tion, where they are employed in rasping Brazil and other kinds of wood; and those who do not perform their task are hoisted up in a basket over the table in the common hall, while the rest are at dinner, that they may be tantalized with the sight and smell of what they are not permitted to taste.

The established religion of Hamburgh is Lutheran. The Calvinists and Roman Catholics go to the chapels of the ambassadors to celebrate divine service. The churches, which are large and handsome fabrics, are open thoroughfares all day long. A convent in the town holds its lands by this remarkable tenure, that they present a glass of wine to every malefactor who is carried to the place of execution. One of the great pleasures of this city arises from the Alstersluss, which comes from the north, almost through the middle of the city, and forms a lake in it nearly eight hundred paces in circumference. In a summer evening this lake is almost covered with gondolas, which are filled with company, and have often boats attending them with music. The whole has an astonishingly good effect, which is still greater, from there being a much frequented public walk by the lake, the liveliness of which corresponds very pleasingly with that of the people on the water.

Of Dresden and Frankfort.

DRESDEN is by far the most magnificent city in Germany; it is built on both sides of the Elbe, and the manners and modes of living of the inhabitants are very different from what are to be seen in other parts of Germany. Fine shapes, animated countenances, easy and unconstrained motions, general courtesy, and universal cleanliness, are the features which immediately offer themselves to observation, and must strike every one who comes into this country. The king of Saxony's palace is a very magnificent structure: the rooms are noble, and splendidly furnished. The museum is divided into seven apartments, in the first of which is exhibited a great number of small brass models of the most famous statues and monuments extant, both ancient and modern; in the second, a variety of ingenious works in ivory; in the third, curious performances in silver; in the fourth, gilt silver plate, and vessels of pure gold; in the fifth, precious stones, and curiosities formed from many of them; in the sixth, the arms of the several Saxon countries, and the crown, sceptre, and imperial apple, which were formerly used at the coronation of the kings of Poland; and in the seventh, some valuable jewels. But Dresden is particularly famous for its gallery of pictures.

FRANKFORT on the Main is an imperial city, large, populous, rich, and one of the Hanse towns. Here all religions are tolerated, under certain restrictions; but Lutheranism is the established faith, as the magistrates are of that communion. The principal church is in possession of the Roman Catholics, but no public procession of the host is permitted through the streets. All the ceremonies of their religion are confined to the houses of individuals, or performed within the walls of this church. The Calvinists are obliged to go to Bokhen heim, a town at a small distance, to perform their religious duties. The Jews have a synagogue here.

At Frankfort are held two fairs every year, one beginning fifteen days before Easter, and the other on the 15th of September, which are frequented by merchants with all sorts of commodities, particularly books, from many parts of Europe. The streets of Frankfort are spa cious and well paved; the houses stately, clean, and convenient; and

12

Inhabitants of Bohemia and Hungary.

the shops well furnished. Among the merchants there is a great ap pearance of affluence; the furniture of their houses, their gardens, equipage, dress, and female ornaments, exhibit marks of considerable magnificence.

Frankfort contains between thirty and forty thousand inhabitants, besides these, at the fairs, many strangers visit the city, among whom are frequently forty or fifty princes. During the fair here are play houses, concerts, a Vauxhall, beautiful walks, and public dancing booths. In general, the inhabitants of this place are stiff in their carriage. There is however, some excellent company to be met with among them. The number of Jews settled here is about six thousand, and some of them are supposed to be worth a million of money.

There is a custom at Frankfort, the origin of which is not known; two women appear every day at noon at the battlements of the principal church steeple, and play some solemn airs with trumpets. This music is accompanied by vocal psalmody, performed by men, who always attend the female trumpeters for that purpose. The people are remarkably fond of psalm-singing, and a considerable number of men and boys are brought up to this as a profession. They are en gaged by some families to officiate two or three times in a week, in the morning, before the master and mistress of the family quit their bed. When any person in tolerable circumstance dies, a band of these singers assemble in the street before the house, and chant an hour a day to the corpse, till it is interred. The same band accompanies the funeral, singing hymns all the way. Funerals are conducted with an uncommon degree of solemnity in this town: a man clothed in a black coat, and carrying a crucifix at the end of a long pole, leads the procession; a great number of hired mourners, in the same dress, and each with a lemon in his hand, march after him; then come the singers, followed by the corpse in a hearse; and lastly, the relations in mourning coaches.

The Jews are obliged to live all together in a single street, built up at one end; there is a large gate at the other, which is regularly up at a certain hour in the evening, after which no Jews are st to appear in the streets, but the whole herd must remain cooped and crowded together, like so many black cattle, till morning. As this street is narrow, the room allotted for each family is small; and as the children of Israel were never remarkable for cleanliness, the Jews' quarter is not the sweetest part of the town. They have several times offered considerable sums to the magistrates of Frankfort, for liberty to build or purchase another street for their accommodation; but all such proposals have hitherto been rejected. The Jews in Frankfort are obliged to fetch water when a fire happens in any part of the city; and the magistrates, in return, permit them to choose judges out of their own body for deciding disputes among themselves.

Inhabitants of Bohemia and Hungary.

THERE are no where so many instances of religious superstition as at Prague, the capital of Bohemia. The corners of the streets, bridges, and public buildings, are all ornamented with crucifixes, images of the Virgin, of all sizes and complexions, and statues of saints of every country, condition, age, and sex. People are seen on their knees before these statues, in every part of the city, but particularly on the bridge over the Moldau, where there is the greatest concourse of pas sengers This bridge is so profusely adorned with statues of saints,

Manners, &c. of the Hungarians.

73

that, crossing over it, you have a row of them on each side, like two ranks of musqueteers.

Travellers are astonished at the people's devotion in this city, and in a particular manner at the vehemence with which it is expressed by those who exhibit before the saints on the bridge. Not contented with kneeling, some prostrate themselves on their faces, kissing the earth; while others offer their petitions to these saints with such earnestness and fervour, that if their hearts were not of stone, they must pay more attention to the petitioners than they do.

Hungarians are the descendants of the ancient Huns, Sclavonians, Germans, Turks, and a wandering people called Zigduns, resembling what are now called the gipsies. They have manners peculiar to themselves, and glory in being esteemed the descendants from those brave heroes, who formed the bulwark of Christendom against the infidels. Their fur caps, their close-bodied coats, girded by a sash, and their cloak or mantle, which is so contrived as to buckle under the arm, leaving their right hand at liberty, give them an air of military dignity. The men are in general strong and well proportioned; they shave their beards, but leave whiskers on the upper lip. They are brave, but of a sanguine disposition, and addicted to revenge. They have ever been considered as more inclined to arms, martial exercises, and hunting, than to arts, commerce, agriculture, and learning. The Hungarian nobility affect great pomp and magnificence, and particularly delight in feasting. The ladies are reckoned handsomer than those of Austria; and their sable dress, with sleeves straight to the arms, and their stays fastened before with little buttons of gold, pearl, or diamonds, are well known to our fair country women.

The strongest proof that Hungary is miserable, is the contrast of extreme poverty with extreme riches, which is every where evident. A people may be very poor, and yet very happy; but when, amidst straw huts, which scarcely protect their inhabitants from wind and weather, we see marble palaces towering to the clouds; when in the midst of immense wildernesses, tenanted by miserable skeletons, who hardly find roots in the field to keep body and soul together, we meet with gardens decorated with fountains, grottos, parterres, terraces, statues, and costly pictures, "it is," says a German baron, "a sure sign that one part of the inhabitants live by pillaging the other."

Of the peasants, Dr. Bright observes, that their appearance bespeaks no fostering care from the superior-no independent respect yielded with free satisfaction from the inferior. It is easy to perceive that all stimulus to invention, all incitement to extraordinary exertion is wanting. No one peasant has proceeded in the arts of life and civilization a step farther than his neighbour. When you have seen one you have seen all. From the same little hat covered with oil, falls the same matted long black hair, negligently plaited or tied in knots; and over the same dirty jacket and trowsers, is wrapped on each a cloak of coarse woollen cloth or sheepskin, still retaining its wool.

Several languages are spoken here; and the real Hungarian has but very little affinity with any European tongue. The established religion is the Roman Catholic, though three-fourths of the inhabitants are Protestants or Greeks, and enjoy the full exercise of their reli

*The proper Hungarians are a people of a peculiar origin, entirely distinct from the other inhabitants of Hungary. See Appendix, p. 13. P