Part 5

The coach establishment of the royal family is scarcely less magnificent than the great arsenal. I thought the coaches and equipages of the Pope of Rome must be superior to those of any other potentate, but those of the Emperor of Austria surpass them. There are about thirty large and small coaches, all glittering with gold. The largest of the number corresponds in size with an American stage coach; the wheels, pole, and all but the body, being covered with plated gold, the driver’s and footmen’s seats covered with scarlet velvet, the inside lined with the same material, and the body painted after the design of Rubens, with beautiful characters and emblematic figures, and finished in a style that cannot be excelled in beauty. On the top is an immense crown of gold, which serves as a grand finish of the efforts for grandeur. The painting alone cost thirty thousand dollars, the whole vehicle ninety thousand dollars! It is used but twice a year, and is one hundred and twenty years old. Such is some of the pomp and pageantry of crowned heads, and, after all, what wretched governments, compared with our enlightened republic, do they give the people!

The Emperor is, however, a plain man, beloved by his people. He gives audience one day in the week to all who choose to make application beforehand in writing. He usually sets the example of dining at one o’clock, and, as a consequence, that is the fashionable dinner hour in the city. He is a regular attendant on Divine service in his own chapel connected with the palace. But any citizen can go and see, at certain times, what is called his private side-box, where he does no business and observes few ceremonies.

Since my arrival here I have tested the qualities of the mineral baths, which are the resort of thousands at this season of the year. The warm springs contain large portions of sulphur, are strongly impregnated with carbonic acid gas, and are very extensive.

Among other curiosities worthy of attention, in a public square near the centre of the city, is the trunk of an old tree, the only one remaining of an ancient forest, which occupied half the ground now covered with buildings. It has several iron hoops to aid in preserving it, and as it has been the custom of apprentices on setting out on a journey to drive a nail in it by way of memorial, it has become so filled with nails that there is no place left to drive another. It has the appearance of, and is called, “the tree of iron,” and gives its name to the square in which it stands.

With regard to apprentices, Austria has some peculiar regulations. The law compels them to travel in the empire two years in search of employment, and to gain information. They can enter any city and apply to the head of a committee for employment. If none can be obtained they are provided for, but can remain only two days, before they must travel again. They are required to keep a journal of all the places visited and bring back testimonials of character. When their time has expired they return home and pass an examination; if pronounced worthy, they are then allowed to open a shop. In consequence of this regulation it is not uncommon to see fine-looking young men, with packs on their backs, come up to a coach door and beg for any trifle of money, which their necessities drive them to solicit, and it is a rule with the Austrians always to aid them liberally.

XIII.

PEST, HUNGARY, _July 2, 1841_.

My last letter was from Vienna, which city we left a few days since for the capital of Hungary. We took a steamer on the Danube, about three miles from Vienna, and descended to Presburg, about fifty miles. The navigation of this part of the Danube is difficult, owing to the shoals and rapidity of the currents. On the route we passed the memorable battle-ground of Wagram. Traces of the works of Napoleon’s fortified camp on the island of Lobau, still remain. This narrow island--two and one-third miles long, and three-quarters of a mile broad--it is said contained one hundred and fifty thousand foot and thirty thousand horse, and seven hundred pieces of cannon, concentrated from all parts of Europe. We also passed the villages of Aspern and Essling, the scene of a memorable engagement in 1809, when the Austrians, under the Archduke Charles, gained a temporary but important advantage over Napoleon. Aspern was reduced to ruins; and scarcely any traces now remain of it; save the marks of cannon and shot in the walls of the churchyard.

We soon arrived at Presburg, the place of coronation of the king of Hungary, with a population of forty thousand, pleasantly situated on the Danube. The most conspicuous edifice to be seen here is the royal palace on the hill above the city. It was here that Maria Theresa, the youthful queen, at the commencement of her reign, when attacked on all sides, appeared in deep mourning, with the cross of St. Stephen in her hand, and girt with his sword, and delivered a speech, stating the disastrous condition of her affairs, and throwing herself on the fidelity of her people. The Hungarians could not resist the appeal, but in the excitement of feeling voted supplies to carry on the war, and summoned the wild tribes from the remote quarters of Hungary, to carry terror to all parts of the continent. Near the city an artificial mound is pointed out, about forty feet high, called Konigsburgh, to which every new king of Hungary has heretofore repaired on horseback, after his coronation, and from its summit made the sign of the cross in the air with the sword of St. Stephen, and waved it towards the four points of the compass, signifying thus his intention to protect the land on all sides.

We visited the Jews’ quarter, where, to the number of seven thousand, they are inclosed along the slope of the castle hill. They are restricted to that part of the city. The shores here are connected by a bridge of boats which rise and fall with the tide. Along the river may be seen, constantly, barges rudely constructed, mostly flat bottoms, with produce destined for the Black Sea, and descending rapidly with a current very like the Mississippi; others ascending, with supplies for the cities, or with merchandize, and towed by twenty to thirty horses, which traverse the banks, or up to the middle in water. We repeatedly passed fleets of water-mills, driven by the current, stretching obliquely in long lines from the shore into the middle of the river. They consist of a water-wheel suspended between two large boats moored in the line of the current; one boat, with a temporary dwelling, used by the miller. Heretofore, about the only use this mighty river was applied to, was propelling the mills. Steamers, to a limited extent, have been introduced within the last twelve years. The scenery along its banks is rather monotonous until you arrive at the town of Gran, numbering a population of twelve thousand: here is seen a chain of hills, the sides of which are planted with vineyards, producing some of the finest Hungarian wines. The town is celebrated as being the birthplace of St. Stephen, and for a long time the residence of the Hungarian monarchs, and was the finest city in Turkey until it was nearly annihilated by the Turks.

After passing many towers and battlemented walls, all full of interest as connected with the history of the country, we arrived at this city, one hundred and eighty-two miles from Vienna.

Buda, the old town on the right bank of the Danube, is the residence of the Palatine, and seat of government; and Pest on the left, connected by a bridge of boats one thousand two hundred feet long--both places containing a population of one hundred and twenty thousand. In 1838, a sudden rise of the Danube destroyed three thousand eight hundred dwellings. Since that time the city has improved rapidly, and I was agreeably surprised to see here, in almost the extreme Eastern part of Europe, a city that would compare with, and remind me of a new American city in many respects. The chief languages are the Hungarian and German, but I find the people in the cities of Hungary apt in the acquirement of languages. Many of them speak five languages. Their own is of an oriental character, differing from all European ones, and most difficult to acquire.

On crossing the bridge of boats, we passed without any demand being made; but observed that others were stopped, and toll demanded. On inquiry, the reply from a traveller was, that all persons who had good coats to their backs were allowed to pass free; while those who, from their costume, appeared to belong to the class of peasants of the poorer and lower orders, especially _beggars in rags_, are compelled to pay. The nobleman in every part of Hungary is free from all taxes. This is the Hungarian constitution! All the taxes of Hungary, which contains five millions of people, are wrung from the hard earnings of the peasants. The nobleman may have millions of acres, and immense revenues, and does not contribute a dollar. The excuse offered for this monstrous abuse is, that the peasant has a right in the land in consequence of his paying taxes, and that the tax is a part of the rent paid to government instead of to the lord.

XIV.

PRAGUE, BOHEMIA, _July 12, 1841_.

I will give you some idea of the mode of travel in Hungary. Between Vienna and Pest there is a separate posting establishment, set on foot by peasants, who drive their own horses, and travel twice as expeditiously as an ordinary post. Their only carriage is a light wagon, which is furnished with an abundance of straw or hay to make it comfortable, with a rude temporary cover of matting thrown over it, to protect from the rays of the sun, and rain. The pace at which these conveyances travel is absolutely wonderful, especially some of the stages. One of these stages, of forty miles, was performed within four hours, with a stop of fifteen minutes to water. Most of the time they went at the most rapid speed, keeping the horses, of which there were four, at a full gallop.

It is a curious, but attractive sight, to see the wild looking driver, with his long black hair floating in the breeze, his broad-brimmed hat and feather, as he turns around to ask for your admiration when his four, little, clean-limbed nags are rattling away over hills and through hollows, at a rate absolutely frightful. Go slow he will not; and if you escape being overturned, and left by the road-side, you are fortunate.

Hungary is a rich agricultural country, producing immense quantities of grain of different kinds. In the opinion of some, it is not uncommon for travellers to exaggerate; and when I say that we passed through fields ten miles in extent, with wheat on both sides as far as the eye could reach, it will scarcely appear credible. The small Hungarian towns present a singular appearance, having mostly one long and very broad street. The houses all stand with their gables to the street, are one story high, and about eighteen feet wide, with but one front window, but extending very deep to the rear. In towns of three or four hundred houses, you will scarcely discover two with any other covering than a thatched straw roof, but they are all well whitewashed, and have a greater appearance of comfort and neatness than one would suppose.

The estates are very large, and most of the peasants are mere slaves. It is amusing to see them on Sunday, or a holiday, with their gay attire; their round-topped broad-brimmed hats filled with feathers and gay flowers, and the rest of their peculiar dresses decked in corresponding style, with gaudy finery, remind one of our American Indians.

On our route to this city from Vienna, we stopped at Brunn, the capital of Moravia, a city with a population of forty thousand. The sect called Moravians originated in this country. It is a manufacturing city, and may be regarded as the Austrian Leeds for its cloths and woollen stuffs. Baron Trenck, the savage leader of the Pandours, the wild vanguard of the Austrian army, died here, and is buried in the church of the Capuchins. About ten miles from Brunn lies the famous battle-field of Austerlitz.

This city stands in a basin-shaped valley, cut in two by the river Moldau. It is surrounded on all sides by rocks or eminences, upon which slope the buildings of the city, rising tier above tier as they recede from the water’s edge. There is something of Asiatic splendor in the aspect and form of the domes, turrets, spires, and minarets, which rise up without number on all sides. The most imposing building is the ancient palace of the Bohemian kings, which stands upon the crest of an eminence, and overlooks all the other buildings of the city. The population is one hundred and twenty thousand.

The city contains much to interest strangers. The Aldstadt, as its name imports, is connected with the new part of the town by a bridge of massive stone, which was begun in the year 1356, by the emperor Charles IV., and finished in 1507; it is one thousand seven hundred and ninety feet long, and is ornamented with fifty-six statues of saints, twenty-eight on each side,--one of them a bronze statue of St. Nepomuck, who, according to the Popish legend, was thrown from this bridge into the river and drowned, in 1383, by king Wenceslaus, because he refused to betray the secrets confided to him by his queen in the holy rite of confession. The spot is now marked by five stars and a cross, in imitation of the miraculous flames which for three days after he was drowned, were seen flickering over the place where his body lay under water. The river was dragged, his body found and encased in a gorgeous silver shrine, and placed in the cathedral. From this circumstance, he became the patron saint of bridges; and wherever I have travelled in Catholic countries, I find the statue of St. John Nepomuck occupying the same situation by the bridges. The shrine and chapel in the cathedral are among the most richly finished in the world. The body is contained in a crystal coffin, inclosed in one of silver, and held aloft by angels as large as life, also of silver. The candelabra which stand around, the ever-burning lamps which hang above, are of the same precious metal, weighing altogether two thousand five hundred pounds. About three miles from the city is the field of the famous battle of Prague, won by Frederick the Great, in the celebrated Seven Years’ War. The cathedral is still standing at which Frederick aimed his cannon when he attacked the city, and is now a perfect museum of antiquities. Two hundred and fifteen balls passed through the roof. It is an interesting place to visit. The Jews quarter here, and occupy a part of the city by themselves, but are not locked up at night as in Rome and some other places that I have visited. It is recorded that in 1290 they were almost exterminated here by the fanaticism of the ignorant part of the people, who charged them with insulting the Host.

The most ancient synagogue here, the Jews assert, is nine hundred years old; the dust of ages remains undisturbed in it, and brooms, water, or whitewash would be considered sacrilege. It is a small apartment, supported on arches by three pillars, dingy with age and smoke. In some of their festivals they bear torches and lamps for days and nights, which accounts for the smoky and gloomy walls. The burial-ground, not far from the synagogue, is a singular spot. It is a large inclosure in the centre of the Jewish city, filled with the dead of centuries. One old headstone was pointed out which bears the date of the twelfth century. Many of them bear symbols of the tribes to which the departed belonged; a pitcher marks Levi, and so on.

We visited the palace of the Bohemian Kings. It is said to contain one thousand four hundred and forty apartments, and some are very splendid in size and decorations. The window is shown where three nobles were thrown out and fell eighty feet, having issued tyrannical edicts against the Protestants, which gave rise to the Thirty Years’ War that ended in 1640. We next visited the palace of the great chieftain Wallenstein. It is stated that one hundred houses were purchased and pulled down to make room for building the palace and clearing the grounds around it. It is now occupied by the descendants of Wallenstein. Those who visited the palace in his lifetime have left behind a surprising account of its splendor, and the regal style kept up by the proprietor. His stables contained three hundred saddle and carriage horses, fed out of marble mangers. Sixty pages, of noble families, were kept in the establishment to wait upon him, and when he went from home fifty carriages each drawn by four or six horses conveyed himself and suite, and fifty wagons carried his baggage, while the whole train was followed by fifty extra horses. His fortune was enormous, and yet during the wars he was often at a loss for means to raise a few thousand florins, so terribly did the country suffer.

The monastery of Straliew, whose library contains fifty thousand volumes, has scarcely its equal in this part of the world for its splendor, being lined throughout with walnut wood, and richly ornamented with gilding. It contains, among other things of interest, the autograph of Tycho Brahe, the great astronomer, and a portrait of the famous Ziska, who, it is said, bequeathed his skin to his followers with directions that it should be tanned and stretched upon a drum, in order that its sound might inflict upon his enemies a portion of that terror which his presence while living had invariably produced among them.

XV.

DRESDEN, SAXONY, _July 18, 1841_.

It was one day’s ride from Prague to Töplitz, celebrated above all other watering places in Austria for its baths. It is pleasantly located on a small stream, and contains two thousand seven hundred and fifty inhabitants, and four hundred houses, sixty of which are inns. There is hardly a house in the town that is not used at times as a lodging-house. A great part of the place belongs to Prince Clary, who has such very extensive possessions in this part of the Austrian empire that he is put down as the proprietor of sixty villages! On the way from Vienna to Prague we passed for fifty or sixty miles through the estate of Prince Lichtenstein, whose entire possessions extend two hundred miles, the land being nearly all of the choicest quality.

Attached to the palace of Prince Clary in Töplitz are parks and gardens abounding with tall groves of fruit trees, and long promenades, fountains of water, lakes with beautiful flocks of swans gliding over the surface, and within the circuit lie the theatre, reading, dining, and ball rooms, which are thrown open for the use of visitors who wish to patronize the baths. The hot springs are seventeen in number, their temperature one hundred and twenty degrees Fah. During the summer there are thousands of persons at these baths. Being one of the most fashionable watering places, it is frequented not only by the nobility of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, but by the sovereigns of those countries, dukes, and princes of smaller estate, &c. There are six public baths and eighty private ones, which are in requisition from four o’clock in the morning until late at night. Each bathing establishment is placed under the direction of a “Badmeister” and his wife, and at the entrance hangs a list, where the hours at which every bath is engaged are noted down.

The visitor must be punctual in occupying only three quarters of an hour, and before the time is up he is notified by the ringing of a bell to prepare to dress.

On the route from Töplitz leading to Aussig, on the banks of the Elbe, at which place the steamer starts for Dresden, we passed through the battle-ground of Kulin, near the Nollendorf pass, which will always be famous in history. The French forces under Vandamme, and the allied forces under Count Colleredo Mansfield, fought a battle here that had a vast influence upon the fortunes of Napoleon. He had despatched Vandamme, with forty thousand men, under strict orders not to descend into the plain; but, contrary to those orders, he attacked Count Ostermann, who had with him eight thousand guards, chiefly Russians, and the Prussian and Austrian forces came up in time to rout the entire French force before any aid could reach them, killing and making prisoners all except a few thousands who threw away their arms and fled across the mountain. The Prussian, Russian, and Austrian governments have each erected a monument in the field. The Prussian is inclosed within an iron railing, and is of cast iron, with the inscription in German--“_A grateful King and country honor the heroes that fell_;” the Austrian is dedicated to Prince Colleredo Mansfield, who was wounded in the battle; the Russian was placed by the Emperor Nicholas in the centre of the field. It is an obelisk, surmounted by a figure of Fame, with a lion reposing at its base.

From Aussig, a small town on the Elbe, we descended rapidly, touching at Teschen, a small village most romantically situated, where commences the country called “Saxon Switzerland.” The village lies at the foot of a high rock, on which stands the castle of Teschen, owned by Count Thurn, who is also the proprietor of the village and a district of country around occupied by eighteen thousand inhabitants.

The Elbe here seems pent up between bold cliffs and huge rocks, clothed in rich foliage wherever it is possible for a tree to hang; but it finds its way through them into a most romantic and picturesque country. In passing along we had a view of the Bartec, a rock that rises near the margin of the river to the height of eight hundred feet, and commands an extensive view of the surrounding country. The Konigstein rock, which is a fortress seven hundred and seventy-nine feet above the river, is deemed impregnable, and has never yet been taken. It is surrounded on all sides by perpendicular rocks, and so isolated that it cannot be commanded by artillery from any point. Napoleon tried to batter it from Lilienstein, the nearest eminence, but the shot fell short. The treasures of the Saxon government were fortunately placed here, and were thus kept secure. A space of two miles in circumference on the top of the rock, is laid out in fields and gardens, and is finely cultivated. The present garrison numbers only six hundred men.

The scenery on the banks of the Elbe, until within a few miles of Dresden, is of the most enchanting character. Dresden has a population of seventy thousand. It is delightfully situated on the bank of the river, and ranks high among European cities for its attractions, and the number and objects calculated to gratify the intelligent traveller. It is the residence of the king, and has consequently all the accompaniments of a national capital. Its picture gallery has the finest collection of paintings to be found north of the Alps. When Frederic the Great bombarded Dresden, battered down its churches, and laid its streets in ruins, he commanded his troops to keep clear of the picture gallery. Napoleon treated Dresden well, and respected its pictures. The collection is very extensive, consisting of many thousands, one of which, by Raphael, cost forty thousand dollars. It represents the Virgin soaring up to Heaven, bearing in her arms the Divine Child, while Pope Sixtus is represented as gazing upon the scene and trembling with pious awe; opposite to him kneels St. Barbara, and below the group stand two angelic children, their countenances beaming with innocence and intelligence. It is considered the best picture out of Italy.