipsy squatted behind it on the pole;the boy held the reins, and the old fellow retained the executive power inthe shape of a knotted stick. They were all as black as ifnewly imported from Africa.In Polota, a town subject to the Zichy family, I saw a synagogue witha modern inscription, in the Magyar language, a sign of great patriotism among the Jews of the place. I doubt whether we could find in Germany one synagogue with a German inscription; the churches of four other religious sects were all dwelling in peace with one another. The situation of the town at the foot ofthe mountain was not bad, and beetling over thehabitations of men, enthroned on a lofty rock, two castles of the counts ofZichy, an old and a new one, reared their stately heads. From thisplace, castles and the ruins of castles met us at every step, by the side of the forest.One of the curiosities of Polota, is a lawsuit which was commenced inthe year 1727. The exposition and settlement of various pleas andcounter- pleas occupied a hundred and eleven years down to 1838. It issaid that it will come to an end at last; the litigants, made wiser by morethan a century's experience, have resolved to come to an accommodation.This is not the only " monster" lawsuit that exists in Hungary.There are more pictures by Rosa di Tivoli in Hungary than in all theGerman picture-galleries, plentiful as the sheep, oxen, and herdsmen of this industrious artist are there. On every side we saw also the finestgroups of cattle and figures . Wrapped in their sheepskins, the Gulyasseswere either cooking their noonday meal by a fire kindled in the openair, or stretched under the shade of a tree, enjoying an enviable state ofdo-nothingness, while their herds grazed around. Almost all the oxen were handsome, indeed to be handsome is the ordinary condition of theinferior animals; man alone enjoys the privilege of being occasionallyugly. However, I saw one exception to this rule, in a most hideouslyugly ox. His mouth was widely distorted from the regular line usualin the physiognomy of his race; his teeth were awry and ill formed,and his horns, which have generally so stately an appearance, especially with the cattle of Hungary, were frightfully twisted, and his eyeshad a most repulsive expression. His skin was very ugly, and his head,STUHLWEISSENBURG.- VESPRIM. 361white onthe other oxen, was covered with a nasty-looking dark-brown mole.The ugliness ofthe brute was so striking, that it was impossible to overlook it. Perhaps there may be apparent to the cows' eyes many shadesof beauty and degrees of ugliness that are overlooked by ours.Below Polota we passed a very singular-looking wall. It was low,several hundred feet long, built of fine freestone, from three to fourells wide, and screened a quantity of marsh-water, that issued from themountain. The people here attribute the building of this wall to theTurks, and say it was a bath; but it requires little consideration to induceone to reject this supposition as extremely improbable. The wall seemsbuilt for eternity, and was, I doubt not, a Roman work. It stronglyresembles those reservoirs built by the Roman emperors on the declivities of the hills of Constantinople, which were called " vòpáλia,” and arein existence to this day. Unfortunately there was no inscription, but itis known that in this part of Pannonia coins of the emperors down to Constantine have been found. The fine upper stones of the wall were partlyloosened, and some lay on the ground. I was told that the whole hadbeen sold to the Jews, who meant to make use of the stones. They havea handsome piece of work before them in the destruction of this Romanwork, which at all events they will not effect without some trouble.The nearer we approached Vesprim, the faster our driver urged hishorses. At last he began a race with another carriage like our own, with two horses. "I know him," said our man, " I will sekiren him a bit."“Andwhatis sekiren?" I asked our Hungarianized Germandriver. “Sekirenmeans to get the laugh against any one; when it is done only with wordsthey say sticheliren." After a time he turned again to me. " What doyou think, shall we overtake him? I think we are gaining on him."And in fact we had the pleasure of seeing the gallows of Vesprim beforehim; there were two of these pleasing objects, one of stone and the otherofwood, on a hill near the city. When I inquired about them in Vesprim,Iwas told that one was the town, and the other the bishop's gallows, bothbishop and town exercising the Jus studii. Another account was, thattwo years ago so many criminals were executed that the one stone gibbetshad been found insufficient, and therefore a supplementary one of wood had been erected. I know not which of the two accounts was the correctone, both parties seemed equally likely to be well informed.of my man wasI had an introduction to the Piarists who have a large college and seminary in Vesprim. One of the subordinate officers received me, and, asthe rector could not immediately be spoken with, remained with me in theanteroom. My companion entertained me in Latin, affording me anotheropportunity of studying the very peculiar Latin spoken here, which is aliteral translation of Hungarian or Austrian German. The first question" Cumqua occasione advenit? " It must be borne in mindthat in Hungarian Latin, the third person singular is used in addressingany one, the words Dominatio vestra (your lordship) being understood.The Austrian word Gelegenheit (opportunity) was understood here to signify what kind of vehicle, and was literally translated by occasione."Num propriam occasionem accepit?" continued my Latinist, and I replied, "Ita propriam occasionem accepi." We understood each othercapitally, but no European scholar of the west would have dreamed whathe meant by his question, or I by my answer. He intended to ask whether362 STUHLWEISSENBURG.-VESPRIM.I had hired a carriage for myself, my reply was intended to be an affirm- ative."Numdignabitur ecclesiam nostram inspicere? "* quoth he again, andsometimes a sentence was patched with a pure Hungarian word, for countless are the Latinized Hungarian expressions in use amongst them; but,perhaps our middle age Latin was not much better. The Latinized namesof the Hungarian dignitaries are quite unintelligible, to those unacquaintedwith the Hungarian language: for example, " Agosonum Regalium Magister" (Archchamberlain), " Pincernarum Regalium Magister" (Archcupbearer), "Banus Croatia" (The Ban of Croatia), &c. It is wellknown, however, that the educated clergy speak very good Latin, andtheeducated among the laity, speak it very fluently at least.At last the reverend gentlemen to whomI was recommended madetheirappearance, and had the goodness to escort me about their town. Vesprimhas the most peculiar site of any Hungarian town I ever saw. It is saidto resemble that of the mountain city of Schemnitz. It lies in the uppervalley of the Sed, near the sources of that river. The high land has several very deep indentations, owing either to the river or to some volcanicconvulsion, and the serpentine lines ofthese indentations meet at the end ofthe valley. In consequence a number of tongues ofland or promontories areformed, and perched on these promontories, and buried in the depths ofthat valley lies Vesprim. In the centre, on the long promontory of a steepchalk hill rise the bishop's palace, the seminary, the gymnasium, the comitat-house, and all the principal buildings of the city. The cliff ends witha long, high, narrow edge of rock projecting far into the river. Fromthispoint is obtained the best view of the city. On this elevated ridge many ruins are to be seen, memorials of Turkish ravages. Here too, theTurks put many of the chapter to death.The bishopric of Vesprim is one of the richest in Hungary, and thebishop is so much of a great man here, that almost every thing that isgood in the city is ascribed to him. The bishops of Vesprim belong tothe most ancient and most distinguished dignitaries of the kingdom. Asearly as the thirteenth century, a highschool, the oldest in Hungary, formedon themodel of the University of Paris, flourished here under their protectingAt that time the city contained twenty parish churches: but thesplendours of Vesprim, like all other splendours of Hungary, set when theTurkish half moon rose above the horizon; all that is now to be seen isthe work of the last century.care.The bishop's palace contains many beautiful works of art. There aresome excellent pictures by French artists of the time of Louis XV. Inthe chapel we saw and greatly admired a Christ crowned with thorns, saidto be Titian's, and the admirable execution and exquisite expression ofsuffering in the face of the Saviour were certainly not calculated to throwa doubt on the conjecture.Among the portraits of the bishops who have held this see, may beseen those of members of the most distinguished families in Hungary, theEsterhazys, Szchenyis, &c. The present bishop is also primate of thekingdom. Therevenue of the bishopric is said to exceed 300,000 florinsa magnificent vinea Domini! In France the revenue of an archbishop is

• Will your lordship condescend to look at our church?

STUHLWEISSENBURG.-VESPRIM. 363fixed at about 25,000 francs, that of a bishop at 15,000. In Hungary there are many chapters, the income of whose individual members exceedsthat sum. The chapter of Vesprim is one ofthe richest.One of these dignitaries of Vesprim, founded in the year 1811 an educational institution of a peculiar kind. It admits now but the children ofmixed marriages " because, " as my priest observed, " the education of suchchildren is naturally much neglected, " and brings them up in the Catholicfaith of course. The founder gave a sum of 300,000 florins for this purpose; but the " Patent" edict having sunk the value of these 300,000 to60,000, the plan could not be brought into operation till another wealthydignitary ofthe church came to the assistance of the pious undertaking in1827. Twenty girls, and as many boys are educated here. If the girlsmarry, they have 100 florins given them as a dowery. The director seemedto be a learned and well-informed man. It is said that the institution isindebted to him for many services which are little known, and for whichhe receives but little acknowledgment.Christianity was brought to Hungary, as to Bohemia and Moravia,from Greece. Several Hungarian chiefs and dukes were baptized at Constantinople. In the time of Sarolta, the mother of king Stephen the Holy,there were yet several Greek convents in Hungary. The ruins of oneare still to be seen in a narrow valley near Vesprim. Happily for Hungary, she allowed herself to be won over to the Latin church by Italy andGermany. This it was that decided that Hungary should belong toWestern Europe; and this also affords us the best security, that throughall the changes of destiny she will hold with us against the East.It was already twilight when I set out to pursue my journey towardsthe Platten Lake, and it soon became pitch dark. The only objects I couldrecognise in the obscurity were a waggon drawn by four fine oxen, andladen with corn, flour, and hay, for the use of the bishop, and some carts,each drawn by four horses, and packed full of fowls, also for the bishop,and goingto Vesprim.Late in the evening we reached the famous bathing- place of Fured, andlong and loud we had to knock and call at gate, wall, and window, beforewe could get admittance. We began to think the inhabitants had allgiven up the ghost, when a man made his appearance with a light, andhaving satisfied himself that we looked like harmless people, openedthe doors. We asked the people of the house if they had not heard ournoise before." Oh yes," was the answer;" but you must not take it amiss. Bynight all cats are gray, and it is impossible to know directly whom one hasat the door. So late in the year no guests to the baths were to be expected, and the Bakony forest, antiqua silva, stabula alta ferarum, wasnear." Therefore it was they had hidden their lights; for sometimesfoolish, drunken people would come and make an uproar, and quarrel, andthe like, so he hoped we would not take it amiss.I tranquillized the worthy people thoroughly, and assured them they haddone my valour too much honour in taking me for a bold captain of banditti; that I was by nature of a most peaceable disposition, and rejoiced from the bottom of my heart when others let me alone, instead of nourishing evil thoughts of attacking them. I was very glad to find myselfamongthem, and begged them by all means to bar the door carefully again.My hosts called me on all sides " gracious lord" ( Gnädiger Herr)364 STUHLWEISSENBURG. -VESPRIM.wherein I begged once more to correct them, as it would puzzle me to sayof what I was lord, and I was conscious of as little grace as might be.Hereupon the two pretty daughters of the house tuned up their guitars,and while I regaled myself with the culinary works of art set forth bytheir worthy old aunt of seventy-six, and with a glass of excellent Hungarian wine, they sang me an Hungarian song entitled " The Balaton,"that is to say, the Platten Lake.Unfortunately I did not perfectly understand this song, as it was sungin the Hungarian language; but its words were something to this effect:"God once sent two angels down upon the earth to see if his name washeld everywhere in honour. The angels found it held in high honouramong the burgers and peasants; everywhere as the messengers of Godthey were received with joy and veneration. At last they came to thepalace of a great lord, and a wealthy lady. Here the servants drove themaway, and would not hear of them or their sender. The lord and thelady refused the strangers an alms, although they were wearied by theirjourney. Apoor shepherd, whom they met in the fields, gave them of hisbread and his drink, so that they were refreshed and could fly back toHeaven. They related what they had found below, and complained ofthe hard-hearted lord of the castle. Then was God wroth, and againsent down messengers, who utterly destroyed the castle, and, that the placewhere his name was held in honour might vanish from the face of theearth, he caused waters to flow over that land, and thus was formed theBalaton or Platten Lake. Since that time, where once a lordly castlestood, is now the habitation of mute fish; but round about the Balaton,God-fearing men have increased and multiplied. "I requested my obliging young hostesses to sing me another song,which they immediately did. As I am not able to render this in a goodmetrical form, I translate it literally. The title isMENET A KEDVESCHER.(The Ride to the Beloved One by the Platten Lake. )1. On the dry earth falls the hoar frost. Eat not, dear horse, it might give thee pain. Dearest, I will buy thee a silken bridle and a velvet saddle, so thou bear me to my delight.2. Hard roll the clods under thy feet. Dear horse, heed well thy feet; fly with me to my heart's dear Rose, for away from her my soul pines in deep sorrow.3. See the moon begins to shine brightly; so pure it never before appeared. Oshed thy beams on me, that I may not lose myself in the darkness.4. See the Balaton glances brightly before us. Thou sparkling lake, thou wiltnot pour thy waters over the land, and bar my path. Ō beautiful Balaton, shednot thy waters o'er my path. See, I should bring my poor horse in danger.5. Hold my good steed, we are at our goal. Look there, a light glimmers feebly through her window. See, there sits a young brown maiden slumbering. What ho! my sweet girl, slumber not, thy lover waits without."You must know," said my kind and song-loving Ingrin, " that thePlatten See, in some places really overflows its banks, and makes the roadoften impassable; and moreover our Hungarian youths have the customof modestly visiting their mistresses at their windows, and there conversing with them."I told them that Shakspeare had chosen the same situation for his two lovers in " Romeo and Juliet." In the fourth verse, I added, there was aparticular delicacy in the rider's petitioning the lake, not for himself, butfor his horse; and I was pleased with the fancy of trying to make theTHE CONVENT OF TIHANY AND THE PLATTEN LAKE. 365animal believe grazing would be hurtful to him, and with the flatteringpromise of a velvet saddle and silken bridle."Note also the dark maiden," said the singer, " the Hungarians lovenothing but brown or black hair. Fair girls do not please, and the poor,pale, light hair seems downright ugly to them. You will never hear the charms of a blonde extolled in an Hungarian, as you do in so many aGerman song." " And still more in an Italian one," said I. " Themodern as well as the ancient Italians hold light hair, and especially thegolden locks, to be the most beautiful. The Roman ladies wore false locksof the favourite colour, and the painters of Italy, who have representedtheir ideal of beauty with fair hair are numberless. The portraits ofPetrarca's charming Laura, one in particular in the Berlin gallery, have light, indeed almost white hair.""Nay! that is too shocking!" said my horrified Ingrins. I tried toexplain the matter, and represented to them that fair hair resembled silk;that the play of colour in this tender material was generally softer and finer than in dark hair, and might, therefore, be more attractive to a painter;lastly that the soft and gentle tints of blond tresses had more analogy withthe character of women than the abrupt contrasts of the dark hair which seemed more suitable to the man. Perhaps the Hungarians dislike thelight colour because it approaches the gray of age; while the full ravenblack hair suggests the idea of youthful prime and freshness. The dislikeofthe Hungarians to the Germans will not explain their dislike of blondbeauty, for the Italians admire it, though they have looked on the Germans time out of mind with hostile feelings.My harangue was too long for the damsels; they tuned their guitarsagain to a song of mourning and lamentation, composed by Count Wesseleny in his captivity, no part of which, unhappily, I retain, and concluded with the song of an hussar, who is setting out for the wars, andentreats his mistress for a flower and a parting kiss. She answers she hasno time now; she must give the flowers to her mother, but when he comesback from the wars she will give him both. The hussar answers that per- haps he never will come back, perhaps he shall be left dead upon thebattle-field. "Then will I plant the flower upon thy grave, and bestowthe kiss upon thy cross," she answered, and melting into tears, permitshim to take as many kisses as he likes.THE CONVENT OF TIHANY, AND THE PLATTEN LAKE.The next day, in company with some public officers, and the obliging father of my pretty vocalists, I visited the bathing establishments ofFured. They belong to different persons who possess land in the neighbourhood, and who have a claim upon the springs and their produce. One bathing-house was erected by the Benedictine monks of the neighbouringabbey, another by the Esterhazy family, and a third belongs to forty ofthe peasant-nobles in common. All these buildings, some of which are verylarge, together with some places of amusem*nt, a theatre, public gardens,avenues of trees, &c. , form a very pretty settlement close to the shores ofthe Platten See. In the background there is a beautiful oak- wood, and in front the expanse of the magnificent lake which forms a small bay in thispart, with the peninsula of Tihany sweeping round.366 THE CONVENT OF TIHANY AND THE PLATTEN LAKE.As Trentschin in north western, and Mehadia in eastern, so Fured isnow the most noted and best frequented bathing-place in South WesternHungary. Its " Säuerling" is excellent, and it is strange that its meritsshould have been acknowledged only so very lately. The Hungariantravellers of the seventeenth century have spoken of these springs, andlamented that none but the neighbouring shepherds should come to enjoytheir delicious waters. It is only since the time of the emperor JosephII. , that any thing of consequence has been done for the convenience of guests, of whom the yearly number now exceeds a thousand.fThe wholesome taste for cold bathing has also taken root, and besides thearrangements for the drinkers of the Säuerling, there are baths on thePlatten See, and they are to be greatly extended this year.The little theatre is exclusively devoted to representations in theHungarian language; the inscription in front is likewise in Hungarian.It is said to be very bombastic, and a gentleman who was about to translate it to me, declared that it was impossible to render it in German. The shorter sense of it was, "the fatherland to its sons. " I should ratherhave supposed " the sons to the fatherland, " but as the theatre is really apoor insignificant affair, either would be absurdly pompous and swelling.Every thing about Fured, however, is excessively patriotic. All thefences round court and garden are painted of the national colours, red,white, and green; the little garden bridges, and the pavilion over thesprings, are emblazoned in the same hues. The previous year a companyof Tyrolese who had descended from their Alps to Fured were not evenallowed to sing there, out of pure patriotism. No one will think ofblaming the Hungarians for loving their native land; but in the midst ofour wonder, we can scarcely admire a zeal for nationality carried so far asto prohibit the innocent pleasure of listening to a few Tyrolese singers,because they happen to be foreigners. We Germans love our country too,but we can enjoy an Hungarian song for all that. Even as a matter ofpolicy the Hungarians should not carry their patriotic feeling to too lofty aheight, for a building raised to an unreasonable elevation is apt to toppleover, and is, at all events, sure to impair its own durability.I set out early after dinner that I might reach the famous abbey ofTihany in time, and deliver my credentials from a friend in Pesth to theabbot. The figure of the Platten Lake is a long parallelogram, and theshore is a tolerably straight line the whole way; the only exception occursabout the middle, where a considerable peninsula runs so far into thelake that between its point and the southern shore opposite there remainsonly a narrow channel, thereby dividing the lake into two, the eastern andwestern lakes. This remarkable peninsula is evidently of volcanic origin;it consists plainly of two deep basins, probably extinct craters, with a steep descent towards the water. In the bottom of one of these hollows lies asmall lake, the other is moist meadow-land . These two basins are connected with the shore by a swampy level, which probably lay altogetherunder water when the lake was higher, and completely insulated the pe-

• Those mineral waters are called in German Säuerlinge, which contain carbonic

acid gas, or fixed air, as one oftheir chief component parts, throwing up bubbles whenpoured out, and mantling like Champagne when mixed with sugar andwine. Among the best known German mineral waters of this kind are those of Selters, Eger, andSalzbrunn.-Tr.† In 1840, there were above 1800.THE CONVENT OF TIHANY AND THE PLATTEN LAKE. 367ninsula. On the steep declivity of the second basin stands the mistress ofthe peninsula, and, indeed, of half the country round, the abbey of Tihany.I drove there in a little Hungarian carriage that made a music on theuneven road like the jingling of the brass-laden harness of our Germandrivers. What we hang about the horses, the Hungarians of the PlattenSee hang to the carriage itself. Anumber of small iron- plates, strung onan iron rod, fastened obliquely from the pole to the fore wheel, clatteredand jingled backwards and forewards with every motion of the vehicle,as if it could not make noise enough by itself. Cheered by this agreeableharmony, we reached the isthmus that joins Tihany to the mainland, andthere sunk deep into the mire; for, as before said, the ground is swampy,and as level as a table. The ascent begins as soon as the peninsula isreached, and here are to be found the remains of the defences ascribed tothe Romans. It is certain that the Romans made use of this peninsula asa military post, although there may be no foundation for the tradition thatthe empress Valeria, the consort of Galerius, in whose honour this part ofPannonia was called the Valerian province, retired hither, with her mother,Prisca, after the death of her lord, to lead a life of seclusion. The peninsula itself has rather a desolate appearance. The two volcanic basins arenothing but bare pasture-lands with a small portion of arable. Thebasaltic elevations on the southern and western sides are wooded; those tothe east are bare. We drove through the first hollow, then ascended, andentered the second. Here the abbey comes in sight, situated on an elevation, at the foot of which, on the sides of the basin down to the smallinner lake, lies an Hungarian village. The Benedictines have a pleasantlodging ready for guests who have any kind of recommendation to them,and here I passed a few very agreeable days.The abbot who was busy when I arrived, made me over to a subordinateofficer who was to show methe curiosities of the place, and whose talkativehumour and very original German, amused me exceedingly. " How Ienvy you to be able to travel so much! " said he, as we set off to explorethe peninsula. " How much experience and knowingness one must gatherin travelling! It is true that it can only benefit clever people; ignorantpeople may travel as much as they will, they are none the better for it. Aswe say in Hungary, ' Send an ass to Vienna, and you will not make a horseofhim; ' and many stop at home and become wise people notwithstanding.There is our great poet, Kisfalndy, for example, who lives at Schumegh,not far from here. He is our Hungarian Orpheus, and something moreperhaps, and he has never been out of Hungary. Do you knowhis writings?What noble thoughts! His last publication, and the best of all, was a collection of songs about the environs of the Balaton. Well, if I were to go on my travels I should know when to stop, for I was well instructed in religion by my father, and that's the principal thing. My father made allhis children very religious; we were all obliged to learn by heart everypoint of Christ's genealogy, and of God's providence: and when one knowsall that, and can keep it fast, one can go through life safely enough. "" And where were you brought up?" I asked."In Debrezin, where they do not speak much German. I learnt it here.The Hungarian language also is differently spoken in Debrezin, coarselyand not at all flowingly; here they speak finer and more affectedly: and where do you come from?"368 THE CONVENT OF TIHANY AND THE PLATTEN LAKE."Bremiabo! from Bremen," was my answer, "Nemet szabad varos,”(that is, a free German city)."Where is Bremen, right or left below Trieste?"66 Neither, but at the back of it, if you will consider Trieste as standingwith its face to the sea. Bremen lies high up in the north of Germany."I have often noticed that the uneducated Hungarians make use of veryextraordinary expressions in German; if they have not the right word theytake another, or coin one for the occasion; they are probably led to thisby the facility they enjoy of making new words in their own language.The curiosities of Tihany peninsula consist, firstly, of an echo, which,under certain favourable conditions of the atmosphere, will repeat a wholedistich. My companion amused himself by repeating at least ten times,the Hungarian style and title of my native city, " Bremia Nemet kiralnyszabad varos!" (Bremen the German royal free city! ) secondly, of somecaves in which the monks are said to have hidden when the Turks held thecountry round; and lastly, in some singular petrifactions called the " goats'nails," from the striking resemblance they bear to a goat's feet; they areprobably petrified shells . The people take them for the feet of real goatsbelonging to the primitive inhabitants.As we returned home my companion gave me some information aboutthe Hungarian cookery, in which he seemed quite at home.The chief dish of all Hungarians, at least in this part of the country, hesaid, was dumplings with curdled milk. This dish made its appearanceevery day at every man's table, even on the nobleman's, and if not servedup at dinner, it never failed to figure at supper. Roast or boiled meat,roasted horseflesh, pork, or bacon, almost every one eat every day, eventhe poor had their bacon and white bread. The vegetable part ofthe mealvaried every day according to old established custom.On Sundays, generally sour kraut ( Toltett kaposzta); Mondays, sweet cabbage ( Olasz kaposzta); Tuesdays, another kind of sour kraut called Savangu kaposzta;Wednesdays, yellowturnips, cabbage, or lentils; Thursdays, Savangu repa,or white turnips preserved in vinegar; Fridays, yellow turnips, and Saturdays, spinach, and so on. The first part of the week maytherefore belooked upon as sacred to cabbage of different kinds, and the latter, tillSzombat, (even the Hungarians have adopted the Hebrew word, Sabbath,for Saturday, like almost all the eastern Europeans, ) is devoted to turnips.While pursuing these valuable inquiries, we came back to the abbey,where in the evening I made the acquaintance of some of these dishes,while enjoying conversation a little more instructive.It was a beautiful evening, and I had a good opportunity of enjoying it,when I retired to my cell, a large, Gothic, vaulted room, commanding aview of the lake, wherein the moon's sickle was reflected in athousanddancing, sparkling waves. Onone side lay the deep shadow of the Bakonyforest, on the other the bright mirror of the lake was gradually lost in thedistance, and a vague, uncertain line only marked the place where theRomans had attempted to unite the lake with the Danube by means of acanal. No sound broke the silence, save the murmuring of the waters;not a voice, not an oar. The convent was intensely still, I felt alone withthe genii ofthe lake.In many respects the Balaton or Platten Lake is the counterpart of thelake of Geneva. They lie at the two extremities of the Alpine chain, andTHE CONVENT OF TIHANY AND THE PLATTEN LAKE. 369between them a chain of lakes winds along the northern and another alongthe southern line of these mighty hills; on the one side the lake of Con- stance, the Swiss lakes, those ofBavaria, and the Neusiedler lake; ontheotherthe Italian and some small Illyrian lakes. I should like to know whetherthere exists any geognostic connexion between these lakes and the chains oflakes near them; I mean whether they have any common reference to the elevation ofthe lofty Alpine range between them. I do not remember thatthis point has ever been cleared up, or has even induced an inquiry.Many peculiarities, as my readers are no doubt aware, have been ascribed to the Platten See. It has been described as constantlyagitated even in the calmest weather, as foaming and fretting, and dashingits waves incessantly against the shore; the ebb and flood as being verytrifling, but its waters as rising or sinking according to the changes of themoon, at particular hours. The evaporation ofthe surface, we have beentold, is replaced by subaqueous springs, which have their sources in theneighbouring limestone mountains, and bring with them a quantity ofcarbonic acid which is disengaged in the lake, and thereby occasions theeffervescing of its waters. The colour of the water is said to be generallya clear white, but when storms are approaching, even when no clouds haveyet appeared in the heavens, it assumes a dark hue, and forms thus a convenient weather-gauge.The whole nature of the Platten See has never been properly examined,and therefore I believe that the few facts related to me on the spot mayoffer something of novelty. The evening I speak of, when I looked uponits waters, waves were constantly beating against the shore, although theatmosphere was perfectly still. The following morning I went down tothe ferry at the extremity of the peninsula. This ferry unites the comitatof Salader, at the north of the lake, to that of Schom*oty, at the south.Aroad leads through the peninsula, over which the people who wish to go" in's Schom*oty," pass as over a bridge. On the Schom*oty side thereis an Hungarian, on the Tihany, a German ferryman. The walk from theconvent to the ferryman's cottage is nearly a mile. His name is Dicker,and he has held the ferry over this lake for nearly eighteen years. He assured me that the water was never still, not even when there had beena calm for fourteen days. He also confirmed what had been told me respecting the changes in the weather to be foretold by the appearance of the water. " Even when the storm is in Germany," said he, " the lakegot it in its stomach, and foams and grumbles beforehand." In thelittle strait at the extremity of the peninsula, where the lake is only twohundred fathoms wide, the motion is the strongest; and in addition to theagitation of the waves on the surface, there is a strong current, strongestin the middle of the strait, where the water is not more than seven fathomsdeep at the utmost. The current flows sometimes from west to east, andsometimes in a contrary direction; the people could not say whethertherewas a double current as in other straits. The monks thought this current wascaused by the superfluous waters of either part of the lake, and that if thewind blew long from the east the water was driven into the western part,and vice versâ; but the boatman was of opinion that the stream was continual, even when there had long been no wind to impel the waters to onepart or the other. After a long continuance of wind the water became troubled, but in general, even amongthereeds, it was as clear ❝as aqua fortis."The people employ a curious terminology for the different winds. Thehas370 THE CONVENT OF TIHANY AND THE PLATTEN LAKE.north wind, which blows from the Bakony forest, is the upper wind; thesouth, from the Schom*otyer plains, the under wind; the west wind is theSaler, because it blows from the Salader comitat; and the east wind theCalvin wind, probably because it comes over the Hungarian steppes, where there are more Calvinists than in any other part ofHungary. The " Salerwind, " from the Alps, sweeping along the whole length of the lake, is themost violent; it raises the waves mountain high, and brings with it thegreatest number of storms. As to the story of the rise and fall of thewaters with the moon's changes, no one knew any thing about it.The foaming of the water may arise from the quantity ofcarbonic acidgas carried into it by the springs. The Platten See is so strongly impreg- nated with this gas, that Professor Schuster thinks the whole lake may belooked upon as one great receptacle of a much diluted acid. Yellow paperbecomes pretty quickly of a brown red tint in its waters, and red is changedto blue. The taste is strongly astringent, and the skin, after washing init, becomes rough and breaks. The eyes, after bathing in the lake, becomesensible of great irritation, which sometimes even amounts to inflammation.Horses driven to swim in the lake would lose their hoofs if fat were notrubbed into them. The water may be preserved for a long time withoutbecoming putrid, and it will even preserve meat and other substancescompletely fresh for several days. The fish found in this lake are said todiffer greatly from those ofthe same species in other waters.The flesh isfiner, firmer, and better flavoured.The Romans dug a canal from the eastern corner of the lake where thelittle river Sio runs out of it, and afterwards, uniting with the Sarwitz,flows into the Danube. The Sio, I was told, is an intermitting river; itdoes not always flow, but forms at times only a lengthened swamp. TheRomans are said to have gained much ground on the shores of the lake,by means of the Sio canal, which was subsequently inundated in consequence of the canal becoming choked up. As no navigation would beruined by the draining of the Platten See, and nothing worse would ensuethan the non-appearance of the delicatefogasch on the tables of Pesth andVienna, the whole lake would be no great loss, and the Hungarians couldnot do better than tread in the footsteps ofthe Romans, and clear out the canal once more.preThe boatmen at the Tihany ferry assured me as a positive fact, thatsince 1834 the lake had sunk five feet. During three months of thesent summer, which has been a very dry one, it has lost five inches more.I asked them how they knew that, and they showed me a scale which theyhad made on the beams sunk here, to form a sort of quay for theferry-boats.Icould learn nothing certain respecting the height of the water before the year 1834, and the question remains, whether the lake be really diminishing, or whether, as the people here seem inclined to think, a periodical increase and decrease takes place. It was remarkable that what I was toldofthe decrease of the Platten See, and also the epoch of its commencementexactly tallied with what I had previously heard of the Neusiedler lake. Inwinter the lake rises from six to twelve inches, and reaches its highestpoint in March.The south-western end ofthe Platten See loses itselfin swamps, throughwhich several small rivers find their way to the lake. In later times manyattempts have been made to drain these swamps. Has the quantity ofTHE CONVENT OF TIHANY AND THE PLATTEN LAKE. 371water in the lake perhaps been affected bythese? It is very possible ifweassume that a part of the lake water remains in these swamps; but thecontrary may be the case, there may have been an increase ofthe quantitywhen we reflect that the whole waters of those small rivers now flow intothe lake, part of which formerly the swamps must have absorbed.There are a far greater number of species of fish in this lake than in the Neusiedler. Two of them are of importance; one because it is sohighly valued by the epicure in fish, the other because it is caught in suchvast quantities. The former is the renowned fogasch, the latter the garda.The fogasch, a kind of sand eel (Perca lucioperca) is only found in this lake. It is from seven to ten, and 15 lbs. weight, and is most frequentlycaught in the western part, chiefly near the market-town of Kesthely, apossession of Count Festetiz, It usually keeps in the deepest part of thewater, and is consequently very susceptible to the hostile element of fish,the air. As soon as it is taken out of the water it dies. Clear water anda sandy bottom are its delight; in reeds and swamps it is never to be found.The flesh is very white and firm, and much more corny" than that ofother fish, as my ferryman of the lake expressed it .66The garda has a most fraternal resemblance to the herring, but is somewhat smaller. The Germans in the neighbourhood generally call ita herring. It is very delicate, but is little else than bones. Whilst thefishermen esteem themselves fortunate if they catch a couple of fogasch atonce, and very seldom indeed capture as many as five or ten in their nets,the garda is to be had by fifties and sometimes even by hundreds of cwts.Small as this water kingdom of theirs is, these lake herrings, like theirbrethren in the ocean, appear to have a taste for wandering, and moveabout incessantly in their basin. By what passion they may be urged Iknow not, but they are not unfrequently to be seen in shoals on thesurface of the water flying from the eastern to the western side andback again. The state of the weather may perhaps have a great effect on them.The gardas are caught most frequently during winter, and in thefollowing manner: A number of small holes are made in a circular figureon the ice, and pretty close together. Opposite to each other, in the circle,two ofthe holes are made much larger than the others; through one thenet is lowered, through the other it is drawn up. The draught is sometimes so abundant that the net cannot be drawn up, and the fish must be taken out singly.As it is easier to describe the labour than to execute it, and the circleand the net are very large, a great number of persons are required forthis kind of fishing. The best time for it is in the beginning of thewinter, before the ice becomes too thick, and many accidents, sometimesfatal ones, take place in consequence. I was told that on one occasion,nearly fifty persons lost their lives. The fishermen are generally nativeHungarians. Indeed the towns and villages round the Platten See areall Magyar, in which point this lake differs materially from its brotherthe Neusiedler See, which is surrounded by German towns, and at the utmost can be considered as Hungarian only at its south-eastern coast.The Neusiedler, however, can bear no comparison in interest with the Platten lake, partly from this very cause. The natural-historical, thepicturesque, and the historical associations are all in favour of the latter;hence it is far more renowned in Hungary, and more glorified in the 2 c372 THE CONVENT OF TIHANY AND THE PLATTEN LAKE.national poetry. Among the Romans also, the Balaton was the morenoted; it is not certain what name they bestowed on the Neusiedler,and some even assert that it is not certain that it existed at that time.The Romans called the Platten See Pelso, probably a corruption of theancient Slavonian word Boloton, which has much the same significationas the Latin Palus, and like this, is no doubt a verbal root. The tinBoloton might be easily changed into an s. The Romans called it alsoVolocea, which may be only another corruption of Boloton. The Germans make Blatten, or Plattensee out of the same word; the same oldSlavonian word seems a foundation of all. The Hungarians have alsoanother name for it; they call the lakefeyer tenger (the white sea).I returned from my visit to the Tihany strait, in time to play a gameat billiards with some of the monks. They called the game " Ludustudicularis ," I asked for an explanation of a name so new to me. " Quiatunditur," was the answer. Out of politeness they persisted instyling me "doctissime, or clarissime," although I assured them that Iwas far from deserving the distinction, as in the first place I was everyday discovering monstrous gaps in my learning, and in the second, nouniversity had ever conferred that dignity upon me.The game of billiards is known all over Europe, and the Russians havecarried it far into Asia; its terms are familiar to every man and nearly toevery lady, but few, I believe, are acquainted with the Latin expressionsinvented by the Hungarians, and I therefore subjoin those I learnt on this occasion as curiosities.The balls are called globi, and, according to their colour, cæruleus,ruber, and flavus."Ubiglobus Dominationis?" (Where is your ball?)"Ibi incipiamus" (Here! let us begin)."Dignetur præcedere?" (Will it please you to go on?)"Dolendum est! Si cæruleus huc veni sset" (What a pity! If theblue had but come this way).I made a miss. "Fallit! fallit!" was the exclamation that followed."Nunc flavus recte ad manum mihi est" (Now the Caroline liesright to my hand).I made a good stroke. "Bene, bene! Nunc Hannibal ad portam."(Very good! There will be the devil to pay now. )"Dignetur Dublé?" (Will you please to double?)"Fallit!" (A miss! ) "Osi hom*o nunquamfalleretur, esset invincibilis!”"Reverende Pater! Nunc tota positio difficilis est." "Nil video!nisi cæruleum et rubrum percutere velles" ( I see nothing particularexcept a cannon on the red and blue) ."Ah, ah! subtiliter volui et nil habeo! ( Alas! I wanted to dosomething very clever, and I have done nothing! )There "Bene, bene! Nunc si adhuc illum faceris. Fecesti! Finis ludi!"We were called to dinner. The party was pretty numerous.were other guests besides myself; a priest of the neighbourhood, andsome students who often met at the tables of the abbots in Hungary,as friends or relations of some of the community. The conversation wasextremely lively, and to me, highly instructive; and seemed the moreinteresting when I thought ofthe peculiar position of our dining- room, onthe summit of a mountain, with on the one side the broad still prolific lake,BAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS. 378on the other an immense forest filled with herdsmen and their gruntingcharges. An animated and highly cultivated circle has under such cir- c*mstances far more charm and worth than it would have in the centreof a large capital.The abbot and the prior were, among the inmates of the convent, thosewho pleased me most. The latter had been formerly Professor of Poetryand Rhetoric at a gymnasium in Raab; he was a man rich in knowledge,of a fine taste, and apparently of an ardent and energetic character. Hisconversation was so agreeable to me, that after dinner I followed him tohis cell, or rather his very pretty chamber. If conversation were not socapricious and intangible a thing, I should attempt to give the reader someidea of mine with this learned monk, from which might be gained muchnew information respecting Hungary; but conversation, animating, kindling as it is when we take an active part in it, is ordinarily but a lifelesswooden thing upon paper, because it is nearly as difficult to follow its manyand often graceful turns, as to describe the evolutions of a dance. Wespoke ofthe old times of Hungary in the days of the Augsburgi Utközet(the battle ofAugsburg); of the proceedings of the last diet; of Kisfaludy'sartless but inspired verses, which ring in one's ears and bewitch one likegipsy music, and particularly of his principal production, " Himfy'sLove;" of the young poet Zuzor's lyric and erotic songs, some of which,however, as the production of an ecclesiastic, have been exposed to severereprehension; among his best are " The Sleeping Beauty, " " The LittleWindow," "No Subterfuge." From this native poetry we came to thattranslated from the German, including nearly all the poems of Schiller,but scarcely any thing of Göthe; and passed from Hungarian literature toHungarian ethnography, to national economy, the condition of the schools,the manufacture of wine, and the natural history of the country in all itsvarious relations, a width of range that may appear marvellous and unlikely enough to the reader, but in which the subjects followed each othernaturally and unconstrainedly through all the mazes and regular confusionof an unfettered conversation.BAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS.It was no easy task for me to tear myself from Tihany, where I wouldwillingly have lingered a little longer; but as my friends in the conventtold me that if I wished to reach Schumegh in the afternoon I had notime to lose, I left them the day after that of which I have just spoken,descended the steril mountain of Tihany, and leaving Fured to the right,pursued my way through the two volcanic hollows, over the swampyisthmus, and proceeded along the road by the lake, whose whole westerndivision now lay stretched before me, glittering in a splendid sunshine.The Platten See, like the lakes of Constance and Geneva, and, indeed,like the majority of large lakes, has one high mountainous and one levelshore. Its mountain side, like the Neusiedler lake, boasts an admirablevine culture, while the low and swampy coasts are brought under theplough, and used for pasturing cattle. Between the vine hills of the twolakes there is this difference, that those of the Platten See stretch from eastto west, consequently face the south, while those of the Neusiedler extendnorth and south, and are, therefore, not so well protected. Hence, it2 c2374 BAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS.might be concluded that the produce of the Balaton vine must be superior to that of Neusiedler, but this is not by any means the case. The winesof Ruster and Oedenburg have a far higher reputation than those of thePlattensee; to the former, the Hungarians themselves assign the secondrank after Tokay, whereas the Platten lake has only one kind that canbear any comparison with those of its rival. Are the German cultivatorson the northern lake, perhaps, better skilled than their Hungarian brethren? The best wine of the Platten See is the produce of Badatschon, ahigh mountain on the northern coast, of which we frequently caught sight as we drove along. Like most of the mountains north of the Platten See,Badatschon is round, high, and pointed. The vine clusters round it nearlyto the summit. The grapes improve as they ascend to the middle, wherethey attain their perfection. Near the summit they ripen too much it issaid, and in consequence impart a certain bitterness of flavour to the wine.On Badatschon, in addition to wine, a kind of wine decoction is made,known under the name of Badatschon wormwood, and as renowned inHungary as the Menescher, or Tokay essence. To make it the juice isboiled with certain herbs. The same thing is done with the best of theSchomlau grapes, to produce the Schomlau wormwood. Schomlau liesnot far from the Badatschon. This wormwood is not made in any other wine district of Hungary.The vintage of Badatschon is one of the most celebrated throughout Hungary, and may be almost considered as a national festival. Friendsand acquaintance are invited far and near. Portions of the Badatschonvineyards are held by proprietors resident at a great distance; the abbotsof the surrounding convents, and the nobles from afar flock to the mountain in the season, and for a fortnight together it is nothing but grapegathering, music, dancing, and feasting. The goodness of the wine, thebeauty of the surrounding scenery, and even the form of the volcanicmountain, which brings all the vineyards to a common centre, and therebyfavours social intercourse, have no doubt given Badatschon its meritedreputation.HeMy equipage was one of the same ring-furnished, rattling, peasant carriages, I have before described; my driver was a genuine Hungarian, whounderstood not a syllable of German, and was, moreover, a peasant-nobleof a village near Tihany. I had taken up a countryman of my own, whowanted to go to Kesthely, and requested a seat on the straw by me.was from Zips, as they call the land inhabited by Germans at the southernbase ofthe Carpathians, where he had been long settled. These Zips Germans, although originally from different parts of their common country,have contracted in their new one a certain peculiarity shared by them all.They are in every way unlike the Saxons of Transylvania; even their dialect differs. My companion could not pronounce an?. I took this at firstas a personal peculiarity, but I was afterwards told it was common to allthe Zips Germans, and that in fact they used no such letter in their language. This strange habit rendered many ofhis words quite unintelligible to me at first.The village where we breakfasted lay somewhat away from the lake, in the middle of a broad valley of the Bakony forest. The inhabitants werepartly Catholics and partly of the reformed church, and their places ofworship stand close together. I went to look at the reformed church; itwas very simple, and had an air of antiquity about it. The seats for theBAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS. 375women and girls were below, and near them were those for the marriedmen. The unmarried men and the children sat in a wide gallery over the heads of the others. The font was a tin vessel carefully wrapped in a ratherragged black cloth. The pulpit was likewise hung with black. The sacredbooks had all been printed in Debrezin.The sexton told me that Catholics and Protestants lived on very goodterms with each other; but that in the neighbouring village dwelt theLutherans, with whom neither Catholics nor the other Protestants couldagree. Nothing was known here of the disputes relative to mixed marriages. It was an old established custom that of the children of such marriages, the boys should be brought up in the faith of the father, and thegirls in that of the mother. I asked him whether Catholics were not some- times converted to the reformed faith. " No, never, " was the answer,"but the contrary sometimes happens; a ' reformed' nobleman (thepeasant-nobles are nearly all of the reformed faith) when he is on hisdeathbed will sometimes send of a sudden for a Catholic priest, but itnever occurs to a Catholic that a Protestant minister can be of any service to him."At this place I parted from my German companion, who was going overthe mountains to Kesthely. At parting I begged him to teach me a fewHungarian words, that I might at least say what was absolutely necessaryto my driver, and the result of my studies was frischen (drive quickly);laschan (slow); meggai (halt); mi osz? (what village is that?) Sometimes I was told I must scold and call names for a variety, but I might dothat in German, with a tolerable certainty of being understood." But asa nobleman would not he take that amiss?" I asked. " Oh no," was theanswer, "that will not be taken amiss, but you must not say " hell;" thatwould be sure to give mortal offence; that is a word he will not be likelyto put up with. There is another word which equally enrages their wives;"and this word my informant also favoured me with, but I am not inclinedjust now to be equally communicative.Furnished with these valuable instructions, I drove on, although I didnot feel altogether comfortable in having for my only companion in theBakony forest so privileged a person that he could not be hanged likeother people for any crime he might commit, for it was his privilege as anoble to be beheaded, and to have his hands tied before instead ofbehind his back. I could not hope for the consolation of getting him arrested, however unjustly he might act towards me, for he might have protested against any constraint by his " En nemes ember" ( I am a nobleman) which is as much as to say, "I am a being of another species fromyou." I must, however, confess that I had no cause of complaint againstmy noble driver. Our whole conversation was "meggai, laschan,'"frischen," and these magic words, to my great surprise, were always followed by a prompt obedience.99 66The country, as far as the town of Tapolza and its immediate neighbourhood, is highly interesting. The ground is on the whole flat, butmany singularly formed isolated hills rise on its level. Some are pointedlike a sugarloaf, others have rounded summits; some are long and fourcornered, like giant graves. Many have extensive ruins on their summits,formerly the residences of old Hungarian families, who once led their ownretainers to the field, but are now nearly extinct.Behind the town of Tapolza, the Bakony forest, properly so called,376 BAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS.begins; that is the chief ridge ofthis mountain range, which is almost everywhere covered with oak. In Tapolza the German landlord told me thatthe banditti, ofwhom nothing had been heard for some time before, hadlately completely pillaged the old pastor of a neighbouring village, an oldmanof seventy. On the following Sunday he was to have celebrated thejubilee of his fifty years' service. The robbers probably conjectured thathe must have saved something in the course of that time. Ten men, armedwith blunderbusses, pistols, clubs, knives, and hooks, had broken in uponhim, not in the night, but at ten o'clock in the morning; had bound allthe family, and so ill used the poor old man to make him discover wherehis valuables were hidden, that he was not expected to live, and had already had the sacraments administered to him. They had robbed him of1800 florins and all his plate. Martial law had been proclaimed, and every person convicted of stealing above the value of five florins would nowbe hanged within twenty-four hours. " This, " added my informant, "isthe boldest exploit they have performed this year, but they will go on with it now they've begun."The drive through the forest lasts about three hours. In the forest itself the elevations are slight. The higher mountains lie further to theeast. For these three hours nothing is to be seen beyond the thick oakforest, and this would be enchanting but for the thought of the bandittithat haunt it. On the other side of Bakony, another isolated mountain,its summit crowned with ruins, shows itself while the traveller is still inthe centre of the forest; when it is passed the vineyards begin to appear,and hidden within them lie the little press houses of Schumegh.The sun was already setting when I drove out of the forest and camein sight of " Schumegi var" (the town of Schumegh), with long rangesof vine hills to the right; and on the left, in the distance, the Castle ofPatika and its ball-shaped mountain, which, by a wonderful effect of thelight, looked of a perfect indigo blue . Beyond lay an extensive plain.In Schumegh I went to pay my respects to the old poet, Kisfaludy, whor*sides there. Hungary has two poets of the name: Kisfaludy Carl,and Kisfaludy Schandor ( Alexander) . The latter is the most esteemed,and him I went to salute at his seat in Schumegh. His family belongs tothe oldest in Hungary, and is descended from one of the seven dukes whocame into Hungary with Arpad the Magyar. Kis signifies "little,"falu"village," and y " of." In German the name would be "von Kleindorf” (ofLittle Village). It is difficult to trace a Hungarian family, because, tomention one cause among many, the younger sons at a former period oftentook different names from the villages the family possessed, and still, whenan individual is ennobled, he always assumes an additional name from somesuch possession. Kisfaludy Schandor is, however, far more distinguishedby the nobility of his poetry than by that of his birth.When I entered his house a maidservant gave methe unwelcome intelligence that her master was at his vineyard. I would not be put off, andrequested that a servant might accompany me thither. The maid did notunderstand a word of German, and I had to make myself understoodthrough an interpreter. To my great surprise, however, I heard herspeak to the house-dog in German. The animal wanted to go with us tothe vineyard, and jumped upon her; she drove him back with the same expressions a German would have used. This was a new discovery.German, I found, was used here in speaking to dogs, just as we make useBAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS. 377of French for the same purpose. How comes it that languages, generallyconsidered so refined, should on the other hand be used so ignobly? Didthe Romans speak Greek to their dogs and horses?I found the old man among his vines; he received me kindly, as I camein the name of the muses, to whom he had devoted himself. He saidvisits of this kind were rare things in this remote corner of the world.Three years before, an Englishman had called upon him, since which timeI was the only visiter of the sort he had seen.The sun still afforded light enough to make the tour of the beautifulvine-clad hill, where he showed me his little Tusculum, a press-house surrounded by a wooden balcony, hidden among the vines. In this charmingsolitude Kisfaludy wrote most of the beautiful lyrics which enchant hiscountrymen. He spoke much of his youth to me. In the year 1809, inthe last insurrection of the Hungarian nobles, his comitat chose himfor their major, and the palatine made him his aide-de-camp. He and thepalatine had surveyed the Bakony forest, and ascended the highestmountain, the Somhegye. It had then some magnificent oaks growingon it. The palatine caused them to be measured, and found that some ofthem had attained the height of twenty fathoms. No pines were foundthroughout the whole extent of Bakony, except a few here and there which had been planted.Kisfaludy took me afterwards to his house, where, unhappily, the handof the directing housewife, who had preceded her husband to the longrepose, was wanting. He intended next morning to set off for the beautiful vine-clad hills of Schomlau, between which place and Schumegh thereis almost an uninterrupted succession of hanging vineyards; and hissister in the mean time was to have the charge of his house. As I saw thepreparations were not all completed, I took leave and returned to my inn,where the disagreeable task awaited me of choosing a driver for the nextday. One, out of several who presented themselves, was warmly recommended by a gentleman who had supped with me, and whose eloquenceowed something to the Badatschon, or Schomlau, unlocker of hearts."Take this man, " said he, " he is a German, and you can trust him; hewill not give signals to the robbers, and afterwards help them to murdertravellers. I've often been driven by him, and nothing ever happenedamiss. "As this extraordinary recommendation really deserved attention, inasmuch as it put me on my guard as to the kind of people I was likely tomeet with here, and as Joseph's face pleased me, I made a bargain with him. He demanded twelve florins a day; I offered him six; he abated hisdemand by two, and I advanced one, and thus our agreement was con- eluded. I gave him a shake of the hand, and he gave me two florins byway of earnest, which is here paid by the driver instead of the driven, andpromised to be punctual the next morning.I asked the nobleman with whom I had supped, whether it was reallysuch unsafe travelling here? " Oh, it is always better to be on one'sguard," was the answer. "Our peasants are becoming bolder since ourdiet has thought fit to limit the application of corporal punishment. ""Is not the stick soon to be laid aside altogether?" I asked.“ Heaven forbid! my child," said my companion, " that will never do.Our Hungarians are much too fiery, much too sanguine in temperament;they are not so easy to rule as your phlegmatic Germans. They are more378 BAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS.like the French and Italians, with whom they are always ready to fraternizewhen they meet. No, no, without the stick there is no getting on withthem; they would all cut each other's throats, if they were not ruled with a tight rein. "Iretired soon afterwards to my sleeping-apartment, the way to which ledthrough a yard filled with horses, cows, sheep, swine, dogs, and otheranimals, and then up a ladder into a gallery piled up with maize straw tothe height of four feet. Before I could reach my chamber-door, I was obliged to disturb a number ofthe quadrupeds, goats as it appeared, who hadtaken up their quarters comfortably in the straw. Just as I had made myself room to enter, my attendant let the light fall among the straw; itcaught fire directly, but we were fortunately able to extinguish it, beforemuchmischief ensued. I went to bed, but the goats did not, and their ceaselesstrampling in the wooden corridor, and the rustling of straw, made an unbearable disturbance in the stillness of the night. Now and then a difference of opinion seemed to arise among them, and in the scuffle they camethump against my door. I got up to drive the brutes to the other end ofthe corridor, and the noise we made together set the dogs in the yardbarking, which was quickly responded to by all the dogs in the neighbourhood; what was worse, I did not succeed in driving away the goats, for asoften as I drove them off, back they came again. Heartily tired was I ofthe night's amusem*nt, and right glad whenthe morning broke. I dressedmyself in haste, and went to inspect the ruins I had observed on the moun- tain of Schumegh as I issued from the Bakony forest. This mountain isa solitary rock, steep on all sides, and rising abruptly from the plain, with aflattened cupola-like summit. There is no other hill near it. The powerfulbishops of Vesprim had formerly a castle and fortress here, and maintaineda garrison of two to three hundred men. The fortress is in ruins; not sothe wealth and consideration of its spiritual lords, as the beautiful chateauthey have since erected at the base of the mountain shows. A wide archway and broad road lead to the summit of the hill, whence there is a beautiful view over the fields, with the Platten See to the south, and to the eastthe vineyard hills of the poet of Schumegh.My new driver, Joseph, was a goodhumoured brisk lad, of six-andtwenty. As a boy he had come with his father from Styria to Hungary,had served as waiter at an inn, and had now set up as driver on his own account. He owned a pair of Transylvanian horses, with which we drovefrom Schumegh to Grätz, twenty-four German (about one hundred andeight English) miles, in two days, without much distressing the cattle or fatiguing ourselves. I believe he might easily, in the north of Germany,have obtained one hundred dollars for each of his steeds; in his owncountry Joseph said he was ready to part with horses, harness, and carriage for one hundred and twenty florins if he could get them. Joseph was now clad in the German fashion, but at home he wore the Hungariancostume, and had two " dolmans" of the finest cloth at fifteen florins an ell,one trimmed with black lace, the other with silver. They were also deco- rated with silver buttons, amounting to nineteen ounces weight, at six florins an ounce. He had moreover silver spurs worth thirty-two florins,and his whole costume, when he was equipped in full Hungarian trim, wasworth 300 florins, and was worn only on holidays at the public dancinghouses. Josephwas aNyalka legeny(asmart handsome fellow), adescriptionof persons who, like the majos of Spain, play the principal parts at the placesBAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS. 379ofpublic amusem*nt in the little provincial towns, and display a finery andpride of which we have elsewhere no idea. Such a Nyalka legeny was thecelebrated Capitan Pacha Piale, the son ofa shoemaker of the town of Tolnaon the Danube, the conqueror of Chios, to whom Suleiman intrusted thestorming of the arsenal of Constantinople, and who has perpetuated hisname bybuilding one of the finest mosques in that city. Joseph had a gooddeal of the assumption of these gentry about him, as I remarked particularly in Styria, where he found a great deal to reprove. In Styria I shouldperhaps not have been long without quarrelling with him occasionally, butin Hungary he was German enough to sympathize with, and we got on wellenough together.There is a constant influx of people into Hungary from Styria, as we hadoccasion to note as we proceeded. We met numbers of persons coming fromGermany with wine-casks; these were the " Weinschwärzers, " who buy the fine Hungarian wine at the place of its production for four or five florinsthe eimer, and then smuggle it over the frontier into Styria, where the lawsubjects it to a duty of two florins and thirty kreuzers, or about one- half of its value. It was the vintage season and we met whole trains of theseStyrian wine-smugglers, mounted on carts laden with large empty casks.In Hungary of course no one would inform against them, and they pro- ceeded openly in great caravans. How they manage on the Austrian frontier is more than I can tell.We also met considerable bodies of thrashers from Styria, who leavetheir steril mountains to find employment in the thinly-peopled Pusten of Hungary. They go to the neighbourhood of the Platten See, and thenfarther down the Danube. On the other side of the Danube, in the Hungarian steppes , they are not to be met with, because there the primitiveAsiatic mode of husbandry prevails, and the corn is trodden out by horses.From nearly all Alpine countries such periodical wanderings to the surrounding fertile plains take place.It is true that the majority of these people return with their earnings totheir native country, but many of them remain; whereas there is no business or employment that tempts the Hungarians to move westward. " Nothing comes from the east but the wolves in winter, " observed Joseph; " insummer they hide themselves in the Bakony forest, but in winter they findtheir way even into Styria."By noon we were in Pasvar, but found no great reason to rejoice at ourspeed, for the inn was detestable. The only thing of interest I found was a portrait of Attila! I do not in the least exaggerate when I say that inthe Hungarian towns I heard and saw far more of this ancient conquerorthan of Napoleon. The Hungarians reckon him and his Huns amongtheir nationalities, and are even, I think, somewhat proud of the exploitsof the " Scourge of God. " I do not speak of what the learned say onthe subject, but the common Hungarian's constant boast is , " We Magyarscame twice to Europe, and have twice conquered Hungary; once underAttila, and once under Arpad."Our admirable painter, Kaulbach, in his celebrated picture of Attila, hasrepresented him treading on a shield, and wielding his many-thongedscourge. In the picture at the inn, the hero was on horseback, tossingvictoriously a banner aloft in the air and about to cross a river, just where its waters are pouring down in a mighty cataract. I have met with simi-380 BAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS.lar portraits of Attila in Hungary much oftener than I have with thoseof Arminius or Charlemagne.A dirty tablecloth, watery soup, hard tough meat, raw potatoes, sourwine, dirty butter and half-baked bread, fairly entitled an unfortunatetraveller to say as I did, without tasting a morsel, " I have done, waiter,take it all away."While Joseph was feeding the horses I paid a visit to a neighbouring Franciscan convent. There I found much more to remind me of St.Francis than of Christ . A St. Veronica was holding the handkerchief inher hand, on which was impressed, not the face of our Saviour, but thehead of a Franciscan. In another picture, a Franciscan was raising thedead; in a third, another Franciscan, instead of an angel, was representedbearing a lily, as a heavenly messenger of peace, and many other objects in the same taste. In every religious order it seems the fashion to glorifythose miracles alone which were wrought by one of their own order, but Ihad never found anywhere such flagrant self-idolatry as among theseFranciscans. I saw in this convent a book I never met with before, a socalled " Modus dicendi missam." In this book was minutely described,not only what the priest was to say, but how he was to hold himself, howto lay hold of the bread, how it was to be given, how the fingers were tobe held in bestowing the blessing, &c.; and to aid the description, picturesofpriests in a hundred different attitudes were given. The different parts of the hands, fingers, &c. , were numbered with reference to the text. Itstruck me, that even supposing it were necessary to enter so much into thedetails ofthese mysteries, it would, at all events, be better not to print them.As I was not fortunate enough to find a reasonable being either in theconvent or the inn, I retreated to my carriage, which stood in one of thehuge sheds to be seen in every Hungarian-inn yard. Here I found company enough. Many travellers in Hungary when they find the inn bad,dine and take their afternoon's nap in their carriages. To the right ofmine, a German peasant family had just finished their potato dinner; inone to the left, the party, consisting of an old father, a young woman andher husband, were comfortably asleep. Before me stood an elegant equipage, in which sat a lady with her interesting little daughter, who wasamusing herself byjumping in and out. She held a small earthen cup inher hand, which she exhibited to me, calling out " Pohar, pohar" (drinkingcup) and then hid herself in her mother's lap. " " Mylittle girl cannot comprehend how her Hungarian jargon should not be intelligible to you," said her mother; " she has not yet learned that there is any other language thanher own.The pretty little Ingrin seemed to be quizzing me, and I feltexceedingly stupid in my inability to make any return to all her quips and cranks.""66The poles of all these carriages lay quietly in the dust, and our horseswere calmly disposing of their oats and hay in the stables beside us. Therewas something droll in the appearance of so many peopled vehicles remaining so motionless in their places, all changed for the time into sofas anddivans, things not to be found in the miserable tsharde. Some oxen occasionally thrust in their muzzles among the carriages to enjoy the shade, andnear them against a pillar lay three Slovacks sleeping on some straw andtheir travelling- sacks. If they had not been so shaggy, so oily, and so verytarry in their appearance, I must have admitted them to be remarkablyBAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS. 381handsome fellows. The Slovacks generally are handsome; I have neverseen a finer regiment than the Slovack infantry regiment, with respect tocarriage, form, and martial expression of countenance.Such a picture as I have just described is constantly to be seen in theyards of all Hungarian "tshardes." I should add that our host stood ina corner, skinning a newly-slaughtered sheep, and that suchbloody spectaclesare also common to the place; there seems no end ofthe sanguinary work.My Joseph was the first driver ready, but I was almost sorry that wehad all to go different ways, and did not set off in company. He chose todrive me the back way out of Hungary, through a variety of fields andforest paths.The forests were nearly all of oak, under whose shade great herds ofswine, oxen, and buffaloes were feeding. In this neighbourhood, thevalley of the upper Raab, I saw the largest herds of the last-named animalthat are to be found in Hungary; in middle Hungary there are none.Joseph told me that the herds were sometimes as savage as their keepers,particularly the swine and the buffaloes. The herdsmen know how to settheir cattle at both man and beast, and make use of them for their owndefence. They teach the swine by first throwing young dogs amongthem,which they eat up, and then older dogs are sacrificed, but these are oftenfirst cruelly mutilated by the herdsmen. By these means the swine soonlose their fear of dogs, and learn to eat up young and old; and a swineherd is almost as thankful for the gift ofa dog, as ofa piece ofmoney. Theobject of this training is to teach the swine to defend themselves againstthe wolves and sheep- dogs . The wolves soon become aware ofthe dangerthat threatens them from the swine, and only attack them under peculiarcirc*mstances. Upon occasion the herds make use of their unclean chargesas a protection against men; they have certain calls, to which theanimals answer, and if they are not exactly set upon men, thesmell of a stranger allures them: they like flesh, and will readily attack,if they are not prevented. It is the same with the buffaloes. Theycollect readily at the herdsman's call, and fly at a stranger, if not held in check. Push with their horns they cannot, but they will trample dog,wolf, or man, to death with the fore feet. "A friend of mine and myself,"said Joseph, " once laid a wager with a buffalo herdsman, that we wouldventure armed with good clubs among the herd, even if they were set upon us. The wager was a barrel of wine. We took our clubs, and theherdsman raised the cry, Ischtennem, ischtennem, ' which is their call forhelp when attacked . The brutes advanced slowly, after their fashion; weadvanced to meet them before they had drawn their circle too close; some of them came closer to smell us. 'Ischtennem, ischtennem,' cried theherdsman again, and the buffaloes prepared to attack us: we stood with our backs to a tree. About two hundred paces farther there was anothertree, and at a like distance a third. If we fought our way to the thirdtree, we were to have won our wager. I had thought to cripple the brutesby aiming at their legs with our clubs; but our blows had no more effectthan if they had been bestowed upon so many iron posts; so we threw them away, and trusted to our address and fleetness. I must own our courage sank rather sooner than we had expected. The snorting brutes pursued us so sharply, that I began to think of reaching the second tree, andclimbing up to save myself. I saw myfriend already running for it, closelypursued by the buffaloes. Will you ask for quarter, ' called out the 6382 BAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS.<herdsman; I said ' yes' to save my friend, and he shouted Hei, jae,jae!' threw himself among the herd, and drove them off my friend, whowas already down! Our wager was lost, and I have hated the sight ofbuffaloes ever since. They are detestable brutes. They have never been able to teach so much vice to oxen and horses."I told him that he had run a very foolish risk, and that, for my ownpart, I would much rather have been torn by a lion, than be trampled todeath by buffaloes, or eaten by swine. All the buffaloes we saw were extremely fat. "These brutes," said Joseph, " get fatter upon straw thanoxen upon clover."in.Travelling along byways, as I have described, we had the better opportunity of seeing those scenes of national life which a traveller most delightsWe surprised the herdsmen by their fires, the women and young girlsat their domestic occupations, the children romping under the chestnuttrees, and the old people chatting at their house-doors. The landscapebecame more and more pleasing as we advanced; the country more animated and populous. A little way before arriving at Körmönd, we saw awisp of straw dangling from a tree, to mark the border of the Eisenburg Comitat, the last through which we had yet to pass. It is one of the mostpopulous in all Hungary; and indeed it may be taken as a rule, that thecomitats bordering on Germanyare always more thickly peopled than thoseof the interior. Joseph complained of the increasing prices of corn andhay for his horses; but this to me was only one of many gratifying signsthat we were approaching a more prosperous country. Handsome chestnutetrees became more common bythe sides of the houses, the waste pieces ofground less frequent, and smaller in extent. In short, in proportion as weascended towards the German hills, I felt that the country was also advancing in an amending scale of cultivation.We reached Körmönd shortly before sunset. This town; perhaps theCurta of the Romans, lies in the valley of the Raab, with the Styrian Alpsin the background, the last spur of which loses itself in the valley. Thetowns of Guns, Steinamanger, Oedenburg, and Eisenstadt, have the samemountainous background in the west, and the same level foreground in the east, and form the first chain of western towns in Hungary. They occupythe ground where the mountain disappears and the level land begins.It was Sunday evening, and all the people seemed to be employed inroasting and eating chestnuts. In this part ofthe country there are wholeforests of chestnut-trees, planted, as some Hungarian authors assert, by theRomans, who, it is well known, had some fine colonies here: Sabaria, Scarabantia, and others, the same chain of towns whose Hungarian names Ihave given above; but as to the chestnut-trees, seeing they extend throughthe whole Alpine range, their appearance here is better explained by thegeology than the history ofthe country.In Körmönd I saw again a park and garden. They belong, with acastle in the neighbourhood, to the wealthy family of Bathyany, and jointhose ofthe Esterhazys, of which I spoke in Eisenstadt. In this part ofthe country is to be found all that Hungary has most distinguished in theway ofgardens. The cultivation of gardens and trees is much attended tohere; in the central parts of the Magyar land there is scarcely a trace of agarden. The fruit of this district, and there is an astonishing abundanceof it, is generally brought into the market in a dried state, and is known bythe name of Oedenburger fruit. Vienna is principally supplied with theBAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS. 383article from this part of Hungary. In the Bathyany garden I saw themost magnificent wall of Hedera quinquefolia I had ever beheld. Thegardens were full of promenaders from the town.As our horses were fresh again after sunset, Joseph proposed to drivefarther. It was already twilight, and I hinted at the chance of robbers."All that's nothing," said he, coolly, "and, besides, I have got my hackerlwith me," drawing out from under the straw a handsome sharp axe with avery long and slender handle, which he had never before shown me. " Ialways keep this by me in the straw when I drive," added he, " I like itbetter than two pistols; if any attack is made upon me in the carriage, Igive them a taste of that, and whip on the horses to a gallop. I can hitbetter with that than with a pistol, and, then, it makes no noise."On the road he related a number of exploits of bandit heroism ofSobri (pronounced Shobri) and his comrades, and of a certain LaketosIstvan. The latter hero and two of his companions defended themselvesonce against fifty peasants, who had given them chase, and drove backthe whole party to their village. At last soldiers were sent out againsthim, when Laketos Istvan, seeing escape impossible, shot himself throughthe head before them. It is said that Hungarian robbers have often preferred a voluntary death to an ignominious imprisonment. Howmuchthe people of this country assist in keeping up this kind of heroism among therobbers, we had an opportunity of seeing in the inn at St. Mihaly's, wherewe stopped for the night. On the walls of the principal room there werevarious fresco paintings; on one side the portrait of a former king ofHungary, and on the other that of the robber chief Sobri, not any wayin connexion with the gallows, but armed, and in full costume. Thepainter had, to the best of his ability, which was not much, given him avery handsome face, besides a pair of prodigious spurs, a tight-fittingjacket, and a cap set jantily on one side, and embroidered with redflowers and fancy patterns. In his girdle were stuck a pair of pistols, andhe was leaning on his hackerl, similar in form to that of my friend Joseph."Was he really as good-looking as he is there painted? " I asked thecook."Yes, he was then a handsome fellow of about two- and-twenty," sheanswered. "He may be six-and-twenty now.""Now? I thought he had been long dead?""Eh, my conscience, no! He is alive still, and is gone to America. Hewas a shepherd's son, and born in the Comitat of Tolna. Many a priestand nobleman has he robbed, but he never touched the poor; nor everkilled any one himself-he let his people do that—unless he were attacked,and then of course! Twice he got away from the people that had caughthim. Once they thought to have him in a village, but he flung off hiscap, disguised himself and got clear off, and when they came to the housewhere they thought he was, and asked, 6 Well, where is Sobri?' he answered by firing off his pistols at the edge of the forest, and was off in atwinkling! Another time they really had him fast, but the wife of theBurggraf (governor of the gaol) who had him in charge fell in love withhim, and let him escape. At last they got a whole pack of haiducks,peasants, and soldiers, and had a regular battle. Some sayhe was killed then,and that his old father and mother were brought to recognise the body oftheir son. But Idon't believe it. He would not let himself be caught so! Ithink he is only keeping quiet because he sees there's nothing to be done. "384 BAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS."Here," thought I, " it is easy to perceive the train of argument by which an honest man allows himself to be transformed into a robberchief. "While the cook was telling me this story, she was engaged in preparing for me a "bocken händel," ground some Transylvanian rock-salt in one ofthe small salt-mills to be seen in every Hungarian kitchen, placed a littlebread-mountain, such as is usually baked in every Hungarian household,on the table, and invited me to do justice to these viands, a request Iwas not slow in complying with.The next morning Joseph and his brisk Transylvanians were early readyto set off, and I did not keep them waiting. We continued to ascend theRaab valley, and the scenery was beautiful. At Körmönd the white Hungarian oxen had disappeared, and their place was supplied by the Styrian and German teams. The Hungarian ox is a handsome animal, but theStyrian has more expression in his physiognomy, and more strength in hisbones. He is a far better worker than the Hungarian, who is accustomedto be yoked with five and even seven of his brethren, while the Styrian hasfrequently to work alone.At length we reached the parts inhabited by Germans alone, the landof the Hienzes, or Hänzes, as they are called. Here, in the time of the Roman domination, began another province, Upper Pannonia. TheHienzes or Hänzes (I could never learn which was the right word) area very peculiar race of Germans, and their reputation does not stand high,either for mother-wit, or acquired knowledge; when a Hienze is spoken of,the hearers involuntarily smile. I once heard a citizen of Guns disputing with one of Steinamanger, whether Guns or Steinamanger, were properlythe capital of the Hienzes, and neither seemed desirous of appropriating the honour to his own town. I asked the landlord of a large inn, where webreakfasted the next morning, why the people were called Hienzes."Why," replied he, "because they speak so hienzish. They live here on the frontier, and are neither Germans nor Hungarians, but all hienzish. "I believe great injustice is done the Hienzes. As far as I could judge,they have as much understanding as their neighbours. How far theyare really a mongrel race, must remain a subject of future inquiry. Tome they seemed perfect Germans, a good and vigorous stock, and truebrothers of the Austrians and Styrians. I found every thing about them—their architecture, their husbandry, style of dress, &c. -so perfectly German, that Hungary was just as completely out of my head as if I had not been in the country.99 There are some Croats mingled among the Hienzes, " Water Croats, 'as they are called, as there are among the Germans of Eisenstadt andOedenburg. The Hienzes are now expected to learn the Magyar language."Nobody understands it here," say they, " but the schoolmaster is to teach our children. Unluckily he does not know a word of it himself. ”I went into one of the houses of the village where I found a womanreading a religious book. I opened it at the article " Purgatory." Underthis head there were was a most grisly and awful picture of hell, foundedon the relation of a priest, who had undergone three days' punishment,and then returned to earth, and on that of a soldier who had passed twodays and two hours in purgatory. Every thing said to have been witnessed there was most minutely described, and in a style perfectly adaptedto the " million." The soldier and the priest vied with each other inBAKONY FOREST, ITS POETS, CASTLES, AND ROBBERS. 385the little details of their descriptions of the torments to which the soulswere subjected by the devil. It is impossible for me to transcribe theexact words in which all this was given in the book, meant for, and, instyle, suited to the multitude. A thousand times in one day a soul wassaid to be eaten by some indescribable monster, and again vomited forth,rent in pieces, gnawed, burnt, crushed to atoms, and again renewed,again to undergo these tortures . The soldier saw a fearful dragon, inwhose entrails other monsters generated and devoured a second timethe souls he swallowed, and which were again served up as a thirdcourse to a third brood of intestine worms and griffins . The sufferers,moreover, according to these veracious and trustworthy reporters, werea thousand times more susceptible to the tortures they endured than weon earth could at all conceive. One single moment of the pains of hellexceeded in intensity a thousand years of earthly pain. This pleasantdescription closed with a supplication from the poor tortured spirits, thatthe pious would, by prayers and gifts to the church, labour for theirdeliverance. This precious book was by no means an old one, and awoman was actually reading it.I was really shocked, and could not help asking the woman whether shebelieved that the " good God" permitted such horrors to exist? " Ah, nosir, I don't believe it," said she; "but you know, sir, if people that makebooks told nothing but the truth, nobody would buy their wares. "It is consoling to think that hard as the authors of such books labourto insult God's goodness and mercy, the sounder sense of the people insome measure defeats their aim, and that the results are by no means whatthey desire, perhaps for the very reason that they have spiced the dish toohighly. Strange indeed is the difference between the grim atrocities invented by these book-makers in Christian Europe, and the simple chastisem*nt imagined by the old Greeks in their Tartarus. Let us thinkonly of the vessel of the Danaïdes, the stone of Sisyphus, the fruit treesand fugitive waters of Tantalus. To me these punishments appear notonly less incredible, but far more impressive, then this everlasting burning,crushing, and swallowing. As these punishments, moreover, were moremental than physical, they display a more elevated spirit in those who invented them. There are at present a number of persons engaged in thedistribution of the Bible and other useful books. It would be worth theirwhile to visit this part of the world, in order to wrest such detestable absurdities as these from the hands of the people. They might silently buythem up wherever they found them, and destroy them even if circ*mstancesdid not permit the replacing them with other and better books.The country of the Hienzes is about twenty or twenty-four miles inwidth. Our little Transylvanians were fleet, and it was not long before Iperceived a little bridge, whereon stood the Austrian custom-house officers.I was prepared for a long and tedious search after sundry excisable articles, and made Joseph asign to halt, when the officers at once stood aside,and pronounced the welcome words, " You may go on." Not a hairbelonging to us was ruffled. Our carriage rolled over the bridge; Ibreathed more freely, for, Heaven be praised! I was in Germany again.STYRIA.FURSTENFELD TO GRATZ.ARRIVING from the frontiers of Turkey, and after having traversedHungary, I re-entered the Central Empire, a title to which our Germany may certainly lay a fairer claim than China. Oh, if it had but had aface, I could have kissed the dear, snug, comfortable- looking little frontiertown of Fürstenfeld, perched upon its hill, with its houses and its streets,and the people that moved about in them, together with the cheerful andinviting hostelry at which we put up. I seemed to have got among friendsand old acquaintances again, and I almost wondered, when I told the peopleI had just returned from Hungary, that they did not seize me by the handand wish mejoy. Even the Austrian wine, which I had always thoughtbefore was more acid than agreeable, rather pleased me now. Its goldencolour looked to advantage with the rays of a German sun playing throughit, and I arrived with little trouble at a conviction that Austrian wine,mixed with water, was an excellent beverage, and decidedly more salubrious and better calculated to quench the thirst than the more fiery wines of Hungary.My inn was almost a nunnery, being presided over by a widow, under whom all the offices of the household appeared to be discharged by anumerous array of daughters and assistant damsels. I dined in companywith some Austrian officers, who commanded the frontier post, appointedfor the protection of the Imperial Tobacco Manufactory, at which no lessthan 45,000 cigars are daily made, chiefly for the accommodation ofTrieste and the southern provinces of Austria. To Trieste alone, I wasassured, more than 600,000 imperial cigars were sent every month fromFürstenfeld. In the whole year, at this rate, making a trifling deductionfor holidays, fifteen millions of cigars are manufactured at this place. Nowthese are all of a villanous quality, such as few will be able to smokewithout making wry mouths; the Austrian government, moreover, toprotect this manufacturing monopoly, has to maintain a little army ofclerks, and other public servants, besides a military detachment for theprotection of each separate establishment; and if the monopoly were doneaway with, a countless host of custom-house officers and excisem*n wouldbecome superfluous, endless temptations to fraud would cease, and in theGRATZ. 387place of a few wretched retailers of tobacco, a prosperous class of dealersand importers would immediately arise, men that would not only sell better cigars and tobacco for less money, but would extend and animate thegeneral trade of the country with foreign nations. Under these circ*mstances, it is really difficult to understand the motives that can induce theAustrian government to cling to a monopoly, the revenue of which wouldbe amply replaced by a more regular tax, levied upon the lovers of theweed, in the shape of an import duty.In passing from Hungary into Styria, a number of little contrastsimmediately strike the traveller. The Hungarians appear to have rootedout all their pine forests. At Fürstenfeld these present themselves againin all their majesty, and continue to characterize the landscape, all the wayto the borders of Bavaria. Such a thing as an umbrella is seldom to beseen in Hungary; in Styria, on the contrary, people are seldom seenwithout them, and this is the case in most of the Alpine countries. Buckwheat is found growing in every valley of the Alps, but it is never to beseen in the wheat-growing plains of Hungary.The road to Grätz runs for several leagues over a flat but elevated ridge,with few indentations, like a huge dam constructed by the hand of Nature.To the left and right, the eye ranges over smiling valleys and startlingabysses, and beyond these arise more lofty hills to enclose the picture. Ourtwo black Transylvanians did their best to carry us over these mountainroads, but it was after midnight before we reached a gate, which openedto afford us a passage, when we were kindly informed that we had nowarrived at the city of Grätz. After a little while we stopped again, andwere told that we had come to the Jacominiplatz, the handsomest squarein the city, and that from the said platz there issued the Herrengasse,the handsomest street in the city, and that in the said platz there stood theStadt Triest, and that the said Stadt Triest was a very excellent inn.We immediately resolved to subject the last piece of information to thetest of a more close inquiry, but to take the remaining assurances on trustat least till the return of daylight.GRATZ.Of all the Alpine cities between France and Hungary, none is so populous as Grätz. It contains 48,000 inhabitants, and may therefore belooked on, in some measure, as the capital of the Alps. Situated halfway between Vienna and Trieste, the town serves as the centre of the inlandtrade between Germany and Italy, and being a cheap and agreeable placeto live in, many families, both from Trieste and from Vienna, are inducedby considerations of economy to fix their residence at Grätz. Many civiland military officers, who have retired on pensions, reside here; manyItalians come here to study German, and many are glad, during the heats ofsummer, to quit the sunny plains of Lombardy, and seek refreshment inan Alpine atmosphere. There are several other cities among the Alpsthat serve as places of transition between Germany and Italy. One of these is Bozen, between Inspruck and Verona; I found one family fromDalmatia at Grätz, and another that had come all the way from theIonian Islands. Formerly, a great number of young Italians studied atthe University of Grätz. This continued till 1831, in which year, out of 2 D388 GRATZ.the thousand students then frequenting the university, no less than 200were Italians; agreeable, well-bred young men, and sufficiently well provided, in a pecuniary point of view, with the means of making themselvesagreeable to the townspeople. The cholera frightened them all awayat once, and they have never returned in equal numbers. At the period ofmy visit, there were only twelve Italian students there. Inspruck alsohad formerly a little colony of Italian students; but, at present, it appears that the young men who come from the south in search of German erudition, give the preference to Vienna.Grätz is a large handsome city, and offers all the conveniences of one,without either the drawback of a court, or the noise and bustle of a largecommercial community. It is a favourite residence, not only for retiredofficers, but for those also who have retired from yet higher stations, forthose who have stood near to thrones, and would fain forget the heightfrom which they have fallen. I allude here particularly to the duch*ess ofBerry. The Archduke John also, who loves the atmosphere of the Alpsbetter than the atmosphere of a court, spends his winters here, and hisexample is imitated by many nobles of congenial tastes. A few Englishand French families are also found to mingle with the other elements thatconstitute the society of Grätz. The place is a kind of harbour of refugefor numberless old vessels that have been damaged among the hurricanesand whirlpools of the world. I found, for instance, many noble and forgotten wrecks cast ashore here by the Polish storms. Among others, thefiery, old, grayheaded Ostrovsky may daily be seen at the theatre, in thesecond stall to the right of the stage. There was a time when upon thetheatre of the world many an anxious eye was turned upward towardshim; now, the strutters on the stage look heedlessly over him away, andonly here and there are a few to be found who still remember what thesorrows were that bleached those noble locks. *

• Count Anthony Ostrovsky was born at Warsaw in 1782, and was distinguished

throughout the greater part of his life by his ardent and disinterested patriotism.He studied at the University of Leipzig; and when the French army entered War- saw in 1806, he was one of the first to inscribe his name among those who composed the guard of honour. When Napoleon retreated from Moscow, Ostrovsky attached himself to the French army, and very narrowly escaped with his life at the battle of Leipzig. He returned to Poland at the peace, and was elected a Senator Castellanin 1817, in which dignity, notwithstanding the personal animosity of the Grand Duke Constantine, he was confirmed by the Emperor Alexander. Ostrovsky now became a leading member of the Polish opposition, and drew upon himself more and more the hatred of Constantine. Ostrovsky was at Leipzig, on his return from atour through England, France, and Switzerland, when he heard of the insurrection at Warsaw. He was detained for some time by the Prussian authorities, but suc- ceeded in reaching his native city towards the close of December, where he was im- mediately appointed commander-in-chief of the National Guard. From this timeforward he continued to play a prominent part in the two campaigns that terminated so disastrously for his country. When Kruckoviecki was invested with almost dictatorial powers, Ostrovsky withdrew from the diet. On the 6th and 7th of Sep- tember, he fought upon the ramparts of Warsaw as a private soldier, and quitted his post only for the purpose of voting in the diet to defend the city to the last ex- tremity. It was too late, however, Kruckoviecki having already issued orders to withdraw the troops. Ostrovsky continued nevertheless, to exert himself to the last to support the hopes of his countrymen, and was one of the last among the leading men of the revolution to quit the country. At the head-quarters of Swied- zibno, on the 4th of October, 1831 , he drew up the last official document of the Polish nation-namely, the celebrated Manifesto to the Kings and Nations of Europe.He was accompanied into exile by a wife and ten children. -Tr.GRATZ. 389Of the exiles, none attracts more attention than the duch*ess of Berry.I asked where she lived. " In the Sack," was the answer. Strange mutability of fortune, thought I, to quit the stately Tuileries of Paris, and take shelter in a sack at Grätz! The sack, however, in which the princess lives is rather a roomy one. It is a street of imposing breadth at one end,but extremely narrow at the other, where it is compressed between the river Mur and the rocks on which the castle stands. The duch*ess lives atthe broad end, in the house of the ancient Counts of Herbertstein. Themansion is of great antiquity; but old-fashioned though it be, it has beenfilled by so many objects of interest, that the collection is one it will not beeasy to find equalled elsewhere eastward of the Rhine. The duch*ess'sprivate property in France was not confiscated when she herself was ba- nished, and the objects that served for the decoration of more than onepalace in France, have now been concentrated within the venerable halls ofher present dwelling " in the Sack. "Her pictures, mostly by the best modern French painters, as well as amultitude of things to which historical associations alone impart a value,are arranged with a degree of taste, the like of which we should vainlylook for at Vienna. Among the family relics are shown-a sword ofFrancis I., a shoe of Henri IV., a pair of golden stirrups of Louis XIV, &c.It must not be supposed that in their banishment the Bourbons haveabandoned the hope of a second restoration . On the cushion of a sofa Isaw a beautiful piece of embroidery. It consisted of the words " Ils rever- diront," encircled by a wreath of white lilies. On another cushion I saw,in letters of gold, " Vaincre ou mourir pour Henri." A picture of aChouan kneeling before an image of the Virgin, hung close by the sofa,with the words " Marie, bénis nos armes!"Among the paintings are several which, through the medium of lithography, have become familiar to every part of Europe, such as Vernet's" Chien du régiment," " The Trumpeter and his Horse," and " The Mendicant Musicians of Benneford. "I was so much delighted with the taste displayed by the duch*ess ofBerry in the arrangement of her own magnificent collection of pictures,that I chose her for my guide when I visited the picture-gallery of theStates of Grätz; that is to say, I directed my attention to those pictures ofwhich the duch*ess had chosen to have copies painted for her own palace.They were four in number. The names of the masters I have forgotten,but the pictures themselves are indelibly fixed upon my mind.There are other collections in Grätz, but I visited none of them, withthe exception of that of the old castle of Eggenberg, now the property ofthe family of the Herbertstein's, who, with the Trautmannsdorfs and theDietrichsteins, may be considered the most ancient and most eminent racesof Styria. In Russia the name of Herbertstein is even better known thanin Germany, for a count of that name having been sent on an embassy toRussia, about 200 years ago, wrote a book, which still passes for the bestaccount of the ancient condition of that country; so much so, that aRussian antiquarian, when he wishes to decide any point respecting aquestion of bygone times, generally refers to his Herbertstein, as the most convenient and most authentic guide.The castle of Eggenberg lies at about a league from Grätz, on the edge of the plain, and at the foot of the vine-covered hills that bound it. Astately avenue leads up to the castle, a large square building, with four 2 D2390 GRATZ.principal wings, and a park surrounds the whole. What gave the place a peculiar interest in my eyes, was that it stood there, not the result, likeso many modern palaces, of one man's fancy or caprice, but a genuinepiece of hereditary architecture, handed down to us by the protect- ing legislation of successive centuries. From the chairs and bedsteads inthe rooms to the trees and bushes in the garden, every thing stands underthe guardianship of the law, and may not be altered according to the whimof the temporary possessor. A hundred years ago, the entailed propertypassed to the Herbertsteins from the Eggenbergs, and the old bed in whichthese slept is still carefully preserved with its canopy and hangings, nor will the terms of the entailment allow a fraction of it to be removed. Thepresent possessors seem to have thought that bedsteads of a more modernmake might be more convenient to sleep in, and have accordingly causednew state-rooms to be fitted up for their accommodation; but they havenot dared to alter the arrangement of the old state- chamber.The catalogue of all the objects of art and virtu in this interesting oldmansion, fills a large folio volume. I would gladly have turned over this catalogue a little before I proceeded to inspect the collection itself, but finding that at the third page of the introduction I had only got to CadmusMilesius, and at the twelfth no farther than Macrobius, I began to think Ishould scarcely have time to read on till I got to the artistical heirloomsthemselves, and so determined to proceed to their examination withoutwaiting any longer for the directions of so ponderous a guide.The ceilings of the rooms are ornamented with designs in stucco, among which various paintings are introduced. The stucc- owork is different ineach room. Here the pattern represents broken crowns, and hearts woundround with thorns; there hands grasped in each other, or globes with serpents twining about them. Everywhere may be seen an abundance of moral sentences, such as-"No heart is free from sorrow;"- " Fortuneawakens envy; " Crowns also are perishable. " I have seen few castlesdecorated in so significant a manner, and ifthe children who growup amongthese heirloom moralities—for the owner of the castle for the time being,cannot legally alter one of these mottoes-do not become wiser and moreright-minded than other men's children, it can hardly be said that theblame lies with their ancestors, who have provided for their daily studysuch an abundance of excellent precepts.-The names of the rooms are as genuine German as the fine old oakenfurniture, which is, moreover, elegant and solid in its way. The antiquechairs are as perpendicular in the back, as were the stiff old nobles forwhose accommodation they were manufactured, and the rooms are Sitzzimmer, Arbeitszimmer, and Betzimmer, and not salons de conversation,cabinets, or chapels. In the chapel are some beautiful pictures of Guido's.Grätz boasts of a casino, to which neither beauty, talent, good fame,nor any of the qualities most valued in other parts of the world, can obtain admission for their owner, but for entering which the one great qualification required is noble birth. Only twenty-four families of the placeare considered of spotless nobility, and so strict are the laws of the casino,that the loftiest patrician who allies himself with a family of inferior rankcannot introduce his wife there. In the north we talk of the urbanity ofthe Austrian nobles, and of the unreserved manner in which they minglewith the other classes of society, and if the remark is intended to apply tocoffee-houses, and places of public resort, there may be some truth in it;GRATZ. 391but there is no country in which the private circles of the nobility are of soexclusive a character. Regulations so strict, or rather so ridiculous, as thoseenforced at the casino of Grätz, are not known at the casino of the Magnates at Pesth, nor at the casinoes of the nobles at Dresden and Berlin, norat those of Livonia and Courland. It is strange that any thing so absurdshould still maintain its ground, but the fault lies with the families of plebeian rank, who seem to be destitute of every feeling of self-reliance, anddisgrace themselves by their habitual veneration for rank, and the surprising value which they attach to an admission to a patrician circle.What they ought to do, is to found a casino of their own, and make it theirfirst law, that no one shall be admissible who cannot show that he is notof noble descent.Every traveller who has visited Styria, is loud in his praises of theArchduke John. It was impossible for me to visit all the schools, museums,and other public institutions, directly or indirectly called into life by thishigh-minded prince, but I endeavoured at least to see the most importantones, and the first to which myattention was directed was the JOHANNEUM,the national museum of Styria, containing various distinguished collectionsof natural history and the fine arts, together with a library, a reading society, and a technical school . The collection of Styrian mineralogy is aremarkably fine one, and in the arrangement of the specimens their geographical position has been kept in view as well as their systematic grouping. In the botanical department, the fungi and other plants which do notadmit of being dried, have been beautifully modelled in wax by Stoll, ofSchönbrunn, an artist of high eminence in that line. In the zoologicalcollection, the mixture of foreign animals with those of Styria is decidedlya fault, but in other respects nothing can be better than the system of arrangement. Thus by the side of every stuffed bird or serpent, may be seenits skeleton, and by the side of each butterfly, its eggs, caterpillar, and chrysalis.The technical school of the Johanneum is considered one of the threebest in Austria; the other two are those of Vienna and Prague. In the lecture-room I saw drawings of all imaginable agricultural implements; andspecimens of every species of grain grown in Europe, were carefully arranged in flowerpots.The reading society of the Johanneum has been the result of circ*mstances rather than design. A few scientific and technological periodicalshad been subscribed for, and placed in a separate room for the accommodation of the teachers, and of such private persons as took an interest inthe subject. There was a constant wish to increase the number of periodicals, and at last the Archduke John placed himself at the head of thesociety, and obtained from the government permission for the importationof a number of English, French, and German works. This permission hasbeen more and more enlarged, till at last the reading society of Grätz hasbecome, by far, the most important of the whole Austrian empire, no lessthan 170 periodicals, in German, Hungarian, English, French, Croatian,and in various other languages, being provided for the instruction and entertainment of the subscribers, who are by no means idle in availing themselves of the opportunities thus provided for them. The regulations bywhich the society is governed, were drawn up by the archduke's own hand,and are considered so judicious and practical, that many German cities392 GRATZ.have applied for copies, with a view to the establishment of similar insti- tutions.Societies of this kind are always able to procure many books that, in circulating libraries, would not be tolerated by the Austrian police . Throughout Austria, indeed, circulating libraries are in a very depressed condition.In Grätz, a place of nearly 50,000 inhabitants, there is but one, with about3000 volumes, and those wretchedly arranged. A poor widow carries onthe hazardous concern of lending out books. I asked her for somethinggood and newto read, before going to bed, and she handed me some ofClauren's novels! I asked her for something of Victor Hugo's, but hisworks were prohibited; of James's, but he also was prohibited; of Bulwer's, but he was only partially tolerated. There was no lack of indecentbooks, but those I did not want. "For morals, " said the old lady, "theycare less than for opinions. " These libraries, however, rarely fail to havea private corner, in which the forbidden fruit is kept for the enjoyment ofthose in whose discretion confidence may be placed.In all Vienna, there are but two circulating libraries of any respectability,and four minor establishments, something like that of Grätz. In Ollmütz,in Moravia, there is one of the latter class. In Insprück, the capital of theTyrol, there was one a few years ago, but there is none now, the man whokept it having given it up, and no new one having been established, owing,I was told, to the opposition of the Jesuits . In Munich there are no lessthan six excellent establishments of the kind, besides several smaller ones,and for the 80,000 inhabitants of Dresden, there are no less than twenty,large and small included.To some extent the want of circulating libraries in Austria is suppliedbythe liberality ofthe owners of private collections. I was told of gentlemenin Grätz, whose books circulated as freely as though they each gained alivelihood by lending them.Among the public libraries of Grätz, that of the university is the most important. It contains about 40,000 volumes, and had in the preceding year( 1840) been visited by 8000 readers; that is to say, one book or other had been asked for 8000 times. At this rate there must have been a dailyaverage oftwenty-five to thirty readers. This is little enough, consideringthat the students are not allowed to carry any books home with them.Nevertheless, it was a considerable increase on the preceding year, whenthe readers had amounted only to 7000. The library contains many verycurious things, but at all these provincial libraries in Austria they arevery cautious of showing their principal treasures, lest these should be demanded bythe leviathans of the capital. Several of the catalogues of provincial libraries begin with a lamentation over their lost riches, remorselessly snatched from them to enrich the libraries of Vienna.Asecond great public institution, established by the Archduke John, isthe Inner Oesterreichische Gewerbe und Industrie- Verein, a kind of polytechnic association. It is intended to assist and encourage artists andmechanics, by means of exhibitions, prizes, collections of models, &c. , andis one ofthe largest associations in the Austrian empire, comprising already1218 members, though only established since 1841. The collection ofmodels and specimens interested me greatly. Among other matters, itcontained samples of all the different kinds of scythes used or manufacturedin Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. This is an article with which StyriaGRATZ. 393supplies all its neighbours, and many distant nations. I saw here Hungarian, Russian, and Polish scythes; marsh scythes for northern Italy, and articles of a different construction to suit the real or imagined convenienceof the mowers of Bosnia and Bulgaria. Most of these forms are of greatantiquity, having been carefully handed down from one generation to another; but new inventions are sought after with the same zeal.If there is an article of spotless fame in the commercial world, it is thesteel of Styria, for inquire about it where you will, and you will hear itspoken of with commendation. Its fame extends much farther than themanufacturers themselves are, probably, aware of, for they send their merchandise only to Trieste, and have very little notion of what hands itpasses into, out of those of their Triestine consignees, by whom it is sent toEgypt, Turkey, America, and indeed to all quarters of the globe. Thepeople in those remote regions, who buy the steel of Styria, know often aslittle whence it comes, as those who manufactured it know whither it goes.In Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, and most parts of Spanish America, the article passes by the name of Acero de Milano, or Milan steel, the only material of which the Mexican miners like to have their barras minerasmade, large crowbars, for breaking the ore after it has been softened byfire.One of the oldest of the archduke's institutions is the AgriculturalModel Farm, with a central school for agriculture, a building for theannual meetings of the agriculturists of Styria, and a few fields for practical experiments. The archduke has prevailed on the Styrian states tosupport the institution by a public grant for the support of ten poorstudents, with the view to their being educated as good practical farmers.This institution has already led to the establishment of twenty-six branchestablishments in different parts of Styria and Tyrol.At the period of my visit to Grätz, the annual fruit and flower- showof this institution was just open, and a very brilliant show it was.I sawthere eighty-three different descriptions of apples and pears, one hundred varieties of grapes, and no less than ninety kinds of potatoes.Of the last-named fruit there were Brazilian, Scotch, Polish, Crimean,and even Algerine species, but to my astonishment not a single Germanpotato had been sent for exhibition. En revanche, there was a magnificent specimen of a pear, to which the grower had given the name of theGerman National Pear.The art of rearing fruit has been wonderfully improved in Styriaduring the last thirty years, though it has not yet been carried so far asin the archduchy. The Etsch valley, and particularly in the neighbour- hood of Meran, is celebrated for its fruit, which is carried for sale to Viennaand Munich in great quantities; some people assured me, it was takeneven as far as to Odessa. The grapes and apples, carefully packed atMeran, are carried over the mountains on men's backs to the Inn, wherethey are shipped, and forwarded by water.The fruit and flower show had been arranged in the Rittersaal of theprovincial House of Assembly for Styria. In this building the states ofStyria hold their meetings, which exercise but little influence over theweal and woe of the province. In ancient times these states were a muchmore important and powerful body, and like the Cortes of Barcelona,allowed no prince to enter on the exercise of power till he had taken theprescribed oath, and made certain concessions to the people. Much as the394 FROM GRATZ TO LEOBEN.princes of the House of Habsburg boast of the love and loyalty of theirfaithful Styrians, the history of Styria is by no means wanting in instancesof firm resistance to arbitrary power, and it is only bythe suppression of insurrections that the country has been reduced to its present political insig- nificance. The history of Styria would be well worth writing, andthere are men enough in the country very well able to write it, but theyknow they would not be allowed to write it in the only manner consistent with truth, with the dignity of letters, and with the honour and interestof the province. The last time that the Styrian states did homage to their prince according to the old prescribed form, was in 1728, when Charles VI. received their loyal assurances at Grätz. With MariaTheresa, what had already become little more than a ceremony, ceasedaltogether, and Styria lost her last security against arbitrary power; theaspirations after a better order of things, I was assured, were not few and far between; time alone can show what fruit these aspirations willone day bear.FROM GRATZ TO LEOBEN.Early in the morning of the 11th of October I pursued my journey,which, as a matter of course, carried me up the valley of the Mur, forfrom Grätz, encompassed as it is by mountains, there is no road intothe more level part of Germany, except that which has been constructedby the waters of the Mur. Indeed of such importance is the river to thecountry, that Styria might with great propriety be called Murland; andin the same way Carinthia might be named anew the Land of the Drave,and Carniola the Land of the Save. The Mur rolls rapidly down fromits native mountains, and our little carriage rolled rapidly up to meet it.The Schöckel mountain is a kind of barometer for the good people of Grätz. My driver, Frances, shook his head as he looked at this barometer,telling me the mists were rising up its sides, and would come down again about noon in the shape of rain. The Schöckel was not the only mountain enveloped in mist; to me they all appeared to be tapestriedwith the same kind of decoration, and a heavy mass of clouds hungthreatening over the plain of Grätz. It required no great wisdom as tothe ways of the weather to prophesy the approach of rain, and as theclouds are at all times fond of opening their hearts over the said plain,I bade Francis enliven his team a bit, in the hope that our prospectsmight improve in proportion as we came upon higher ground.Immediately on leaving Grätz, the plain (das Grätzer Feld), in whichthis beautiful little city has located itself, is closed in, and the travellerenters through a mountain-pass into a narrow valley, that stretches away,about six (German) miles to Bruck, widening here and there into a kindof amphitheatrical basin, in which a little market-town rarely fails tohave taken up its station. These little enlargements of the valley,miniature repetitions of the Grätzer Feld, have each a separate name.One is called Auf dem Tratten, another the Zeckenfeld, &c.This compression of the valley of the Mur, between Grätz and Bruck, is, no doubt,the origin of the geographical division of the country into Upper andFROM GRATZ TO LEOBEN. 395Lower Styria. Not that the people themselves have drawn any definiteline of division, for wherever you happen to be along the Mur, all thecountry above that point is called Upper, and all below it Lower Styria.Several little market-towns lie along this valley, as Gradwein, Peggau,and Fronleiten. The last of these, where we dined, is beautifully situated,like all the little towns in these lovely Alpine regions, and the mind wouldgladly abandon itself here to the enjoyments which the magnificence ofNature provides with so much prodigality, were it not that the awful mental degradation in which so many human creatures exist there, tends very muchto imbitter the pleasure. On leaving Grätz, we enter the country of theCretins, which are here called Troddeln, or Trotteln, and in Carinthia,Kocker. In Lower Styria, a land of vineyards, and hills of moderateelevation, and where the life of man is one of less labour and endurance,Cretins are seen but rarely, and where the Mur enters Croatia, they ceasealtogether; but in the higher regions, where subsistence is more difficultand the customary food less nutritive, there is scarcely a village in whichthese frightful objects do not present themselves, with abashed looks, staringeyes, crooked legs, and often as many as three or four huge wens to theirnecks. It is the most appalling shape in which human deformity everpresents itself, for mind and body seem to be crippled alike. Generallyspeaking, the Cretins are cruel, malicious, and revengeful. They devour every kind of food with a sort of animal voracity, and their every impulse,or natural desire, manifests itself in the most revolting manner. Theirscent is usually very quick, as with animals, but they are generally more or less deaf. Their growth is slow, and they seldom attain an averageheight, which is fortunate, for the sight of a full grown Cretin would bealtogether unendurable. On the other hand, they frequently live to a considerable age, many of them dragging their miserable existence about withthem for seventy years, and more.Upper Styria is the chief seat of Cretinism, which diminishes as you approach Lower Styria on one side, and Bavaria on the other. In and aboutSalzburg a few Cretins may still be met with; in Linz and in Bavaria there are none.It is a singular fact that some villages and valleys appear to be quite freefrom the affliction, while in others again it prevails like an epidemic. Notfar from Fronleiten, for instance, there is a small district, called In der Gams,where there is scarcely a house without two or three Troddeln in it. Manyattribute this to the influence ofthe soil. Here, as elsewhere, people imaginethey have observed that near mountains of clay- slate, the population hasalways a decided tendency to Cretinism, and that in the vicinity of limestonerocks very few cases of it occur.Popular belief, however, assigns a multitude of causes to the malady, andthe poor water is made to bear most of the blame. Some springs areregularly shunned, as living streams of wens, imbecility, and Cretinism.About three leagues from Fronleiten there is one of these springs; its water is transparent as crystal, and delicious to drink, but is held in horror,nevertheless, far and wide, under the name of Wen- spring, or Kropf- quelle .The cattle drink the water without any evil consequences resulting to them.Other springs are pointed out, with equal confidence, as yielding a watercertain to act as a preservative against the malady.Beyond Fronleiten the valley becomes more narrow again, and theRöthelstein, and some of the other mountains, lean over as if they were396 FROM GRATZ TO LEOBEN.just on the point of rubbing their foreheads against each other. TheRöthelstein owes its name to the deep red hue of its rocky summit.Caverns abound in all directions. Some have been described so often asto fatigue with the repetition, but the greater part have never been explored by science. Many are filled with ice in winter, and harbour littlelakes in summer, and the warmer the summer the greater will be the masses of ice in winter.Among these wild Titanian scenes, the peaceful works of man acquirea double interest. The houses and the narrow strips of pasture-groundseem perched upon the rocks, or losing themselves among the chasms, andthe mind naturally ponders over the daring of those who selected spots sodifficult of access, for their dwelling-places, and settled fearlessly amonghosts of surrounding giants . Rafts of wood are moving rapidly butskilfully down the Mur. The river is little indeed to look upon, but it hasits perils, and requires an expert steersman quite as much as the Danube.Afew leagues beyond the Röthelstein the narrow character of the Murvalley changes, and at Bruck we enter the Upper Valley. Bruck and Leoben lie at no great distance from each other . At these two cities, the roads meetfrom Vienna, Linz, and Salzburg, and continue then in an united line towards the south. The road from Vienna through the Mur valleytoGrätz, and thence on to Trieste may be compared to that from Munich,over Inspruck to Verona. Between these two great roads that intersectthe Alps from north to south, there is no third that comes at all near them in importance.We drove on to Leoben through the dusk of the evening. We werelighted on our way by a multitude of little lights. First we had thestars twinkling in a bright sky, next we had countless numbers of lightsshining out upon us from the dwellings of man as we passed them, thenwe had glow-worms in the grass, and lastly the pipes of Francis and myself. Various as were in themselves these light-giving objects, they produced all, strange to say, much the same effect, when seen through thedarkness of night. They seemed all to be only so many illuminated points.In Leoben I supped with some officers and a surgeon, on a numerousarray of savoury Austrian dishes that are nameless out of the country, and would not be recognised beyond the emperor's dominions by the namesunder which they pass current with his subjects . The officers complainedsadly of the physical defects that prevailed among the population. Atthe last recruitment, they told me, among sixty recruits they had beenobliged to refuse twenty-five, on account ofruptures, distorted joints, wens,Cretinism, or other bodily defects, and often the proportion of the rejectedwas still greater. The strongest and finest men of the neighbourhood,they said, were the woodcutters, and those who floated the rafts down theriver; the least healthy were the charcoal-burners and miners, amongwhomCretinism was particularly prevalent. The evil, they added, was less than it had been. Formerly a few Cretins constituted a regular appendagetoevery inn or tavern, where they were kept as servants of small cost, and to serve for the amusem*nt of the guests! Nor are they by any meansuseless as servants, for in spite of their apparent imbecility, when oncetheyhave learned any particular kind of work, they will often perform it withgreater regularity, than servants who have the use of all their senses.Throughout my whole journey, from Grätz to the Bavarian frontier,everywhere I heard the people joyfully declare that Cretinism was on theEISENARZT AND THE EISENBERG. 397decline. If so the evil cannot be an unconquerable one, nor can it dependon the unalterable influence of the soil. It may like most of the ills thatowe their being to human barbarism yield to the intelligence of a moreenlightened age, to the gradual influence of education, and the improved condition of the humbler classes . How must it not incite governments,as well as private individuals, to increased exertions, when they see thatthe little that has already been done has not been done in vain!EISENARZT AND THE EISENBERG.The road which leads to Salzburg and the Salt districts, is called by thepeople of the country the Salt Road. We quitted it on the followingmorning to visit the celebrated mines of Eisenärzt and Vordernberg, whichlie away to the side among the hills, and, after having satisfied our curiosity there, it was our intention to return to the Salt Road by the way ofthe Admont convent.The upper valley of the Mur and the upper valley of the Ens run parallel with each other, from west to east, and are formed by three parallelridges of the Alps. The Mur, turning to the south near Bruck, forces itsway through the southern ridge; and the Ens, in the same way turningtowards the north, breaks through the northern barrier, and rolls on tojoin the Danube. The central ridge, which divides the two rivers fromeach other, remains unbroken, but has several passes, one of which occursbetween Vordernberg and Eisenärzt, and to this pass on the followingmorning we directed our course.All the mountains seemed to have grown into the firmament, for thelatter was hanging down over them, wrapped in a close veil of mist, andwhere, here and there, one of the tall gentlemen allowed us to get a peepat his head, we saw it had been lightly powdered with snow during thenight. To the eagles, and chamois, the sun was probably visible, but heappeared to trouble himself very little about us humble wayfarers in themist-hidden valleys below. The valley, or ravine, up which we travelled,was very narrow, with a small stream, the Berger Bach, running down it,and huge masses of rock scattered on either side . The place was full ofironworks, which continued all the way to Vordernberg, where there wereno less than fourteen furnaces, from which upwards of 300,000 cwt. ofpure iron, I was told, were annually obtained.I went over a few of these furnaces, and also over a new mining school,established through the exertions of the Archduke John. Here I foundthe most complete collection of iron ores that I had ever seen. They weredoubly arranged; first, geographically, according to the places whence theycame, and secondly, according to a geological system. The school receivesits pupils from the polytechnic institutions of Vienna, Prague, and Grätz,where they have generally been well prepared to perfect themselves in thescience of mining by practical studies on the spot.From Vordernberg our road ran farther and farther up into the regionof pines. The higher we came the clearer grew the weather, and by thetime we had reached the mountain pass-the Prehbühel-we had as beauti- ful a day as we could wish for. A few Sennhütten* here called Schwaigen, abandoned already by their fair occupants, were scattered about the

• Sennhütte is the German name for the summer cottage among the Alps, erected

as a shelter for the herdsman who drives his cattle to the mountain pasturage. In French Switzerland the word for one of these huts is chalet. The French word is398 EISENARZT AND THE EISENBERG.edges ofthe mountains. The Sennerinnen, in some places also calledSchwoagerinnen and Brentlerinnen, had left their summer abodes to takeup their quarters for the winter in the valleys.At the loftiest point of the pass are large magazines of ore; for withinthis pass are the celebrated works whence an ore so rich is obtained, as to beunmatched by any other mine on the European continent, with the exception of those in the Ural mountains. The metallic mass seems to havelaid itself like a thick mantle over the northern declivity of the pass, andto rise, moreover, like a vast cupola within the pass itself. On the summit of this cupola, a large iron cross has been erected, and thence theEisenberg ( or Iron Mountain) descends with tolerable regularity into theMünchthal to Eisenärzt.The summit and the upper half of the mountain belongs to the Vordernbergers, the lower half of the mantle of iron belongs to the Eisenärzters;the former are a company of private speculators, the latter the officers ofthe government. From the summit of the pass, a railroad runs into themountain, and by this railroad the ore is brought to the magazines ofwhich I have spoken, and is thence conveyed, in common carts, to thefurnaces. After leaving Leoben, it appeared as if there would never be an end to the carts laden with ore. This road, therefore, is very appropriately named the Iron road, in the same way as the road to Salzburg is called the Salt road.I sent mycharioteer, Francis, on to Eisenärzt by himself, and committedmyself to the railroad which was to carry me quickly into the bowels of the mountain, and thence out into the open air again on the northern side.I went with a train of returning ore- carts, of which there were nine or ten,and these were drawn with great facility by a single horse. On the last ofthe carts sat one of the superintendents, a few workmen, and myself.Cold it was in this elevated position, but the view was magnificent. TheHohe Schwab (the Tall Suabian) rose with all his pinnacles and promontories, and formed a truly wonderful panorama of rocky elevations andfearful abysses. The Erzberg himself is about 3000 feet high, but themasses round about rise to an elevation of more than 7000 feet. Having arrived on the Vordernberger side of the mountain, I commenced my inspection of the remarkable works which have now been in full activity forso many centuries, tearing the dull ore from the entrails of the mountain.There is reason to believe that the nature ofthe Eisenberg was knownto the Romans, though it is asserted that no mine was worked there before the year 712. The mass of iron accumulated here by the hand of nature,is truly astonishing, and the ore is obtained with little trouble, comparedwith other mines, on account of the trifling depth to which the miner hashere to descend. The circumference of the hill is 6000 fathoms, its height3000 feet; and the whole summit of the mountain, and the covering ofone side of it, form one mass of iron ore, and that of so rich a quality, thattwo hundredweight of ore yield one hundredweight of clean iron. If wesuppose the stratum of ore to be everywhere 200 feet in thickness, it willfollow that we have here a stock of millions upon millions of tons of iron;probably better known to the majority of English readers; nevertheless, in the present translation, the German word has been preferred. In Styria, it would ap- pear, the cattle, during summer, are confided to the care, not of men, but of women.These women are called Sennerinnen ( in the singular, Sennerinn), and the herd of which they have charge, the Senne.- Tr.EISENARZT AND THE EISENBERG. 399quite enough, at all events, to provide the world with needles, ploughshares, and swords, for a tolerably long time to come.I have spoken of a mantle of iron as covering one side of the mountain.This expression must not be taken so literally as to suppose that the ore lies on the side of the mountain in one stratum of a uniform thickness,like a cloak on the back of a fine gentleman. Here and there this covering of iron disappears altogether, and in other places it sinks to a greatdepth into the interior of the mountain, or runs through it in the shape ofveins of greater or less size. Moreover, when I say the ore lies on thesurface, that too must not be taken literally, for the mountain is everywhere nearly encrusted with a covering of vegetable mould, sufficient to afford sustenance to a number of pines and other trees. The way in whichthe work has usually been carried on, has been to clear away the mould,and then to pick out the ore. This system has led, in the course of centuries, to the formation of a multitude of spacious caverns and grottoes,similar to those we see in stone quarries. Of these grottoes there are atleast fifty in different parts of the mountain. Where the ore runs into theheart of the mountain, the miners have sometimes followed its course, andlong subterranean passages have been formed in consequence.Some of the caverns ( Tagbauen) of which I have just spoken, havebeen worked for more than a thousand years, and present a most interesting appearance. They are large irregular halls, or rotundas, with floorsand walls that make not the least pretension to smoothness. Blocks ofore, of various sizes, lie scattered about, some because they have not beenthought rich enough to be worth carrying away, others because no convenient opportunity has yet presented itself. Columns and arches of ironstone are seen on every side, and clinging to the walls the busy miners areworking away with their hammers.Paths lead from one work to another, and here and there lie the little hutsin which the miners pass the night, ten or twenty together, as long as theirworking week lasts, for the dwellings for their families are mostly below inthe valleys. Afew of the superintendents, however, have their houses up on the mountain itself.Travelling from cavern to cavern, I arrived at a projecting ledge of rock,whence the view down to Eisenärzt and the Münch valley was more magnificent than I could have imagined. Round about rose the steep sidesand the huge stony masses of the Pfaffenberg, the Seemauer, and theReichenstein, of which the last named is by far the highest. Amongthese mighty works of nature, —and the same, to some extent, may be saidof the colossal piles reared by human hands, —one is apt very much to un- der-estimate distance and size. The walls of the mountains around meseemed quite even and uniform, yet my companions assured me, there wereledges, and promontories, and abysses, to look upon which would makehair stand on end. They talked much about the chamois that frequented those rocks, so I asked them whether they, with their practisedeyes, could detect any of the creatures. At this they all laughed, and said,if, on the mountains I was looking at, there were hundreds of chamois Ishould not be able to see one, even though provided with a good telescope.To me the mountains appeared so close, that I should have expected to seethe nightingales fluttering about the bushes, if there had been any. Howpaltry the pyramids of Egypt would look if placed among these hills!myThe mountains had all wrapped their summits in veils of snow. Deepdown below, with the huge giants crowding around, lay the little cheerful,400 EISENARZT AND THE EISENBERG.cultivated valley of Münch, with the smoke curling up from the houses ofEisenärzt. As we proceeded, the same view presented itself with endlessvariations at each new projection, and with every step we approachednearer to the peaceful valley, and seemed to be receding more and morefrom the frowning mountains around us.On my arrival at Eisenärzt, the director of the ironworks, to whosepolite attentions I was soon to be indebted, was still occupied in his office,so I took a walk, to while away the interval, with Völkel, à chamois hunterof great renown in this part of the world, from whose conversation I derived much entertainment. The chamois is a creature so light, graceful,and sagacious, and the places it frequents offer such an endless variety ofsituations, and such frequent motives for exultation in success, that thechamois hunter never fails to be passionately fond of his occupation.Ifthe chamois lived in the plains, this would not be the case.the Noric Alps to Maria Zell and the Schneeberg, are full of chamois, " butround about Eisenärzt, " said Völkel, " they have become scarcer, for theArchduke John has his Brandhof at the foot of the High Alps, where hecoaxes them over to his own side."The whole ofThe Brandhof is an estate which the archduke has bought and fitted upas an Alpine cottage, and there he has occasionally chamois hunts on aslarge a scale as the king of Bavaria, near Berchtesgaden, where more than a hundred of these beautiful creatures have sometimes been killed in thecourse of one hunting expedition. The Archduke John has become athorough Styrian. At the popular festivals which he gives at his Brandhof he dances with the hunters and their damsels, wears the Styrian costume, and the people, when they speak of him, generally drop his title,and call him plain " John." "Ah! " said my companion, " that John's aman, and there would be as much of the man left if you could strip him of all that birth and fortune gave him."I have always found the civil servants ofthe Austrian gvernment extremelyobliging, and much more unreserved in their communications than I couldhave anticipated. My director was no exception from the general rule,but, on the contrary, gave me so much information about the works placedunder his superintendence, that if I could have retained half of what hetold me, I should have been in a condition to write a very instructive bookon the subject. It was already evening, so we proceeded with lightedlanterns to pay a visit to the furnaces.Each of the three furnaces of Eisenärzt produces yearly from 60,000 to64,000 cwt. of iron. The thirteen furnaces of Vordernberg produce each 20,000 to 30,000 cwt. The poorest ore yields forty per cent. of metal.Poorer ore is found, but is not considered worth melting. The richest oreyields seventy per cent. , but the average is from fifty to sixty per cent.In England there are single furnaces that do as much work as all those of Eisenärzt put together.We supped at the inn, where our conversation turned upon the customaryStyrian topics: iron, chamois, and Cretins. I mentioned what the officerhad said at Bruck, and asked whether his account was likely to be correct.My present companions thought he must have spoken within the mark;about Eisenärzt, they were sure, it would be a wonder if, out of sixty recruits, twenty were found fit for service. Wens, ruptures, and an enlargement of the veins of the legs, were the rule, and the absence of those deformities the exception. Wens, moreover, appeared to be ordered in variousclasses, according to their size, and a woman with a " quite clean neck," ITHE STYRIAN ROCKS. 401was assured, was almost a rarity in that part ofthe country. Not far fromEisenärzt, it seems, there lies, at a considerable elevation, a valley called the Radmer, where there are more Cretins than in any other place of equal extent. I was told of a young man who lived there, and who had been afine intelligent boy till his eighth year. He was making admirable progress in his education, when suddenly his eyes began to lose their lustreand to assume that ominous dulness of expression, which to the practisedglance announces the approach of mental darkness. As the fire of intelligence became gradually extinguished in the boy's eye, his features assumed a staring, stupid expression, his knees bent inward, his walk became slow,his memory and all desire for information left him, and his poor parentssaw their child sink irrecoverably into the night of Cretinism, into a creature destitute of thought or feeling, though continuing to drag a worthless life about with him.In Styria, as in Switzerland, the Cretin is invested with a kind of sanctity, and an insult to the poor "Troddel" is sure to be followed by theresentment of all his relatives. This is partly owing to a belief that thepoor benighted being is paying the penalty of the sins of his family. Theworst of it is, that marriages between Cretins cannot always be prevented.I was told of two farms, for which no purchaser could be found, because ithad been observed that every family that had occupied them, had sunk intoirrecoverable Cretinism. It may be some compensation for this grievousaffliction, that Upper Styria is quite free from the fevers which prevail toso great an extent in Hungary, and from which even Lower Styria is notexempt. The people of Lower Styria often travel into the upper part ofthe country to escape the pestilence of these fevers, or to recover from their effects .THE STYRIAN ROCKS.Francis and I resumed our journey the next morning, with a partingblessing on all the iron, still slumbering under the Prehbühl. Heavenbless the work of all those numberless busy needles that are still sticking inthe mountain, but which one day, centuries hence, perhaps, will be taken out and delivered over to the diligent fingers of our German housewivesand maidens! May the scythes and the ploughshares, that yet lie dormant in the Eisenberg, know none but a peaceful duty when called into activity, and may it never be their fate to be bent into more warlike instruments! or should such be their destiny, may they, at least, never be raised in strife, unless for the defence of our common German fatherland!The air was tolerably cool in these valleys, a thing not very surprisingin the month of October, seeing there is always more cold than heat there,though the thermometer rarely falls so low as in the valley of the Danube.The temperature in winter seldom falls below -4° of Réaumur. The preceding winter had been one of unusual severity, and one morning the thermometer hadbeen down to -11°, which was something quite extraordinary.In Vienna, during the same winter, the thermometer had been down to-15° and -16° for several days together. Yet Eisenärtz lies at a muchgreater elevation, and is quite open to the north.Our road led through the loftiest and wildest rocks. Beautiful and ofendless variety as they were, presenting themselves at every step in adifferent grouping, still their wildness and magnificence had an overpowering effect. There seemed to be something intolerably insolent in the human402 THE STYRIAN ROCKS.pigmy that presumed to wander amid piles, fit only for the housing of giants. In some of the villages I saw sundials, on which the hours hadbeen marked only from seven in the morning till four in the afternoon,because before and after those hours, no ray of sunshine ever found its way into the valley.I passed a group of rocks to the left with a narrow pass leading to theRadmer valley. This pass was called " Between the Walls" (zwischen den Mäuern), and another, a little farther on, was called " In Time of Need"(In der Noth), two denominations highly characteristic of the country, forthe people seem to me to be always living between walls, and every daywith them is more or less a time of need. A man does not require to havehimself experienced all the hardships of such a life, to enable him to judgeof the delights of a seven months' winter, of a modicum of oatmeal as therecompence of a hard day's toil; of ploughing through a thin covering ofmould, over a stony bottom, at the edge of a precipice, with the prospectthat the harvest will fail six years out often, and seldom yield more thantwo bushels of corn for one of seed; of the wintry labour of climbing upthe hills, amid hurricanes of snow, to cut wood, and thus amid toil anddanger seeking to obtain the subsistence which the land has refused toyield. No, it does not require to have undergone all this to understandthe mountaineer's notion of a fine land, one in which the life of man andthe course of the rivers roll along over more easy and less precipitouspaths. My charioteer, Francis, though a native Styrian, seemed to be asmuch overpowered by the wildness of the rocky labyrinth as myself.Nay, I would not live here," he cried, " this is an appalling country!"66So thoroughly was I satiated with rocks that when I arrived at Hiflau,on the Enns, and was told there were two roads to the monastery of Admont, —a short one through a rocky ravine, and one, three miles longer,over a beautiful plain, I hesitated not to choose the longer way. I found out afterwards I had done wrong. What I ought to have done, was togo through the ravine on foot, which would have led me through scenerymore awfully magnificent than is to be seen in any other part of Styria.We continued for some time, after leaving Hiflau, to pass one colossusafter another, but we reached at last the plain of which so inviting a pic- ture had been given us. We broke forth into a cry of exultation on beholding it, and, after passing our ocean of rocks, we exclaimed " Land,land!" with something of the feeling of delight with which Columbus maybe supposed to have hailed the first sight of a new world, after traversinghis ocean of water. The mountaineers, when, in autumn, they have broughttheir cattle in safety down from the Alps, or when, after a wolf or chamoishunt, they spring from the last rocky ledge down upon the plain; or when,in winter, returning from a woodcutting excursion, they come rattlingdown the snowy path in their little wooden sledges, and arrive at last without mischance upon horizontal ground again, no doubt raise their eyesto Heaven in gratitude, and exclaim, " Land, land!" Hence perhaps thislittle oasis of a plain has so appropriately been called, ' s Landl. TheStyrian poets call it the Noric Tempe, which is a leetle bit of an exaggeration, for in Tempe there were cities, whereas in'sLandl there are only twovery pretty little villages, one of which is called Landl, and the otherReifling. The latter lies at the entrance of the Salza valley, up whichpasses the path to the celebrated place of pilgrimage, Maria Zell. I willnot attempt to estimate the extent of the plain, for the rocky masses, andthe mountains towering into the clouds, may easily have deceived myun-THE STYRIAN ROCKS. 403practised eye, but it seemed to me to be a pretty little inviting miniaturedukedom; and our eyes, imprisoned as they had been for several daysamong cyclopian walls, revelled with delight over the green meadows, likelittle birds just escaped from captivity.We remained, however, but a short time in the valley of the Enns, butproceeded onward to St. Gallen, where we already found ourselves withinthe influence of the widespreading lordship of the monastery of Admont,which in the surrounding country owns a very pretty little portion of ironworks, castles, and tributary villages, to say nothing of the patronage ofsundry excellent ecclesiastical livings. St. Gallen was founded by theabbots of Admont, and the castle of Gallenstein was built near it, as aresidence for their officers, stewards, &c. These gentlemen have sincefound it more convenient to take up their abode in the town itself, and theold castle stood for some time abandoned to the ghosts and goblins whohave, time out of mind, been the legitimate occupiers of all forsaken mansions. Of late the castle had been honoured with the visits of a very activefraternity of moneydiggers; and to prevent these busy speculators frombringing an old house about their ears, the abbot adopted the prudentcourse of selling the ruinous old concern to a smith, on condition of hisremoving the materials. When I passed the place, he had been alreadytwo years at work, breaking up the old walls, but seemed to have madelittle progress for the time.After passing St. Gallen the road became steep, and I walked on, leavingmy driver to follow. It was a beautiful evening, and a range of lofty mountains towered up on one side of me. Seen from below all mountainsappear of immense height, as to the clown all those above him are greatmen it is only when we rise ourselves, and have an opportunity to makeour observations from an elevated point, that we come to distinguish themighty among the mighty.The play of colours and the effects of light on these mountains werewonderful and of endless variety. One colossus I watched particularly as the sun was departing from the horizon. The foot of the mountain wasplunged in the sombre hue of a black pine-forest. Higher up were light bushes, and the upper part was covered with white snow. On the summitthe snow seemed to be tinged with yellow, and a glowing red cloud hovered over it. The cloud became redder and redder, till at last the yellow summit became likewise red, and the rest ofthe snowy covering assumed a deeporange tint. This went on for a while longer, till at last the whole mountain seemed to be burning with a deep, fiery, purple red, as if a divinespark had suddenly kindled a glowing flame within the colossus . The mag- nificent spectacle was just at its height as I reached the summit of the Buchau pass, and the beautiful upper valley of the Enns presented itself before me. The river here traverses a vast basin, formerly, no doubt, a lake, butnow a smiling valley, with the wealthy abbey of Admont in its centre, andmighty mountains and picturesque ranges of rocks rising like an amphi- theatre around. At the top of the pass Ifound my charioteer awaiting me.I mounted my equipage accordingly, and over a convenient road I rolledpast the rich fields of the monastic lords, through the little market-townthat depends on the abbey, and up into the magnificent courtyard of theconvent palace.2 E404THE ABBEY OF ADMONT.Admont is by far the most important and the most celebrated religiouscommunity in this part of the Alps. Its wealth is great, and the abbots,who played a prominent part throughout the history of Inner Austria,have still a seat and vote in the States of Styria, and at one time bore thestyle and designation "by the Grace of God:" as-" Adalbertus DeiGratia Abbas Admontensis." No less than thirty- six churches receivetheir spiritual directors from this monastery, and two gymnasia and severalschools are supplied from it with teachers. The design of the monasteryitself is on the same vast and magnificent scale which I have already described when speaking of the convents along the Danube. Like themit began to be built in the middle of the last century, and like them ithas never been finished. Wars under Maria Theresa, reforms underJoseph, and revolutions under Leopold and Francis, left neither moneynor leisure to proceed with the pious work. Incomplete, however, as it is,the convent is still a splendid building, and of the abundance of spareroom within it I had soon an opportunity of judging, when I was conducted to the spacious apartment designed for my accommodation, and inwhich I was left to await the return of the prelate, who had driven out afew days before to a chamois hunt, but was hourly expected back.I could walk twenty steps in my room in any direction I chose to take,and I did so some dozens of times while examining the arrangement ofthe place. It was an antique and venerable apartment, such as we rarely see nowadays, except in Austria or on the stage. The thick oaken doorwas adorned with carvings of angels' heads; the huge stove of Dutchtiles was surrounded with arabesques in iron, that made it look like aharnessed knight with a stiff-starched standing collar. On the lofty wallshung nothing but a small Venetian mirror in a massive metal frame, be- fore which stood a crucifix, and a little desk for prayer. The windowswere large enough for a church, but the glass was in most diminutivepanes, that rattled in their leaden casem*nts when shaken by the nightwind. A large balcony without commanded, no doubt, by day, a splendidprospect, but the October wind and the darkness of the night were notjust then calculated to induce me to satisfy myself on this point; I foundit more agreeable to court the vicinity of my irongirt stove, who soonbegan to glow for me with a friendly and inviting ardour, and I was justbeginning to abandon myself to the train of pleasing thoughts which thegenial warmth of my companion was awakening within me, when I heardthe coach-and-four of the prelate, and the hunting equipages of his suite,rolling into the courtyard.My presentation followed almost immediately. I found in the prelatea venerable man of about seventy, but full of health and activity. Heushered me, without delay, to the supper- table, where I found several monksassembled, whose conversation was full of the events of the chase whencethey had just returned. Some of the finest chamois mountains belong tothe abbey, and the learned monks of Admont have in consequence been,at all times, great chamois hunters; a circ*mstance that may have had itsshare in giving them that air of vigour and sturdy health of which it wasimpossible not to take notice, and may also have contributed to maintainTHE ABBEY OF ADMONT. 405in them that taste for study and learning which has always characterizedthem quite as much as their love of sport.Among the inmates of the convent I found twelve Cretins. It seemsthat some centuries ago one of these poor creatures was able to renderan important service to an abbot of Admont, by apprizing him of a designof some enemies to surprise and pillage the place. Out of gratitude forso well- timed a communication, the monks have ever since entertained adozen of these benighted beings, and whenever one of them dies, a numberof candidates are always sure to apply for the vacant place. A numberof poor Cretins are also supported by the monks without the convent walls.After supper, when the prelate had dismissed me for the night, theFather Steward accompanied me to my roomy cell, and kindly bestowedan hour of his time in conversing with me about all the distinguished andexcellent men, who had at various times adorned the community, or stillcontinued to adorn it. Of these, there was none whom I valued more thanthe deservedly respected historian of Styria, Albert von Muchar, whoseacquaintance I had had the good fortune to make at Grätz, and to whosekindness I now stood indebted for my introduction to the convent. Imake it an all but inviolable rule not to mention by name any of the persons with whom I become acquainted on my travels; for even my warmestand best deserved praise might sometimes be any thing but welcome; butthis excellent man I hope will excuse the exception I have here made.There are men for whom one feels an impulse of friendship at the firstglance, and the impression made upon me, during our brief acquaintance,by that pious, learned, and benevolent Benedictine monk, is one that notime will ever be able to efface. I regretted missing his company here inhis own splendid convent, but he is at least as usefully employed in hisvocation at Grätz, where he has for many years graced the chair of Professor of History. Nor was I allowed to experience any inconvenience inconsequence of his absence. Every possible attention was shown to hisfriend. On the following morning, I was invited to inspect the collectionsofthe house, and afterwards to make a little excursion through the roman- tic environs.The library of Admont is said to contain 100,000 volumes, many ofvery ancient date, for while the convents of Hungary and Lower Styria,have frequently been plundered and destroyed by the inroads of a barbarous foe, Admont, in its mountain-circled valley, has always escapedunscathed, nor has its peace been broken by any of the great European wars that have shaken the nerves of all the rest of the world. Twelvetimes the Turks made inroads into Styria, but they never came so far asAdmont. The French were there indeed in 1806, but only in peacefulquarters.Many buried treasures might be found in this library. Sir Humphry Davy spent several weeks in examining it. The other collections of theconvent are but of trifling value, and I bestowed, therefore, but little timeupon them, for the sun was rising gloriously above the mountains, andmaking his toilet for a real holiday.The convent garden was beautiful enough in its way, but I wasanxious to contemplate the more magnificent garden laid out by the handof Nature. My Benedictine friends, accordingly, conducted me to a littlechâteau de plaisance, the property of the monastery, and fitted up attimes for the reception of illustrious and distinguished guests. From this 2 E 2406 THE ABBEY OF ADMONT.château, where I was entertained with an excellent glass of wine, we hada view of all the surrounding mountains, with the names of which I wasduly made acquainted by my reverend hosts.A stranger must not suppose that he has made himself master of thenomenclature of a range of mountains, when he has graven on his memorythe names ofthe principal masses that present themselves to his view. Amountain has a number of peaks, ravines, abysses, and other componentparts, and each of these has its distinct appellation. In short, a mountainhas generally as long a list of names about it, as a ship with all its masts,spars, and ropes. Every point, every wall, every path, every patch of pasture-ground has its separate name, and its distinct character. Not that these names are always known to all the country round. The hunters have explored and christened spots which the husbandmen have neverseen, and in the same way the Sennerins are familiar with places knownonly to themselves.On our return, we looked in at some houses situated on the side of amountain. These Alpine habitations in Styria rarely contribute much tothe picturesque effect of the landscape. They are generally covered with rough pine-boards, which, as they are never painted, soon from the exuda- tion of resinous matter, acquire a sombre brown hue on the sunny side,and a yet more gloomy gray on the shaded side. The architecture is muchthe same as that which prevails in Switzerland; a large projecting roof,and a balcony running round the whole house. We drank some milk withthe worthy inmates, who kissed our hands and arms on taking leave, andbefore re-entering the monastry we went to see a manufactory of scythes,an article, in the construction of which neither the English nor the Swedes can excel the Styrians.66The scythe smiths, in Upper Styria, are mostly wealthy people. I wastold of one who gave away yearly one thousand florins to the poor." There were millionaires among them formerly," said one of the monksand there may be still, but luxury and extravagance are beginning to creep in among them. Some must have their equipages forsooth, andtheir daughters must dress like princesses, and then, you know, the hoardis apt to melt away. "to me,The truly infernal din of hammers and grinding-stones, in one of thesescythe manufactories it is impossible to describe, and those constantly subjected to it, I found, were all, more or less, deaf. The master of the establishment at Admont told me that the greatest demand for Styrianscythes was from Brody in Galicia, whence they were exported to Russia,to arm the mowers of the steppes. To Turkey a great many used to besent, but he supposed that the trade had fallen into the hands of the mer- chants of Pesth, for a great many scythes went to Pesth now, and veryfew to Turkey. What seemed most to puzzle the worthy smith was thecomplete cessation of the Frankfort trade, which was formerly of greatervalue to him than any other. He seemed to imagine that the scythes hadbeen generally shipped from Frankfort for America, and that that markethad, perhaps been occupied by the English. It amused me to hear thegood people speculating here, in their mountain fastnesses, on the politicaland commercial revolutions of the world, but I was unable to solve their doubts.I was heartily tired of the noise of the scythe smiths, and felt mostagreeably relieved when my friends ventured to hint that it was near dinner-THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE ENNS. 407time, and that we ought to return to the monastery, that we might notkeep the prelate and the other gentlemen waiting. There was no lack attable of a spirited and instructive conversation, and after dinner I tookleave of my reverend hosts, to whom I had much pleasure in giving theassurance, for which they so eagerly pressed me, that, if circ*mstancesever brought me into Styria again, I would not fail to repeat my visit to their beautiful convent.THE UPPER VALLEY OF THE ENNS.A beautiful road leads from Admont, along the upper valley of theEnns, to the Dachstein glacier, the mighty mark set up to showthe borderbetween Austria, Styria, and Salzburg. This is the most delightful of allthe Alpine valleys. It is large and broad enough to afford a convenientfield for the cultivation of man, and yet it has an abundance of picturesquebeauties, the mountains, variously grouped, rising on each side to theheight of 7000 and 9000 feet. A traveller among the Alps, however,where nature herself speaks in so sublime a language, must keep a tightrein upon his words, or he will always be feeling, thinking, and talkingsuperlativo and superlativissimo. We northern Germans, when we leaveour heaths and sandy plains, are apt to launch forth into esthetic raptures atthe sight of the Elbe hills near Meissen, and if we go on heightening ourexpressions of delight as we get farther south, we are sure to be out ofbreath bythe time we reach Styria. I must therefore content myselfwith saying that the upper valley of the Enns is full of interesting andbeautiful objects, is about half a league broad, and being tolerably straight,enables the traveller to command an extensive view. The soil must beextremely moist, since all the ground is laid out for pasturage, and not asingle human dwelling stands by the side of the river. The villages areall built a little way up the hills.I was so pleased with my drive up this valley that I was by no meanssorry when Francis told me we must spend the night in the little hamlet ofLietzen, a necessity to which I submitted all the more willingly, as I heardthe sounds of music and dancing issuing from the little inn at which westopped. I had had an opportunity at Grätz of spelling out the rudimentsof a Styrian dance, and was well pleased to avail myself of so fair a chance to con over my lessons once more. I have seen many national dances thathave pleased me; as, the Hussar dance of the Hungarians, the vigorousMazurka of the Poles, the poetical Kosakka of the Russians, and the original Dioko of the Walachians. I have also seen the voluptuous Fandango of the Spaniards, the stormy Gallopades of the French, and thesay-nothing Waltzes of Germany; but I must say that, for grace, decorum and good-humour, nothing can exceed the national dance of Styria.It is a near relation to the Tyrolese dance, or to the Austrian Ländler, butmore graceful than the former, and more significant and varied than thelatter. The movements are sufficiently slow to allow of their being beautiful, and the figures and positions are full of delicate allusions to the softsensations of love; the whole dance, at the same time, breathes such graceful gaiety, that at the first glance you see it is more to the Styrian thana mere measured movement of the feet.Other national dances, I admit, are beautiful in their way, when they are408 THE SALT DISTRICT OF STYRIA.beautifully danced; but the fandango easily becomes too voluptuous, theHungarian dance clatters too much with the spurs, the Polish is apt to become too wild, and the Russian is deformed by gestures and distortions ofthe limbs, grotesque rather than graceful. Now the Styrian dance, as faras I have seen of it, is free from all these excesses, and I am pleased tothink that it is a German race that has invented so beautiful a dance, atthe same time that I am at a loss to understand how it is that it should nothave become more general in Germany. The music that accompanies it,is as graceful and characteristic as the dance itself, and in proportion asthe dancers become excited, they set their voices as well as their feet intomotion. I was so well pleased with the scene, that I had the greatestdifficulty in tearing myself away from it. The ball, however, bade fair tostretch tolerably far into the night, so, giving the merry party a farewellblessing, I retired to bed to arm myself with a few hours' repose, againstthe next day's journey. May Heaven long preserve the worthy Styriansin the enjoyment of such graceful expressions of unsophisticated pleasure,and keep afar from them the levelling flattening influences of our age! Tobe sure the Alps are a tolerable bulwark against the levellers, and will take them some time to flatten down.THE SALT DISTRICT OF STYRIA.At Mitterndorf I stopped to look at a nail manufactory, a branch ofindustry, which, next to the making of scythes, is perhaps the most important in the country; but after leaving Mitterndorf, we quit the regionsof iron, to enter upon those of salt. Arriving from the east, Aussee is thefirst place where this wide-spread fabrication is carried on. Western Styria,eastern Tyrol, south- eastern Bavaria, and what is called the Austrian SaltDistrict, (das oesterreichische Salzkammergut, ) are all parts of one vastcountry of salt, in the centre of which stands Salzburg, a town that probably owes its name to the staple commodity of the surrounding regions.Here I determined to send Francis with our equipage on before me toGossern, on the other side of the mountains, and to follow on foot, makingone or two rounds; partly to have an opportunity of enjoying the view ofthe delightful valley of Aussee from an elevation, partly to pay a visit to aStyrian Sennhütte or Chalet. I found some kind friends at Aussee, towhom I had letters from Grätz, and who recommended me to a hunter ofthe Alps, who in his turn undertook to introduce me to a fair Sennerin ofhis acquaintance.Theyoung lady for whom our visit was intended, resided on a mountaincalled the Pflindsberg Alp, and the name by which she was known, was the "Külml Miedl of the Grundl Lake." Külml, it seems, was the nameof her father's farm, which was situated close to the Grundl Lake; andMiedl is a kind of abbreviation for Maria. Some of these Sennerins, Iwas told, had titles quite as long as some of our German counts.Külml Miedl has her Sennhütte on the side of a mountain, particularlywell situated for affording a view of the Aussee panorama. The consequence is, that she frequently receives visiters, and for their accommodationafewboards have been nailed together into the shape of tables and benches,in front of her hut, so that she is always prepared to see company, andbeing a goodhumoured, merry girl, and famed far and wide for the beautyTHE SALT DISTRICT OF STYRIA. 409of her voice, she is seldom long without seeing strange faces in front of herelevated habitation. She is already beyond her " first youth," being aboutthirty years old, an age at which the female voice is best suited for the Alpine melodies, for the voice of a very young girl is seldom powerful enough for them. Strong lungs and long practice are absolutely necessaryfor the proper management of the voice among these hills.They have three different sorts of song: the Jodeln, the Johezen, andthe Jauchzen. The Jodeln is tolerably well known all over Europe, beingthe kind of song we have most of us heard from the itinerant Alpinesingers who are constantly on their travels. The other two, however, canbe heard only in the mountains.The Johezen is a sort of melodious recitative, in which they contrive tomake themselves heard from mountain to mountain; the Jauchzen is acall, challenging or inviting one on another mountain to enter upon a conversation, or, rather, a duet. A native writer expresses himself thus onthe subject:-" A Jauchzen is an invitation which the Sennerin gives toher distant friend to enter on a dialogue in song. Hereupon follows,in sharp, lengthened tones of harmony, and distinctly articulated words, arecitative expressive of salutation, reproach, or intended to convey an invitation or a narrative. As soon as the first singer pauses, the other takesup the strain, and this interchange of song will sometimes be carried on forhours, and at astonishing distances, if there happens to be no wind, and theatmosphere is tolerably clear."་Having spent several months among the Alps at one time of my life, Iam able to speak of these musical dialogues from experience . Sometimesa Jauchzer is raised merely to exchange a good morning, at other times by way ofa warning that some cattle are going astray on an opposite hill.This song can be distinguished at a much greater distance than any merescream or call, and when the Sennerin therefore gives her orders to herHaltern, (the lads stationed on the mountain as her assistants, ) she doesso mostly in song.The Küml Miedl, I was told, was confessedly the best Alpine singer, orJauchzerin, in all Styria, and I was anxious to hear the nightingale warbleamong her own bushes. We had been told she was still up on her mountain, but was expected to come down for the season that day or the next.I hurried my hunter, therefore, in the hope of reaching her hut before herdeparture. We started accordingly upon our mountain expedition, but had scarcely got halfway up when we met the Kuml Miedl on her way down.Her cows were driven on before her. A horse, with her luggage packedupon it, was led by one of her lads , her sister carried a few bundles, andthe fair Sennerin herself closed the procession. My hope of spending anidyllic evening with the Alpine shepherdesses on their mountain was frustrated, and so vexed was I at missing the anticipated enjoyment, that I felthalf-inclined to give the girls a good round scolding for not having waitedone day longer. Indeed, I did not altogether forbear from reproving themfor their haste. I produced, however, some fine imperial pears, which Ihad brought with me from Aussee, for the express purpose of entertainingthe Sennerin on her chamois meadows. The fruit was thankfully accepted,but I could not prevail upon my new acquaintance to favour me with asong, and as I did not expect much pleasure from an Alpine melody, ifaccompanied by any thing like constraint, I did not long continue to press410 THE SALT DISTRICT OF STYRIA.the lady, but, wishing her a good day, pursued my walk towards hercottage, which was already in sight, and at no great distance.We had not, however, proceeded far when we heard suddenly two voicesraised in song. I looked back, and saw the Miedl and her sister on a projecting point of the mountain engaged in a regular Alpine duet. Theyhad probably seen by my looks that I was in earnest in my wish to hearthem, and they were perhaps not altogether insensible to my present ofpears, which had proved an agreeable refreshment on their journey. We sat down and listened. The girls, pleased in their turn to have attentiveand admiring listeners, went through their song, each singing alternateverses, and closing with a vigorous Jauchzer that rang through the mountains, awakening echoes far and near. I would have gone down to thankthem, but they ran off to follow their cows that had meanwhile been drivenon before them.I was delighted to know that I had now heard a song from her who wasconfessedly the best singer of the Noric Alps, nor did I allow my pleasureto be disturbed by the remark of my hunting companion, that the songmust be heard on the top of the mountain if I would judge it properly.To me it seemed a farewell greeting to the departing year, and some suchfeeling may have mingled in the song of the two fair mountaineers, whor*ally sang with exquisite pathos. The Sennerin, though exposed to manyhardships during her summer residence on the mountain, is almost alwayspassionately fond of the unconstrained life which she leads there, and whileher songs in spring are full of joy and exultation, they seldom fail toassume a serious and melancholy tone as autumn advances, and warns herdown into the plain. As she drives her herd down into the valley, shedecorates the horns of her cows with garlands, and her friends comeforward to greet her with music and song; her return has the air of aholiday or a bridal, but she herself is often, all the time, sad and dejectedas the bride about to exchange the poetry and freedom of maidenhood, forthe cares of a household, and the embraces of one entitled to exactobedience.The descent of the Sennerins from the mountain is always made asfestive as possible, and for this purpose they generally contrive it so that anumber of them, eight or ten perhaps, shall bring their herds down on thesame day, when perhaps two or three hundred cows are driven into thevalley at the same time. The cattle have garlands of flowers woundabout their horns, the oldest cow and the oldest bull-the patriarchs of theherd-being always decorated with the utmost profusion. These garlandsare of such splendour that the decoration of a cow, on her way down, willoften be worth ten or twelve florins, that is to say it will often sell for thatprice, on account of the quantity of Alpine herbs which are collected onthe mountains, and for which the apothecaries are always ready to payliberally.The young men, with bands of music, usually meet the descending procession at the foot of the mountain, and each Sennerin is conducted toher own house in a kind of triumphal procession. A horse, also adornedwith garlands of flowers, is brought for her to ride home on, and herkettle and milkpails, are hung round its sides as the insignia of hertriumph.On every farm the Sennerin is always the most important and mostTHE SALT DISTRICT OF STYRIA. 411highly considered member of the establishment; for it is she who has themost important part of the farm property under her care, and moreover agreat deal of courage, prudence, and intelligence, are indispensable to aproper discharge of her duties. Many a fine Alpine meadow lies in asituation in which the utmost vigilance is required to prevent the cattlefrom falling down a precipice. A meadow of this kind may sometimesbe made safe by means of a good strong hedge or other enclosure, in whichcase the Sennerin is bound to see that the hedge is at all times in goodcondition. Some meadows cannot be secured in this way, and then aconstant eye must be kept on the cattle to prevent their straying into dangerous places. Other meadows may be safe enough in fine weather, butextremely dangerous if the ground has been made slippery by rain, orwhen the precipices are concealed by a mist. All these things the Sennerin must constantly bear in mind. Then again the patches of meadowground lie scattered in small bits about the mountain, and some judgmentis required in determining in what succession each shall be depastured orleft to be mown for hay. Nor is it only the cattle that is exposed todanger; the Sennerin herself has often to venture upon ground, where for one false step she may have to pay the penalty of her life.For any accident to her cattle, the Sennerin is held responsible, and if asmuch as a calf has been suffered to fall down a precipice, she to whomsuch an accident has happened, is not allowed to return home in triumph in autumn. She must wear no garland herself, and instead of flowers, shemay only bind a rope from the stable round the horns of her cows. Agood name also is requisite to entitle a Sennerin to be received withmusic and rejoicing at the foot of her mountain, and she who has thereputation of neglecting her work, or of too often encouraging her sweetheart to go up the mountain to her, must not hope for such a complimentfrom her fellow-villagers, but must go stealthily home, like her unwarysister, and when she and her cows have reached the farm, she must openthe stable-door with her own hand.We had a splendid view of the Aussee valley from the top of thePflindsberg Alp. This valley, with its lovely little lake, combines almostevery ingredient that goes to the composition of a beautiful landscape, andits inhabitants are equally distinguished for their fine forms and theirindustrious habits. Their houses are handsomely built, well kept, andevery spot of ground is maintained in the highest possible cultivation,circ*mstances which, no doubt, contribute materially to the decoration ofthe landscape. Some of the mountains round about are nearly 10,000feet high, but only one, the Thorsteiner, is ofa construction to allow ofthe formation of glaciers. This mountain is of so difficult ascent, that itis only at long intervals, that individuals are found hardy and expertenough to reach the summit.After enjoying for a long time the splendid panorama formed by thisand several other valleys of which we were able to obtain a glimpse, wewent to pay a visit to the Sennhütte of the Külm- Miedl. It was really ahandsome little house, two stories high, every thing, apparently, in the bestcondition, but doors and windows were all made as fast as locks and barscould make them. The only living thing near the now deserted dwelling,was a spring of water, that splashed into a little natural reservoir, andwill probably long continue to yield its quickening waters, when thepresent owner of that house, and many many successors, will long have412 THE SALT DISTRICT OF STYRIA.closed their busy careers, and long have slumbered under the turf of thevalley.It was getting dark before we set out on our return, but as the pathdown was easy and safe, my hunter and I lighted our pipes, and pursued our conversation without interruption. When we had done talking ofthe Sennerins, I encouraged him to tell me ofthe manners and habits ofthe chamois. The story that a herd of chamois will post sentinels to give warning of approaching danger, he treated as a fable; but " the motherswhile they have little ones, " he said, " are always more vigilant than theothers. The notion, I believe, has arisen from the practice of the old bucks to graze apart from the herd, particularly after they have once beenbeaten by younger or stronger bucks, when they often become misanthropical, and wander about alone till they die or get shot. The strongest buck, for the time, is always king of the herd."" Have you ever watched such a solitary buck?""Jesus Maria! to be sure I have! Once I observed an old buck yonder on the Trisselwand. It was a huge creature with a voice like a bear.He soon saw us down below, and began to walk up and down watching us,for they never run away when they see danger coming, till they havestopped some time to consider which way it is best to run.But man iscleverer than they. I had two lads with me, and told them to stop wherethey were, and keep the buck in their eye. I, meanwhile, crept up, bypaths known to myself, till I got above the creature that had continued towatch my lads, and, as soon as I got a good aim at him, I shot him rightthrough the heart. To be sure, I had the wind in my favour.Had thebuck been to leeward of me, my cunning would have been of little use tome. Oh, the wind is of great importance to the chamois hunter; and he must not wear showy clothes or bright buttons. That is one reason whywe old ones mostly shoot more game than the smart young hunters, withtheir fine jackets and their new hats.""You say the old bucks keep themselves away from the herd; do the old does never do so?""Oh, the old does, you see, are always the most important people of theherd. Every herd has an old doe, who marches on before, and whom all therest follow. We call her the Vorgeis, * and her we take care never to shoot,for then the herd choose a new Vorgeis, who leads them by new ways,which we are then obliged to study afresh. Kill the Vorgeis of the herd,and it's a long while before you know the rights of your hunting-groundagain. Sometimes the herd breaks up altogether, or splits into two orthree, and it's a long time before you know what's become of them. "A herd of chamois, he afterwards told me, is seldom more than fifteenor twenty strong. Not but that eighty or a hundred may sometimesbe seen together, but then it may be taken for certain that several herdshave met, and will soon part company again. Each herd has its " home” inthe most inaccessible parts of the mountain, whither it retreats on theapproach of danger, and when a herd has once accustomed itself to itshome, it seldom leaves it for a long time together. " It's not easy toget at a chamois in its own home," continued my companion, “ for that'ssure to be a dangerous place. Some of our young men, however, followthe creatures even there, and many a hunter pays for it by taking hisLiterally, the " leading doe or mother.”THE AUSTRIAN SALT DISTRICT. 413last tumble. Ay, and it has happened more than once that a hunterhas climbed to places whence neither he nor his friends could get him downagain, and there they must either starve or get some one to shoot them.19" And who shoots a man in such a case?"" His friend if he has one. To be sure, such a thing doesn't happenoften, but it does sometimes. People in the valley, sir, have little notion ofwhat goes on in the mountains. It's none but a true friend, none but asworn brother will do a man a service like that. Another turns away,and says he won't charge his conscience, but the true friend will not leavehis brother to linger in torments."Amid conversations such as these, passing through little woods andalong meadow-paths, of which, owing to the darkness of the night, I couldsee but little, I arrived with my companion at the height of Petschen,which, with the exception ofthe Sömmering, is esteemed the most elevatedmountain-pass in Styria. Hence a paved road leads into Upper Austria.The Styrian side of the pass is covered with a pine wood, where theglow-worm's was the only particle of light I was able to see, but from thesummit ofthe pass, whence we looked down into Austria, lights enoughwere visible from the windows of the several villages of St. Agatha,Obernsee, Reitern, and Goisern. Here I took leave at once of my Styrianhunter of the Alps, and of his native land that in so short a time had become so dear to me. We stepped into an inn by the roadside, to take aparting glass of Italian wine, he to strengthen himself for his nocturnalwalk homeward, and I for mine intoTHE AUSTRIAN SALT DISTRICT.On issuing from the darkness of a pine-forest, the piece of Austriainto which I looked down from my mountain-pass, seemed as if it hadbeen lighted up for an illumination. And an illuminated land it was inmore senses than one. Not merely on account of the gay lights twinkling from the windows, and reflected in the smooth mirror of the Hallstadt lake, but on account of the comparative enlightenment and intelligence of the people. With all their many good qualities, the Styrians,it must be owned, are a marvellously simple race, and even the UpperAustrians appear knowing and acute in comparison. The Styriansappear to be perfectly aware of this. Nothing is more common than tohear one of them say, " Ay, the Austrians are more clever than we;"and this they say without a particle of illnatured feeling. There wasanother circ*mstance that made me look upon the banks of the Hallstadtlake as an illuminated spot: the majority of the inhabitants are Pro- testants.In the sixteenth century, Protestantism had spread far and wide inAustria and even in Styria. Nearly the whole nobility of the countryhad embraced the reformed faith, and Maximilian II. was a while undecidedwhether he would not receive the communion under both forms. Evenin the seventeenth century, the Austrian nobles had Protestant chaplainsat their castles; at first openly, and afterwards secretly. What a glorious event would it not have been for Germany, if Maximilian had yieldedto his better impulse, and joined the Protestant cause! Germany, from414 THE AUSTRIAN SALT DISTRICT.one end to the other, would have been a Protestant land, a united land,and the wars of the seventeenth century, against the lights of Luther,would never have desolated our fatherland! Those wars made theAustrian nobility Catholic again, and brought the population back to thechurch of Rome; but remnants of Protestantism have remained, chieflyamong the mountains, and along the borders of some of the secluded lakes,particularly those of Aussee and Hallstadt. A Protestant clergyman toldme, and he had the best means of being correctly informed, that in Upperand Lower Austria the Protestants number 17,000, in Styria upwards of5000, and in Carinthia and Carniola about 18,000. In Vienna alonethere are 12,000 . Joseph II.'s Edict of Toleration, in 1781, made manyProtestants throw off the mask of Catholicism, so much so that one Catholic priest near the Hallstadt lake, found a very numerous congrega- tion reduced to two or three families.It was late in the evening before I reached Goisern, where I foundFrancis waiting for me. I lay down in the hope of enjoying on the following morning the scenery of the lake, but a soaking rainy day dispelledall these dreams and drove me on to Ischl and thence to St. Gilgen.Here the rain ceased; so, selecting a guide, and sending Francis onto theFuschel lake, I resolved to make up in some measure for my disappointment by ascending the Griesberg, a mountain of moderate height, but whence a fine view is to be obtained of all the lakes of the Salt District.We were met, quite unexpectedly, on our way up the mountain, by alittle herd of about twenty cows, all gaily garlanded. Here, as in Styria,the Sennerin, or the Alpendirne, as I found she was here called, musthang no garlands round her cows if she has had “ a misfortune " duringthe season. "The young men mock her then, I suppose, and tease herwhen she comes down?" "God forbid, sir!" answered my guide; "is itnot bad enough for the poor girl that she may wear no flowers as shecomes home? No, sir, no one would have the heart to mock her; no onesays a word to her."From the summit of the Griesberg the view of all the surroundinglakes is ravishingly beautiful. There is something at once beautiful andinteresting in a lake. It affords to the eye something of the same delightas an island does at sea, and is in fact itself an island of water surroundedby land. The lakes of the Salt District are just of the right size to harmonize with the surrounding scenery; a river flows from lake to lakeuniting them, and by the side of each watery mirror stands a cheerfullittle town to complete the picture, to which the surrounding mountainsfurnish a magnificent frame. The Thorsteiner, with his glaciers andperpetual snow, forms of course, a prominent feature of the panorama.All the Sennhütten of the mountain were already locked up and bolted,in the same way as I had seen the house of the Külml Miedl near Aussee.All at once my companion, an Alpine hunter like him of the precedingday, started and cried out, " The Alp is peopled still! if there's no Sennerin here, there are poachers here!" He had observed a little woodenvessel by the side of a spring, and this was enough to assure him we werenot the only people on the mountain. My hunter looked so gloomy andserious at his discovery, that he was evidently prepared to encounterpoachers rather than pretty girls. The poachers, it seems, often takeshelter in the huts of the Sennerins, and these, in their womanish kindness, are but too apt to harbour those whom the law declares war against.THE GAISBERG. 415Like a lion ready to pounce on his prey, my hunter glided stealthily butrapidly towards the cottage which lay a little concealed. On arriving atthe door we knocked, but received no answer for some time. At last, however, we heard some one stirring within, and a young girl of about nineteen admitted us, reproving us mildly for our impatience, and for the noisewe had made. My hunter's brow was smoothed in a moment, and he explained his conduct by stating the suspicions he had entertained ." I peeped through the window a bit," she replied, " before I openedthe door; but I see you are honest people, so come in." She had kepther cattle in doors on account of the stormy weather of the morning, andhad just been milking them. There was one Sennerin on the mountainbeside herself, she told us; all the others had already gone down. Hermeadows, it seems, were of a nature to afford good grazing for her cowsfor a little longer. Toour habits there seems to be something strange in thefact of two young girls remaining alone upon a mountain, with not evena dog by way of protection, and we are surprised when we are told thatsuch a custom has been preserved unchanged from one generation toanother for centuries. To my mind the fact speaks volumes for the uncorrupted manners and kindly disposition of the people.The Sennerin lighted a fire, produced milk, bread and cheese, and seasoned our repast by her unreserved gaiety, and by singing us several prettysongs that, to me at least, had the additional charm of novelty. In themean time, night crept on, and she made no hesitation in allowing us to take up our quarters in her cottage till morning.We arranged ourselves for the night on the floor, as well as we could.Our hostess retired into a back room. Early in the morning we were awak- ened byher song, and found her engaged in milking her cows. We breakfasted on some new milk, and on the crusts that remained from our lastnight's supper, and then parted with a mutual exchange of good wishes.We climbed over many an enclosure, wandered along many a path thatthe cows had been kind enough to mark out for our convenience, and atabout nine o'clock, by various byways and crossways, and roundabout ways,we reached the Fuschel lake, where my hunter delivered me over safe andsound to the care of Francis, whose joy at seeing me again, indemnifiedme in some measure for the pain I felt in parting with my acquaintance ofa day. He was a strong, active, handsome young fellow, and I had beendelighted with his intelligence and his readiness to oblige. His name isJoseph Bader the Obenauer, but " the Obenauer" is the name by which he is best known in the country.Francis told me the people at the house where we had stopped, hadcelebrated the Almentanz the night before, and the place had been full ofDiandl'n and Bub'n (lads and lasses) dancing and making merry. I havewitnessed an Almentanz more than once. It is a festival given to celebrate the return of the Sennerins. It is at these dances, generally, thatmarriages are made up, and wedding- days fixed; quarrels oflong standingtoo are sometimes brought to a crisis at an Almentanz, and settled byafight.THE GAISBERG.Before reaching Salzburg we came to the Gaisberg, which rises at onlya little distance from the city. Uninteresting as is this hill to look upon,416 THE GAISBERG.the panorama from the summit is not the less magnificent; so I again sentFrancis on by himself, and having obtained an experienced guide, startedon myupward journey.My guide on this occasion was what is called " of a certain age." Hehad seen much of the world in his various capacities ofherdsman, hunter,and cicerone of the mountains: besides having, as I suspect, made acquaintance with many parts of the Alps in the less legitimate character ofpoacher. Such a man is often invaluable to a stranger desirous of information; a veteran of this sort will often possess far more knowledge of thecountry, its people, and its productions, than can be collected from anybook; and for mypart I valued myintroduction to him more, than I wouldhave valued one to the Prince of Salzburg himself.The view from the Gaisberg is known to half Europe, or at least to allGermany; for I doubt whether there is any well-educated German whohas not either seen it himself, or heard it described by a friend. The firstobject on which the eye rests is naturally the city of Salzburg, lying in theplain, apparently close to the foot of the mountain. You seem to hoverover the place, and to look down perpendicularly into its streets.Salzburg has a situation peculiar to itself. It lies in a broad, convenient,level valley; but out of this valley, and close by the river side, there risesa little range of hills, that forms a semicircular dam, within which the cityis enclosed as in an amphitheatre. These hills form a kind ofnatural rampart to the city, and the passes through this natural rampart supply theplace of city gates, through which the citizens may pass by convenientroads into the plain. That part of the city which lies on the other side ofthe river, is compressed between the Salza and the Mountain of the Capucins. The plain without the city is highly cultivated, and dotted with villas, castles, and pretty villages.The panorama from the Gaisberg has a twofold horizon. That tothenorth- west embraces the city and the plain, that to the south-east comprises the mountainous country whence I hadjust come; and this combination of mountains and level land it is that constitutes the great beauty ofthe view. You overlook the Salza, in its countless windings, for manymiles, till at last you lose it in the remote mist, and for one arriving fromStyria, where his eyes have been somewhat satiated with mountains andwild scenery, the highly cultivated plains of Bavaria, with their teemingfields, their handsome villages, and their little patches of woodland, have adouble charm .Towards the north-east, the view into the Salt District bears considerableresemblance to that from the Griesberg, and comprises a large part of thesame country. I had no objection, however, to a repetition. While mylook was fixed upon the Mond See (Moon lake) my ancient companion toldme of a mermaid, who had been haunting its waters several times withinthe last two months. Many ofthe hunters, he said, had seen her, but hadbeen afraid to shoot at her. Marvellous tales of this kind are frequent among the lakes and mountains. When we see these beautiful and majestic objects lying before us on a fine sunshiny day, we wonder how thesesuperstitious notions can become connected with them; but the people ofthe country, it must be remembered, see them under very different aspects,and under very different circ*mstances, from the sightseeing traveller, whochooses fine weather and the best season for his visits. On a stormy wintrynight, and seen from rocky heights, or through the gloomy opening of aTHE GAISBERG. 417pine-forest, the lakes now so placid may put on a very different look, andmay be well calculated to conjure up all kinds of fantastic visions, to amind predisposed to the impressions of superstition.Among the popular superstitions of Styria is that respecting a four- footed dragon, called the Bergstutzen, supposed to lie in wait among themountains, where he bites people, who are certain to die when bitten byhim. The Archduke John, by way of discouraging the belief, has offereda reward of thirty ducats to whoever will shoot the monster, and producehis body. He has also offered a high reward to any one who will kill amonstrous snake, said to harbour in one of the mountain lakes. Theserewards, however, are not, I fear, calculated to produce the intended effect.If the monsters are not caught, that will be no reason for the multitudeto disbelieve in their existence, and the very circ*mstance of a rewardhaving been offered, will be looked on by the people as a sanction of theirsuperstition .While reviewing the surrounding mountains with my telescope, the conversation with my guide turned naturally on the chamois." In those mountains yonder, there are more chamois now than in anyother hereabout. You may now and then see some snow-white ones upthere, but that's seldom. In winter, when the Sennhütten have beenabandoned for the season, the chamois come lower down, and graze on themeadows where the cows have been."" But what can the chamois feed on in the depth of winter?"" Oh, there's always a little green on the edge of the snow; and thenthe deeper the winter, the farther do the chamois come down. There are warm springs, too, in different parts, where there's green all the yearround. Nature is never quite dead among the mountains. Where thesnow lies thin there's always moss below it, and when they are hard pushed,the creatures eat the young boughs of the dwarf fir. ”" You have hunted the chamois yourself, sometimes, I suppose?"“ Oh, Jesus Maria! how often! Many's the creature of them I haveshot by the start. ”"What do you mean by the start?"" Oh, you see, when the chamois takes fright, she darts away over stockand stone like the wind; yet every now and then she stands still for asecond or two to look round. That's what we call the start. The huntermust seize that moment, or he has very little chance. Oh, the deartime! Many's the creature I've shot yonder among the rocks of the Stony Sea!""And do you ever venture into those parts now?"" No, not now; my head won't hold on any longer."This is an expression very common among the hunters to express aliability to giddiness, to which old men are more subject than young ones,and which completely disqualifies a man for chamois hunting. Theirlimbs are often powerful enough still, when they are obliged to renouncethe favourite pursuit on account of the giddiness which seizes them, andwhich to mountaineers is the most serious infirmity that can overtake them.Among the mountains, to be free from giddiness is looked on as the samething as personal courage, and is held to be of more importance thanexperience and a sure foot. Some of the mountain-paths, indeed, areenough to make the stoutest man reel. A path that affords breadthenough for the entire sole of the foot is considered amply large;418 THE GAISBERG.in general, the thorough bred mountaineer considers a path perfectly practicable, on which there is everywhere room for half his sole to restupon.The Gaisberg, on which I was now standing, is 4000 feet high, but,seen from Salzburg, has an insignificant look on account of the much greater elevation of many of the surrounding masses. On some of thosemountains, rich Alpine meadows, fit for the grazing of cattle, are found at the height of 6000 feet. Some of these meadows are famed throughout the country. Thus the Kor Alp, on the borders of Carinthia, is celebrated for the beautiful herbage of its pastures, its magnificent situation,and the merry life which the Sennerins and the cows lead there. Notwithstanding its great elevation it has the advantage of being shelteredagainst the north winds by still higher mountains. There are many othermountains of which the pastures are highly prized; and in general it isfound that the higher the meadow lies, the finer is its herbage, and the more strong and thriving is the herd that feeds upon it. The best herbageof all is said to fall to the share of the goats, who can climb where the cows cannot venture to follow, though Alpine cattle are tolerably skilful too inclambering where no cattle born and bred on level ground would have the least notion of venturing. Sometimes the Sennerin will climb herself where she would not venture to drive her cows. This is done to cut somefavourite grass to throw before the creatures while she milks them, andmany a poor girl has paid with her own life for her desire to minister tothe gourmandise of her milk-yielding charges.The nature of most animals appears to be modified after a long residence among the mountains. A dog, for instance, accustomed to live inthe valley, is of no use among the rocks, where his tender feet begin tobleed almost as soon as he gets there. The oxen and cows, accustomed toa mountain life, will sometimes go with perfect security along paths wherenone but a practised mountaineer can follow them. Yet the people will tell you that a cow, though less liable to giddiness than a man, is not quitefree from it, and will sometimes tremble all over, at particularly dangerousplaces. Sheep are the most helpless creatures of all, and are thereforeseldom driven up to very high ground. It is even said that when a flockhas been driven along a dangerous road, if the leading ram has fallen downa precipice, the sheep have all followed out of mere stupidity.One thing that always struck me about the cattle of the Alps, was theirremarkable gentleness and goodnature. An Alpine cow appears to haveno notion of shyness, and though, of course, there are exceptions, yet,generally speaking, you may go up to any of the cattle among the mountains, and stroke and caress them without the least apprehension. I haveoften done so myself, and the creatures have generally left off grazing,and looked round at me with a most winning look of gentleness and satisfaction. Professor Schotkey, who knows the Alps well, goes still farther."When the stranger, " he says, comes to a pasturage that is but rarelyvisited, the goodhumoured cattle will come up to him and caress him withsuch evident expressions of welcome and kindness, that one is tempted tofancy the pretty cow is some enchanted princess."66The character of animals is, in my opinion, always influenced and modified by the character of those under whose care they are placed. Thefondness of the Sennerin for singing is not without its due impression onher cows, who learn to listen with pleasure to her song; the proof of thisSALZBURG. 419is, that many cows cannot be brought to stand still when milked, unlesstheir mistress will sing to them.In spring, when the time for going out to the mountains approaches, thecows manifest the utmost impatience to get out of their stables, and thisincreases when they hear the Sennerin preparing her implements, andtrying the little bells which she contemplates hanging round their necks.My guide led me down by a shorter though less convenient path thanthat by which we had ascended . At the foot of the mountain we parted;he to return to his mountains, I to betake myself to the ancient city ofSalzburg and, as I had so long consorted with, and grown so fond of, mylowing friends among the Alps, I chose for my temporary residence in theold episcopal capital, a mansion which displayed, as its ensign, the imageof a " golden ox."SALZBURG.I believe there is scarcely any part of Germany, that, during the first fifteen years of the present century, was as often taken to pieces and puttogether again, or passed through the hands of so many different masters,as the territory of Salzburg. Till 1802, it still belonged to an independentspiritual prince of the empire, who in that year resigned, and the countrywas given to the Archduke Ferdinand, as a compensation for his dukedomof Tuscany. The archduke reigned there till 1805, when Salzburg becamea part of Austria, and continued so till 1809. Then a provisional Frenchgovernment was established there . In 1810 the country was incorporatedwith Bavaria, and in 1815 it was restored to Austria. The more we contemplate the fair, though uniform, days of these piping times of peace, themore strange does that rough period seem to us, when countries and nationswere so unceremoniously shuffled up together, and dealt out first to onepartner, and then to another.The golden time of Salzburg, the time to which its aged inhabitantsstill look back with regret, was the time of its spiritual princes. The city prospered under the crozier, and the archbishops ruled their subjects withgreat mildness, all but the Protestants, who were driven out of the country.From 798 till 1802 did the archbishops bear sway in Salzburg, and duringthose thousand years, sixty-four princes occupied the spiritual throne.Among them we find the names of most of the princely houses of Germany.The Archbishop of Salzburg is still one of the first ecclesiastics of theAustrian empire. I say " one of the first," because the Primate of Hungary,and the Archbishop of Ollmütz, are considered of equal rank. Heis calledPrimate of Germany, ( I wonder how many Germans there are who couldname the Primate of Germany, if called on to do so, ) and he is, moreover,legatus natus of the Apostolic See at Rome, and the spiritual head of allthe mountains and valleys of the Eastern Alps. His suffragan bishops arethose of Trient, Brixen, Gurk, Seckau, Leoben, and Levant.If those, however, were golden days for the good people of Salzburg, Imust say that I saw no symptom of their passing at present through the ordeal of an iron age. It may be inconvenient to them to have ceased toform a centre of government, and to be obliged to refer so many of their concerns to the superior authorities at Linz, but this is a misfortune thatthey share with many German cities that were formerly the capitals of 2 F420 SALZBURG.principalities, and the residences of courts. For the sake of Ger prman unity,it were perhaps to be wished that similar complaints were morele frequentlyheard in Germany than they are. With this exception, however, andalways bearing in mind the constraint under which all those live inAustria, who occupy themselves with speculative researches, the Salzburgersappear to me to be a very happy little people. The constraint I have justalluded to is, indeed, said to be felt very sensibly here on the Bavarianfrontier, where the censorship is much more severe than at Linz, while atLinz again it is far less indulgent than at Vienna. Many a play maybeperformed at Vienna, too, that would not for a moment be tolerated bytheauthorities of a remote provincial city. When I was at Salzburg fourteenyears ago, the people still looked back with regret to the period when theyhad been under the Bavarian rule. Of this I discovered now no trace, andI rejoiced at the change. The Bavarian may have been an excellentgovernment, but it is a bygone government for the Salzburgers, and thebest thing that can happen to these is to find cause to love the governmentunder which they are to live. God preserve the status quo, and teachprinces and nations to become more and more reconciled to it!It was at Salzburg, as most of my readers are probably aware, that Mozart was born. The house is still in existence where Mozart's parentsoccupied rooms on the third floor. The spot where his mother brought himinto the world, and the place where his piano stood, are shown to the curious.The walls are said to have been covered at one time with his compositions,but of this there is now no trace, all the rooms having been freshly papered.I could not visit these rooms without a feeling of reverence.Hence it wasthat this brilliant genius departed at five years of age to astonish anddelight the world, and to acquire a claim to the monument which, afteran interval of nearly one hundred years, his native city is about to erect to his memory.I went to see the place. The preparatory excavations have led to the discovery of some interesting Roman mosaics. No less than five of themhad been completely cleared when I saw them, and two of these, by far thelargest and the most beautiful, had been found lying one over the other.Between the two there had lain about a foot of earth, and as the lowerpavement was found in excellent preservation, and of very beautiful design,it is difficult to imagine what could have induced the Roman architect tocover his floor with rubbish, and have a new one laid over it. The stones,used to form the design, are small pieces of marble of various colours.The principal figures are two combatants in three different positions. Inthe one compartment, they are just about to attack each other; in thecentre, they are in the heat of battle; and in the third, one of them hasjust succumbed.I watched with much interest the manner in which these fragile monuments of ancient art were displaced. The small pieces of marble had simply been pressed into a layer of clay, which lay immediately upon theground. To displace this layer, the whole mosaic was divided into partitions, mostly of a square form, and generally about an ell in length and breadth. Those stones which fell immediately on the frontier lines, werecarefully picked out and numbered, so that their proper places might easilybe found again when the whole came to be readjusted. As soon as asquare piece had by this means been isolated, a flat wooden frame wasplaced over it, and over the whole a quantity of plaster was poured, whichSALZBURG. 421.soon hardened into a mass with the mosaic below. The square piece thusprepared was then detached from the ground with flat iron instruments ,and, having been carefully turned over, received a coating of plaster be- low, corresponding with that which it had received above. The wholecompact mass was then packed in a box, and put by, to remain till asuitable spot had been fixed on where the whole mosaic pavement mightbe put together again. I believe the process is the same as that used inItaly for the displacement and removal of large mosaics.The fragments of marble of these Roman pavements, and many otherpieces of marble large and small, that the Romans worked up in Juvavia,came from the celebrated quarries of Untersberg, which still contribute tothe architectural decorations not only of Salzburg, but even of more distant cities, the Untersberg marbles being sometimes sent even to Hungary.The marble is generally of a light flesh colour, but some completely whiteis occasionally obtained. The Untersberg stands upon the border betweenAustria and Bavaria, the frontier line passing over the summit. Thelarger portion of the mountain stands in Bavaria, nevertheless several ofthe quarries on the Austrian side of the line are the private property ofthe king of Bavaria, who uses up a good deal of marble in the decorationof his capital. When I visited the hill, a block of marble had just beendetached, six fathoms long, six broad, and three deep . The weight of thisenormous mass was estimated at 22,000 cwt. The people fully expectedto get this huge piece down without any accident, and when down in theplain they intended to saw it up into pieces of 300 to 400 cwt. Many pieces of this size were lying about at the entrance to the quarry, and weremostly destined for Munich. At the foot of the quarry I found a sawmill, where such pieces as were too large to remove, were reduced to amore convenient size.What contrasts we often find side by side! After having admired thecolossal mass of marble that had just been detached from the mountain inone quarry, my attention was called in another to a man who was collecting small fragments for the construction of a toy, the use of which is verygenerally diffused throughout the juvenile world-I mean those little marbleballs, with which there are few boys in Germany who have not frequently amused their leisure.This little article is apparently of trifling import, but it is destined for a very extensive public. Here in Salzburg these little balls are calledSchusser. They are chiefly made at Salzburg, and at some of the quarries of Saxony, and find their way into all parts of the world, being sometimeseven carried to India by way of ballast. The machinery by which the requisite rotundity is given to these popular little spheres is moved by awatermill. The owner of the mill collects the broken fragments of marble,which none but himself thinks worth carrying away. These are broken, as nearly as possible, into square cubes, that are then thrown into the mill,where, between cylinders of stone and wood, they are soon rubbed into around form. The article is cheap enough here in Salzburg, where you mayhave thirty Schussers for one kreuzer, or less than an English halfpenny.I had every reason to be satisfied with the choice I had made of the"Golden Ox" for my head- quarters at Salzburg, for I found there assem- bled every evening, a very agreeable circle, composed of amateurs ofmountain excursions; men who seemed to be upon intimate terms with allparts of the Alps.2 F 2422 SALZBURG.In every country, a traveller who wishes to learn any thing about theregion he travels in, must cultivate native society, for there only can heever hope to obtain information about the details of the country. There aresome countries, of which the physiognomy is flat and uniform, and easilylearned byheart. Not so with the Alps. There, every hill, every valley,every spot of ground has a character of its own, often a distinct climate,and a peculiar population. In one place we find the men chiefly occupiedin tending the vine; elsewhere they are hunters, farmers, or manufacturers. The most striking contrasts are everywhere found side by side,and each valley, each hill, has so many details to be studied, that a strangerwill never know half of them, without a frequent intercourse with thepeople.The most north-easterly mountain of the Alps, towards Vienna, is calledthe Schneeberg (snow mountain); and a man who knew this mountainwell, told me, he could point out twenty different paths up to the summit,of which each should present a distinct esthetic and scientific interest. Yetthese, he added, were only the principal paths of the mountain, and a manwho knew these must not suppose that he had made himself acquaintedwith the hill in detail. Now the Schneeberg is only one of many hundreds of summits that go to form the Alps, and, at this rate, it would takea man the life of a Methusalem, to make only the principal tours overeach mountain. This may suffice to show the importance, in such a country, of cultivating the acquaintance of the natives .A man well acquainted with the surrounding mountains may generallybe found in every village. The mountains lie so close to them, that themen who live among them, whatever their occupation maybe, cannot helpacquiring an intimate knowledge of them. The herdsmen, hunters, woodcutters, and charcoal burners are continually up the mountains, and exploring their inmost recesses; but even the farmer who cultivates hisfields in the plain has frequent occasion to go into the mountains, wherehe probably has his cattle out for the summer, or where he must provide a stock of wood for his winter wants.The information which these people acquire about the mountains isoften of the highest interest, but at the same time very difficult to get outofthem. They have grown up amid these stupendous works of nature,and often what the stranger sees with awe and admiration, is to them sofamiliar, so hackneyed, that they feel almost ashamed of talking about it.They have never dreamed of instituting comparisons, or of forming anything like comprehensive views; and therefore, though they may be consulted with perfect reliance respecting the objects immediately within their reach, the traveller must not content himself with their instructions if hewould obtain a general knowledge of the country. This must be obtained from the more cultivated inhabitants; from men who have studied theAlps, and whom education had qualified for the study. Such men are tobe met with everywhere among the Alps, if the traveller will take the trouble to find them out. I do not merely speak of such men as Saussure,who devoted his life to Mont Blanc; or as Agassiz and Hugi, who havesacrificed nearly all their time to an investigation of the glaciers; but inevery little town there are men who take a delight in climbing up the hills,as botanists, zoologists, or geologists, in search of rare plants, curious insects, and new specimens of rock. Then there are philanthropists whocome into the mountains to study the condition of the Cretins; and thereSALZBURG. 423are ethnologists who ramble about to discover in some sequestered nook, aremnant ofone or other of the various races that have overrun Europe in turn, and have most of them left little specimens of themselves among theAlps. In one valley may thus be discovered a population evidently of Slavonian descent, with coal black hair, and in the adjoining valley a blueeyed and light-haired race, the descendants probably of some Saxon or Celtic tribe. Lastly come a very numerous class, who love to climb themountains for the mere pleasure ofovercoming difficulties; men whose greatpleasure it is to discover new places, and to reach summits never before trodden by mortal foot. Such virgin mountains are still numerous amongthe Alps. The Hohe Venediger, in the Pinzgau, a mountain 9000 feet high, was ascended for the first time a few years ago. The summit tapersto so fine a point, that there is said to be scarcely room at the top for morethan three people to stand upon it. The first man that succeeded in gettingto the top was seized with such giddiness that he did not remain there more than two minutes, and was obliged to creep down upon his belly.Another class that must not be forgotten here, is composed of thelandscape painters of Munich, who seldom fail to spend a part of thesummer among the Bavarian highlands, or among the Alps of the Tyroland Styria, and return with sketch-books full of cattle-groups, chalets,glaciers, waterfalls, and forest scenes, to be worked up or filled out during the autumn and winter. These artists the stranger should visit in theirpainting-rooms, or listen to them at their evening meetings, talking of their adventures among the hunters, poachers, and sennerins. A man may obtain many an useful hint from such conversations.These mountain- exploring painters, these impassioned climbers of theAlps, are a race of modern growth, for there was a time when we knewmore in Europe of the Andes than we did of the Alps. The Romansnever appear to have had any taste for such investigations, and the gloomyforest-covered mountains of those times were less inviting than the pastoralscenes which we now find there, than the smiling cultivation which nowgreets us in every valley. When Saussure, Bourit, and Bonstetten travelled into the Alps, they may be said to have gone upon voyages ofdiscovery.It is now no longer so. Valuable observations have been collected. Theperiodicals of Austria, Styria, and Carinthia, have accumulated an immensemass of varied details respecting their several mountains. The military maps executed for the Austrian and Bavarian governments are masterpieces intheir kind, and will certainly not soon be excelled. The writings of Leopold von Buch, von Schultes, Haquet, Kochsternfeld, Hormayr, and ofvarious others, have thrown light upon many points that were formerly obscure. Our German painters have furnished an abundance of excellentpictures, and some of our writers of fiction, as Zschokke and Schotky, havepainted pictures quite as attractive, in their pretty tales illustrative ofAlpine life . Still, all that has been done, is little compared to what remains to be done. No one yet has done justice to the Alps, and colossalthough the labour would be, I cannot help wondering that no one hasyet undertaken a comprehensive work on the subject. The man even whoadded no fresh materials to the stock of information already collected, butsimplybrought that information into a comprehensive and convenient form,would deserve the thanks of his fellow-men, if he performed the tasksuccessfully.424FAREWELL TO AUSTRIA.The month of October still continued to vouchsafe us bright and cheerful days, so I determined to proceed leisurely on towards Munich, and to linger among the mountains on my way. A man seldom flirts or coquetswith the Alps without falling in love with them, and after that he finds itno easy thing to tear himself away from them. I found a gentleman atSalzburg of congenial taste, who, like myself, wished once more to have anearer look at the Bavarian highlands than could be obtained from the Gaisberg, even with the assistance of the best telescope; so, onefine October morning we packed our little travelling encumbrances intothe carriage of a Salzburg driver, who maintained that he was familiarwith every road and byway in the mountains, and thus prepared we rattled gaily along the valley of the Achen towards the Austrian frontier,which we were able to reach in two short hours.We crossed the border without any difficulty. Our horses thrust theirears into the atmosphere of Bavaria; their legs trotted after, as if of theirown accord; our coachman enthroned upon his box, was not long in following; and in due course, we two, seated as we were in the after part of thecarriage, rolled majestically into another kingdom, and found ourselvessafely landed within the territory of the German Zollverein.BUKOVINA. *THIS pretty and pleasant little district, which is twenty-four (German)miles in its greatest length, fifteen in its greatest breadth, and which contains about one hundred and eighty (German) square miles, lies at theNorthern extremity of that great tract of country inhabited by the Walachians, which stretches itself southward one hundred and fifty miles,crossing the Danube, and terminating in the Greek peninsula. Like allfrontier countries, it has often changed its masters duringthe political stormsand convulsions which have agitated these now peaceful regions, and hasbeen frequently conquered by the Poles, and reconquered by the Moldavians. Bukovina, however, belonged mostly to the latter, for not onlyis the principal population Moldavian, which it has probably been fromthe remotest ages, the names of all the mountains and rivers in the country, being, with few exceptions, Moldavian, but both the physical circ*mstances and social condition of the country, are the same as in the rest ofMoldavia. In Bukovina as in Moldavia, the peasant labours for hislord twelve days out of the year, according to the laws laid down in theGhika Chryson; here as there, an autumn day's work is decreed for thethreshing of sixty Mandeln of corn, each Mandel containing fifteensheaves, and each sheaf so thick that a man can scarcely span it; andhere as there the spring and summer day's work is fixed in a similarmanner. Here as there, the lords are always trying to enlarge thenumber of serving days, and to increase the thickness of the sheaves ofcorn.The family names of the noblemen of Bukovina, are the same as inMoldavia and Walachia: they are pure old Walachian names of the mostancient origin, or else Greek names dating from the days of the Byzan- tine emperors. These families have been Hellenized for many generations, and the nobles generally converse with each other in the Greek

• The concluding part of the present work, comprising a tour through Bukovina,

Galicia, and Moravia, formed originally a portion, not of Mr. Kohl's work onAustria, but of his " Travels through the Interior of Russia." In collecting and condensing that gentleman's volumes on Russia, that portion which referred toGalicia and Moravia was naturally omitted, not on account of any deficiency of in- terest in the subject, but because it was thought that a description of Austrian pro- vinces would have been out of its place in a work professing to treat only of Russia.Wehave much satisfaction in availing ourselves of the present opportunity to atone for our former omission.426 BUKOVINA.language. The influence of Vienna has at last begun to Germanize thema little; they learn French and German, call themselves Baron and Graf,and dress in the German fashion . Many of these noble families, theMikultshas for example, have estates in Moldavia, in Bessarabia, and inBukovina, at the same time, and are thus subject to three emperors atonce.It is characteristic of the geographical position of this country, that its present name, Bukovina, which signifies Beech-forest, arose out of thebattles between the Poles and the Moldavians. "Towards the end ofthefifteenth century, in the days of the Polish king Albrecht," says Kantemir, the well known historian of Moldavia, " there was here agreat open plain lying along the Pruth. When the Poles pitched theirtents here with a great army, Stephen the Great, prince of Moldavia,attacked and beat them, took their camp, put the Poles to flight, killedthe greater part of them, and took twenty thousand prisoners, who wereprincipally nobles. When the king of Poland afterwards offered a largesum for their ransom, Stephen refused to take it, being anxious to erectsuch a monument of his triumph as would commemorate it in future centuries. He therefore harnessed the whole of the twenty thousandnobles and serfs alike to ploughs, and made them plough the whole field of battle, and sow it with the seeds of the beech- tree. These seedsgrew up in time to a beautiful and extensive forest, which the Poles havenamed Bukovina, and of which they never speak but with tears." Thisbattle-field, and the Dumbrevile roshe or Bloody Beech-forest (as theMoldavians named it ) which has risen upon it, lies on the strip of landbetween the Pruth and the Dniester, near Chotim and Tshernovitze; andthe remains of numerous ditches, trenches and fortifications still bear witness to the many battles between the Turks, Poles, Hungarians, Moldavians, Russians, and Tartars, of which these beautiful frontier plains have been the scene.A part of Bukovina on the northern side of the Pruth, has become Rus- sian, but the rest has been Austrian ever since 1775. That upon the whole,the country has improved under a German government, cannot be doubted,when we contemplate among other signs of prosperity, the extraordinaryincrease of its population. According to a census taken not long after thecountry became subject to Austria, namely in the year 1788, the inhabitants were only one hundred and twenty thousand, whereas in 1838 thenumber amounted to two hundred and eighty thousand. During aspace of fifty years, therefore, the population has nearly trebled, a circ*mstance which could not be paralleled either in Russian or Turkish Moldavia. This extraordinary increase in the population may be partly owingto the influx of German emigrants, who have settled in the cities as merchants and mechanics, and of the Rusniaks, who are preferred to the nativeMoldavians as labourers; but certainly it is more to be attributed to thebetter political order which the Austrian government has introduced intoall classes of society, and particularly to the improvement in the conditionof the lower classes, whose causethe imperial government has energeticallytaken up, and who have increased and flourished under the shadow ofAustrianjustice. The loss of several of the nobility, who, displeased withthe new order of things, have preferred quitting Bukovina for TurkishMoldavia, where their noble relatives still rule with undiminished splendour,has not been felt to be any very serious calamity.BUKOVINA. 427The inhabitants of Bukovina are, as has been said, principally Mol- davians and Dako- Romans, * and foreign elements are mingled as in therest of Moldavia. The Armenians form about a hundredth part of the inhabitants of the cities, and are merchants, innkeepers, &c.; the Jews,about a tenth part of the town population, are brokers, mechanics, &c.Among the other elements of population in Bukovina, are the Germans,who are settled in the towns as mechanics and officers ( Tshernovitze indeed,the capital, is almost entirely German), a few Magyar settlements on theTransylvanian frontiers, some Russian colonies founded on the Pruth byemigrants exiled on account of religious opinions, and finally a Slavonianrace of mountaineers called " Huzzulen," settled among those mountainswhose highest points belong not to Bukovina but to Transylvania, and whoare different in all respects from the Walachian population. The name" Huzzulen" is probably only used in Bukovina and Moldavia. It is de- rived from the old Dacian word " Huzz," which signifies robber, and maytherefore originally, like many other names of nations, have rather beenused as a Nomen Appellativum than as a Nomenproprium. The Huzzulen inhabit the southern part of the Carpathian mountains. They liveprincipally by rearing cattle. They burn charcoal, fell wood, and makeall kinds of wooden wares, which they convey on one side down the Dniester, Pruth, Sereth, and Moldava, into the plains of Moldavia and Bessarabia, on the other side down the Theiss, Samos, and Bistriza, into Hungary and Transylvania. These mountaineers are easily to be recognisedthroughout Bukovina by their more ample clothing, their firm gait, andthe formidable hatchets always slung to their girdles, which they could as little dispense with as their right arms.66The fertility of Bukovina is famed throughout all the neighbouringcountries. The Galicians always speak of it as a Land of Promise, and theAustrians regard the turkeys and capons of Bukovina, which are fattenedon Turkish maize, as the greatest delicacies of the kind known throughout the Austrian empire. The soil yields twelvefold for all that is sown,the pastures in the valleys are extremely rich and fine, nay, the veryclouds of heaven rain honey and butter in this land of abundance, at leastso say the Prince Kantemir and the historian Sulzer. Sulzer says" Often in summer time, clear honey rains down from heaven, which theinhabitants erroneously call manna.' Prince Kantemir remarks of thebutter rain, which he naturally terms an extraordinary spectacle, " " Before sunrise there falls a dew upon the leaves and flowers in the mountains of Bukovina, which the inhabitants collect in vessels; after a timethey find floating at the top of the water the most beautiful butter, whichdiffers from common butter neither in taste, smell, nor colour. This buttercontains so much nourishment, that if the sheep were driven to the pasturesat the time of this butter dew, they would in a few days become so fatthat they would die of suffocation; so that the shepherds keep their sheepat the foot of the mountains during the months in which it is most abundant." Even fables generally contain some shadow of truth, as the mosttasteless fruit contains a kernel, and so we may take the Prince Kantemir'saccount as testifying to the nourishing qualities of the Bukovinian pastures; that in the wilder parts of Bukovina buffaloes are still sometimesfound, is probably a fable. Bears, however, are plentiful in the moun-

• They call themselves Rumanyos ( Romans), and the Italians call them Romani.

428 BUKOVINA.tains, while wolves seem to be more abundant in the plains. It cannotbe of much use for the Austrian government to set prices on the heads ofthese animals, as long as it takes no measures against the continual inroads of wild beasts from Poland, Russia, and Turkey. The Huzzulenare said to be very bold bear hunters; they generally attack these creaturesarmed only with their hatchets, and sometimes, it is said, they will evenrush at a bear with their arms merely wrapped up in cloths, which theythrust down the animal's throat, and so choke him. The Huzzulen, likethe Walachians, are skilful bear tamers (ursaren in their own language,from the Latin ursus); the credible Sulzer gives an account of a festivalwhich a Walachian prince once gave in honour of his sister-in-law, at whichforty bears danced a ballet, accompanied by the tambourines, drums, andsongs of their teachers.Of the tame animals of the country, the pigs are numerous and excellent. Every house in Bukovina is surrounded with these dirty but delicategrunters, and every village swarms with them. They are indeed plentifulenough in all the neighbouring countries, particularly in Russia; but theyprosper and fatten so amongst the oaks and beeches of Bukovina, that theyare numberless as the sands of the sea, and are continually on the increase.Turkeys are also extremely numerous and excellent throughout Bukovina,Moldavia, and Bessarabia, almost every peasant possessing herds of them.They are to be seen also in Bessarabia, but in Russia and Poland it is only the nobles who possess them. They are common domestic animalsthroughout all the countries subject to the Turkish sceptre.Bukovina has, properly speaking, only three towns: Tshernovitze,Sereth, and Sutshava; therefore only one town to sixty square miles, allthe rest being mere villages. These villages have undergone little change,and both the peasants and their dwellings resemble exactly those of otherMoldavian villages, but it is otherwise with the solitary country-houses ofthe nobles, and with the larger towns. The latter have been quite Germanized, both in outward appearance, and in internal organization, underthe Austrian rule, so as to bear some resemblance to the smaller towns ofGermany, while those Moldavian towns, which have remained in the Russian territory, still preserve their Turko- Moldavian character, and havelost none of their Oriental features . Of the three towns of Bukovina,Tshernovitze, Sereth, and Sutshava, one lies in each of the principal divisions of the country; Tshernovitze on the Pruth, Sereth on the Sereth, and Sutshava on the Sutshava.According to Prince Kantemir, the old capital Sutshava once containednot less than 16,000 houses. At present it is an unimportant place.Tschernovitze, now the capital, is the largest and most populous town inBukovina, containing about 15,000 inhabitants. It has attained this importance entirely under the Austrian rule, for Sulzer mentions nothing re- markable about the place, except that it contained two very beautifulJewesses. Tshernovitze is its Slavonian name, but the Moldavians call it" Tshernauz." The town lies on the right bank of the Pruth, and isbuilt in the style of the old German cities, with long narrow streets, highpointed houses, and still higher churches and steeples; and seen at a distance fromthe plains of the Pruth, it has a stately and imposing appearThe Moldavian huts and cabins have disappeared from around it,and the whole is built of stone. Good roads and avenues of poplars andlinden trees lead to the pretty and cheerful houses which form the suburbs.ance.BUKOVINA. 429Coming from the valleys of Bessarabia, and the shapeless, disorderly townsof Podolia, the sight of this handsome and pleasant town seemed to us aglimpse into another world, and so it certainly was. The crossing of thefrontier line between the Russian and Austrian territories, seemed at onceto have brought us some hundreds of versts nearer to Germany, Vienna,Berlin, nay, even to Paris, Spain, and Italy. At the sight of Tshernovitze,the whole west of Europe seemed before our eyes, and we fancied ourselvesclose to Vienna, the Alps, and Italy; for large as the Austrian dominionsappear compared to the other German states, they seem small enough toone coming from the immense Russian empire, which appears to stretchout boundlessly around the traveller, on every side. After being accustomed to reckon by thousands of versts, a hundred miles seems nothing.But we had to struggle through many difficulties on the Austrian frontier, before we could freely give ourselves up to these agreeable ideas.Austria is very suspicious and inhospitable to all travellers entering Bukovina from the Russian side. Her ambassadors and consuls are very sparingof their visas to Austria, and give them only to those particularly recommended to them. The recommendation of the Russian authorities aloneis not sufficient, and if the traveller has not the visa of the consul-general,his passport is sent to Lemberg or Vienna, and he must wait a week ortwo, imprisoned within the Russian frontier line, before the gates of the Austrian Paradise are opened to him. The boundaries of Bukovina aresurrounded with a threefold Cordon, and we were obliged to pass throughso many offices, custom-houses, and inspection-houses, that I could notnumber all the stamps, seals, marks, and signatures which were put on ourluggage. But the worst of all was, that all our books and papers weresent to the Hofrath at Tshernovitze, who, instead of returning them, sentthem to the authorities at Lemberg, who, serving us in the same way,sent them finally to the higher authorities at Vienna.On these frontiers we were incessantly obliged to ransom ourselves fromfurther importunity, with Zwanzigern. " Sir, you have still two cigars and a half there. " "Hold your tongue, and here's a Zwanziger for you!"" What papers are those? They must go with the rest. '" Nevermind, here are a couple of Zwanziger."-" And these boxes, have theyYes, take these three Zwanziger." What can theRussians think of the good old German honesty and truth, of which theyare so fond of talking, when they contemplate these frontiers? Yet all theofficers at the boundary line are Germans.been searched?" 66Every thing, however, has its end, and so had the search on the Austrianfrontier. We rolled quickly and joyfully over the stone bridge of thePruth, which is kept in order alternately by the Emperors of Russia andAustria, into the luxuriant meadows and forests of Bukovina, and into thecity of Tshernovitze, the residence of the redoubtable Hofrath. TheHofrath is here, in fact, the governor of the province. In Russia aHofrath would hardly be allowed the care of a village; but here no onenamed the Hofrath but with the greatest respect. The Hofrath had donethis-the Hofrath had ordered that- -were sounds that met us on everyside. The nobles have generally many matters to settle with the Hofrath,for the Austrian government wisely sides with the unprivileged classesagainst the nobles.We found the town busy, cheerful, and lively. Little as the rest ofEurope knows of Tshernovitze, yet the little place enjoys a great reputation,430 BUKOVINA.far and wide around, for excellent wares, good cakes, and merry festivals,and whenever the Russian public officers of Chotim, Kamenyez, and otherneighbouring villages, wish to enjoy themselves for a little while, they getleave of absence, and come to Tshernovitze for a few days, to drink thegood wines of Hungary, and buy pretty trinkets for their wives. Nowhereare Russian and German life brought into such close neighbourhood, and such striking contrast with one another, as here. The town seemed to uslike a suburb of Vienna, though one hundred and fifty miles from thatcity. All the shops were filled with Vienna wares, and large gaudyinscriptions on the houses invited the passer-by to enter and purchase thewines, the trinkets, the cakes, and other goods within. Though it was notmarket-day, the streets were full of Huzzulen, who had descended fromthe mountains to make their purchases, and sell their wares.The inns were full of life and bustle. There was a long table d'hôtel,at which Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Armenians, Jews, and Walachians,mingled together; there were billiard- tables, musicians, and waiters withwhite aprons -nay, even two pretty Vienna chambermaids-things towhich we had long been strangers. As we entered our hotel, the smell ofroast-meat met us from the kitchen, and made us sensible that we hadagain entered the land ❝where it is always Sunday, and the roasting-jacktwirls for ever." It is astonishing how the festive character and lighthearted gaiety of the Vienna people are diffused throughout the countrieso'ershadowed by the Austrian eagle-every province partakes of them.“Bassa manelka! Teremtata!" and other unintelligible maledictionsfrom an Hungarian nobleman, saluted us as we seated ourselves at thetable to despatch one of those excellent capons, whose delicacy and fineflavour are so peculiar to Austria, and which are nowhere else to be tastedin full perfection. " Gentlemen, I am the noble von Hagymas Pentek! "cried our Hungarian, who was already several degrees removed fromsobriety; and who then went on, in tolerably good German, with hisopinions upon roasted capons, religious differences, and the blacksmiths ofTshernovitze, who were accustomed to shoe his horses, when he made hisannual journey from Transylvania, over " those horrid mountains. " Hungarian wine and smuggled Hungarian tobacco, are the principal articles oftrade between Bukovina and Hungary; but many others are brought overthe Carpathian mountains. Galician plums and Hungarian leather, Galician tallow and Hungarian hemp, Galician honey and Hungarian hops,Galician salt and Hungarian gold and silver, are all so many links whichbind together the two countries. Still they are more united by the tie ofa common population. Not only do the Bukovinian Walachians, andGalician Rusnaks, extend far into Transylvania and Hungary, but theHungarian Slovaks stretch on their side into Galicia, and many Magyar colonies are established in Bukovina. In this manner the interests of thetwo countries are bound together in many ways, and there is a strongsympathy between them.Our evening companions interested us far more than our dinner society.They were two well- educated young Moldavians in the Austrian service,and were enthusiastic patriots. They told us many stories and legends ofthe golden age of their country, of the Moldavian, or as they said " DakoRoman" mythology, and of Stephen the Great, and other heroes of Moldavia. We had never before seen Moldavian patriots; and like many otherignorant people, we did not even know there was such an article as Mol-BUKOVINA. 431davian patriotism. To our surprise we now encountered it everywhere,and met many people even in Lemberg, glowing with tender enthusiasmfor the great days of the Dacian Empire, under Decebalus the Great.Dacia is now surrounded with mighty and powerful neighbours, which donot permit its nationality to obtain a free voice. The country has been tornup and partitioned quite as much as Poland, but it obtains less generalsympathy, because its situation is not generally known, and yet the Mol- davians, Walachians, Bessarabians, and Bukovinians are men-nay more,they are countrymen, fellow-citizens, and patriots.To read or import into Austria, the journals published in Moldaviaand Walachia, is strictly prohibited by law.GALICIA.FROM TSHERNOVITZE TO LEMBERG.DURING the sixty years they have ruled over Galicia, the Austrians have supplied it with many excellent roads; and this is not the least importantof the benefits which the Poles have received from the Germans. Thecourse of these roads is directed bythe course ofthe Carpathian mountains.Galicia is an oval, or rather a crescent- shaped country, with its straight sideresting on its firm mountain- wall. The rude character of these mountains,makes this side less passable and habitable, and the population increases indensity, the further we recede from the Carpathians. The mountainsthemselves contain only solitary huts and a few small hamlets. Wherethe valleys widen, small towns and villages make their appearance, and atthe foot of the mountains, lies a line of larger towns, connected by thegreat road parallel to the Carpathians. This great artery of Galician lifeand commerce begins at Sutshava, the furthest town of Bukovina, wherethe wild untraversed Moldavia touches on Austria, follows the Carpathiansnorthward to Tshernovitze, passes through Kalomea in the valley of thePruth, and then through Stanislavov, in the valley of the Dniester, crossesLemberg, the central point of Galicia, and then bends round like the Carpathians, and passes through Cracow towards Moravia and Vienna. Onthis road lie the principal market-towns of the country, and not only thegoods which the nineteen circles of Galicia exchange with each other, butalso those which Moldavia sends to Austria, the cattle which the inhabitants of the steppes send to the markets of Brunn and Olmütz, the carts offancy wares which Vienna manufactures for Russia, the furs and the teawhich the inhabitants of Kiev send to the west, the Moravian- Silesianmanufactures which the Jews of Brody smuggle into the Russian empire,-all these are conveyed to and fro on this road, which is of the greatestimportance to the commerce between the two mighty empires, and particularly to the intercourse between the cities of Vienna, Odessa, Lemberg,Prague, Cracow, Kiev, and Moscow. It is the more frequented becauseit is the only great road within a considerable distance. It is one hundredand thirty (German) miles long. Smaller roads run from place to place,parallel with it, but none of these are of any considerable length.There are besides, three principal roads which intersect the country in aFROM TSHERNOVITZE TO LEMBERG. 433transversal direction, cutting through the Carpathians; one at the easternend running from Bukovina to Transylvania, one at the western end from Cracow to Hungary, and one in the middle from Lemberg to Hungary.The Carpathian mountains offer one great facility for road making, bytheir quantity of mountain streams, which are so useful for conveying thematerials required into the plains. In Northern Poland, the sea hasassisted the work, by scattering over the plains fragments of rock and massesof stone, but the eastern part of Russian Poland is without any such ad- vantage.As the bad roads of Russia had damaged our kalesch so much that afundamental repair was necessary, we were obliged to part with it in Bukovina, that it might be sent back to its native country. We had now thechoice between the Lemberg diligence, which goes only once a week, andhad set off the day before, the Galician extra-post which is but a very inconvenient and disagreeable vehicle, and a Jewish hackney-coachman,whom we eventually decided upon choosing. His coach was covered, hadthree horses, was so large that we might have lived in it with all ourfamilies, and was driven by a Rusniak enveloped from head to foot in blacksheep-skin. These people always drive quicker than German coachmen,though not quite à la Russe, and with our Rusniak matvei, we daily travelled from twelve to thirteen (German) miles. This kind of conveyanceis certainly not very elegant, but it is large and convenient. The vehiclesare called in German " brodyer bauten," and in Rusniak "budas."As we had plenty of room inside, we took up tired pedestrians, for alift, every now and then, and thus had the advantage of learning much ofthe condition of the country, from the lips of the people themselves.Our travelling companions of the first day were three Walachian noblemen, from Bukovina, stout gentlemen, with long thick beards, who sat,wrapt in thick furs, in an uncovered droshky, and were driving to Viennato make complaints against the Hofrath of Bukovina, in the name ofsome nobles who had been offended by him. They spoke tolerably goodVienna German, and were obliging and friendly towards us.The kingdom of Galicia with its dependencies, Lodomiria and Bukovina,may be divided into four principal parts, through each of which flows alarge river. These four rivers are the Pruth, the Dniester, the Bug, and the Vistula. The district of the Pruth contains about two hundred square(German) miles, with 300,000 inhabitants; the district of the Dniester,six hundred and ten square miles, and 1,800,000 inhabitants; that of theBug one hundred and ninety square miles, and about 450,000 inhabitants;and that of the Vistula, six hundred and sixty square miles, and 1,900,000inhabitants. The population of the country groups itself in masses round the rivers, as is generally the case.The district of the Pruth is all but entirely occupied by the Moldaviansor Walachians; the Rusniaks have taken possession of the Dniester, andall its tributary rivers; and the lands of the Bug and Vistula are occupiedby the Poles. The proportions of the different elements of the population in Galicia, are about as follows:Walachians or Moldavians .Rusniaks or RuthenenPoles or Masuren300,0001,800,0002,300,000Total 4,400,000434 FROM TSHERNOVITZE TO LEMBERG.It is among the heights of the Carpathians, that these races offer themost striking contrasts to one another; for those who are settled amongthe solitary mountains differ strikingly from the inhabitants of the valleysand plains. The Huzzulen of the Black Mountains differ greatly from theWalachians, the Goralen of the central Carpathians from the Rusniaks,and the Slovaks of the Western Mountains from the Poles. The Rusniaks inhabit that part of Galicia which gave the whole country its name,the old Russian Grand Duchy of Halitsh, which was, for some time, unitedwith the Grand Duchy of Kiev, afterwards flourished as an independentkingdom, and was then conquered by the Poles in the fourteenth century.These Rusniaks are a small Russian race, related to the Cossacks and Malorossians, as the Bavarians are to the Saxons. Though they call themselves Rusniaks, I was told, by an intelligent and well- educated man among them, that it was considered more accurate and refined to call themRuthenen or Russinen. The Hungarians call them " Orashoks, " as theydo all the Russians. Their total number in Galicia is nearly two millions.A smaller mass of 400,000 Rusniaks has spread into Hungary across the Carpathians.Their language differs much from that of Great Russia, and yet with our Moscovite Russian we could make ourselves understood. The inhabitantsof Little Russia are perfectly understood by the Galician Rusniaks, yetmany things about them, their costume for instance, prove there is agreat difference between the two races.The Rusniaks, like other Malorossian races, are wanting in that agreeable and obliging manner towards strangers, which distinguishes the GreatRussians. They appear unfriendly, cold, and reserved towards those whomthey see for the first time. It may be that the long pressure of the Polishyoke has operated disadvantageously on the development of theircharacter. În the mountains, they are said to have preserved their ancientmanners in greater purity. Robbery and murder are very rare amongthem, and the statistics of the Austrian criminal courts prove that crimesare as uncommon among the Rusniaks of the east, as they are plentiful atthe opposite end of the empire, among the Italians of the west.Some races among the mountains are said still to preserve a purely patriarchal state of society, a family remaining as long as possible under oneroof-sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, all living together under the dominion of the patriarch head of the family.Like the inhabitants of Little Russia, the Rusniaks live better and are morecleanly than the Poles. Their tables also are more abundantly supplied;in this particular, the lower classes of Galicia retrograde as we gofrom eastto west. The inhabitants of Bukovina live best, the Masuren worst, and the Rusniaks are between the two. Here bread, soup, meat, fish, and cakes,are all Russian, both in taste, appearance, and mixture. Brandy is asmuch in request as amongthe Russians, and drunkenness verycommon, asis always the case in those regions of ice and snow, where the poor frozenserfflies eagerly for refuge from the cold, to the deleterious "fire- water."The Rusniak peasant, like those of Little Russia, makes all his furnitureand household utensils himself: he is his own architect, carpenter, coachmaker, and shoemaker. He is generally very frugal and careful (exceptwhere brandy is in question), and in every Rusniak household will be founda little box, to which the master of the house alone has a key, where heFROM TSHERNOVITZE TO LEMBERG. 435deposits his savings, often a considerable sum, with whose amount, however, not even his wife or children are acquainted.Formerly all the inhabitants of this country, -nobles, priests, princes,and peasants,-were all Rusniaks. Many noble families even now claimdescent from the princes of Halitsh, as Galicia was formerly called. The Poles have Polonized the country during their four hundred years ofdominion over it; but it is only with the nobles that they have completely succeeded. The old Galician families of Potocki, Jablonowski,Dieduskicki, Skarbeck, &c. , were originally Russian; but by intermarriagewith Polish families, by continual intercourse with Polish grandees, and bysharing their privileges, rights, and constitution, they have become soassimilated to the Polish nobility, in language, manners, and customs, andfinally by their adoption of the Catholic religion, that they are no longerto be distinguished as belonging to a separate race. The great Rusniaknobility, therefore, has lost all its Russian character, and become completely Polish. It is different with the petty nobles, the Schlachtitzen,who stand nearer to the people, and with the people themselves, that isthe peasantry. The Poles who did not, like the Germans, encourage theeducation and civilization of the people, had not means enough to assimi- late the lower classes of Galicia to their own. The Rusniak peasantclings with warm attachment to his old habits, and unlike the Poles,Magyars, Slovaks, and other neighbouring nations, seldom intermarrieswith foreigners; above all things he avoids connexion with the Poles,whom he hates and despises as much as the Russians do. The peasants,the Schlachtitzen, and the clergy, have remained completely Rusniakhere, in dress, language, and habits. The Rusniaks, immediately after theintroduction of Christianity among them, adopted the Greek religion, in common with all the Russian nations, under Wladimir the Great. Underthe Polish dominion, they clung constantly to this their chosen religion.The utmost which the endeavours of the Poles could accomplish (even inthe last days of the republic, when they were most energetic and successful) with the assistance of the jesuits, was a union of the Catholic churchwith the Greek- Rusniak church; i. e. an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the pope, all the practices and privileges of the old Greek-Rusniak church being preserved unaltered. This union took place aboutone hundred and forty years ago, with the consent of the reigning Metropolitan: a traitor, a bad man, the betrayer of his church he was, " said aRusniak priest, with whom I once conversed on the subject.66The work of union proceeded, although very slowly, on account of theaversion of the people to Polish Catholicism. The uniting Metropolitanwas succeeded by others who refused to unite, and the people repeatedlyprotested against it. The present Metropolitan is only the fifth who has consented to the union. In this way the work of union proceeded butslowly, though its progress continued under the Austrian sceptre. Manycongregations, in particular that of a very wealthy church in Lemberg,founded by some Walachian nobles, resisted for a very long time, andhave only very lately united themselves with the Catholic church. Somehave not yet yielded. Catholicism is at the same time advancing and retrograding among the Russo- Slavonic races; for whilst Austria is unitingchurches with Rome in the south, Russia is attacking her in the north.While Catholicism advances from the west towards the east, the Greekchurch proceeds from the east towards the west. The two millions of2 G436 SNIATYN AND STANISLAVOV.Rusniaks subject to Austria, have long kept their eyes fixed on the occurrences of the east. They feel an unconquerable hatred to their beardlesspriests of the union, and will stretch a friendly hand to the RussianGreeks, when they advance towards them, were it only that the venerableold beard might again grow on the chins of their priests. It was a greatmistake in Austria to seize the sovereignty over so many Rusniak Poles.The sympathy towards Russia is as deep-rooted as the antipathy felt towards that country by the Poles. The clergy of the united Greek churchin Galicia, is entirely Rusniak; the Polish tendencies of the nobility havehad no influence upon them. As is universally the case in the Greekchurch and throughout Russia, the Rusniak nobles have never sought admission into the church; on the contrary, the priests have invariably risen from among the people. In the Polish Catholic church, the heads of theclergy are all the scions of noble families; whereas the supreme head ofthe Rusniak Greek church, the Metropolitan himself, is generally the sonof a peasant. In the same manner and in the same degree as the Polessucceeded in Polonizing Galicia, they assimilated to themselves variousother parts of that vast tract of country lying between the Baltic and thePontus, which had fallen to their share in the prosperous days of the republic. Everywhere they made the Lithuanian and Russian nobilitycompletely Polish, by placing them on an equal footing with their own,and giving them a share in all the rights and privileges of native Polishnoblemen; but everywhere, beneath this Polish surface, the people, withwhom the Poles used no such assimilating means, remained untouched and unchanged in manners, customs, language, and ideas. Polonization,however, succeeded best with the Lithuanians, the race least related to thePoles, for the Lithuanian clergy became Roman Catholic; it succeeded least with the Russians and Rusniaks, whose Greek clergy offered a permanent and effectual opposition.Still less did the Cossacks become Polonized, who were never thoroughlysubjected to the Poles; and the influence of the latter upon the Germanprovinces of the Baltic, Prussia, Courland, and Livonia, was very slight.In those countries, Lutheranism and German nationality were preserved inall their purity. It is interesting to observe how, during the events of later years, the sympathy for the misfortunes and degradations of Poland has been awakened in these different countries, in precise proportion to the Polonization of each. In the last insurrection of Poland against Russia,for instance, Lithuania immediately rose with her; the half Polish Podolia and Kiev murmured, and conspired, and designed, but never came to openrebellion. Polish- Rusniak Galicia sighed and applauded, and lent theassistance of pecuniary contribution, and silent prayers. The Baltic pro- vinces were indifferent and inactive; though Courland contained more friends to the Poles than Livonia, where the traces of their old dominionwere quite effaced. The Cossacks willingly aided the Russians with theirpikes, in the subjection of the Poles, to whom they had often lent a forced and unwilling help.SNIATYN AND STANISLAVOV.We arrived late in the evening at Sniatyn, the first town in the land ofthe Rusniaks, where we drove up to a Jewish hotel. Wefound a beetroot-SNIATYN AND STANISLAVOV. 437sugar manufactory at this place, and learnt that these manufactories are numerous in the district and pay well. We here drank a " Seidel" ofHungarian wine, and as we found it very refreshing, we took a "Pfiff” in addition. Seidel is the Austrian word for measure, and Pfiff for glass.Hungary supplies her neighbours so well with all kinds of good and badwine, that we appeared to be in a land of grapes and sunshine, instead of ice and snow. In Southern Galicia, however, we had, sometimes, to drink sour Moldavian wines.Upon the table in the inn lay a piece of paper, on which somefair Polish hand appeared to have been trying her pen. Such piecesof paper have often a value and interest in the eyes of a traveller, as unconstrained manifestations of the national mind. There was the name ofthe writer, written two or three times over-Elizbieta Visnievska. Thencame Yasnie (Most Illustrious) twice over, and finally the connected words"Povinszovanie dla Yasnie Velmoznei Pani naszei Matki—” ( Humblestrepresentation to our illustrious and powerful lord Matki- ) the name wasunfinished. The fragment, however, was sufficient to open to us a longperspective into the feelings and ideas of the people, whose fears, hopes,and cares centre so exclusively in their illustrious and powerful lords, thateven in trying their pens, their lord's name is the one which occurs tothem. Coming from the south, Sniatyn is the first town which, soul andbody, from the houses and steeples down to the dogs and cats, is the property of one nobleman.In the evening we had badly baked Kulatshi with our tea, an odd kindof cake, common throughout Rusniak Galicia. The soft dough is firstdrawn out to a long pliable string, and then twisted into the shape of acrown of thorns, and so put into the oven. The inhabitants of LittleRussia make a similar cake, which they call Kulitschi, but the Kalatchiof the Great Russians is differently shaped . This night in bed we recognized an old northern acquaintance, in the Tarakanen, a disgusting, great,long- legged insect, common among the Lettes, Esthonians, Great Russians, and Poles, but never seen among the Little Russians. They arehere called Tshipalki, and in Poland Prussaki.The way to Stanislavov led us the next day along the Pruth, throughKolomea, the last town on the Pruth, and over an elevated road dividingthe valleys of the Pruth and the Dniester. In the valley of the Pruth thehigh summits of the Tshorna- Gora towered at our side, but in the valleyof the Dniester the Carpathians were quite hidden from our sight. This isthe case the whole way from the Pruth to Stanislavov and Stry, wherethe highest points of the mountains are never more than seven or eightmiles from the traveller, and yet are never visible to him. Nomountains wereto be seen; we appeared to be travelling continually in a plain, and not evenon the horizon could we discover any traces ofmountains. This is the casethroughout Galicia, till we come to Cracow. It may be partly because theCarpathians rise highest at their two extremities, in Bukovina and Moravia, and have in the middle no towering pinnacles rising above the rest;and partly because the whole of Galicia is a high country, gently risingfrom the Polish plains to the mountains. On the Hungarian side theCarpathians rise much more abruptly from the plains stretching away attheir feet, and in that country the horizon is everywhere bounded by hills.In the Pruth valley we noticed the peculiar race of fat-tailed sheep,common in Walachia; they are plentiful here, as throughout Moldavia2 G 2438 SNIATYN AND STANISLAVOV.and Walachia, and from these districts they have spread through SouthRussia, where they are known as Walachian sheep. In the interior ofGalicia they are unknown, and only the common Polish sheep is there to be seen. Towards the west the Carpathians have checked their spread; forthe Huzzulen and Goralen have not the fat- tailed, but the commonsheep. The cattle here is not so fine as in the Russian and Moldavianplains. The large silver-gray oxen of the steppes are still to be seen, butthey are mixed with the small black cattle of the Carpathians. The still larger Hungarian race is never seen on this side of the mountains.Many a seidel and pfiff were emptied by our Walachian fellow-travellers, before we stopped for the night; particularly at the Armenianpublichouses by the wayside. These Armenian publichouses alternate in Galicia with the German and Jewish inns, but are in smaller numbersthan the last named. The Armenian hosts are generally mere winedealers, and do not let lodgings and beds to travellers. Many of them have become very rich in this country, and a few have even been raisedto the rank of nobles. There are several powerful Armenian noblemen inPoland. In the same way the Poles have sometimes raised Jews to therank of nobles, and allowed them to share all the privileges of the aristocracy.The Jewish inns are the oldest in the country; the towns are full ofthem . Their accommodations are such, that they can provide the traveller with nothing but a roof; provisions and beds he must bring withhim or seek elsewhere. The houses are large, the courtyards and stablesspacious and convenient, the rooms small, but better furnished thanwould be expected. Bedsteads there are, but no beds, because their usualcustomers either require none-the Polish servants, coachmen, and peasants, usually sleep in their clothes and furs-or if any are required, thetraveller brings his own with him. As we were in neither of these positions, many expedients were proposed. Some proposed to buy beds forus, some to borrow them of their neighbours, others to vacate their ownto us; we however generally preferred a clean sheet spread over some hayand straw. Regular inns, with beds, wedid not find till we came to Lemberg.Provisions were as scanty as beds; when we asked for them we werereferred to the neighbouring tracteur (traiteur), who would provide us with what we wanted. The man who mediates between the traveller andthe host in Galicia, who acquaints the traveller with the advantages andcapabilities of the inn, and sees to the fulfilment of his wishes, is calledthe factor, and is always a Jew. The word factor is no doubt an abbreviation of factotum; for as the inn itself has nothing, and does nothing,it is the factor who procures and arranges every thing for the traveller.In the Galician towns, particularly in the more western ones, Germaninns, (" Catholic inns, " the people call them), are fast rising to rival theseJewish hostelries. When we came to a town, we were always askedwhether we would drive to the Catholic or the Jewish inn. We alwaysdecided for the Catholic, but our Rusniak servant was a Jew, and alwaysarranged matters so that we were obliged to put up with his Israelite brother.A few miles before Stanislavov, we came to a pine forest, the first we had seenin coming from the Black Sea. In Bessarabia and Bukovina there areno pine forests, and the sight of these beautiful, dark, leafy masses, supported on tall, smooth, stately columns, was an agreeable surprise to us.SNIATYN AND STANISLAVOV. 439From the upper valley of the Dniester the pine forests stretch, one after theother, in close succession to the land of the Esthonians and Finns, wherethey border on the northern birch- forests.The town of Stanislavov, has now no fewer than 15,000 inhabitants,and is the second town of Galicia. It lies between two small rivers, bothcalled Bistriza, in the valley of the Dniester, and is, without doubt, themost respectable of all the Dniester towns, from Sambor and Stry, to Chotini, Bender, and Ackermann. It formerly belonged to a Count Potocki,whose family is widely spread, wealthy, and powerful, in all the countries from Bohemia to the Pontus. The people of Stanislavov still speak of aCountess Potocka, who, after the custom of Polish nobles, kept up a littlestanding army in the town, and the ruins of a fortress, which she erectedfor her own ends and those of the republic, are still shown to strangers.Stanislavov is now a free imperial city. It carries on an important tradewith Galicia and Podolia, has a good gymnasium, is the capital of a largecircle, and is the residence of many far-famed noble families, among whichthose of the Counts Idushicki and Yablonovski may be named as theprincipal. The town is, on the whole, well built, and rich in elegant buildings, palaces, churches, &c. The fancy shops, plentifully fitted out withthe pretty toys of Vienna, astonished us not a little. The apothecaries'shops were orderly and good, and the coffee-houses splendid, and I thinka traveller, coming from the west, would be just as much astonished to findso elegant and refined a little city on the borders of civilized Europe, as Iwas to find western elegance and luxury meeting me so soon after my leavingthe dreary steppes. Walking through the streets in the evening, we foundevery place well lighted, and met German watchmen continually; and lateat night felt quite at home, on hearing a horn blown from the towers.one of the public-houses, late guests were still carousing together. Weentered, and found the place full of Jews, in long black silk talars, withlong, flowing, black beards. They were half tipsy, and were singing loosedrinking-songs, to the same peculiar tunes to which, in this country, theychant the psalms of David in the synagogues.InThe next morning public worship was performed in the churches; butit was also market-day, and business proceeded as usual in the “ ring,” as the market- place is called in all Galician towns. The word is no doubt aGermanization of the Polish word for market, " Rynek; " but the people ofthe country believe it to be a genuine German word, and the expressionmay have arisen from the rings of booths and shops, which surround themarket- places. On the corner houses of the market- places in Galicia, isalways inscribed the Polish word Rynek, and under it the German " derRing." The streets, like the market-places, have always both Germanand Polish names inscribed at their corners, and are paved with flint fromthe bed of the Dniester. The market- places and streets swarmed with agay and busy crowd of Armenians, Jews, Poles, Germans, Rusniaks,Goralen, and Hungarian soldiers. From the market the flood of life poured on to the churches and to the public houses. We entered theprincipal church of the town, a Catholic one. Its size and architecturemerited the name of a cathedral, and we were pleased no less by thebeautiful organ and other decorations, than by the noble style of buildingand its vast extent. The chancel, choir, organ, and altar, were adornedwith various valuable and excellent carvings in wood, and the church was as full of statues in stone and wood as of men and women. A curious440 FROM STANISLAVOV TO STRY.fancy of the priest's was displayed upon the altar. It was decorated withlarge glass bulbs, containing blue, red, and yellow fluids, behind each ofwhich stood a lamp, whose rays streamed through the church with all thecolours of the rainbow. In Russia apothecaries have similar glass bulbs before their windows.In the market-place, rock salt from Rossulna and other places at the foot of the Carpathians, was one of the most abundant articles for sale. Itis the custom here to cut this salt into all kinds of elegant shapes, like cream cheese with us. We saw these little snow-white forms arrangedon all the tables of the Jewish merchants. They have fine saws, withwhich they cut the large pieces into smaller ones.At Stanislavov we enjoyed again the satisfaction of feeling ourselves ina town, which sensation one quite loses in the great, dreary, desert Russian cities. The houses were here close to each other, and stood in crowdedgroups; high roofs rising above lower ones, and churches and steeplestowering over all. The streets ran all manner of crooked ways, and eventhe avenues of the town (the Russian towns have none), the long poplar avenues, and the dusty roads, spreading out in every direction, appeared to us both cheerful and stately, as did the view of the whole from thewestern heights, over which our Broder Baude rolled away, the next morning at eight o'clock.Upon these hills the road divides itself. The principal road goes ontowards Stry by a circuitous route. A bad by-road leads to the townof Halitsh, which although much famed in the Russian annals, is nowno more than a small place inhabited only by Polish Jews, and bears no traces of its former greatness. This is the case with all Russiantowns of bygone prosperity, which, not being built of solid stone like ourold cities, do not bequeath to posterity any tokens of their ancient splendour. We had hired our coach and its driver for the longer road, andhad paid him extra money on purpose; but the shorter suited himbetter he had laid a plot with a brother driver who was going the same way, and when we came to the cross road, both turned off towardsHalitsh. We screamed out of the carriage windows--so did the passengers in the other coach, but as persuasion and threats were in vain, ouronly way was to get out, and seizing the horse's reins, to turn them backagain by main force, which done, the ill-humoured Jewish drivers, aftermuch noisy altercation, submitted, and quietly drove down the pre- scribed road.FROM STANISLAVOV TO STRY.Behind Stanislavov, we saw the first manured field . In the valley ofthe Pruth and throughout Bukovina, no manure is ever used, because thesoil is so rich and productive that it needs none, as is also the case all overMoldavia and Southern Russia. This kind of soil ceases in the valley ofthe Dniester, and, as we proceed north-west, every thing grows more andmore barren and scanty, till we reach the sandy plains of Poland, whichpartake of the desert nature of those of Brandenburg and Prussia. InBukovina six or eight oxen are always harnessed to the plough, after thecustom of South Russia and Moldavia. Here the plough is driven with only a pair of oxen or horses, and sometimes only with one. The wholestate of agriculture and housekeeping is different here from what it is inFROM STANISLAVOV TO STRY. 441Bukovina. Grain is no longer threshed by horses in the open air, butwith flails in large barns; hay or corn are no longer kept in great heapsin the open air, but in sheds and barns; nature appears more nigg*rdlyand less liberal, man more careful and painstaking. The furrows aredrawn in the peculiar manner common throughout Poland; six smallfurrows lie close together, and then comes a great, broad, deep one.gives the fields a curious but not unpleasing appearance.ThisMaize is no longer cultivated here, and consequently we no longer meetwith any of the national dishes prepared from it by the Moldavians. Thepotato, on the contrary, becomes more and more plentiful; in no part ofPoland, Posen excepted, is this root so much eaten as in Galicia. TheGermans, as everywhere, are zealous partisans of this vegetable. " Thepeople here," said a Galician to us one day, " eat very little bread on weekdays, though plenty on Sundays; and they only eat meat on high festivaldays, at weddings, christenings, and so forth, while the Moldavians andSouth Russians, eat meat every day."The slavery of the peasants here is still very abject, as it is all over Poland. Monsieur Dupin has drawn a map of civilization in France, on whichhe has shaded the wild and uncultivated regions quite dark, the more cultivated, lighter, and so on to the white regions of perfect refinement andcivilization. If a similar map to indicate the extent of slavery in Polandwere to be drawn, the whole country ought to be painted black as ink,without a single white spot; no doubt, however, there would be gradationsin blackness. The blackest hue of all would be found in Lithuania, wherethe slavery of the peasants is of the most oppressive character, and wherethe timid yielding pliable nature of the people offers no resistance to oppression. In Galicia-particularly in Rusniak Galicia, a few faint streaksof a lighter shade might be admitted. Slavery is older in Poland than inRussia; the Poles first introduced it among the Malorossian races, andhistory shows how much trouble it cost them to do so. The Russianshave always kept within bounds in the infliction of their fetters upon subject nations. The effect of this is manifest among the Rusniaks of Galicia,in a certain independent and lofty bearing, whilst the Lithuanian serfs,prostrate before their masters, seem to have lost all dignity and selfrespect.În northern Poland, two thirds of the time and strengthofthe peasant isat the disposal of his lord, whilst in Galicia he has only to work for hismasterfrom sixty to one hundred days. They call this task work " Robbot."Only fifteen or twenty days in the year are exacted as Robbot from thecrown peasants. Besides the Robbot, there are many irregular tasks andservices of different kinds, and tributary offerings of butter, eggs, fruit,money, &c. , which are not regulated by law, but by a vague rule of custom, liable to be interpreted according to the will of a tyrannical and oppressive master. The Austrian government is unceasing in its endeavoursto change these undefined duties, but much remains to be cleared awayin this Augean stable of Polish slavery, and in most instances, the Galician,like the Lithuanian master, can do pretty much what he pleases withhis serfs .An important innovation in Galicia is the general prevalence of Germanagricultural colonies. They have entered the country partly at the invitation of private noblemen, and partly at that of the government. Northof the Carpathians, among the Poles and Russians as far as the Caucasus442 FROM STANISLAVOV TO STRY.and the sea of Asoph, these German colonists are always called Suabians,whilst south of the Carpathians, in Hungary and Transylvania, they areeverywhere known by the name of Saxons, whether they come from theElbe, the Rhine, or the Danube. The study of the German colonists inthese countries, of the old customs which they have retained, and the newones which have crept in among them, the different influences of the different races among whom they have settled, upon their costume, language,and manners, would be one full of interest. Whoever imagines Galicia tobe an uninteresting country is very much mistaken. The mere contemplation of the influence of the different elements of the populationupon each other, cannot fail to be deeply interesting to every thoughtful mind.The road from Stanislavov to Stry passes through Kalush and Boletrov,and through the valleys of the rivers Lomiga and Striza. In the firstvalley we dined, in the second we passed the night. All these Carpathianmountain-streams are pretty much alike. They are each ten or twelvemiles long, and flow very rapidly in a north-eastern direction into theDniester. Each consists of two streams which unite together about twomiles above the spot where they flow into the Dniester. Each has a townat its mouth, and another further up the valley.The Mogilos, or grave hillocks of the Mongolian races, are very abundantin Bukovina and round Stanislavov, but here they appear to cease altogether. Southern Galicia is almost as thickly sown with these Mogilos as the steppes of Southern Russia.In every village and town we found, in the middle of the market-place,a large stone effigy of some holy martyr, or canonized hermit, or a Madonna, clad in nun's attire, bearing the infant Christ, or a priest, bearing the consecrated Host; all so many monuments of the supremacy ofCatholicism over the Greek religion, for the latter, not approving of sculpture in the service of religion, has banished all such images from thechurches, streets, and market-places. Throughout all the countries subject to the Greek church, such monuments are never found in the towns andvillages, and an oil painting here and there in some chapel, a fresco painting on the wall of some church or cloister, or, oftener, a simple cross, madeof two pieces of wood, rudely nailed together, are the only visible symbolsmade use of. The catholics taught the Rusniaks to erect effigies of thiskind, such as are to be seen in Bohemia and Bavaria; but they do not appear to be much reverenced by the people, for I never saw a Rusniak cross himself before any of these images, although he does so in every church,and before every old Greek picture, as piously as any Russian.At Kalush we dined at a Jewish tracteur's, named Schnitzle. A fewAustrian soldiers were playing at billiards with some civilians, and aJewish marker was calling out the numbers in Polish. The Austriansoldiers and officers in Galicia always appeared to me merry and cheerful;Poland appears to agree with them very well. They are always makinga noise, and are to be met with at every billiard, card, or dinner table.There is something complacent and self- satisfied about them. This cheer- fulness and merriment of the Austrians in Galicia must be a thorn in theside of the Poles. The German traveller, on the other hand, mightrejoice at seeing his countrymen living here as rulers and conquerors, didnot many a disagreeable conviction disturb this feeling; among others,the knowledge that the Austrian has no feeling of national patriotismFROM STANISLAVOV TO STRY. 443about him, and if commanded, would just as readily direct his musket at aSaxon or Prussian, as at a Russian or Pole.This place had been half burnt down a week before. The woodenwalls and roofs of the houses had been entirely destroyed, and only a rowof tall chimneys, with the ovens and hearths to which they belonged, stilltowered like pillars from the dust and ashes beneath. In NorthernPoland I had often seen villages destroyed by fire, which always presentedthe same appearance.It was Sunday, and in the market- place of the little town I appearedto be in the middle of Germany; for German peasants were standingeverywhere around, dressed in blue cloth , the young in jackets with silverbuttons, the old in long coats. Some were standing in groups, othersleaning against the wooden railings in long rows, and all enjoying theSunday dolcefar niente. They told us that they got on very well, andthat by feeding and selling cattle, they earned a good deal of money." The Germans are the only people in Poland who eat meat every day,"said a Jew to us once. It must be confessed, that upon the whole, itis very pleasant to be a German, for a German patriot has a very extensive fatherland, and everywhere finds his countrymen prosperous andrespected.We drank tea at Dalina, a little town lying between two hills of theCarpathians. Though it was Sunday, we found the market- place ofDalina full of life, bustle, and traffic. The law forbids the holding of amarket on a Sunday, yet, all through Galicia, the principal business of theweek is carried on on Sundays, probably according to the old Malorossiancustom, for we remarked the same thing throughout Southern Russia,Odessa not excepted.It is much to be wondered at that more ethnographers and travellers donot visit these countries, to give us some account of the life led in thesecities of the Carpathians, and to perpetuate a few of the interesting pictureswhich daily present themselves. In fact, while sitting on the woodenbench at the door of the little inn, we could in a few moments, withealittle portable camera-obscura, have collected several pictures, wantingneither in general nor in picturesque interest. We were particularlystruck by the universal cheerfulness which appeared to animate all; notonly the leisurely buyers and promenaders, but the merchants and men ofbusiness, seemed full of Sunday gaiety. The round satisfied countenance,merry eye, and white uniform, of the Austrian soldier, contrasted agree- ably with groups of dark-furred Rusniaks. The young Rusniak girls, armin arm, promenaded in long rows up and down before the gay booths,richly stocked with fancy wares. Their peculiar head-dress, a long whitehandkerchief, fastened together at the forehead, and waving behind andby the side like a long banner, became them remarkably well. The Goralen,apoetical and musical race, of great physical strength, and much given totobacco smuggling, had descended in great numbers from the mountains,to trade in cattle; and both men and women were easily known by thetwo thick plaits in which they arrange their black hair, and which they wind round the head from the forehead to the ears. Here and there atall Magyar, of slow gait and dignified manners, wandered through thecrowd, and here and there was a barefooted monk in his great brown cowl.The long black talar of the small, meager, Polish Jew, an indispensable444 FROM STANISLAVOV TO STRY.agent in Polish commerce, was seen on every side. The Jewarrangesand consolidates every thing, forms and witnesses agreements, and holdstogether the whole fabric of society; every thing moves and lives here in aJewish element. The Jew is either himself the merchant, or the brokerwho mediates between him and his customers; the Jew guides andsettles all business, the Jew pours out the brandy which gives the purchaserfresh courage for bargaining, and it was a Jew who brought us the coffee which sweetened our contemplation of these interesting groups.Near Dalina we crossed the Sviza, one of those little rivers of the Carpathians spoken of above, but which was now a lifeless insignificant piece of water. In spring, however, when the melting of the mountain snow swellsits current, it is, like all these rivers, very useful to the Huzzulen and Goralen. The Huzzulen float the wood of the Carpathians down to theDniester, where they dispose of it to the inhabitants of Halitsh, who conveyit to its further destination . Great orchards of plums are to be seen in allthe villages here; this fruit thrives amazingly in Galicia, where it yieldsthe far-famed Zvetschenmuss, which the Galicians call Povill, and whichforms no inconsiderable article of commerce with Hungary, NorthernPoland, and the Ukraine. This Galician Povill is everywhere welcomeas an agreeable and nourishing kind of food, and Lemberg contains large warehouses full of tubs of Povill. While travelling in Galicia great plumorchards were often shown us, which brought in annually many thousandsofflorins. This cultivation of plums decreased as we proceeded northward.In the evening we drank tea at Balekhov, for we had not yet learnt to dispense with this agreeable Russian custom. The Polish word for tea,Herbata," signifies more properly herb, and in fact there is little moreof the genuine Chinese beverage in the article itself than in its name; sothat we often thought with longing of the delightful Russian " Tshaï,"genuine in word and fact.66The harmonious but monotonous and melancholy tones of an Harmonica attracted us from our tea-table to the lawn before the house, where we sawtwo or three German carriers lying on the ground. They were Silesiansfrom Teschen, handsome, powerful men, in short blue jackets and trousers,all richly set with large silver buttons, and with gay woollen caps on theirheads. They were conveying cloth from the farfamed manufacturing town of Biala to Tshernovitze, in Bukovina, whence it is sent to Russia,Walachia, and Turkey. Both the Silesian and Moravian carriers travelthrough the whole Austrian empire, from the confines of Russia to theAdriatic Sea. They use the same great waggons covered with white linencloths which are common in Germany. With these heavy vehicles theycan only travel on regular roads, and though with their powerful horsesand great strong waggons, they can transport heavy and bulky goods withgreater ease and security than the native carriers, yet in districts unprovided with roads, they are obliged to yield to the latter. The Rusniaks andSlovaks are the only native Galicians who carry on this business on a large scale. Where there are good roads the German waggoners are preferred,but everywhere else the Rusniaks. The Russians everywhere seem tohave a particular tendency to this wandering way of life, for as in Galicia,the Moldavians, Poles, and Masuren, always stay at home, while the Rusniaks are found wandering about everywhere; so in Lithuania, Livonia, and Esthonia, the carriers and drivers are all Russians. Therestless, busy, nomadic life of a waggoner or driver suits the RussianSTRY. 445character. Breslau, Posen, Warsaw, Kiev, Bukovina, Ofen, and Pesth,may be named as the boundary points in the great circle which the Rusniaks frequent as carriers. Laden with wine, salt, honey, corn, andPovill, they intersect the Carpathians, where their light little carts, builtin the Russian fashion, are better than the heavy, solid waggons of theGermans. The making of roads, however, is narrowing their territorymore and more, and enlarging that of the Germans. It may be imagined, therefore, with what unfavourable eyes the Rusniak regard thefine new " Imperial road, " as it is commonly called, which intersects thewhole of Galicia.TheThe different branches of transport in Galicia, are divided among thedifferent elements of the population, in about the following manner.Germans convey the produce of Austria and Silesia along the high-roads to Turkey and Russia. The Rusniaks travel about in the interior withhome produce, along the natural paths of the country. The Jews never convey goods, but only travellers. The Huzulen and Garolen are inpossession of the rivers and streams, and occupy themselves with watercarriage.STRY.We set off from Balekhov at three o'clock, the next morning. Everything still slumbered under the black veil of night; the Carpathiansseemed to have unquiet dreams, for a storm was raging among them.Every thing was dark and silent in the Rusniak villages, and only hereand there the forge of some industrious smith gleamed through the night.We shuddered with cold and drowsiness, and were very glad when wearrived to breakfast at " the Imperial free city of Stry."99 Before the gates of the city we saw a board stuck up, on which waswritten in large letters " Hier ist Viehseuche." A great herd of Podolian oxen stood lowing before the gate, and an Austrian soldier was translating the melancholy inscription for the Malorossian cattle -dealers, whothen sorrowfully turned away with their beasts to avoid the town by acircuit. At the inn of Stry, a Polish lady of rank, with her attendants,was just entering a huge old-fashioned coach, such as we had not seen for a long time. Five horses were harnessed to it; three before the othertwo. The host was putting some packets of " Stry sausages " into thelady's carriage, assuring us at the same time that we must take somewith us, as no travellers ever left Stry without some specimens of thisesteemed and farfamed delicacy.Stry is a Polish city, but a good deal Germanized, that is to say clearedof all its Polish dirt and rubbish, furnished with proper gates and walls,and with a few good buildings, and well paved throughout. The oldPolish dustholes, once so common in Galicia, have all been swept away bythe Austrian government. To see them in their old unchanged, unsophisticated condition, the traveller must go to Russian Poland, particularly to Lithuania. Stry is, as has been said, a free city, " Volnoi Gorod."This name must not call up in the reader's mind the image of one of ourGerman free cities . The expression has in Hungary and Galicia nothingto do with political freedom and independence, but merely denotes thatno private nobleman is master of the place. The Imperial free cities are

• Here a contagious epidemic is raging among the cattle.

446 FROM STRY TO LEMBERG.called so as opposed to the Dominikalni Gorodi, or cities belonging toprivate persons. Next to these private cities, where the one noblemanpossesses all the land and houses, where all the citizens pay their rent tohim, where he names the magistrates and Burgermeisters of his ownauthority, and where criminals are tried in his name; next to these comethe Cameral Städte, (Kameralni Gorodi), where the emperor is the sameto the towns, as the private nobleman is to the Dominial Stadt.As the morning dawned, the market-place of Stry became more andmore filled with Jewish brandy dealers, and bread-selling Germans. Asthe sun rose, the Jews began to pray, and while pouring out brandy forthe peasants, popping their money in their pockets, and going up anddown into their cellars to fetch fresh bottles, they continued gabbling overtheir prayers, uninterrupted by their various avocations.FROM STRY TO LEMBERG.From Stry our road lay through the valley of the Dniester.It is herea fine broad river, bordered by beautiful meadows, which are flooded everyspring. On the other side of the Dniester arises that narrow range of hillsintersected by many small streams, which spreads out from the Carpathians,dividing the Dniester from the Vistula, and proceeding further in a southeasterly direction towards Podolia, separates the valley of the Dniester fromthat of Bug. The Dniester is here, as everywhere on its course towardsthe Pontus, very deep and rapid. I now crossed this river, over which Ihad passed so often, probably for the last time in mylife, at the little fishing village of Rosvadov. Even here, scarcely ten miles from its source,the river already contains a great quantity of fish.The Jews of the Dniester pay four thousand florins rent for the bridgeand road tolls of this district, and they make scarcely as much profit as isnecessary to enable them to live a miserable life of dirty squalor, with theirwives and children. Throughout Galicia the Jews generally rent all the tolls of the roads and bridges.TheAt Nikolayev, or Mikolayev, as the Poles say, who always turn theRussian ns into ms, we saw a very old Greek Rusniak church. This littlebuilding rests, like most Rusniak churches, under the shade of a grove ofvenerable oaks, whose lofty tops far overshadow the old towers.church is entirely built of wood, the walls of great trunks of beeches laidcrossways on one another; the three towers which rise into the air, likeold decayed branches, are built of pinewood and covered with woodenshingles. The roof of the church was so low, that my head reached up toit, and when at last the priest drew back the curious old bolts, and thethick oaken door grated like that of a prison as it opened, we felt as if entering the interior of a hollow tree. The church was filled with a dimtwilight; for the only apertures for light were the little windows in thetowers, and the waving shade of the dark oak-trees playing round theplace, weakened the effect of the few rays of sunshine which shone downthrough these apertures, upon the glittering pictures of saints on the walls.Before the door was inscribed upon the walls, in old Slavonic numbers,rough as if hewn with an axe, the date 1633. The church was dedicatedto the famous Russian saint, Nicholas, who stands in high veneration withthe Rusniaks. His picture hung in the centre of the Iconostase, and hadjust the same physiognomy and the same decorations as in Russia. Iconos-FROM STRY TO LEMBERG. 447tase, altar, and holy vessels, were just as we see them in all old RussianGreek churches, and scarcely any traces of the modifying influence ofCatholicism were to be discovered; a little sculpture had, however, crept inhere and there. The image of Christ upon the crucifix, carried by thepriest, was not merely traced as the Russians, in fulfilment of the commandment against graven images, are accustomed to have it, but stood out in relief from the cross. I pointed this out to the priest. He said,certainly this was wrong, but it could not always be helped, for those crosseswere often presents from Catholics . I also noticed two or three insignificant modifications in the service; for example, the altar remains visibleto the congregation during the whole service, whilst in Russia it is hiddenfrom them at certain times by the drawing of curtains, and the closing ofthe doors ofthe Iconostase. In the middle of the church was a great stone,about a foot and half high; this was the pulpit. The priest told me thatevery Sunday he stood upon this stone, and preached some moral discourseto the congregation in the Rusniak language, although he could speakPolish, and his congregation could understand it. Behind the altar was acollection of old Slavonic church books browned and blackened by time,which were all printed in Lemberg or Kiev, and the older ones in the farfamed Russian monastery of Potshayu. The whole Iconostase stoodawry, and the pictures hung awry on the walls, which, like the whole church,looked as if about to fall in. The patron and owner of the church was oneof the wealthiest nobles in Galicia, Count R- For thirty years thecongregation had in vain been endeavouring to get their master to rebuildthe church. " That man is a freemason andjacobin, " said the priest.has built mills, manufactories, breweries, and a great theatre at Lemberg,but not one church. Six of his churches are already in this deplorablestate; yet he prefers paying the fine imposed by the Metropolitan everyyear, to laying out any thing upon rebuilding them." I could find it inheart to wish that the count may not alter his mind; for if a new churchwere to be built, what would be the consequence? It would be made largerthan the present one, and then the old overshadowing oaks with their venerable thousand years would fall, the old stone would be replaced by a mahogany pulpit, the old well thumbed Slavonic books would give way to new ones in elegant bindings, and the interior of the church would bearwitness only to the skill of the Lemberg masons, and not to the thousandheartwrung sighs and fervent prayers, which have ascended to Heavenfrom beneath the lowly roof of that little old, time- worn Rusniak temple.I could not help wishing therefore that the church might long preserve itsuneven walls and old oaks, and I told the priest he would do wisely not tomourn over the backwardness of his patron, but rather to do all he could topreserve the old church in its present state. It is always easy to build anew church, but very difficult to build one two hundred years old." HemyIn this church we copied the title of the Metropolitan of the UnitedGreek church, which is interesting on account of the present positionofthat church. It runs thus:-" Michael Lewicki z Bozega Milosierdziai zu władza S. Stolicu, Apostolskiei Metropolita Halicki, Arzubickup Lwowski, Biskup Kamenicki. " (Michael Lewicki, by the Grace of God andunder the sanction of the Holy Apostolic Chair, Metropolitan of Halitsh,Archbishop of Lemberg, and Bishop of Kameniez. ) In his official Germantitle, the following words are always added to the foregoing:-" Excellency, Privy Councillor, and Doctor of Theology." Although he now re-448 FROM STRY TO LEMBERG.sides in Lemberg, he is always styled Metropolitan of Halitsh, the oldcapital. His old Bishopric of Kameniez, has long ago fallen to Russia;still he does not regard it as " in partibus infidelium, ” but as “ in partibusfidelium," and would much like to join it. The united Greeks are farfrom bearing the Union with patience; on the contrary they bear it onlyas an unavoidable necessity. In the publications of the Metropolitan, thePope is always called " Nashu Pasterz Grzegorz XVI." (our PastorGregory XVI. ) The Priests are not called Popes, but pastors (Pasterz),or clergymen (Kyonzui. ) The word " Pope" is here used only as acontemptuous appellation . " A man is fined a ducat here, if he call aPriest Pope," said the Priest, " but if any one just fresh from Hungary orRussia calls me so, I do not complain. " This feeling has probably arisenfrom the influence of Catholicism; and may not be shared by the people,who are very much attached to their old Popes. To our surprise, wefound the common Russian superstition, that the chance meeting with aPope is an evil omen, prevailing here also. If a Rusniak meets a Pope ingoing out, he spits to avert the threatened evil. There is another superstition current here, which I never met with in Russia, namely, that tomeet a Jew forebodes good fortune and prosperity. This reminded meof many similar strange prejudices in Germany, such as that to dream ofa fire signifies money, and that it is unlucky to wish a hunter successwhen he sets out.That remarkable tract of country which separates North from SouthGalicia, the land of the Poles from that of the Rusniaks, commences behind and Nikolayev, is about 700 or 800 feet above the level of the sea, and400 or 500 feet above the valley of the Dniester. It is very bare andquite flat, and consists of masses of chalk, full of petrifactions, as inPodolia. The little rivers which rush down from it into the Dniester,flow through deep sharply cut channels. We saw no trees but birch trees. Towards Lemberg the road became a little less even, and we droveover the wave-like undulations, now up and now down. The roads werehere paved with the soft chalk of the Plateau, and were therefore verybad. On this table land the races began to mix. We entered a villagewhich was peopled half by Poles and half by Rusniaks. Upon the whole,however, the Rusniaks form still the majority. We now, for the firsttime, met with the small Polish horses, and in the inns and public-houses Polish landlords became more frequent.Here also, for the first time, we again enjoyed the long unseen spectacle of a smooth mirror-like lake. Throughout Moldavia, Walachia, andSouth Russia, there are no good sized inland lakes. It is a remarkablefact, and not a little characteristic of the structure of the ground, thatthroughout the whole extent of the Carpathian mountains, a district morethan 100 (German) miles long, and fifteen or twenty wide, there isnot one considerable basin of water, while the Alps are full of them. Notone of the numerous streams, which flow down from the Carpathians into the Dniester, forms a lake.In our Broder Baude, we had taken up, from time to time, specimens ofall the different classes of Galician population; giving a lift now to aRusniak, now to an Armenian, now to a Jew, now to a priest, and nowto a German mechanic . We found the more opportunity for this, as theland of pedestrians begins at Bukovina. Throughout Russia, where thereare scarcely any footpaths, no one goes on foot; neither tradesman norLEMBERG. 449peasant, neither monk nor pedlar, except perhaps the poor hardwornsoldier. A few miles from Lemberg, we gave a lift to an Austrian sol- dier. He was a Pole, but spoke German; he had served for ten years,and was to serve four more. He looked very well off. He told us thathe rubbed his white clothes over every week with chalk. The coat givenhim by the Emperor was to last him two years, the cloak three years;he received three shirts for two years, two pair of trousers for each year,and one pair of boots every nine months. There is no doubt, that thePolish soldiers in the Austrian service are three times as well fed andclothed as the Russian soldiers.Here we again saw the genuine old Polish bow, which we had neverseen since leaving Poland. The Polish peasant never bends forwards whensaluting another, as we do, but sideways, in the most extraordinary manner.When they do the thing quickly, it is only a jirk of the left shoulder.Generally, however, the Poles bow so low that they almost lose their balance, bending over sideways, and kissing the hem of the garment of thesaluted person, sideways. Even the very dogs do not approach theirmasters strait forwards, but creep sideways towards them. The usualPolish salutation which accompanies the bow, is " Padam da nog," (Ithrow myself at your feet, ) or else still more strongly, " Padam podnoshig," (I throw myself under your feet). These phrases are continuallyused in common conversation; for servility is as inherent a part of the Polish, as obedience of the German character. Even the young Polishélégants at the balls of Warsaw, Lemberg, and Wilna, talk of throwingthemselves " at the feet" and "under the feet" of their partners. ThePolish beggars also sometimes place their caps on the ground, and bow down low over them, in saluting a superior.At Brodki, a village near Lemberg, a young Jewish barmaid, who worea hood decorated with pearls, worth a hundred ducats, told us that theJewesses of Lemberg often wear jewels to the value of from one thousandto two thousand ducats, about the head. She also made us acquaintedwith a Polish beverage called Malina, made ofthe whitest and sweetesthoney, and the best raspberries. This beverage is as common here as mead is in the north.Late in the evening the bustle and crowd on the road, and the noise andtumult of the public-houses, showed us that we were approaching thecapital of the country, the far-famed and much praised city of Lemberg or "Lvov. "LEMBERG.Lemberg lies in a small, deep, round valley, surrounded by hills, whichjust enclose the town sufficiently to allow it the necessary room for spread- ing. Its suburbs stretch up the sides of the hills, so that the whole valleyis filled with buildings, streets, courtyards, and gardens.We entered the city at nine o'clock in the evening. Every thing wasilluminated in the most splendid manner, the lofty houses were lightedfrom top to bottom, far and near the streets glittered with long rows ofbrilliant lamps, and even the hills around sparkled in every direction, andyet all this was but the illumination of every day. On high occasions ofrejoicing, when the city is festively lighted up, the spectacle from the hillsaround must be really magnificent. It was long since we had seen any450 LEMBERG.thing so beautiful, and our hearts leaped with joy as we rolled in throughthe gates of the city.Afew Zvanziger warded off the threatened search of our effects. TheAustrian soldiers quietly let us pass, and our Baude soon stopped before the door of the handsome Hôtel de Russie, where we found a fine house,an excellent table d'hôte, attentive servants, and in short, all the accommodations of the best Austrian inns, at very moderate prices. Here wespent the five days of our intended stay at Lemberg very comfortably,and when we bade our friendly host farewell, we promised to chant his praises for the benefit of all future travellers. In the luxurious beds ofthe hotel (I speak here with the feeling of one just come from the steppes),I dreamed very agreeably of the Goralen and Huzulen, of conquereddifficulties and expected enjoyments, till late in the morning the sun ofLemberg awaked me to fresh activity.It was the 20th of October which, contrary to expectation, rose with the mildest and pleasantest air, and the brightest sunshine. Wewanderedthrough the long streets of the town, towards that old kernel of the city,round which has grown up this mighty crystallization, of not less than sixthousand houses, and eighty thousand inhabitants; I mean to the ruins ofthe old Löwenburg, which is built on the tops of the high hills, overlooking the valley in which Lemberg is situated. On a steep sandhill fromfive hundred to six hundred feet above this valley, stand the ruins of acastle, built about five hundred years ago, by a prince of Halitsh namedLeo or Lvov. The town, which soon grew up under the protection of thiscastle, received thus the name of Lvov, or, in German, Löwenburg,shortened into Lemberg. The ruins are not very important. Only a fewwalls of the old castle remain upright, but fragments of other walls are scattered all over the mountain. There are various little houses on thehills, in which the Austrian soldiers keep their powder. From these ruinsan excellent view is obtained of the whole city and its suburbs.The amphitheatre of hills, by which Lemberg is surrounded, is one ofthemost regular I have ever beheld. It forms a perfect circle of about a German mile in diameter. The wall of hills around is from 300 to 400 feet abovethe city, which in its turn, is 102 fathoms above the level of the sea.Lemberg looks as though it lay as snug as an egg in its nest, in this basinof hills. Parts of the suburbs spread up these hills, and the highest summits are adorned with churchyards, convents, and ruins. Over these hillsspread out the four great roads, which connect Lemberg with the rest ofthe world; the one towards Cracow, the second towards Warsaw, the thirdtowards Russia, and the fourth towards Hungary. The road towardsWarsaw has become the least frequented of late, and that towards Hungary is not of much importance; the principal one is that leading to Cra- cow and Vienna. The road towards Brody and Russia has also becomemore important of late years.The sides of the hills are covered with beautiful gardens and promenades. On the other side of the Löwenburg, I looked down into a wideopen plain, through which winds the road towards Warsaw, and the littleriver Poltev. It is easy to see that this plain lies much lower than thevalley of Lemberg. Probably the latter once formed a little lake, whichhas gradually flowed away on one side. In one corner of the basin risesone of the sources of the Vistula, called the Poltev, which flows into theBug, one of the tributaries of the Vistula.LEMBERG. 451The whole spectacle from these ruins is magnificent. The situation ofPrague resembles that of Lemberg, except as regards the river of theformer city; but the situation of Cracow exceeds that of both in beauty.At Lemberg the view is everywhere wanting in extent. Of the architecture of Lemberg, it is not sufficient to say that it is infinitely better thanany thing we Germans ever imagine the Poles to be capable of; for notrelatively merely, but positively the appearance of the place is far moreelegant and pleasing than that of many great cities in Germany. Theopen squares are large, the public walks, boulevards, and gardens numerous and extensive. The houses and churches, the manner in which thebuildings are arranged, the development of the complicated web of streets,all this in the great Polish cities, such as Wilna, Cracow, Posen, Gnesen,Stanislavov, Lemberg, &c. , remind us far more of the old German cities ofthe middle ages, than of the Russian cities. There are parts of Lemberg,where the traveller might fancy himself in Magdeburg, Nuremberg, orFrankfort on the Maine. This is probably owing to the close connexionwhich has so long subsisted between Poland and Western Germany.Lemberg, which became important in proportion as Halitsh declined,contains many old buildings. Round the market-place stand many antiquepalaces of the Polish nobles, among which is the large black house of Stephen Bathory, built in the noblest old Gothic style. The ruins of John Sobieski's house were pulled down a short time ago. In the old Polishtimes Lemberg contained from 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. Under theAustrian dominion, its population rose rapidly to 30,000, 40,000, 50,000,and now numbers nearly 80,000. No other Polish city approaches Lemberg in this rapid increase. Cracow, Gnesen, and Wilna, have sunk moreand more from their former greatness, during the last hundred years.Warsaw, as the central point of the whole, has also lost a great deal. Posenhas risen, though not at the same rate as Lemberg, which-with the singleexception of Warsaw-is now the greatest and most important city of Poland.Nothing surprised us more in Lemberg, than the number and richnessof the old churches. The Catholic cathedral is the largest of these, andis filled with monuments of Polish nobles, marshals, generals, and ministers. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whose miraculous picture hangs above the altar. The walls of the choir are all coveredwith little paintings representing the various miracles wrought by thepicture of the Holy Virgin, to whom the church is dedicated, on beggars,counts, field-marshals, and nobles, under each of which is a Latin inscription. Near the altar is a fresco painting of a gigantic angel, turned towards the Virgin, with the following words proceeding from his mouth—the letters painted in the freshest and brightest gold: " Regina regniPoloniæ, ora pro nobis. " It is strange that the Austrians have not longago erased this inscription, as of seditious tendency. Perhaps the Polishpriests protect it. What canthe prayer of the queen of the kingdoms ofPoland be, except that it " may please God to have compassion on theoppressed and divided nation, to restore its independence, and chasefrom the fair land its triumphant foes, the Russians and Germans? "The cathedral, like all the churches of Lemberg, is adorned as gaily asany Italian church, with pictures, statues, monuments, artificial flowers,splendidly dressed wax dolls, and coloured and illuminated glass.The church of the Jesuits is built in a very simple and beautiful man- 2 H452 LEMBERG.ner. The great Jesuits' college, has been turned into a Gubernium,that is, a residence of the principal civic functionaries.Most of thesculptures we saw in the churches showed a greater state of advancement in the fine arts than we had imagined to exist in Poland.Near the cathedral stands a little Gothic chapel, both the internal andexternal sculpture of which is very good. There are paintings of thefounder of this chapel and his wife on the outer wall, with the inscription"Georgius Brimow consul Leopoliensis, fundator istius capelle 1617."It is surprising that the Poles could build so well in the Gothic style, at so late an era. The Lady Burgermeisterinn of the seventeenth century isrepresented as wearing the dark short gown, and the white handkerchiefsround her head, formerly worn by all Polish ladies, and even now by thepeasant- women round Lemberg.The kings of Poland used to bear the title of " the orthodox," and withjustice, for they were, as the Poles still are to the present day, zealousadherents to every Ultramontane article of faith. They were accustomed,when elected, to submit the decision of the elective council to the popefor approval, and all spiritual dignities in Poland were conferred by the pope alone. The papal nuncio at Warsaw was all powerful in spiritual affairs, and the order of Jesuits succeeded so well in Poland, that in ashort time after their first introduction, they had accumulated property nearlyto the amount of 40,000,000 florins. The fasts are nowhere kept more strictlythan in Poland; for during the great fasts, the Poles deny themselveseven butter, milk, and eggs. During one half of the year, the only kindof grease that either the Poles or Russians indulge in, is hemp or linseedoil, which they eat quite rancid, and which tastes abominably. Theymight have escaped the necessity of using this detestable condiment, ifCount Ossilinski, who was sent to Rome in the middle of the last century,to implore the pope for an alleviation of the severe fasts in favour of thePoles, had understood Latin a little better. The pope, who was a verybad geographer, but who considered that in countries not blessed with theolive-tree, the fasts must be very difficult to carry out, asked the Count,"Num habetis olivam?" ( Have you the olive-tree?) which the latterunderstanding to mean " Have you oil?" replied " Habemus, " withoutadding, as he should have done, " but only rancid and filthy linseed andhemp oil. " The pope replied " Ergo potestis jejunium quadragesimale observare," and he adhered to this decision.Shortly before our arrival in Lemberg, a new Catholic archbishop hadbeen appointed, namely, M. Pistek Franz de Paula, Bishop of Tarnov.In one of the churches, we saw a calculation of the sum which his promotion had cost this bishop, and it amounted to no less than 16,702florins and 59 kreuzers. This cannot, however, be a very important sumto the prelate, for the yearly income of his see amounts to 28,912 florinsand 30 kreuzers. The pope is said to have formely received upwards ofa million of florins a year from Poland.Next to the Catholic archbishop, the most important spiritual dignitaryin Galicia is the Greek Metropolitan, also Archbishop of Lemberg. Theconvent in which he resides, according to the custom of the grandees ofthe Greek church, (the Metropolitan of Petersburg resides in the Nevskiconvent, and the Metropolitan of Kiev in the Höhlen convent, ) offers little worthy ofnotice.Therichest and most interesting among the Greek churches of LembergLEMBERG. 453is the Vlokhsky Zerkva. It was founded by two Walachian princes, whoescaped from Turkey with their treasures to Lemberg, and it was sorichly endowed by them, that it still possesses the principal part of thequarter of the town in which it lies. Of its moveable treasures it has,however, lost a great deal. This is the church which was the last toyield to the pope, and it did not do so without stipulating for certain privileges. For instance, it was to be subjected only to the papal chair ofRome, and not to any other bishop or archbishop. The Metropolitan isvery jealous of the independence of this old Walachian church, and lookingupon it as a rebellious sheep in his flock, exerts himself much to bringit under subjection to his pastoral staff, which he will probably in timeaccomplish, for the pope himself would perfer such an arrangement.Lemberg has no fewer than three archbishops. Two of them we havealready spoken of. The third is the Armenian archbishop, Cajetan Vartarasivitsh, who presides over all the Armenian congregations of Galicia.Galicia and Eastern Hungary are the most western countries inhabited bythis remarkable race, which bears so great a resemblance to the Jews,both in its attachment to commerce, and its wide diffusion throughoutforeign lands. The Armenians, like the Jews, have very seldom enjoyedpolitical independence; Persians, Turks, and Caucasians, have successively forced them into exile. This is the reason that the Armenians arefound scattered through all the towns of the east, throughout Persia, Syriaand Asia Minor, and also through the greater part of European Turkey andSouthern Russia. Some towns in the latter are wholly occupied by Armenians, as for instance Natsh*tshevan, a town containing 12,000 inhabit- ants. The Armenians enter Galicia on two sides, from Turkey and fromSouth Russia. They have been settled in Lemberg since the seventeenthcentury. They possess many churches there, in which the service is performed both in the Armenian and Polish languages. All of these churchesare small. These Armenians do not wear their national costume, butthey are easily recognised by their physiognomies. The Armenian languageis still used among them. In the little churchyard surrounding their church I saw tombstones as old as 1630 and 1648.Lemberg has plenty of convents-Greek, Armenian, and Catholic. Wewent to see some Catholic convents, as far as a convent can be seen byprofane eyes. Among others we saw the Convent of the Holy Sacrament,in which we were told the richest and most distinguished nuns took the veil. We heard a very melancholy story connected with this convent.A beautiful Jewess, only fourteen years old, the only daughter of oneof the richest jewellers and bankers of Lemberg, had made acquaintancewith a young German officer, and the two young people fell in love witheach other. The parents, zealous adherents to the Mosaic law, forbadetheir daughter all communication with the young German, as soon as they discovered their mutual attachment. The beautiful Jewess, however,whose passion was only the more excited by this opposition, and who now valued the solicitations of her Christian lover above the law of Moses andthe prophets, with his assistance fled from her father's house, and tookrefuge in the Convent of the Holy Sacrament, declaring her intention to become a Christian. In vain the despairing parents demanded therestitution of their child; the laws declared that no Jew or heretic takingrefuge in a Christian convent, with the declared intention of becoming aChristian, could again be given up. The aged mother, however, implored 2 H 2454 LEMBERG.an interview with the fugitive, and the request was granted. She packedup in a casket all her pearls and jewels, 30,000 ducats in value, and appearedwith them before her daughter, who had in the mean time been instructedin the Christian religion by the priests. The mother heaped caresses andentreaties upon the young girl, reminding her of those holy laws anddoctrines which her father and mother, her grandfather and grandmother,had faithfully followed, and which had been carefully transmitted to theirchild . She spread out before her the snowy pearls, the sparkling diamonds,and glowing rubies; she decked her out with them, and promised her thatthey should all be her own, as well as every thing else that her aged parentspossessed; she should be the one beloved daughter, the treasure anddarling of their hearts; she should be petted, caressed, and humoured inevery thing, if she would only forget the young Christian, and return to thefaith of her fathers. She implored her not to load her family with shameand grief-not to draw down upon herself the curse of her father andmother-not to bring down her old parents in sorrow to the grave.Bribes, threats, and entreaties, however, were alike lost upon the obdurate child. " Mother, I belong to a Christian, and know you no more, " washer cold and hardhearted reply to all. The father threw himself at thefeet of the archduke governor of Galicia, and prayed for help to regainhis lost daughter-his only child. He implored the assistance of temporalauthority in aid of his paternal rights, and that the priests should be forcedto yield up his daughter, whom they had no right to keep; but the archduke, although well inclined to favour him, dared not violate the privileges of the clergy, and decided that if the girl did not wish it, she couldnot be given up to her parents. Thus far had this affair, which engaged the attention of all Lemberg, proceeded on our arrival . The instructionof the convert was proceeding, and the day of her baptism and confirmationhad already been fixed . The parents and the whole Jewish populationwere in despair. Of the bridegroom nothing certain was known. Perhaps he hoped for a compromise with the parents. What afterwardsbecame of the pair, I never learned. Perhaps the parents renounced allintercourse with their disobedient child; the love of the young Austrianfor the rich Jewess may have cooled towards the poor Christian; the unfortunate proselyte may have lived in remorse and died in despair. Atall events, the unsolved enigma admitted of many a melancholy solution.Of the buildings in progress during our stay in Lemberg, the most re- markable was the great theatre built by the Count Skarbek. This is aremarkable undertaking for the richest of all the Galician noblemen.He bought a large piece of ground, on which formerly stood a royal Polishcastle. It had been built by Sobieski, who was born at Zolkiev (an estatebelonging to him near Lemberg) , and who often, when king, visited Lemberg and Zolkiev. Next to the ruins of the Löwenburg, this is the mostclassical spot in Lemberg, and on this spot stands the nearly completedSkarbek theatre, which is destined to enrich the Galician capital with atemple worthy of the drama. The theatre is to have many dependentbuildings. One is to contain a spacious hotel, and another an elegantcoffee-house. Baths, confectionary shops, and wine cellars are included in the ground-floor, and furnished lodgings are to occupy the upper rooms.Vacant spaces will be let by the count to watchmakers, jewellers, anddealers in fancy wares, so that the great institution will contain everything to be desired by a stranger. The count has obtained various go-LEMBERG. 455vernment privileges for his several speculations, on condition that afterfifty years the whole building shall become government property.The present theatre of Lemberg is insignificant enough, compared with that of which we have been speaking. The performances are generally inGerman, and only twice a week in Polish. The middle classes, the Germancivil and military officers, the merchants and mechanics of the city, formthe theatrical public here, as at Warsaw, Petersburg, &c. The magiccircle of blooming Polish beauties, surrounded by romantic young patriots,which Schulze tells us he saw at Warsaw in the last century, would nowbe sought there in vain. These, like so many other garlands, have sincethen been torn and trampled down in Poland.On the curtain of the Lemberg theatre is a painting of Apollo descending in his chariot. The celestial horses of the sun have been endowedwith very earthly desires by the painter, for while one is drinking at astream of water flowing by, another is grazing on the fresh and verdant grass. Here we witnessed the performance of the " Maid of Orleans, " which,of all Schiller's pieces, is the greatest favourite withthe Austrians, as being the most loyal. The heroine was performed by a Demoiselle Roland,whose figure was very well suited to the part, for she was very handsome,and the shining armour became her extremely well. The Israelites aregreat patrons of the drama here, and the pit was as full of the black talarsof the Jews, as the boxes of the glittering jewels of the Jewesses.The town-houses of the great Polish cities generally stand detached inthe middle of the Ring, or market- place; this is the case at Warsaw,Cracow, Wilna, and Lemberg. The Rathhaus of Lemberg is a morestately and handsome building than most of our German civic dignitaries can boast of. Its four long and lofty wings enclose a large square quadrangle. Round this building runs the ring, generally full of life and bustle,and bordered by the best houses and shops of the city. The four sides ofthe Rathhaus have each a large gate opening into the quadrangle, whichis a busy thoroughfare, always full of passengers. At the four corners ofthe building are four large stone basins of water, with colossal statues ofNeptune and the Naiads in the middle; the pedestals consist of giganticlions and sea-monsters, who spout forth water into the pitchers of theLemberg water-carriers. The market-places of Leipzig and Dresden havebeen described repeatedly, but I do not rememberto have seen a descriptionof the Lemberg market-place, and yet it is far more interesting than either of the other two.In the courtyard of the Rathhaus we saw many colossal stone figures of lions, eagles, and the city arms. These had served as decorations toa former building, but had found no place about the more modern one.Among them was a large statue of the Goddess of Justice, but withouthands or feet, and with a broken sword. The Austrians did well to remove this melancholy caricature. They have supplied its place by something better; for if there is any thing for which the Galicians ought to begrateful to Austria, it is for the improvements that have been made in theadministration of the law.Not even the smallest Polish town is without plenty of confectioners'shops, public-houses, billiard-rooms, coffee-houses, &c .; for a Polish townis never wanting in loungers, revellers, and idle people. It was certainlya mistake to make Bacchus a Grecian divinity, or to suppose the celebrated"dolce far niente," to be a saying of Italian origin. Lemberghas better456 LEMBERG.and more elegant coffee-houses than Dresden, and other towns of equalsize. The best is that of Wolf in the market-place. It contains a finesuite of rooms, which are always found filled with Poles and Austrians, atall times of the day, as if there had been a perpetual holiday at Lemberg.In the middle of one of the rooms was enthroned the coffee hostess, surrounded by cups, glasses, sugar- basins, teapots, coffee-pots, and milk-pots.Three sorts of coffee are known here, " white," " brown, ” and “ black; ”according to the quantity of milk added, Chess, draughts, billiards, andsmoking, are the usual pastimes. In some private rooms, however, gambling is carried on; of which the Poles are still so fond, that now, asformerly, many poor people are to be seen who have lost all at play, andmany wealthy men who owe their palaces and estates to their success atthe gaming-table. I have often seen beggars in the streets, by turnsthrowing dice, and begging alms of the passer by.French and German costumes are worn here as throughout Poland.We saw the beautiful old Polish costume nowhere, except in two picturesof a young Pole and a Polish lady, which hung before a coffeehouse inLemberg. The paintings were deservedly admired, and the nationalityof the costume probably gained the landlord many a patriotic customer.Theyoung Pole was represented sitting negligently on a sofa, with a cupof coffee in his hand, and chatting with a Turk who stood behind him.His four-cornered Polish cap, edged with fine fur, was adorned with awaving heron's plume, fastened to the front of the cap with a goldenagraffe. The long silk " Contusche, " with slashed sleeves, fell in wavingfolds around the well formed limbs, which were here and there displayed,and which were covered with tight white silk hose. A large jewel confined the shirt upon the breast, the short boots were decorated with goldlace, and all the borders and edges with the finest embroidery. It is agreat pity that so splendid a costume should have given place to the detestable French swallow tail. The Poles, however, retained their nationalcostume longer than any other civilized nation of Europe; longer eventhan the Spaniards, Swedes, or Russians. The Contusche, the " Kurtka,”the diamonds, and the plumed cap, vanished only with the independence ofPoland. Even at the last diets of Grodnov and Warsaw, the rich oldcostume was worn. Even at the last partition of Poland many oldnobles sought and obtained the privilege of appearing at the assemblies ofthe nobility, in the national dress. I never passed the picture of thathandsome young Pole, without thinking of the former splendour of thecountry, the wealth and luxury of her aristocracy, and the mad follies ofher young nobility.Everywhere in Lemberg the Polish and German nationalities manifestthemselves side by side. All inscriptions on the streets and marketplaces, and over shop-doors, are written both in German and Polish. Thebook-shops contain as many German as Polish books, and in the streetsI heard the two languages continually mixed up together, so that everything wore a double aspect-half Polish and half German.The German of Lemberg is an offshoot from the Austrian stem, and contains, besides many words and phrases peculiar to the Austrian dialect,many others which are not found in the Austrian or in any other German dialect.It is well known how fond the Austrians are of unwieldy and ridiculous titles. In the churchyard of Lemberg we found " resting in the peaceLEMBERG. 457

of God," a Tabacks-blätter-Einlösungs-Magazin- Verwalter," who waslying close beside the " Herr Gubernial- Bittschriften- EinreichungsProtocoll-Director R--"! The churchyard of Lemberg, however,deserves respect; for, firstly, it has a very pretty situation, rising gentlyupthehill side, with a fine view from the top; and secondly, it encloses the bones many estimable men. Among these is the Baron von Hauer, the lastGovernor of Galicia, but one who has left an excellent name behindhim. Every one speaks with respect and veneration of this excellentAustrian statesman, who died in the prime of life, who was the shieldof the oppressed, and defended the humbler classes, as if their cause had been his own.ofLemberg is the third city for Poland in a literary point of view.. Mostof the productions of Polish genius are published at Warsaw, next comesVilna, then Lemberg, then Cracow, then Breslau, and last Leipzig. Weadmired the excellent printing and getting up of the most recent Polishpublications, which adorned the booksellers ' windows of Lemberg. Thatenergy which cannot manifest itself in action, finds a vent in books, andthus gives some token of remaining vitality. The booksellers of Lemberg, however, are far better provided with German than with Polish books.The streets of Lemberg, as of all other Polish towns, are very busy andnoisy. Schulze long ago remarked that the Polish nation was a verynoisy one, and that in no royal antechamber did he hear so much gossip, quarrelling, and noise, as in that of the Polish king. The Poles talk very fast and loud; particularly the common people, who do not speakbut scream. The Poles also drive and ride a great deal; the ladies drivewith four horses, and the gentlemen ride with two mounted servants behindthem. Even the peasants take many things to market in carts, whichGerman peasants would carry on their backs. In Poland, as in Russia, adozen hands are put in motion, where one would elsewhere be thoughtenough. Above all, however, it is the Jews who make the Polish streetsnoisy and busy; for they are always out of doors, running about, askingquestions, and imparting news.Among the most interesting sights of Lemberg, are the reviews andparades of the Hungarian soldiery quartered there. Austria treats therecruits from the different parts of the empire, whom she incorporates into her army, very differently from Russia; partly because the laws and privileges of the different countries subject to her sway, force her to do so.She keeps the different races divided as much as possible, into separate regiments. Every nation has its peculiar military characteristics, whichcan only develop themselves among compatriots; and Austria considersthat she can effectually prevent the political sympathies of her soldiers from becoming dangerous, by sending the Austrian and Bohemian soldiers intoHungary, the Hungarian and Italian troops into Poland, and the Polishregiments into Italy. This is the reason why there are far more Hungarian and Italian, than Polish troops, in Galicia.After being accustomed to the brilliant appearance of the Russianofficers, their military carriage, and stately and regular movements, the" di- These titles are somewhat untranslatable. The first signifies, literally, arector of a magazine for the clearance of tobacco-leaves;" and the second, the " director of an office for the reception of petitions to the government.' —Tr.458 THE POLISH JEWS.first impression of the Austrianofficers is not pleasing. There is something stiff and awkward about them. Withthe common soldiers thecontrary is the case. In long defiles and lines, the Russian soldiersmay be superior, but taken separately, every German soldier is worthten Russian ones, both in appearance and action. The Hungariansoldiers, however, in all situations, in the line, on parade, or taken singly,always enchant the spectator. The Hungarian soldiers are not large,but of good proportion, handsome appearance, and elegant carriage.The features of those we saw at Lemberg were pleasing; they had alldark eyes, finely shaped noses, black hair, and handsome beards, so thatwe never saw them pass without looking at them with admiration. Theiruniform becomes them, and their march is proud and stately, as thatof the victorious young French guard used to be. They look particularlywell on horseback. They are in fact a nation of equestrians, takinggreat pains to get into the cavalry regiments, and doing all they can toescape the infantry.Hungary and Poland are the two European countries in which Latincontinued longest to be used as an official, diplomatic, and even conversational language. The nobility of Galicia generally speak Latin well.In Hungary even the ladies very often converse in Latin, and at Lembergwe met with an Hungarian peasant who understood Latin. In the Galician courts of justice, Latin is always used, and all decrees and proclamations are issued in this language. All the judges and courts of justicehave Latin titles by which they are commonly known. For example, theUpper Adels Gericht of Galicia is called, " Cæs. reg. in regni Galicia et Lodomiria judicium provinciale nobilium." From different reportsof this court stuck upon the gates of the Judgment Hall, we saw somestrange specimens, however, of Polish Latin. We learnt for instance,that "Metrica" signifies archive, and that "Tenute" comes from"tenere."THE POLISH JEWS.If any thing is calculated to make a residence in Lemberg, or indeed,in any part of Poland, disagreeable, it is the Jews, those torments ofpeasants and travellers. During our stay we were generally surroundedby them, even before breakfast. While we were yet in bed, slumberingdrowsily on our pillows, they were generally round us screaming their variousoffers into our ears. Three factors, each ofwhom at the same time announcedhimself as the one real factor of our hotel; ten drivers who offered to conveyus safely and comfortably to any part of the world at a moment's notice;and whom we in vain assured that we had as yet no intention of proceeding further; a dozen brokers, who offered to transact business for usanywhere, of any kind, and innumerable venders of old and new wares,who importuned us to purchase goods we did not want-these officious tormentors often plagued us so, that we sought refuge in the street, insheer despair. There, however, we were no better off. The strangerhas no chance of escaping the eyes of these pitiless vultures, who follow and fasten upon him like a swarm of bees. Nothing can exceed theofficious and tormenting importunity of the Polish Jews; no assurances,no declarations suffice; one may wish them all at the devil a thousand timesa day, without getting rid of one of them.THE POLISH JEWS. 459The increase ofthe Jewish race in Poland is one of the most remarkablephenomena in the history of nations. Although in modern times, their in- crease has been somewhat checked by the measures of different governments, yet from the Black Sea to the Baltic, from Odessa to Riga, Königsberg and Dantzig, the Jews possess an influence and importance whichthey possess nowhere else, and form a larger proportion of the population than in any other country. In all the towns of these districts, the Jewsare the only agents and brokers, and all the mechanical trades, except those of the smith and the carpenter, are in their hands. No business,important or unimportant, is transacted without the mediation of a Jew.The nobleman sells his corn to the merchant through the mediation of aJew, and it is a Jew who procures for the householder his servants, hishousekeepers, his cooks, nay even the tutors and governesses of his chil- dren. Estates are sold, money borrowed, provisions bought, -in short peopleeat, drink, ride, lodge, and clothe themselves through the agency of the Jew.Formerly the Jews were the only tollkeepers and renters of the salt minesin Poland; but the Austrian government has altered this in Galicia. Ithas not, however, totally changed this state of things, and it is still prin- cipally the Jews who rent the tolls on roads and bridges, and the governmentdistilleries. Every Polish nobleman retains a Jewish broker on his establish- ment, and in the towns which he is accustomed to visit, who follows hismaster's footsteps incessantly, and without whom the nobleman can do nothing. The Jews have so completely monopolized this kind of occupation,that no purchaser can find a seller, nor any seller a buyer, without the help ofa Jew. Although at Lemberg we had engaged a German driver forourjourney onward, yet we could not manage to deal directly with him,and all our intercourse with him was carried on through a Jewish broker.We afterwards asked why, as he knew where we lived, he did not come tous himselfto arrange his terms. He replied, that the Jews being once inpossession of this brokerage business, if he were to refuse them the accus- tomed per centage, they would refuse to assist him the next time he cameto Lemberg, and he dared not offend them, as they were always the best informed respecting strangers and their plans.The extraordinary increase and spread of the Jewish nation in thesecountries, and their remarkable position in the kingdom of Poland, is an interesting enigma in the history of Europe, the best solution of which will befoundin the peculiar character ofthe Polish nation. The boundless ambition,the wild passion, and love oflawless power on the one side, and on the other(for extremes create their opposites, and as the wealth and luxury of thefew is always allied to the want and misery of the many, so the slavery ofthe many is a necessary condition of the excessive privileges of the few) , the lowservile spirit, and the want of independent feeling, which are fundamentalelements of the Polish character, have influenced their political organiza- tion and divided the nation into two extreme classes: an arbitrary and oppressive nobility, and a tame, spiritless, and enslaved peasantry. Betweenthese two there remained an immense chasm, making it difficult for any middle class to arise, on account of the violence of the Polish character,which will be either master or slave, and cannot endure the moderationand independence of an intermediate station. The nobles were determinedto keep all others beneath them, the peasants were accustomed to see allothers far above them. As long as the old barbaric Sarmatian kingdom ex- isted, as long as the wants of the nation were simple, and its intercourse460 THE POLISH JEWS.with foreign countries slight, the chasm remained unfilled, without causingmuch inconvenience; but when in the middle ages, Poland grew strongerand more important, and entered regularly into the list of European nations, when she made conquests and carried on commerce, when a taste forluxury and a consequent demand for greater perfection in the useful andornamental arts arose within her; when, in one word, the want of a middleclass began to be felt, for which Poland herself possessed none of the elements, the Jews presented themselves as wonderfully well adapted to supply the want. Driven from their native land, despised and oppressed by allother nations, the Jews had learnt in the hard school of adversity, that patience, fortitude, pliability, and servility, which the Polish nobleman expects from all beneath him. The state of affairs too at the time naturallyÎed them towards Poland; and scarcely had they touched Polish ground,when they spread with astonishing rapidity, over all the countries subject to the Polish sceptre.An examination into the Polish and Jewish national characters, willshow how well calculated they are to get on together. The Jew is dirty,so is the Pole, and therefore neither is disgusted with the other. ThePole is furious and passionate, the Jew mild and patient. The Pole is extravagant and generous, none knows better than the Jew how to take advantage of these qualities . The Pole is careless and ignorant in arithmetic, the Jew skilful and exact. The Pole lives in the present, and neverthinks of how he will get out of a scrape; the Jew is slow, cautious, and full of resources. The Pole is proud and impetuous, the Jewhumble andobedient. The Pole is idle and lazy, the Jew industrious and toilsome.It would have been impossible for the stiff Polish pine to grow up beside anoble oak, but it was easy for a flexible and clinging parasite to entwineitself amongst the branches of the stately tree.A detailed history of the Jews in Poland, by the hand of any one whoknew and understood them, would abound in extraordinary and interesting events and anecdotes, and a description of their present conditionwould combine pictures of the most squalid misery and of the greatestluxury. The extraordinary privileges which the Polish nobles have sometimes granted them, and the degrading treatment with which they haveat other times loaded them, have given rise to the greatest extremes intheir condition. Sometimes the Jews, who had their own deputies atWarsaw, and their own marshal over them, appeared to form a statewithin the state, preparing to face the Poles as nation to nation; sometimes, on the contrary, they were made the slaves of slaves.The affairs of the court at Warsaw have often been guided by somefair Jewish Esther. Conspiracies and insurrections of the Jews have often taken place, and in the wars of the Poles for independence, the Jews,who mourn with them for the downfal of the old republic, have taken an active part. Casimir the Great, upon whom a Jewish mistress exercised great influence, enacted many laws highly advantageous to them.He gave them a privileged court of justice, for settling their disputes with Gentiles, and other courts of their own for settling their disputesamong themselves; he freed them from all state burdens, and endeavouredto relieve them from the tyranny and oppression of their masters.This

• No further, however, for on the Russian frontiers their territory entirely ceases.

The Russian character, similar in many respects to their own, did not offer them similar advantages.THE POLISH JEWS. 461tyranny and oppression has, however, continued ever since to be exercisedupon them, and the nobleman has always done whatever he pleased with the Jews upon his estate. He fixes and increases at pleasure the taxeswhich they pay him, and the fear of driving away these useful slaves byoverweening tyranny, is the only restraint upon his despotic caprice. The law forbids the nobleman to flog his Jews, but the Jew-dependant uponhis master's humour in so many respects, dares not claim the protection ofthe law, and in reward for his endurance, he is allowed to tyrannize overthe peasant, as the noble tyrannizes over him.It was formerly a common custom for the Polish nobles to keep Jews attheir castles as fools. Even now these Jewish jesters are often met with ingreat families; they bear every kind of insult and ill-treatment withpatience and servility. They are treated just like house- dogs, eat andsleep in their master's rooms, but are the butts and scapegoats of thewhole family, on whom each throws his own sins, and vents his own illhumour. In a certain Polish household there lived lately a house Jew of this kind. He had received the brilliant name of Prince Friedrich,and was never called by any other. He was as elegantly dressed as themaster of the house, and was fed by every one like a pet parrot. Eachmember of the family was continually popping things into his mouth,which he was compelled to swallow; if he was in favour, it was a lump ofsugar, if they wished to teaze him, rhubarb and magnesia, and sometimes a rap of the knuckles at the same time. He was obliged to be alternatelyrocking-horse, dancing bear, draught-ox and jackass, for the children, astheyand their play required. On Sundays they dressed him up and maskedhim, now as a negro, now as a Brahmin, now as a he-goat, and now as Jupiter, or Pluto. The master himself often played tricks upon his fool,even more piquant than those of his children, for they did not always passoff without bloodshed. One day the Jew met him in the castle- court,just as he returned from the chase in a great ill-humour, having shotnothing. " I hope the gnädige Herr has had a good day's sport," said the fool, bowing low. " The devil! Jew! I haven't so much as shot onechattering magpie. My gun is still loaded. But stay-I think I canbring down a magpie yet! Up into the tree, sirrah! Up! no flinching!Higher, higher, or I'll give you the ball in your head! Up into thatbranch-now sit still, magpie!" So saying, he discharged the contents ofhis gun into the leg of the screaming Jew, who fell down from the treeinto the courtyard, and the nobleman rode past him laughing heartily, andfully content with his day's sport. The Jew was taken up, cured, fedwith honey and bonbons, and remained in the house as before. *At Lemberg we were told of two young noblemen who had, a shorttime previously, played the following trick, by no means the worst ofwhich I was told at the time. They had been riding along a very dirtyroad, and came to a Jewish village, where some Jewish families, men,women, and children, all attired in their Sabbath splendour, were walkingalong the clean pathway, while the young noblemen were splashed withmud from top to toe. " Look at the Jews how fine they are, with theirwhite stockings and bright black shoes. They go in finer clothes than thenobility of the country." "Let us make them dance in the mud a bit, "

• This anecdote was related to me at Lemberg, of a nobleman residing there. I

afterwards learnt that the same story has been told by Solomon Maimon of aPrince -i-.462 THE POLISH JEWS.99proposed one. The proposal met with the greatest approbation. "DownJews, down from the footpath. You shall have a fine Sunday's sport.Come, dance a Mazurka here in the mud. Wewill provide music. ' TheJews prayed the " good gentlemen" to have mercy, and not to turn the merry jest into mournful earnest, but the latter ordered their servants toblow a Mazurka on their hunting-horns, and driving the Jews into the mudwith their horsewhips, forced them to dance in pairs, to the united musicof the hunting-horns and the horsewhips, until they were covered withmud, when the young nobles rode on, delighted with their practical joke.To the honour of the Austrian government, however, it must be added,that such things very seldom happen in Galicia.The language of the Jews is a corrupt German. In the Baltic provinces it resembles that of Prussia, in Galicia that of Austria; and thesecirc*mstances seem to indicate the German origin of the Polish Jews, whiletheir costume, on the contrary, would appear to confirm the conjecture thatthey came originally from Greece. Perhaps they entered Poland, at aboutthe same time, from both countries. The dress of the Polish Jews is purelyoriental. It is totally different from that of their German brethren, andbears no resemblance to that of the Poles. But throughout Poland, fromthe Pontus to the Baltic, it never varies; an uniformity the more remark- able in a nation which has no political unity.everyAll the Polish Jews have tall meager figures, that is to say the men, forthe women, probably on account of their inactive way of life, are often stout. The men are wrapt in a long caftan, generally of silk, and alwaysblack, which is confined round the waist by a silken girdle. Their complexion is always pale, and this does not appear to be occasioned by per- sonal cares and troubles, but to be the common colour of the race. Theircomplexion, however, is at the same time delicate, so that their faces often look as if they had been carved of alabaster. Their hands are, in general,remarkably soft and delicate, and I have seen such brilliant eyes, such bright dark hair, such beautiful forms, such noble countenances, among the PolishJews, that I have often wondered how such beings could grow up in such deepsocial degradation and abasem*nt. Thereare parts of Luthuania where Jewis a handsome man. Under the most miserable rags they often displaythe noblest forms. They generally wear their black hair short behind, but infront they allow a few ringlets ( Priessaken they call them) to overshadow the ears.How the Italian painters created so many beautiful Jewishheads, as patriarchs, apostles, or as Christ himself, without ever having been among the Polish Jews, I amat a loss to understand. A painter wishing to produce countenances of the same exquisite beauty, need only comehere, and faithfully copy the physiognomical treasures presented to him.The contrast between these noble figures and the occupations in whichthey are found, is a matter of incessant astonishment to the traveller. Itis as if one saw King Solomon or David selling old clothes, or thepatriarchs and apostles higgling with peasants about the price of beer.The head-dress of the Polish Jews is a high fur cap elegantly shaped.The Jewesses wear flowing dresses, and brightly coloured turbans; thoseof the wealthier among them are richly adorned with pearls and diamonds.The whole costume is so oriental, that one might fancy them just arrivedfrom Syria. Both men and women wear shoes or slippers; I never saw aPolish Jew in boots. Even the beggar finds means to decorate his persona little; but no one can imagine, who has not witnessed it, in what dirt,THE GERMANIZATION OF GALICIA. 463what rags, what misery, the really poor Polish Jews are sunk, and this inspite of the many monopolies they enjoy. Though the Jews are the onlygreat capitalists of the country, and though without them no one can obtain the loan of a single ducat, while with them 100,000 ducats are aseasily obtained as one, yet their poor are sunk in want and misery fardeeper than that of the Polish peasants, which is the more remarkable, as theJews are no drunkards, gamblers, or spendthrifts, but, on the contrary, arealways prudent, parsimonious, and industrious. The want, the disease,the hunger, the squalid misery and wretchedness contained in the damp,pestilential dwellings of the poor Jews of Warsaw, Cracow, Mitau, Lemberg, Vilna, and Odessa, where half-a- dozen families, all abundantly provided with children, though with nothing else, pig together in one filthycellar, with bad food, and scanty light-all this cannot be equalled inwretchedness either among the Esquimaux, or the New Hollanders, or the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego. The cattle of Switzerland are farbetter accommodated than the poor Jews of Poland; and any one whowishes to learn how small a quantity of nourishment will suffice to keeplife in a human body, how ragged a garment may become before it dropsoff, how pestilential the atmosphere of a human dwelling may be madewithout causing suffocation, how children may be dragged up (not broughtup) without clothes, washing, or warmth, without brush, comb, or soapand water, without care, medicine, or education, has only to come andstudy the condition of the poor Polish Jews.The statistical accounts estimate the Jewish population, throughoutPoland, at only three millions. This appears very little, for the travellermay travel two or three hundred miles in the country, and at every place he comes to, the Jews appear to swarm. It seems almost inconceivablethat all these swarms put together, should only amount to one hundred for each square mile.Travelling from central Germany towards the east, the number of Jewsincreases more and more from its minimum in Thuringia. In Saxony,Leipzig, and Dresden, there are little colonies of them; in Silesia, Breslauand Posen they are abundant. At Cracow and Warsaw they appear to reach their maximum. In Galicia there are 450,000 Jews, and the totalpopulation of the country is four millions. There is, therefore, one Jew to every nine inhabitants, and three hundred to every square mile. Asfar as the Dniester their proportion remains nearly the same. Beyond the Dniester they gradually decrease, and at the eastern end of the old Polish kingdom they entirely cease. Their condition is the best in Prussian, thenext best in Austrian, and the worst in Russian Poland.THE GERMANIZATION OF GALICIA.In a former chapter I remarked on the influence which the Poles have had upon the Rusniaks, and spoke of the Polonization of the Lithuanian,Rusniak, and other races. At Lemberg, where I lodged with a Germanhost, ordered new boots of a German bootmaker, and had my coat mendedby a German tailor, where a German waiter brought me my coffee, andthe Polish hackney-coachman who drove me about the town spoke German,every thing reminded me of the influence of Germany on Galicia.Of all the different fragments of the old Polish kingdom, the Podgorski464 THE GERMANIZATION OF GALICIA.Voyevodstvi, or dukedoms of the promontory, now known as the kingdomof Galicia, have got on best, and, under their new rulers, have least causeto mourn the loss of their former independence. Prussian Poland (althoughindeed some classes derive much benefit from the political order introduced by Prussia) feels very acutely the difference in religion between herself and her new masters. The Baltic provinces of East and WestPrussia, which harmonize in so many things with their new masters, suffer from the very unfavourable commercial position in which the division ofPoland has placed her. Russian Poland suffers in a thousand ways; forto the differences in race and in religion between Poland and Russia, arehere added the hardships of an iron despotism, and an almost total wantof the corresponding advantages which in other parts of Poland atone insome measure for the loss of independence.Austrian Poland shares with the above-named countries the one greatevil of loss of independence: she mourns with them for the decline of theold kingdom, and is disinclined towards her new rulers; but she possessesmany advantages denied to them. She has the advantage over thePrussian provinces of an uniformity of religion with her new rulers. TheAustrians are Catholics like the Poles, and consequently all the clergy ofthe country are favourable to the government.The benefits which Galicia has received from Austria are so numerousand evident, that an impartial traveller, whether entering the countryfrom Russia or Hungary, must be struck by them. I believe that many aPole, who finds it hard to forget the one great injury which Austria hasdone his country, yet feels himself compelled gratefully to acknowledge the beneficent influence ofthe Austrian government.It gives one a feeling of security to enter the Galician territory,for one is there under the protection of a regular and orderly systemof jurisdiction. The former state of justice in Poland was as rude and anarchical as the whole constitution of the country. In comparison withthe past, the order and security of the present is truly wonderful. Formerly, whoever was not a nobleman, and could not make himself feared,whoever could not arm himself with gold, power, or cunning, was sure tobe defeated by a more powerful antagonist. Austria has bestowed uponthese four millions of subject nobles, clergy, citizens, and peasants, themighty blessing of a security of rights to each. The traveller in Galiciahas ample opportunities of seeing that this is no empty form. On theother side of the Russian frontier, the phrases here so common, " I willhave justice," " I will complain to the magistrates," are scarcely ever heard.In the old kingdom of Poland it was not uncommon for a noble whohad undertaken a lawsuit with his neighbour, and been defeated, to collecta swarm of friends and retainers, and make war upon his antagonist.When a nobleman killed one who was not a nobleman, his only punishment was a fine of 200 marks; but when one not a noble denied thenobility of a genuine patrician, the law pronounced the penalty of death on the offender. The Jew and the peasant might almost be said to haveno rights at all. Many of these abuses would no doubt have graduallybeen done away with, had Poland remained independent, yet it cannot bedenied that, under the government of Austria, they have been more rapidlyand thoroughly uprooted. The peasants, Jews, and other oppressedclasses of society, moreover, would probably never have obtained theTHE GERMANIZATION OF GALICIA. 465degree of security and freedom which Austria has bestowed upon them,and which, though far from being all that it should be, is yet admirable,compared with that of ancient or Russian Poland. In consequence of theimprovements in the condition of the peasantry, the whole system ofa*griculture has been reformed, and Galicia, in comparison with otherPolish lands, is extremely well cultivated.The police regulations which Austria has introduced throughout thecountry, and particularly into the cities, are also numerous and excellent.Under the care of the Austrian functionaries, the towns of Galicia haveentirely lost their old Polish appearance, and undergone a completechange. They are better built than in any other part of Poland, are byno means ill lighted, are paved throughout, are provided with handsomepublic buildings, and have civil officers, who watch over the health of theinhabitants, and the peace and order of the town.The whole country is intersected by one great road, from which divergesmaller roads, extremely serviceable for internal transport and travelling.A history of the great Galician road, and of all the hinderances and obstacles it met with, would sufficiently prove that but for Austria, Polandmight for centuries have wanted such a road.The activity of Austria in disseminating the German language andGerman literature, must however be more particularly noticed. Galiciaowes to the government not only the University founded at Lemberg in1817, but a Gymnasium in every considerable town, and in even the verysmallest towns, a large number of schools for girls and boys, for both Jewsand Christians. In all these schools German is taught, and the Germanlanguage is now so generally spread throughout Galicia, that every welleducated Pole speaks it, and, even among the lower orders, the knowledgeof German is taken as a test of a good education. In Russian Poland thiscan never be the case, because the Pole places the language and literatureofhis own country higher than that of Russia. In Prussian Poland, also,the_aversion of the people to every thing German is far greater thanin Galicia. In the latter country many a pretty little Polish peasant girl can chatter her Austrian German like a native of Vienna; in Posen aPolish lady will deny her knowledge of German, even if she has any, andwill converse with a German only through an interpreter. The popularityof the Germans among the Polish Galicians may be partly owing to thecordiality and Bonhommie ofthe Austrian nobility, with whom the Polesand Hungarians can assimilate better than with the more cold and reserved grandees of Prussia.The number of German magistrates and civil officers is very great. Inthe year 1831, there were eight thousand men employed in the differentbranches of civil government in Galicia and Lodomiria. Two thousandsix hundred of these were Germans. About one-third therefore of all thecivil functionaries of this country are Germans. According to a moderateestimate, each ofthese civil officers has, on an average, at least four personsin his family, including children, wife, brothers, sisters, and other relatives;Galicia, therefore, contains 40,000 persons of this class, 12,000 of whomare Germans. One in every hundred of the inhabitants is therefore a civicfunctionary, and one in every three of these is a German.Of the professors of the University of Lemberg two-thirds are Germans,and only one-third Poles. The theological faculties are almost entirelyfilled by Germans. All the directors of the Galician gymnasiums are466 THE GERMANIZATION OF GALICIA.Germans, but the majority of the teachers are Poles. The teachers in thecommon schools, generally Poles, must always understand German.The great increase of offices, public functionaries, and courts of law,which Austria has introduced into the government of Galicia, is one ofthose innovations most complained of by the Poles; but the fact is, thePoles had quite as many formerly, though many of the old ones were extremely useless; and even were it otherwise, the better order now prevailing, could not be kept up without this increase. The same may be said ofthe high taxation of Galicia, which the Poles so much complain of.Galicia is, no doubt, taxed twice or three times as much as Russian Poland,but if these taxes come back to the inhabitants in the shape of roads, canais,lights, public walks, and courts of justice, the people are amply recompensed for the outlay of their capital. These lamentations about hightaxes are a great folly, unless they are badly levied or badly expended.Those countries in which the people live best, namely Holland and England,and some parts of Germany and France, are the highest taxed, and thewild Hottentots and Esquimaux are amongthe nations whose fiscal burdensare the lightest.The Polish nobles form the most discontented class, partly because theysuffer most from the loss of that independence of which they possessed thelargest share, and partly because it is they who feel most disagreeably theeffects of the social order introduced by Austria. The anarchy sanctionedby the laws ofthe old Polish kingdom was so great, that the strongest andboldest was always master, and society was but a fraternity of lawlessdespots, who, though themselves free in the widest sense of the term, wereutterly unmindful of the rule-" touch not the rights of others, " withoutwhich no social liberty can properly exist. As all those laws of the Austriangovernment, which protect the rights of the oppressed classes, must attackthis anarchy and limit this despotism, they are of course opposed to theinterest of the nobles. There is therefore scarcely any measure of thegovernment which they do not consider a violation of their privileges.With the Polish clergy, who always governed mildly, the case is different. They stand a step nearer to the government, and the more so asthey agree with the latter in resisting the too great encroachments of thepapal power. The burgesses of the towns are generally on the side ofgovernment, although there are among them not merely Poles, but evenGermans, who are such Polish patriots that they sigh for the return of theold republic, although they do not desire the return of its abuses . TheJews are the most ungrateful towards Austria, for notwithstanding theprotection she affords them against the tyranny of the nobles, they arealways lamenting and complaining of the few limitations she has put on their usurious dealings.The peasants have the most cause to be contented with the present orderof things, for in the old Polish republic, in which the king was only thefirst noble, they had no protector, and their masters oppressed them atwill, because there was none to speak for or defend them. The Austrianemperor, whose interest it is to preserve the smallest as the greatest of theforces at his command, is the protector and father of the peasants, and hasproved himself to be so, more in Galicia than in any other part of his empire. But the Galician peasants are as yet too little advanced in knowledge and cultivation, to feel and acknowledge the benefits they have received, and it would not be much to be wondered at, if in case of an insur-THE GALICIAN NOBLES. 467rection in Galicia, the infatuated peasantry were again to make commoncause with the nobles, against the Austrian government.THE GALICIAN NOBLES.It is well known that, in the prosperous days of Poland, the nobles considered themselves as all perfectly equal, so that those various titles indicating different degrees of rank, which are used in England, France, andGermany, were unknown among them. Only nine native families borethe title of Ksowze (Prince), and they founded no particular claims onthis title. All other titles were German or Russian, and were so sparinglyused, that till the 18th century, Poland had but two counts, ( Tentschinand Olenski, ) two " Knäse, " (Oginski and Massalski, ) and one Marquis,(Vielopolski). All the others were simple " Nobiles possessionati,” therulers of the country.This state of things has very much changed under the Austrian government, which is by no means sparing in titles and orders. There are indeedonly two princely families in Galicia, those of Lubomirski and Yablonovski,and they are of modern origin, and belonging to the old princely families of Poland. There are, however, no less than seventy-nine Galician counts, and nine barons.The well-known professor Schulze, who has written an excellent work on Warsaw and the state of Poland, reckons the number of families whohave divided among themselves the greater part of the country, and theplaces of honour in the state, at about one hundred, and among these hundred he names thirty, who by their great wealth and importance, exercisea marked influence over the government of the country. Among theseare the Czartoriski, Potocki, Brannicki, Tshetvertinski, Radzivill, Czacki,Lubomirski, Massalski, Soltyk, and Rzevuski families, all of old Polishdescent, whose names have always shone in the annals of their country.These families have spread over all parts of Poland, and there aremany of them who are at the same time subject to the Emperor of Austria,the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of Russia. Originally, however,these great families belonged only to one part of Poland, so that they may be divided into Lithuanian, Podolian, and Galician families. In Galiciathere are no Brannickis, Czartoriskis, Czackis, Dluskis, Gotskis, Malachovskis, Oginskis, Ossolinskis, Radzivills, Sapiehas, Soltyks, Sulkovskis,Massalskis, or Mostovskis; but the Stadtnickis, Zaluskis, Krassinskis,Yablonovskis, Lubomirskis, Skarbieks, Potockis, and Levickis, on the otherhand, are the greatest families of Galicia, and the principal subjects of theEmperor of Austria. In addition to the foregoing we may mention the following names as belonging to noble families distinguished for their wealth orsocial position in Galicia: Ankvitz, Bilinski, Bobrovski, Brokovski, Bikovski, Dembrovski, Dziedushicki, Yastrebski, Illassivitsch, Ilnicki, Kepalski,Klossovski, Kurkovski, Lenkivitsh, Lobarzevski, Lozinski, Midovitsh, Podocki, Poziolovski, Volski, and Vshelatshinski. These names are familiarto every child in Galicia; they are the names of men who never drive butwith four horses, possess castles and houses abounding in all the luxuriesof life, and are absolute masters of thousands of human beings. Theirpride is boundless, and they never lose sight of the recollection that theirillustrious races are rooted in the history of the world, like so many oaksthat have braved the storms of a thousand years. Some of them live at21468 THE GALICIAN NOBLES.Vienna, Petersburg, and Paris, endeavouring in the tumult of theworld, to forget the downfall of Poland; others live in gloomy retirement on their estates, to mourn that downfall in solitude.Austria, very differently from Russia and Prussia, has left to these noblesmany of the brilliant titles and dignities of the old republic, as harmlessplaythings. She has raised Galicia to the rank of a kingdom; the Emperorof Austria bears the title of King of Galicia; there, as in Hungary,Bohemia, the Tyrol, &c. , he is seldom spoken of by any other name.With this title the high-sounding dignities and titles of the old republic ofPoland, have been extended to Galicia. There is a Galician colonel of theCountry kitchen, ( Oberst land küchenmeister, ) an Upper Land Marshal,a High Falconer of the country, an Hereditary Grand Carver, a GrandCountry Carver, a Silver Chamberlain, a Swordbearer, &c.; titles withwhich the Polish nobles are as fond of decorating themselves as with diamonds and pearls. The Archbishop of Lemberg bears the title of Primateof Galicia. These dignities are always carefully set apart for genuine oldPolish families, and are never filled by Germans. The Galician noblemencling to them with great pertinacity, for in spite of their fiction about equality among noblemen, there is probably no nobility in the world so fond oftitles, or so eager for distinctions, as that of Poland.Not only is every body in Poland always addressed by his title, as “ PanTruchsess," " Pan Bishop," " Pan Voyevode," not only is this title, as inGermany, always bestowed upon the wife, also as " Panna Landhofmeisterinn, " Panna Truchsess, " &c. , but the official dignity of the father is inherited by his son. For instance the son of a marshal so long as he hasno title of his own, is called Sir Marshalson, Pan Marshallikovitsh. Evena grandson will borrow his grandfather's title if he has none of his own,and call himself Pan Marshallikovitshovitsh, Sir Marshall's son's son;or if his grandfather has been a Grand Carver, the grandson will call himself Pan Stolnikovitshovitsh, or Sir Carver's son's son. There have been, however, at all times some very high lords and ladies in Poland as well knownthroughout the kingdom as the princes of the reigning family are in alittle German principality, and who are never spoken of by their titles or their family names, but simply by their Christian names. Every one inPoland, knew formerly who was meant by Prince Adam, and PrinceJoseph, or by Panna Maria, Panna Anna, and Panna Elizabeth. Thereare still in Galicia such Josephs, Adams, and Marias, who are as well knownto all the world, as the saints of the calender, and who, purified in thevulgar eye of all the earthly dross of titles and surnames, are spoken of,like the apostles, only by their baptismal denominations. A similar custom prevails in Moldavia and Russia.There are in all 2500 estates in the possession of the Galician nobles,of which on an average each must contain two thirds of a Germansquare mile, seeing that the whole country contains 1500; many ofthem, however, are from twenty to thirty miles in circumference. Somefamilies possess from ten to twenty such estates, and there are manywhich rule over not less than one hundred square miles. Very fewestates have been taken from their old possessors, for during the sixtyyears in which Austria has ruled over the country, amid all the changesand disturbances in the rest of Poland, the Galician nobility have remainedtolerably faithful to Austria, and have given little occasion for the con- fiscation of estates.469GRUDEK, MOSHISKA, AND YAROSLAV.To our sorrow, the hour of our departure from Lemberg at last arrived.We would willingly have spent a few days more in observing the peculiarities ofthe city, and enjoying the comforts of our hotel, where we dinedevery day with eight Polish counts, and from ten to twenty Galician nobles; but the driver we had hired would leave us no peace. " His"Gloswogen" was already packed; his " Scheckerl," a little white poodledog, who was to be our future travelling companion, was already barkingfrom behind the carriage; the lean, infirm, old horses were scratchingthe earth with their feet as though from impatience, so that nothingremained for us, but to take up our position on the two very inconvenient seats inside.Had our coachman been a Russian Yamtshik, his conversation andbehaviour during our eight days' journey, would have furnished us materials for a whole novel, but our charioteer was a dull-headed, prosaic German hackney- coachman, of the ancient city of Brünn, and never whistleda tune or hummed a song, but sat on the coach-block wrapped in hismantle, silent, reserved, and sullen, save when he dismounted to get aschnapps at a roadside inn, on which occasions he would storm andswear most furiously if not served to his satisfaction . He flew continuallyinto a rage with his horses, and beat them unmerifully; demanded extrapayment for the slightest deviation from the road, not stipulated for beforehand, and at last threatened us with a lawsuit at Vienna, because weresisted his exorbitant demands.We drove away over the hills round Lemberg, along the road leadingto Yaroslav and Cracow, and looked down for the last time on the forsaken city. At its gates we met the Catholic Archbishop of Lemberg.He was elegantly dressed in black, and his air and carriage were those of anobleman, as he walked along by the side of his stately four- horsed equipage.Two young priests, also elegantly dressed in black, followed him. Everyone stopped in the streets and saluted him respectfully, and he returnedtheir salutations in a simple, dignified, and condescending manner.Formerly the Archbishop of Gnesen was the first, and the Archbishop ofLemberg the second clerical dignitary in Poland. He of Lemberg is nowthe first in the little kingdom of Galicia, and ought, according to Cæsar'srule, that it is better to be first in Marseilles than second in Rome, to bevery well satisfied with the change; but there is no doubt that on the contrary, he would be very glad to exchange his present primacy, for hisformer secondary importance.The principal commercial road, the " Cisarsky Doroga" or Imperialroad, is as bad beyond Lemberg as throughout the whole of this softchalky table-land, where the traveller is continually sticking fast in onehole or another, so that we did not arrive at Grudek, till the moon wasalready shining brightly in the heavens. Apiercing cold, which covered allthe lakes and ponds with thin crusts of ice, announced to us that we hadentered the district of the Vistula, in Northern Galicia. It seemed to bealready winter, but we afterwards arrived at Moravia and Vienna in a mildand cheerful autumn. This high land of Galicia which is protected by nomountains towards the north, is even colder than the plains of the Vistula.212470 GRUDEK, MOSHISKA, AND YAROSLAV.The average temperature of Moravia is two or three degrees higher than that of Galicia.At Grudek we heard the same old story, which is continually repeated to the traveller from the banks of the Oder till far into Asia: " This is anoble town, sir; it belongs to the nobleman -prtzkovski; a great lord,a very rich man, who possesses six towns and twenty villages. The peasants are poor people, who eat the bread of their master, and receive theblows of his servants. The towns folk are Jews, mingled with a fewPoles and Germans. "The moun- At the inn we found some Polish women sorting feathers.taineers here, are called Huzzulen as in Bukovina. We found two ofthem sitting by the fire at the inn, leaning upon their hatchets. Theytold us that they were never without their hatchets, that they travelledwith them, danced with them, and wore them as a part of their Sundayfinery. They went to church with their hatchets, but did not take theminto the church. They hung them upon wooden posts outside, from whicheach on coming out took down his own again.It was singular, that, however much we questioned the people, wenever could learn what they called the Carpathians. They generallyanswered Gori (mountains), and sometimes Byeskid (chain of mountains) , from which comes the geographical name of Beskiden, for thecentral part of the Carpathian mountains. The name Carpathians seemedto be quite unknown to them, except where a peasant here and there had learned it of some German schoolmaster. This is natural enough. Itwill always be found, that the common geographical names of mountainsare not used by those who inhabit them, for where only the differencebetween the plain and the mountains is noticed, and not the differencebetween one set of mountains and another, the mountains are only called mountains. As we recede into the plain, and arrive at some distance fromthe mountains, where the view is not hemmed in, and two or threemasses are seen at a time, particular names are used for the differentgroups. It is only the geographer, who, in drawing and surveying maps,surveys many great chains at once, and gives names to them, and totheir subdivisions . With rivers the case is quite the contrary. Theyisolate and individualize themselves far more than mountains, and theircurrents offer a much more striking contrast to the dry land, than themountains do to the plains. Their course is far more easily overlookedthan the range of a mountain chain, and thus the name of a river is thesame at its mouth and at its source, the same to those at a distance, andto those residing on its banks. The name by which the Poles call theCarpathians, is " Khrovatsky Gori."Though now in the midst of the Carpathians, we seemed to be quitelosing sight of them; and our investigations fared much the same respecting a kingdom, on whose very borders we knew ourselves to be, and afterwhich, nevertheless, we inquired in vain. Nobody here knew any thingabout the kingdom of Lodomeria, nay, nobody so much as knew its name.Some officers of Lemberg thought that Bukovina had once been called so,and others imagined it to signify Cracow; and yet the two kingdoms ofGalicia and Lodomeria, are so closely connected, that their names arescarcely ever mentioned in any geographical class - book, but they are coupledtogether like twins. We ourselves were, of course, not so ignorant as theGalicians . We had long ago read the two thick volumes, entitled theGRUDEK, MOSHISKA, AND YAROSLAV. 471<< History of Halitsh and Vladimir, with an examination and defence ofthe Austro- Hungarian claims in that kingdom, by Christian Engel. "We could not therefore be ignorant that Vladimir the Great, the firstChristian Grand Duke of Russia had a son, Yaroslav, who was likewiseafterwards Grand Duke of all Russia, and that the latter had also a son,Vsevolod, Grand Duke of Kieff, who detached from his own principalitythe miniature principality of Vladimir with a capital called Vladimir, andbestowed the said miniature upon his nephew Yaropolk. This principalityof Vladimir, or rather Volodimir, which was afterwards, by a slight corruption of the name, changed into Lodomeria, contained the present districts of Luck and Chelen in Volhynia. The boundaries of the little statewere not very accurately defined, even at the period of its first formation.It was also several times subdivided among various princes. Sometimesit belonged to the princes of Halitsh. The greater part of the northernmost circle of Galicia belonged to this principality, and when the Emperorof Austria became master of Galicia, at the first division of Poland, in theyear 1772, he availed himself of the opportunity to add the stately titleof King of Lodomeria to his other denominations; which title is not the lessfine sounding, that no creature in Austria knows in what region of theglobe this fabulous kingdom lies. Besides it is not Austria but Russia, towhich the greater part of the old principality, with its former capital of Vladimirz really belongs.The next day we breakfasted at Sadova-Vishnia, and dined at Moshiska.At dinner we were waited upon by a blooming young Polish girl, of meanorigin, but fair and graceful as a princess. Many writers have contendedthat the far-famed beauty of the Polish women was confined to the upper classes. I think they are mistaken. The lower classes appear less beautiful, only because toil, care, and want, too often imprint their marksupon the features, and because they are entirely without those advantagesof dress enjoyed by the favoured children of fortune. Wherever Polish women are seen in comfortable situations, clean and neat, well fed, andclothed, the natural beauty of high and low, displays itself in their slender,graceful forms, their sparkling, dark eyes, the tasteful arrangement oftheir abundant ringlets, and their lively, sportive, charming manners.The horse often makes a peculiar haughty motion, arching his neckand tossing his proud head. This he only does when particularly excited.No other animal, neither the ox nor the stag, makes a similar movement.Peculiarities of this kind may be noticed among different races of mankind,as ofanimals. For instance, we noticed in the Polish women, a certainpretty sportive waving motion of the head and neck, which was commonalike to high and low in every part of the country. I cannot describethis gesture more minutely, for such delicate peculiarities are lost indescription, and yet I should immediately know a Polish girl by it, in anypart ofthe world. Neither the Germans, the Russians, nor the French,have any thing like it. When a Polish girl is dancing or talking sportively with another, this movement is particularly striking. It is one ofthose delicate traits of national character, of which it is almost impossibleto give any one an idea who has not seen it.The Polish girls are fresh and blooming as roses, and graceful in everygesture as sylphs; any one who undertakes to describe their numberlesscharms, in detail, can never cease admiring the abundance of beauty andgrace, which Nature has so lavishly bestowed upon them. We needed472 GRUDEK, MOSHISKA, AND YAROSLAV.neither flowers, nor sugar, nor wine, nor music, at our banquet, for ourlovely Polish Hebe was all this at once to us.How-music?-Yes music -whoever doubts it, and fancies the Polishlanguage harsh and unmusical, let him come to Poland and hear it. It iseurious, that on account of the manner in which it is written, this language has been considered as of a very barbarous sound, whereas everyingenuous traveller will confess, that it is not merely on account of theirown pretty faces, that the native tones sound as sweetly from the lips of Polish damsels, as from those of a Roman or Tuscan lady. There isnothing harsh or grating in the Polish language; on the contrary, it isparticularly soft and harmonious. The few harsh sounds that occur, arealways softened by the intermixture of liquid syllables, and the hiatus ofthe vowels is mostly obviated by the introduction of the j, (pronouncedlike an English y). The softness of the Polish language, when spoken bythe vulgar, sometimes becomes unpleasant. It is as if their flexible wordshad as little strength and dignity as their eternally bowing and twistingspines. The Germans have something monotonous and unbending intheir language; the Russians something hollow, and at the same timeshrill and squeaking, as if they were screaming into a pot. The Poles,on the contrary, speak very quickly and flexibly. They often rise into afaint treble, which when exaggerated, becomes squeaking and disagreeable.It is singular to observe, in what a miserable whining manner thePolish and Lithuanian peasants speak, particularly when addressing their masters. It is so peculiar a tone, that if once heard it will never beforgotten.The variously modulated liquid tones, intermingled gracefully with slippery 's and soft faint r's, which sound roughly only from our clumsy German tongues, give to the Polish language something that to my ear resembles the twittering of birds. The abundant repetition of brz, prz, scze,sdcz, &c. , look dreadful to us, and in our ignorance we exclaim, " What abarbarous language!" without reflecting that one should hear a languagespoken, as well as see it written, before one can decide upon its merits.Let any one hear the words Zebrdzedowski, Peczyniscni, Rzeszow, Brzczani,Przemysl, Szczebrzeszyn, Strzyzew, Pomdzamczeprzytymce, Brzozw,Jastrzebski, Wrzepicki, Krzecynski, Wszelaczynski, &c. , fromthe mouth of a young Polish girl, and he will confess that the words grace the mouthquite as much as the mouth the words. Bechmann has written a bookabout singing birds, in which he expresses the song of the nightingale, bythe syllables zizizi, zuizuizui, tiruizvoll, zvoll, zvoll, &e. Now any onereading this without having ever heard the nightingale sing, might well imagine its song to be a very ugly and disagreeable one. It would bejust as reasonable to decide thus, as to judge of the Polish language from its written appearance. The Polish women, it is true, add a grace to thelanguage, by their own sweet, lively, charming manner of speaking it.Every word lives between their lips; every thing is soft, piquant, and ex- pressive. A comic anecdote, related with all the beautiful modulations ofvoice, in which they are so skilful, or a tragic story interrupted by their spontaneous sighs and tears, is irresistible from their lips. The Russiantongue compared to that of Poland, is as the rough dialect of mountaineers, to the soft language of the plains. It sounds harsher, shriller,and hollower, and wants many of the liquid Polish tones, the want of whichit supplies with hissing and grating syllables. Many Russian wordsGRUDEK, MOSHISKA, AND YAROSLAV. 473sound more like inarticulate noises than articulate sounds. I once witnessed a ludicrous instance of this. An acquaintance of mine in Odessa,who was standing with me in a balcony before his house, sneezed ratherloud just as a Russian Isvoshtshik was driving past in his droshky looking out for custom. He took my friend's sneeze for the usual summons," Sluishi Isvoshtshik," and taking off his hat, he replied, " I hear you,sir. Where am I to go to?"The Germans of Galicia, however long they may live there, never learnto speak Polish correctly. There are difficulties in it which they never getover. They therefore take the matter easily, and pronounce the words in theirown way. They have Germanized the names of most of the Polish cities.Przemysl for instance in which the " z" is pronounced like the French j,while the r glides faintly along between the p and the z, they generallycall Pshemysl; and Rzeszow Reshov, which has a particularly absurd sound to a Polish ear.-We descended from the chalky hills round Lemberg, and entered a newdistrict, the scene of different manners and customs, and different historicalevents. The Greek churches, which before had alternated with the Catholic in the towns and villages, now entirely ceased, and we entered the landof the Mazovians. Leaving the great road which leads through Przemysland Yaroslav, —our driver played us this trick while we were taking a shortsiesta, we drove into the country of Mazovia, being thus deprived of a viewofthe fine town of Przemysl, whose towers in vain rose up in the distance behind us. Instead of the far-famed and beautiful episcopal town, withits shops, gymnasiums, and churches, we saw only a few peasants' huts andGehöfte, which, with their sledges and beehives, reminded us of the northof Poland. Instead of the four-horsed equipages of the Przemysl grandees, we saw only little carts , with their two diminutive horses each, andinstead of the solid new bridge built over the San at Przemysl, only a miserable raft, upon which our carriage was floated over, and a boat made ofthe hollowed trunk of a tree, in which we ourselves were rowed across.The inhabitants of the country watered by the San have been little in- fluenced by modern improvements. In their domestic arrangementsand accommodations, there is scarcely a trace of any reform. On thecontrary, the shape and material of every thing, proves how ancient are alltheir usages. They hollow their boats, and cut their beehives, carts, andploughs, in the same way probably as their forefathers did more than athousand years ago. Every thing, down to the smallest piece of harnesson their horses, to the most trifling hem and border on their clothes, hasremained for ages unchanged. Even in the most civilized countries ofEurope, however, some traits of this kind are to be found; even in themiddle of cultivated England, for instance, the same primitive method ofcrossing a river may sometimes be witnessed as was used in the days ofQueen Boadicea. Everywhere, beneath the restless and tumultuous surface of the upper classes, there remain masses of the population which areas little moved by the stormy revolutions of centuries that pass over them,as in the fathomless depths of the ocean, the compact mass of waterbelow is agitated by the turbulence of the upper waves.The San, at whose source lies the town of Sanok, and at whose mouththat of Sandomir, is here tolerably broad, though not deep, like all the streams that rush down from the Carpathians. At its union with the Vistula, the courses of the two rivers are equal in length, so that the474 GRUDEK, MOSHISKA, AND YAROSLAV.great river which flows to the Baltic from their junction, might as wellhave been called the San as the Vistula . The Vistula, however, does contribute a larger mass of waters than the San.The Vistula in its course previous to its junction with the San, forms withthe mountains an angle of about 30 degrees, Galicia wedges itself into thisangle, between the Carpathian range and the river. Within this space, severallittle tributary streams flow into the Vistula, and they become longer, thefurther the mountains and the river diverge, so that they lie between themlike the strings of a harp . These rivers are the Sola, the Skava, theRaba, the Dunayez, the Visloka, and the San. In travelling onward towards Austrian Silesia, we passed successively through all the districtswatered by these rivers, beginning with that of the San. At Radymno we passed the night in a very badly heated room. When we complainedof this we were told that wood was very dear. The forests, it was true,were only four or five miles off, but there was no imperial road that led tothem. This very frequent complaint of the dearness in wood, in a countrywhere trees are so plentiful as in Galicia, has always remained an enigma to me.The people of Radymno still cling with great enthusiasm to all re- collections of the Holy Alliance. Everywhere, we saw the walls of therooms decorated with pictures of the battle of Leipzig , and the entranceinto Paris, just as was the case with us in 1820.The people wore, of course, Mazovian costumes here. The Krakuscathe well-known, high, red, four-cornered caps, edged with fur, and theKurtka with its girdle, white trousers, short boots, and generally a plumeof peaco*ck's feathers, were worn by all. The manners and costumes ofthe peasantry are transmitted from father to son, and do not easily alter,so that if ever the higher classes of Poles were to return to the ways oftheir forefathers, they would find little or nothing of innovation among thelower orders of the people.We should have been very well pleased with our host at Radymno,had his supper-table been as plentifully provided with salt, bread, andbutter, as his German speeches with obsequious Polish civilities; such as "Panye Dobroti-Panye Laskovi-yevo Moshtsh (Your Honour—your gracious worship-your grace). It is strange how fond even theGermans here are, of these Polish phrases and titles, which they use evenwhen speaking German, exclaiming with every breath, " May it please you,Panye Laskovi;" " With your leave, Panye Dobroti." When a person ofdistinction is present they add, like the Polish peasants, " Zalye nogi"(I kiss your feet), and to a lady, "zalye rontshki,” ( I kiss your hands):The genuine Poles repeat these phrases eight or ten times in a breath, andthe greater their respect, the oftener they repeat their " Zalye nogi!zalye nogi! zalye nogi!" " Padam do nog! padam do nog! padam do nog!" Sometimes they act their own words, actually falling on theirknees, and kissing the hands, feet, or garments, of the complimentedparty. Formerly the proud republicans of Poland did this to one another.Since they have lost their national independence, their manners have lostsome of this slavish servility, probably because their nobles have lost someof that greatness and power that formerly called it forth.In no country of the world is there more kissing than in Poland. Whena lady and gentleman meet, he always kisses her hand, while she bendsdown, and touches his forehead with her lips. When two Polish gentle-GRUDEK, MOSHISKA, AND YAROSLAV. 475men meet, they kiss each other on each cheek, in such a way that whileone kisses the right cheek of his acquaintance, the other kisses his leftcheek, and then the same ceremony reversed. A stranger has to practisethis before he can get the knack of it, and perform the manoeuvre accurately,quickly, and gracefully. When a guest enters a circle of friends, he hasto kiss and be kissed all round. Where the relations between the partiesare of a more tender or sentimental character, the salutation may be twiceor thrice repeated, and then there is no end to the kissing.The Germans are more blunt, plain, and straightforward than the Poles,in all their dealings, and appear, consequently, less obsequious and servile in their manners. The dirt and laziness of the Poles, often excite the indignation of their German fellow-citizens, and the words Laitak (lazyPole), and Galgane (dirty Polish thief), are terms of reproach often usedwhen a German quarrels with a Pole. These are often returned with interest by the Pole, cringing and servile as he may be on most occasions." Shwabska Dusha!" (dull- souled Suabian, ) and " Bestia Shwab! " arecommon expressions of theirs. The term cobblers, is often used by Polishnoblemen for Germans of every rank, and the disgusting and not unfrequent phrase of Niemeczka pshagrev sobatsha! is another phrase invented by the nobles of the land, and is one of which I will leave it to my readers to obtain a translation from some of their Polish friends. Theseterms of abuse are in some measure illustrative of the national charactersof the two races. The German, when he contemptuously terms the Russian noble a gruel- eater, prides himself, with justice, on his better styleof living, the consequence of his superior industry and cleanliness, andderides the dirt, laziness, and poverty of the Pole. The Pole, however,considers himself as less plodding and mechanical, and scoffs at the pettyindustry and careful spirit of the German, by calling him cobbler. Thecontrast too of this German care, frugality, and industry, with his ownproud and haughty laziness, which scorns every thing vulgar, namely law,morality, and industry, and loves only the noble prerogatives of idleness,wastefulness, and dissipation, is expressed in the disgusting manner abovequoted.German coins are now used throughout Galicia, where a florin is calledRenski zrebrom, literally a silver Rhenish. A twenty kreuzer piece theycall a Zwanziger, and a Groshen a Dutka. The coin principally used,however, throughout Galicia and Poland, is the Dutch ducat, or Tshervonez. These ducats are by no means all coined in Holland; many whichare struck at St. Petersburg, are not the less called Dutch ducats.It was still quite dark when early the next morning we passed throughYaroslav. The only things in the town which we saw were two or threedirty coffee- cups, illuminated by a little tallow candle which a Jewish servant girl lighted for our breakfast. The short time which we occupied in passing through it, however, sufficed to convince us that in size and importance it was not to be compared to its namesake in Russia.The sun was shining brightly when we entered the little town ofPrzevorsk, which pleased us on account of the pretty castle and gardenit contained. The place is the property of the Lubomirski family. Thegarden was large, and laid out like an English park, with trees, lakes,rivers, lawns, and groves. In the middle of a lawn was a bronze bust ofthe last great King of Poland, John Sobieski, who, being a native of Galicia, enjoys great veneration here. Sobieski wore his hair in the old Polish476 GRUDEK, MOSHISKÁ, AND YAROSLAV.fashion, cut close all round, with a long pigtail behind, and thick mustaches and beard. The contrast must have been curious enough betweenthis powerful barbaric figure, and that of the proud, petty, ceremoniousAustrian emperor, Leopold, who, instead of warmly embracing and thank- ing the deliverer of Vienna on the battle-field, made his cold and formalacknowledgments at a mere chance meeting. Sobieski, probably incensed at this demeanour, cut short the long and formal speech of the emperor, with the words, " I am glad to have been able to render you thislittle service, my royal cousin," and taking a hasty leave, returned to Poland.The castle is handsome The halls are decorated , but not splendid.with copies of antique statues in marble and plaster. In the greenhouses we found a German gardener, who sold camellias for a florin each. Manyinteresting facts might be recorded of the extraordinarily rapid spread of this new species of flower in Europe. " Ten years ago, " said the gardener, " each specimen was worth twenty or thirty florins here."TheAfter having seen the castle, we went to a convent of sisters of charity,founded by a Lubomirski, a Castellanus Cracoviensis, in the year 1730.The humane and excellent orders of charitable brothers and sisters arevery widely spread throughout Galicia and Moravia, and we found aconvent of them established in almost every town. In the Greek Russianchurch no such useful fraternities have ever been formed, and it is almostimpossible to estimate the advantage which this fact alone must havegiven the Polish cities of the middle ages over those of Russia.abbess of the little convent, which lay beneath the picturesque shade oflofty and venerable trees, was of an old and noble race; the nuns weremostly strong, blooming young girls, who made it their business to attendon the sick, with touching kindness, and exemplary skill and patience.We were told that no sick person, whether stranger or native, Christianor Jew, was denied admittance into this convent. When I inquired afterthe physician of the place, I was answered, Sir, we help ourselves aswell as we can without one. " Women have, in their very nature, somethingsoothing and healing to sickness and suffering . One ofthe nuns whom I sawemployed in carrying phials, basins, medicines, &c. , in and out of the sickrooms, appeared so beautiful and graceful in her humble occupations, thatI think the very sight of her must have had a healing influence on the invalids she tended.66We met large herds of oxen on the road to Lanzut, a castle and villagebelonging to the Potockis, where a cattle-market was about to be held.The cattle consisted chiefly of the gray oxen of the steppes. Thousandsof these patient animals have wandered through the Carpathians everyyear for centuries, to nourish with their flesh Vienna and the countriesthrough which they pass. We traced them the whole way from Bukovinato the capital, in the regular and peculiar furrows which they have drawnacross every road, by their uniform tread, each stepping in the footstepsof his predecessor. They are taken to the great cattle-markets of Moravia,where the butchers of Vienna and Prague purchase them for the consumption of those luxurious cities. Many are also brought straight toVienna, by Rusniaks, Walachians, and Poles. Formerly some of themwere even taken to Munich and Dresden, by the cattle-drivers of theCarpathians. The Bukovinian and Galician markets are visited by theway, where the weaker animals are disposed of, and in this way they feedTHE CASTLE AND TOWN OF LANZUT. 477all the countries through which they pass. The Germans call them Polishcattle, because they receive them from Poland; the Galicians Moldavian,because it is through Moldavia that they reach Galicia. At Warsaw theyare called Podolian, because it is from Podolia that they are brought toWarsaw. The steppes of Podolia and the Ukraine, to the shores of theBlack Sea and the sea of Asoph, are the vast magazines from which allAustria is supplied with meat.Another great road traversed by these animated embryos of roast beefruns through Kharkov to Moscow and St. Petersburg, ending in the Baltic provinces. Small herds are also collected together in Bessarabiaand Walachia, and in the neighbourhood of Odessa, and are driven across the Danube and the Balkans to Constantinople.THE CASTLE AND TOWN OF LANZUT.Wenzel flourished his whip; with increased speed our Gloswogen turnedthe corner of the road, and the little poodle barked for joy, for before uslay the place where we were to pass the night, the pretty little town ofLandshut (Lanzut is the Polish name), with its beautiful and vast oldprincely castle, which rose majestically from the plain, shaded by statelytrees, and illuminated by the rays of the setting sun. Lanzut, the Pulavy*of Galicia, has been so continually lauded and described by Polish historians and chroniclers, that now when Pulavy is fallen, and Lanzut is themost beautiful and interesting castle in Poland, a few words about it bya German may not be misplaced. We went over the castle the sameevening, and the next morning spent some hours in its delightful gardens.Lanzut now belongs to the Potocki family, which is divided into severalbranches, and possesses large estates and magnificent castles, scatteredthrough the countries between Vienna and the Black Sea, among whichare Severinovka near Odessa, Sophievka near Kiev, Niemirov in Podolia,Lanzut and others in Galicia. Lanzut, however, the Potockis have onlyobtained by marriage, for it belonged formerly to the Lubomirskis, whopossess also a pretty chain of villages, castles, and towns, in the valleys ofthe Dniester and the Vistula, It was a Lubomirski who originally builtLanzut, and the Latin inscription over the castle gate runs thus:"Stanislaus, comes in Wisniez- Lubomirski, Palatinus Cracoviensis,Zatoriensis, Scepusiensis, Niepolumicensis, &c. Capitaneus exercituumregni contra Osmanorum imperatorem et Dzianumbet Gerei ChanumTatarorum generalis præfectus, ut viribus curis publicis atque belloLivonico, Moscovitico, Prussico, Scythico, Turcico, ipsaque demum ætatefessis quietem pararet, ædes has condidit et ornavit, utque saluti communi prodesset, propugnaculum adjecit. Anno p. C. N. 1641."(Stanislaus, count Wisniez-Lubomirski, Voyevode of Crakow, of Zatory,of Scepusk, of Niepolomize, &c. , Royal Grand General, and Commanderof the armies against the emperor of the Turks, and the Khan of the Tar-

• For the information of some of our English readers, it may be necessary to add that Pulavy was the family seat of Prince Adam Czartoryiski, the Polish patriot.

The village, or rather the little town of Pulavy, contained about 3000 inhabitants,and the Castle was particularly celebrated for its splendid library of 60,000 volumes,and its magnificent English park. During the campaign of 1831, the castle and allits dependencies were completely destroyed by the Russians. - Tr.478 THE CASTLE AND TOWN OF LANZUT.tars, built and adorned this palace as a retreat for his old age, weakenedby application to state affairs, and by the Livonian, Moscovite, Prussian,Scythian, and Turkish, wars, and added to it a fortress for the use of thestate. In the year of our Lord, 1641.)Such relics of ancient Polish greatness become scarcer every day. Inscriptions like this, the living mementoes of the splendour of the old Polishnobility, will in time become almost as interesting as those on old Egyptiantemples, and should always be carefully copied by travellers. The Lubomirskis did not become princes, till after the 17th century, though theywere always a powerful and important family. Visniez is a little townnear Cracow, and a branch of the Lubomirski family is named after it.Palatine, or Voyevode of Cracow, was one of the principal dignitaries ofthe kingdom. The title and office of Voyevode, is one of the most ancientin Poland. It signifies leader or duke; but corresponded more to ourword governor. The Voyevode not only conducted the administration ofthe provinces over which he was appointed ( Woyewodschaften), but alsodistributed justice there, and commanded the troops. Niepolomize, &c.,are little towns in the land of the Mazovians, and, probably, formerly belonged to the Lubomirskis. There were always two grand generals inPoland, one for Lithuania, and one royal grand general for Crown Poland.The above inscription proves, that in the 17th century, the latter office was no sinecure. Against how many different nations had the old statesman led out his forces! Every Polish nobleman was allowed to buildfortresses on his own estates, for each was regarded as a petty but undisputed sovereign, the welfare and safety of whose little state, were as entirelyhis own concern, as those of a kingdom are to its government.kept little standing armies at their castles.They alsoThe castle of Lanzut is very large, containing spacious inner courts,and surrounded by walls, ditches, and fortifications. In the back ground rise abruptly the heights of the Central Carpathians, and towards thenorth extend the wide and smiling Polish plains, with their pleasant villages and green meadows. Many alterations and additions have beenmade to the castle since the days of the Grand General ofthe Crown. Thegrandmother of the present possessor, a Princess Lubomirska, it was who arranged the castle in the manner in which it is now shown to the traveller by an old Silesian steward. The ramparts are decorated with beautiful double avenues of linden-trees, the moats form pretty canals and lakes, with gondolas, and the inner wall has been taken away, and itsplace supplied with groves of trees. The inner and outer courts, formerlyoccupied only by a barbarous soldiery, are now filled with beautiful flower- beds and shrubs. The arrangements ofthe interior, the size of the rooms,saloons, and corridors, the beauty of the pictures, statues, and conservatories, the splendour of the furniture, the rank of its possessors (thepresentowner is a Potocki, and the High Marshal of the kingdom, his wife and mother were Czartoriskas, andhis grandmother a Lubomirska), themultitudesof serfs, towns, villages, and ducats belonging to them, all this forms sucha picture of princely magnificence that the imagination can conceive noworldly pleasure or luxury wanting to the lords of Lanzut.The corridors on the ground-floor of the castle are the most elegantthings of the kind ever seen. They are richly carpeted, and one is calledthe statue, the other the picture corridor. The one is full of excellent oldpictures, the other offine statues, some genuine antiques, others by modernTHE CASTLE AND TOWN OF LANZUT. 479Italian sculptors. Rows of glittering chandeliers run along the ceilings.Between every two or three statues or pictures stand large and beautifulvases of porcelain, jasper, or malachite, and here and there little divans areconcealed among vases of flowers and orange-trees. It may be imaginedthat the rooms to which such corridors lead are not deficient in magnificence. Indeed I doubt whether there are many houses in Europe equalto Lanzut in the elegance, splendour, and abundance of its tables, chairs,carpets, candelabras, vases, lamps, chandeliers, silks, satins, and gold andsilver plate. Many of the pictures in the dining-rooms and drawingrooms are splendid. The ball-room is lighted by twenty large candelabras.The floors of the audience-chambers and sleeping-rooms are all coveredwith the richest carpets of London and Constantinople. The study of thecount is as magnificent as the audience- chamber of a prince. The portraitsof Sobieski, of his beloved Maria Lescinska, and of his good old mother,decorate the count's bedroom.Separate suites of rooms are reserved for different members of thefamily, who occasionally reside here; those of the Countess Brannicka, acousin of the count's, are particularly splendid. Paris and Lyons have furnished the richest silks for the curtains, tapestry, and sofa covers; andLondon has lately furnished twenty comfortable armchairs for the castle chapel, for the service of which the count retains six Jesuits . The pencils of Rubens, Snyder, and Wouvermann, have served to adorn the walls ofthe dining-room . Vandyck, Mieris, Guido Reni, and Titian, have contributed to embellish those of the drawing-rooms. The tables before the mirrors are covered with presents from princesses, queens, and empresses.Every thing we saw around us showed us that we had entered the house ofnobles, whose illustrious line of ancestry dated from remote ages, andnumbered among its branches many a king and emperor.

There is indeed something stately and imposing connected with so oldand powerful a race, which perhaps is but little felt in the present day byany but poetical minds. In Poland this spirit of veneration for ancestralgreatness is still alive and unweakened, for here are still old patriarchalfamilies and vast feudal domains; here are still faithful vassals and independent nobles.

• The Potockis have always been distinguished among Polish nobles. From time immemorial, the highest dignitaries in Poland have been filled by Potockis. They have also been remarkable for learning, refinement, and talents; and wherever they have ruled, they have always left behind them some useful or beautiful trace of their government; some castle, gymnasium, church, or garden. Even in the Rus- sian steppes, some agricultural improvements mark their temporary residence there. Without being deficient in patriotism, this family seems to possess a certain easy pliability, and to submit to circ*mstances with a good grace; for many of them serve under the Austrian and Russian governments. They are more prudent and careful, and less extravagant than most Polish nobles; so that, numerous as they are, they are all rich. Many of them have been remarkable for beauty. Ignaz Potocki, who lived towards the end of the last century, was known through half Europe by the surname of Le beau;" and the young Polish countess whose story has been sung by Puschkin, and who was beloved by a Tartar Khan in the Crimea, and was murdered by a fair rival in a fit of jealousy, was also a Potocka. During the last two hundred years, there has not been a single important Polish confederation which was not headed by a Potocki. Four Potockis, of whom Ignaz Potocki was the most famous, headed the different political parties during the attempt at the re- generation of Poland made in 1790. The old Severin Potocki is also a celebrated man.

66480RZESZOV, PILSNO, AND TARNOV.From Lanzut to Rzeszov the distance is three (German) miles. InGalicia this is the usual distance from one town to another; that is fromwhat we should call a town to another like it, for what are here calledtowns occur oftener. The Polish noblemen were always very anxious topossess towns, and exerted themselves much, therefore, to obtain for thevillages on their estates the name and privileges of towns. The Jews ofthese villages also, were very anxious to become citizens, and towns therefore are as plentiful here as in the most populous parts of Germany.Rzeszov is a more considerable town than we expected to find here.We saw streets which might have graced a German city, and shops sowell furnished, that though our trunks had been full of ducats, we shouldnot have been in the slightest degree embarrassed how to dispose of them.Stately old churches and convents, prettily situated on the banks of theVislok, formed a picturesque and animated spectacle; and I was pleasedto think how many a pleasant city lies hid in odd corners of the world, ofwhich the rest of mankind know nothing. We lodged at an inn kept by aGerman host. The solidity and elegance with which this man had furnished his house, and the order and neatness everywhere visible, left usnothing to desire. I spent a pleasant hour with this intelligent man, whohad travelled over all parts of Germany, and was well acquainted with the manners and customs of its different inhabitants. Of the different raceswhom we should see on our way to Vienna, he gave us the following account: " The Rusniaks, who are more blunt and honest than the Poles,you have left behind you. Next come the Mazovians, who, like all therest of the Poles, are as great rascals and cheats as if they were Jews.Then you will come to the Water Polaks, and the Silesian Germans, wholive among them. The former are lazy and dirty, every soul of them,and the latter, though not quite so bad, share these qualities with them.Then come the Khuländl, inhabited by German herdsmen, plain, honest,and blunt, like most pastoral tribes. There you will find districts whereyou might leave your trunks and your money-box standing night and dayin the open air, without lock, key, dog, or keeper, and yet you would losenothing. Next you will get among the Hannaken, rough and sturdy, asif hewn of oak and soldered with iron; they are passionate, determined,and quarrelsome, but industrious and prosperous. Last of all come thelight- hearted Austrians. They are not bright or clever to look at, butthey are cheerful, gay, and loyal; keep turning their spits all day long,and enjoy the honour of crowning the Emperor.'"At Rzeszov there is a great state prison, in which three hundred prisoners are kept. It contains only those who are condemned to five years'imprisonment. Those sentenced for ten years are sent to Lemberg, thosefor twenty years or for life, to Spielberg. Our host gave us but a badaccount of the state of morals in the town. No year he said passed away,without witnessing two or three executions. This year, indeed, none hadyet taken place, but a crime had been committed, which must bring itsperpetrators to the gallows, whenever they were discovered.While we were conversing with our host, we were interrupted by theentrance of his brother, and when I turned to him, and asked for hisRZESZOV, PILSNO, AND TARNOV. 481Inopinion concerning the Polish nation, he gave me the following reply:"Oh, the Poles have excellent and noble qualities, but on the whole theyare a lazy, dirty, degraded set. They know neither the comforts nor theduties of life, and have no idea of respecting each other's rights.Germany the people know how to value one another, but among the Polesit is difficult to keep a whole skin. They are two thousand years behindother nations, I might say twelve thousand years, and in twelve thousandyears more they will be no better than they are now. They are toodegraded to be improved. The moment the peasant has saved a littlemoney, and perhaps buys himself a little cow, the nobleman takes it awayfrom him, and the moment the nobleman plants a tree, the peasant chopsit down. If any one plants any thing in his garden, his neighbour is sureto steal it or destroy it. And then there is the Jew, creeping aboutstealthily like a cat, seeking what he may devour. The worst of all is,that every body is bent upon advancing his own petty interests, and caresnot what becomes of all the world besides, nor how many he ruins toadvance his own ends. Life in this country is so miserable, that thesooner one gets away from it the better. "I asked the speaker how long he had endured this purgatory, and heanswered that he had been living there for thirty years. The engravings,the fine muskets and pistols, the neat beds and furniture, the writingtables and wardrobes which adorned his own and his brother's rooms,their pretty pianoforte, and the little guitar, upon which he and his wifeplayed us several pleasing tunes, gave us secret assurance, that there wasa good deal of exaggeration in his account of life in Poland.We were particularly struck here, by the quantity of poplars, whichshaded all the roads in the vicinity of towns and villages. The Polesseem to have a particular fancy for this tree; for it is found in great abundance throughout the old kingdom of Poland, as far as the Ukraine. InRussia and the Baltic provinces it is not much found, but throughoutPoland, and even in Prussia it exists in great numbers.The next day the temperature was five or six degrees below the freezing point, and we were very cold when we reached Sendzishov. Farcolder, however, were some poor travellers, with whom we dined thisday; a tobacco-officer and his wife and children. Austria puts verylittle trust in the officers employed in the tobacco monopoly, and thereforein order as much as possible to hinder cheating, the government is continually transplanting them, and making them change posts. These poorpeople had come from Iglau in Bohemia, and were on their way to Stanislavov in Galicia. They lamented their hard fate most piteously. Theyhad been travelling for fourteen days, at the rate of five (German)miles a day, and expected to be ten more days on the journey. Theyasked us for information respecting the distant parts of Galicia, as of agloomy region of frost and barbarism, assuring us that they shuddered atthe thoughts of Stanislavov. Every day, they said, the inns grew worseand worse, the coffee, bread, and sugar, dearer and scarcer, and the inhabitants more and more savage and barbarous; and they expressed theirconviction that the further they got, the worse every thing would be. AtIglau it was still warm and pleasant; and the grapes were still hangingon the vines; here they had cold and frost, with coughs, toothachs,and colds, and no wrapping up could keep them warm. They demandedour compassion, and envied us that we were on our way to the sunshine,482 RZESZOV, PILSNO, AND TARNOV.the plenty, and the refinement, of Moravia and Bohemia. They weremuch surprised to hear that we had enjoyed our journey through Galicia;and when we spoke of Russia, they shuddered and crossed themselves,as though we spoke of the infernal regions. Travellers coming from thewestern and southern parts of Austria, towards its northern and eastern dis- tricts, are very apt to speak and think in this manner. What an absurdnarrowness of mind to enclose all possible earthly felicity within one little corner of the world, and never to think of the wide fair earthwithout, where the sun shines, and there is room for all! These peoplewere in despair at entering a district which they considered the land ofgloom and barbarism, and our Wenzel complacently remarked every day,as he took his seat upon the box, "Now every thing is getting better and better. Soon we shall lodge every night at a German inn;the Jews will become scarcer, the food better, the beds cleaner,the people more industrious, the climate milder, and the countrymore beautiful. " We ourselves at last began to fancy that we hademerged from regions of barbaric darkness, and were entering those ofsunshine and refinement; an idea which rendered us as happy as thetravellers above mentioned were made miserable by the contrary feeling.Iglau in Bohemiawas their ne plus ultra of happiness, Stanislavov in Galicia,their Siberia and Inferno. To us the sun, whose distant rays had shed alight upon the Polish wilderness around us, was Vienna the Imperialcapital.;It is a curious fact that in Galicia the density of the population increases,as the fertility of its soil decreases, and vice versâ. Bukovina and theeastern circles of Tarnopol, Tshortkov, and Brzezany, ( Austrian Podolia,as they are called, ) are the most fruitful parts of the kingdom, and arespoken of as the granaries of Galicia, and yet upon an average they maintainonly from two thousand to two thousand five hundred human beings to everysquare (German) mile, and contain only sixteen towns. Towardsthe west, theEgyptian fruitfulness of the soil decreases, till we come to the barren sandy shores of the Vistula. These western circles, however, those of Yaslo,Bochnia, and Sendez, for instance, contain from three thousand five hundred to four thousand inhabitants to every square mile. The number oftowns, and the state of manufactures and industry, is also much higher inthese less fruitful districts. Bukovina in the east, and Vadovize in the westof Galicia, form the most striking contrast to each other. There a townon very fifty square (German) miles, here one on every ten; there onethousand five hundred, here four thousand eight hundred inhabitants toevery square mile; there scarcely any manufactories, here whole townsfull of them; there all the mountains and valleys inhabited by wild Huzzulen, here filled with smiling villages and smoking towns; there as herea beautiful country in appearance, but for the dark firs of the west, theoaks, limes, and beeches, of a more fertile country are seen there.The regular officially installed and acknowledged patron saint of Galiciaand Lodomeria, is St. Michael. In western Galicia, however, St. Nepomukhas also many votaries, and the further we went, the more statues did wesee ofhim onthe bridges, roads, and market-places. We also observed anincrease in the number of beggars, who are naturally not so plentifulamong the fertile hills of Bukovina. The loveliness of nature here in somemeasure made amends to us for this; for we were again approaching theCarpathians, and the landscape was full of beautiful scenery.RZESZOV, PILSNO, AND TARNOV. 483At Dembiza we drank our afternoon coffee with two Austrian captainsof cavalry, and looked over Savada with them, a charming estate, formerlybelonging to the Radzivills, and now to the Ratshinskis. Dembiza is apoor town mostly inhabited by Jews, and it was their sabbath-day. Wehad here an opportunity of learning something respecting those curiouslines of rope, which are drawn along from roof to roof in all Jewish citiesin Poland; and of which some travellers have given most incorrect accounts.For example, one writer informs us, that they are boundaries which the despotic Polish noblemen assign to the Jews, and beyond which they must notstir on Christian Sundays for fear of giving offence . Nowknowing howlittlethe Jews of Poland appear to give offence to any one, how they are tolerated alike in palaces and huts, and swarm about everywhere like flies, howthey even farm of the Catholic priests the fees oftheir office, the baptismal fees for instance, which they collect in their name, this account always appeared to me a very absurd one.These lines are called " Sabbath strings," and in Hebrew, Aïreph.They are either of iron wire or rope, and pass from roof to roof, where- ever streets or passages intersect the Jewish roofs, so that these do not touch one another; thus they divide and set apart the Jewish quarter of thetown. When, as is usually the case, the Jews all live together in onequarter of the town, there is only one such ring or Aireph; but when, asis sometimes the case, they live in little clusters in different parts, there are often a great many Aïrephs. Where Jewish and Christian houses aremingled promiscuously, there can be no Aïreph at all. On the Sabbathday, the Jews may carry about in their hands or pockets whatever theyplease, within this Aïreph, but outside of it nothing, not even a purse or apocket-handkerchief. They may not even take off a glove and carry it; it is only allowable on the hands, as an article of dress. It is even forbidden to them to carry a pocket- handkerchief in the pocket; but they may tie one round the arm, and then it counts for an article of dress . Awalkingstick is strictly prohibited . We saw many Jews on the sabbath,walking with handkerchiefs tied round their arms. Any Christian orJew who wantonly breaks or tears this Aïreph, is severely punished. If itbe torn by a natural accident, the occurrence is formally announced to the synagogue, and till its formal restoration, nothing may be carried about even within the Aïreph; not even food or medicine for the sick. Childrenunder thirteen, however, are exempt from this law, and are there- fore employed to carry about absolute necessaries. The restoration ofthe Aireph is performed by the chief Rabbi, with many solemnities. Ifit is of wire, it is reunited with a hook and eye, for to solder the broken part together is forbidden. If it is of rope, the Rabbi may not tie it, butmust have an entirely new one. Where no Aïreph is used, the Jews arenot allowed upon the sabbath-day, to carry any thing about with them;for the Aïreph is a privilege granted only to large Jewish communities.At Dembiza we heard for the first time of the beauty of the girls ofBiela, a pretty little town on the borders of Galicia. Throughout thethirty miles between Dembiza and Biela, we constantly heard of theircelebrated charms, until we reached the place itself.Milestones now began to appear at the roadside, a decided proof ofincreasing civilization. At Pilsno we passed large and gloomy pineforests, which extend from the Carpathians in close succession into RussianPoland. We took up and gave a lift to a German Bohemian, who had2 K484 RZESZOV, PILSNO, AND TARNOV.worked in the great tobacco manufactory of Lemberg. This is the largestimperial tobacco manufactory in the whole Austrian Empire. There istwisted every cigar used throughout the kingdom of Lodomeria andGalicia; and every pinch of snuff taken by a subject of those kingdoms,is there cut and prepared. The workmen in this manufactory are allAustrians, with the exception of a few Nurembergers, in the snuff de- partment. Our Bohemian also told us, that the gray Polish oxen, areplayfully called Lemberg students, in Austria and Bohemia.The Visloka which we reached near Pilsno, must not be confoundedwith the Vislok which we passed near Rzeszov. This district had apleasing and picturesque look, even in the scanty dress of approachingwinter. The town of Pilsno itself, is as insignificant as its river.Towards evening we reached Tarnov, lying on the river Biala, in thevalley of the Dunayez. It is one of the principal towns in this part ofthe country, and has a very pretty townhouse in its market-place. Itsstreets are well paved, and some of the houses are three or four storieshigh. We visited in this place two very excellent apothecaries ' shops, andan elegant pastrycook's shop, to which the Jews-the only guides in Poland-showed us the way. We had scarecly sat down there for threeminutes, before one ragged Jew after another entered the room till it wasquite full . They scrutinized us closely all over, inquired if we wished tobuy or sell any thing, and on our replying in the negative, they went outone after another. The people of the shop did not trouble themselvesabout them, but allowed them to go in and out incessantly, like flies ordogs. The shopkeepers and innkeepers of Poland are used to this. Whena Polish nobleman goes in anywhere to take a glass of liqueur or a cupof coffee, he is always followed by twenty or thirty Jews, who begin totraffic with him. If he has no money, they buy of him the two orthree bushels of wheat which he has brought with him to the town.The evening was very calm, with a clear sky and bright moonlight, andwe determined to go on foot to the Dunayez where we meant to sleep at Voinitz. In the streets of Tarnov, we found the whole Jewish populationout of doors. They were singing, screaming, bowing, and praying to the full moon, and formed the most curious and interesting groups. Somefixed their eyes steadily upon the moon, murmuring prayers, and thenbowing down to the ground. Others had brought out little wooden desksinto the streets, upon which they laid their sacred books and little lanterns.Wrapped in long white robes, bordered with black, they stood around ingroups of six or eight, now muttering devout sentences, now shrieking,and beating their foreheads. Such scenes are peculiar to the orientalJews of Poland. They assured us that whoever joined in this ceremonywould neither die nor fall sick in the course of the month.We persuaded a young merchant of Prague, who had been for sometime settled at Lemberg, and was now returning to his native city, to accompany us on our walk, and he remained our travelling companion intoMoravia. He was a handsome young man, and according to his account,his two sisters must have had no slight charms to boast of. The nightair, the calm serene moonlight, and our quiet pleasant walk, seemed toopen his heart, and he entertained us on the way with the history of thesetwo sisters, of which one had had a strange, the other a terrible fate.The eldest married a rich merchant in a Bohemian city; a brutal andbarbarous man, who even during the very honeymoon, tormented his wife inRZESZOV, PILSNO, AND TARNOV. 485fthe most unrelenting manner. During the four years of her marriage,she bore him three children, whom their inhuman father tormented asmuch as herself. She at last resolved to separate from her cruel husband.But to her dismay, she discovered that the barbarian to whom she was married, who was at the same time spendthrift, drunkard, and gambler,had squandered away her fortune as well as his own, and as the death of her father soon afterwards left her no place of refuge, she resolved todestroy herself and her children. One dark and stormy night, she seizedher three little ones, flung them one after another into a deep well, and then flung herself in after them. The next morning the four bodies werefound in the well. Two of the little ones had clasped their mother'sbosom in the agony of death; the fourth had been caught by a projecting stone of the well, but all were dead. The husband was sent to the houseofcorrection for five years.The history of the other sister reminded us of the Jewess of Lemberg,and showed us what romantic situations Catholicism gives rise to here.She loved a young physician, who returned her love with equal warmth;but during the medical examination, the result of which was to have beenthe forerunner to the fulfilment of all his hopes, and to his advantageousestablishment in life, he had the misfortune to go mad from sheer anxiety.His agitation had already led him to make many wrong answers, and whenthe question was put to him, " How would you cure any one bitten by amad dog?" the word " mad, " seemed to strike him like an electric spark."Mad dog?" he cried, striking his forehead, " I would brand him withred-hot irons-I would-I would bite him in the leg, gentlemen! Maddog? Oh, ' tis horrible-have pity on me! Yes, I am mad-I ammad!”He was taken to a lunatic asylum. His poor bride felt this blow sokeenly, that she resolved to forsake the world, and take refuge in theconvent of St. Elizabeth. Convents of this order are numerous throughoutBohemia, Moravia, and Galicia, and it is the strictest of all in its discipline.No prohibition—not even that of a parent, is allowed to prevent those whowish to enter it from fulfilling their intentions. The moment a nun entersthis order she is subjected to the severest privations, and the most rigidausterities. She may not even see her father, mother, brother, or sister,except in the presence of the abbess, and through an iron grating. Allthe despair of the parents, all their endeavours to turn her from her purpose, were unavailing, and she was enrolled among the nuns of St. Elizabeth at Prague. Soon, however, she had ample reason to repent of thisstep. At first she held out, but after three years of solitary sufferings inthe monotonous loneliness of the cell, she found an opportunity of acquainting her father, through the grating, with her earnest desire to leavethe convent. For some time her friends revolved all possible means ofgetting her out; but it seemed impracticable, except by means of theconvent chimneysweeper. The father was a rich man, and promised him1000 florins, if he brought him back his daughter. The chimneysweeperagreed, and one night went to the convent, clad in a double black suit,and descended the chimney of the cell pointed out to him. He then dressed up the nun as his assistant, covering her face and hands with soot.Money animated him, and despair sustained her, to carry out the deception; they escaped, and she returned to her father's house. In the meantime the happiest changes had occurred there. The young doctor, herlover, had completely recovered from his temporary insanity, and awaited 2 K 2486 RZESZOV, PILSNO, AND TARNOV.his bride in an elegant travelling carriage. This event had been keptsecret from her while at the convent, in order not to make her stay thereyet more bitter. The couple hastened over the frontiers to Silesia, married, and then returned to Prague. The father's money bribed the prieststo silence, who indeed could do nothing now, as the holy sacrament of marriage was a tie even stronger than that of the convent vow. The poorchimneysweeper, indeed, suffered three years' imprisonment for his sharein the business, at the end of which time the money of the lady's father obtained his release.The moon was still shining brightly, when we reached the banks of theDunayez, which, next to the San, is the most important of the tributaries ofthe Vistula, rising in the Carpathians. It is more than thirty (German)miles long, and the valley of the Dunayez occupies a surface of 150 squaremiles. Its sources are on the highest points of the Tatra mountains, whence they flow down, strangely enough, on both the northern and southern side.Humboldt and Wahlenberg have already noticed this phenomenon. TheBlack and White Dunayez both flow in a northerly direction, but the Paprad, one of its principal feeders, flows first directly southward, as if tojoin the Danube. Afterwards it makes a bend eastward, and after flowing in this way for some time, turns off in a north-westerly direction, and breaking through the Carpathians, reaches the valley of the Vistula.Forty square miles of the valley of the Dunayez is Hungarian territory.The river is large and deep throughout the year, and even its tributarythePaprad is navigable. By the commerce carried on upon it, the Hungarian towns of Käsmark, Felka, and Lublo, are connected with Warsaw,Dantzig, and the Baltic. Hungarian wines and fruits,--we saw shipsladen with the wine of Erlau and Nessmüll, and others whose whole cargoconsisted of jars of plums, -together with firewood, timber, and planks,are the principal goods sent down the river; at present, however, the political division of the Dunayez, its mouth being Russian, its source Hungarian, and the middle part Galician, has much injured its commerce,which was far more important, in the prosperous days of the old Polish republic.A long wooden bridge crosses the Dunayez at Voinitz. We sawtheclear, broad, beautiful river, tumbling its tiny waves beneath, in the fullmoonlight, and the opening of the mountain glen, from which it flowsdown into the Voinitz plain, lay right before us; but we were obliged torelinquish the sight of all those romantic waterfalls, lovely little mountainlakes, wild glens and valleys, gloomy caverns, snowy glaciers, and towering pinnacles, of which we had so often heard, and which the murmuringwaves of the Dunayez at our feet, brought vividly back to our minds; forit was near midnight, and we had to seek our night's lodging. This wasa true Polish one; for a few planks covered with straw formed our bed,our cloaks our coverlets, and a wooden box our pillow. We were, however,accommodated with a place by a fire, and with a cup of warm egged beer,by way of refreshment. Our entertainers were Polish nobles. They invited us to share their humble accommodations with great politeness, arranged our straw with a graceful dignity of demeanour, and presented usour beer with formal courtesy. They were very busy this night, for theywere preparing cabbage for their winter subsistence.I lay awake on my straw-covered plank, to observe the operations ofthese Polish picklers of cabbage. They were goodnatured, dirty old fel-RZESZOV, PILSNO, AND TARNOV. 487lows, whom the master of the house encouraged to work, now with a dramand now with an oath. The whole floor was covered with leaves and headsof cabbage, among which lay boots, clothes, tallow candles, shovels, knives,and other household utensils, scattered in the wildest confusion. Somewere employed round the long table, in chopping and cutting up the cabbage with choppers and knives. The pieces were then thrown into a largejar, in which stood one of the party, who was busy stamping and poundingthe leaves together with his bare feet. The scene was extremely curiousand picturesque. The last-named operator was full of wit and humour,making so many jokes, and cutting such odd capers, as he danced in hisjar, that his comrades were ready to die with laughter. He sometimessnatched up his little skshibka, or violin, and played a merry tune, beatingtime with his feet among the cabbages. A second stood in a jar in another corner, smoking a pipe in silence, beating with his feet, and swayingto and fro with mechanical monotony and regularity. Occasionally hewent out for a few minutes, but soon returned, and jumping into his jaragain went on with his pounding, rising higher and higher as the jar filled,till he was lost among the smoke and mist which filled the upper part of the room.I asked my host whether the cabbage did not lose some of its agreeableflavour by this manner of treatment. He did not think it did; grapeswere treated in the same way, and the wine was none the worse.He forgot, however, that the cabbage was not strained and filtered afterwards,like the wine.The quantity of cabbage eaten in Poland, must be immense. Thishousehold was a small one, and yet when six great jars had been packedfull in this manner, three were still to be filled. Besides cabbage, a favourite diet with all Slavonic nations, potatoes and barley grits are theprincipal food of the country.The next morning, when we had paid as highly for our fire, our beds,our beer, and our tableau vivant of cabbage- packing Mazovians, as if thefire had been of cedarwood, the beds of eider down, the beer champagne,and the tableau painted by Ostade, our Wenzel consoled us with the as- surance that we had done with Polish accommodations, and should meetwith nothing but good inns for the rest of the way to Vienna. We weresorry however that the improvement which had begun some time previously,did not continue more regularly, instead of allowing of such relapses .One of the most important branches of commerce passing throughGalicia consists of the numbers of carriages and equipages made at Vienna,for Poland, Russia, and Moldavia. Whenever the wealthy Poles, or Moldavians, or the rich Russians of Odessa, Kharkov, and South Russia, wantany thing really good in this way, they send to Vienna for it. We sawsome of them pass us every day, packed carefully in wax-cloth and matting.Almost every waggon drew after it an empty carriage; sometimes wecounted twelve or fifteen in one day. Many are sent to Lemberg, but thegreater number to Brody for Russia, or to Tshernovitze for Moldavia and Bessarabia.The "Neitit*henken" are a very peculiar kind of carriages, made in Austrian Silesia, in the little town of Neutit*chein, and are used exclusively inGalicia. They are light, strong, cheap, and handsome; uncovered, and al- ways coloured white, green, and black. In Galicia they are used by allwho cannot afford a coach, and who yet will not drive in a common peasant's488 RZESZOV, PILSNO, AND TARNOV.cart; the citizens and soldiers always use them, as does the nobleman whenhe is only going a little way, and does not wish to use particular ceremony,and the peasant when he wishes to cut a figure. Every tolerably prosperous family in the kingdom has a light swift little " Neitit*henka,"and it is the prettiest, most suitable little carriage possible, for commonoccasions. Yet its use seems to be confined to Galicia; for it is never seeneither in Russia or in its native land Moravia. Whoever wants a genuineNeitit*henka, has to send to Moravia for it, for it is only there that thebeech and birchwood are good enough, and the workmen sufficiently skilful.The Carpathians on their whole northern side, are bordered, as many ofmy readers are probably aware, by enormous strata of salt. Unfortunately,however, immense masses of other earths have formed over these strata, sothat their treasures remain deeply buried under the earth. Only here andthere, small portions of these inexhaustible masses of salt are dug up,only here and there are there spots where the salt is near enough to thesurface, to be reached by man. One ofthese spots is at Bochnia, another at Vieliczka.forThe town of Bochnia owes its existence entirely to its salt-mines, theshaft leading down to which, is in the middle of the town.As it wasSunday when we reached Bochnia, we could only visit the mines in imagination; for all the shafts were closed. From 300,000 to 400,000 hundredweight of salt, are annually drawn from the earth at Bochnia; Vieliczkafurnishes double this quantity. At Bochnia four hundred labourers work inthe mines; at Vieliczka from seven to eight hundred. The salt of Bochniais generally whiter and finer than that of Vieliczka. The Bochnians, withwhom we dined, and from whom we learnt these particulars, also assuredus that their works were deeper than those of Vieliczka.We earnestly endeavoured to learn something respecting the well-knownPolish disorder, the Plica Polonica, a subject as interesting to the inquiring traveller, as disgusting to the eye and the imagination. We found,however, that this disease was not seen nearly so often in the mountainousdistricts of the south, as in the cold plains of the north. We were told that among the Rusniaks, the hair sometimes grewinto a clotted entangledmass, as is sometimes the case with badly-groomed horses, but that thedisease never fully developed itself among them.The little town of Gdov, lies in the valley of the Rabbat, betweenBochnia and Vieliczka, the way to which passes through a beautifuldistrict, with the plains of the Vistula to the right, and the Carpathians to the left. In all the inns by the wayside, we found on Sundaymusic and dancing. I shall never forget the pretty sprightly Shenkerka(barmaid) at Gdov, nor the grace with which she led us, her two eveningguests, to the dance, a gay Mazurka, played by two Slovaks. Nothingcan be more pretty or graceful than Polish girls when dancing. Theyappear all motion and animation, and while with us Germans only the feetdance, with them every muscle vibrates, and the eyes sparkle with delight.This was the first Shenkerka we had seen; for till now men had filledthis office at all the inns at which we had stopped.489THE SALT-WORKS OF VIELICZKA.Towards seven o'clock in the evening our carriage rolled over the headsof the salt-miners of Vieliczka, which have undermined the ground all round the town. We soon reached the free town of Vieliczka itself, withits towers, its old castle, its irregular streets, nestling in the sides of theCarpathians, and its German colony, or, as the people here call it, the"Swabianvillage," whose neat, cheerful houses cluster around the old Polishcity. We felt that we knew but little about the famous salt-mines themselves, and, therefore, hastened to obtain information of the salt inspectors,whom we found assembled at the Golden Angel, in order that the nextday we might be ready to visit them. Among these inspectors we foundtwo who were both willing and able to assist our inquiries, and from whomwe received the following particulars.OneAbove all, we had wished to learn something respecting the extent ofthe enormous stratas of salt which border the Carpathians; but our questions on this point, led us into such labyrinths of doubt and bewilderment that we soon became aware how little was known respecting it.thing is certain, namely, that the salt-mines all along the northern side of the Carpathians, prove the existence of immense masses of subterraneansalt. These masses have been pierced at Bochnia and Vieliczka in thenorth, at some parts of Moravia and Transylvania in the south, and lately at Sambor and Halitsh in the middle of the chain. * In all theseplaces the salt is of the same structure and kind, and the arrangement of the strata is also exactly the same. What riddles and questions areraised by these simple facts, which science in vain attempts to solve! Itmay be that originally an ocean covered the whole of Russia and Poland,as far as the foot of the Carpathians, which, forming its shore, received its deposits of salt. But the south-side of the Carpathians also contains saltmines and they extend even into Transylvania and Hungary. It would seem, then, that the enormous mass extended far around the Carpathians,and that these mountains were a later formation upon the salt strata. Ifthis be the case, did the mountains form gradually upon that basis, or did they rise from beneath, piercing the crust of salt? Is the first theorypossible? And if the last be correct, where are the fragments and pieces of salt thrown off? Was the salt formed suddenly, or slowly and gradually? In the latter case, how is it that enormous beds of salt are foundperfectly pure and white, without the admixture of a single foreign particle? How far do the great salt masses extend? Does the whole king- dom of Galicia, with all its forests, rivers, towns, and provinces, rest uponone enormous bed of salt? Or do the strata only occur in particular places? How deep do they extend into the bowels of the earth? Wheredo they lie furthest from, and where nearest to the surface? Perhaps in many places they are close under the surface, and their discovery is onlyhindered by chance? The answers to these questions lie hidden from us,

• The mines of Sambor and Halitsh have not been followed up. In Moldavia,

however, rock- salt has long been an article of commerce. Throughout South Russia and the Ukraine, the greenish rock- salt of Moldavia is often preferred to that of the lakes in the steppes. The Transylvanian rock-salt also extends on the other sideinto Hungary.490 THE SALT-WORKS OF VIELICZKA.as in the bottomless depths of ocean. Like mice gnawing a cheese, theinhabitants pick a little here and there at the top of the salt masses, without seeing farther than the light of their lanterns reaches.The Sarmatians of Herodotus, the Dacians, the Goths, and manyother nations, wandered for centuries over these countries , without ever dreaming ofthe treasures that lay buried beneaththem. Theyfetchedfromdistant shoresthe scanty portions which they needed of a mineral of which inexhaustiblestores lay scarcely one hundred feet beneath them. Six hundred years ago,in 1251 , the discovery was first made, and then it was that the mines ofBochnia and Vieliczka were first worked. It is said that St. Kunigunda,the consort of Duke Bolislaus V., was the first discoverer. Themanner of working, however, was at first very primitive, but afterwardsminers were brought from Hungary and Germany, and the work was moreregularly carried on. This was in the year 1442, but during the wholeperiod of Polish domination, all the arrangements were very imperfect.The mines were let to Jews, who worked them very carelessly and improvidently, only intent upon a momentary profit. Not till the year 1772,when the mines became the property of the Emperor of Austria, was aprudent and rational system of management adopted. Since then regularaccounts have been kept of the produce of the salt- mines, but only for theeye of the Austrian government, for towards a stranger so mysterious asilence is observed, that he can scarcely learn any thing respecting the increase or decrease of production, and the price of salt, of the gradual extension of the mines, of the improvement in the methods of working, andother such interesting particulars. There is no connected history of themines before 1772 to be had, but only single and fragmentary documents.The higher offices about the mines are now all filled by cultivatedGermans, and all possible improvements which art or science can suggestare adopted, partly to remedy the defects of the old system, and partly tomake the future more productive. Bochnia and Vieliczka taken together furnish about 900,000 hundredweight. That more might be obtainedthere can be no doubt; but the quantity taken is in some measure regulated by the demand. Of the 900,000 hundredweight, 200,000 are sentto Prussia, and 150,000 to Russia, at such prices as will just remuneratethe Austrian government for the cost of production. The other 550,000are sold by the government at arbitrary prices, in virtue of the salt monopoly which it possesses. They are consumed partly in Poland, partly inSilesia, Moravia, and the valleys of the Carpathians. The cost price for which the salt is sold to Russia and Prussia is a state mystery, though thecommon selling price is of course known. We were told at Vieliczka thatthe former could not be over one florin the hundredweight, including allthe expenses ofthe works, while the government sells the salt at five florinsthe hundredweight to its own subjects. It makes, therefore, a profit offour florins per hundredweight, and the whole of the salt- works mustfurnish a revenue of 2,200,000 florins to the crown, so that Austria doesnot from all the rest of the kingdom of Galicia derive as much revenue as from those few salt- mines.66The higher functionaries are about eighty-six in number; workmen and all included they amount to two hundred. The upper functionaries areheaded by a governor, and divided into " subterranean" and " upper-air”inspectors, or, as they are often called, gentlemen of the leather and gen- tlemen of the pen. The latter, councillors, governors, secretaries, andTHE SALT-WORKS OF VIELICZKA. 491guardians, included, are all only employed in the administrative department; the subterranean functionaries in the inspection of the workmenand the superintendence of new works. These officers are well paid, and wewere convinced of the easy circ*mstances in which they lived by the preparations for a ball which they gave during our stay at Vieliczka.Shemnitz, in Hungary, is the principal academy for the instruction ofthese inspectors The workmen are of two classes, those who are paid by the year, and those who work by the piece; the number of the latter increases or diminishes with the demand for salt. There are 800 superannuated workmen and inspectors in the receipt of pensions, of whom mosthave been employed here for 40 or 45 years.There are four great magazines for salt, where it is heaped up in hugestorehouses to which the merchants come to buy it. Smaller stores are keptat Brünn, Teschen, and Bilitz.The salt-works now cover a space of 35,000 square fathoms. Thelength of the mines with all their passages and alleys amounts to 7 (German) miles. Ten shafts connect this subterranean labyrinth with theupper world. One of them is used for draining away the water, twofor the descent of workmen, and the rest for the raising of the salt, andthe descent of the straw, wood, horses, and other things.The whole works are divided into three departments, technically calledfields; the Old field, the Yanina field, and the New field. The Old fieldgoes in a southward direction from the town into the mountains; theYanina field goes eastward, and the New field westward. The Old fieldconsists of the irregular works of oldest date. The Yanina field, namedafter King John Sobieski, was dug upon an improved plan. The Newfield is of Austrian foundation, and has been always worked according tothe best principles of art.Each of these mines consists of five stories or Contignations, one aboveanother, and each of these stories again is made up of numerous chambers,cells, and caverns, connected by horizontal passages. The different storiesare connected by perpendicular shafts, or winding stairs. The descent tothe uppermost story is thirty-four fathoms deep. Between each of thedifferent stories an interval is always left of fifteen or twenty fathoms.The depth, which has been rendered convenient for descent by shafts andstaircases, is a hundred and twenty-five fathoms; the entire depth amountsto a hundred and forty-five fathoms. Therefore, although Vieliczka itself is a hundred and fifty feet above the Vistula, and six hundred andninety-nine feet above the surface of the sea, yet the mines descend fivehundred and eighty feet below the bed of the Vistula, and three hundredfeet below the surface of the sea.The best kind of salt is the crystal salt, as it is called, which is of asnowy whiteness, and transparent as glass. It is found onlyin little massesor veins running through the other salt. Formerly this kind used alwaysto be sent to the King of Poland, who made presents of small portions ofit to the nobility, and also had it fashioned into various ornamental shapesfor the decoration of his palaces. It was also used for presents to othersovereigns. The King of Prussia still receives annually two hundredweight of this finest salt; the Emperor of Russia two anda half, as such,and two as King of Poland, and the Emperor of Austria three, as emperor,and one as King of Hungary. The statue of King John Sigismund,which formerly stood at Warsaw, and now stands at the salt-works, is made492 THE SALT-WORKS OF VIELICZKA.of the largest block which has ever been found of this finest crystal salt.The workmen make all sorts of pretty trifles of this salt for strangers;such as books, needlecases, crucifixes, billiard-balls, necklaces, rosaries,saltcellars, knives, inkstands, &c., which they sell at high prices. Wewere told that the year before, an English lord had bought up three hun- dredweight of these trinkets. Pieces are sometimes found which are astransparent and pure as the finest plate-glass. The attempt has even been made to manufacture mirrors of this salt.Besides this best salt, which, as we have said, is found only in smallquantities, there is the Blotnik or earth salt, the green salt, and the Shibiksalt. The first named is found in the upper strata, and is called so because it is often mixed with earth and clay. No trouble is taken to obtainit, but it is necessary to get rid of it, in order to come at the better kinds,and it is either used up in the mines, for the building of props, vaults, and steps, or sold at the mouth of the mine for cattle.The green salt lies in immense and dense masses, under the earth salt,and is the principal object of attention. It consists of small crystals,which adhere closely together. It is as hard as glass, and is of about thesame greenish colour and transparency, as common bottle-glass. Thisclass has many subdivisions, according to the quality and density of the masses.The lower we descend, the whiter, finer, and better, the salt becomes.After the above-mentioned crystal salt, the best sort is the Shibik salt,which lies under the green salt. It is less green and more dense than the latter.The earth salt is sold in such pieces as it happens to be broken into, tothe inhabitants of the surrounding district, and is not used in commerce.The differences between the various kinds of green salt, are also too insignificant to be noted by the government, which only takes cognizance of three distinctions. There is,Firstly, the Crystal salt;Secondly, the Shibik salt;And thirdly, the Green salt.The crystal salt is brought up in as large quantities as possible, and isimmediately formed into the required shapes by the chisel of the sculptor,or the knife of the workman. The shapes of the Green and Shibik salts,therefore, alone remain to be considered.The salt at Vieliczka is commonly cut into either cylindrical or parallelopipedic shapes; the former are called " Balvans," and the latter formal pieces. The cylindrical form is the most common. We were told thatBalvan was an old idol of the Sarmatians, and that from him the shapeand name were derived . Perfectly cylindrical these Balvanen are not, butrather bulging out in the middle. They are cut into this shape by theworkmen while still in the mine. They are rolled about by the workmenin the mines on wheelbarrows. Löllner and Sydov estimate the weightof a Balvan at from five to ten hundredweight; but we were told thatthey were never made smaller than two, and never larger than three hundredweight. This seems much more likely to be the truth; for how coulda mass of ten hundredweight be rolled about in a wheelbarrow by asingle man! The parallelopipeds are from two to three hundredweight.Those pieces which break off during the loosening of the blocks of salt,and which though of a good size, are not large enough to make intoTHE SALT-WORKS OF VIELICZKA. 493balvans and parallelopipeds, are called " natural pieces." They are soldsingly and according to weight; the little fragments and pieces which areof small size, and not worth selling singly, are packed into jars and sold by measure. Each of these kinds has its particular customers. The naturalpieces generally remain in the neighbourhood; the balvans are sent awayby land carriage, and the parallelopipeds by water. The small brokenfragments are bought bythe neighbouring peasants.Descending into the mine, the first upper crust through which we pass, isof clay, mould, and sand. At a depth of fifteen fathoms are found the firsttraces of salt, consisting of a few little crystals scattered in the clay. Hereand there also the clay appears intersected bythin veins of salt, or impregnated with numerous particles of it; but at Vieliczka, these little piecesare overlooked in the rich abundance of the stores beneath. If the storyis true that a shepherd named Vielicz, was the first discoverer of thesestores of salt, it must probably have been originally found near the surface, for it is not likely that a shepherd should have dug to such a depth toget at a spring, or for any other purpose.Thedeeper we descend into the salted clay, the larger become the masseswhich it contains; their size increases from five, ten, or fifteen feet in diameter to fifty or one hundred feet. In the upper parts these pieces are dirtyand mixed with earth; but further down, they become clear, dense, andpure. These great fragments lie about in all directions, positions, andshapes; they seem to have once formed huge firm connected masses, whichhave been broken asunder by some great natural convulsion.Under the old system the salt was taken wherever it was found, in as greatquantities as possible, and no one was thoughtful enough to inquire whetherthe neighbouring strata of earth were firm enough to bear this undermining and scooping away. Wherever any thing was built, it was done ina bad and unsolid a manner. Apenurious system prevailed in the building of passages, props, and shafts, as well as in the draining and ventilatingof the mines. They were sometimes altogether neglected, and sometimesthe passages were made so small, that it was necessary to creep through onallfours. Besides perpetual inconvenience, this nigg*rdly system occasionedmany accidents, such as the falling in of roofs and passages, the death ofworkmen, and occasionally when the upper crust fell in, whole streets of thetown of Vieliczka were destroyed as by an earthquake. Of late, neithertime nor money has been spared in remedying these ancient errors.passages have been strengthened and widened, and under the roofs, propshave been placed, mostly taken from the forests of Niepolomize. Agreatpart of these forests lies at present beneath the earth, in the shape of propsand beams.TheIn the new mine every thing is in the very best of order. The passagesand staircases are broad and convenient; and wherever the pits and shaftspass through earth and clay, their sides are strengthened either with wood, or with masses of salt; where they pass through salt, this is unnecessary. Thebuilding with salt is carried on in this manner; the blocks of salt are simply laid upon one another, and then water is poured over them. The waterimpregnates itself with salt, and fills the smallest interstices; gradually thewater evaporates, and the salt thus deposited in every interstice, forms akind of cement, which binds the whole mass and renders it extremely strong.In this way, walls and ceilings of the greatest solidity are built of salt and494 THE SALT-WORKS OF VIELICZKA.water.names.When the salt is scooped out and taken away, columns of salt areleft at regular intervals to support the arched roof; these columns give theappearance of long aisles in a Gothic cathedral to some parts of the mines.The number of all the chambers and vaults in the mines is uncertain;there are nearly a hundred of them which are distinguished by particularThe entire labyrinth of rooms, vaults, ladders, pits, passages,staircases, stories, aisles, mines, and shafts, in this gigantic subterraneanbuilding, has become so enormous during the six hundred years of its constant growth, that there is not one of the superintendents at Vieliczka whonow knows every part of it. Each knows his own district; but if he ventures into unknown regions, he requires a guide as if he were a stranger.There are even parts of the works which have not for years been entered byanyhuman being. This may easily be imagined, when we consider that thisconcealed labyrinth would, if exposed to the light of day, present a surface ofdouble the extent of the old town of Vienna, and of three times the perpendicular height of the church and spire of St. Stephen's in that city.The next morning I descended into the mines, furnished with the knowledge ofthe above particulars, and with a ticket of admission from the go- vernor. I wore a white linen blouse for the protection of my clothes. Wealmost regretted that we were not hung to long sticks, and wound down likeso manybunches ofgrapes, in the manner old travellers have described; instead of this, we quietly walked down long convenient staircases. Thesesteps, some of which are of wood and some of salt, were mostly built forthe convenience of royal visiters. There is one grand staircase which wasbuilt for Augustus II. , and another, the imperial stairs, which was built forthe late emperor and some members of his family; common visiters descend by side steps. These, however, are very convenient and safe; indeed at times I wished for a few difficulties to conquer, for at the salt-minesof Vieliczka, one may ascend and descend as leisurely as on the staircaseof a palace.The Austrians are, as I have said, very mysterious and reserved withrespect to their salt-mines. This secrecy is not merely observed in the administrative department, regarding the cost, the prices, the quantitiestaken, &c. , but also with respect to the mining arrangements, the extentof the works, and other circ*mstances of the kind, for which it is not easyto account; strangers therefore, are never allowed to remain long in themines, and are seldom permitted to repeat their visits. The system atVieliczka is something like that of the Dutch spice establishments in India.For instance, it would be easy to obtain twice or thrice as much salt as atpresent, but the government will not do this for fear of lowering the price.Whenever the workmen leave the shafts, they are searched in a suspiciousand insulting manner, as if it was a gold or diamond mine in which theyhad been working. This inquisitorial proceeding is far more likely to destroy than to preserve honesty; a liberal system, and a simple prohibitionagainst the taking away of salt, would be quite as effectual. The workmen are otherwise well provided with salt, receiving besides their wages,a regular allowance offifteen pounds of it annually for each member of their families. Another most offensively grasping proceeding is the carewhich is taken that none shall use the water impregnated with salt whichflows from the mine, and cannot be used there. This water is conductedthrough subterranean canals into the Vistula, where, mixing with the riverTHE SALT-WORKS OF VIELICZKA. 495water, it soon becomes useless. In this way, six hundred eimer of the finest brine, for which in some countries it would be thought worth while toestablish separate salt-works, are wasted every day.The salt- mines of Vieliczka are certainly the most beautiful andupon the greatest scale of any inthe world. Nowhere is dirt or disorder tobe seen, but every thing shines and glitters with the purest brilliancy.Springs of water nowhere occur throughout the mines, and consequentlythe air is very dry. * This is proved by the excellent preservation of thesalt statues erected here and there, which would soon decay in damp air.The human inhabitants appear in as good preservation as the statues;they all seemed very healthy, and most of them must be old, many havingworked in the mines for forty or fifty years. The air seems also to agreevery well with the horses, who soon grow fat in the mines, if they havebeen ever so thin before . Through all the passages flows a strong currentof air, which at certain corners blows with astonishing violence. An extraordinary subterranean whirlwind took place here in 1745, when a great internal vault fell in. The condensed air shot up through the rafts andpassages leading from the vault, upsetting the workmen and their tools inthe upper stories, tearing down beams and opening doors, and finallythrowing down all the buildings which stood over the pit.Noxious gases and bad vapours, so common in coal, copper, and silvermines, are never experienced at Vieliczka. The masses generally cohereso closely as to leave no room for the formation ofsuch gases. Occasionallythere arises a combustible hydrogen gas, called Saleter by the Poles, whichfloats up quietly through the atmosphere, and burns awaywithout causingthe slightest damage. On these accounts labour in these mines is not nearly so dangerous or unwholesome as in others; and the dreadful accidents which sometimes occur in coal-mines are quite unknown here. Sometimes the fine particles of salt inhaled with the air render the miners consumptive; but for the most part they live long and enjoy good health.The air itself is preservative to animal and vegetable matter. The meatbrought down into the mines, becomes naturally salted, and keeps for acomparatively long time. Dead horses have sometimes been thrown intounused chambers, because the workmen were too lazy to bring them up;and after years have passed away, both skin and flesh have been found perfect and entire.We soon went down the upper flights of steps, passing through three fathoms of mould, sixteen ells of clay, and thirty feet of sand. Anxious toreach the salt-mines beneath, we paid little attention to these appearances,which otherwise might have been fertile in interesting suggestions andspeculations.The firstAt length we reached the upper story, and were shown masses and veins of salt in the walls ofthe pass. The mere tints along the walls sufficed toshow us that we had passed into a stratum of a different kind.chamberwe entered was the Upper St. Ursula's chamber, the next the UnderSt. Ursula's chamber, then the Michaelovitsh, the Drosdovitsh, the EmperorFrancis, the St. Mary, the Rosetta, and the Pishtek chambers, &c. &c. These

• After digging below the strata of salt, the workmen come to springs, and on several occasions the mines have been placed in great peril by attempts to go beyond

the prescribed depth. This is now carefully avoided. Fresh water has to be con- veyed into the mines from above by means of pipes.496 THE SALT-WORKS OF VIELICZKA.chambers have been named after Saints, distinguished mining inspectors,Polish kings, and Austrian emperors. On an average each of these is 100 or150 feet high, and 80 or 100 long and wide. In some the works were stillgoing on. Others were used as storehouses for the salt. They had the appearance ofhuge subterranean vaults of Gothic architecture. Wooden stepsleading from gallery to gallery were fastened to the walls. Workmen stood ineach of these galleries, holding torches and lanterns, which lit up the darkwalls. One who stood in the highest gallery, lighted a large bunch ofoakum, and threw it down the shaft. It burnt up in a moment, and theflame towered high into the air, as it floated away through the caverns,lighting up the glittering vault to its highest summits, and revealing freshand unknown depths below. The old mines are very picturesque, particularly where the roofs dividing the stories have fallen in, and thus openedabysses to the view, at which the spectator shudders. The new mines, withtheir regular beams and props, strong, even walls, and strong neat chambers, were far more prosaic in appearance. In some caverns, immense chandeliers cut out of the salt have been hung up. In one which wascalled the " Great Hall," hung such a chandelier, thirty-five feet inheight, and sixty in circumference. In another, the Lentov chamber, weresix ofthem.every mornSome ofthe old salt caverns have been turned into stables, others intochapels and churches. The largest chapel is that of St. Anthony of Padua.It was built in 1698, and formerly mass was performed thereing to the miners; this, I am sorry to say, Joseph II. abolished. Everyyear, however, on the 3d of July, service is performed there, followed byagrand festival. All the inspectors and workmen are dressed in gala costume, and dine at long tables spread out in the salt caverns. In the chapeleverything is made of cut salt, altar, walls, ceiling, doors, crucifixes, niches,pedestals, and the statues upon them, of St. Anthony, St. Paul, St. Dominic,St. Francis, St. Mary, St. Kunigunda, and the Bishops Stanislaus andCasimir. The light of a torch held behind one of these statues, piercesthrough its thickest part. It is wonderful how little some of these statueshave suffered, though they have remained here more than a century. Thesharpness of their features alone seems a little to have worn down. Whenwe were there, an old workman was busy sharpening them up again, witha hammer and chisel. As he could only raise the nose by cutting at thecheeks, and the lips by cutting at the chin, he certainly did not improvetheir physiognomies. It would have been a hundred times better to have left them untouched.Toys of this kind are very plentiful in the mines; for instance, salt obelisks as memorials of royal visits, and salt monuments of different festivals.Besides the St. Anthony's chapel, there is the Corporis-Christi chapel, inwhich every year, on the 3d of September, service is performed in memoryof the visit of the late emperor Francis. The oldest salt statue is that ofthe Polish queen, Kunigunda, the founder of the mine. Around it hangalso old lamps of cut salt. The most interesting trophy is a great Austrianeagle, surrounded by all the tools and instruments used in the mines. Thistrophy is in the Old Dancing Hall. In this saloon, whose walls are resplendent as with the gleam of thousands of diamonds, the subterraneanfêtes are given; and the illumination on these occasions surpasses our mostmagnificent ball-rooms in splendour. The saloon must resemble a fairy palace when completely lighted up.THE SALT-WORKS OF VIELICZKA. 497The stables, stalls, and troughs of the horses kept below, are also ofsalt. There are generally from sixteen to twenty pair of these horses;they are the only creatures who, when once brought down, never seethe light of day again. It is extraordinary that so unnatural a wayof life seems to agree so well with them. Though deprived of sunshineand daylight, of the cool fresh grass, and the pleasant air of morning, theyare not only fat and strong, but live to a good old age. They are madeuse of to keep the machinery in motion, and for the transport of largemasses of salt. The grooms who attend them, are often down in the minesfor weeks together, without seeing the light of day. All the other workmen leave the mines after eight hours ' work. When horses are to be takendown, they are fastened into a long basket, and let down by a rope.Atfirst they resist this, but lie quite still the moment they get down into the dark part.The most wonderful of all the wonderful spectacles which these cavernsand vaults present, are the subterranean ponds or lakes. There are nearlytwenty such, on which a few small boats are kept. We were rowed overtwo, which are connected by a canal. Each was several hundred feet long,and about twenty feet deep; and far above them arched the huge salt rocks. Never had a breath of wind troubled the surface of these Stygianwaters; never had a swallow fluttered over them, or a lily bathed its petals in their still waves. Moved as if by an invisible hand, the silent boatfloated over the smooth, tranquil surface . We seemed as if in anotherworld, for even the sounds which broke the silence were strange and un- familiar. We had taken some pieces of salt with us, which we droppedinto the middle of the water, and the sound was as if we had struck thedeepest bass chord of a harp. The echo lasted for several seconds, but did not seem to come from the rocks around, but to be reverberated fromthe depths of the water.In one of the subterranean chambers a little museum has been collected,containing all the varieties of salt and other substances found in the mines.There are to be seen shells imbedded in salt-t -a proof that the salt wasdeposited by an ocean; petrified and salted wood; masses of salt withstones in them; pieces of clay containing particles of salt, and salt crystals invarious curious and fantastic shapes. Some are remarkable for their smell,which is sometimes like that of truffles, at others, like that of phosphorus,and sometimes again like that of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, &c.Four hundred cubic fathoms of the salt rocks yield 5000 tons of salt.Since annually, therefore, 35,000 tons of salt are obtained, the mines mustbe enlarged every year to the amount of 2800 cubic fathoms, which isequal to a space eighty feet in length, height, and breadth. It would beeasy, therefore, to calculate about how much salt has been thus taken fromthe bowels of the earth, since first the mines were established . The hundred great vaults which the mines contain, have always yielded the prin- cipal part of the produce. On an average each of these vaults contained2000 cubic fathoms of pure salt, and the aggregate amount of their con- tents would be 200,000 cubic fathoms, or 2,500,000 tons of salt. In thiscomputation is not included the quantity gained from the shafts, passages,stairs, &c., which would double the amount. The total would be fivemillions of tons, which would probably be near the truth; for this wouldgive for each year an average of between twelve and thirteen thousandtons of salt. If the price of a hundredweight of salt has on an average498 CRACOW.been three florins, these mines have, during the 400 years of their duration,set a capital of three hundred millions of florins in circulation; and, estimating the average annual consumption of every man, woman, and child,at ten pounds, have furnished three hundred millions of human beings with salt.CRACOW.In all Poland, there is no city whose first appearance can compare withthat of Cracow. The valley of the Vistula here forms a deep, hollow, evenbasin, surrounded by hills, in the midst of which lies the stately old city,with its palaces, huts, and castles, and numberless spires and steeples. Itis surrounded by pretty villas and convents, nestling among fertile meadows and blooming gardens, and the arms of the Vistula flow round andembrace it. Towards the north, the horizon is crowned by low woodedhills, and towards the south by the distant summits of the lofty Carpathians. Podgorze is separated from Cracow by the Vistula, and was formerly one of its suburbs. The people always call it by its old name, but the official Austrian name is inscribed on a great board over the gates, andruns thus: " Josephstadt, an Imperial free manufacturing city."Zöllner tells a story of an old Polish gentleman living at Cracow, whonever could look across the Vistula to Podgorze, without shedding tears.Atown must certainly suffer much, when so important a limb is severedfrom its body, for towns are not like some reptiles, of which when cut intoseveral pieces, each separate fragment grows fresh limbs, and becomes anew and complete being. On the contrary, the different parts of a townare so closely connected together, by so many ties, that it cannot be partitioned, without much suffering to all its parts. Podgorze, however, hasnot suffered from this amputation so much as Cracow; for it has prosperedat the cost of the latter. The inns of Podgorze were far more suited tothe dignity of Cracow than to the insignificance of its former suburb.Most of the tradespeople of Cracow have likewise establishments in Podgorze; some of them have even emigrated entirely to the Austrian side,so that the whole place presents a picture of rising prosperity, forming astriking contrast to the fallen state of Cracow. We took up our quartersat Podgorze, intending from thence to visit the old city on the oppositeside of the Vistula. We presented our passports at the Austrian passportoffice, and received permission to visit Cracow for six hours, upon oursolemn promise to return within that time; the young merchant withwhom we were travelling, a born Austrian subject, was not allowed to go The reason of this was, that a Russian spy had been murdered inCracow a few days before, on account of which the town was filled with Austrian soldiers, and was in the greatest alarm and confusion. A barrierwas set up at the bridge, where some Austrian officers with sticks in theirhands were marching up and down, not allowing any one to cross withouta ticket of permission. The peasants and peasantwomen who understoodnothing of the meaning of these obstructions and ceremonies, presentedtheir tickets in puzzled silence as they passed through with their eggs,butter, charcoal, and other things for market. At the turnpike weleftour poor young merchant, whose government kept such a strict surveillanceover his proceedings. He looked sorrowfully across the bridge at the freecity of Cracow, which remained to him a tantalizing terra incognita.at all.CRACOW. 499The fame of Cracow is connected with the oldest events of Polishhistory, and down to modern days the energetic race which inhabits thistown and its neighbourhood, have always been among the bravest and bestPolish patriots. Here Kosciusko celebrated his greatest triumphs. Afterthe second and third partitions of Poland, and after the vain exertionsmade to avert that catastrophe, in which Cracow heartily joined, this city,which in the middle of the last century had numbered one hundredthousand inhabitants, sank to its minimum of importance, and at the endof the century, numbered only sixteen thousand inhabitants. The tranquillity which prevailed in Poland till 1830, caused it to recover a little,and from 1820 to 1830, its population rose to twenty thousand andtwenty-four thousand; but since the end of the Polish revolution in 1831 ,Cracow has been sinking more and more. The Austrians of the threegreat powers that protect Cracow, are the least hated by the Poles, and itappeared to us to be the general feeling of the inhabitants, that the bestthing for Cracow would be its speedy union with the Austrian Empire.Such an union with Austria seemed universally to be desired, and that withRussia to be dreaded; and the report prevailed at the time, that Austriawould give up to Russia the circle of Tarnopol, and take Cracow inexchange. This favourable feeling towards Austria is the more natural,that half the inhabitants of Cracow are either Germans or GermanizedPoles.Six hours only were allowed me for this interesting and curious republic,so that I determined to use my senses to the utmost, and let nothingescape me, and I may truly say that I carried off from my brief visit, moreinformation and more impressions than I shall here be able to record.We reached the middle of the low old bridge, where the territory ofAustria ceases, and that of the free republic, surrounded and protected bythree powerful autocrats, begins. The Vistula here flows in many arms through a projecting rocky formation, which formerly connected the Carpathian mountains with the hills on the opposite side of the river. The Vistula, however, has now broken through this bank, and as this changemust first have rendered the river navigable; it probably gave the first occasion to the building of Cracow, and to its subsequent prosperity.Hungary, Silesia, Galicia, and Poland, are countries which find in Cracowa natural place of exchange for their wares; and though recent unfortunate political events have greatly injured her commerce, yet Hungarian wine, Silesian manufactures, Vieliczka salt, and Galician honey and wax,still pass through Cracow along the Vistula. This city also carries on atrade with Warsaw and Danzig, furnishing them with spices and easterncommodities, and also with Carpathian stone, chalk, and gypsum. Thelittle ships, called Strusen and Pletten, supply Cracow with wood, hay,butter, and vegetables, from the Austrian, Russian, and Cracovian domi- nions; and above all with coals from Prussian and Austrian Silesia.Among the minor branches of trade, is that of eggs, which is carried onthrough Cracow between Galicia and Warsaw; these eggs are principallythe harvest of the poultry-yards of the Galician peasants, who are bound to send their lords a stipulated number of eggs at certain seasons of the year, particularly at Michaelmas.It is a peculiarity in Cracow that all its quarters have distinct and different names; each of its parts forming, indeed, a separate little town,once governed by a constitution of its own, and still partially divided by2 L500 CRACOW.walls from the rest of the city. They are the towns of Stradom, Kasimierz,and Cracow, and the suburbs of Clepardia, Smolensk, Vessola, Visna,Piasek, &c. We first entered Stradom, which lies upon an island inthe Vistula, between Kasimierz and Podgorze; the two Cracovian sentinels who usually keep watch there, had been supplanted by Austriansoldiers. We found the principal street of Stradom lifeless and uninteresting, with small insignificant houses. As it was very winding andcrooked, we had some difficulty in finding our way, but after a littlewhile we had guides enough, for passing over an arm of the Vistula, wereached the Jewish quarter, the old town of Kasimierz. Here the streetswere busy, crowded, and noisy as a beehive; and as all the inhabitants were Jews, they were all our servants for a small remuneration. We sent onefor a fiacre, and engaged another to be our guide. The number of Jewswho crowded the streets, doors, and thresholds of Kasimierz, was almostincredible, and though it was the sabbath, they did not seem the lessbusy and active. Many were working in different ways in the streets.This custom of living in the open air, seems to be transplanted by the Polish Jews from their native east. They were most of them veryragged, dirty, and miserable-looking, but through the windows we saw many a pretty face pertaining to the softer sex. We were struck withmany peculiarities in their dress and appearance, such as the absence of the hood ornamented with beads which decorated the heads of all theJewish women between Odessa and Lemberg. The girls had all ofthem their heads uncovered, and the ringlets of many were beautifullyluxuriant. The married women wore gilt caps, edged with fur.While waiting for our fiacre we entered the ground-floor of one of themost miserable Jewish houses, and the following was the picture that presented itself: The cellar, from which rose a pestilential vapour, was filleda foot high with water. The Vistula had overflowed in the autumn, andit had rained much, so that the water came through the broken wallswhich the landlord refused to mend; neither would he have the waterpumped out, saying that it was not his business. The poor people hadlaid stones and boards across the flood, as bridges to their tables and beds. As we entered, a couple of naked lads came splashing throughthe water, whining and asking alms. In this hole lived no fewer thanthree families, all plentifully provided with children. They inhabitedseparate corners, and told us that in general they marked out their separate territories with chalk upon the floor, but that the water had now obliterated all such traces. The bedsteads, covered with straw, were almostburied in the water; and upon the highest of them sat a young mother,with her feet resting on a stone, suckling her child. Her rags covered but one leg; the skin of the other was tender and delicate. The waterwas splashing in the cradle of a young infant, and an old Jew, blind,decrepit, and diseased, sat by with the cold indifference of a statue, insensible to all around him. We beheld this picture of misery with shuddering horror, and having distributed a few trifling gifts and words of consolation, we hastened out, as we heard our fiacre drive up.The rest of the Jewish quarter of Kasimierz was soon passed, andcrossing the pretty stone bridge which leads over another arm of the Vistula, we entered the real town of Cracow. In the days when the Bishopof Cracow, who, with his spiritual dignity enjoyed the title of Duke in Severia, had still an annual income of 50,000 ducats, when the Voyevode ofCRACOW. 501Cracowruled southward to the Tatra mountains, and when the Castellan ofCracow, not only the first Castellan in Poland, but in rank superioreven to the Voyevodes, was a senator of the republic, and dispensed jus- tice in the sight of all men in the public market-place; when those oldhouses which now look so black and ruinous, were inhabited by magnates, and overflowed with pomp and luxury; or coming down to latertimes, in the days when Kosciusko, the idol of Cracow, first raised thebanner of freedom for his native land, then indeed this old capital musthave been beautiful and interesting in the highest degree. Or whena newly-chosen monarch entered his capital in state, from the electionfield of the Vola; or when deceased royalty entered the city in all thepomp and pageantry of death, to lay his bones among those of his predecessors, amid the rocks of the Necropolis, how must the streets andhouses have been crowded then with guests and strangers, how must thebells ofthe seventy-two churches of Cracow have rung in triumph or tolledin requiem! But those days of prosperity and independence found few todescribe them, while the petty present, where every thing is levelled oreffaced, is searched in every corner for topics and themes of interest.We noticed a great many ruinous and falling buildings; and otherswhich had been stopped in the building, and whose unfinished fragments were already becoming ruins. The streets were filled with Austrian soldiers, Jews, German mechanics, Polish peasants, and here and there a quietPolish nobleman. Ofthe senators and presidents of the republic we saw nothing, but it would not have been easy to overlook the handsome statelybuilding in which the Russian consul resides. We drove through severalstreets-many of them rich in interesting buildings -and at length passingthrough the Greksky Ulitza (Greek-street), we reached the market-placeor " Ring" of the city. It is one of the most interesting market-placespossible, and but for the absence of the sea, might remind the spectator ofSt. Mark's place at Venice. It is a large open space, surrounded partlyby handsome new, and partly by interesting old buildings, among whichstands the Sukonitza, an old house, built in the Gothic style. It is along hall, whose wide interior is intersected by two arcades, which cross oneanother in the centre. Our Jewish guide was very fluent in relating tous how this building was formerly called the Volnitza, or Hall of Election,and that for some time the kings of Poland were here chosen. The noblesassembled in the great hall, and the numerous side chambers weredevoted to different minor purposes. Around this building is concentratedthe chief bustle and noise of the town. The peasants sell the wares whichthey bring to market in their little carts, and then creep stealthily roundthe Sukonitza, wrapped in their sheepskins, to purchase the trifles of whichthey stand in need. The Jews follow them incessantly, to chaffer with andcheat them; even the little Jewish children begin early to practise theseoccupations, and hawk about with noisy importunity little baskets full ofuseless knickknackeries. Another prominent figure in the crowd is thatof the priest, which is as frequently seen in Cracowas in Moscow, Benares,or Babylon. In the centre of the Sukonitza, where the four arcades meet,are the three great eagles of the three protecting powers perching togetherwith brotherly unanimity. The castle and the market-place of Cracowhave been the scenes of all its great historical events, the last of which wasthe triumph of Kosciusko, and his elevation as generalissimo of the rising 2 L 2502 CRACOW.republic. The whole market-place is now covered with booths, which arescattered about in picturesque disorder.Upon the south-eastern side, lies the imposing and beautiful church ofthe " Holy Mother of God." It is built in the Gothic style, and its windows are stained with beautiful paintings on glass. Like most Polishchurches, it has three organs, one large one opposite the altar, and twosmall ones on each side of the choir. The sound of these organs duringservice time, now repeating each other like echoes, now answering, andnow joining in full chorus, must have a particularly beautiful effect, thediscovery of which appears to be confined to the Poles, for out of Poland,as far as I know, this plurality of organs is quite unknown, whereas inPoland some churches have as many as five. Like all the churches of Cracow, for which the Polish nobility always did more than for any othersin the kingdom, St. Mary's church is rich in monuments of Polish greatness. St. Anne's church offers but little historical interest. The onlything about it that is likely to attract a stranger is the tomb of Copernicus.Cracow contains thirty convents, of one of which, that of St. Elizabeth,our Jewish guide related to us the following story. Three weeks ago afire broke out in this convent, of which the nuns are subjected to verystrict rules of discipline. Some of them, in this emergency, left theircells without further ceremony, and took refuge in the neighbouringhouses; but others, shrinking with horror from the idea of violatinga vow which binds them under no circ*mstances ever to leave the convent,preferred to remain and meet their fate. They would have perished in theflames, had not the Jewish firemen rushed in and saved them by sheer force. Throughout Galicia the Jews are the only firemen, and the numerous fires which are constantly breaking out in Cracow give them plenty todo there. They must even help the Christians to save their convents andchurches, though, except in the hour of danger, the pollution of their pre- sence would not be allowed there.We had now already spent a good quarter of the time allowed us bytheAustrian police, and had not seen the greatest lion of Cracow, the capitalor Acropolis of the city, called the Vavel, with the old Königsburg, andthe cathedral. We accordingly, after a hasty view of the churches of St.Anne and St. Peter, the Franciscan convent, and the episcopal palace,proceeded towards the Vavel.The hill upon which stand these old buildings, the most sacred andhighly-valued remains of Polish antiquity, is, upon one side very steep,and towers with gigantic majesty upon its frowning rocks, from amongthepetty web of streets at its feet. Its excellent fortifications must have beenof some importance when it was the citadel of the metropolis of Poland.During their occupation the French strengthened these fortifications,which, however, seem now to be falling into ruins. A broad and handsome road leads up to the Vavel, resembling that which leads to the castleat Edinburgh, and commands, in every part, a beautiful view of the town,the landscape, and the Carpathian mountains beyond. Up this road thefifty or sixty kings of Poland passed, each of them twice, surrounded byall the pomp and magnificence of their station; once on horseback, in theprime of manhood and the zenith of glory, surrounded by the magnates ofthe kingdom, in order to be invested by the primate, in the cathedral, withthe thorny diadem of Poland; and a second time, likewise in all the pompCRACOW. 503of royalty, and surrounded by nobles and grandees, but pale, motionless,and unconscious, to join the departed sovereigns in their silent abode on the Vavel.It is curious to read with what ceremony, pomp, and magnificence, thecoronations and funerals of the Polish kings were conducted, a deferenceand veneration for the royal office being then manifested by the nobles,which afforded a striking contrast to their conduct towards reigning andliving sovereigns. Kings, who exercised, while living, scarcely the shadow of real power, were buried after death, with a state which the mostpowerful autocrats have rarely equalled. The body of the deceased kingwas first taken with great ceremony to Warsaw, where it was embalmed,and lay in state in the principal church, till a new king was chosen.Next it was brought to Cracow in grand procession, followed by the newking and the greatest nobles of the country, and laid in the church ofSt. Stanislaus, where the Primate of Poland and the Bishop of Cracowperformed the funeral obsequies, assisted by the assembled clergy; andfinally, after numerous further ceremonies, the body was deposited in the vaults ofthe cathedral. The newly- chosen king was obliged to be presentat all these solemnities, in order that he might remember the vanity of earthly greatness.At the entrance of the cathedral, to which we first directed our steps,our Jew gave us up to the guidance of the sexton. I never remember tohave seen a church so rich as this in interesting monuments and royaltombs. The cathedral itself is a splendid and majestic building, built inthe Gothic style. The body of the church is large and lofty, surroundedby numbers of small chapels. The pillars are marble, and their ornaments,as well as the decorations of the twenty-four chapels, with their sculptures,pictures, statues, and carvings, astonished us by their beauty and variety.On entering, the eye is first caught by the splendid monument of St. Stanislaus, consisting of a catafalk and coffin, with the statue of the saintedbishop, and a number of figures of angels and others, all of pure andshining silver. This Stanislaus is one of the many priests, who, duringthe struggle in the middle ages between the spiritual and the temporalpower, received death from the latter, and the crown of martyrdom fromthe former. He and King Boleslaus played here in Cracow, parts nearlyidentical with those of Nepomucene and King Venceslaus in Prague.Stanislaus Shtshepovski was a native of Kenty, a small Polish city,where his parents died in indigent circ*mstances shortly after his birth.A wealthy noble adopted him, and educated him for the church, where histalents soon distinguished him so much, that while yet a young man, heobtained the dignity of Bishop of Cracow. Here, according to the narrative handed down to us by contemporary churchmen, he led so exemplary a life, that his very virtues became a thorn in the eyes of thewicked, vicious, and godless King Boleslaus II. , whose natural aversion tothe bishop, was inflamed to the most inveterate animosity, when the goodman ventured to reproach him with his licentiousness, cruelty, and irreguway of life. All the bishop's remonstrances were of no avail, and hefound it necessary to proceed to more serious measures.The king persisted in his wicked course, and the bishop forbade his entrance to thechurch. Boleslaus, in defiance of the prohibition, forced his way in,Stanislaus immediately interrupted the course of divine service, and wasabout to pronounce a curse on the sacrilegious monarch, when the latterlar504 CRACOW.and his attendants rushed upon him, hacked his body to pieces, and threw these into the Vistula .An important part of the story is usually omitted by the reverend historians. The time of the tragedy was the papacy of Gregory VII., and thebishop had his private grounds for quarrel with the king. The fosterfather of Stanislaus had bequeathed his estates to his adopted son, but theking refused to recognise the will, though the bishop, in proof of itsvalidity, performed a multitude of miracles, calling the old knight, forinstance, from the grave, to give his hand to his foster son, and attest thewill anew. The king enforced his claim, nevertheless, though the tribunals decided against him. Hinc lacrima! hinc ira! No doubt, theking behaved with great injustice to the bishop, but it was the partialjudgment of the priests that made the one an angel and the other a devil.Boleslaus, however, was soon overtaken by divine, or rather by priestly,vengeance. Gregory VII. excommunicated him, and declared him to haveforfeited the throne. He fled into Hungary, where he died by his ownhand, in 1081, and is one of the few kings of Poland whose remains havenot been interred on the Vavel. Stanislaus, meanwhile, was canonized.Doves and ravens brought together the fragments of his body, and somewere respectfully collected in the river by the fishes. The limbs joinedthemselves together of their own accord, and the reunited body was buriedwith great pomp in the cathedral, where it became an object of worship tothe multitude, and for nearly eight centuries, candles have not ceased toburn night and day before his grave, nor prayers to be offered up to him for intercession.With few exceptions all the Polish kings lie buried here. Those of thedynasty of the Piasts, who reigned for 500 years, those of the race of theYagellons, who flourished for three centuries, and lastly the electivemonarchs, the Bathorys, the Sobieskis, &c. The first Piasts lie togetherin a plain antique unornamented chapel, and simple tablets ofmarble mark their graves. But these are not wanting in expressive inscriptions. Thus,on the tablet of Vladislaus Loketer, the first of the Polish kings, we read the words: " Ubi Nodus Gordius, ibi ille Macedo et ensis."The monuments of the later kings of Poland are far more splendid andvarious, the titles longer, and the inscriptions more pompous. In theolder chapels, sixteen or twenty royal personages often repose together,while the modern kings have each a separate chapel. The monuments ofsome are not in a chapel at all; that of Casimir the Great, for instance,one of the most ancient and simple of all, stands against a column in thebody of the church. In the middle of the church before the altar, liesthe metal plate which covers the grave of Queen Hedviga, the daughter ofKing Louis of Hungary and Poland.One of the most beautiful chapels, is that of the two Sigismunds, containing their statues fashioned out of that flesh-coloured marble used herefor all statues and pillars. The art and skill manifested in these statues,cannot be too much admired, and is a proof of the high state of art inPoland at the time. In one side of the chapel hangs a silver plate, onwhich the warlike deeds of John Sigismund are represented in bas-reliefby the hand ofthe artist warrior himself.That heart must be made of stone which is not powerfully affected bythis vast collection of royal graves and monuments, this history of Poland in stone. How thankful we felt to the old priests, whose care and devotionCRACOW. 505preserved to posterity such valuable relics of antiquity! The grave ofthe noble andcourageous Stephen Bathory " pacis bellique artibus magno,"particularly attracted our respectful attention. He is buried in a chapel,in which the later Polish kings often heard mass. Above him are theroyal arms of Poland, and at his feet those of his family.Close to the chapel of Stephen Bathory is that of a kindred mind, JohnSobieski, " electione Polonicus, Lithuanicus, Prussicus et liberationeAustriacus, Pannonicus, profligationeOttomannicus, Thrasicus, Scythicus,cui regnum gloriam sempiternam peperit." Neither so long and pompous an inscription, nor such an overloading of ornament, were necessaryfor the monument of so truly great a man as Sobieski, whose simple nameand statue would have been imposing enough. From the columns of thebody of the church, droop like banners, six large and splendid pieces oftapestry, which were taken from the tent of the Grand Vizier, by the Polesunder Sobieski. They represent the history of Jacob and Joseph, andwere probably the work of Grecian artists. Many private persons, generals, bishops, &c. , have had the honour of monuments in this PolishWestminster Abbey. The famous Bishop Soltyk of Cracow, who wascaptured and taken to Siberia by Cossacks, has a marble statue here, withthe inscription " Patriæ libertatis intrepido adsertori, non tam ob suam,quam republica calamitatem ægritudine oppresso, 1788." There is alsoa beautiful white marble statue by Thorwaldsen of Count Vladimir Potocki.The erection of monuments to Polish greatness in this cathedral has beencontinued even to the present day, for while we were there, the workmenwere still occupied in the decoration of a chapel in honour of Count ArthurPotocki. It will not be excelled by the royal chapels around in splendourand magnificence. The Countess Brannicka, the widow of the Count Potocki, has laid out 20,000 ducats upon it.not conceive how he couldThe church seemed full of living countenances on every side; here rosethe Bishops Lipski and Matshiovski, there the thick nose of the CastellanDembinski, there the jolly countenance of Bishop Gamrod stared us intheface; endless varieties of royal, martial, and episcopal physiognomies. " Tosee them all, " says Zöllner, 66 we had neither time nor inclination." I cansay so. Time indeed we had not, for the fourthhour was just ended, but inclination! How it would have delighted us tolearn by heart all that we saw before us, and to engrave those counte- nances indelibly on the tablet of our memories. But our Jew stood at thedoor and shouted to us to make haste, for we had still a great deal to see;the priests and sextons kept jabbering over their phrases learnt by rote;the peasants and citizens were going in and out continually; the maidsand servants were bustling about with brooms and dusters, in preparationofthe next day's festival. How amid such accompaniments could the mindraise itself to feelings worthy of the place? Ah, if we had had the gravesof the kings all to ourselves, amid the silence of the night, with the tranquil moon and stars peeping down through the stained oriel windows, wemight have felt and written something worthy of the theme!In spite of these interruptions, however, we would not leave the cathedral without visiting the subterranean vaults which contain the bodiesof Poniatovski, Sobieski, and Kosciusko. The coffin of the latter bearsfor its inscription only the name Kusciusko, and at his head the redKrakuska or cap worn by him, when he was raised in Cracow to be the Natshelnik of the Polish nation. We were willing enough to dispense506 CRACOW.with seeing the jewels, gold, and relics preserved in other parts of thecathedral, and accordingly, leaving the graves of the Polish monarchs, weproceeded towards the palace which they occupied during life, and which,at the period of our visit, had been converted into a barrack for the accommodation of Austrian soldiers.In the handsome courtyard Austrian soldiers were parading to the soundSome parts of the palace were desolate and ruinous.of the drum."In old Afrasiab's consecrated halls, *The hooting night-owl to his brethren calls ,And o'er the palace's majestic gate,The spider hangs his canopy of state."An old Polish seneschal showed us over the rooms. In the state bedroom of Queen Hedviga, Austrian soldiers were rolling on their straw beds.In the study of King Sigismund Augustus, they had hung out their shirtsand stockings to air at the windows. In the middle of the great audiencechamber, they had made a fire, and were frying sausages!The more melancholy and desolate every thing around appeared, themore the old seneschal exerted his eloquence to give us an idea of its former magnificence. The windows had once been of the finest kind, andpainted in the most splendid manner; but they had been broken and supplied with the common glass we now saw. The borders and corniceshad once been of silver, but they had been taken down and melted. Thebronze of the magnificent doors and doorways of the throne-rooms and dining-saloons, and the beautiful bas-reliefs illustrative of memorableevents in Polish history, had been converted into Austrian cannons.finely-woven tapestry had been torn down and cut up by the soldiers forbedding. All the marble and mosaic had been covered with chalk, buthere and there the destroyers had done their work in a slovenly manner,and a few unchalked statues, a few pieces of tapestry left hanging, and afew places where the mosaic of the ceilings had been too high to be conveniently reached, was all that remained to tell us of the former splendourof this magnificent palace.TheIn one of the rooms we found some paintings thrown together in acorner, which represented the principal events of the life of Kusciusko inAmerica, Poland, and Switzerland. The soldiers had turned the royalchapel into a store-room, and the only beauty of the place which theyhad been unable to injure, was the lovely view it commanded of the city,of the fertile plains of Cracow, and of the distant Carpathians.As we left the Vavel, there arose between us a dispute, as to whomthegreat bones, which hang in chains over the cathedral gates, could have belonged to . This is generally the case with all travellers who arrive here.Some said they were the jaw-bones and ribs of a whale, and others thatthey were mammoth's bones found near Cracow. Our Jew declared thatthey were the shoulder-bones of a giant, who formerly lived here, and ourcoachman denied this, affirming them to be the remains of a monster whoonce raged in the neighbourhood of Cracow, and who was killed by somevaliant knights.Of the University of Cracow we saw only the Botanical Garden andthe Observatory. We used the telescope of the latter to examine thebeautiful panorama at our feet, and above all the peaks of the Tatramountains, which, with the help of the telescope, and of the delightfulautumn weather, we saw as distinctly as we did the houses of Cracow.PODGORZE. 507Our Jew did not fail to tell us several interesting circ*mstances respectingthese mountains. He assured us that on the top of the Lomnitz mountain,lay a lake, so high that no one had ever yet reached it. Upon its surfacefloated one of the boards of Noah's ark. At the day of judgment, this board would become a ship, in which all the Jews of Cracow would securelysail to the Land of Promise. We appeared incredulous , but he assuredus that this story was believed by all the Jews of Cracow, and that a bro- ther Israelite of Hungary, whom he had lately consulted on the subject,had expressed his belief in it. Of the Käsmark mountain he relatedto us a more credible story, namely, that there are three villages there,whose inhabitants distinguished themselves in some old Polish war, andreceived in reward, the privilege of wearing swords like noblemen; a rightof which they still continue to make use.We spent the last hour of our stay at Cracow, in visiting the publicpromenades of the city, which were formerly ramparts and ditches. Thebotanical garden was in good order, and was peculiarly rich in marsh andaquatic plants.It is surprising how much may be seen and done in six times sixty minutes. Upon the whole we had used our time well, and had seen and heardmuch that was new and interesting; and yet we were conscious that some of our minutes had been wasted, and that we had even once or twice feltsomething like ennui; but upon the whole, we crossed the Vistula wellcontented with our six hours' amusem*nt, and arriving at our " civitas regiaetlibera, Podgorze," we presented ourselves at the Austrian passport-office,scarcely five minutes after the appointed time.PODGORZE.We determined to remain the rest of the day at Podgorze, in order toenjoy the prospect of the old city opposite, at our leisure. The placefrom whence the best view of Cracow is obtained, is the " Krakus-hill."This hill is the work of human hands. It is a complete cone, rounded off atthe top, two hundred and eighty paces in circumference, and about ninety feet high. It is an old custom of the Poles to raise hills of this kind asmonuments to their great men; besides the Krakus-hill there are two similar mounds near Cracow, one in honour of the Princess Vanda, and another of Kosciusko. Every year on the first ofMay, the citizens of Cracowpour forth to these hills to celebrate their May-day festivals. On the thirdday of Easter they also flock thither in greatnumbers, and even theinhabitantsof the Carpathians descend from their mountains, to share in the festival.Krakus was the founder of Cracow, and the great Polish chieftain.With the exception of him, and of Vanda, his daughter, no Polish herohad been thought worthy of the honour of having a mountain erected to hismemory near Cracow, until the days of the great Kosciusko. If, as thepeople say, Polish history really began with Krakus, and if the dying prophecy of Kosciusko on the battle-field prove true, these hills may serve asmonuments of Poland's birth and death, of the beginning and the end ofan eventful thousand years.Probably no modern hero has ever been honoured with so peculiar andinteresting a monument, as that of Kosciusko. He enjoyed such universal esteem and affection in his own country, such high veneration from508 PODGORZE.all strangers, and such respect even from his political enemies, that notonly all Poland, but also foreigners, lent assistance to the raising of amonument to his honour. Even the Russian Emperor Alexander was notbehindhand. Not only hired labourers, but volunteers of the highest rank,worked at the raising of the hill, in the erection of which two years were spent. Citizens, nobles, and councillors of Cracow, as well as noble ladies of the highest birth, cast earth with their own hands on the mausoleum oftheir noble Natshelnik. Every Pole who passed through Cracow at thetime, claimed the honour of throwing a barrowful of earth on the hill of Kosciusko. The hill is 120 feet high, and 300 paces in circumference.Winding walks, bordered with flowers, lead up to its summit, which isshaded by linden-trees. With the surplus of the subscription a piece of ground was bought, upon which were settled a few old veterans, whose business it is to watch and take care of the monument.Other nations, besides the Poles, have had the custom of raising hills inhonour of distinguished heroes; indeed it is extraordinary that this habithas not become universal, for such a monument is the most durable ofany.Noenemy would find it worth his while to carry away the worthless mouldat a great expense of labour, and the powers of Nature would pass asharmlessly as those of man over the smooth round surface. Bythis meansalso, a monument is raised which forms a striking object in the wholesurrounding landscape. The fertile hill of Kosciusko is a prominent pointin the view to every one on entering Galicia, from this side of the Vistula,and it is the first object seen by every citizen as he passes out of the citygates. If, indeed, it were placed between the walls of a city, it would behidden, and have to be sought for.Onthe morning of our arrival in Podgorze, we had been met by a greatwedding procession. The bridegroom was led by two girls, the bride bytwo lads, and these were followed by a promiscuous train of men and women. The whole was preceded by music, and by two jesters, whoplayed all sorts of comic tricks and grimaces. When we returned fromthe Krakus-hill in the evening, we found the whole company dancing atthe hotel. They had already got to their national dances, a sign that thewedding cheer had already begun to affect the guests. " For, contraryto the German practice, " observed one of the dancers afterwards to me,"which is to begin with our Polonaise, and afterwards to go on to theGerman dances, we begin with the quiet, orderly, and decorous dances ofGermany and France. Afterwards, when the wines of Nessmull andErlau have made us lively, we fly to the Mazurka, and there is no end to the swinging and twisting and twirling about. Hurrah! Merrily,merrily! trallala, trallala!" and with these exclamations he sprang intothe dance. It was the Krakoviak, a Cracusian variation of the Mazurka.This is the most wild, stormy, and passionate dance I ever beheld. Sometimes the whole group of dancers flew round in a wild circle, sometimesthe ringbroke upinto single pairs, who whirled round and swung backwardsand forwards with the maddest fury, and sometimes the dancers would allcross hands and dance about, in what appeared complete confusion. Thewild and passionate action of the men, their noisy songs, and stampingfeet, formed a striking contrast to the quiet, passive manner ofthe femaledancers, as they passively allowed themselves to be twirled about by their active partners. Not merely the dancers, but all the spectators joinedin the chorus, including a couple of shoemakers' apprentices and two oldPODGORZE. 509beggars, who stood at the door. The guests were all of the lower orders,and this dance alone appeared to me to refute the notion, that in Polandthe nobility alone are national and patriotic. " Ah! the Poles," said ourGerman host, when we retired for supper, "the Poles have all, from theprince to the beggar, more patriotism, more spirit, and yet more carelessness and indolence, than any other nation in the world. They are awonderful people, full of contradictions and anomalies. They have such talents, such intellect, and withal so much generosity and magnanimity,that after living fifty years among them, I sometimes feel a love, an actualadmiration for them, although at other times I feel so heartily disgustedwith them, that I should like to see them all soundly flogged: yes, Ishould like to horsewhip them all myself. I am certain, if the gold that is hidden in the Polish character was cleansed from the rubbish with whichit is encumbered, that this people might become the first in the world.Yet they will never come to any good, for they are eaten up with laziness,have no perseverance, are treacherous, and deceitful, never agree amongthemselves, and the noble tramples on the rights of the Jew and the citizen,and the Jew and citizen on those of the peasant. Poland is like a cedardevoured by insects, like a lion crushed by snakes. "Our host we afterwards discovered to be a very important man in thecity. He had built a new church in Podgorze, and a manufactory inCracow. His appearance was that of a blacksmith, his thoughts those ofa philosopher, and his language that of a member of parliament. I neverheard any one reason more correctly and acutely concerning the state of Poland."The worst of it is, " he continued, " that the peasant has too few, andthe noble too many rights. The peasants are the first and most importantclass in the world, and all the rest, citizens, nobles, artists, merchants, andmen of letters, are_nothing to them, nothing I say. The Polish nobilityare a mere rabble, I wouldn't trust ' em with any thing. They are the mostartful rascals in the world. It is not to be denied that there are many estimable exceptions; I have known some Polish nobles whom I would have died to serve. Oh! sir, I knew the great Kosciusko well; and haveshouted hurrah at his approach in the market-place of Cracow, while yeta mere boy, when all the people cheered him, and a thousand red Krakuskas flew upward to greet their beloved Natshelnik, who, advancing fromamong them, raised his right hand to Heaven, and cried, ' I swear fealtyunto death, to you, to our cause, and to our country.' The Russians hadalready left the place, for they had got wind of a conspiracy to murderthem all. Kosciusko set out after them, with three or four small cannons,and with a continually increasing army, and took them all prisoners.Three months afterwards he was himself taken prisoner by the Cossacks.Good Heavens! what revolutions have I not witnessed here during fiftyyears! When I came here, Cracow was still the capital of the kingdomof Poland, then it became the property of Russia, then of Ducal Saxony,then of Austria; next the Vienna Congress made it a free republic, andnow the Austrians again occupy it, and will perhaps annex it to Galicia.Characters like Kosciusko's show the height to which their good qualitiesmight yet raise the Polish nobility; but they are at present, -not merelythose whom you meet riding a dozen together in a little Matshenka, theircommon property, but also those who drive about with four horses to theirshowy equipages, they are all, at present, a very worthless set. They510 LANDSKORONA AND BIALA.torment and flog their poor peasants, and squander away what they haverobbed from the poor, in drinking and gambling. They have, however,somewhat improved, and the condition of the peasantry is no longer what it was. The Poles have certainly gained in order and civilization, whatthey have lost in political independence. Forty years ago I was in Lemberg; there were then scarcely a dozen storehouses in the city, and thetown was regularly burnt down every ten years. Now Lemberg is almostas stately as Warsaw, and more pleasant and beautiful than Cracow."The sons of my host, who had been born in Poland, and were in consequence completely Polonized, as the Germans in France become Frenchified, those in St. Petersburg Russified, and those in London Anglicized,sat silently in opposite corners of the room, without joining in our conversation, and appeared to laugh at us for the attention we paid to their father's remarks.LANDSKORONA AND BIALA.The next morning we turned our backs upon Cracow and Podgorze, andproceeded through the easternmost circle of Galicia, the Vadovize circle,which is embellished by the Tatra mountains and their pretty mountainstreams, and has a fertile soil and an abundant population. This circlecontains 5000 inhabitants to every square mile, and it is the most beautiful and prosperous part of Galicia.After passing the lovely fields of Mogilany and Isdebnik, we came toKalvaria and Landskon, or Landskorona, as the people of the country callit. Kalvaria is an estate formerly owned by the Zebrzedovski family,but lately purchased by a German of the name of Brandis; Landskorona,formerly the property of the Krasinskis, belongs now to the duch*ess ofCarignan, the mother of the king of Sardinia, and herself, by birth, aKrasinska. Landskorona contains thirty villages, and 40,000 inhabitants.Apicturesque convent is perched upon a projection of the mountain, whichoverhangs these pretty villages. This convent possesses a miraculous picture of the Holy Virgin, which is the object of a great many pilgrimages.The festival which assembles the greatest number of pilgrims here, is thatof the Ascension of the Virgin, when the number sometimes amounts to100,000 peasants, nobles, and citizens, from Moravia, Silesia, Galicia,Cracow, Poland, and Hungary. We were not a little eager to see thisfamous place of pilgrimage, so widely honoured, and so much frequented in Poland.The foot ofthe mountain is clothed with fertile cornfields, and its summit loses itself in pine forests, which in this part of the Carpathians areparticularly beautiful, with the tall, straight, smooth, white stems, anddark green foliage. The first projection is occupied by ruins of an old castle. On the top is situated the convent itself, which, with all itschurches, towers, and minor buildings, forms a most picturesque object.The path up to it is marked out by numerous small chapels and crosses.The castle offers little attraction to the traveller, while the convent, withits courtyards, handsome gates, iron gratings, and sculptured figures infront, looks as imposing from the outside, as its stately halls and beautiful chapels do within. The whole path up was trodden into steps bythe feetof the thousands of pious devotees of every rank, who have ascended it forLANDSKORONA AND BIALA. 511centuries. The monastery is very rich in statues and pictures, many of which are works of very superior merit. Afew poor cripples and beggarsperpetually hover round it, to beg alms of the pilgrims.At Kenty, which we reached the next day, begins the manufacturing district, which extends from Galicia through Austrian Silesia, into Prussia,almost to the Giant Mountains, and which produces an immense quantityof linens, woollens, calicoes, &c. There are a hundred and forty weaversat Kenty, but the cloth manufactured there is coarse, and only intendedfor the Galician peasants. That of Biala is much finer. In Biala there are some houses in which a hundred looms are constantly kept going;that of the seven brothers Bartelt, for instance, whose father is nowdead. They are all married, and all have children, so that if the children stick to the business as their fathers have done, the company will consist ofat least thirty cousins. One of the brothers is established as an agent at Pesth, another at Brünn, a third at Breslau, and a fourth at Cracow.Biala and Bielitz form one town, and contain together 10,000 inhabitants. It is quite a modern place, and most of the inhabitants canremember the time when field and forest covered the ground now occupiedby crowded streets.The principal market for the wares of Biala and Bielitz, is Pesth.Some of the manufactories annually send thither from four thousand to fivethousand pieces of cloth. Some of the larger ones have their own agentsat Pesth. The Jews, however, contract for the produce of the other manufactories, and buy the cloth while it is yet unwoven. The best andfinest wool comes from Bohemia and Austria, the worst from Hungary,and that of middling quality from Galicia. The colours used are chieflyEnglish.Much as the prosperity of these districts has upon the whole increasedof late years, yet many complaints are made by the smaller spinners,weavers, fullers, dyers, &c., that they are oppressed and crushed by thegreat capitalists and manufacturers. They all date the beginning of theirmisfortunes from the year 1825, though on what account I know not.A walk among the houses in the charming little town of Biala, pos- sesses many features of great interest. The state of the manufacture isdifferent in every house, and in each the work is at a different stage of itsprogress. In one the inhabitants are spinning, in another weaving, inanother fulling, in another roughing, in another dying; but everywhereall is activity, bustling, and industry. Every one has introduced little improvements into his machinery, as far as his means allow. One moves hismachine with water, another with horses, another with only his own handsand feet. One works with ten apprentices, another only with the members of his own family. Here a poor old widow spins a few threads toearn herself a scanty subsistence, there a great capitalist keeps his thousandspinning-wheels going at once. In one place we find the Jews busiedwith the bales of wool which they have received from Pesth, in anotherfilling their magazines with the produce of the German looms, in anotherchaffering with the manufacturers about cards and colours. All thesesights and sounds apprize the traveller from Russia, that he has left theagricultural districts of the east, for the manufacturing countries of the west.I mentioned above a very interesting class of productions, for whichBiala and Bielitz are not less famous throughout Galicia than for their512 AUSTRIAN SILESIA.cloth manufactories, I mean the pretty girls of Biala. They appeared tome perfectly deserving of their reputation, and not only graceful andcomely to look on, but, moreover, intelligent, industrious, and wellbehaved. They are sought after very much in Galicia, as teachers,governesses, housekeepers, and upper servants. Their beauty and superioreducation make them everywhere welcome; "a Biala servant-girl is oftenbetter educated than a Polish noble's wife, " said a Biala patriot to me once.Many ofthem go to Russia, and their serving career often terminates in agood match with some Russian officer or Polish noble. Almost in everyhouse we entered in Biala, we heard of some daughter who was a comfortable housewife in Warsaw, Breslau, Cracow, or Lemberg. The dress ofthe Biala women is gay and becoming, and at the same time neat and unpretending. They wear blue aprons, black gowns, white handkerchiefs,and snow-white hoods, from which hang down behind two long pieces ofwhite or striped linen.Formerly Biala and its neighbourhood, including all the pretty girlsit produced, belonged to the family of Prince Shulkovski. Now this noblefamily has only the monopoly of all the brandy and beer sold at Biala.AUSTRIAN SILESIA.When we drove over the bridge from Biala to Bielitz, we reflected withmuch pleasure that after a long separation, we were now again re-entering that wide extent of variously peopled countries, which is termed the German's fatherland.The piece of Germany which we were now about to traverse, is thoroughly German only in its town life. In the open country, the Germanic andSarmatian races are mixed. The nobility are, indeed, all of Germaneducation, and many villages are entirely German, but the Poles havestill the predominance. Many German villages have Polish masters, and vice versa. Howlong the races have been thus mixed, cannot be preciselyestimated, but Tacitus speaks of " Germans inhabiting the countries nearthe sources of the Vistula, who are closely connected and intermixed,with the Sarmatians; it is strange that having been so long intermixed,one of the two races has not by this time absorbed or expelled the other."It was market-day at Skotshau, and the peasants were pouring in fromthe mountains and plains around, to buy the produce of the iron andcloth manufactories; for at Skotshau weaving is as busily carried on,as at Biala and Bielitz, and a new branch of industry is also followed,namely, the smelting of iron.It is curious to observe how uniformly the wolf disappears with the Polish race. Galicia is full of wolves, particularly the eastern part, butin Silesia, particulary in Western Silesia, which contains more Germansand less Poles, the wolf disappears almost entirely. In the villages oftheYablunka mountains, it is the custom for the killer of a wolf to take thecarcass round from house to house, and receive at each a little present, ofa handful of flour, or a piece of bacon, or a little loaf. He afterwardscuts off the head, and receives a ducat for it from the government.Silesia was formerly governed by almost as many separate and independent sovereigns, as it now contains great nobles. Skotshau was thecapital of one of these petty monarchs, who were called dukes, and anumber of traditions are still preserved respecting a certain duch*essAUSTRIAN SILESIA. 513Lucretia of Skotshau. These dukes, however, although sovereign princes,were so little respected, that a Silesian town once took the libertyof apprehending one of these potentates for sundry acts of roguery ofwhich he had been guilty, and the result was that his highness was executed by the sturdy burghers as a common criminal. It is strange howcompletely all these princely families have died away, to make room forthe enlargement of the houses of Austria and Russia.The Vistula (Weichsel), whose sources lie about four miles fromSkotshau, consists at its source of two separate rivers, the Black andWhite Vistulas, which unite at the village of Weichsel. Between Skotshau rises a little chain of hills, which separates the valley of the Vistulafrom that of the Oder.Teschen, like the whole country round it, is pleasing and indeed beautiful in appearance. Its old castle rises abruptly from a projecting rockon the banks of the Olsa, and the cheerful little city lies grouped aroundit, on both sides of the river. It is partly Polish and partly German inarchitecture. This town is said to be a thousand years old. The historyof its origin runs briefly thus: Three Silesian dukes lost their way huntingin the wild forests of the Beskids, which then covered these now smiling andprosperous lands. Exhausted with fatigue, and almost dying of hungerand thirst, they at length were all found again by their retinues, at aspring in the forest. In grateful recollection of this fortunate termination of their sufferings, they determined at this spring to build a " cheerfulcity for contented men, and to call it Tieszem, we rejoice. " This spring is still pointed out to the curious at Teschen.We visited the old castle by moonlight, on the evening of our arrival.Part of this castle is new, but of a portion the antiquity ascends far beyondany existing record. On one side stands a sexagonal tower, said to datefrom heathen times, and once to have been a heathen temple. From thispoint we enjoyed a beautiful view of the moonlit landscape, the quiet town,and the gently splashing waves of the Olsa at our feet. The castle is theproperty of one of the archdukes, and it is said that his steward, who hascarte blanche as to its entire management, means to raze the castle to theground, and to convert the hill into a promenade for the inhabitants ofTeschen. He has already begun the operation, in spite of the remon- strances of many lovers of antiquarian relics.InThe most remarkable thing in Teschen is its Protestant church and congregation. The greater part ofthe population of Silesia, as of other parts of Austria is Catholic, but the Reformation had many zealous adherentshere from the first, and Teschen and its neighbourhood contains no fewerthan 10,000 Protestants. The lofty steeple of their church forms a prominent feature in the view of Teschen, from whatever point it is seen.the whole Austrian empire this is the only Protestant house of prayerwhich is dignified with the name of a church, and is allowed a steeple and the use of bells. The inhabitants of Teschen received this privilege, onwhich they set no little value, from Joseph II. When the great bell ringson Sunday morning, the Protestants of all the neighbouring country comepouring in, red stocking'd and gaily attired, winding in long processions towards their church.Amongthe nobility of Austrian Silesia, the two most numerous families are those of Haugwitz and Martinglott. So much so, that if you meet anobleman, you may almost lay an even wager that he is usually known by514 AUSTRIAN SILESIA.one or other of these two names. Larich, Arko, and Bäss are also greatnames in this part of the world. A Count Larich is the greatest landownerin Austrian Silesia; his income is estimated at 400,000 florins. Heis anactive, benevolent, enterprising man, universally loved and respected. Hisestates are the best managed in Silesia, and his wool stands in high reputein the fairs of Breslau and Brünn, while the spirit from his distilleries isfamed far and wide in Moravia for its purity and strength. He has foundedmany cloth, calico, and other manufactories, and has opened large coalmines on his land. Happy the country whose rich men thus employ theircapital!The next day we crossed the remainder of Silesia and entered Moravia.It was All Saints' Day, and the pretty country was sprinkled all over withwhite mantled women, hastening to church. Although it was the 1st ofNovember, the landscape was so smiling and beautiful, that we could wellunderstand how Austrian Silesia should be a land ofpromise to the Breslaustudents, who are as fond of it, as those of Göttingen are of the Harzmountains, those of Heidelberg of the Odenwald, those of Munich of theTyrol, and those of Leipzig of Saxon Switzerland.MORAVIA.THE KUHLANDL.MORAVIA has certainly extended itself on this side beyond its properboundaries, and appropriated to itself a portion of the Oder valley, whereasthat of the Morava alone rightfully belongs to it. It stretches out a longarm between the old duchies of Troppau and Teschen, severing them fromone another, and touching on the Prussian territory. The sources of theOder, therefore, rise on Moravian ground.In this district of Moravia, the Archduke Charles is the great lord of thesoil. To him belongs Mistek, the frontier town between Moravia andSilesia, as well as many other towns and villages near; for him the hugebeams and planks of the Moravian forests move down the Straponiza tothe Oder; to him the peasants far around pay their tribute or Robbot of unrewarded labour.In the church at Freiberg, the town which we reached after leavingMistek, we saw an altar picture which, coming from the East, struck uswith a pleasant sense of having entered a land of humanity and Christiancharity. An old peasant was represented as being conveyed to heaven byseraphs, while other friendly angels were taking from him his spade andrake, and winged genii were drawing the plough in his stead. În Polandand Russia, no one ever thinks of picturing to the oppressed peasant theconsoling hope of a land of repose in the vista of futurity.Towards evening we reached the town of Neutit*chein, or Novy Gitshin, as the Moravians call it, far-famed throughout Galicia for its excellentlittle carriages or Neutit*henken, which I have already endeavoured todescribe. Neutit*chein contains 7000 inhabitants, and lies in the so- calledKuhländl (cowland), a country inhabited entirely by thriving Germans,and flowing, if not with honey, at least with milk. It is the only part ofMoravia rich enough in cattle to export butter and cheese. The inhabitantsof this district have so improved their breed of cattle, by crossing it withthose of Tyrol and Switzerland, that the Kuhländl now carries on a con- siderable trade with Poland and Russia in cows and oxen.But it is not by means of this trade in cattle that the natives of theKuhländl have exercised their chief influence on the world beyond their 2 M516 THE KUHLANDL.valleys. Kuhländl was the cradle of the wide-spread sect of the Moravianbrothers, in whom the Herrnhuters and Quakers of other lands had theirorigin. Fulnek, a small town in the Kuhländl, was the principal strongholdof this sect, who, driven from their native land, afterwards founded a secondFulnek near Leeds, in England.The whole central part of Moravia, a fertile country inhabited by theSlavonian race, is called the Hanna. Strictly speaking, this term originally included only the land on each side of the little river Hanna, but it isnow used for all the wide district around Weisskirch, Prossnitz, Olmütz,Kremsier, and Wishau. It is a very fertile and perfectly flat piece of country. Throughout Moravia, the inhabitants of the plains are of Slavonian,those of the hills and mountains of German race. Simple as this at firstseems, it is astonishing how complicated is the classification and distribution of the Moravian population; how various are the different subdivisions of the Slavonian and German races, and how irregularly these areintermixed, without ever being blended together, for however inextricablyentangled the different threads of the variegated texture may be, they always remain distinct and separate.The country round Weisskirchen, is beautiful and fertile; producing anabundance of wheat, hops, and wine, and fifteenfold of grain." The people here,” said our host at Weisskirchen, " are rough and barbarous like allthe Hannaken. The richness of their land does not inspire them withthat gratitude to God, and that benevolence and charity to man, whichought to be its effect. Neither do they endeavour to bring up their children with care, and they are unwilling to have schools in their villages.Their prosperity only increases their natural pride and obstinacy, and theirstrength is oftenest shown in fighting and quarrelling; indeed I think the very twigs in the Hanna fields, make better rods than those of any othercountry!"The town of Weisskirchen is built in the same way as all the other Moravian towns. The houses are of tolerably equal height, and in the innerpart of the town, each house is fronted by a projecting piazza, which joinsthat of its neighbour, so that they form long arcades edging the streets.These broad and beautiful covered walks, are called " die Lauben," or"Loben." This mode of building is quite Moravian, and is used throughout the country.Our way from Weisskirchen to Leipnik, lay through a lovely country.Before us, stretched far into the horizon, the broad, open, fertile, plain,sown with smiling villages, and through it wound along the pleasant littlestream of the Betsha. Behind us lay the hills of the Kuhländl, and onthe horizon rose the nearest summits of the Carpathians, crowned withpicturesque ruins. A white thick morning vapour yet covered the valley,above which arose majestically the stately pile of Helphinstein.The race of the Helphinsteins has long been extinct, and their castleand estates belong now to the Dietrichsteins, who, with the Lichtensteins,the Hartensteins, and two or three other Steins, are the greatest people ofMoravia, and own nearly half its soil. The serfs in this part of Moravia,usually work one or two days Robbot, in the week, for their masters." The master may flog his serf to the amount of twelve blows, " said oneof my informants, " but he must first state his reasons to the nearest magistrate, and it may cost a man a deal of trouble if he punish his peasant unjustly, for here the serf is protected by the law as well as the master.”OLMUTZ. 517In this respect Moravia appears to be a kind of land of transition betweenRussia and Germany. The farther west we proceed, the more circum- scribed becomes the dominion of the rod. In Russia the peasant is continually flogged, without so much as knowing why. In Moravia it coststhe master some trouble to flog him. In Austria the peasant is not floggedunless he has positively broken the law. In Bavaria and Wurtemberg, heis not flogged at all.The Emperor Joseph II. wished to make the Moravian peasants entirelyfree, and he caused contracts to be drawn up between the lords and the serfs ofdifferent estates; but his death prevented the fulfilment of his bene- ficent designs.OLMUTZ.The great central road which traverses Moravia from east to west, woulddoubtless have been drawn right through the centre of the country, hadnot peculiar circ*mstances rendered Olmütz the central point of the commerce and population of Moravia. In order to pass through this town, theroad rises out of the valley, up a barren range of hills, crowned with firand pine forests. The view from these hills has little that is pleasing.The villages are built of pine wood, and, as we ascended on our way, acold November wind was blowing round the heights, and snow alreadycovered the valleys here and there. We seemed to have left the cheerfulvalleys of Moravia, for the barren and dreary plains of Poland. But itdid not last long; towards noon we again descended the hills, and theforests were now and then lit up by sunshine. Here and there glimpseswere displayed of the verdant meadows and smiling plains beyond, and atlength the broad and beautiful valley of the March lay spread out beforeus, in the midst of which rose the picturesque town of Olmütz. The viewwas here pleasing and interesting. The town is divided into three parts,the convent of Raab, with the houses round it, on the right hand side,the old town on the left, and the cathedral with all the handsomest buildings in the middle. The rocks upon which the town is built, here andthere reveal themselves in their bare and rugged nakedness; for in somequarters of the town, this rocky basis forms the foundation of the houses,and the pavement of the streets . The cellars of the Olmütz citizens areall hollowed out of the rock, and are, therefore, particularly cool and dry.The situation of the town is safe from attack, for, in case of danger, thewhole surrounding country could be laid under water, while Olmütz wouldremain high and dry upon its rocky basis.We paid our friendly host of the Eagle, in the market-place at Olmütz,a sincere compliment upon the beauty of his native city. "Yes, yes," hereplied, as he set down before us a bottle of good Carlovitz wine, with aplateful of Klobank nuts and Reschner pears; " yes, our Holomutz is astately place. The Emperor Maximus, its founder, would be delighted ifhe could see how the town has prospered and improved since his time. Thestreets are clean and well paved, the houses solid and airy; and though thetown is built in the Gothic style, it is not dark and dirty like so manytowns, and though regular and handsome, it is not monotonous and un- varied like so many new ones. The people, too, are handsome, lively, andgood- humoured. You come from Russia, gentlemen? I see it by yourfurs and caps . I have been in Russia and Poland too; I know the counold2 M 2518 OLMUTZ.tries well, but I am glad to have returned hither. The people there arenot fond of the Germans; every thing there is so gray, so dull, so rough,so unvaried. Here in Moravia we have sunshine and cheerfulness, brightribbons to our hats, and red cheeks to our faces . Come here, Hannah!Look at my wife, gentlemen. Is she not a pretty specimen of Moravianphysiognomy? And there are plenty like her here. "The hostess of the Eagle was, indeed, the very beau ideal of Moravianbeauty. The grace, freshness, warmth, and naïveté of the women of thiscountry have an irresistible charm to the traveller from the cold north.Olmütz seemed to have a plentiful supply of pretty girls and women, forevery moment a pair of bright blue eyes and rosy lips, and a slendergraceful figure tripped past our window.The prince bishop of Olmütz is the wealthiest, grandest, and mostpowerful lord in Moravia, and one of the most richly- endowed prelates in the Austrian empire. His yearly income nearly amounts to half a millionof florins. He lives in great splendour, and keeps open house to a greatnumber of guests. When we saw his palace, the prince bishop, attendedby many other prelates, was just taking a drive in a carriage drawn by four magnificent horses, preceded by haiducks in splendid liveries running on before. The palace of the prince bishop, where he keeps up atruly regal state, is in the middle of the town. He maintains a bodyguard of twenty-four picked men, who wear black and red uniforms and high bearskin caps. In summer he resides in the beautiful little town ofKremsier, in the middle of the fertile Hanna, seven miles from Olmütz.He possesses a magnificent palace there, with choice libraries, a finecabinet of natural history and mathematics, the most beautiful gardens andparks, and a splendid orangery. He keeps up another smaller body- guardof eighteen men at Kremsier. This prelate seldom visits Vienna; hisjourneys are chiefly confined to the road between Olmütz and Kremsier;in May he sets out to the beautiful shades of Kremsier, in October he returns to the regal splendour of Olmütz. Thus it has been for centuries thatthese holy men have passed their luxurious and uneventful lives, beloved andrevered by their vassals, screened from all worldly cares and troubles by a revenue of half a million, welcomed with fêtes and balls by the Austrian officersof the Olmütz garrison in autumn, and greeted with flowers and music by the inhabitants of the Hanna in spring. Truly an enviable position!Austria is the only country, whose government allows of such regal state in her subjects. The sons and brothers of the emperors, are often broughtup to the church in the hope of catching some ofthese rich clerical prizes.The last archbishop of Olmütz was the Archduke Rudolph. He did not,however, live as comfortable a life as the present prelate. He was, on thecontrary, the complete slave of his attendants, who enriched and enjoyed themselves, while he ventured to do nothing without their leave. He was aweak and sickly hypochondriac, did not dare take an extra spoonful of soup without his physician's permission, and lived in continual fear of death, andsure enough" the result justified his apprehensions, for death carried himoff at last in spite of all his precautions. The good heart of this weakmindedprelate, for he was good-hearted at bottom, is preserved in a silver vase in the subterranean vaults of the Olmütz cathedral, and over it is placed his redcardinal's hat. In death as in life, the head is wanting between the worthy bishop's hat and his heart.66One of the most curious public buildings of Olmütz is the Trinity Column,OLMUTZ. 519in the middle of the upper market-place. It is a monument " erected to thehonour of the Divine Trinity" (deo triune veroque), and is so strange abuilding that it is difficult to give a good idea of it on paper. Eight rowsof steps, containing eight steps each, lead up to eight doors, opening intoa small eight-sided chapel. This chapel is surrounded with a grating, towhich cling stone angels holding lanterns. Above the chapel rises a sortof obelisk or pyramid, to the height of 114 feet. Groups ofstone figures ofbishops, saints, and angels, are clustered in astonishing abundance on theinsides of this pyramid. At the top is a large simple three- cornered stone,upon which stands an angel who holds up a cross, surmounting a largegolden ball. The whole is beautifully sculptured, and most elaboratelycarved and ornamented , but the style has such a fantastic Chinese quaintness about it, that it is strange how any one could ever think it suitable tothe noble simplicity of Christianity. Such obelisks are, however, commonin all the towns of Moravia, and are all built in the same elaborate andfantastic style. They are erected upon different occasions of rejoicing, suchas the visit of an emperor, or the termination of some epidemic disease,plague, or cholera.The open places of Olmütz are large and cheerful, and the numeroussprings and fountains of the town are very tastefully built, and are a great ornament to it. The worst ofit is that they give very bad water; and inorder to get a better supply, it has been found necessary to bore an Artesianwell. Ahundred and sixty thousand florins, and six years' labour, havebeen expended without leading to any result; and though the well is nowcarried to a depth of eighty fathoms, nothing but dry barren rocks haveyet been found. The undertaking, however, is still persevered in.We drank tea on the last evening of our stay at Olmütz with a Russianfamily, who were anxious to make our acquaintance, because they heardthat we were just come from Russia. They had left their native countryfor the first time, and intended to spend the winter in Italy, for the benefitof the lady's health, and in the spring to have a consultation of physiciansat Vienna, to determine what watering-place should be visited in the summer. They were full of wonder and admiration of the many cultivated,well- educated people, neat dwellings, and cheerful pleasant towns, whichthey found in the country. I assured them that although a German, I wasmyself surprised, for I had never heard any description of Moravia half sofavourable as it appeared to me to deserve. My Russian gentleman couldnot get over the indignation he felt at seeing so many pretty, tidy, welltaught girls, working so hard as they appeared to do. Why these areall young ladies," said he, " and yet what heavy burthens they carry;what hard work they endure. In my country a horse would not be so hardworked as one of these pretty girls is here. I think the Germansmust be a hard-hearted nation. " " An industrious one, you should rathersay," I replied. " In Germany, labour extends higher and cultivationlowerthan with you, and those girls, who, if Russians, would sit with theirhands before them all day, are here obliged to use them. That is nohardship."66"I would allow you to be in the right, if it were only a question ofmen,but to use girls, and pretty, tidy girls, in this way, is really shameful. Isaw a number of young laundresses standing together in the marketplace to-day, and every one was so slender, so graceful, so pretty-but,good Heavens! what loads they had to carry! I only wonder they do520 THE HANNA.not all grow crooked and crabbed, instead of continuing so straight, socheerful, and so merry, in spite of what they endure. "" Labour," I replied, " is here no disgrace. It is partly a necessity,for there are here no enslaved working-classes, upon whose shoulders allhardship and all labour may be thrust; it is partly the nature of Germans to be industrious. Even the wealthy and great among us are not idle;therefore those below them have no example of luxurious do-nothingnessbefore them, to render toil distasteful . ""Ah, if these pretty girls were to come to Russia, we would soon relieve them of their burdens. I wonder they do not all emigrate."“ Yes, if the whole population of Olmütz, all its talented men and beautiful women, were suddenly put down in the middle of Russia, there wouldbe a great change in their condition. Many powers, which in the superabundance of talent are here overlooked, would there find plenty of occupation. Even those who are here reckoned second-rate men, would therebe eagerly sought after. The men of most intelligence would rise to theadministration of provinces; the prosperous citizens would become nobles;all would advance in rank. The pretty, industrious young washerwomen,servant-girls, and sempstresses, would become the wives of captains andcolonels, and would have plenty of servants to do all their work. "66"Ah, how happy we would make them in Russia. "" I'm"Well, Cathrinel, what do you think of the Russian general's remarks?"said I to the chambermaid of the inn, later in the evening. She was afresh, handsome girl, neatly dressed, with gold earrings in her ears, andthe manners of a lady, and yet was active and bustling in her vocation.Why really I don't know," she replied carelessly, in her Austrian dialect, which lent an indescribable comic humour to her words.quite satisfied. One may be satisfied if one has but bread to eat. I livewell, I sleep soundly, I'm always in good health, I get up early, and workevery day in the week and all day long. Strangers give me a batzerl nowand then, and of a Sunday one rests and spends one's money. Good night,gentlemen; to-morrow I'll remember the coffee and the fresh fruit. Goodnight."THE HANNA.ThoseWe would willingly have spent some time among the cheerful and contented citizens of Ölmütz, but the next morning we were again drivenonwards by our inexorable Wenzel. The largest town between Olmützand Brünn, is Prossnitz, but it has not the pleasant, handsome, and animated appearance of the first-named town. We noticed a peculiar speciesof hollow ostentation at Prossnitz, which was quite new to us.houses, namely, which were only one story or two stories in height, hadanother false story added, in the shape of a front wall, with nothing behind it. So far was this carried, that these false walls had not only windows, but even false painted blinds. This ridiculous kind of ostentationseemed to be universally prevalent at Prossnitz.We determined to spend the night in a little village called Dreisitz, inthe midst of the Hanna plains, and if possible to obtain some knowledgeof the country and its inhabitants, from what we might see there. Accordingly we drove up to the village inn, and entered the large parlour,where twenty or thirty Hannaken, all stout, sturdy, strong built men,THE HANNA. 521sat at different tables; they were almost all drest in red and white caps,yellow trousers, and short fur jackets. Two of them seemed to be quarrelling desperately; they were scolding and swearing at each other, Icould not well make out why. One of them sat still at his table the wholetime, while the other went storming about the room, beating the walls anddoors with his fists . None of the bystanders meddled in the noisy discussion, but all appeared to await a personal combat with a kind of grave satisfaction. I wished the landlord to interfere and stop the row, but hesaid that would be an impertinence which he dared not venture upon.Their language was very abusive, but yet they appeared to avoid giving any decisive word. They often abuse one another for whole daystogether, before they come to blows, " said the host; " but when anyinsulting term is used, which can only be answered with blows, thefight, if it once begins, is as lasting and as furious as the wordy strifewhich preceded it. They often quarrel for weeks, before it comes to acrisis, but when they do fight, one of the two is often left dead on the field."66We were glad to escape from the noise and confusion of the commonparlour, to our host's comfortable room, where over some hot egged beer,he favoured us with his remarks upon the Hanna and its inhabitants.The real Hanna, in which we now were, is only five (German) mileslong, and extends from Wishau to Kremsier. The villages here arelarge and numerous, and the population abundant. As the law of primogeniture is scrupulously observed among the peasantry, the younger sonsgenerally emigrate in great numbers, and the Hannaken may be foundscattered about as tradesmen, mechanics, and labourers, all over theAustrian and Russian empires. In autumn they go into the Archduchyof Austria, to work at the harvest. They traverse Hungary in greatnumbers, as smiths and masons, and may be found in all parts of Germany selling leather and wooden wares, knitted and woven garments,and dried fruits. Those among them who vend medicines for men andanimals, often travel into Siberia with their goods.The country of the Hannaken is one of the most fertile in the world,corn yielding easily ten, twelve, or fifteen fold . The chief article of cultivation is wheat, but their mills are so good, that even their rye bread isamong the whitest and most pleasant kinds eaten anywhere. They haveexcellent horses, of which they take great care. They are all free ownersof their land, but they are obliged to work one or two days Robbot inthe week, for their lords. Every peasant is obliged to use a cart, twohorses, and a man, and maid servant, in the landlord's service, while heworks for him. A thriving peasant of the Hanna, has generally about120 bushels of seed, six or eight horses, eight or ten cows, no oxen, from100 to 150 sheep, and a good herd of " bristly beasts," as they call theirpigs. The Hannaken are divided into the different classes of wholepeasants (such as I have just described), three-quarter peasants, and halfpeasants; the latter are of course proportionably less wealthy.The greatest landowner in the Hanna is Prince Metternich, and nextto him comes the Prince of Lichtenstein, who is master of ninety-nine greatestates in the Austrian Empire, thirty-three of which are in Moravia.The Hannaken are passionately fond of music and dancing, like most Slavonian races. Their national songs and melodies, which are for themost part very old, are almost all in the minor key, the prevailing charac-522 AUSTERLITZ.66teristic of all Slavonian music. Most of the writers who have describedMoravia, agree with Hanke and Lichtenfeld, in calling the Hannakenupon the whole good men, faithful subjects, and devout Christians."This, however, is somewhat unmeaning, and leaves but a vague and oftenan untrue impression, and might be applied with equal correctness tohalfthe nations of Europe. As being the wealthiest owners of the bestland, the Hannaken are at once the proudest and most hospitable among the inhabitants of Moravia.The next morning we pursued our journey through the Hanna. Theyoung corn rose green, fresh, and flourishing on every side of us, and thewhole country looked like one unbroken cornfield . The luxuriant growthof the wheat, had scarcely left room for a single tree.It is curious to observe how the most trifling customs of Vienna are apedthroughout the Austrian provinces. The sausage dealers, for instance, seemall over the empire, to be cut out after the pattern of those of the capital.They are all little lads of ten or twelve years old, and carry their sausagesin little boxes strung to wooden sticks. They also carry a metal vesselfull of hot water, which they keep boiling in the same way that the Russians do their tea-water. When a customer wants a sausage, they immediatelyheat it for him in this hot water. All the nations ruled by the Austriansceptre have accustomed themselves to delight in these Vienna sausages,which are nowto be met with in every little town till you reachthe Russianor Turkish frontier. The sausage may not inaptly be considered the savourybond that unites the heterogeneous parts of the great monarchy.AUSTERLITZ.Behind Wischau, the country rises into a low chain of hills, which formsthe boundary of the real Hanna. After crossing these hills, we reachedthose plains rendered for ever memorable in history, by the events of December, 1805. Neu Rausnitz is the first place which trembled beneaththe thunder of the cannon of Austerlitz. It was plundered by the Cossacks,and burnt by the French.The town of Austerlitz had in fact nothing to do with the battle namedafter it. It lies more than a ( German) mile from the scene of conflict,and its church towers cannot even be seen from the battle-field. Thepeople of Rausnitz declare that the battle was only named after Austerlitz,to please Prince Kaunitz, to whom the place belonged, and who had built a fine castle there. It would have been better to have named the conflictafter the more important city of Brünn. We hoped to have found someof the old veterans of Austerlitz at Rausnitz, but the last of them had died the year before. An old man at Brünn informed us, that some monthsbefore the battle, an extraordinary omen had been observed. The whole neighbourhood, namely, had been covered with a shower of hailstones, thatlay half an ell deep on the ground, and the little river Ponawka, generallyan insignificant brook, had risen so high as to threaten Brünn with an inundation. He had said at the time that this portended some great event,although he did not exactly foresee that the hail was to be the forerunnerof cannon-balls, or that the deluge was to consist of French soldiers. Another assured us, pointing to a little chapel upon a neighbouring hill, thatthe effigy of the Virgin Mary which it contained, had been seen to weepBRUNN. 523bitterly after the battle. This chapel had before been wooden, but it wasnow rebuilt of stone, and was the scene of many pilgrimages. On theroad near Rausnitz, we noticed two old trees, splintered and crippled bythebullets and cannon- balls of the great battle. These trees are, however,covered with fresh vegetation, and are the only things which bear any traces of the conflict. Every thing else has returned to its old condition.Those hills of which, on the battle day, every thicket, every mound, andevery bush was a matter of life and death, have now returned to their oldinsignificance. The field is covered with luxuriant corn; the graves ofthe warriors have been given over again to the plough. No monument of any kind has been erected on the field of battle. Not far from the fieldof Austerlitz, however, a monument has been erected to commemorate anevent of a very different nature from that of the great carnage of December, 1805. That most paternally beneficent of emperors, Joseph II.,while riding through the country on the 19th of August, 1769, saw a poorpeasant who was leaning exhausted on his plough, unable to continue hislabour. The emperor dismounted, and taking the plough in hand, finished the man's day's task for him. A monument has been erected upon thisspot, consisting of a large iron pedestal, upon which is perched an Austrianeagle. On that side of the pedestal which is turned towards the road, theemperor is represented driving the plough; beside him stands the old peasant, and on the other side the emperor's servant, holding his horse.-Beneath is the inscription: " Josephus II. Semp. Aug. agriculturæ ge- neris humani nutrici honorem deferens hoc in agro sulcum duxit. DieXIX. Augusti, 1769, memoriæ principis incomparabilis ordines Moraviæ hoc monumentum posteris sacrum esse voluerunt, 1835.BRUNN.Thecity ofBriinn, superior now in population and commerce to any othertown in Moravia, owe its prosperity, partly no doubt to the activity, industry, and spirit of enterprise, which distinguish its citizens, but partly alsoto its geographical position. It lies at the southern point of a range ofhills, which run out from the Bohemian and Moravian mountains, and atthe juncture of two rivers, the Schwarza and the Zwittava. On thesouth, west, and east, the town is surrounded with a level plain, a positionparticularly calculated to favour the extension of the city.The appearance of Brünn is very picturesque and imposing. As wedrove towards it from the field of Austerlitz, and beheld the fine old city,lying before us so peacefully and gaily, surrounded with beautiful gardensand cornfields, with its background of distant hills and dark forests, andits centre group of stately spires clustering round the old cathedral; aswe saw it thus spread out at our feet, in the midst of a wide and beautifulplain, dotted over with smiling villages, and nestling far awayin the woodyhills beyond, and stretching its pretty suburbs down to the river banks,our hearts beat with patriotic emotions, and we felt that we were indeedreally and truly once more in our own fair native land!The inns and hotels of Brünn leave the traveller nothing to desire.They would satisfy an Englishman in point of comfort, a Dutchman inpoint of cleanliness, and a Russian in the variety and abundance of theireatables. As half Russians, and as hungry travellers, we were particu524 BRUNN.larly interested in the latter item, and after doing ample justice to thewell-supplied table of our hotel at Brünn, we had only just time for anevening's walk. The city did not appear to us so clean and neat as Olmütz,although by no means a dirty place; and though it has many narrowstreets, it contains no fewer than seven large open squares.The capital of Moravia is of course not wanting in great numbers ofthose architectural toys to which the Moravians are so partial; springs,fountains, Trinity columns, &c. All the open spaces are decorated with monuments, strange rather than beautiful. In one stands a marblecolumn, " erected, in honour of the Holy Mother of God, the Patroness ofthe sick, the Consoler of the suffering, the Protectress of the Dead, on theoccasion of the great plague in 1680, and renewed in the year 1831, on theoccasion of the great cholera." In another a column " erected in honourof the Holy Trinity, " and decorated with hundreds of different stonestatues like that of Olmütz. Fountains are common in all parts of thetown, one of them is very handsome and curious, and is called the " Parnassus " by the inhabitants. It consists of artificial rocks, piled upon oneanother to the height of fifty feet, forming a large grotto, in the midst ofwhich stands a colossal Hercules, struggling with a three-headed Cerberus.Outside, the rocks are covered with an abundant growth of fresh ivy,which clothes it all the year round in living green. From all the littlerifts and niches of the rock, rise stone figures of serpents, lizards, mermaids, naiads, &c. , who spout up water to a great height, which fallsagain into the large basin surrounding the grotto.The whole is surmounted with a female figure, with a crown and sword, representing “ theVirgin Mary, the Queen of Nature. "The Franzensberg, the beautiful promenade of the citizens of Brünn,is a projecting eminence of the Petersberg, upon which is built a part ofthe town, including the Cathedral itself. The Franzensberg was formerlycovered with fortifications, but these were razed to the ground by theenergetic and popular Count Antony Frederick Mittrowski von Mittrovitzand Nemishi, then Governor of Moravia, and the rocks, after having beenmade level in several places, were covered with a thin stratum of mould, inwhich a number of beautiful flowers and shrubs were planted. The hill isnow crowned, not with frowning towers, but with green thickets, bloomingparterres, and verdant lawns. It commands a lovely prospect over thetown and the sea, of waving cornfields and green meadows beyond; buton the north-western side this smiling landscape is broken by a painfulobject, which is alone sufficient to mingle a feeling of bitterness and melancholy with the pleasing sensations which the rest of the view inspires;this painful object is the Spielberg, with its frowning bastions and gloomydungeon towers. Here are music, sunshine, gaiety; well-dressed citizenswith their wives and children, drinking coffee under the trees, and wandering among the shady walks, enjoying the beauty of the evening:-there opposite are sighs and tears, fetters, and dreary cells; hard-heartedjailers, and suffering patriots; Gonfalonieris, Andryanes, and Pellicos.On the day in question, indeed, I could gaze upon the dark towers ofSpielberg with somewhat a lighter heart than I could have done had myvisit been less happily timed, for it was the very day on which Imperialclemency had enlarged the last of the Italian captives. With what feelings of delight must the unhappy prisoners have turned their backs uponthe hateful house of bondage! With what rapture must they have gazedBRUNN. 525upon the sunny meadows and blooming gardens of Brünn! What wouldwe have given to have had one of them beside us on the Franzensberg,enjoying with us the delightful scene! This indeed was not possible, foralthough released from their dungeons, they were still subjected to thestrict superintendence of the police. They were to stay some days inBrünn, and then to be conducted to Italy under an escort of gendarmes.If even a foreigner never crosses the Alps without eager expectation andenthusiastic delight, with what words can we hope to describe the feelingsof these unfortunates, when they behold once more the sunny blue sky ofItaly!A permission to see the interior of the Spielberg is not obtained withoutsome difficulty, and the short time I was likely to remain did not allow ofmy going through the required formalities. I contented myself, therefore,in the evening, before going to bed, with reading a tolerably full historyof the noted fortress, which is supposed to be of greater antiquity than any other part of Brünn. In the earliest chronicles of the city, the Spielberg is spoken of as the Brünner Burg, or citadel of Brünn, but itwas only in the fourteenth century that the old citadel received thename of the Spielberg or Mons Lusorius. What the circ*mstance waswhich led to this change of name, is altogether unknown. During thethirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the Spielberg was the residence of the Margraves of Moravia, and the diets of the country werefrequently held within its walls. Like all the castles of the middle ages,it had at all times its dungeons, but it was only in the year 1740 that thebuilding was converted into a state prison, in consequence of its fortifications being deemed insufficient to resist the more formidable means ofa*ggression which modern science has placed at the command of conque- rors. The last remnant of the fortifications of the Spielberg were destroyed by the French in 1809.The Spielberg is used not only for state prisoners, but for all criminalsin the Austrian empire, who are condemned to more than ten years imprisonment. The name of Spielberg is as much dreaded in Austria,as that of Siberia in Russia, that of Botany Bay in England, and that ofthe Bagnes in France. It has lately derived a European notoriety fromthe memoirs of the Baron von Trenck, and Le Mie Prigione of SilvioPellico. It contains on an average three hundred prisoners, a fourth of whom are women. If we allow an average duration of fifteen years, forthe imprisonment of each, and estimate the population of the Austrianempire at 35,000,000, every 100,000 inhabitants furnishes once in everyfifteen years, a criminal condemned to more than ten years imprisonment,and every 1,500,000 inhabitants, one annually. This certainly seems avery small proportion.Great as is the horror which the name of Spielberg inspires in Galicia,Slavonia, Illyria, Bohemia, Bukovina, and Italy, this feeling is certainlynot owing to any outrageous severity in the treatment of the prisoners.There are scarcely any subterranean dungeons now. Till 1791 indeed,things were very different there; till that time, the carcere duro consistedof deep, dark, underground holes, only four feet square, where the miserable prisoner was laden with chains, placed in solitary confinement, and fedon bread and water. The door to these wretched cells was only four feethigh. Good God! with what agony of mind must the unfortunatedoomed to such misery, have crept through the narrow opening! Truly526 BRUNN.the gulf which separates the nineteenth century from all preceding centuries, has never been done justice to by any historian. Such inhumanbarbarity as this is happily almost inconceivable to us now, and yet it wasonly the last generation which abolished these horrors.The Spielberg-the events which pass within the Spielberg-the prisoners just let out of the Spielberg-the criminals just taken into the Spielberg-this subject occupies two-thirds of all the conversation at Brünn.Even the women over their tea, and the children at play, talk of little elsethan the Spielberg. One might wish its gloomy towers removed, far fromthe lively little city, whose gaiety, sunshine, and cheerfulness, must embitter yet more the sufferings of the unhappy inmates, to some drearydesert suitable to the desolate cheerlessness of the odious pile.The next day, a fine fresh November morning, we set out to see theLions of Brünn, that is, those among them in which we felt interested.First among these was the convent of the Brothers of Charity. This orderis certainly the best and most beneficent of all those which have eversprung from the bosom ofthe Catholic church. Austria contains no lessthan twenty-three of these monasteries, which supply the want of hospitalsand other benevolent institutions, to no inconsiderable extent.The convent, we found, was large and spacious, and the wards for thesick lofty and airy. It is certainly pleasing to see these pious old monks,who were formerly occupied only with idle prayers and mortifications intheir solitary cells, now usefully and actively employed as physicians, apothecaries, and nurses. They have renounced the pleasures of the world,but not its cares and labours.The surgery of the convent was large and well arranged, and its wallsand ceiling were decorated like those of a chapel, with pictures of saintsand angels. The laboratory was like the cell of an alchymist: driedplants, stuffed crocodiles, snakes, fishes, and elephants' teeth were rangedround the walls. Every thing was, in the highest degree, neat, orderly, andwell arranged.The novices are educated in the monastery, and each monk studies medicine, surgery, or pharmacy, according to his inclination or talents. Manydevote themselves to the household duties and management of the convent,and four ofthem are constantly travelling to collect the voluntary contributions, by which alone the convent is supported. The charitable gifts of the rich, could not easily be devoted to a better purpose. Theinvalids hadall clean beds, and seemed to want for nothing. În one of the rooms wefound a monk just performing an operation for the cancer. Not only aresick persons tended in the convent, but medicines and food are daily distributed gratis to the poor in the city.Of the numerous churches in Brünn, the cathedral and the church ofSt. James (die Jacobskirche) are the most interesting. The latter is one of the finest remains of Gothic architecture we possess.Brünn is the Manchester* of Austria, the principal seat of its woollenmanufactories, and volumes of smoke issuing from lofty chimneys, in allparts of the town, announce the activity of the never resting steam-engines.The leather manufactories are of older date, but by no means of less importance, and among these, the largest and most famous is the Lettmayermanufactory. Its present possessor, who conducts every thing in the name

• Qy. Leeds?

THE CASTLES OF THE GREAT AUSTRIAN NOBILITY. 527of his widowed mother, is a handsome, agreeable, intelligent young man,and gave us many interesting particulars respecting an article which servesat least half mankind to walk upon. His establishment uses up no lessthan 20,000 skins a year. In tenyears, therefore, he tans the skins of noless than 200,000 oxen, that is four times as many as the whole margravate of Moravia contains. Almost all these skins are brought from Hungary, for the skins of the Polish and Russian oxen are thinner, weaker, andoftener spoilt by insects, than those of the great Hungarian cattle.At the booksellers' shops of Brünn, we looked over the newest blossomsof Moravian and Tshekhian literature. Though the dialects spoken bythe Bohemians and Moravians are different, yet their written language isentirely the same. The numerous elegant new publications in theTshekhian language, which we saw at Brünn, some of them original productions, and others translations from the French and German, seemed totestify to the existence of a large literary public among the Tshekhs. Itis a singular fact that half a dozen new languages and literatures are atpresent fast springing up and bearing fruit within the Austrian empire,and still more singular, that the government by no means restrains this movement.We had occasion to rejoice, that the projected railroad from Brünn toVienna was not yet completed, for if it had been, we should have flownalong rapidly to the imperial city on the wings of the mighty magician,Steam, and have seen nothing of the interesting countries that lie between.As it was, we plodded on, the next day, at the same leisurely pace asbefore, along the good stone road which intersects the vineyards round Brünn. About half a million Eimers of wine are annually produced fromthe vines of Moravia, but this manufacture is only kept up by the high taxupon Hungarian wines. All the vineyards of Moravia would soon bedestroyed, if the government were to take off the heavy duty which prevents the importation of the cheaper and better wines of Hungary; yetI cannot help thinking the government would do well to open the floodgates that would let in the racy tide, for the many thousands who nowemploy themselves in the manufacture of a sour and detestable beverage,would turn their hands to other branches of industry, more beneficial to themselves and their country.THE CASTLES OF THE GREAT AUSTRIAN NOBILITY.The southern part of Moravia is not one ofthe most uninteresting portionsof the Austrian empire. The castles, estates, and palaces of its mostdistinguished families, are there crowded together in great numbers. Thisdistrict is now almost entirely German. The most interesting of its oldfamily seats, are Nikolsburg, Eisgrub, and Falkenstein, the dwellings ofthe Dietrichsteins, the Lichtensteins, and the Bartensteins, which all lieclose to one another. Of all the nobilities of Europe, that of Austria haslost least of its old feudal power and splendour, while in culture and re- finement it is not behind that of any other country. Humane in hisconduct, patriarchal in his habits, unostentatious in his luxury, magnificent in his undertakings, the kind protector of his peasantry, the judiciouspatron of arts, letters, and manufactures, such is the true old Austrian528 THE CASTLES OF THE GREAT AUSTRIAN NOBILITY.nobleman; and the castles and estates above mentioned, testify to the truthof the picture.We were glad to be able to devote a day to the view of these threeinteresting places, of which Nikolsburg, the seat of the Dietrichsteins, wasthe first we reached.The castle of Nikolsburg stands on a hill, at the foot of which lies thetown ofNikolsburg, containing 10,000 inhabitants. This town is built inthe usual old Moravian style, decorated with statues, fountains, Trinitycolumns, &c. The citizens of Nikolsburg were formerly subjects to theDietrichstein family, but one of its heads gave them entire freedom, andendowed them with the right of choosing their own magistrates, saying,that he preferred having free and grateful citizens round him to obsequiousand servile vassals. A handsome broad road leads up the hill to thecastle, winding through the flower-gardens and orchards which adornthe terraces. The entrance to these gardens is a grand triumphal arch ofcast-iron, forty feet high. The gates of the castle itself are massivegloomy old portals. Reaching the first courtyard, we entered a maze offlower-beds, vineyards, ruins, and dwelling-houses, ancient and modern,wild naked rocks, and dainty new buildings, old Gothic portals, and newcast-iron gratings, flung together in strange but not unpleasing confusion.The domestic offices were appropriately decorated, the stables with stonefigures of horses, the cowhouses with those of cows, &c. We felt doubtful whether a warder would blow his bugle on the turrets, or a nymphglide from some neighbouring grotto, or a modern dandy usher us intoan elegant drawing- room. No one, however, came, till we at lengthfound our way to the Schlosshauptman, who politely gave us permission to see the castle, and referred us to the Zimmerwärtel. The Zimmerwärtel himself was ill in bed, but his wife brought out a great bunchof keys, and led us into the castle. We were glad to have a woman toshow us the place, for women are more talkative, and are also generally better acquainted with the details of a family than men. The comfortand neatness of these insignificant servants of the family surprised andpleased us. They had all spent many years in their present service, theSchlosshauptman twenty years, the Zimmerwärtel thirty, and his wifeforty years. It is the good old patriarchal custom of the Austrian noblesto choose their servants carefully, to keep them long, and to treat them well.The old woman took us first into the dining-saloon, or as it was here calledthe eating-room. The floor is inlaid with oak, and the long dining- tableis of the same wood, which is used but little in castles of a more recentdate. The walls of the great saloon are adorned with animal and flower pieces by the best Dutch masters. Six doors lead out into the immensebalcony, which is the largest in Germany, larger even than that of Heidelberg. There is room in this spacious balcony for a grand banquet to allthe nobility of Moravia. It projects far beyond the outermost ridge ofthe castle hill, and commands a lovely view of the rich meadows and cornfields around, which are among the most fertile in Moravia, with here andthere the ruins of an old knightly castle, perched upon a craggy eminence.Leaving the eating-room, we came to the "great sitting-room, where thegentry sit after dinner," said the old woman; for the wordgrand drawingroom is not used here. Every thing here was being repainted and deco- rated. "The old Prince Dietrichstein feels himself dying," continued theTHE CASTLES OF THE GREAT AUSTRIAN NOBILITY. 529old woman, " and he is having every thing done up, that at his death, whichmay God long avert! the next prince, his son, may receive the castle ingood condition. Eleven young painters from Italy and Vienna have beenworking here all the summer."The Dietrichsteins have always been one of the most distinguished families in Austria, and princes of this house have filled many of the highestoffices in the government. Their castle therefore abounds in historicalrelics and trophies, and in presents from kings and emperors. The " greatsitting-room" is decorated with portraits of almost all the Austrian Emperors, and distinguished generals; among the most conspicuous are thoseofthe great Wallenstein, who married a lady of the house of Dietrichstein,and who is represented riding on a fiery bay; of Joseph II. as a boy,playing with his golden chain; and of Maria Theresa, first as a happywife, then as a crowned empress, and lastly as a sorrowing widow. Theportraits of the Dietrichsteins, some as cardinals, others as warriors, othersas abbesses, &c. , hang among the imperial portraits.We next entered the Hall of Audience, in which the Princes Dietrichstein are accustomed to give audience to the inhabitants of their subjecttowns and villages. Few royal palaces contain more magnificent audiencechambers. The walls are covered with the choicest Gobelin tapestries, representing the Judgment of Solomon, and scenes from the life of Moses.From the audience chamber we passed through the Spanish room, througha new-fashioned billiard -room, through a library, containing 20,000 volumes, through a museum of natural history, and finally through an armoury. The latter contains arms of every kind, from the most barbarousold weapon to the most complete new-fashioned percussion gun. Thewalls are covered with hunting pieces. Among the weapons are preservedall the swords which have ever conferred knighthood on the different Dietrichsteins; as well as the great sword with which criminals were executed,and which is kept here, as a sign of the judicial power ofthe family.The walls of the castle are nine feet thick; the doors of all the roomsare of massive oak, and the furniture ponderous and old-fashioned. Thefirescreens are of plaited straw, but are, nevertheless, elegant and strong.The beds in the sleeping-rooms are as large as if they were intended for awhole family to sleep in. The commodes and toilet-cases, are little morethan gaily-coloured boxes, stuck upon high pedestals.The corridors of the house are decorated with the most interesting pic- tures. One of them represents the celebrated Dietrichstein wedding, andbears the inscription, " Nuptia Dietrichsteinianæ trecentis dapibus affluentissime in ædibus Dietrichsteinianis Vindobonæ 1515, concele- brate." At this wedding, at which the Emperor Maximilian, thebosom- friend of the bridegroom presided, the middle tables were occupied entirely by kings and queens, and the side tables by dukes andprinces.The family chapel contains the body of St. Donatus, before which alamp has been constantly kept burning for two hundred and fifty years. The most magnificent part of the castle is the Ahnensaal,containing the portraits of all the Dietrichsteins, as large as life. Amongthe most interesting is that of the famous Cardinal Dietrichstein, a manof the most distinguished talents and character, the pride of his family.He was the builder of the cathedral of Olmütz, and was in his time oneof the most powerful supporters of the Imperial family and of Catho-530 THE CASTLES OF THE GREAT AUSTRIAN NOBILITY.licism in Austria. He solemnized the marriage of three emperors, viz. ,Matthias, Rudolph, and Ferdinand. He was taken prisoner during theSwedish invasion, and confined in the convent of Nikolsburg close by.While shut up there, he contrived to have an underground passage boredthrough the rock of the Ahnensaal of his own castle, in whose thick wallhe scooped out a little chapel, where he came every morning, to prayfor the preservation of his own and the Imperial family. This littlechapel is still shown behind his own picture. He afterwards engaged and defeated the Swedes, at the battle of Kalisch. This battle, his subsequent interview with the Emperor Matthias at Kremsier, his triumphalentry into Milan as papal nunciate, his courageous conduct during a storm on the Adriatic Sea, and other prominent scenes of his life, are representedin fresco on the ceiling of the Ahnensaal.Napoleon Buonaparte spent some time in the castle, just before thebattle of Austerlitz. During our passage through the rooms, we had thehonour of sitting down upon the same green sofa on which Buonapartebreakfasted on the morning before he set off for Austerlitz. The old womantold us that the emperor had, like ourselves, seen the castle in detail, butthat it was " Old Haller" the former Zimmerwärtel, who had shown himthe rooms.We did not visit Falkenstein, the seat of the Bartensteins, for fear ofhaving no time left for Eisgrub. The present Prince of Bartenstein livesentirely at Vienna, and has allowed his castle of Falkenstein to fall intodecay. He possesses a better castle near Wagram; and his estates therehave been finely manured by Napoleon, as those of Prince Kaunitz have been at Austerlitz.The way to Eisgrub lies though a beautiful country, full of rich vineyards, cheerful villages, waving cornfields, and swelling hills and dales.The Lichtensteins form one of the oldest and most distinguished familiesin Moravia, and the estate of Eisgrub, has been their own during anunbroken succession of two hundred and fifty years. They were, indeed,possessors of it as early as the fourteenth century, but it fell out of theirhands afterwards, and was not regained till the reign of Rudolph II.Although Eisgrub is only one of their ninety-nine Austrian estates, it isthe usual summer-residence of the head of the family, and its magnificenceis worthy of the sovereign rank of the Lichtensteins.The stairs, the corridors, the concert-rooms, eating-rooms, sittingrooms, and conservatories, are among the most splendid in Germany.The magnificent orangery, five hundred feet long, contains a forest ofnine hundred orange-trees, the largest collection of this beautiful plant,north of the Alps. Many of them have lived under the northern sun for two hundred years. There are also large greenhouses, containing allkinds of rare and curious plants, of different climates, among which are 1500 aloes.The park of Eisgrub has no equal in Munich, Schwezingen, Worlitz, orDresden. The river Thaya flows through it; the building of the aque- ducts alone, to water the park, cost 200,000 florins. In order to have itwell stocked with exotic American plants, the distinguished botanistDr. Wanderschott, was sent to America, to bring over whatever specimens were likely to grow in this climate. The avenues of Canadianpoplars, the groves of plantains, acacias, palm-trees, bananas, and hundreds of other rare and beautiful trees, are arranged in such aTHE CASTLES OF THE GREAT AUSTRIAN NOBILITY. 531リmanner as to satisfy alike the scientific botanist and the lover of thepicturesque. The points de vue are marked by beautiful buildings, ofwhich each is a complete masterpiece of this kind. The mosque, forinstance, with a minaret to which three hundred and two steps leadup, has been built of freestone, at an expense of a million of florins, a costfor which twenty Turkish villages might have been furnished with goodmosques. The Chinese rotunde, the bathing-house, the fishing- hut, theTemple of the Muses, the Hansenburg, and other playthings of the kind,are here all built in the most solid and massive manner, with the mostpicturesque elegance, and the most elaborate propriety. To see, enjoy,and describe them all, was impossible. The Hansenburg particularlyattracted our attention, being a real old knightly castle of the middle ages,of which every part is appropriate and consistent. It is built with towersand turrets like those of the fourteenth century, and the furniture is allgenuine, being taken from sundry old knightly castles belonging tothe Lichtensteins. This building is shaded by venerable oaks, four hun- dred years old, and surrounded by a menagerie containing large herds ofdeer and stags .One of the lakes in the park forms the boundary between Austria andMoravia; and twenty-six years have already been employed in adorningt. Beautiful groves of trees have been planted on its once naked shores,and islands formed upon it with stately buildings upon them. We nextentered a spacious rotunda, the antechamber of the cow-house, andpassed through doors of the finest plate-glass, first to the palace inhabited by the cows and oxen, afterwards to that of the merino sheep,who are 1000 in number.I doubt whether any Roman Grandee of the Augustan age, possessedparks of such regal magnificence as that of Eisgrub. The temple ofApollo and that of the Graces, are masterpieces of architecture. Thelatter is 150 feet long, supported on Ionic columns, and contains manyfine marble statues of mythological and allegorical figures.The building which marks the entrance into the park from the Austrianside, might well be taken by a stranger for the castle of Eisgrub itself.To describe its cupolas, halls, columns, porticoes, &c. , took up three closelyprinted pages of Walni's Chronicles of Eisgrub.The Teimer forest adjoining the park, is surrounded by a wall three (German) miles long. The centre is marked by a building in the formof a Roman triumphal arch, with the inscription,"Dianæ venatrici ejusque cultoribus Has tibi, blanda soror Phobi, sacravimus ædesIntactus semper crescat tibi lucus honori. "It is intended for a rendezvous for hunting-parties, and is adorned withfine statues of Endymion, Diana, Actæon, Bacchus, &c.The so-called " Monument auf der Reisten" is a good deal similar tothe Ahnensaal at Nikolsburg, with this difference, that it is a separate building, standing alone in the park, and that the portraits of the Lichtensteins, which it contains, are statues , not pictures.We spent the night at the village of Eisgrub. The next day, crossingthe boundaries of Moravia, we entered the Archduchy of Austria, andcame in sight of the snow-covered summits of the Eastern Alps. Wetraversed the Marchfeld, amid the hissing and screaming of the wild geese,which, since time immemorial, have never ceased upon this plain. Gra- 2 N532 THE CASTLES OF THE GREAT AUSTRIAN NOBILITY.dually the dark towers of St. Stephen's appeared in the distance, and wepassed Jeddlersdorf and the Brigitten-Au. " Here we are!" cried Wenzelat length, as he opened the door, and we stepped out before the "WhiteLamb," in the Leopoldsvorstadt at Vienna.In the twenty-five (German) miles of Moravian territory, which we hadtraversed, we had passed thirteen towns. Moravia and Bohemia containmore towns than all the rest of the Austrian Empire put together. Mo- ravia has twice as many as all Hungary. In Bohemia and Moravia, thereis one town to every four square miles, in Austria to every ten, in Galiciato every fifteen, and in Hungary to every seventy. Moravia contains4000 inhabitants to every square mile; that is, twice as many as Hungary,three times as many as the Tyrol, and four times as many as Dalmatia.THE END.C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND:тот་

AUG 2 6 1938

Front matter

AUSTRIA.VIENNA, PRAGUE, HUNGARY,BOHEMIA, AND THE DANUBE;GALICIA, STYRIA, MORAVIA, BUKOVINA,ANDTHE MILITARY FRONTIER.BY J. G. KOHL.LONDON:CHAPMAN AND HALL, 186, STRAND.1843.1 PUBLITHENEWYORKPUBLICLIBRARYASTOR,LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONSBOG, No. 8 0 08LC. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND.

Contents

CONTENTS.BOHEMIA.From Dresden to Teplitz.......From Teplitz to Prague Prague. The Vissehrad .PAGE PAGEHUNGARY.Oedenburg, Zinzendorf, Esterhazy, and 11 the Neusiedler Lake.... 171 14 The Metropolitan Church on the The Morass of Hansag and the Gulyas The Raabau and Raab...... 179 185 Hradshin 22 The Abbey of Martinsburg..... 191 Public Institutions and Convents ...... 34 The Danube from Raab to Pesth 198The Jews' Quarter 46 Buda. -Pesth..... 206Popular Scenes in Prague 56 The Fair at Pesth.. 208 The National Movement among the The Congregation of Nobles 215Bohemians 61 The Bridge at Pesth 220 The Book of Life on the Moldau 68 The Rascian Town - Turkish BathsFrom Prague to Budweis.... 72 and Oriental Pilgrims 224The Castles and Estates of Schwar- Hotels and Casino at Pesth 229zenberg 75 The Hungarian Literary Society, and From Budweis to Linz 85 the Hungarian language 235 Ofen, or Buda….. 238UPPER AUSTRIA. Public Collections 243Linz.-The Carpet Manufactory 88 The Jews of Pesth 245The Madhouse 91 Hospital of St. Roche 247 Jesuit School .... 93 The Danube in the Central Plains of Provincial Museum 96 Hungary.. 251Monastery of St. Florian ... 97 The Batschka and its German Colonists 256 Visit to the House of an Austrian Pea- Syrmia and Peterwardein 257 sant 102 The Mouth of the Save 260 Public Library 105 Steamboat Life 261The Picture Gallery between Linz and Cataracts of the Danube 263Vienna 106 A Night in the Military Frontier 265Political Importance of the Military LOWER AUSTRIA. Frontier 269Vienna, or Betsch.... 125 The Lower Clissura 272Visit to St. Stephen's Tower 127 Visit to a Turkish Pasha 273The Menagerie at Schönbrun 132 Austrian Orsova 277 The Fratschelweiber - Fishmongers The Hercules Baths at Mehadia. 279 and Dealers in Game 139 Upper Valley of the Tsherna, and LifeFestivals.Summer-nights ' Dreams and FlowerThe Projected New Quarter..…………….ofthe Borderers 284 145 The Keys of Teregova and Slatina 293 149 Karansebes 298The Quarter ofthe Nobility and that of Lugos, Temesva, and the Banat Fever 301 the Manufacturers 151 First Shower... 308The Shops of Vienna 153 First Interval of Sunshine 309 Railroads 156 Second Shower 310Sunday Walks 160 Second Sunshine 310 Klosterneuburg .164 Third Shower 312CONTENTS.The Colonies and Lowlands of the BanatThoughts on the Peaceful Migrations of European NationsPAGE PAGESalzburg 419 313 Farewell to Austria ..................... 424BUKOVINA... ......... 425 317The Slavonians.... 319 GALICIA.The Greeks 320 From Tshernovitze to Lemberg ......... 432The Italians and French 321 Sniatyn and Stanislavov 436The Germanic Nations 321 From Stanislavov to Stry. 440 The Subordinate and Dependant Stry .445 Races 323 From Stry to Lemberg . 446 The Banat 327 Lemberg 449Stuhlweissenburg.-VesprimSzegedin and the Italian Prisoners ...... 333 The Pusten and their InhabitantsTheKumanen, Yazygen, and Haiducken 346 Heaths of KetskemetConvent ofTihany, and the Platten lake 365 Bakony Forest; its Poets, Castles, and RobbersThe Polish Jews 458 341 The Germanization of Galicia... 463The Galician Nobles 467349 354 Grudek, Moshiska, and Yaroslav Lanzut... 469 477Rzeszov, Pilsno, and Tarnov 480373 The Salt-works of Vieliczka Cracow 489498Podgorze....... 507 STYRIA.Fürstenfeld to Grätz...... GrätzFrom Grätz to LeobenThe Styrian RocksLandskorona and Biala.... 510386 Austrian Silesia.......... 512.......... 387 394 MORAVIA.Eisenärzt and the EisenbergThe Abbey of AdmontThe Upper Valley of the Enns The Salt District of Styria .The Austrian Salt District............ 397 The Kuhländl.. 515 401 Olmütz 517 404 The Hanna 520407 Austerlitz 522 408 Brünn 523413 The Castles of the Great Austrian No- The Gaisberg...... 415 bility 527BOHEMIA.

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