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Presented to the

LIBRARY of the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

by
JOHN BALL

MDLLE. B. D'ANTIGNY MDLLE. LOUISE FIOCRE

MDLLE. LATOUR
MDLLE. IRMA GALLI MARIE MDLLE. SESSI

FIVE THEATRICAL CELEBRITIES

[Frontispiece

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Society Recollections

By

An English Officer

AUTHOR OF
'SOCIETY RECOLLECTIONS IN PARIS AND VIENNA, 1879-1904'

WITH FORTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON

JOHN LONG

NORRIS STREET, HAYMARKET

MCMVIII

Copyright by John Long, 1908
All Rights Reserved

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. HOMBURG — THE PRINCESS LIEGNITZ — GAMBLING
LOSSES AND GAINS — THE KUR KAPELLE — DANCES
AT THE KURSALON— THE KING AND THE CROQUET
PAVILION . . , » . 9

II. THE RHINE — BONN — BERTHOLD AUERBACH — A
RIVAL OF BISMARCK— UNCLES AND NIECES— THE
ENGLISH COLONY— THE MASKED BALL— STUDENTS'
KNEIPE — THE CARNIVAL AT COLOGNE — BARON
NATHANIEL ROTHSCHILD . . . . 22

III. WIESBADEN — ETON SCHOOLFELLOWS — THE WIDOW

OF THE EMPEROR OF CHINA — THE SEASON —
ENGLISHWOMEN AND THEIR LOOKS— A FAMOUS
ACTRESS, FRAU DEVRIENT REINHOLD — THE
HOTELS— THE SHOPKEEPERS . . ... 38

IV. BADEN BADEN — ADVENTURERS— THE HUNGARIAN

COUNTESS — A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRL — THE
EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA— THE FETES . 55

V. CARLSBAD, M ARIENBAD AND FRANZENSBAD— BARONESS
JAMES EDOUARD DE ROTHSCHILD— DR. RITTER
VON HOCHBERG— PRUSSIAN CAVALRY AND LINE —
THE BIG DRUM— MILITARY AND STRING BANDS —
THE RACES— KING ALEXANDER OF SERVIA— KING
EDWARD AT MARIENBAD— PRINCESS CASAPESENA —
BEAUTIFUL MIZZI— ROYALTIES AT HOLZER'S . . 69

VI. THE SALZKAMMERGUT — THE SEMMERING— AUSSEE —
THE SCENERY — THE AUSTRIAN NOBILITY— ISCHL :
THE HOTELS— DOCTORS' PRESCRIPTIONS— FETES
DES ENFANTS— GMUNDEN— THE GAME OF TOM-
BOLA— AUGUST VON PULSZKY — THE PROCESSION OF
BOATS— THE ARCHDUCHESS ELIZABETH— SALZBURG 98

VII. THE DANUBE — WURTEMBERG CATHEDRAL — THE
MARRIAGE OF ALBERT OF BAVARIA — LEGENDS —
OTTO VON WlTTELSBACH— A MEDIAEVAL MIRACLE —
THE PASSAU CHARM— THE DEVIL AND THE TAILOR
— FRAU BERNHARDT— ROBBER CHIEFS — A POLISH
BEAUTY . 121

Contents

VIII. THE DANUBE (continued)— THE ENVIRONS OF VIENNA
—ARISTOCRATIC AMATEURS AT SCHONBRUNN —
BADEN— THE VIENNESE— THE ABBOT OF ISENBERG
— BUDA - PESTH — HUNGARIAN Music — YOUNG
GIRLS IN SERVIA— BELGRADE . . 164

IX. SPAIN— QUEEN CHRISTINA— SPAIN AND IRELAND— A
SPANISH GIRL— LIFE AT MADRID— THE CATHEDRAL
AT SEVILLE— THE DANCING — THE FAIR — THE
BULL-FIGHTING — SPANISH BEAUTIES — TOLEDO-
CADIZ— GRANADA— SPANISH TROOPS . . .185

X. NICE— THE QUACK— DR. BROWN SEGUARD— LADY
MILDRED BERES FORD-HOPE— THE INDIAN GENERAL
— CHAMPAGNE AS HAIR-WASH — ROULETTE— MILI-
TARY AMENITIES— THE MEDITERRANEAN CLUB-
LA FETE DES FLEURS— AMERICAN GIRLS— THE
MARQUIS OF AILESBURY— MONTE CARLO— THE
CASINO — THE ROSE . .- . . . 213

XI. MERAN— THE GRAPE CURE— A LITTLE DANSEUSE—
ROOMS FACING SOUTH— CONVENTS AND CHURCHES
—PRINCE AND PRINCESS BARIATYNSKI— A RUSSIAN
VIEW OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE— BARON BASELLI'S
ANECDOTE— THE PRINCESS'S CIGAR— AN AMERICAN
VIEW OF ITALY . . . . 237

XII. ITALY— GENOA— MILAN— AN ENGLISH MAIDEN LADY
ON THE BALLET— LA SCALA— PRINCESS GONZAGA—
VENICE— THE BOLOGNA BALLET— MARIA GIURI—
FLORENCE— MILAN— NAPLES . . . 251

XIII. BELGIUM— THE THEATRE DE LA MONNAIE— MME.

FRIEDBERG'S DANCING— SHOW PLACES AT BRUSSELS
—BARON AND BARONESS TANTEIGNIES — KING
LEOPOLD II— SIR RICHARD PULESTON'S COAT OF

ARMS — OSTEND AND SPA . ... 278

XIV. LHASA— THE TOWN AND PEOPLE— THE GRAND LAMA :

His VIEWS ON LIFE AND TIME AND ETERNITY . 294

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIVE THEATRICAL CELEBRITIES — MDLLE. B. D'ANTIGNY —
MDLLE. LOUISE FIOCRE — MDLLE. LATOUR — MDLLE. IRMA
GALLI MARIE — MDLLE. SESSI . . . Frontispiece

NOTABILITIES OF THE SIXTIES — SIR FREDERICK SLADE — VICE-
CHANCELLOR MALINS — MR. AND MRS. RONALDS — CAPTAIN
LENNOX BERKELEY — THE AUTHOR'S FATHER To face page 14

PAGE

FRAULEIN FRANZI HUSZAR, LATE OF THE VIENNA OPERA BALLET,
NOW BARONESS HUNDRY — GIRLS DRESSED IN THE COLOURS
OF THE HOCH AND DEUTSCHMEISTER REGIMENT TO RECITE
MEMORIAL POEMS — FRAULEIN MIZZI HEROLD, CARL
THEATRE . . . . . . .32

Two FAMOUS GERMAN AND FRENCH ACTRESSES — FRAU DEV-

RIENT REINHOLD — MDLLE. ALICE REGNAULT . . 46

THE LATE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA — THE EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEPH

OF AUSTRIA AT HOME . . . . .64

TYROLESE SINGERS . . . . . .80

BEAUTIFUL MIZZI . . . . . -94

PRINCE AND PRINCESS WINDISCHGRAETZ — ARCHDUCHESS ELIZA-
BETH (PRINCESS WINDISCHGRAETZ) IN PROCESSION OF
BOATS . . . . . . .112

FOUR FAVOURITES FROM THE THEATRE GYMNASE — MDLLE. PIER-
SON — MDLLE. MASSIN — MDLLE. BIANCA — MDLLE. PASCA . 130

ON THE DANUBE — "XENIA" — AN ENGLISH LADY . . . 146

THE VIENNA OPERA BALLET — FRAULEIN MINNA — FRAULEIN

STEYER ....... 160

FRAULEIN HANSY JUSL OF THE VIENNA OPERA BALLET . .176

AT SEVILLE — " LOLA " — AN ENGLISH GIRL IN AN ESPADA'S COS-
TUME ....... 194

List of Illustrations

PAGE

MDLLE. AIMEE DESCLEE — FRAULEIN ADRIENNE RUDNICK —

BARONESS ADELSDORFER — FRAU LYDIA HAYNE-PATSCH . 208

FRAULEIN MITSA MICHELAEXO, "LA BELLE MITSA" — FRAULEIN

GABRIELLE KLOBETZ ..... 224

FOUR LADIES AT THE BALLET AT VIENNA — FRAULEIN LILLY

BERGER ....... 238

BEHIND THE SCENES . . . . . .256

MDLLE. MARIA GIURI OF " LA SCALA " . . . 264

THE BALLET : IN THE DRESSING-ROOM . V . . 280

THE AUTHOR IN THE UNIFORM OF THE 6oTH KING'S ROYAL
RIFLES — THE AUTHOR AND LADY FRIENDS MENTIONED IN
THE BOOK — PRINCESS Zu ISENBURG-BIRSTEIN, BRIDE OF
PRINCE VICTOR SALVATOR, SON OF THE IMPERIAL ARCH-
DUCHESS MARIE LOUISE OF AUSTRIA .... 296

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CHAPTER I

HOMBURG — THE PRINCESS LIEGNITZ — GAMBLING
LOSSES AND GAINS— THE KUR KAPELLE— DANCES
AT THE KURSALON— THE KING AND THE CRO-
QUET PAVILION

MY recollections of Homburg date from my early
childhood, for I can remember living with my
parents in a house called Sauer's Haus, in the Unter
Promenade, the first floor of which was let to the Princess
Liegnitz, who resided there with eighteen servants and
her pretty daughter, the Princess Brandenburg. The
old Emperor William, then King of Prussia, used always
to visit the Princess, who was his brother's widow (the
marriage was a morganatic one), and would very often
on meeting me with my nurse kiss and give me bonbons,
while the Princess once presented me with a beautiful
box of toys filled with all kinds of animals, which had
been sent expressly from Berlin. In return my father

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made me present the lady with a lovely bouquet of roses,
for which she gave me a kiss — such are some of the
privileges of childhood.

The villa we lived in faced some charming grounds
and had a large garden at the back, while the rooms were
comfortable, without being luxurious. The Princess
occupied the whole first floor, which had a balcony
attached to it, while we had the ground floor and also
rooms on the second floor.

My parents rarely dined at home, taking their dinner
of an evening at the Kursaal, while the rest of the family
had their meals in the house with the nurse and ladies'
maid. My mother had many friends at Homburg,
including the Countess Desart (lady-in-waiting to Queen
Victoria), who kept a staff of English servants at her
villa, as well as a French chef, and my parents would
frequently dine with the Countess at the Kursaal, where
the dinner was provided by Mme. Chevet, of the Palais
Royal, from Paris, who came for the season and took
the restaurant at the Kursaal, the food being excellent,
but very dear indeed. A fine orchestra, called the Kur
Kapelle, played out in the gardens, and was provided
by the town, but really paid for by M. Blanc, the owner
of the gambling rooms.

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At that time gambling at trente et quarante and roulette
took place in the magnificent rooms, and there was one
apartment, which still retains its old name of the gold
room, the walls of which were ornamented with gold
arabesque designs, where one was only allowed to play
with gold or notes.

Once a fortnight a splendid band, consisting of eighty
performers, from an Austrian infantry regiment, played
in the Kursaal grounds, the men wearing a showy uniform
of white, with pink facings, and blue trousers, while
the conductor was the celebrated Jeschko, a good-looking
man with a fair moustache.

A Prussian military band also played once a week,
but it was very inferior, and the conductor was
a stout man, who wore a blue uniform with gold
epaulettes, the fringe of which shook when he waved
his baton.

The Kur Kapelle always played of an evening in the
fine gardens of the Kursaal, when all the English and
other visitors sat out on the terrace drinking their coffee,
and on Sunday the lawns were crowded after church
service ; while on some evenings, not unfrequently
Sunday, there were very fine fireworks.

I might mention here that the Austrian military band

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was far and away in front of those of any other nation,
and among the pieces they performed were the Radetzky
March and " Cheer, Boys, Cheer," then favourite airs.

My brother and I at that time were dressed in white
embroidered frocks, with a pink sash tied round the
waist and hanging loosely behind, while our hair was
worn long, my dark brown locks being curled like a
girl's.

Speaking of the gambling, I may here remark that
one evening my mother thought she would try her luck
at the tables, and, after staking several 5 fr. pieces,
which she lost, happened to put one on zero, and then
commenced to talk to the Marquis of Headfort, who
was standing by her side. Engrossed hi conversation,
she did not notice that zero had turned up till the Marquis
suddenly exclaimed, " I think you have won ! " But
before my mother could claim the money the wheel went
round again with thirty-five 5 fr. pieces on zero, which
she had won. My mother was rather annoyed, and not
a little excited ; but the wheel went slowly round, and,
to everybody's amazement, zero came up again, so my
parent won thirty-five times thirty-five 5 fr. pieces — that
is to say, 6125 fr. — by a pure stroke of luck.

One day Goldschmidt, a Jew banker, gave my father

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16,000 fr. in paper money to change for him at the tables
into gold, as the inhabitants of Homburg were not
allowed to enter the gambling room. The banker stood
at the door and watched my father changing the notes,
but what was his horror to see my paternal parent, after
he had received the money, suddenly put it all down on
red and impair at the roulette table. The wheel whirled
round, and the ball fell, luckily for my father, into red,
while impair came up as well, so that the lucky player
won with the banker's money 16,000 fr., returning the
other 16,000 fr. to Goldschmidt. Such days of good luck,
however, were few and far between, and my father lost
tremendously on the whole, so much so that he made
several vows he would never play again, which resolu-
tions he kept till the next time, which in his case was
generally the day after.

One year my parents, instead of staying at Homburg,
went to Frankfort-on-the-Main, and visited the former
place every day. We stayed at the Hotel de Russie,
where the King of Prussia (afterwards Emperor William
of Germany) used also to reside ; but the post office has
now been erected on the old site. The rooms were fine,
and our salon was very large, the walls being decorated
with pictures of ancient Greek history. There was one

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representing the capture of Troy, with the Greek soldiers
coming out of the large wooden horse, and the town in
flames ; another of the Cyclops, each with his eye in
the middle of his forehead, and another of Venus and
Cupid.

A Captain Berkeley (afterwards the Earl of Berkeley)
and his wife were also staying at this time at the hotel,
and he lost all his money at the Homburg tables, so
begged a banker friend to lend him 2000 florins, which
the latter refused to do, but gave him a ticket for a
Frankfort lottery, which B. took, not wishing to offend.
When the draw took place B. won, to his great surprise,
72,000 florins, and in commemoration thereof gave a
supper party to all the members of the English colony,
which piece of hospitality cost him 2000 florins, the
remainder being lost within the next six months at
Homburg.

There used to be a turnpike-gate between Frankfort
and Homburg, and a man or woman would put out a
long wooden spoon through a hole in a window, which
spoon extended to the carriage in the road, so that
travellers could drop the toll money into the receptacle,
and, if necessary, receive their change by the same
means, the turnpike people in this way being saved the

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inconvenience of getting out of bed in the middle of the
night.

Captain Fred Dorrien, of the Life Guards, was also stay-
ing at the Hotel de Russie, but he was generally at Hom-
burg, and I remember a curious incident regarding a friend
of his who played a good deal, and lost, as a matter of
course. One day D. went with him to a banker's, when
the conversation, which dealt with money matters, was
carried on in German, the party afterwards sitting down
to dinner at the Kursaal. D. told his friend that, as he
spoke German so well, he might order dinner ; but, to
his surprise, his friend replied that he could only talk
about money matters in German, and that he had never
learnt anything else in that language. D. had lost
nearly £30,000 at Homburg, and was endeavouring to
retrieve his losses, but he did not make much progress,
and, indeed, the generality of players ended by losing,
except, perhaps, some millionaires, who had sufficient
capital to break the bank occasionally. Some very rich
men, indeed, were even offered money to keep away from
the gambling tables in those days by the bank.

For instance, there was a Russian who played for a
bank in St. Petersburg, and who often broke the one at
Homburg ; he was offered large sums if he would desist,

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while Captain Berkeley also broke the bank, but finally
lost more than he had won.

The drives about Homburg in the woods are very
pretty, and there is a favourite one to some ruins, where
people can adjourn to a caf6, picturesquely situated
among the trees, and from which a delightful view can
be obtained. The walks are also charming, and the
present-day evening fetes exceedingly fine, while a
German military band plays out of doors in the Kur-
garten, though it does not perform as well as the Austrian
band mentioned above.

A few years ago I went to Homburg, and found all
the hotels were full, as the present Emperor William
of Germany was expected the following day ; but I
stayed in a villa in the Kaiserin Friedrich Augusta
Promenade, and dined on the terrace at the Kursaal,
the dinner being fairly good, but very expensive. I was
accompanied by a young Austrian girl and an English
lady, and the former was very much amused with the
German spoken, while the stiffness of the English and
German visitors was not at all to her taste ; indeed,
she exclaimed, "If all Germans and English people are
like those I see about me, I am sure both countries must
be dreadful to live in, for they never smile or laugh."

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Every evening we went to the Kursalon, and sat out
on the terrace in the cool of the evening listening to
the band, while many of the visitors would promenade
or sit about on the terrace in very smart evening dress.

Of a Thursday evening there was always a reunion
at half-past eight in the evening, to which I usually went,
everybody having to wear evening dress. The dancing
took place in the above-mentioned gold room, which was
all in gold and white, with pillars of porphyry, the
company mostly consisting of Americans and English
with a sprinkling of Germans. My little Viennese
friend was not impressed with the dancing, remarking
that only the Americans knew how to waltz well, but
some English ladies noticed how beautifully she herself
waltzed, the step she danced, a Viennese six-step waltz,
being quite unknown at Homburg.

Sometimes of an evening when there was no dancing
I went into other rooms, where the petits chevaux was
played, and here my two friends won a very pretty
writing-case in russia leather. At other times I would
go to watch the lawn tennis, which was generally interest-
ing, and when the international tournament was in
progress I went every day. Miss T. Lowther excited
the curiosity of everybody by the way she played, beat-
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ing all the ladies and most of the men opposed to her,
while Mr. Ritchie won the principal prize for gentlemen.
A young Belgian told me that he played for Germany,
but that the Germans were very inferior lawn tennis
players, and were always beaten by the English.

The Crown Prince of Germany played one day on
the ground, but, of course, did not take any part in the
tournament, while several other members of that family
were also present on various occasions.

I accompanied my two companions one day to the
croquet ground, but we were told it was private, the
secretary, however, on my approaching him, very kindly
allowing us to remain. He showed us a good many
kindnesses, and took us over the pavilion which had
been built expressly for King Edward VII when he
should come to Homburg and wish to see the croquet.

The Colonel took a fancy to my little Austrian friend,
asking her and the English lady if they would like to
play, when the former answered that she would rather
learn lawn tennis ; whereupon the secretary said that
she should be taught every day by a man who gave
lessons, and in the end she played fairly well.

One day I spoke to the owner of the restaurant at
the Kursaal, asking him whether he remembered Hom-

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burg in the gambling days. He replied that he had
lived at the place all his life. Whereupon I asked him
whether the English who came there now were any
different from the former visitors. In reply he remarked
that in those days very wealthy English dined at the
Kursaal, and did not mind what amount of money they
spent on a good meal, while there were besides a number
of the young nobility of both sexes, whereas now all the
wealthy and aristocratic people were mostly old, and
there were more English men than ladies. Again, the
English who visited Homburg to-day were there prin-
cipally for the cure, and not for pleasure only, as was the
case formerly.

I found the heat very great during the summer months,
as there is no shade in the streets, and one has to walk
some distance to reach the woods, where afternoon
coffee is partaken of in the open air, for, apart from
croquet and lawn tennis, there is no afternoon amuse-
ment going on. I thought Homburg more like an
English country town in its general appearance, and the
shopkeepers all speak English, while my experience is
that German people avoid the place on account of the
expense, or, if they go, stay a very short time indeed.

In the evening there are certainly some very pretty

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English and American girls to be seen on the Kursaal
terrace, and as a rule they are beautifully dressed. In
my opinion an English girl looks her best when she is
in evening dress, with Louis XV shoes and stockings
d jour peeping out under a jupon embroidered with
Valenciennes lace, and with short sleeves showing her
arms, which are usually beautifully shaped ; but the
too often passionless, inanimate expression detracted
at Homburg from the general effect.

On one occasion, when there were illuminations and
fireworks, the ballet came from the theatre at Mannheim
to dance on the lawn in front of the Kursalon. The
fireworks were very fine, and the illuminations beautiful,
the gaslights being artistically varied by means of red,
green, and white globes. One could almost fancy one
was in fairyland, for besides the gas jets there were
hundreds of different - coloured waxlights placed upon
the grass. My two lady friends and I went on the terrace
to witness the ballet (for which a platform had been
constructed) ; at the back an immense fountain was to
be seen playing. While the water descended it seemed
as if a perfect shower of diamonds was pouring down
glittering and sparkling, and on the limelight being
reflected on this beautiful design the water was con-

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verted into a shower of rubies, emeralds, and sapphires,
the effect being absolutely marvellous. The pretty
danseuses, dressed in their stiff white muslin ballet
skirts, dancing on their points, looked like elves suddenly
appearing at midnight as if by enchantment upon the
scene ; then when they had disappeared a fine display
of fireworks was let off, covering the whole space with
the most brilliant colours imaginable.

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CHAPTER II

THE RHINE— BONN— BERTHOLD AUERBACH— A RIVAL
OF BISMARCK — UNCLES AND NIECES — THE
ENGLISH COLONY — THE MASKED BALL -
STUDENTS' KNEIPE— THE CARNIVAL AT COLOGNE
—BARON NATHANIEL ROTHSCHILD

I FIRST went to Bonn in the summer months, some
time after I had left Eton, and I stayed at the
Hotel Rheineck, which is situated on the Rhine. The
large veranda of the hotel in which the people usually
took their breakfast and afternoon coffee was near the
place where the steamboats stopped, and it was very
amusing to watch the passengers landing.

From this veranda one had a charming view on the
Rhine, and of the seven mountains, the Drachenfels
among the number. It was delightful to sit of an after-
noon on this veranda taking one's coffee, and to look at
the mountains on the opposite bank of the river covered
with verdure, and also to watch the coming and going
of the steamboats filled with passengers. The Rhine
appeared to me to be of a greenish-blue colour, and the

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current to be very strong indeed ; few small boats are
to be seen, which is unlike our Thames in this respect,
and this, I imagine, is due to the very rapid current.

There are exceedingly pretty villas covered with
Virginia creepers and vine leaves ; the gardens just
outside Bonn on the Coblentzer Strasse lead down to
the Rhine. The villas are inhabited chiefly by wealthy
people, as a German's ideal in life is to have a " Landhaus
am Rhein," which happens to be the title of Berthold
Auerbach's famous novel, a book that is still read a
good deal in Germany, and was written by the author
in a house in Bonn at which I lived afterwards. For
any one reading German I can highly recommend this
novel. Though it is an old one, it gives you about the
best description of German life on the Rhine of any book
I know.

As I had the intention of attending the lectures at the
Bonn University I was introduced by Professor Binz,
who had married an English lady (the sister of General
Salis Schwabe), to Professor Dr. Andra of the University,
at whose house I afterwards lived. It was here that
the famous Auerbach wrote the novel. The house was
situated in the Maarflachweg. The Professor was an
old man ; he had a young daughter and a son.

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Excellenz von Dechen, formerly minister of the
Rhenish provinces, told me that Andra might have been
in Bismarck's position, but he was far too honourable a
man to give up his views, and therefore he remained on
as a professor at the University. Andra knew Bismarck
personally, and said that before the war of 1870 he
never thought much of him. Since then he had been
sure that Bismarck was a man of very great capacity.
Bismarck disliked Andra for his views on politics, which
were very liberal, and the latter had some difficulty even
in remaining on as professor of the Bonn University.

Andra's daughter was a pretty girl of seventeen, whose
Christian name was Margarethe, and she was called
Gretchen. She was blonde and had blue eyes, but her
teeth rather spoilt her appearance, though she had
magnificent hair. This young lady had a girl friend,
Fraulein Irma von Neufville, who was also fair, and
considered among the Germans to be the " belle " of
Bonn. Sometimes I walked in the town with the latter,
though it was not thought the correct thing to do in
Germany, where they are very strict indeed in this
respect. I met her occasionally quite by accident, and
we walked out in the country.

Fraulein Marie Weber, another girl friend of Fraulein

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Andra's, was engaged to be married to her uncle. I
tried at times to make her forget him, but she always
wore an engagement ring, which was a wedding ring,
on her right hand, to be transferred to her left when she
was married. It is a very common thing in Germany
for an uncle to marry his niece.

In the winter at Bonn several balls were given, to
which the English colony, as well as the Germans, went,
and the officers of the King's Hussars stationed at Bonn
also were well represented. I knew the English residents
as well as the Germans, and was asked to get up a
bachelors' ball at the Hotel Rheineck, where I had
formerly stopped. The ball took place and turned out
a great success. The officers of the King's Hussars
came in great force, and dancing was kept up till five
o'clock in the morning.

The custom in Germany is that when you are invited
to a ball you have to pay for your own supper, but no
entrance fee ; the other expenses are paid by those
giving the ball. The " belle " at this particular ball
was an English girl, the daughter of a former captain in
the army, and afterwards she married a baron, a lieu-
tenant in the Prussian King's Hussars, stationed at
Bonn.

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There was a good deal of jealousy between the English
and German beauties at Bonn, but the former were to
my mind the prettier of the two. The prettiest German
girl was the one I have already alluded to, Fraulein
Irma von Neufville, the daughter of a baron ; she was
certainly very pretty, and yet she could not compare
with the English " belle," who had far finer eyes, and a
much more striking appearance.

I went to a masked ball during carnival at Bonn, at
which I wore a white domino. I had not been in the
room long before a young girl dressed in a fancy costume
and masked came up to me, and mistaking me for some
one else made violent love to me. It made me feel very
happy for a time, but when I called to mind that she
was mistaking me for some one else, my pleasure vanished.
I was very curious to see her unmask, but she kept
telling me that I knew her so well it was quite unnecessary.
Later in the night an American friend of mine came to
the ball, also in a white fancy costume, and then I dis-
covered that it was my friend whom she mistook me for.
This young American informed me that the girl was
quite the prettiest girl at Bonn, but not in the leading
society, though she belonged to a very respectable
tradesman's family. The brother of this American,

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who was studying at the University, fought so many
duels, knocking about the students to such an extent,
that he was at last told to leave the country by the
Prussian Government. At this masked ball, the elder
American got into a dispute with some German students,
and they ended by throwing plates at one another till
everybody left the room.

The regiment at Bonn, the King's Hussars, was
commanded by Prince Reuss XXVII, and all the officers
were of the highest aristocracy, there being no less than
seven princes serving under the Colonel. Count Bern-
storff told me that if an officer of the Foot Guards were
to come into a restaurant where he was dining, he, as an
officer of the King's Hussars, would at once leave the
room, as he did not consider that an officer of the Prussian
Foot Guards was on a par with an officer of the King's
Hussars. Count Bernstorff was then Porte 6pee Fahn-
rich in the King's Hussars, which was below the rank of
lieutenant, but he was expecting to be promoted. One
day he was seen in Cologne going into an inn, and
not being in uniform he was placed for a week under
arrest.

The elder American used to go to a corps students'
" Kneipe " of an evening, and once he made a bet that

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he would drink twenty-eight glasses of beer at one sitting,
which he actually did, thus winning his bet.

The carnival at Cologne is quite celebrated. I went
one day, and the room of the " Giirzenich " was filled
with over four thousand masked people ; the students
wore blouses, like working men ; they were masked and
wore white kid gloves. The procession in the daytime
was very fine ; the troops in Cologne, especially the
different bands of the regiments, took part, and were
disguised in some fancy dress. The cavalry, which was
represented, was in costume of red and white pierrots, all
being mounted. A great deal of confetti is thrown on
this occasion. The carnival lasts three days, both at
Cologne and Bonn, but it is very much finer at Cologne,
where everybody who goes out in the streets on those
days is masked. I consider that the carnival at Cologne
is quite one of the finest in Europe, and I have seen
nearly all the carnivals that are worth seeing. I have
been many a time to Cologne in recent years. I usually
stay at the Hotel du Nord, which is the favourite hotel
of a German baroness I know very well, who stays there
often for the whole winter en pension. The baroness,
in her younger days, had the good fortune to be painted
by Makart, and also by Franz von Lenbach, two of the

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greatest artists of modern times. She was a very great
friend of the well-known Lady Holland, of Holland
House, and often would read Lady Holland's letters to
me ; they were very charming and all written in French.

The Dom at Cologne is the highest cathedral in the
world, the towers being five hundred and twelve feet
in height. A lawyer from Taunton told me that
he was walking about admiring the various windows
this year inside the Dom when a beadle came up to
him with a staff in his hand, and said, " ' Dies ' is
no service ' mit ' walk." Shortly afterwards an old
man, who was dressed like a high dignitary of the
Church, came up to him, and after looking him up
and down, began to lecture him in French ; not a word,
however, did he understand, although he knew from the
tone of the voice that it was a reprimand of some sort.

I always purchase eau-de-Cologne when at Cologne,
from force of habit, and I believe there are several
excellent kinds, but I always remain faithful to the
house of Jean Maria Farina, which is said to be the oldest
(gegeniiber dem Julichs Platz). Several ladies who
cannot endure scent of any kind — and I have known
a great many such — like, strange to say, a present of
eau-de-Cologne, especially a box containing several

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bottles, which I invariably buy there. I would as soon
think of going without my dinner at Cologne as leaving
the place without purchasing eau-de-Cologne.

I was never much taken with the town of Cologne,
but it is very cheap, and the dinners for the money are
remarkable compared with the prices in England. Some
very good Russian cigarettes are imported from Russia,
and a well-known German Princess, Fiirstin Salm Salm,
always orders them at a shop not far from the Hotel du
Nord.

The hotels at Bonn in the summer are rilled with
tourists visiting the Rhine, but the residents prefer the
winter, when all the balls take place. Bonn is very
cheap in winter, but cold and rather dreary-looking,
as in reality it is a place more suited for a summer's
residence than for the winter months. The river makes
it slightly foggy of a morning in the autumn and
winter.

I have ascended the Drachenfels on foot ; the moun-
tain railway was not then in existence. The castle of
Drachenfels was constructed at the beginning of the
twelfth century, but was destroyed by the Duke Ferdi-
nand of Bavaria in fighting against the Swedes. The
view over the country is very fine from the summit ;

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even Cologne is visible, and Bonn of course, and the
neighbouring villages.

With Professor Andra I often took long walks to the
different small places on the Rhine during the spring
and winter months. One afternoon we walked to a
village, and at a very ordinary inn some peasants were
dancing to the music of a violin. Prince Reuss XXVII,
Colonel of the King's Hussars, came along with his wife
and other ladies and gentlemen, and the Prince danced
with the Princess. The other gentlemen in uniform
followed the example set by their chief, and some of
them invited the peasant girls to dance, which the latter
seemed only too glad to do ; they preferred these smart
young officers to their former awkward partners.

I often went on a Sunday to Godesberg with Professor
Andra. We took our coffee at a restaurant which had
a very fine veranda, the glass part of it being entirely
covered with grapes. We enjoyed the delightful view
on the river, returning by train to Bonn hi the evening.
There are some delightful excursions by train or steamer
to be made from Bonn to villages on the Rhine, enabling
one to return in time for supper. Rolandseck is a charm-
ing village, near which is the island of Nonnenwerth ;
this is certainly one of the most picturesque spots, and

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easy of access from Bonn. The view from Rolandseck
is one of the finest and most delightful on the Rhine,
and I frequently went there of an afternoon. Sometimes
I went by steamboat with some German students and
their sisters. We mounted the heights among the vine-
yards, and enjoyed ourselves visiting the various old
ruined castles. The young girls would sing the famous
song of the " Lorelei " and other songs in connection
with the Rhine. We would return to Bonn in the
evening.

Some years afterwards I went by steamer to Coblentz,
where I bathed in the river by the bridge of boats. I
stayed at the Riese H6tel, and dining at table d'hote
at one o'clock on one occasion I saw a very pretty, fair
young girl rush into the room laughing aloud, and
suddenly disappear. I was sitting next to a German,
and I told him I thought this young girl was an American.
He replied that he was sure she was a German, where-
upon we had a bet of a good bottle of Rhine wine,
Liebfrauenmilch, on the subject.

It was not till late in the evening that I saw this
pretty girl again. She entered a room which I
thought was a public reading-room. I found, how-
ever, it was a private drawing-room. Two ladies

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were seated in it, and after my introducing myself
they all had a good laugh about what I confessed
to them was the cause of my intrusion. The young
girl was much amused, and I sat talking to her in
German till long after midnight. I had lost my bet
— and my heart too. I paid my bet the next day, but
I regret to say I never saw this very pretty girl again.
She had left with her relations in the early morning, as
she had told me she was going to do.

I was staying at the " Riese " not so very long ago,
dining on the balcony with a very fair Austrian lady
whose brother is Forstrath to Prince Thurn and Taxis.
She was considered a beauty in Vienna. While I was
dining with her I fancied I could hear the merry laughter
of the pretty young German girl whom I had met in
years gone by still ringing in my ears. I walked in the
beautiful Rhein Anlagen extending along the river with
this fair Austrian lady, and we enjoyed the charming
views. Her early childhood had been spent at Coblentz,
as her father was a German from the Rhine. The bridge
of boats, four hundred yards in length, connects Coblentz
with Ehrenbreitstein on the right bank of the river. The
fortress of Ehrenbreitstein rises three hundred and
eighty-five feet above the Rhine on a steep rock. The
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view from there is most exquisitely lovely, as one can
see the greenish-blue Rhine and the Moselle, which
latter appears of a much deeper shade of blue.

I visited Ems on one occasion from Coblentz. The
town of Ems is prettily situated on the river Lahn in a
narrow valley surrounded by woody heights. There
are four bridges at Ems. The Kurhaus and Kurgarten
are usually crowded of an afternoon while the band plays.
The Kursaal is rather a fine one, and contains several
rooms, with a restaurant and cafe", which are much
frequented. The band plays also in the evening. Ems
is certainly a delightfully pretty spot, but it appeared
to me to be intensely hot and very relaxing in summer.
The only strange thing I saw at Ems was a young and
pretty American girl, who was followed on the promenade
by a beautiful Persian cat. Suddenly the latter per-
ceived a dog in the distance and climbed up a tree, so
that the young American girl had to wait until it pleased
the cat to come down again.

The Rhine from Coblentz to Mayence is most interest-
ing. I have seen it both by steamboat and by train
many times, I may say. The castle of Stolzenfels at
once attracts one's attention. It is three hundred feet
above the Rhine, and was built by Arnold von Issenburg,

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Archbishop of Treves, in 1245. The castle was destroyed
by the French in 1689. In 1823 the ruin was presented
by the town of Coblentz to Frederick William IV, who
had it restored. The castle now belongs to the Emperor
William II. From the tower a magnificent view can be
obtained even beyond Coblentz.

At Oberlahnstein, behind the village, is the picturesque
castle of Lahneck constructed in 1224. It was also
destroyed by the French in 1689, and has recently been
restored by the present owners. On seeing this ruin in
1774 Goethe composed his famous "Geistes Gruss."

About one mile from the village of Capellen is the
Konigsstuhl, which is partly concealed by trees and
cannot be seen from the steamboat. This structure
resembles a pulpit, and in it many emperors were elected
and treaties concluded.

The slopes of Riidesheimer Berg yield an excellent
wine of that name. A friend of mine, Jean Baptiste
Sturm, owns a great part of this property. He resides
at Rudesheim in a house where there is an old ruined
tower joining his residence close to the river banks.
Opposite Ehrenfels in the middle of the Rhine is situated
the Mouse Tower. According to an old German legend,
Archbishop Hatto of Mayence, after having burnt a

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number of poor people in a barn during a famine, was
attacked by mice. He then went on this island
and was followed by the mice, where they devoured him
alive.

Rudesheim is a town with four thousand inhabitants,
and lies in a bright situation at the bottom of the Nieder-
wald. The celebrated wine of the place can boast the
longest pedigree on the Rhine; J. Baptiste Sturm sent
me some years ago several bottles of Riidesheimer Berg
as a present ; it was truly an excellent wine, though
somewhat stronger than Moselle.

The Oberburg or Boosenburg, an old tower which for
three hundred years belonged to the Grafen Boos, is now
the property of J. Baptiste Sturm.

Schloss Johannisberg is picturesquely situated three
hundred and forty feet above the Rhine, and was built
in 1757. The celebrated vineyards that yield an income of
seven thousand pounds a year belong to Prince Metternich.
A story is told of the lately deceased Baron Nathaniel
Rothschild visiting the late Prince Richard Metternich.
The former gave the latter an order for some dozen of
Schloss Johannisberg Cabinet. Some time afterwards
Prince Metternich stayed with Baron Rothschild in Vienna,
when the latter told the Prince he had put up half a dozen

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bottles of wine for him on the journey. The wine that
Baron Rothschild made Prince Metternich a present of
was Schloss Johannisberg Cabinet and had been sent
to Baron Rothschild by Prince Metternich. The former
was careful enough to deduct the cost in his payment to
Prince Metternich in the account sent in to him afterwards.

37

CHAPTER III

WIESBADEN— ETON SCHOOLFELLOWS— THE WIDOW
OF THE EMPEROR OF CHINA — THE SEASON -
ENGLISHWOMEN AND THEIR LOOKS— A FAMOUS
ACTRESS, FRAU DEVRIENT REINHOLD — THE
HOTELS— THE SHOPKEEPERS

MY first visit to Wiesbaden was shortly after I had
left Eton, and I can remember staying at the
Blocksche Haus, which was opposite the Kursaal grounds.
It was in the summer, and Wiesbaden was exceptionally
hot. I was very pleased to meet two Eton boys there,
one of whom, whose Christian name was Charles, was at
my tutor's with me ; the other I did not know quite so
well, though his mother, before she was married, knew
my mother. She was the daughter of a baronet, and
had married a very wealthy man, who was named the
Emperor of China (because he dealt in porcelain), and
not to make matters too difficult for me in writing this
story without giving names, when I allude to her I shall
call her simply the widow of the Emperor of China. I
hope the Empress of China won't mind !

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Charlie at once invited me to dine with him and his
family at the Kursaal, which invitation I accepted.
His family consisted, besides himself, of his father and
three sisters, the eldest being a good-looking girl of
eighteen with dark blonde hair, and the two others
being very much younger, about ten and twelve years old,
and both excessively pretty. The elder of the two
afterwards married Lord de and was quite remark-
able for her great beauty, but she died very young, in
the south of France, from a lung complaint. The widow
of the Emperor of China had, besides her son who was
exceedingly plain, two daughters, one of whom was still
plainer than the son, but the other daughter was a beauti-
ful fair girl of fourteen with almost perfect features and
golden hair ; she wore her hair hanging loose down her
back, and it shone like gold in the sun ; and she had eyes
of a deep blue which equalled in their lovely shade the
intense blue sky in summer-time. Her Christian name
was Lilian, and Charlie seemed much smitten with her,
and made love to her on every occasion ; whenever he
had the chance of kissing her he did so, and she
seemed rather to like it, for she in no way opposed
him whenever chance favoured his enterprises. Lilian,
however, always gave out that she would only marry

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a prince, and nothing beneath that rank, as she
had an income of two thousand pounds a year of
her own.

In later years she became engaged to a Prince Reuss,
but she ended by marrying a rich English earl, who was
old enough to be her grandfather. Lilian was not only
a lovely girl, she was very accomplished, and a
charming companion, and it was not surprising that
Charles lost his heart to her. I used to spend my time
visiting the two families, meeting them generally at the
Kursaal, and then dining either with the one family or
the other. Charles was a very good-looking boy, and
at Eton he was considered to be one of the prettiest
boys there.

The widow of the Emperor of China lived at Wiesbaden
in a charming villa which had a nice garden facing the
Kursaal ; she kept many English servants, and gave
very good dinners in her villa, but she dined constantly
at the Kursaal with the other family, where I joined
them. I stayed only three weeks at Wiesbaden during
my first visit and then left for Baden Baden. The widow
of the Emperor of China was an extremely pleasant lady.
In after years she said to my mother in Paris, " You
don't remember me, of course, because I had dark hair

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when I knew you first, while now my hair is golden."
This lady had an income of about thirty thousand pounds
a year, and lived in great style in Paris, as she did at
Wiesbaden.

Wiesbaden is a larger town than Homburg, and the
houses strike one as being very white, particularly in
the summer months, and people often complain that
the glare affects their eyes, but in the winter it is not so
observable, as the sun does not, of course, shine so
brilliantly. The Kursaal is a fine building with Doric
columns in white, and inside the rooms are very beauti-
ful, especially the concert and the ball rooms, but they
are rather dark and sombre, and not as at Homburg,
where the rooms are bright, lofty, and very much
finer.

The old Wiesbaden Kursaal * was a gloomy building
inside, and especially so in the winter months. English
people go to Wiesbaden only in the summer, as a rule, but
this is a great mistake, for the winter is the time of the
year at which the Germans go there. Many years after
my first visit to Wiesbaden I was recommended to go
there by Professor Erb, who is considered the first

* A new kursaal has been constructed, and was opened in the presence of
the Emperor William II. in 1907.

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authority in the world for nervous complaints. I wanted
then to go to the south of France or Italy, but Professor
Erb persuaded me to go to Wiesbaden, as he said the
climate was better in the winter for all nervous disorders,
and I took his advice. I lived at an hotel near the Rose
Hotel, and the rooms were comfortable. I asked a
German gentleman who took them for me if they were
facing south, whereupon he replied that it did not
matter as the stove would be my sun in the winter
at Wiesbaden. I found the climate colder, for instance,
than Torquay in winter, but drier, and the hot springs
made one feel the cold there less than one would do
otherwise.

The snow melted rather quickly, particularly in the
streets near the hot springs, but on the grounds of the
Kursaal the snow used to remain for some time. The
Kur Kapelle is exceedingly good, and considered to be
the very best in Germany. The concerts take place of
an afternoon during the summer and winter months,
and listening to the band is a pleasant way of pass-
ing the afternoon, though no refreshments of any sort
are served in the room during the concert. An entrance
fee of one mark has to be paid each time, but by sub-
scription it is cheaper. The reading-rooms are very good,

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every possible paper is to be found there in the summer
and winter months. Dances are given in the winter
in the ball and concert rooms, and are usually uncom-
monly well attended ; these dances take place about
once a fortnight. The dinners at the Kursaal are rather
expensive d la carte, and not particularly good for the
money, but the wines are excellent.

Wiesbaden is considered to have the mildest climate
in Germany, and is frequented in winter by a great many
invalids from Germany and Russia. Some Americans
too pass the winter there, but I never met any English,
excepting once an English officer of the Royal Engineers,
who rather liked the place, as he amused himself by
attending the dances given at the Kursaal, and privately
so he told me. This officer was living at the hotel, the
" Dahlheim," at which I have stayed in recent years ; it
is situated well in the town.

During my second visit to Wiesbaden in the winter,
I dined at one o'clock at the table d'hote at my hotel,
which was always crowded. I made the acquaintance
of Herr von Scheve, who was a major in the Prussian
army and had lived some time in China in the service
of the Emperor of China, still remaining on in the German
army. The Major was decorated by His Chinese Majesty

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and was allowed by the Emperor of Germany to wear the
order in uniform. The Major was a renowned chess
player, and played for Germany in the European contest,
in which he always managed to do very well. He gave
me a book on chess, an exceedingly good work by Minck-
witz. Wiesbaden is a great place for chess, and once in
a cafe a German gentleman asked me to play a game
with him, which I did. He was a fine player, one of the
best in Wiesbaden, and easily defeated me. Chess is
almost the favourite game at Wiesbaden, and in late
years I played generally every day with a Hanoverian
gentleman either at the Kursaal or in a cafe, and we played
pretty even.

One day we went to Bibrich and saw the fine castle
of the late Duke of Nassau. It is built in the Renais-
sance style and is very picturesquely situated on the
Rhine. We walked in the grounds and were pleased
with a splendid avenue of chestnut trees ; afterwards
we had our game of chess in a cafe while some friends
who came with us looked on at the game, and subse-
quently we all took the steam tramway back to Wies-
baden. Bibrich is about one hour's drive from Wies-
baden, and one can go by a steam tramway there and
back.

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The Hanoverian was an exceedingly nice man, and
I always took my supper at the Hotel Dahlheim with
him and a young English lady, who was very like a
picture by Burne- Jones, and still more like a picture
called " Ivy," of a blind girl, but I have forgotten the
name of the English artist who painted it. This young
lady had beautiful dark brown, wavy hair, and her eyes
were perfectly lovely and quite the admiration of every-
body ; they were of a greyish blue with a shade of
violet in them, which reminded one of certain colours
in the sea at Nice, when the sun is pouring down golden
rays upon it. At times her eyes had a very slight squint,
but this was nearly imperceptible, and only tended to
embellish them with a violet reflection. She had a good
complexion, as most English girls have, and she had a
charming smile, and always looked pleasant, which most
English girls and women decidedly do not ; as a rule they
look as if it were a crime to smile or laugh.

I often think that if English girls, like the danseuses
at La Scala, at Milan, were taught to smile while they
are dancing, it would be of great advantage to them.
I used to attend Madame Beretta's private lessons to her
pupils at La Scala. Madame Beretta held a cane in her
hand, and she struck the girls' legs with it, sometimes

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making them cry, when they did not smile. It is a pity
that we have not a similar institution in England for
girls of every class, but more particularly for the middle
classes. The girls of the aristocracy in England and of
the lower classes might be exempted from this course of
instruction, that is to say, those who know how to look
pleasant.

But I am getting away from Wiesbaden. At
supper the Hanoverian was fond of a bottle of good
wine, and would order Johannisberg Cabinet, a wine
from the chateau of the Prince of Metternich, about
twenty marks a bottle, and a delicious wine too. At
other times he ordered champagne Veuve Clicquot,
which wine he drank very little of himself and insisted
on our helping him.

The Hanoverian was most interesting in his conversa-
tion, and one evening told a story about the famous
actress at the Burg Theater in Vienna, Frau Devrient
Reinhold. Fraulein Reinhold, as she then was, lived at
Hamburg, and made the acquaintance of a millionaire
there, who was struck with her great beauty. He was
an old man and Fraulein Reinhold was about sixteen
and in all the glory of her radiant beauty ; for, en par-
enthtse, I have often seen her in Vienna at the Burg

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Theater in "Die Jiidin von Toledo," by Grillparzer,
and in other roles, and was always struck both by her
beauty and her remarkable power of acting in tragedy.
The millionaire made her a present of an entire island
near Hamburg, and had the water around it illuminated
one evening for her, which had only been done once
before for the Emperor of Germany, when His Majesty
visited this island. The illumination for the evening
cost the millionaire five thousand pounds, and all the
water around the island had the appearance as if it were
on fire. The millionaire has died since, and Fraulein
Reinhold married Herr Devrient, of the famous family
of Hamburg actors mentioned by the great Lessing in his
" Hamburgische Dramaturgic," but the island, I am
told, still belongs to this actress.

The Hanoverian used always to say that he only
admired the northern nations, and that the Austrians
were like " Oberschaum " or the bubbles on the top of
a glass of champagne, only froth with no substance in
them. He thought the same of all southern countries ;
his only admiration was for nations like Norway and
Sweden, North Germany, and Denmark. England he
knew nothing about and could not speak one word of
English, so we always conversed in German. He ad-

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mired this young English lady very much, indeed, his
affection for her was something like adoration. The
day she left Wiesbaden he sent her the most beautiful
bouquet of Russian violets imaginable, but told her
before that he could not 'wish her good-bye as he was
too much distressed to do so. He was highly romantic
in his nature, and excessively wealthy, but had married
unfortunately. He was a tall, slender, fair, very active,
military-looking man, with a 'long moustache, and was
about fifty. I found him most pleasant indeed, besides
which he was extremely sincere. We went all three
together to a box in the new theatre at Wiesbaden, to
see a very good actor, called Bonn, in a play of Raimund's
" Der Bauer als Millionar," with which we were highly
delighted.

The new theatre at Wiesbaden is charming ; it is
bright inside with deep rose-colour satin seats and cur-
tains to the boxes, while the beautiful decorations around
the house are in white and gold with arabesque
designs. The theatre is indeed a delightful addition
to Wiesbaden, and operas by Wagner and other com-
posers are now given, besides plays by well-known
authors.

Hanoverian German sounds rather pretty, the "st" and

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"sp " being pronounced as we should pronounce them in
English, but other Germans consider it to be somewhat
affected. There was a Prussian Jew at this hotel, who
was pleasant and a great invalid ; he told me he could
not bear the Austrians, and that in Vienna he once gave
a Dienstmann a ten-florin note in order *to purchase a
ticket for the opera, and the Dienstmann in giving him
the ticket swore that he had only received a five-florin
note and retained the rest of the money. This Prussian
gentleman said they were all like this Dienstmann in
Vienna, they thought it their duty to take in foreigners.
It was apropos of a Vienna dentist that the Prussian
made this remark. The dentist had charged an English
lady one thousand florins for bridge-work for her teeth,
and when an expert was consulted as to the charge he
said that he would have charged her two thousand florins.
It is needless to say that the dentist was a Jew and the
expert belonged to the same race. This Prussian said
that such a thing could not possibly happen in Germany.
He related the following story. An Englishman had
his hair cut at a well-known hairdresser's in one of the
principal streets in Berlin, and was charged fifty marks.
He refused to pay, and went to the police, whereupon
the shop was closed within twenty-four hours by orders
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of the police, and the hairdresser was practically ruined
for his imposition on an Englishman.

In Vienna before a Bezirksgericht, where the magis-
trate is invariably a Jew, a foreigner may nearly always
say he has lost his case before it has been heard. But
this is not so with the higher courts in Vienna, where
they are usually very just in their verdicts.

The walks about Wiesbaden are very pretty in the
Kursaal grounds in the early spring, and there is a lake
on which people skate in winter. In the warmer weather
the Kur Kapelle plays out in the kiosk near the lake,
where there are three large fountains, and at times a
Prussian military band performs. The public in the
winter in the Kursaal grounds is different from that of
the summer ; there are in the latter period more foreign-
ers, chiefly Americans and English, there.

A lady friend of mine wrote to me from Italy telling
me to call on a Prussian count and his wife, the former
being an old man and an excellency. I did so, and was
invited to their charming villa near the Kursaal, which
reminded me very much of the one which the widow of
the Emperor of China had. I met a number of Prussian
noble families here, and all were very polite and stiff,
reminding me somewhat of a certain class of society in

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England. The serious, pedantic conversation quite
overpowered me, and the duty of having to give all these
various people their proper titles in speaking to them, in
addition to the close atmosphere of the room, almost
turned my head. Towards the end of this " jour," when
tea was served round, I suffered so from headache that
I found myself addressing a Frau Grafin as Frau Ober-
landesgerichtsrathin and vice versa, much to the re-
spective ladies' surprise and the former lady's horror ;
however, I tried to remedy matters by calling them both
" excellenz," when they were at once delighted with
me. I thought really they were going to kiss me at one
time. If it had depended on these two ladies no title
or honours would have been high enough for me to
receive in Prussia.

, During my second visit to Wiesbaden an American
publisher, very well known in England, was staying
at my hotel, and he used often to frequent the dances
at the Kursaal. I noticed he was constantly with a
young English girl and her mother, who lived in a pen-
sion. One day he left the hotel for Rome, where his
wife was staying, so he informed me. I was walking
with a French lady some days after, when this English
lady came up to us and asked the French lady if she

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knew whether the American gentleman were married,
as she had heard that he was. After the French lady
had said that she thought this was the case, the mother
got very excited, saying he had made love to her daughter,
giving her flowers, and that the wife, who was at Rome,
ought to be informed of it. I joined in the conversation
and said, " Possibly his wife does just the same at Rome,
so it is quite needless to inform her." The lady went
away looking rather disappointed.

At the hotel there was a well-known German composer,
who had been formerly an organist, and he kept his
rooms so intensely hot in the winter that some one said,
" Herr Langer, it is not healthy to have your rooms so
heated." To which he replied, " As long as it suits me,
and I feel quite well, it does not matter surely." He was
asked by the same rather officious person why he never
went to church, when he replied, " I was organist in
Berlin for sixteen years, and was then compelled to go
to church every Sunday twice a day for all those
years, and I think that is quite enough for my
life-time ! "

There are certain very good places in Wiesbaden to take
one's tea of an afternoon (for instance, Lehmann's,
Christ Brenner, or Blum's), but some people prefer

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taking it in the hotel where they have their full
pension.

Wiesbaden is very cheap in the winter, and the food
in some hotels is decidedly good for Germany ; the
Rhine salmon is much better, I consider, than the English,
and the former is often provided, and salmon trout as
well. I very much prefer the Austrian way of cooking,
but the German is not so extremely bad if you take it
on the whole ; besides, one gets used to it.

I was told by Professor Erb to drink the Moselle and
not the Rhine wines, as the former are much lighter
and somewhat acid, which is good for the digestion
and for rheumatism and gout (which I suffered from
then).

English people who are at a loss where to go could
do far worse than spend a winter at Wiesbaden, and
one thing is certain, they will not be ruined by hotel
charges, nor will they be half starved, as the portions
at table d'hote are rather too large if anything.

The shops are good, and the shopkeepers and their
assistants about as polite as they are in English country
towns, which might sometimes, in both cases, be im-
proved upon. One finds a great difference in this
rough-and-ready manner when one comes from

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Austria, where shopkeepers and assistants are polite-
ness itself.

The young girls that serve in shops in England and
Germany are not to be mentioned in the same breath
with those of Austria — it is almost like comparing a
pure white brilliant with a caillou du Rhin.

54

CHAPTER IV

BADEN BADEN — ADVENTURERS — THE HUNGARIAN
COUNTESS — A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRL — THE
EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA— THE FETES

BEFORE I went to Baden Baden my father told me
particularly to beware of adventurers. I had
only recently left Eton, and he thought I should be
likely to be taken in by them. My father told me a story
about himself.

On his first visit to Baden Baden he made the ac-
quaintance of an Englishman who asked him to come to
his rooms. My father went, and the man asked him to
play cards for a couple of hundred pounds a game, and
proceeded to lock the door. My father told him that he
was not accustomed to be locked in a room and desired
him to unlock the door. After he had done so my
father walked out of the room and carefully avoided the
individual while he remained at Baden Baden.

A gentleman, who came from Paris and was a Pole,
made my acquaintance in the train going to Baden
Baden. He appeared very agreeable, but remembering

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the advice that was given to me, I was rather distrustful
of him, for he had a coronet on his things, even to the
buttons of his coat, and it made me very suspicious. He
asked me what hotel I was going to, and offered to find
me a room in his hotel, but I told him that I had decided
on which one to go to and had secured a room. He
wanted me to alter my plans, which made me all the
more suspicious, and I had great difficulty in getting rid
of him at the Baden Baden station.

It was in the month of August and Baden Baden was
full of visitors ; the Prince of Wales, now King Edward
VII, was there, and a number of most distinguished
people.

At my hotel I sat next at table d'hote to a very pretty
lady and her mother; both spoke English very badly,
dropping their "h's" right and left. I spoke to the
daughter, who did not appear desirous of making my
acquaintance, evidently, as I was English ; and the next
day they had their places changed at the table d'hote on
purpose to avoid speaking to me. I inquired of the
proprietor of the hotel who they were. He said that
the young lady was a Hungarian countess. I told him
I thought he was mistaken, for they were English.
He seemed rather angry and answered somewhat rudely

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that he ought to know better than I did, for her husband
was a well-known Hungarian count, mentioning his
name.

Coming from England, Baden Baden struck me as
being by far the prettiest place I had ever seen, for the
town was situated in a valley with a tiny river, the
Oos, running through it, while all around were fir trees
and lime trees, that throw out a most delicious perfume.
The tiny river rustled and sparkled in the sun, and the
birds sang on the trees, while on the promenade, in front
of the Kursaal, elegant ladies from St. Petersburg and
Paris seemed to endeavour to eclipse one another in the
beauty of their toilettes.

In the evening the promenade was almost like fairy-
land, for the ladies were in evening dress as if for a ball,
and there was a great display of jewellery. The spark-
ling of the brilliants, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires
round their necks almost equalled in splendour the
illuminations of the promenade. To add to this, a
delightful orchestra, under the celebrated Johann Strauss,
the composer of "An der Schonen blauen Donau,"
the most lovely Austrian waltz that has ever been com-
posed, poured forth its strains. I felt dazzled at all this
splendour. Wherever I turned my eyes I saw youth,

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beauty, and the most gorgeous toilettes, while the delight-
ful music enchanted my ears such as they had never
been enchanted before. I longed to have some one with
me, but I was alone, and I knew no one.

Suddenly I saw the most beautiful young girl that I
had ever seen. She was dressed magnificently in white
as if for a ball ; she had white satin shoes, and wore her
dress decollete, showing the most lovely shoulders and
arms partly bare. Her golden hair was hanging loosely
down her back, her eyes were as blue as the sky is at
Seville — the brightest shade of blue, almost golden blue
in colour ; while her cheeks had the beautiful rose-colour
of the plumage of the sacred ibis. Her features were
Grecian in regularity ; her nostrils were like the nostrils
of a Greek statue, and her small mouth had voluptuous
lips, showing her tiny, even teeth as white as pearls.
She was a small girl of about fourteen or fifteen and wore
short dresses, showing her stockings, which were white
and d jour, and her tiny feet were encased in white satin
shoes having Louis XV heels. She was carrying a large
bouquet of " La France " roses, which contrasted charm-
ingly with her face.

I saw her go up to a well-known Russian Princess,
who was accompanied by her husband, and give the

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magnificent bouquet to the Princess, who kissed her
afterwards on both cheeks, upon which she curtsied,
and the Prince shook hands with her. Then I lost sight
of her ; she had disappeared as she had come, as if by
enchantment.

While walking up and down the promenade after-
wards, whom should I meet but the Pole who had made
my acquaintance in the train. He was accompanied
by two ladies, one of whom was the Princess Metschersky
and the other his mother. He bowed to me, but as I had
refused to go to his hotel he did not welcome me as he
otherwise would have done.

I saw also the soi-disant Hungarian countess with
her mother. They avoided me as before, and did so
every time I chanced to meet them anywhere in Baden
Baden.

The Kursaal at Baden Baden is rather a low building
compared with that of Homburg. The rooms are some-
what sombre ; they are fitted up in the Renaissance
style of Louis XIV, but they are very fine all the same.
The concert-room is a magnificent room, gorgeously
fitted up from French designs, and the reading-rooms
are large and look out on to the promenade.

The kiosk where the band plays is most artistic in its

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form, and is the loveliest kiosk I have ever seen. It is a
marvel of beauty in bronze worked in the most exquisite
way, and looks as though the designs were of very fine
lace at the sides of the kiosk, somewhat resembling the
fountains one sees at Nuremberg.

The shops under the arcades are all exceedingly good,
and some of the shopkeepers come from Vienna for the
summer season. These shops are in the Kursaal grounds,
and are the admiration of every one there, but generally
speaking the articles sold are very dear.

Later in the evening I saw two rather pretty young
girls on the promenade, whose acquaintance I made.
They told me that they were Russian and pointed out
to me all the celebrities at Baden Baden. I was much
amused with them, as they were bright and lively in
their conversation, and talked to me in French as if they
had known me for years, laughing and making jokes
all the time. I saw them the following day with an
elderly lady, who was a grande dame, and in the best
Russian society at Baden Baden ; but they pretended
not to see me. However, later in the evening I met
them again, and they were as friendly as before. They
informed me that they were cousins, and that the mother
of one of them, whom I saw with them, was a Russian

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countess, the daughter of a prince, and that she was very
strict indeed with them, and until I had been presented
to her I must not notice or take off my hat to them if
I saw them with her. These young girls were divinely
dressed, and wore satin shoes of an evening at the prom-
enade during the concert.

The Hotel d'Angleterre was the principal hotel. All
the very smart people dined at it, or at the Kursaal,
where the dinners of an evening were equally good and
expensive — the Kursaal, perhaps, was somewhat the
dearer of the two.

I met an Englishman one day on the promenade who
was very desirous that I should play cards with him at
his rooms, but I thought of my father's adventure and
carefully avoided him.

One day I saw the Prince of Wales, now King Edward
VII, on the promenade. It was in the evening and
Johann Strauss was leading the orchestra ; H.R.H. had
been in the Kursaal and came out of one of the rooms.
A few moments later I saw the lovely little fair girl whom
I had seen once before ; she appeared to me to be by
herself in the Kursaal, but there were many other people
there. I walked up to her and asked her a question,
but she took not the slightest notice of me or my question,

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simply ignoring both. I felt confused, and I did not
know what to do. I advanced again towards where she
was standing, but she deliberately walked away from
me. I felt dreadfully mortified, and rushed out of the
Kursaal on to the promenade, where no one in the least
interested me. I only thought that I should have liked
to know this little girl, and she had dashed my hopes to
the ground. I went to the cafe of the Kursaal and
drank some petits verres of cognac to drown my grief.
I felt as disheartened as if the only person I loved in the
world had cruelly forsaken me, for I loved this girl with-
out knowing her, and would have made any sacrifice to
have obtained her acquaintance, but I saw that it was
perfectly useless my attempting to do so. As the band
was still playing I remained in the grounds of the Kursaal,
and it distracted my thoughts for the time being.

As the doors of the Kursaal were closing, I had a
glimpse of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales leaving the
grounds with some gentlemen, and I sauntered home-
wards slowly, feeling very dejected and depressed.

While walking across the grounds I felt an arm being
placed gradually and very softly through mine, and when
I looked round I could hardly believe my eyes. I
thought at first it was a dream, but I tightened my arm,

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and then I saw the same golden-blue eyes, the same
rosy cheeks, the same Grecian features with the nostrils
of a Greek statue, the same red voluptuous lips, the same
golden hair of the beautiful young girl, for it was she who
had taken my arm. I asked her what made her rejoin
me in that way. She replied that she knew I should
be pleased from the way I looked at her in the Kursaal,
but that she could not speak to me there as she was
with her relations.

I walked with her towards her house, which was up-
hill. Upon our arrival she gave me a kiss as if her soul
flew through her lips on to mine. I paid her a visit in
a beautifully furnished room in which the furniture was
in pink satin, Louis XV style, with lace curtains. She
spoke Wienerisch to me, and it was not long before she
employed the " Du " instead of the formal " Sie."
She had all the charms of extreme youth, and was very
affectionate, and as different from an English girl as
possible. She told me that she was engaged to be
married to a colonel in the Prussian Army, and upon
hearing some noise in the passage she was greatly
alarmed, and said that her fiance* was coming. I
replied that I had a loaded derringer with me. She told
me excitedly and almost breathlessly to turn to the right

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through a passage leading to the front door. I did as she
requested and thus escaped in the nick of time, for I
heard some one, a man it was, running after me. I
arrived safely at my hotel, but I regret to say that I
never saw her again, though I have often thought of
her since. I heard that she married shortly afterwards
this colonel. It appears that she was the daughter of a
Prussian general, and that her mother was a widow,
half Austrian, from Vienna, and half English.

The next time I went to Baden Baden was a good many
years afterwards. The place had completely changed,
and for the worse, I think. The shopkeepers grumbled
and said Baden Baden had seen its best days.

I was recommended by Professor Erb, of Heidelberg, to
go there in the spring for the nerves, but told not to
remain during the summer, as it was too relaxing. The
autumn is very fine at Baden Baden, but intensely dull,
as it is also in the winter, but in September the races
take place, and it is hard to get rooms anywhere. All
the beau-monde flock there.

During my second visit the Empress of Austria was there,
occupying a villa called Villa Messmer, very pleasantly
situated, but rather high up, not far from the Kursaal.

I lived in a villa inhabited by Dr. Dahlberg, the

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masseur of the Empress of Austria, who had nothing but
Swedish servants. This gentleman visited the Empress
every day to " masser " her. Her Majesty was dis-
pleased with Dr. Metzger, of Amsterdam, at that time.
The Swedish doctor, Herr Dahlberg, informed me what
a lovely figure the Empress had, and how very agreeable
she was. Her Majesty presented him with a beautiful
scarf pin which had the Imperial crown in brilliants,
rubies, and emeralds, and her monogram on it.

I was walking in some gardens near the Hotel Stephanie
one day when I perceived Her Majesty with her daughter,
the Archduchess Valerie. Generally the Empress would
put up her fan so as not to be seen, but on this occasion
she did not do so. I was reading " Die neue freie Presse,"
and when the Empress passed me I held my hat in my
hand. She gave me a most gracious bow, and I thought
how good-looking she was.

I had not seen her since the day she landed at Dover
on her way to the Isle of Wight, when she was dressed
in her favourite colour, a dress of violet velvet with a
toque in black velvet. I can remember how very beauti-
ful she then was. I stood close to her as she stepped
off the steamer.

The Empress delighted in Baden Baden, and usually
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spent the months of February and March there. She
took long walks and drives with her daughter, the
Archduchess Valerie.

During my second visit to Baden Baden I made
the acquaintance, in the conditorei, " Schababerle," of
the sister of General Prince Louis Melikoff, who was
extremely pleasant. There were very many distin-
guished Russians staying there then. Prince Metscher-
sky, who drove a fine Russian turnout with beautiful
black, long-tailed, Russian trotters, always passed the
winter at Baden Baden. Princess Gargarine was staying
at the Villa Gargarine ; Prince and Princess Gortscha-
kow also resided in a villa during the summer and early
autumn.

Professor Erb always spent his holidays at Lichtenthal,
a very charming suburb of Baden Baden, a quarter of
an hour's walk from the town. The Professor resided
at the Bar Hotel at Lichtenthal, where I often used to
visit him. Professor Erb took only one meal a day, at
one o'clock ; never any breakfast or supper when at
Lichtenthal. Eminent doctors have told me in England
that the Professor is the very best doctor in the world
for nervous disorders, but seeing so many nervous
patients makes him irritable at times.

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Once I went to see him at Heidelberg. His waiting-
room was full, and as he looked in there for a moment
every one stood up. A very smart lady, with a footman
in attendance on her, wanted to enter his consulting-
room, but he asked her, " Why do you come before your
turn ? " She replied, " Because I have been waiting
for three hours." Professor Erb came up to me, and
addressing the lady said, " You have been waiting three
hours, but this gentleman has been waiting three days,"
and he led me into his consulting-room. In doing so
the Professor murmured " Cursed Jews ! " which the
lady overheard, and went away in consequence.

I found Baden Baden very slow during my second
visit. The animation had entirely gone ; the fetes were
the same, but the people were not, which made all the
difference.

Herr Konnemann, formerly an Austrian military con-
ductor, led the Kur Kapelle very well indeed, and he
played some ballet music of mine, a pas de deux, and all
my friends at Baden Baden were delighted with the
way the orchestra played it.

A friend of mine was at Baden Baden a year or two
ago, and said that during the race fortnight in Sep-
tember the most fashionable people from Vienna and

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Berlin were there, and that Baden Baden was most
enjoyable.

During my second visit the Duke of Hamilton was at
Baden Baden with his sister, the Countess Festetics, and
the latter used to smoke one thousand cigarettes a month.
The Duke of Hamilton was the son of the Princess of
Baden, sister of the Grand Duke of Baden.

Baden Baden is now really only fashionable in the
spring, and very much so in the early autumn. In the
summer months it is crowded at times, but with the
sort of people one would meet at a certain town in
Somerset — very strait-laced, prudish, and most un-
interesting. Baden Baden has decidedly had its day,
and so has this town in Somerset, though there are a few
interesting people in each of these places. Mais il
s'agit de les trouver.

68

CHAPTER V

CARLSBAD, MARIENBAD, AND FRANZENSBAD —
BARONESS JAMES EDOUARD DE ROTHSCHILD—
DR. RITTER VON HOCHBERG— PRUSSIAN CAVALRY
AND LINE — THE BIG DRUM — MILITARY AND
STRING BANDS— THE RACES— KING ALEXANDER
OF SERVIA — KING EDWARD AT MARIENBAD —
PRINCESS CASAPESENA — BEAUTIFUL MIZZI —
ROYALTIES AT HOLZER'S

THE first time I went to Carlsbad was many years
ago, when on leave from my regiment, which was
stationed at Rawal Pindi, in India. I had been recom-
mended to take the waters at Carlsbad, and went first
of all to Paris.

On leaving Paris I found myself in the same railway
carriage with an elderly English lady and her daughter,
whose acquaintance I made. They were travelling to
Marienbad, as the mother was very stout indeed, and
desired to reduce her weight, as she said life was a torture
to her, being so excessively fat.

At Nuremberg a rather nice-looking lady entered the

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same carriage, who had a very smart footman in livery
in attendance, and who carried an immense bouquet of
flowers, which he put in the carriage near the lady.
Almost immediately the train had started this lady,
who was the Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild,
entered into conversation with the other people in the
carriage, and she was very pleasant, speaking English
quite perfectly, having, as she informed us, spent half
her life in England, but then was residing in Paris with
her family. She had been ordered to take the waters
at Marienbad, and had sent on fourteen servants from
Paris to get everything ready to receive her at
Marienbad.

I got out at Carlsbad, where I took an " Einspanner "
and drove to the Hotel Goldenes Schild, which was the
principal hotel there. This hotel, which has been con-
siderably enlarged since then, is now better known as
the Hotel zu den drei Monarchen, in consequence of the
Emperors of Austria, Germany, and Russia having
resided there, and their meeting together on one occasion
at this hotel.

The morning after my arrival at Carlsbad I consulted
Dr. Ritter von Hochberg, the doctor of the Emperor of
Germany, who was a very nice old man, who told me to

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drink the Schlossbrunn waters before breakfast, two
glasses full, and then walk before having my breakfast
for about half an hour in the country.

I followed the instructions of the doctor, walking out
in the country, a delightful walk shaded with trees, with
a tiny river flowing rapidly some ten feet below the path
I was walking on. After walking for about twenty
minutes I came to Posthof, where at a very good restau-
rant, out of doors, I had my breakfast, which consisted
of coffee, such as I had never tasted so excellent before,
and a boiled egg and some Austrian " Kaiser Semmel,"
very small loaves of bread, for which Austria is quite
famous. My breakfast was served by a pretty young
Austrian girl, who was tastefully dressed, and her hair
was arranged after the latest fashion, which was so
different from the slipshod English servant girl at a
place of the sort in England. I enjoyed the walk back
to the hotel immensely along the river, with beautiful
trees all the way, in this most delightfully picturesque
valley.

Dining one day at the Hotel Konig von Hannover I
made the acquaintance of an elderly American lady,
who lived in an apartment in the English quarter of
Carlsbad. She invited me to come and see her at

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her rooms, which were very comfortable, and where
she offered me a cup of English tea. This lady was
very fond of taking drives in the country, and always
used to invite me to come with her, which I did
occasionally.

One day she introduced me to a Hanoverian baron,
the son of the " Obersthofmeister " of the late King of
Hanover. The baron was a young man, who was in an
Austrian cavalry regiment, and who disliked the Prus-
sians immensely. One day I asked him if he would care
to know a man I knew in Carlsbad, who was a Prussian
line officer. The baron then said, "It is all very well
for you to know him, for you are not a German, but I
could not possibly be seen with him. First of all, he is a
Prussian, and then he is in a line regiment, and I could
not go about with him, as I am in a cavalry regiment,
you know."

I usually met the American lady and the baron at one
o'clock on most days at the Hotel Konig von Hannover,
where we dined together at a small table on the veranda
of the hotel, going afterwards to Sans Souci or Posthof
of an afternoon to hear the military concert, which was
very fine indeed.

The band consisted of fifty men, and played the very

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difficult music of Wagner in the most brilliant fashion,
besides playing lighter music, too, in a marvellous manner.
This band was that of the Thirty-fifth Regiment Konig
von Hannover, an Austrian band which had won the
first prize and gold medal at the Exhibition at Brussels
in the competition of military bands of all nations. This
band put all French, German, and English military bands
quite in the shade.

A principal feature I noticed in the band was that there
were two men who played cymbals, and the big drum
was quite an insignificant item in the band, the side
drum being much more used. The effect produced by
this alteration in the composition of a military band is
quite astounding, and I should recommend it to English
bandmasters of military bands, as the big drum is far
too important an instrument in England, and it is very
distressing at times to one's ears. The way the cymbals
are played by an Austrian band has something very
enlivening, especially when the regiment is marching
out.

Speaking of the big drum reminds me that when the
troops disembarked at Portsmouth from the troopship
on which I came home from India, an infantry regiment
was ordered to march off with its band playing ; but the

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big drum happened to be filled with cigars, so it could
hardly sound at all, which produced perfect consternation
among the men of the regiment, as they were practically
deprived of their leading instrument, which would have
passed unperceived with an Austrian infantry regiment,
as the cymbals are heard above all other instruments.
In Austria the big drum is generally carried on a small
cart led by a small pony when the regiment marches
out.

The military concert was always very well attended
at Carlsbad. Sometimes the band would play at Pupp's
Cafe near the town of an afternoon, while the people
were drinking their coffee sitting at little tables under
large trees. An entrance fee of fifty kreutzers, or about
tenpence, was paid, and very great difficulty there always
was to obtain seats.

Since those days Pupp's Cafe has been made much
larger, and a fine hotel has been constructed on to it,
called Pupp's Hotel, which is a very favourite dining
place, where for two florins fifty kreutzers a very good
dinner is provided, and the look-out on the trees where
the military band plays is very agreeable in the hot
summer weather. At Pupp's Cafe they keep almost
every newspaper in all possible languages, which one is

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allowed to take out and read under the trees while the
band plays of an afternoon.

One day in recent years I was sitting out at Pupp's
Cafe when this very same military band, but under a
different conductor, while I was reading the Times,
suddenly struck up a march of my own composition,
which I did not expect to hear, as the march that is
played at the commencement of the concert is never
on the programme. After the concert I saw the band-
master, who introduced me to the owner of Pupp's Cafe
and Hotel, who kindly complimented me on my march,
and told me that he had imagined all English people
were somewhat like the Chinese as far as music was
concerned, so he rather looked upon me as an anomaly.

This same military band plays twice a week at Marien-
bad, where I have often heard it play, and occasionally
at Franzensbad, where in recent years I was introduced
to the colonel and officers of the regiment after my march
had been played there, when the colonel told the band-
master to play it on parade at Pilsen. I have never
been to Carlsbad without hearing my march per-
formed by the military band, and I have heard it
under two different bandmasters with the same
regiment.

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On some days of the week the Kur Kapelle, or string
band, plays at Carlsbad at Pupp's Cafe ; this is one of
the finest orchestras in Austria, and then it performed
under the famous conductor August Labitzky, com-
poser of a good many mazurkas and waltzes. These
concerts, however, were never so well frequented as the
military concerts, probably because one had not to pay
to hear them.

Every Friday afternoon in quite recent years August
Labitzky organized a classical concert at Posthof, for
which an entrance fee had to be paid of fifty kreutzers,
when there were always a great many fashionable people
attending. One day was devoted to Wagner's com-
positions only, another day to Mozart, and another day
to Beethoven, and at times mixed classical music by
various composers. Once a month Labitzky arranged
a ladies' day, on which certain ladies were allowed to
make up the programme of music from composers
they preferred, which always amused Labitzky, so he
told me, as they chose such extraordinary pieces at
times.

Labitzky once told an English lady in my presence
that he was a great admirer of English ladies, and that
when he was the conductor of Queen Victoria of England's

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private band at Buckingham Palace (which he was for five
years) he never saw such lovely women with such perfect
shoulders as he did at Queen Victoria's State balls.
Labitzky said he had been to Warsaw, Paris, St. Peters-
burg, and Vienna, but he admired the ladies of the
English aristocracy more than those of any other
nation.

In recent years Labitzky always played, when I asked
him to do so, a suite de ballet of mine called " Un songe
aux ailes d'Or," which he constantly put on the pro-
gramme, and which was first of all played at the Crystal
Palace by the orchestra under Sir August Manns, but
has never been published, though it has always been
much applauded, both in England and Austria. A very
celebrated pianist, Brandt Buys, in Vienna, wanted to
arrange this suite de ballet of mine with variations for
the piano, when I was last there.

The places where afternoon coffee is taken are all in
the country at Carlsbad, and every one sits at small
tables under trees, generally listening to music.

Poor Labitzky ! When I was at Reichenhall, in
Bavaria, not so very long ago, a young Austrian girl of
fifteen, whose Christian name was Laudi, and who was
fair and sweetly pretty, and engaged to be married to

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one of the Princes Issenburg Birstein, told me of the
arrival of Labitzky and his family at Reichenhall. A
few days afterwards this same young girl told me Labitzky
had died quite suddenly of influenza.

Labitzky was to be buried at Carlsbad, and a grand
procession was organized at Carlsbad the day the coffin
arrived there ; but by some mistake the coffin of an
old woman was sent to Carlsbad instead, and was
conducted all over the town with great ceremony, and
the following day Labitzky's remains were sent to
Carlsbad, after the mistake had been discovered.

At the Caf6 Pupp the girls who waited on the people
had their Christian name, such as Mizzi, Fanni, Resi,
pinned with silver brooches on to their dresses, and had
their hair dressed by a coiffeur. These girls were for
the most part very pretty, and were all so amiable.

One gentleman, in recent years, having finished his
" cure," received about twenty bouquets of beautiful
flowers, all put on his breakfast table at Pupp's by the
girls serving. People said it must have cost him at least
one hundred florins in the way of tips.

On my first visit to Carlsbad one day, on going to see
my doctor, I made the acquaintance there of a Hungarian
cavalry officer who wore only one spur in uniform, as he

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said he had lost the other ; but he did not trouble himself
about the loss much, for each time I met him there he
always appeared with only one spur.

On my asking my doctor what I was in his debt, he
told me he left it entirely to me to give him what I liked.
So I put fifty florins in an envelope, which the doctor
refused to open in my presence, saying he knew that
it was all right. After a " cure " of three weeks I left
Carlsbad for Franzensbad for an after-cure, which my
doctor had advised my taking.

One day on my first visit to Carlsbad I dined at one
o'clock at a small restaurant near my doctor's, on the
way to the station, and a German I did not know sat at
my table. When the waiter brought him a beefsteak he
asked what it was, and said it was only enough for a
bird. The waiter told him it was " Kurgemass." Then
the German became furious, and said he had not come
to Carlsbad to be starved, but to enjoy himself, and that
he was not ill at all. The waiter then told him he had
better go somewhere else, as the menu was arranged for
invalids, and not for healthy people.

From the Hotel Goldenes Schild one can see by means
of a field-glass a bronze stag high up on a rock in the
woods. I was told this is called the " Hirschensprung,"

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as a stag once leapt down from that height below in the
road.

The town of Carlsbad is gloriously situated in a lovely
valley, with a tiny little river flowing through the town.
The shops are quite magnificent there, and all in one long
street, easy of access even to a lazy person like myself.
The toilettes at Carlsbad are of late years something
astounding, and especially at Pupp's Hotel, where very
wealthy English and Americans dine.

During the last few years the Carlsbad races have been
a great attraction there. I went to them with an English
lady, and on one occasion an English major I knew told
the lady he was certain that the horse he had chosen
and backed heavily would win the hurdle race. How-
ever, the major judged the horse by its looks and the
way it cantered, for when the race began the major
suddenly exclaimed, " Good heavens ! My horse can-
not jump at all ! " And indeed it proved so, for the
horse had no idea of jumping, and came in an easy
last!

Once I went to the races from Franzensbad, and
lunched at a tiny restaurant at Carlsbad, where the
waiter told me he would mark all the winners on my
card. I let him do so. On my arrival at the races I

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showed a jockey I knew my card marked by the waiter.
The jockey laughed and said the horse marked for the
first race could not win, and advised my backing another
horse. However, the waiter had marked the winner.
The second race I took the jockey's advice again, but
the horse marked on my card won. The third race
the jockey said was quite impossible for the animal
marked to win. However, it did, paying two hundred
and fifty florins for five at the totalisateur — and I had
not backed it ! The waiter had only marked one other
horse, which was for a steeplechase, and the jockey said,
" I know the horse ; it is the worst in the race." How-
ever, the favourite fell and the horse marked, which, of
course, I had not backed, won.

The next day I was unable to go to the races, as
Labitzky was playing my suite de ballet, " Un songe
aux ailes d'Or," and I wanted to hear it with some ladies
I was with, particularly, too, as the last time I had heard
it played, on account of the damp weather, the " Glocken-
spiel " could not be used in this piece of music, and the
harps had been slightly altered by Labitzky for me.
However, a celebrated English jockey had marked my
card, so I went to the restaurant and found the waiter,
and paid his expenses of going to the races, telling him
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to back all the horses marked on the card, giving him a
considerable sum of money to do so for me.

When the concert was over I returned to the Hotel
zu den drei Monarchen, where I was staying for the time
of the races, and I soon met the English jockey, who told
me he had marked every winner on my card — eight
winners. I anxiously awaited the waiter, who finally
came towards me holding up his hands, and exclaiming,
" Alles verloren ! " " What ? " I shouted. " I gave you
a card marked with all the winners ; it is quite impossible
what you say." Then he showed me a lot of tickets
of the totalisateur, which he said he had taken for me,
which were for quite different horses from those marked
on my card. He explained to me that he fancied other
horses, consequently had backed them instead of backing
the horses I told him to do.

I went at once to the police station and explained
everything in German to the chief officer there, who had
the man arrested, and he was cross-questioned before me.
But the scoundrel produced those tickets, which he had
evidently picked up on the racecourse after each race was
over, as the chief officer said to me ; but it would have
involved me in a lawsuit to recover the money I had
given him to bet with, and, as in Austria lawyers are

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not quite so unscrupulous as in some countries (but they
can charge very much at times, and not as in Germany,
where there is a fixed tariff arranged by Government),
and, besides, this waiter had no money of his own, so
there was really nothing for me to do. But, as the chief
officer said very wisely, " It was very imprudent of you
trusting in a waiter you knew nothing about ; he is a
scoundrel, but it would only cost you more money to
try to recover what he says he has not got."

During my first visit to Carlsbad I made the acquaint-
ance of a very wealthy old Englishman, who had a
courier and several servants with him ; and the valet,
having nothing to do, amused himself by taking the
Sprudel waters, which are very strong, and come out of
the earth boiling hot. This valet, who before then was
in perfect health, gave himself a very serious internal
complaint, and had to be sent home to England in
consequence of this.

A young Hungarian girl at whose mother's house I
stayed for some time in Vienna, in the Reissnerstrasse,
told me she was at Carlsbad when King Alexander of
Servia was there, and one day she was at Posthof early
in the morning, about eight o'clock, and she heard that
the King was expected there to take his breakfast. So

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she waited till he came, as she was anxious to see a king
have his breakfast. She told me, however, she was
greatly disappointed, for instead of ordering a breakfast
" fit for a king," he merely had some coffee and one egg,
which he ate so slowly and seemingly with no appetite
whatever, and he merely crumbled up the bread, putting
one or two mouthfuls in his mouth, and then he paid the
girl who waited on him, though there was a gentleman
in attendance on His Majesty there at the time.

I have seen King Milan, the father of King Alexander,
two or three times at Posthof during a classical concert
of Labitzky, but very little notice was ever taken of him ;
he sat at a table and ordered coffee, like the rest of the
people there.

The roses and carnations are perfectly lovely at
Carlsbad, and so very cheap, too, where everything else
is comparatively expensive. There are always a great
number of good-looking cavalry officers at Carlsbad in
their smart light blue and gold uniforms of the hussars,
and dark blue and gold, and the dragoons in light blue
with various coloured facings. I mention this as I have
spoken so much about the ladies and nothing about the
men at Carlsbad. Most of the officers come from stations
near Vienna, and are chiefly of the nobility.

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Carlsbad has a very good theatre, which has been
built quite recently, where a good company performs
operettas and comedies ; the actors and actresses come
from Vienna for the summer season. There is a music-
hall, to which I once went recently, and saw the Alexis
family, who were wonderful as acrobats on the trapeze ;
they are paid about three hundred and fifty pounds a
week, I am told, and come from Paris.

Carlsbad is really a far more fashionable place than
Marienbad, and more distinguished Austrians go there,
because Marienbad is supposed to be only a place for
stout people, whilst Carlsbad now, in recent years, is a
place not only for people suffering from internal com-
plaints but also a place for pleasure as well.

There are several factories of Bohemian glass at Carls-
bad that produce most lovely glasses of every description
and colour. The road to the station is all uphill, and
filled with children with bare legs and feet, who are
almost to be envied in the very hot weather.

On my first visit to Carlsbad the American lady would
often ask me to go with her to make certain purchases of
lace and articles of luxury, and ask my advice, when the
shopkeepers would try to kiss her hand, which she did not
like, so they would kiss the hem of her garment. How-

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ever, since those days the shopkeepers are less polite,
and many of them come now from Vienna, and the shops
are very much better.

On leaving Carlsbad for the first time I went to Fran-
zensbad for my after-cure, where on my arrival I looked
for rooms, and secured a room in a house called Flora.
The proprietress informed me, after I had agreed upon
the price to pay by the week, that had she known I was
an Englishman she would have asked me very much
more. She never forgave me for not having told her so,
not even in later years, when I returned there again. I
thought Franzensbad extremely pretty with its villas
with gardens attached to them, but the walks were not
nearly so beautiful as those round Carlsbad. I was so
tired after taking the waters at Carlsbad that I rested
the whole time I was at Franzensbad, merely taking steel
baths, which I found perfectly delightful. It was like
bathing in champagne, as the water sparkled all the time,
and gave a tickling kind of sensation.

There were chiefly ladies at Franzensbad, and such
pretty ones from Austria and Hungary, and a great
many Russian ladies. I made the acquaintance of a
young Bavarian count at the music in the Kurpark who
was very musical, and played the violin beautifully. I

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used to meet him every day, always sitting at the same
table with him in the afternoon, where we took our coffee
listening to the band playing in the Kurpark.

In the evening the Kur Kapelle used to play sometimes
at different hotels during supper-time, when I often
went to these concerts. The bandmaster, Tomaschek,
was a very good conductor, and was a great favourite
of some of the ladies, who admired him very much,
sending him various presents oftentimes, and bouquets
of roses, which grew very plentifully round Franzensbad.
The villa in which I lived was very comfortable, and had
a lovely garden at the back of the house in which nearly
every kind of rose grew.

During my first sojourn at Franzensbad, which was a
very short one — only a fortnight — I visited Marienbad
one day, which is only three-quarters of an hour by rail
from Franzensbad, so in leaving Franzensbad at half-past
eight in the morning one can return there by the train
leaving Marienbad at half-past nine in the evening,
thus having plenty of time to see everything worth seeing
in Marienbad.

Almost the first person I met on the promenade at
Marienbad during my first visit there was the daughter
of the very stout English lady, who seemed very pleased

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to see me. She told me that she was bored to death
at Marienbad, that at first the lovely walks in the woods
pleased her, but that she knew them all by heart then,
and that seeing so many fat, uninteresting people made
her long to get away from the place. I met the mother
afterwards, who seemed very happy at the result of the
" cure," and who said she felt she was much thinner —
but I did not perceive it, though. The Baroness, the
mother informed me, had been most kind to her, but she
rarely came out of her own garden, excepting to take the
waters early in the morning.

I thought Marienbad more lovely even than Carlsbad,
surrounded as it was by the most charming woods and
hills. The walks around Marienbad are really quite
exquisite ; nothing could be more agreeable than to take
a walk in the woods during a summer day, and have some
coffee at one of the cafes, listening to an admirable
military band at the time.

In the early morning the Kur Kapelle plays in the
woods under trees till twelve o'clock. The band used
to be very good when led by Zimmermann, a famous
conductor, but now in late years is not nearly so good
as the orchestra at Carlsbad, and much smaller in number,
though perhaps it is a shade better than the band at

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Franzensbad. The Kapelle plays again of an evening,
from half-past five to seven o'clock, on the principal
promenade, where one cannot take coffee — only sit or
walk about at the time, looking at the very stout people,
who are curious to see, and make one feel one is happy
to be thin. If you tell an Austrian you are going to
Marienbad, and you happen to be thin, he will laugh
at you, for it is considered to be a place only for stout
people. There is a very good restaurant in the wood
near where the orchestra plays in the morning, and where
you can dine for two florins fifty kreutzers, or five krones,
and really well for the money ; I have often dined there.

Marienbad is more expensive than Franzensbad, and
about the same as Carlsbad, though since our King of
England goes to Marienbad there are numerous English
who like to breathe the same air as His Majesty does,
and consequently English people have to pay more for
their rooms than Austrians do, as the residents very soon
detect the English accent. I have been to Marienbad
since His Majesty has been there, and in certain houses
I know of they charge their old customers very much
the same as they did before ; but certainly they are not
English, but Austrian friends of mine.

An English peer, a brother officer of mine, constantly

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goes to Marienbad, and always takes a villa there, but
as he is very rich he does not mind what he pays for the
time he is there. The buildings at Marienbad are very
fine indeed, the new bath-house especially. There is a
cafe called Belle Vue, half an hour's walk from the town,
a charming walk, where the 35th Regiment used to play.
Now on Tuesdays and Fridays in the afternoon the
military band plays at a cafe near the promenade, where
I have also heard it play. For English people who do
not like music Marienbad must be tedious indeed, after
they have seen all the beautiful walks.

The toilettes at Marienbad cannot compare with those
of Carlsbad in any way, although there are some rather
striking ones there at times to be seen on the promenade
during the evening concerts. The theatre at Marienbad
is good, but I have never been inside it. The Duke of
Orleans, whom I know personally, is often at Marienbad,
though he resides at Konigswart, a station between
Marienbad and Franzensbad, and sometimes he comes to
Franzensbad.

The lady from whom I rented my apartment in Vienna,
in the Schwindgasse, used often to tell me that while she
was sitting down one day taking the waters at Marienbad
she noticed a gentleman sitting near her also drinking

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the waters, when he said to her, " Es schmeckt nicht gut,
nicht wahr, gnadige Frau ? " " Na, gewiss nicht," she
replied, with a slight laugh. When some time after
some one said to her, " Do you know who spoke to you ? "
" No," she replied, quite innocently. " It was the King
of England." " Goodness ! " exclaimed she, " if I had
only known it ! " Many and many a time did this fair
lady relate this to me, expressing her regret at not having
known that it was the King of England who had spoken
to her at the time. This lady was very fair, and con-
sidered a beauty in Vienna ; her husband's brother held
an appointment under the Emperor of Austria.

I have read of some people overeating at Marienbad.
I am sure I do not know how they managed to do so,
as everybody complains of the portions being too small
at the dinners there, unless they do as I saw a man once
do at the Granville Hotel, at Ramsgate, in England, who
ordered cutlets for four and ate them all himself.

The Austrian wines, though not so good as the French,
are not at all bad, such as Voslauer Goldeck and Adels-
berger Cabinet. Red wines are usually recommended to
delicate people, but the white are very good, especially in
hot weather, mixed with Giesshiibler, which is somewhat
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is often recommended to drink as a dessert wine, especially
for delicate girls and ladies, and is very invigorating.
An Austrian general, Baron Baselli, chamberlain to the
Emperor, told me once that the only place to get the
real Tokay was at the K. K. Hof Apotheke in Vienna,
where I have had several bottles from the cellars of the
Archduke Albrecht of Austria in years gone by, for which
I paid six florins a bottle ; but the wine was delicious.

The second time I went to Franzensbad I was sent
there by Professor Bamberger, in Vienna, for a nervous
complaint, and advised to take the mud baths and steel
baths as well, and drink the iron waters.

There were more princesses there than anywhere else
in Europe. One day I sat at the music at a table with a
young girl and elderly lady whose acquaintance I made,
and I discovered she was an Italian princess and her
lady companion. The princess (Princess Casapesena)
was about seventeen, and was very clever and amusing,
and introduced me afterwards to some relations of hers
at Franzensbad, who held very high appointments in
Italy.

Acquaintances of the best sort were easily made in
those days at Franzensbad. The toilettes were lovely
there then, and there was a celebrated young princess

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who used to drink the waters at eight in the morning,
when she would wear a lovely dress and earrings worth
six thousand pounds.

Everybody used to be amused when I told them I was
sent to Franzensbad, as it was considered only a place
for ladies. Quite recently I met an American at Fran-
zensbad, who told me that the best American doctors
were now sending their men patients to Franzensbad for
heart complaints, and that he could see no reason why
the place should not be good for men as well as for
women — " What is good for the goose is good for the
gander." I have no doubt if the water does not cure
the men's hearts that the ladies there, who are some of
them very lovely, will do their best to assist the " cure.'*

I always preferred Franzensbad to Marienbad, for it is
quieter, not such a bustle. There always are a great
many Russian ladies at Franzensbad ; it is almost a
Russian colony, and the shops have things written
sometimes in Russian letters over their door. A good
many Russian princesses still go to Franzensbad, but
it is not quite a la hauteur that it was, though more
people of a different kind go there than formerly, and
acquaintances are not so easily made now, except, per-
haps, some indifferent ones. However, in recent years

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I made the acquaintance of an English countess and her
daughters in the most casual way there. A well-known
English marchioness created rather a sensation with her
toilettes and her great beauty a few years ago at Fran-
zensbad.

Once I was recommended to go to Franzensbad by
Professor Baron Krafft Ebing, in Vienna, on account of
the air there and to take the steel baths, but not to drink
the waters. I used to take my meals at the Kursaal
of an evening under the trees, listening to the band
playing, with a Croatian lady of the nobility from Vienna
and an English lady. A great many Russian ladies asked
me who that lovely fair Croatian lady was, whom they all
admired so. I introduced the Greek Consul at St. Peters-
burg to her at Franzensbad, and he always conversed
with her in Russian, as it is very similar to the Croatian
language. Lately at Franzensbad the Mayor of Fran-
zensbad, Herr Wiedemann, has got up some " Blumen
feste " of an evening, when there is generally, besides
the throwing of rose leaves at one another (which is
highly amusing at times), a beauty prize given.

A young girl of thirteen from Vienna, whose Christian
name was Mizzi, and who was very fair, with lovely
features, expected to gain the prize. When she had

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"BEAUTIFUL MIZZ1"

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secured a very great number of tickets somebody threw
some roses at her and caused her nose to bleed so severely
that she fainted away and had to be attended by a
doctor, and she was laid up for some days, scarcely being
able to walk. This young girl was always called " Beauti-
ful Mizzi " in Vienna.

I have read so many books about old men and old
women in England, whose adventures and lives have
interested me, but I have often felt if they were a bit
younger I should feel more interest in them, especially
the ladies. Not that I do not admire old ladies, but it is
a different kind of admiration.

Latterly I have always stopped at a house called
Sevilla, which is in the principal street and kept by some
young and pretty nieces of Labitzky, which is very com-
fortable. My doctor at Franzensbad is Dr. Steinschnei-
der, who was recommended to me by Professor Bam-
berger in the first place, and who speaks English like
an Englishman, and seven other languages, Russian
included.

I was at Franzensbad when M. de Giers met Bismarck
there, and saw them both at the time. I dined once at
Holzer's Hotel on the veranda near the Grand Duke
Serge of Russia and the Grand Duchess, and was struck

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with her beauty and very fine features and great resem-
blance to some members of the English Royal Family.
I have also dined at Holzer's at a table near the lovely
Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, who is an English Royal
Princess too. The King of Saxony, the Queen of Sweden,
Stephanie Crown Princess of Austria, Christina Queen
of Spain have been there at the same time as I have.

I can say that I am as well known at Franzensbad as
le loup blanc ; I know everybody there, and every one
knows me, and the more you see of the Austrians the
more one likes them. I only wish I could say the same
of every other nation !

At Franzensbad I made the acquaintance of a Russian
lady who told me that she thought they made boots so
beautifully there that she took back several pairs to
Russia; she was so surprised at their cheapness. This
lady was highly elegant, and bought all her clothes in
Paris, even her soaps and perfumes.

I generally stop at Nuremberg when I go from Fran-
zensbad to Germany, and once I wanted to show the
" Unschuld Brunnen," or Fountain of Innocence, to
some ladies, when I saw a very pretty fair Bavarian girl,
to whom I addressed myself, asking her where the
Unschuld Brunnen was. She blushed crimson and

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replied, " You are standing close to it." She evidently
thought I had asked her wishing to make her acquaint-
ance. This fountain is one of the most beautiful in
Niiremberg, with figures of six young girls in bronze,
from whose bosoms the water pours forth, sparkling like
diamonds in the sun.

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CHAPTER VI

THE SALZKAMMERGUT— THE SEMMERING— AUSSEE—
THE SCENERY— THE AUSTRIAN NOBILITY— ISCHL:
THE HOTELS— DOCTORS' PRESCRIPTIONS— FETES
DES ENFANTS— GMUNDEN— THE GAME OF TOM-
BOLA—AUGUST VON PULSZKY— THE PROCESSION
OF BOATS — THE ARCHDUCHESS ELIZABETH —
SALZBURG

IF a patient requires bracing air, a Viennese doctor
will usually tell him either to go to the Semmering,
or to the Salzkammergut. The former is nearer Vienna,
and it has many drawbacks, such as being exceedingly
dull, and the hotel accommodation is limited. There
are only two hotels at the Semmering, one of which is
a first-rate hotel and the other less comfortable, while
for amusements, if any there be, they take place in the
hotel.

I was recommended a short while ago to go to the
Semmering for a cold on my lungs. The advice was
given to me by the celebrated professor, Doctor Chwo-
steck, the youngest and most renowned professor at the
University in Vienna for chest and nerve troubles.

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The Semmering is very lovely ; the walks are all
more or less mountainous, and in the spring and at
Easter the hotels are usually full of people from Vienna.
The air, which is very cold and exceedingly bracing for
the nerves, is good for lung complaints, when a bracing
air is needed.

The Salzkammergut, on the contrary, offers in the
summer months not only a very bracing air but plenty
of amusement, and there are good hotels and rooms to
be had to suit all tastes. The most bracing place in the
Salzkammergut is undoubtedly Aussee, which lies higher
than all the others. It is one of the quietest places.
The Kurhaus is really little else than one in name. The
one room in the Kurhaus contains at the utmost, on an
average, about a dozen people a day, reading the few
daily papers.

Most of the people staying at Aussee in the summer
months content themselves with reading the papers in
their hotels. I met a writer whom I knew in Vienna,
who had taken the cafe at the Kurhaus at Aussee for the
summer months, and he told me that he had lost money
by the enterprise. The following year he no longer took
the caf6, but tried his luck somewhere else, where there
were more guests.

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The Kur Kapelle, which plays of an afternoon in the
grounds of the Kurhaus at Aussee, is not at all bad —
Austrian bands are never bad, but this one was very
small, and the audience was not numerous. The beauty
of Aussee lies in its vegetation, which is most luxuriant ;
the tiny river, which has an exceedingly strong current,
is extremely pleasing to the eye ; along the banks there
are numerous small trees, and wherever one looks one
sees nothing but verdure.

In the distance there are very fine mountains of the
Austrian Alps covered with snow even in the hot summer
months, the highest being the Dachstein, 9850 feet.
The views from Aussee are really quite lovely, and the
walks perfectly delightful. The hotels, of which Hotel
Hackinger is the principal one, and houses where you
can engage rooms for the summer months are very good
indeed, and the people one meets are mostly distinguished
Austrians.

Of late years Aussee has become quite a fashionable
summer resort among the Austrian nobility, who often
take houses there for the entire summer. The hotels at
Aussee are filled with noble families, and of recent years
more so than ever. Unless one knows Austrian families
at Aussee, one is thrown entirely on the acquaintances

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you happen to make in the hotel you are staying at.
Alt Aussee is even quieter than Aussee, but very lovely ;
there is a water-mill which is excessively picturesque,
and every one drives or walks from Aussee to Alt Aussee,
which is about two or three miles off, in order to see the
charming view of the mountains and this water-mill.
Very few people live at Alt Aussee excepting in villas for
the entire summer. Alt Aussee is much cheaper than
Aussee, which latter is more expensive than most places
in the Salzkammergut.

Notwithstanding Dr. Yorke Davies' advice to the
contrary, I should strongly advise any one desirous of a
very invigorating climate, such as probably he could not
find in England, to try Aussee, but he must expect to be
bored, if he be bent on finding amusement apart from
walking or driving, that is to say, if he remain there all
the summer.

I knew a young Polish girl, who told me she had spent
all the summer months at Aussee, and she was by no means
easily pleased. She loved gaiety, and was very fond of
dancing, but she said that the people were so nice in the
hotel where she stopped that she was quite charmed
with her sojourn there. Other people have told me the
same thing, as the Austrians are very sociable.

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On my way to Ischl once I made the acquaintance
of an elderly lady in the train ; she gave me her card
and asked me to come and see her if I chanced to go near
Gmunden. This lady was the Countess de Bombelles,
lady-in-waiting (Palast Dame) to the Empress of Austria.

In the Salzkammergut there is always a great deal of
rain in summer, which makes some doctors in Vienna
advise their patients to go for good air to Franzensbad,
but the air there is not so invigorating as in the Salzkam-
mergut, yet in the former place there is not nearly so
much rain. The nights at Aussee in summer are often
cold, and in August towards the end of the month the
autumn sets in ; the leaves begin to fall, and at night
it is quite cold enough to endure a fire.

Ischl lies lower than Aussee, and the climate is warmer ;
in the summer months the heat of the sun is sometimes
very great, but there is plenty of shade. Ischl is a
lovely place with trees growing everywhere about the
town, and the views on all sides are wonderfully beauti-
ful. The Kurhaus is a pretty building, rose-coloured
outside, and from the terrace one has quite one of the
finest views imaginable. The mountains that one can
see from the terrace, the Schafberg (6000 feet) among
them, are some of them covered with verdure, while the

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summits in summer are sometimes sprinkled with snow,
which makes them appear more lovely to the eye.

The Kur Kapelle, though better than at Aussee, is not
very good, but still it is pleasant to listen to it while
one takes one's coffee of an afternoon on the fine terrace.
There are generally some exceedingly smart toilettes to
be seen, and also a good many pretty Austrian girls and
women.

Of late years Ischl has become a favourite resort of
the Jews, who are there in great number ; consequently
the aristocracy does not go to Ischl quite so much as it
did formerly. It is true that the Emperor has his villa
there, and goes in the summer months, but His Majesty
keeps very much to himself and to the ladies and gentle-
men of his suite, and is never, I may say, to be seen by
the general public. I have been there constantly while
the Emperor was at Ischl, but I have never seen him there.
I stayed once at the Hotel Goldenes Kreuz, which over-
looks the grounds of the Imperial villa, but I never had
even a glimpse of His Majesty. The Empress when she
resided there was, if possible, still less to be seen. There
is a golden cross on a small island in the river, from which
the hotel derives its name.

The promenade at Ischl is very lovely. It is near

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the charming little river Traun, which has an exceedingly
strong current, and no boats are able to go on it owing
to the rapidity with which it flows. The promenade
is lined with large lime trees all along the tiny river's
banks, and there is a cafe" under the trees on the prom-
enade where people take coffee of an afternoon, and
sometimes the band plays in a kiosk of wooden con-
struction near the cafe*. When this happens, which is
generally twice a week, some very smart toilettes are to
be seen.

I lived once at the Hotel Austria facing the promenade,
and had the room in which the Emperor of Austria's
father slept and died ; the hotel was formerly the
Erzherzog Karl's private house. It was delightful to
hear the river rustling, and the birds singing to the
refrain of the river in the very early morning.

The "Kaiserin Elizabeth" is considered the first hotel;
I have often dined there. It is situated at the entrance
to the promenade near a bridge over the river. The
Emperor William I of Germany stayed there for a week,
paying three hundred pounds a day during his short
stay. The hotel is not very expensive to dine at, though
a little more so than the others, but it is decidedly better
as regards the living.

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When I stayed at the Hotel Austria Prince Alexander
of Bulgaria was stopping there, and he was once serenaded
by the Kur Kapelle in the morning. They are fond of
serenading people at Ischl, for the Kur Kapelle serenaded
me too, at the hotel, shortly afterwards. There are
very lovely drives around Ischl, one to the Schafberg,
and others, and I used at one time to be invited by an
old Russian lady, the sister of Princess Baratow, and her
son with a French lady, to drive out far in the country,
sometimes across very narrow roads with precipices
quite near, too near, indeed, to be pleasant, giving at
times a shock to one's nerves. The walk along the
promenade is very lovely also, and extends for a long
way till one gets to a small wood, where there are seats,
while the river rustles at one's feet.

On the promenade there are a few smart shops, one
of these being that of Krzwaneck, the photographer of the
Imperial Court, whose photographs are truly excellent.
The shops at Ischl are good, but not to be compared
with those at Carlsbad or even Franzensbad. The
principal and only chemist (there is no Hof apotheke)
makes up Austrian and German prescriptions well,
but woe betide any one asking for an English prescription
to be made up ! I suffered from rheumatism and sent

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a prescription by Sir Alfred Garrod to be dispensed.
Thinking it was not the right colour I went myself and
asked the chemist if it was all right, to which he replied
yes. I then begged him to give me a glass. Heanquired
what for, and when I said that it was to drink the medi-
cine in, the man stared at me with amazement, exclaim-
ing, " You want to kill yourself ! " He had mistaken
something in the prescription for opium, and thought
that the mixture was for external use. The best of
it was that he wanted me to pay for this medicine that
would have killed me. Of course I refused to do any
such thing. The theatre at which they give operettas
is good. I went once to see a rehearsal of a ballet given
for the Emperor of Germany, the corps de ballet being
that of the Imperial opera from Vienna. All the dancers
came from Vienna for the occasion.

The apartments are very cheap, but must be taken
for six months, no less time being agreed to, and gener-
ally you have to provide your own servants. English
people (en parenthese I have never seen any at Ischl)
should not be put on " pension " in Austria, excepting
at Meran and Abbazia, but nowhere else, as it is not
usual. An Austrian never takes the " pension," but
always pays for what he has at once, which comes much

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cheaper, as I have found. Formerly I was just as foolish
as most English people, asking to be placed on board,
but I very soon discovered my error. I have lived too
many years in Austria not to know what is really the
best thing to do, for in Vienna I am always considered a
" Wiener."

The saline baths are decidedly good at Ischl, in certain
cases, and contain more salt than sea-water. A German
I know, who had had typhoid fever, quite recovered from
his illness after some baths at Ischl. I have taken the
" Fichten nadel " (pine- wood) baths, which are thought
good for rheumatism and are much recommended.
The fine keen air is enough to cure a great many com-
plaints, however, without the baths, and there is a
deliciously fresh perfume of fir trees almost every-
where.

Some great doctors say that there is more ozone near
rushing water than anywhere else. At Ischl there is a
waterfall near the Kaiserin Elizabeth Hotel, and the
river itself, after rain, is a perfect torrent. It often
overflows its banks. There is good trout to be had and
crawfish at times, and the living there is decidedly good.

The former owner of the Goldenes Kreuz Hotel told
me that he had permission to shoot the " Auerhahn " in

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the woods belonging to the Emperor, but he had to get
up sometimes at three in the morning in order to shoot
these birds, as they are very wily and it is difficult to
approach near enough to kill them. The " Auerhahn "
is delicious to eat with " Preisselbeeren " (cranberries).
There is a good deal of " Reh " (venison) to be had at
Ischl, and it is uncommonly nice and not at all dear.

A fete d'enfants is given once a year, during summer,
in the Kursaal. It is rather amusing to witness it, since
the children dance in various costumes.

I knew a Viennese lady at Ischl who was quite a beauty
in her youth, but she was then near sixty, yet dressed
like a girl of seventeen ; naturally she was very much
made up. She used often to talk to me about London,
where she had lived with her husband. She preferred
London to Vienna, but said she was quite ashamed of
being seen with some English girls in London, for they
were so much painted ; evidently she had learnt the art
there herself. This lady had a great dislike for young
girls of any country, and much preferred young men's
society, as is often the case with elderly ladies.

A young Viennese lady at Ischl was introduced to an
old Roumanian Jew by a young English lady, both of
whom I knew. The Roumanian took a great fancy to

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this young Viennese lady, saying she had such magnifi-
cent black eyes ; in fact, he asserted that he had never
seen such eyes before, and such very long jet-black hair.
The young Viennese lady being told of it exclaimed,
" He's a Jew, and he wouldn't give you as much as a
dinner, even if you were starving, though he says he is
immensely rich."

I saw this Roumanian constantly afterwards at Ischl,
and I soon discovered from his conversation that the
Viennese lady was quite right. Though so rich, he only
considered himself and his family ; other people did not
exist for him, so to say.

Gmunden is delightfully situated on the lake of Gmun-
den, and from the Hotel Belle vue, where I always stopped,
there is the most exquisite view conceivable. The
blue lake seen at midday, with the sun pouring down its
dazzling rays upon it, appears of a golden sapphire-
blue, and the small ships with their white sails moving
through the water give a silvery appearance to the lake.
The tiny boats with men and girls rowing are very
picturesque ; as they dip their oars, the sun shining
brightly upon them, the water from the oars sparkles
like so many diamonds.

Then the houses in a semicircle round the lake are

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white, almost like marble, and the trees on the parade,
lit up by the sun, look with their dark green foliage like
immense emeralds ; one can only see the tops of the
trees from the upper windows of the " Bellevue."

Of an evening the lake, if there is moonlight, appears
as though it were of crystal, and the numerous lights
around it have a reddish appearance like so many rubies.
The mountains opposite the hotel, the " Traunstein," 5500
feet, being the highest, give an enchantment to the view,
which must be really seen to be appreciated. Some-
times the boats on the lake are illuminated with red,
white, blue, green, and yellow lights, which give one
the impression of some fantastic lake seen in one's
dreams. The silence adds to this illusion, as no sounds
of voices are heard at all.

The Kurhaus at Gmunden is a white building with
fine large rooms, but not at all luxuriously fitted up.
The dining-room, where I have constantly dined and
taken supper, is immense, and the dinners are very good.
It is a more favourite place in which to take supper
though, because the band of the Kurhaus plays all the
time, and on Saturdays there is dancing after the supper,
people not having to dress for it.

The dinners and suppers are either d la carte or prix

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fixe, and if there be two people, they are much cheaper
a la carte. One portion is enough for two people usually
throughout Austria, excepting at Meran and Abbazia,
where Italian customs prevail. I mean the table d'hote
system. Every one sits at separate tables at Gmunden,
Ischl, and Aussee, as indeed is generally the fashion
throughout Austria.

Tombola was all the rage at Gmunden some years ago.
On the promenade or in the Kurhaus you were given a
card with various numbers on it, and if you succeeded
in having four numbers in a row, which are called out
" Quattro " by some one in a loud voice, you won a
prize. If you succeeded in having all the numbers on
your card called out, then you won the tombola. Great
was always the excitement when the prizes were fetched.
I won a rather pretty vase, and a lady I knew won several
articles of toilette and an album. The entrance fee was
only about thirty kreutzers, or sixpence, and each card
was purchased. A great number of ladies and gentle-
men of the nobility took part in the contest.

I made some very charming acquaintances at this
tombola. One was that of a young, pretty, fair Austrian
girl, who was a Comtesse Saalburg (the daughter of a
graf is a comtesse in Austria). Her uncle was Statthalter

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of Gmunden, and he was often with the Duke of Cumber-
land, who has his magnificent palais at Gmunden.

The band plays of an afternoon on the promenade
under some fine trees near the lake, where there is an
excellent caf6 ; but the Kur Kapelle is something like
the one at Ischl, very small in number. Still, it is an
agreeable place in which to sip one's coffee while looking
at the lake and watching the people, who are mostly of
the upper classes, with a sprinkling of the nobility among
them. The toilettes are not so fine as at Ischl, but the
people are far more distingue as a rule.

During my first visit I made the acquaintance at the
H6tel Bellevue of Prince Alfred Wrede and his wife, who
had been in England and spoke English very well. At
the hotel were also Princess Gonzaga with her mother,
whom I knew at Vienna, and the Duke of Mignano with
his daughter, Marquise Nunziante, a fair, good-looking
girl of sixteen, friends of the Princess Gonzaga. I dis-
covered, too, a cousin of mine, who was fortunate enough
to travel with two lovely wards of his, one of whom was
Miss Moncrieff, who afterwards married the Marquis of
Bath.

In recent years I made the acquaintance of the cele-
brated August von Pulszky, who was at the " Bellevue "

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PRINCE AND PRINCESS WINDISCHGRAETZ

ARCHDUCHESS ELIZABE'IH (PRINCESS \V1NDISCHGRAETZ)
IN PROCESSION OF BOATS

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with his family. He told me that he had lived for years
in London during the Kossuth rebellion, and was a
member of the Athenaeum Club. Pulszky liked England
and the English very much indeed, and talked English
almost perfectly. He died quite suddenly at his palais in
Budapest a month after I saw him, and was given a
grand funeral. He was one of the greatest of Hungarian
orators and politicians of recent times, and belonged to
the Liberal party.

Once while I was at Gmunden there was a procession
of boats decorated with flowers, every noble house being
represented. The Archduchess Elizabeth, grand-daughter
of the Emperor (now the wife of Prince Windischgraetz),
took part in the procession in a boat with other ladies.
They were dressed in white, and wore white sailor hats ;
the boat was decorated with water-lilies, and looked
most charming. The Duke of Cumberland kad a large
boat gorgeously decorated with flags and poppies. The
Countess Salburg had her boat adorned with red roses,
which was quite a dream of beauty. The theatre was
represented by an enormous boat with the actors and
actresses dressed in costumes used in Wagner's opera
" Lohengrin." A white swan was attached to the boat.
Some young Austrian girls I knew had their boat decor-

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ated with yellow flowers, they themselves being dressed
in yellow. Another boat was entirely covered with
white roses, the lady in it being dressed in a white costume
trimmed with white roses, and her sailor-hat was adorned
in the same manner. The last-mentioned boat gained
the first prize. There were one hundred or more boats
of various kinds and descriptions. In the evening there
were fireworks near the lake, some of these being very
fine indeed. The different colours of the limelight gave
to the lake a marvellous appearance, as this light was
let off on boats in the centre of the lake, which assumed
the different colours of a kaleidoscope. Above the lake
the stars glittered and shone as if they wished to excel
the lights on the waters in their brightness and beauty.

There is a very charming walk at Gmunden. You
have to pass through the town and to walk over a large
wooden bridge near a waterfall on to a narrow path by
the side of very steep hills covered with large trees. On
your right hand is the river Traun, flowing very rapidly,
and on the opposite bank are fine woods, which reminded
me of Cliveden Woods, the prettiest portion of the
Thames, where the Duke of Sutherland formerly re-
sided.

But at Gmunden the beauty of the tout ensemble is on

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a far lovelier scale, though it is smaller, and the river is
narrower and too rapid for boats to venture on it. One
can walk on this path along the river for miles, across
bridges at times. There is one large bridge of iron con-
struction, very high up, which leads to a delightful
restaurant in the woods on the right bank of the river,
but any one suffering from giddiness would scarcely
venture there. I generally kept on the left bank ; the
walk is more picturesque, and on mounting a path one
can have a delightful view of the town of Gmunden in
the distance, and return home by a road for carriages.

Often during my last stay at Gmunden I used to take
this walk with a young English lady and a lieutenant
of the I5th Hungarian Hussars, and sometimes with the
young Austrian lady with the very black, fascinating
eyes, whom the Roumanian admired so much at Ischl.

During my last sojourn I often went on the lake with
this young English lady and the Hungarian lieutenant.
We used to get out at one of the lovely places where the
steamboat stops, generally at one of the nearest villages
on the opposite side of the river from Gmunden, and
take our coffee in a garden. At the back was a swing on
which some young Austrian girls would be swinging, and
filling the air with their melodiously ringing voices.

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Afterwards, to walk home along the lake was a tolerably
long walk, but a delightful one.

There is a very picturesquely situated hotel at Gmunden
which nearly faces the Hotel Bellevue, but you have to
take a ferryboat to get there from the promenade. I
dined at this hotel once with the young Austrian girl
with the black, fascinating eyes, and dined extremely
well too.

It is much the fashion to take the steamer after lunch
at two o'clock and go to the end of the lake. I did this
sometimes with the young English lady who had fine
blue eyes, but of not quite so deep a blue as the lake.
We returned about eight or nine o'clock in the evening
by the steamboat.

We often stopped on the same side of the lake as the
Hotel Bellevue, at various charming places such as
Traunstein. Some of these small places reminded me,
to a certain extent, of Ventnor, on the road to Bonchurch,
in their exquisite beauty. Everything was so green,
and there was hardly a spot which was without luxuriant
vegetation of some kind or other. The steamers were
generally filled with acquaintances of ours from the
Hotel Bellevue, or with mutual friends from Vienna,
consequently it was always pleasant on the lake. The

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journey takes about one hour, including the various
stoppings en route, but with friends one is never bored
for an instant, and there is always the magnificent
scenery. I have at times seen English tourists with
guide-books in their hands. I often wonder whether
they are thinking that they can improve upon them
by writing something better.

Sometimes I walked with the fair English lady on the
heights of Gmunden, and was lucky enough one day to
find a four-leaved clover, which brought me good luck
for the year. I must go to Gmunden again with the
same fair lady, and perhaps I may succeed in finding
another four-leaved clover.

The theatre at Gmunden is perhaps not quite so good
as at Ischl, but some interesting comedies are given,
while at Ischl operettas are performed. There is a
conditorei at Gmunden near the promenade, where very
swell people go for afternoon tea. The band plays on
the promenade from eleven till one o'clock, and all the
monde elegant is to be seen there, more even than of
an afternoon, walking or sitting at small tables, taking
what the Austrians call a second breakfast, usually
taken at eleven o'clock.

The late ex-Queen of Hanover used formerly to live

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at Gmunden, and her son, the Duke of Cumberland,
now resides in his fine palace during the greater part
of the year. I can remember the younger son of the
Duke of Cumberland, a boy of fourteen, dying from
swallowing a cherry stone. The funeral took place
from the Hotel Bellevue, and all the guests were in
full uniform, the funeral being a very grand one. Some
of the archdukes of Austria attended also in uniform,
and the hotel was crowded with officers from all parts
of Germany and Austria.

Gmunden was recommended to me as being a much
drier place than Ischl, and better for nervous complaints
and rheumatism in the summer months. The air is
very invigorating and bracing. There is a pleasant
walk towards Traunstein on the level road, to which
I often went with this English lady ; its pretty lanes
reminded me of the scenery in Devonshire and Somerset,
though the lake and the high mountains naturally
made this walk very much prettier.

I prefer the Salzkammergut to Switzerland, though
the latter is on a far larger scale. It is like comparing
a large public garden similar to the one at Versailles
with the private garden of some nobleman, which may
be quite as fine in its small way, though not so grand,

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and contains roses which are far sweeter in their per-
fume than the ones at Versailles.

Salzburg, though not in the Salzkammergut, is one
of the five loveliest towns in Europe. I always
stay at the Hotel Oesterreichischer Hof, which used
to have a charming veranda looking out on the
river, but now it has not, unfortunately for every one
there.

Mozart's summer-house, at the top of a very high hill
near the Capuzinerberg, is worthy to be seen, and close
to the station is a fine statue in marble of the late Em-
press of Austria. I always go to listen to the very
beautifully toned Glockenspiel that plays most delight-
ful airs. They are changed every week and only play
at a certain hour in the morning in a tower on the palace
of the Grand Duke of Toskana.

The shops are good at Salzburg. The town is ex-
tremely white and clean-looking, and has a beautiful
aspect, being situated on the river Salzach. The public
gardens are good, and I have heard a fine Austrian
military band play there during supper- time. The
Gardens of Mirabelle are also very pleasant. One can
dine at a restaurant and the dinners are uncommonly
good, as is the case everywhere in the Salzkammergut.

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" Apfel Strudel " and " Salzburger Knockeln " are
well-known Salzburg dishes.

There are delightful drives around Salzburg, but it
is not a place to stay at for any time, as there are no
furnished apartments to be had, merely hotels and
good caf6s, one being near the " Oesterreichischer Hof,"
where almost all the foreign and Austrian papers are
taken. Salzburg is cheaper than the Salzkammergut,
but the people in the hotels are mostly tourists and
uninteresting.

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CHAPTER VII

THE DANUBE — WURTEMBERG CATHEDRAL — THE
MARRIAGE OF ALBERT OF BAVARIA— LEGENDS-
OTTO VON WITTELSBACH— A MEDIEVAL MIRACLE
—THE PASSAU CHARM — THE DEVIL AND THE
TAILOR— FRAU BERNHARDT— ROBBER CHIEFS— A
POLISH BEAUTY

IN this chapter and the following one I purpose to
depart in some degree from my general practice, and
to intersperse, among my recollections, descriptions of
some of the curious old castles and towns on the Danube,
and the quaint legends associated with them, that have
come down from the Dark Ages.

The Danube is the largest river in Europe next to
the Volga. It is about two thousand miles in length,
traverses part of South Germany, Austria, Hungary,
Servia, Bulgaria and Roumania, and flows into the
Black Sea. The basin of the Danube comprises a
territory of nearly three hundred thousand square
miles.

The Black Forest and the Carpathian Mountains are

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on the north, and the Alps and the range of the Balkans
on the south. The Danube is formed by the union at
Donaueschingen of the Brigach and the Brege, two
mountain streams from the Black Forest. After pass-
ing north-east through Wiirtemberg and a part of
Bavaria to Regensburg, the Danube turns to the south-
east, and maintains that direction till it approaches Linz
in Austria. At Ulm, at a height of fourteen hundred
feet above the sea, it is navigable for boats of one hundred
tons.

From Donauworth to Passau the Danube crosses the
Bavarian country. At Passau the river is eight hundred
feet above the level of the sea, and at Vienna four hun-
dred and fifty feet. In 1830 the first steamboat between
Vienna and Pesth was organized by Count Szechenyi.
From Pressburg the Danube flows south-east ; after-
wards it runs east to Waitzen.

At Waitzen the river turns south and flows through
the greater plain of Hungary. Passing Orsova, Kalafat,
and Sistova, it takes a northerly direction to Rassova,
then turns to Galatz, and finally extends eastwards to
the Black Sea.

Donaueschingen is in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and
the most interesting object there is the Schloss, which

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is a fine building. The gardens attached to it, called
" die Alleen," contain many exotic plants. The view
of Donaueschingen, where the Danube makes its first
appearance, in the court of the Schloss, is highly pic-
turesque ; and Sigmaringen occupies a delightful posi-
tion. The bridge is a fine structure, consisting of six
elliptic arches. The Schloss is the property of the family
of Prinz Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Only along the
right bank of the Danube is the soil fertile and the
scenery at all picturesque.

Then we come to Tuttlingen, on the right bank,
which is also in a very fine position, and a grand view
can be obtained from the heights of Engen. The Alps
covered with snow, the frontier mountains of Tyrol, the
lake of Constance, and the ruined castles of Hohentrocil
and Hohenkraken can be seen in the distance. Tutt-
lingen is in Wurtemberg, and on the road to Schaffhausen,
through the Black Forest.

The old castle of Homberg at Tuttlingen, which forms
an interesting feature in the general view, is a relic of
the feudal ages. In the Thirty Years' War its towers
were dismantled, and it is still a ruin.

Rauhenstein is picturesquely situated on the heights
in the old Schloss, which formerly was inhabited by a

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robber chief, who had a thousand men under his com-
mand. The Schloss has been partly repaired in more
modern times.

Ulm, in Wurtemberg, is celebrated chiefly for its
cathedral, which is one of the finest in Germany. The
cathedral was finished in 1890, the first architect being
Mattaus Ensinger, who displayed wonderful skill in con-
structing this imposing structure. The view from the
tower commands the course of the Danube, the Wurtem-
berg Alps, and the battlefield of Blenheim, the scene of
Marlborough's victory. The height of the tower is over
five hundred feet, and it is said to be the loftiest stone
tower in the world. The width of the cathedral is greater
than that of any other in Germany. The stained-glass
windows are magnificent, and when the sun shines
through them the effect produced upon one by the
various colours, the choir of boys in their white robes,
and the fine singing of Mozart's " Agnus Dei " by a
woman in the organ loft, is very beautiful ; the swing-
ing of gold vessels containing frankincense by the
boys in their white robes tends to complete the
picture.

The Danube has a breadth of two hundred feet at
Ulm, and its depth is sufficient for all requirements of

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navigation. The bridge is a fine structure, and com-
prises four arches. The current of the river is so strong
and rapid that boats can only ascend the stream by
means of steam. Donauworth occupies the left bank of
the river and is close to Blenheim, but the place is of
little interest.

On leaving Blenheim we come to Neuburg, which is
admirably situated. The chief ornament of the place
is the Schloss of the ancient Dukes of Bavaria, a struc-
ture of the feudal age. The gardens, or " Hofgarten,"
are well laid out in modern style. The Schloss contains
a large hall, which is one of the finest in Germany. The
best view is that from the battlements of the castle ;
the towers command the country around. About four
miles from Neuburg is a castle, a remnant of the feudal
ages, crowning an isolated rock, and commanding a fine
view of the surrounding district. It is a complete ruin,
and is called the Schloss Hiiting.

Ingolstadt was the seat of a university, and is still
remarkable for the beauty of its buildings and streets.
The Kreuz Thor, surmounted by pointed turrets, is ex-
ceedingly picturesque in its appearance. The university
of Ingolstadt flourished in the last century, and is now
transferred to Munich. The castle of Vohenburg is a

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striking feature in the landscape. The marriage of Agnes
Bernauer to Albert, son of the Duke Ernst of Bavaria,
was solemnized in this castle. The secret, however, was
soon let out. The Duke issued a proclamation that a
tournament was to be held within his castle on a certain
day, and invited knights to break a spear on the occa-
sion in honour of their lady loves. On the morning of
the fete only one was denied admittance, and this was
Albert, on account of his marriage with the daughter
of a citizen. Exasperated at this, Albert proclaimed his
marriage to every one. The Duke became so enraged
that he sent Albert to the frontier. Agnes was seized
and dragged before a tribunal, accused of witchcraft,
and condemned to death. She was taken to the bridge
of Straubing and thrown into the Danube. She was
carried along the stream till she reached a bank where
some willows were growing. She had broken the cords
which bound her wrists, and would have escaped had
not a man twisted a spear into her locks, forced her
back into the river, and accomplished the murder.
Albert, on hearing of the death of Agnes, joined the
army of Louis Barbatus, the enemy of the Duke of
Bavaria. Albert fought against his father's army for
some time, but died at an early age.

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About six miles from Neuburg is another ruined
castle, which occupies a precipice and is called the
castle of Walheim. Neustadt, a small town, well situ-
ated on the Danube, offers some fine scenery. One of
the most extraordinary works of art which the Romans
have left behind is the Devil's Wall, or Pfahlgraben, a
ditch and wall planted with watch towers, from which
the town of Hohenheim on the Rhine can be seen. The
Benedictine monastery of Weltenberg next comes to
view. This part of the river is so hemmed in by preci-
pices, which rise from the water's edge to about five or
six hundred feet, that at several points they appear as
if they would meet, and give the Danube the look of a
canal.

On an open space between the river and the preci-
pices stand the ruins of the abbey. This ruin has a
singularly melancholy appearance, with the perpetual
rushing of the waters, being quite isolated from other
buildings of any sort. The abbey of Weltenberg was
converted into a " Bier halle." The Altmuhlthal re-
sembles some parts of the Rhine. The remains of castles
occupy most of the surrounding heights, and produce a
striking effect. The castles of Braun and Raudeck are
the principal ones.

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The Danube unites here with the Main by means
of a canal from Wiirzburg. Kelheim, a small town
on the right bank, leads by a large road to Regens-
burg. Abach was the court residence of the old
Dukes of Bavaria. Henry the Second was born within
its walls.

The next place of importance is Oberndorf, where
Otto von Wittelsbach attempted to hide after he assas-
sinated the Emperor. He was discovered, however,
dragged from his hiding-place, and killed on the spot.
Heinrich von Kalatin inflicted the punishment with his
own hand. The head of Wittelsbach was afterwards cut
from his body and cast into the Danube, and it is said
that it refused to move. It continued to gnash its teeth
and to fix its eyes on the spectators with a threatening
look. The friar of Ebrach alone could withstand it.
He held a black cross in his hand, a cross which had
been brought by an eagle from Mount Calvary, and
while every one else was in absolute consternation he
mounted the river's banks and addressed the floating
head in these words : " Dus. milabundus, Dom. infernis,
presto diabolorum," whereupon the head whirled round,
shook its locks, and sank to the bottom of the Danube.
The people fell on their knees at this miracle. It is said

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that the following day and night blue flames were ob-
served issuing from the pool where the head had last
appeared. The friar fixed the cross on a bank near the
pool for seven days, when the flames entirely vanished.
The people after this crowded to Mass, loading the
altar with their gifts. The rock upon which Otto
von Wittelsbach's bones lay is still called the Murder
Stone.

The approach to Regensburg is very striking and the
scenery exceedingly picturesque. Regensburg owes its
name to the river Regen, which unites with the Danube
at Regensburg. In 1196 Richard Cceur de Lion was sent
prisoner to the Emperor Henry VI, by whom he was
given up to his sworn enemy and captor, Leopold Duke
of Austria. The buildings are lofty massive structures
at Regensburg. The Courts of Justice contain a torture
chamber, which was used when the Vehm Gericht was
in full vigour. There is a low dungeon in which there is
no daylight, and the only air that enters proceeds from
a dark passage through a small grating in the door.
There is also a well about ten feet deep with no other
entrance but a trap-door, and it is like a tomb. The
torture chamber lies under the Hall of Diet.

The Town Hall, or Rathhaus, has a Gothic portal,
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rather finely executed. The cathedral is of the thirteenth
century, and contains very gorgeous windows of stained
glass given by a king of Bavaria. On one of the towers
is the statue of a man in the act of throwing himself
from the summit. It is said to represent the architect,
who, having lost a bet with a builder as to when the
cathedral would be finished, committed suicide in a fit
of despair. In one of the side chapels is an effigy of St.
John von Nepomuc, confessor of the Queen of Bohemia,
who, refusing to divulge the secrets of the confessional
to her husband (Wenceslaus), was thrown into prison,
tortured, and cast from the bridge of Prague into the
Moldau, where he perished.

The Abbey of St. Emmeran is now the residence of
the reigning Prince of Thurn and Taxis. This abbey
was founded by Theodo the Fourth, and enlarged by
Charlemagne. It possessed at one time an altar of solid
gold, and in the " sacristie " were the silver shrines of
St. Emmeran and St. Wolfgang.

There is a monastery of St. James at Regensburg,
.where young Scotchmen are educated for the priest-
hood, and they were at one time attached to the interests
of the Stuarts. The way in which they speak English
is very strange, and difficult to understand.

130

MDLLE. PIERSON

MDLLE. MASSIN

MDLLE. BIANCA

MDLLE. PASCA

FOUR FAVOURITES FROM THE THEATRE GYMNASE

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The old bridge at Regensburg dates from the thir-
teenth century. It was of such a heavy appearance and
lasted so long that people said the architect who con-
structed it must have been the devil. During his work
the devil was much annoyed by two cocks and a dog,
the images of which were on the balustrade. The bridge
had fifteen arches, and was one thousand and ninety-
one feet in length. Of the three principal old bridges of
Austria and Germany, it was said that the bridge of
Dresden was the most elegant, that of Prague the longest,
and the bridge of Regensburg the strongest, as it was
made by the devil. Formerly it was customary at a
peasant's wedding for the best man to box the bride-
groom's ears after the ceremony to remind him to be
constant to his wife.

The architect of the old bridge had a bet with the
architect of the cathedral that the former construction
would be finished long before the latter, but seeing that
he was likely to lose his bet, he wished that the devil
would take the bridge. A poor friar appeared and
offered to carry out the work. The architect, however,
saw by his cloven hoof that he was the devil, whereupon
he made a bargain with him that the first three souls
that crossed the bridge should belong to him. When

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the bridge was constructed the architect let a wolf dog,
a cock, and a hen cross it first of all, thus cheating the
devil ; and the architect caused the figures of a dog,
cock, and hen to be carved on the bridge on account of
this event.

A certain bishop, Albrecht of Regensburg, was fond
of fleecing his flock and robbing those who approached
his castle of DonaustaufL The Bishop heard that the
daughter of Duke Albert of Saxony would pass that
way. The Bishop seized the Princess and forty of her
attendants, and made them prisoners. King Conrad
caused the Bishop to deliver them up, but the latter
endeavoured afterwards to murder the King. The
Bishop's vassal, Hohenfels, entered the Abbey of St.
Emmeran, where the King lived, penetrated into the
royal chamber, and stabbed the sleeper in the heart.
Then the Bishop proclaimed that the King was dead.
But a devoted servant of the King, who had exchanged
clothes with his Majesty, suspecting some evil inten-
tion of the Bishop, had been killed instead. When the
truth was known the Bishop fled, but the abbot of St.
Emmeran was flung into chains, and the abbey was
plundered by the King's soldiers. The Pope sided
with the Bishop and excommunicated King Conrad ;

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the murderer Hohenfels was killed by a thunderbolt
later on.

I went to Regensburg some years ago with the sister
of the Oberforstrath of the reigning Prince of Thurn
and Taxis. She was a young lady resembling Queen
Victoria Eugenie of Spain in her fair beauty, with small,
regular features, blue eyes, and golden hair. This lady
lived on a property of the Prinz zu Thurn und Taxis,
near Pardubitz in Bohemia, which her uncle, a retired
Austrian major, managed for the Prince, who is the
wealthiest of German princes.

The appointment of Forstrath in Germany is a state
appointment, and is paid at the rate of six hundred to
one thousand pounds a year, and is usually held by
retired officers. It is a pity that our Government does
not act so liberally towards retired officers. The young
lady's father held the same appointment to the reigning
Prince as that which her brother now holds at Regens-
burg. She spoke the Czech language perfectly, which
is a very rare thing with a German, on account of
its difficulty of pronunciation. The Princess of Thurn
and Taxis was an elder sister of the Empress of
Austria.

On leaving Regensburg the next important place is

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Donaustauf, with its ancient castle and the temple of
Walhalla. The town is of little interest except for its
beauty of situation. The old castle was the residence
of the Prince-Bishops of Regensburg. The gardens are
kept in perfect order by the Prince of Thurn and Taxis,
who has his beautiful summer residence here. The
Walhalla is built on a series of terraces, and on the
highest, facing the river, stand the Doric columns of
the temple. The interior corresponds with the grandeur
of the exterior. In the centre is a statue of the King
of Bavaria who founded it, and round the walls are
niches for busts of celebrated men. There is a chamber
called " Halle der Erwartung," where busts of living
celebrities are admitted. The roof of this temple is of
wrought iron, lined with brass plates, painted after the
ancient Etruscan fashion, and richly gilded

Schloss Worth, the occasional residence of the Prince
of Thurn and Taxis, which was formerly a bishop's
palace, is the next object that arrests attention. Like
most of the palaces and castles, it has been bought and
sold, pledged and redeemed, many times. Nearly oppo-
site Worth, on the right bank of the Danube, is a small
town, Pf iitter. Worth is very pretty with its white
summer-houses, vineyards, gardens, and orchards, and

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is a pleasant place during the hot weather. There is an
image of the Virgin Mary in a church here which is
said to have been brought there on the wings of angels
from a neighbouring chapel.

Straubing has an interesting town hall which has a
tower two hundred feet high surmounted by a tin spire
with four smaller pinnacles at the corners. Its erection
was in 1208. In the churchyard is a small chapel having
a red marble tablet with an inscription to the memory
of Agnes Bernauer, who is the subject of a popular

ballad:—

Es reiten drei Reiter zu Miinchen heraus,
Sie reiten wohl von der Bernauer ihr Haus,
Bernauerin, bist du drinnen ?
Ja drinnen ?

Next we come to the Benedictine monastery of Ober
Altaich, which is close upon the river. The round castle
of Bogenberg is on the left bank. The last robber chief
who inhabited this castle was converted through a
statue of the Virgin, and it is said that he abandoned
his wicked life, discharged his bandits, and gave his
money to the Church. The church, owing to this statue,
was a favourite place of pilgrimage, and even crowned
heads offered gifts to the Virgin of Bogen.

Metten, on the same side of the river, belonged to the

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Benedictine monks, and dates from the reign of Charle-
magne. The monarch is said to have met a hermit in
the neighbourhood, who erected a small oratory there
in honour of the Archangel Michael. When surprised
by the King while he was cutting wood, the hermit
suspended his hatchet on a sunbeam. The King asked
the holy man to name a request, whereupon the
latter suggested that a monastery would look well
there ; and the King laid the first stone of Kloster
Metten.

The town of Deggendorf is situated in a rich and
lovely valley, through the centre of which the river
rushes. Pilgrims flock to Deggendorf on St. Michael's
eve, when absolution is granted to all comers, uTmemory
of a miracle that happened in 1337. The host was in-
sulted by some Jews, who brought the wafer and scratched
it with thorns till it bled. The image of a child appeared,
and they tried to cram it down their throats, but were
prevented by the vision of the Child ; then they flung
it into a well, which was surrounded by a radiant glory.
Pope Innocent VIII, in 1489, issued his Bull for the
general absolution.

Not far from Deggendorf the river Iser joins the
Danube. The nunnery at Osterhofen, Winzer Castle,

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and Hofkirchen now attract one's attention. Hofkirchen
was a stronghold of robber chiefs, who plundered the
vessels that came their way. After Vilshofen, which
is picturesquely situated, the scenery becomes more and
more interesting. The river becomes gradually narrower,
till the rocks on either side rise almost perpendicularly
from the water, which now has the appearance of a rapid
torrent filled with foam while it rolls onwards in its
course.

When the Crusaders were descending the river, on
their way to rescue the Holy Land from its oppressors,
the devil was so enraged that he plucked up rocks from
the cliffs and threw them into the river, trying to pre-
vent the Crusaders' progress. But every man made the
sign of the cross, and the devil crept away. So immense
was the first stone he threw that for ages it caused the
river to swell in this part. Austrian and Bavarian
engineers were able finally to mitigate this to a certain
extent.

Passau is the frontier town of Austria between Bavaria
and Lower Austria. This town is remarkable for the
beauty of its scenery. From the castle of the Oberhaus,
commanding the whole town, the bridges, the Dom, the
view is very imposing. Passau in point of situation has

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often been compared with Coblentz, but the former town
is more picturesquely situated.

There was a famous spell called the " Passau charm "
during the Thirty Years' War, by which warriors secured
themselves by swallowing a piece of paper on which was
written the sentence : " Teufel hilf mir ; Liebe und
Seele geb ich dir " (Devil help me ; body and soul I give
thee). The spell did not operate, however, till the
following day ; and he who swallowed it, and died be-
fore the expiration of that period, was supposed to go
to the devil.

Almost the entire way from Vilshofen the exterior of
the houses along the Danube reminds one of the houses
round Salzburg. The cathedral is on the promenade,
and in front of it is a statue of King Max of Bavaria.
There used to be a convent for English girls at Passau,
but I know not whether it is still in existence.

Hals Castle is near Passau, on the Ilz, and there is a
legend attached to the castle. Rudolph of Habsburg
and Luitprundt went to fight the Turk in the Holy
Land and were both killed. When the lady of the castle
of Hals heard this news she drooped like a flower, and
died the following day. The view of the Inn joining the
Danube is exceedingly beautiful at Passau. Between

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the two rivers lies Passau, like an island ; the rivers are
about two thousand feet in width at this point. When
I arrive at Passau from Germany it is always with a
feeling of delight, but when I pass it on my way out of
Austria it is almost always with a feeling of sadness
and regret.

From Passau the Danube continues for a mile through
a narrow level country, and then the mountains on both
sides approach nearer together. On the right bank one
notices Krsempenstein with its ruined castle, situated on
high rocks, and a quarter of a mile beyond the village of
Pirschwang. The river becomes deeper and more rapid.
Then conies the Jochenstein, a rock projecting from the
Danube. This rock bears an obelisk with the arms of
Austria and Bavaria. The river now approaches Engel-
hardzell. The banks continue high, and are moun-
tainous and rocky, with trees, while the precipices form
high walls.

At Aschbach the steep granite mountains and rocky
precipices gradually draw back, and the river enters the
level valley of Feldkirchen. There is quite a number of
islands, sands, and shallow places in this part. Below
Aschbach the river is three hundred and forty fathoms
wide and two fathoms deep; but from Schudern to the

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Geisau it has a width of one thousand fathoms and a
depth of eleven feet ; and near Kattenstein it is one
hundred fathoms broad.

The Danube is divided, then, into many arms, with
a multitude of small islands covered with quite a pro-
fusion of willows. Near Ottensheim the river measures
at some points six thousand feet in width, at others ten
thousand. One of the most striking objects from Passau
to Linz is the Schloss Kraempenstein. It stands on a
rocky precipice with a forest in the background. The
scenery is highly picturesque. The castle was formerly
a residence of the Prince-Bishops of Passau. This castle
is called Schneiderschossel in the district, from its con-
nection with a tailor, who in attempting to throw a
dead goat over a precipice lost his balance and fell from
the rocks. His body was carried down the current in
the presence of his patron, for whom he had been making
a suit of clothes. Afterwards it was found that the goat
was none other than the devil. He had assumed the
appearance of a dead goat to entrap the poor tailor,
who did not throw the animal into the river, but was
himself thrown from the battlements. The goat was
seen within a few minutes after the catastrophe, half
running, half flying up the steep rocks. The incident

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was told to the Bishop, who shook his head three times,
and, making a sign of the cross, ordered holy water to
be sprinkled over the precipice, and the goat was no
longer seen. But early in the morning, when the clothes
were measured for the bishop, it was discovered that the
crafty "Schneider" (tailor) had stolen at least a third
of the material. Every one was amazed, but now all
was explained satisfactorily : the devil had carried
off the tailor in the midst of his villainy. Tailors
have become strictly honest in Austria since those
days.

The Jochenstein is an isolated rock in the middle of
the Danube, and has the arms of Bavaria and Austria
engraved on it. This rock formerly marked the boundary
line between Austria and Bavaria. There is a small
building upon it something like a chapel. Engelhardzell,
which has become the hunting seat of Prince Wrede,
was celebrated for its convent. I have often had the
pleasure of meeting the Prince in Austria, though he is
a Bavarian prince. The convent used to be called
" Cella Angelorum," or Church of the Angels. Nearly
opposite to this is the ancient tower of Ried, a former
boundary line between Austria and Bavaria.

Rana Riedl, on the left bank of the river, is one of

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the few castles inhabited now; it has a turreted roof,
and improves the landscape. At the summit of a pro-
montory, at the base of which the Danube roars like a
cataract, are the ruins of Kirschbaum. Opposite this
promontory is the mill of Schlagen, leading to Aschbach,
which is nearer by road than by river.

The Danube is now half its previous width, and is
shut in by wooded mountains like precipices, from five
hundred to one thousand feet in height. The river
turns and twists in every direction for the next fifteen
miles. The current is fearfully rapid, forming whirl-
pools. This part of the Danube is beautiful beyond
description, what with the stupendous precipices tower-
ing above one and the rushing of the waters, which are
of a lovely greenish blue mixed with the pearly white
of the foam.

The next object of interest is the Castle or Palace
Neuhaus belonging to the family of Schaumburg. It is
an imposing building, and all the land about belongs
to the castle. Aschach on the opposite bank, with its
Schloss and lofty tower, improves the landscape con-
siderably. In the background among pine forests are
the towers of Schaumburg. The domains of the Counts
of Schaumburg extended beyond Linz, in fact, nearly

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over the whole valley of the Danube between this and
Passau. This magnificent ruin now belongs to Prince
Stahrenberg, who is in the Arciren Guard regiment of
Austria, similar to the English Life Guards. The
Danube has numerous woody islands here, which im-
prove the scenery. The convent of Wilhering, formerly
a Benedictine convent, is on the right bank, at the foot
of the Kirnberg. The whole of the district as far as
Linz is richly wooded, and in several points highly
romantic.

The Danube now skirts the Zauberthal, a valley of
immense beauty, and on the right bank, as one ap-
proaches near Linz, there are cottages, gardens, summer-
houses, fitted up in the most luxurious and elegant
style. In holiday times the inhabitants of Linz go
there in great numbers to enjoy the country and to
pass the time away from their business.

The most striking point is the Kalvarienberg, or
Mount Calvary, the rocky pinnacle of which is sur-
mounted by an enormous crucifix. At the base are
small chapels and villas, picturesquely situated.

Soon after passing this romantic part of the river,
one comes to Linz, where the fairy-like bridge makes
one fancy that the broad expanse of the Danube is

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chained by gossamer, and that the people coming there
are but spiders on their way, or perhaps flies attracted
by the spider's web.

Linz was a fortified town in 1098, and in 1106 a bridge
was erected. Richard Cceur de Lion was entertained
at the castle at Linz on his return from Diirrenstein.
There is a great number of fortified towers, which
command the heights to the extent of nearly a league.
The fortifications are of comparatively recent date,
accomplished under Prince Max of Este, who had bas-
tions and isolated forts erected, somewhat similar to
those of Coblentz on the Rhine. There are thirty towers
around Linz, and communication between them by
covered ways. Every tower is of itself a fortress.

The public buildings of Linz are not very important,
the most noticeable being the Landhaus, formerly a
monastery, which now is the house of justice. The
great market-place is one of the finest squares in Austria.
The church of St. Matthias is the most important one.
The Trinity column in the centre of the market-place
is another object of interest, and was erected as
a votive monument out of gratitude for deliverance
from the plague and the Turks. Die heilige Dreieinig-
keit consists of the statues of Jupiter, Neptune,

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and the Christian God. The bridge which crossed
the Danube and formed so beautiful a feature in the
landscape was built about the end of the fifteenth cen-
tury. The new bridge of iron construction, which was
built in 1872, is seven hundred feet in length and com-
mands a very beautiful view. A far finer view can be
had, however, across the river, near the tower, from
which the country around can be seen. Close to the
bridge there are two railroads, one to Budweis and the
other to Wels. There is another line leading to Ischl
and Gmunden of more recent date.

Linz has been celebrated for the beauty of its women
for a long time. I happened to know a Linzerin in
Vienna, who a celebrated Hofschaurspieler at the
Burg Theatre, Herr von Ernst, said was the most lovely
woman he had ever seen in his life. He had been in
London with the company of the Burg Theatre, but
still admired this Linzerin more than any beauties he had
seen in London. This particular lady, " Frau Bern-
hardt," was tall with a very fine figure, and had blue
eyes with dark brown hair, and a somewhat retrousse
nose with a glorious complexion and a pretty mouth
and lovely teeth. When she smiled it had almost the
same effect upon one as the sun's rays have when they
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suddenly appear on a hopelessly wet day. She always
reminded me of Bertha Linda, the famous danseuse of
the Vienna opera, who married the well-known painter,
Makart, and after his death became a countess by her
marriage.

On the right of Linz the landscape assumes a new
aspect, the green meadows and pasture lands extend
as far as one can see. On the opposite bank the scenery
is more like the Alps. There are mountains, woods,
and small towns and villages. Numerous islands richly
wooded divide the stream into separate channels, and
add much to the beauty of the landscape.

I always stop at the Hotel Erzherzog Karl, the prin-
cipal hotel at Linz, which is quite close to the landing-
place of the steamers, and commands a delightful view
on the Danube from the rooms above. The last time
I was at Linz a Russian circus attracted much atten-
tion there ; I went to it, but it was no different from
any other.

I stayed several days at Linz on this occasion, going
to Ischl by train one day and returning to Linz in the
evening. I took the steamer down the Danube to
Vienna, starting in the morning at eight o'clock. It
is due to arrive at the latter place about seven in the

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evening, though constantly the steamer is late, as it
was on this occasion.

We arrived at about ten o'clock. The delay was
due to the tide, as one has to change steamboats on
entering the small river Wien, near Vienna. The large
steamers cannot enter the harbour of Vienna owing
to the shallowness of the water. However, we made
acquaintances of some Austrian cavalry officers on board
the large steamboat, so the time passed very pleasantly.
I was accompanied by an English lady and a little girl
of eight years old, who speaking only English and French
wondered what gibberish, as she called it, we were
talking.

The first town on the right of note is Traun, where a
tributary, the Traun, pours its waters into the Danube.
On the left we pass the castle of Steyereck, a massive
building. Villages close to the water's edge, and
churches up on high, or some castle, are the chief objects
which appear, as we descend towards Enns.

The old town of Enns, with its lofty tower and
spires, is on the right bank. It is a Roman construc-
tion, and dates from Marcellinus' time. The walls
of Enns were said to be built by Leopold out of the
ransom paid for Richard Cceur de Lion. Nearly op-

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posite Enns stands the ancient castle of Spielberg,
now a ruin. The river at this point increases to a rapid,
and requires much skill and precaution for small boats.
Before Spielberg comes the castle of Tillysberg and
monastery of St. Florian, both being of interest. The
former named after Marshal Tilly, to whom the Emperor
presented it. Marshal Tilly boasted before the battle
of Leipzig of three things, that he had never been in
love, never been drunk, and had never lost a battle.

St. Florian, the fire-extinguishing saint, was thrown
into the river with a stone tied round his neck. The
monastery stands on a commanding eminence ; it has
a splendid organ. Nieder Waldsee, on the right, with
its Schloss and lofty tower, is a modern structure nicely
situated.

Greinberg, covering a rocky eminence, was built by
Heinrich von Chreime and dates from the twelfth cen-
tury. Below Grein commences the rapid called " Greiner
schwall," where the river, walled in by precipices, is
terribly agitated, making a deafening noise. This
defile leads to the Strudel and Wirbel, the most dan-
gerous and the loveliest part of the whole river. The
scenery is really quite sublime in its intense beauty.
The Strudel was very dangerous in former days, but

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now large steamers pass it without difficulty. The
colour of the water is changed ; it is filled with foam
and agitated like boiling water. In the centre of the
river there stands an immense rock with a tower, on
the summit of which is an enormous cross ; in olden
times boatmen offered up a prayer there ; but now
the danger has been removed, and the cross on the
Worthier Island is passed without any recognition.
The grandeur of the scene is very great at this particu-
lar spot. There are wonderful echoes from the rocks,
which reverberate with the almost deafening noise of
the waters. Castles, rocks, and precipices descend to
the edge of the Danube, and enchant the eye of the
observer.

The Worther Island is about two thousand feet in
length, and a thousand feet broad. It is surrounded
by white sand, which looks very pretty against the dark
rocks on the shore. The old castle of Werfenstein,
which surmounts the rocky height, is now a ruin. Castle
Struden, nearly opposite, is also a ruin, but presents a
striking picture of olden times. The precipice on which
it stands projects near the river. These castles were
built in the eleventh century, and were inhabited by
robbers. The castle of Struden has a massive square

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tower, and was fortified. There is a perilous rock called
Wildriss near the middle of the stream. The whirlpool
of the Wirbel, which is about three thousand feet from
the latter, was most dangerous in olden times, but at
present, though it may appear so, as it certainly does,
there is no risk in passing down it in the large
steamer.

In the centre of the Danube is an island called Haus-
stein, about one hundred and fifty yards long and fifty
broad, which divides the river that descends with terrific
force, and forms the Wirbel, and is really the main
cause of it. The sombre and mysterious aspect of this
part of the river, and its wild scenery, alarmed people
in former days, and at night sounds, issuing from every
ruin, were heard above the roar of the Danube. The
tower in which these noises were heard was called
" The Devil's Tower." When the devil was dis-
lodged later on he pronounced his malediction on the
intruders.

Ottensheim overlooks the river, with Efferding on
the opposite shore. When the river was infested by
robbers the Countess Walchun founded a hospital
of St. Nicholas for the reception of travellers, and left
all her property to the poor. St. Nicholas is a small

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town picturesquely situated. The ancient town of
Sarblingstein was one of the strongest in the country
in ancient times.

Now we arrive at the Schloss Persenberg, one of the
most picturesque on the Danube. This lovely castle
stands high up on a rock. The castle is one of the oldest
in Austria. It belonged to the Margrave Enzelschalk,
who was found guilty of high treason and had his eyes
put out and his estates confiscated.

Henry III passed'; the Strudel and Wirbel, and his
suite were terrified to see the apparition of the devil,
who, addressing the Bishop, told him that his career
was drawing to an end. But the Bishop crossed him-
self and sent the devil to the rightabout. Shortly after
the royal barge stopped at Persenberg, and the lady of
the castle conducted Henry III to his apartments.
Countess Richlinde said she was going to give the castle
to a member of her own family. Scarcely had she
spoken when the floor of the dining-room gave way
and the occupants were precipitated into the room
below. The Emperor escaped with bruises, but the
Countess Richlinde, the abbot of Ebersberg, and Bishop
Bruno were so severely injured that they died within a
few hours of the catastrophe.

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The gallery contains several pictures of value. The
Emperor Franz of Austria spent many summers at this
castle. In the inner court is a basin of fine sparkling
water. The view from the towers, whence one can see
the snow-clad Alps, the Schneeberg towards Salzburg,
is particularly grand. Behind the castle is the Imperial
garden, tastefully laid out. The flower garden is one
of the most beautiful that can be conceived.

The next objects are Saussensteim, a former monastery,
the village of Murbach, and the church, Maria Taferl,
the lofty twin towers of which crown the mountain on
the left. About one hundred thousand pilgrims visited
this shrine at one time in the year.

Maria Taferl receives its name from an oak tree on
which was an image of the Virgin. When the tree
died a peasant wanted to cut down the trunk, but the
axe hit his foot. Then he saw the image, and being
penitent, through the image interposing for him, he was
cured of the wound.

Castle Weiteneek, which now appears on the left bank
of the river, is a relic of feudal magnificence. There
are two villages, Gross Pochlarn on the right bank,
and Klein Pochlarn on the left, with the town of Ard-
stadten on the heights. Of the Bechlaren Burg only

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an old gateway and some towers remain to attest its
former grandeur.

Round this point of land the royal fleet came. On
the prow of the foremost stood the valiant Markgraf
Rudiger of Pochlarn bending eagerly forward to dis-
tinguish amongst the beauties at the open windows of the
castle the fair forms of his beloved wife and daughter.
Beneath the rich canopy that shades the deck of yonder
bark, with gilded oars, sits the peerless bride of the
mighty Etzel, but she does not hear the shout of wel-
come that rises on the shore. Her brow is clouded,
her ruby lip quivers, tears like liquid diamonds tremble
on her long, dark, silken eyelashes ; the form of the
noble Siegfried is ever before her ; she hears but the
voice of her murdered champion calling for vengeance ;
she sees but the ghastly wound which treachery inflicted,
bleeding afresh at the approach of the dark Hughen.
She seems beautiful even in sorrow, and warrants
the description of Novalis in "Heinrich von Ofter-
dingen " : —

The rosy red bloomed sweetly upon her lovely cheek,
Even as the moon outshineth every twinkling star ;

So before her maidens stood that lady bright,
And higher swell'd the spirit of every gazing knight.

By her side stands a priest, the Bishop of Passau, uncle

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to the Queen, and related to the noble Rudiger. The
pale youth near him is his clerk, Conrad, who assisted
him to write the adventures of the Nibelungen. On the
other side stands Duke Eckewart escorting his liege
lady to Hungary ; the remainder of the fleet bears the
five hundred chosen knights of Burgundy, who follow
his standard. Such was Pochlarn in former days !

Molk has the most splendid edifice on the Danube,
a monastery of fine Grecian architecture similar to a
magnificent temple of antiquity. The sculptures are
modern, the gilding bright, and the fresco tints as vivid
as if they were new. Christ Church College at Oxford
and Trinity College at Cambridge pale in comparison ;
neither of the latter can compare with Molk's cupola-
crowned church and the range of chambers which run
parallel with the town. The heights of the opposite
bank of the Danube crown the view of this glorious
edifice in a manner which cannot be excelled.

The front of the building is of a pure Italian style.
The library, in the style of architecture and materials
employed, is one of the finest rooms in the world. The
wainscot and shelves are of walnut of different shades,
inlaid, surmounted by gilt ornaments. The columns
are Corinthian and gilt. Everything is in harmony.

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The library is one hundred feet in length, and in width
forty feet, and it was filled formerly with books of the
fifteenth century. The church is the very perfection
of Roman architecture, and is in the shape of a cross.
At the end of each transept is a rich altar. The pews,
arranged in English fashion but more tastefully, are
on each side of the nave on entering, with enough space
between them. The pulpit from top to bottom is
completely covered with gold. The whole is in the
most perfect taste. In fact, the church is in a blaze of
gold, and the mere gilding cost eight thousand pounds.

Schonbuckel with its ruins is interesting. The castle
occupies the summit of a granite rock, projecting to-
wards the river, and has three towers which impend
over a terrific precipice. The convent has a tower in
the centre and lawns in the background. There is a
small island in the river, which is pleasing to the eye.
A tower which is square, terminating in a pointed cupola,
is remarkable, and for a crime committed by a former
owner, is the nightly haunt of a spirit, which is often
heard even now. The fair Cunigonda was killed by her
husband with an axe, when a voice shouted through
the hall, " She is guiltless of any crime."

Aggstein Castle is one of the most picturesque build-

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ings on the Danube. It is very ancient. Among its
chiefs was Schreckenwald, the most expert robber of his
time and the terror of the neighbourhood. He ordered
his prisoners to be precipitated into his " rose garden,"
as he called it. This garden was a ravine from which
no one could escape. One man, however, is said to have
escaped. This was the owner of a neighbouring castle,
who afterwards attacked Schreckenwald hi the night.
The latter thought it was an evil spirit. Schreckenwald
exclaimed, " Though you are the devil himself, I shall
be lord of Aggstein ! " Nevertheless, Schreckenwald
was killed and suspended from a beam of his own en-
trance hall. People still talk of the young knight's
escape from the rose garden. Another robber, who was
the terror even of the Duke of Austria, lived there since.
A baron approached the castle, and the robber thinking
that it was a merchant asked what merchandise he had.
The baron replied, " Silk brocade and wine," and when
asked to deliver them up, he threw back the canvas,
whereupon thirty lances were levelled at the robber's
breast, and the robber chief, Hadmar von Aggstein,
was taken prisoner.

Diirrenstein is a massive construction with towers,
and was the prison of Richard Cceur de Lion. This

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fortress is at the summit of a rugged group of rocks.
It was occupied by Hadmar, Lord of Aggstein, already
mentioned. Richard Cceur de Lion, on his return from
the Holy Land, was captured in the village of Erdberg,
near Vienna, for hauling down and trampling upon the
standard of Austria. He was placed under Hadmar von
Kneuring, who carried him to the fortress of Durren-
stein, where he remained several months. Then he was
confined in the castle of Trifels, when on agreeing to the
payment of a ransom he was liberated. Some writers
affirm, however, that the ransom was never paid.

Stein has a rather important Rathhaus of noble de-
sign. A little further down on the same side is Krems,
with its monastery on an eminence. Its tower is like a
mosque. The church is considered one of the best speci-
mens of Gothic architecture in Europe.

The monastery of Gottweih, crowning the summit of
a hill, is built on a large scale with lofty towers. The
view from the towers is magnificent. The interior of the
monastery is very fine, but not to be compared with
Molk or even St. Florian. It is not so rich as that of
Krems. Napoleon took possession of this monastery.
He slept here, and was satisfied with his reception, but
the abbot was glad when he left. Below Krems the

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scenery is not so fine, and is interspersed with numerous
wooded islands.

The castle of Hollenburg and the chapel of Wetter-
kreuz are striking objects now in view. The castle is a
complete ruin. It belonged formerly to two robber
chiefs named Wettan and Frohenauer. The castle was
set on fire by the populace when belonging to these
robbers.

Greiffenstein is also a ruined castle. The view from
the tower commands a grand panorama of mountains,
forests, towns, and villages, and is one of the finest in
Austria. The castle belongs now to Prince Lichtenstein,
who with his predecessors has done much to embellish
the grounds and partially to restore the place. Its name
is derived from a griffin which haunted the castle.

Another story is that the owner, returning from the
Crusades, found his wife with her hair beautifully dressed,
and being jealous, as he was not expected home, asked
her for whom she had dressed her hair. As she did not
answer satisfactorily, he had her hair cut off and herself
thrown into the dungeons. He swore she should not be
released till the stones at the front door were so worn
down that he could put her locks in the hollow place.
Then all the servants exclaimed to every one, " Greif

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an den Stein ! " The owner, in consequence, fell down
the steps and broke his neck, but his ghost continues to
wander about !

Bisamberg next comes to view — " Am Bisamberg
floss in alien Zeiten die Donau vorbei, daher sei der
Name Bis am berge " — and Klosterneuburg on the right
bank of the river. Bisamberg is celebrated for its vine-
yards. A castle and church are noticeable. Korneuburg
is a town the square towers of the church in which
attract one at once. Klosterneuburg is at the base of
the Kahlenberg, overlooking the river, and contains a
monastery of the Augustine order. The church has an
important altar covered with metal plates on which are
etched several subjects of Scripture, executed by Werner.
He practised the art called " niello," and is said to have
been the inventor of it. In front of the church is a
richly carved Gothic pillar called the " Everlasting
Light," on account of the votive lamp which has been
kept burning before it for ages. It commemorated the
plague which devastated the Danube in the fourteenth
century. Leopold IV and his wife Agnes were talking
on religious topics, and the King said he would raise a
sumptuous altar, but could not decide where it should
be. He asked his wife, when a gust of wind suddenly

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carried off her veil. The veil was searched for every-
where, but for three months could not be found.

One day Leopold was out boar hunting. He approached
the river, but his horse refused to move. Finally Leopold
fell to the ground, and he suddenly saw before him the
lost veil of his wife. It was determined that the tree on
which angels had placed the veil should be enclosed in
a magnificent temple. Accordingly the monastery of
Klosterneuburg was built, and became the admiration
of architects. The alder tree which had preserved the
veil was cased in gold, and branches of that sacred tree
were carried in processions and suspended over the
altar. Agnes founded a convent not far from the monas-
tery, when the inhabitants of both became acquainted
" under the veil."

The Klosterneuburg grape is renowned for producing
an excellent white wine. The ducal bonnet of St. Leopold
in bronze ornaments adorns one of the gilded domes of
the monastery, recalling to memory his good deeds. In
the cellars is a cask that in shape and size rivals the
great tun of Heidelberg.

I drove from Vienna to Klosterneuburg and back in
a fiacre with a young lady and a secretary of the French
Embassy not very long ago. It is certainly a most

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delightful drive through most picturesque woods nearly
the whole way, with some charming views at times of
the river. Klosterneuburg is quite a village, but there
is a little cafe" there where one can take coffee or tea,
or even have some Klosterneuburg wine, which is not
at all bad.

Leopoldsberg is the next object on the steamer, and
is an environ of Vienna, and commands a full view of
that lovely city. The cathedral, St. Stephen, with its
spire four hundred and eighty feet high, attracts one's
notice above all things. The great beauty of this view
has inspired many distinguished poets and painters.

Nussdorf is a well-known town, and has a very good
cafe". The town is the subject of an extremely popular
song, a great deal sung in Vienna even at the present
time — " Nach Nussdorf bin i g' fahrn." It is in the
Viennese dialect.

The English lady with the little girl, who accompanied
me on the steamer, was much struck with the smart
appearance of the Austrian cavalry officers, and she
admired a cavalry lieutenant on board, who fell in love
with her too, but they could not converse together ; he
was of Polish nationality. During my first voyage from
Linz to Vienna I suddenly perceived on the steamer a
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young girl who had been staying with her parents at
the Hotel Erzherzog Karl at Linz. I did not under-
stand the language she was talking, but succeeded in
making her acquaintance on board. She was one of
the loveliest girls I have ever seen, having beautiful
violet-blue eyes, long eyelashes, and hair, which she
wore hanging down her back, of a perfect golden colour
tinged with red. Her features were quite Grecian in
their regularity. I found that she was a Pole, and her
Christian name was Sosia. She told me several inter-
esting things about Polish life. For instance, young
girls had scarcely any liberty, and they married chiefly
to gain their freedom, and rarely married the man they
liked. I dined next to her and her family on board the
steamer, and talked to her all the way from Linz to
Vienna. She belonged to the Polish nobility, and had
been spending the summer months at Aussee, and the
winter before that at Nice with the Countess Zamoyska.
Meeting the daughter of the Statthalter of Galicia a
year later, I heard that Sosia was the belle that year
at Warsaw. I visited her family when I was in Vienna,
though they soon went to Austrian Poland. Afterwards
I received very charming letters from Sosia in French.
Of the Danube my recollection was that there were

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numerous castles of which I constructed some in my
imagination, and that the river was of a beautiful violet-
blue, the colour of Sosia's eyes. Of this I was convinced.
It was not till years later that I discovered the Danube
is not as the song to which Johann Strauss has com-
posed his delightful waltz says : " An der schonen
blauen Donau " — of a blue colour ; it is more of a
greenish hue, with a faint tint of blue in it when the
sun shines upon the waters.

163

CHAPTER VIII

THE DANUBE (CONTINUED)— THE ENVIRONS OF VIENNA
— ARISTOCRATIC AMATEURS AT SCHONBRUNN —
BADEN — THE VIENNESE — THE ABBOT OF ISEN-
BERG — BUDA-PESTH — HUNGARIAN MUSIC -
YOUNG GIRLS IN SERVIA— BELGRADE

I have already described Vienna in my first
volume, " Society Recollections in Paris and
Vienna," I will merely say that from the Kahlenberg,
which one can get to by steam tramway from Vienna,
ascending the very steep mountain in the most marvel-
lously quick manner, one can obtain a grand view of
the town of Vienna and the surrounding country.

There is a very good restaurant at the Kahlenberg,
where a military band usually plays of an evening
during one's dinner. In summer all kinds of entertain-
ment are to be had. On some days a beauty prize is
competed for by the village beauties. Occasionally
Vienna girls go in for it, and it is very diverting to a
stranger.

The Gardens of Schonbrunn, the palace at which the

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present Emperor Franz Josef usually resides when in
Vienna (and not at the Hof Burg), are open to the public.
The gardens are laid out very much in imitation of
Versailles ; in one part there are several wild beasts
in cages. The private theatre at Schonbrunn, joining
the palace, is for the Emperor's guests, whom he him-
self invites. Every year there is a performance given
by the nobility called the " Aristokraten Vorstellung,"
which is generally exceedingly good and well worth
seeing. Friends of mine performed there when I was
last in Vienna, and they told me how very liberal His
Majesty was in supplying sumptuous champagne suppers
every night during the month of the rehearsal for those
performing. Not only that, but court carriages were
placed at their disposal to drive them to and from
Schonbrunn.

There are very fine gardens around Vienna, some of
which are private. For instance, at Hetzendorf, at
Hietzing, and the Laxenburg Gardens, which latter
belong to the palace of that name. The palace was
inhabited by the Crown Princess Stephanie before^her
marriage with Count Lonyay. There is a private garden
at Penzing remarkable for its collection of roses, and
the camellia is seen there in all its greatest beauty.

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Strangers are always admitted on presenting their cards
or saying who they are.

There are some very delightful drives along the river
from Vienna, for instance, to Rodaun, passing through
Hietzing and Linz on the way. The road is ornamented
with a succession of country villas, vineyards, and de-
lightful gardens. The drive to the Wiener Wald is
equally charming, and it can also be reached by train.
On the Siidbahn to the Hinterbriihl is a most exquisite
excursion. The country round Hinterbriihl is equal in
its beauty to parts of Switzerland, with its woods and
mountainous country ; besides, the vegetation is so
prolific.

Hinterbriihl is a favourite sojourn in the summer
months for Austrians from Vienna. A French cavalry
officer, Comte de Saint Juste, told me that he had never
seen anything in France to compare with the exquisite
beauty of Hinterbriihl, and I can say the same with
regard to England. I often went there on a Sunday,
returning to Vienna in the evening ; or sometimes I
would dine out of doors with a lady at one of the restau-
rants in the woods.

Baden is a very favourite resort in summer. It is
one hour by rail from Vienna, and is famous for its warm

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springs loaded with sulphur, which are very good in
cases of rheumatism. Baden is extremely pretty with its
very fine avenue of acacia trees on the chief promenade,
where the band plays, and these throw out in the evening
a most delightful perfume.

The band plays during the summer months at Baden
from five till half-past seven, and it is now led by the
celebrated composer Komczak. Of course, the monde
elegant and beauty of Baden walk up and down or sit
under trees listening to the strains of this good orchestra.
I have seen some very pretty girls at Baden, but they
have generally told me that they came from Vienna,
and were there only for the summer months.

The Kursaal is somewhat like the one at Ischl, with-
out the lovely view the latter has, but it is very pleasant
to take one's dinner on the terrace in the fresh air in
the evening, especially in very hot weather. Baden is
always intensely warm, as it is shut in by the surround-
ing mountains. Of late years it is much frequented by
Jews ; and many Christian families do not care to go
there without being obliged to do so for rheumatism
and other ailments. One can get to Voslau from Baden
by the electric train in half an hour. The former place
is also a favourite summer resort, being situated higher

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than Baden, but apart from the beauty of its position,
it really offers very little or no amusement. I went
there by an electric train. It was the first time in my
life that I had been in one, and it was the year that
Volodyovski won the Derby. I can remember that
incident because I fancied this horse and ought to have
backed it, but hesitated unfortunately.

There is a band which plays at Voslau, but it is
scarcely worth listening to, being so feeble in numbers,
and it plays out of doors before a very limited public.
The environs of Vienna are more charming and beautiful
than those of any other capital in Europe, especially
during the summer months. An English author says :
" The Viennese are undoubtedly the most musical people
in the world. To the lovers of music, waltzing, and
good eating Vienna is a terrestrial paradise, where all
waltz a merveille, every one plays the piano well and
are unanimous in their respect pour la cuisine, which,
although open to epicurean criticism, is understood ex-
tremely well here. The waltzers whirl round with
wonderful rapidity, like their own ' Wirbel,' the whirl-
pool. Nothing can exceed the decorum and manners
observed by all, from the dame de la cour to the blanchis-
seuse."

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From Vienna to Pesth, along the Danube, the castle
of Theben stands on a precipice, and is interesting since
the castle is of Roman origin. The castle belongs to
Prince Palffy, and was demolished by the French in
1809. On the right bank stands the Schlosshof, once a
favourite villa of Prince Eugene. One of the finest
objects is the castle of Haimburg, which crowns a neigh-
bouring hill and commands a view over the whole country.
Peter the Cruel lived here, concealing himself; and it
was also inhabited by Margaret Princess of Babenberg.

In an excursion into Karnthen a lord of Theben fell
in love with a lady of Karnthen. Preparations were
made for the marriage, but one evening the count was
told that the lovely Bertha had been carried off by an
abbot to the convent of Issenberg. The count dashed
off with some men towards the forest. The lady was
rescued, and the wedding took place the next day. Just
as the Benediction had been pronounced the sound of
arms was heard, and a messenger announced that the
enemy was within the walls. The bridegroom hastened
with the bride to the so-called " Nun's Tower." There
they were surprised by the bride's uncle, the abbot of
Issenberg. The bride asked her uncle to spare her
husband. " Never ! " replied the abbot, and opened

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the gate. At this moment she rushed into her husband's
arms and stood at the verge of the precipice. " Come
back ! " said the abbot. " Never, till you have given
your pledge." " Pledge ! " exclaimed the abbot, and
rushed towards the count, but he only grasped the
empty air. The beautiful forms had vanished from his
sight, and when he looked over the precipice it was to
behold the waves as they closed over his victims.

Pressburg has its ruined palace upon a height above
the town which stands out sharply, and is seen at once.
The palace, inhabited now by the Archduchess Isabella
and the Archduke Frederick of Austria, is a fine build-
ing, as well as the castle belonging to Graf Esterhdzy.
The women are picturesque with their gay-coloured
cotton handkerchiefs pinned round their heads, and the
men in their white loose trousers reaching to the knee
only, with high Hungarian boots, similar to those worn
by the Blue Hungarian band in London.

The cathedral of Pressburg is a Gothic structure of
great antiquity where the kings of Hungary were
crowned with much solemnity. The new king was con-
ducted on horseback to a mound on the left bank of
the Danube. He ascended the eminence, and, drawing
the sword of St. Stephan, he made the sign of the cross

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east, west, north, south, pledging himself to defend his
subjects, at whatever point danger might threaten.

Komorn is a large town with five Roman Catholic
churches and one Lutheran. Komorn is strongly forti-
fied. There is a saying that when summoned to capitu-
late the usual answer is " Komm morgen." A female
figure exists in one street with the inscription " Komm-
morn," a jeu de mot. There is a great number of water
and wind mills to be seen on this part of the Danube,
and the country is for the most part flat and uninterest-
ing. Nesmely is celebrated for its wine, the vineyards
belonging chiefly to the Counts Zichy and Esterhazy.

Gran, the seat of an archbishop, primate of Hungary,
with a large population, now comes to view. It contains
several churches. Archbishop Alesander von Rudnay
resolved to erect a cathedral at his own cost that should
rival even that of St. Peter's at Rome. He lived to see
his resolution carried into effect, devoting his princely
income of one hundred thousand pounds per annum to
this work of piety, and the cathedral is unequalled by
anything attempted in Europe during the last two
centuries.

Wissegrad is a ruined castle formerly a residence of
the old Magyar kings. It stands on a lofty hill over-

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looking the Danube. King Salomon was kept a prisoner
here by his " affectionate cousin " Ladislaus. It was
destroyed by the Turks under Sultan Solyman.

Waitzen, or Vatz, is an important town with a bishop's
see, having a cathedral in the Italian style remarkable
for its dome and portico. The environs are picturesque,
being surrounded by vineyards and high hills.

The town of St. Andra is the next object of interest,
and is noticeable by its seven towers. It also contains
some mineral springs.

Buda, or Of en, is where the Emperor resides when in
Hungary. In the chapel attached to the palace are pre-
served the crown, ball and sceptre, and sword of St.
Stephan. The approach to the palace is very steep. The
road is planted with chestnut trees. An old Turkish round
tower remains still at the entrance. The arch is of
modern construction. The palace is of immense size,
and in the Italian style. The view from the windows is
very lovely. The gardens of the palace, with their
flower beds and fine magnolias, are delightful. Buda
was held by the Turks for nearly a century and a half,
therefore it has many signs left of the Mohammedans.

Pesth is of modern date, and joins Buda by a lovely
suspension bridge constructed by an English engineer.

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Pesth has wonderfully altered within the last ten years.
The streets have been improved and large buildings
erected, so that it has the pretension of being as lovely
as Vienna. The shops are very good, some better than
in Vienna ; for instance, Kugler is quite famous for
bon-bons, which are supplied to the courts of Russia
and Austria, and are as good as French bon-bons.
The new opera house is a fine building. Though smaller
than the Vienna one, it is almost equally sumptuous
inside, and more luxurious from the outside. Several
new streets have been built within the last few years,
which nearly put some of the important streets of Vienna
in the shade, if they do not quite do so.

Hungarians tell me they consider Buda-Pesth a far
finer town than Vienna ; and even some Austrians tell
me the same thing. I always stop at the Hotel Konigin
von England Angol Kyralyh<5z, with which I was most
pleased, as I found it very comfortable and moderate
in price, cheaper than the first-class hotels in Vienna,
and it is well situated. I have dined at the " Hungaria,"
which is also excellent and a more modern hotel — what
we should call more up-to-date.

The Blocksberg is crowned by a fortress with an
observatory. The view from the Blocksberg, which is

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at Ofen, is very striking indeed. One can see Pesth,
the islands in the distance, the suspension bridge, and
the steamers on the Danube. Attila is said to have
hurled his brother, who offended him, from this rock
into the Danube. In the neighbourhood of the Blocks-
berg husbands are told never to consult the stars on
St. Gerard's Eve, or their wives may become witches.
The suspension bridge is twelve hundred and twenty-
seven feet in length and thirty-nine feet in width, and
was constructed by Mr. Tierney Clerk.

The peasants usually wear a sheepskin cloak and a
round felt hat ; some of them have a very dark skin
indeed. What strikes a stranger most in Pesth coming
from Vienna is that the shops are kept open there much
later, and that Pesth resembles London or Paris in its
night life. The theatres are not over until late, and
when Vienna appears as if every one had gone to bed,
Pesth, on the contrary, seems only to have begun to
enjoy life.

I remember once going to the Nepsinhaz Theatre,
where I saw an operetta. After the theatre I went to
a dancing-place, but as it was about eleven o'clock the
place was empty. I had to wait for half an hour, and
then I saw the Csardas danced as I had never seen it

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danced before, with such spirit and animation. I have
often seen the Csardas danced since at the Vienna Hofoper
by the ballet, but I missed that strange fiery animation
which the Hungarians, men and women, put into it
at this small dancing - place in Pesth. Some singers
came from the opera later on and sat at my table. To
my surprise they drank tea with rum instead of milk,
as the Americans do.

Among them was a pretty young girl of fourteen,
a dark blonde, who had a lovely contralto voice, and
was^ afterwards quite celebrated as an operatic singer.
Her name was Tournay Wilma, and I can recall to
memory her marvellously sweet voice, which had such
rich notes in it. She sang some Hungarian songs with
a great amount of sentiment and pathos.

At the hotel at which I was staying I do not think
any one ever dreamt of going to bed, for I remember
a famous Hungarian band called Racz Ban (the name
of the leader) playing every night till daybreak. The
way this gipsy band played Hungarian airs, the chief
violinist especially, brought tears from some of the
audience ; the piece selected was a Hungarian Csardas.
The slow movement, in which the notes on the violin
floated tremulously through the air, seemed to hold a

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tremendous drama. One felt the approach of suffering,
and at times the violin seemed to utter cries of absolute
despair. The room was silent, and everybody listened
to what the notes were relating. Suddenly the music
ceased, when the applause became deafening. An
English lady put a ten-pound note into the plate handed
round by the violinist, while a Hungarian millionaire,
who was with her, put in twice that amount. This
particular band had received immense offers of money
to go away from Pesth, but the owner of the band, the
chief violinist, would never do so. I have never heard
a Hungarian band to equal this one.

The little opera singer told me that she had been in
love with a doctor-in-law, who had abandoned her,
and she was very indignant at his falseness. I tried
to console her, but if I had then known how false lawyers
of all countries generally are I should have told her.
She was quite a companion to me while I was at Pesth,
coming to my hotel with me to dine every evening;
in fact, she wanted me to take her with me to England
when I left the place. I was obliged to go away alone,
being merely on leave from my regiment. Such a bright,
lively nature, with the fiery temperament of a Hungarian
girl, I have very rarely, if ever, met with since. Her

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FRAULEIN HANSY JUSL OF THE VIENNA OPERA BALLET

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voice had all that exquisite richness which Scalchi's
possessed. One night at the Hotel Konigin von England
she sang Hungarian songs to me till it was nearly day-
break, which my neighbours must have enjoyed, for they
did not complain the next day that their rest was dis-
turbed.

Mohacs has wide streets, and at the windows of most
houses are plenty of flowers. Erdody, Vukovar are on
the right bank of the river. The former has a Greek
church and a Catholic one, with the ruins of an old castle
in which the Counts Palffy resided during the feudal
ages. Vukovar stands at the confluence of the Vuka
with the Danube. It has several churches, Greek and
Roman Catholic. Opposite to this is the small town
of Bacs, where the river of that name falls into the
Danube. Illok is a place containing Roman works of
art. It has a Roman Catholic and a Greek church.
The chief object is the beautiful palace of Prince Odes-
calchi. The Princess is an American lady and is often
in Vienna.

Peterwardein is two hundred feet above the river,

and is a large town. It resembles Ehrenbreitstein, the

Prussian fortress opposite Coblentz, and is strongly

fortified. Carlowitz is a picturesque town ; an arch-

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bishop of the old Greek Church lives there. Carlowitz
contains a cathedral, an episcopal palace, and several
large buildings. The vineyards around the place pro-
duce the wine of that name* Semlin is the frontier
town between Hungary and Servia. On the top of a
mountain are the ruins of a castle of Huniades. He
fought against the Turk heroically, so that they sur-
named him the Devil. Opposite Semlin is the town of
Belgrade, between the right bank of the Danube and
the Save. To the heroic conduct of Huniades Voivode
of Transylvania the arms of the cross are indebted for
many victories which drove back the Turks within
their boundaries, and rescued Servia from their iron
grasp.

Belgrade is a rather fine town with its splendid mosques,
tall minarets, domes, gardens, and cypress trees. It
stands in a grand position, where the waters of the
Danube and the Save join. These two blend their waters
at this point, and the point where the Save joins the
Danube is clearly perceptible from the brighter colour
of the latter. The citadel is a commanding object,
standing on a steep hill one hundred feet high, and
overlooking the Danube. Belgrade contains thirteen
mosques and one Christian church of importance.

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The King's palace, the ruins of Prince Eugene's palace,
and some other important edifices are the principal
buildings.

The young girls in Servia, particularly in Belgrade,
are very picturesquely dressed in a black bolero orna-
mented with gold embroidery. They wear a short
skirt, also trimmed with red or gold lace, and high boots,
and a round cap edged with gold embroidery, with a
tassel in the centre. Their hair, which is mostly of a
very dark shade of black, is worn in two long plaits
hanging down the back. At the theatre at Belgrade
the ladies get themselves up in a most wonderful manner,
wearing all the jewellery they possess, and they are painted
up to the eyes. A Servian young lady told me that there
was scarcely a girl in Belgrade who did not paint her
cheeks even from a very early age. The reason of this
is probably feecause they mostly have a sallow com-
plexion, but even if they have not they resort to this
mode. Count Bourtouline, a Russian, once said to
me, " I don't care what a girl or woman does to herself
as long as she looks pretty." I am rather inclined to
agree with him in a certain respect.

Belgrade is very badly plastered, and it is not a very
clean town, and the Servians are not easy to get to

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know well. The ladies are infinitely preferable to the
men ; the latter are very deceitful, I found, even in the
highest circles. The girls and some of the women are
perfectly lovely ; they possess tiny, regular features
with beautiful black eyes and long lashes. They are
very clever at flattery, and one cannot make sure whether
they are sincere or not. Such is my experience of them.
Pancsova is a town lower down on the Danube. The
scenery is uninteresting and monotonous ; the river
becomes a little broader now.

The next object of interest is Babakai, which rises
abruptly from the centre of the river, near the islands,
and has a rather grand appearance. The origin of the
name is from the following story. A Turk having re-
turned home suddenly discovered that the fairest of
his seven wives had disappeared with a Hungarian.
This latter retired with Zuleika to a Christian fort, or
kiosk. He was attacked and killed by the Turk, and
his head slung to the neck of Zuleika's horse. She was
sent to perish on a rock in the Danube with these words
sounding in her ear, " Babakai " (" Repent of your
sin "). The head of the count gratified the Turk's
eye by day, and at night the thought that Zuleika was
perishing on a dreary rock. But the head turned out

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to be that of an aide-de-camp of the count. Zuleika
was eventually rescued by the count, and the Turk
slain in battle. Zuleika afterwards married the count,
the Turk having been brought mortally wounded to
the count's tent a day before.

At Babakai the scenery gets more romantic, with
rocks and old forests. The castle of Kohmbacz is one
of the most striking on this part of the Danube. Seven
towers now remain, and the celebrated Helena of ancient
Greek history was imprisoned here. In one of the
caverns St. George killed the dragon, and its body sends
forth those myriads of small flies which are so torment-
ing to men and animals. Children have often been
killed by them.

Vast forests, high mountains come to view now, till we
arrive at Drenkova, which has wild and magnificent
scenery. The most striking point is Greben, a promon-
tory, which is picturesque ; then comes Swinicza. The
width of the river is five thousand feet. The most re-
markable object is the ancient castle of Dreykula, which
is of Roman origin. It commands a fine view of the
river. Now we approach the Defile of Kazan. The
entrance is very good. Its banks rise in masses from the
edge of the river to a great height, and seem to unite

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with the sky. There are numberless gardens here with
lovely flowers.

The next object of interest is the Rock of Kazan,
near the centre of the stream, where there is a whirlpool
of great violence. On leaving Trajan's Tafel the river
widens, and we arrive at Orsova, where there is a Greek
church worthy of notice. The Iron Gate is a series of
rapids extending through a narrow valley. The name
is derived from the extreme difficulty of the passage,
and from the iron colour of the rocks which occupy the
bed of the Danube for three miles. The roar of the
waters as they hasten through the Iron Gate is heard
for miles around. The entire length of these rapids is
seventeen hundred yards.

Gludova now comes to view ; the country is for some
time mountainous, and then sinks into a plain. As the
stream widens the mountains seem to retire on the
left in a snowy line. Bounding the horizon are seen
the Carpathian Mountains ; all between appears one
enormous plain, covered with sand, with verdure here
and there. Herds of cattle enliven the monotonous
scenery ; the herdsmen wear blanket-like coats. At
times one sees flights of cranes and figures going along
the plains. On the right bank of the river, on a high

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rock, are the remains of an old castle called Florentin.
On the shore opposite is Kalafat in Roumania, where
the Danube is broader, but with numerous islands in
the river. At Widdin the scenery rather improves, as
it is more hilly.

Nicopolis, which is striking and extends along the
Danube, is surmounted by a citadel, towers, and walls,
and is approached on the water. There is really no
scenery on this part of the Danube. Cranes are seen
among the reeds, or flying in the air. Sistova has an
ancient castle and numerous mosques and other large
buildings. The castle crowns a hill, but is in ruins.

Rustchuk, in Bulgaria, is a fortified town and has a
striking appearance seen from a distance. Silistria,
also in Bulgaria, now appears, and near it the Roman
wall which once extended from the Danube to the
Black Sea. Numerous flights of cranes pass over one's
head in this part of the Danube, and enliven the scenery,
which is far from pleasing to the eye.

Galeacz, in Roumania, is the next important place,
full of life, but otherwise not very noticeable. From
Galeacz to the Black Sea the scenery is most monotonous
and dreary. The Danube is divided into numberless
streams, when, after having received in its course

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the tribute of one hundred and twenty rivers, thirty
of which are navigable, the Danube empties itself by
means of seven mouths into the Black Sea. Three of
these only are navigable, the Kilia, Sulina, and St.
George.

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CHAPTER IX

SPAIN— QUEEN CHRISTINA— SPAIN AND IRELAND—
A SPANISH GIRL— LIFE AT MADRID— THE CATHE-
DRAL AT SEVILLE— THE DANCING— THE FAIR—
THE BULL -FIGHTING — SPANISH BEAUTIES —
TOLEDO— CADIZ— GRANADA— SPANISH TROOPS

WHEN on leave from my regiment, which was
stationed at Murree, in India, I spent most of
the time in Spain. I travelled to Madrid via Paris, where
I stopped at the Hotel de Paris on my arrival at Madrid.
Having a letter of introduction to a Spanish Marquis,
I paid him a visit, when I was invited to dinner at his
palace every evening I remained in Madrid. The first
evening I dined there two daughters of Queen Chris-
tina were at dinner, as well as the Marquise, her daughter,
two sons, and several other grandees of Spain. What
struck my notice very much was that the gentlemen
began smoking Havannah cigars nearly as soon as the
soup was served, smoking between the dishes. Every one
spoke French, now and again saying a few words in
Spanish.

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I called two days afterwards, when I was asked why
I had not come to dinner on the evening before, and
that I must be sure to come every evening, as my place
would be always laid there for me. I met with more
hospitality in Madrid than I have met with anywhere
else, perhaps excepting in Ireland, and I think that the
Spanish have a good deal in common with the Irish.
I have heard it asserted in Ireland that most of the
Irish families in the south of Ireland have Spanish
blood in their veins, which is due to the period when
several Spanish vessels came to grief off the Irish coast
at the time when the Spanish Armada was defeated by
the English fleet.

One day, on visiting the Picture Gallery at Madrid,
where I admired the beautiful Murillos, I remarked a
very pretty girl who was copying a study by an Italian
master. On my making some observation to her, she
answered me in French, telling me she was Spanish and
belonged to the nobility. She informed me that I might
serenade her by night under her window, telling me
where she lived. This young lady, though a Spanish
girl, had perfectly blue eyes and fair hair, and was seven-
teen years old. Her grandmother was an English lady,
which probably accounted for her being so fair ; yet I

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have seen equally fair Spanish girls having no English
relations whatever. This young girl could not speak a
word of English, but spoke French beautifully, and,
of course, Spanish.

Speaking about her to the family of the Marquis after-
wards, I was informed that the young lady belonged to
one of the well-known families in Madrid, and that it
was quite the correct thing to do, to serenade her by
night under her window. I am sorry, though, now to
have to confess that I did not serenade her. Whether
it was shyness or English prudery, I cannot say, but
I have often regretted not having done so in after years.
This young girl was dressed at the gallery in dark colours,
wearing the black mantilla instead of a hat. During the
afternoon, driving in her mother's carriage, she would
wear a hat which, she informed me, she always obtained
from London, as English hats, she considered, were far
better than Paris ones. Her dresses she got all from
Paris.

The carnival was then going on in Madrid, and every
carriage in the Prado had people who were masked inside
it. I noticed that everybody seemed to drive of an
afternoon, and if they cannot afford horses to their
carriage they employ mules, and if not mules, donkeys.

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I found the climate of Madrid very treacherous in winter,
the winds being so cold, and generally they blew from
the east. The inhabitants are all very lively, even on
Ash Wednesday they continue their carnival festivities.
The drinks are very pleasant hi Madrid, and not in-
toxicating ; no alcohol in them at all. The chocolate is
quite different from that obtained in France, being very
much sweeter.

I visited the opera, where they sang in the Italian
language ; the singers were good, but the orchestra very
mediocre. As for the theatres in which they give " Zar-
zuelas," one must be conversant with the language, or
else it is rather tame to a foreigner.

I enjoyed the life at Madrid very much ; it was
quite a novelty for me ; everything seemed so different
from what I had ever seen before, and the people
appeared to live more for pleasure than for anything
else. The ladies, with their mantillas in white lace
during the carnival and in black -lace at other times,
had a peculiar fascination for me. I was not so
much struck with their beauty as with their picturesque
attire, though some of the ladies of society entirely dis-
carded the Spanish dress for the most modern French
costumes, which I thought was a very great pity indeed.

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I noticed that in Madrid they have many saints' days,
on which all the picture galleries and public buildings are
closed, which rather annoyed me, as my stay in Madrid
was to be a very short one. The Spanish have a peculiar
way of always putting everything off, and invariably say
" Mariana ! " (to-morrow), a habit, I regret to say, I
have taken entirely from them, so much so that I have
suffered considerably from it ; but it has become quite
second nature with me, as with the Spanish. Perhaps
there may be some good in it after all. It is very similar
to the Russian " Nitshevo ! " which means " It does not
matter," and is invariably said by Russians at all times.

On leaving Madrid I proceeded by rail to Cordoba,
which is altogether a Moorish town, with its celebrated
mosque, in which there are numberless pillars of por-
phyry. The town itself appeared very sombre to me,
having very narrow streets, the houses nearly touching
each other in most of them, so that the people could
shake hands from one house to the other across the
street. The number of beggars there was quite amazing
— mostly children in a semi-nude state, and they were
remarkable for their very small hands and feet, which
is attributed to their being of a mixed race, partly
Moorish in their descent.

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The cafe I visited in Cordoba was mostly filled with
men taking chocolate or coffee or some light drink which
Spain is noted for, and listening to a performer on the
bandhurria, a kind of guitar, which sometimes is
played to perfection. Life at Cordoba appeared to be
a life of idleness, the well-to-do classes basking in the
sun in the middle of the day, and spending the rest of it
in some small caf6 houses. A great number of orange
trees grows about the town, spreading a most delicious
perfume when the trees are in blossom, which counter-
acts to a great extent the nasty fumes from the houses
of olive oil, with which the people habitually cook all
their dishes, instead of employing butter or lard, which
are very difficult to obtain in that part of Spain ; whilst
the butter comes from Holland, which is used in wealthy
houses, and the milk is the Swiss Nestle tinned milk.

From Cordoba I took the train for Seville, which was
a very tiring journey in the night, as the railway carri-
ages are not very comfortable, and travelling is so very
slow in Spain.

On arrival at Seville I stopped at the Hotel de las
Cuatro Naciones, where there were several English
people staying for a time. As my intention was to re-
main in Seville some months, I looked out for a Casa

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de Huespedes boarding-house, which I found on the
Plaza Nueva, the finest square in Seville, filled with
orange trees, which throw out at night and of a morning
the most delightful and fragrant scent that one can
possibly dream of. My rooms looked out on the Plaza
Nueva, and sometimes the perfume of the orange blossom,
which the Spanish call " azahar," was so overpowering
that it had almost the same effect upon one as if one
had indulged in a very strong drink.

This Casa de Huespedes was kept by three young
ladies, who, when I first went there, said they would
undertake to teach me Spanish. The youngest, Manuela
by name, a very pretty brunette of sixteen, with
lovely teeth and long hair of a jet-black colour,
having those peculiarly black eyes which are rarely
to be seen excepting in southern countries, was un-
able to speak one word of any other language but
Spanish ; but her sisters spoke French and English
fairly well. Manuela began by teaching me the names
of the parts of the face, and taught me to say all kinds
of compliments, till I found I knew nothing else.

Life at this Casa de Huespedes was very agreeable
indeed, apart from the food, which was detestable ac-
cording to English ideas, for all dishes were prepared

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with olive oil, even to poached eggs, which had always
a taste of the oil. I lived principally upon oranges ;
everything else tasted very nasty to me. The butter
was imported from Holland, and the milk was con-
densed milk, while the bread was very inferior hi quality.
We sat down generally twenty or more to dinner at one
o'clock, as there were a good many officers of the artillery
from the garrison who dined at this Casa de Huespedes.
The officers were all young. One, a lieutenant, but
brevet-colonel, of twenty-five, who used to confer fleurette
to Manuela, and she seemed at one time very devoted
to him.

There was an English surgeon-major spending his
leave at Seville at this time, with whom I visited the
Alcazar, with which we were both delighted, wandering
about the rooms admiring the beautiful designs with
which the walls were covered. We went to see the
Giralda and the lovely gardens of the palace of the Due
de Montpensier, and often went to the cathedral, which
is one of the largest in the world.

One day I was at the cathedral with a Bavarian
baron during service, when, feeling tired of standing, as
there are never any chairs to sit on there, I knelt
down, when the baron said to me, " For goodness' sake

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stand up, or you will be struck with a dagger ! " The
Spanish are very bigoted in their religion, and if any one
does anything which is not customary at Mass they will
stab one with a dagger as soon as look at one.

At the Casa de Huespedes there was an old English-
man, who had come to Seville purposely to learn to
read " Don Quixote " in the original Spanish, but
Manuela used to tease him by trying to make him speak
Spanish, which he protested that he was unable to do,
as he was far too old, being over seventy, to speak the
modern Spanish, and could only with great difficulty
make out " Don Quixote " in the original old Spanish.

During the cold weather the patio, or courtyard, of
every house is not made use of ; but during the warm
weather the people all sit out there, more so than they
do in the house.

When many people come together they invariably
dance with castanet accompaniments ; sometimes they
dance the " Seguidillas," the " Sevillana," or the " Fan-
dango," which is a very pretty sight to witness, as both
men and women dance with so much elan. Even in
aristocratic houses this is very much the custom, the
lookers-on applauding when they dance well, saying,
" O116, graciosa, muy bien, ol!6, ol!6 ! " to encourage the
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girl who is dancing when she attempts any unusual feat,
which she often does.

Some of the people staying at the Casa de Hues-
pedes went one evening to witness a performance
at a room in the town in which Spanish dancers
gave an entertainment. There were, first of all, some
gipsy girls, who danced the Moorish dance, which
is generally danced on a table, and the dance consists
of turning and twisting the body in all kinds of move-
ments from the hips, and these gyrations seem to please
the Spanish audience ; -but the dance has very little
gracefulness in it.

Afterwards a little girl of ten or eleven, excessively
pretty, though looking much older than her age, with
her black hair done up like a woman's, with a number
of curls round the face, danced with a man dancer " El
torero y la Malaguena," in which dance she displayed
all the marvellous art of an Italian premiere danseuse,
dancing on her points, and making the most dim-
cult entrechats, battements, pas de chats, which would
have done credit to a dancer of twice her age. Then
suddenly she rushed across the room, and, as the audi-
ence was seated in a circle around her, she had to choose
some one out of the spectators to whom she could throw

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her handkerchief, which she held in her hand. She made
a rush towards me, and before I had time to realize
what had happened I felt two little hands resting on
my knees and saw a pocket-handkerchief in my lap.
Then the little girl darted off again as fast as she had
come towards me. Turning to some one sitting near me,
I asked what I was to do, when I was told to put some
money in the handkerchief, when she would come and
fetch it. Wrapping up some pesetas in the handkerchief,
I waited till she had occasion to come to me again.
After the performance was over I went up to the little
girl and complimented her on her dancing, when she
gave me her photograph.

I often went to see the little danseuse dance of
an evening, when she would invariably throw me her
handkerchief, which I filled with pesetas, and some-
times with bon-bons as well. At times Lola would
throw her handkerchief at other gentlemen, but
she never by any chance would throw it at a lady ;
though so young as she was, she evidently did not think
much of her own sex. One day I met an officer in my
regiment, who was on leave from Gibraltar, and who
had come to Seville for the feria, which was shortly
taking place after the horse show.

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During the feria and the Holy Week Seville was
crowded with visitors. The prices were increased in the
hotels and casas de huespedes, and several distin-
guished visitors came to ours. Among them were a
celebrated German general and a Spanish marquis and
his daughter. The latter could only speak Spanish, and
at dinner I was placed near the young girl, so I was
obliged to talk Spanish to her all the time. The fair was
a very pretty sight, all the important families in Seville
taking part in it, and having private tents to take their
meals in, and also to sell various objects — somewhat like
our charity bazaars. In some of the tents there were
girls in society dressed in most gorgeous costumes in
red and yellow satin with white lace, and wearing a
white lace mantilla, who sold different things, and
where you were, on knowing them, invited to take
champagne, chocolate, and coffee, and the girls danced,
playing the castanets. At most of these private tents
one had to be privately invited before one could go into
them.

The horse show was at a different part of the ground,
where there were only men. This entertainment in the
tents was generally kept up till a late hour in the night,
dancing and singing taking place all the while, when the

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different families visited each other in their tents who
were acquainted together.

The religious festival was during the Holy Week after
the fair, when in the morning some wonderful proces-
sions took place, which lasted nearly all the afternoon.
There were several images of the Virgin Mary, which
were carried in the procession, the trains of the mantles
being borne by girls ; these mantles were several yards
in length, and were said to have cost thousands of pounds ;
some were in blue, others in violet velvet ornamented
with the most exquisite embroidery in gold and silver
lace, with precious stones here and there. The pro-
cession was a very imposing one, and really quite worthy
of being seen. The remainder of the festival took place
at the cathedral, where it was very difficult to obtain
even standing room.

While the feria was going on at Seville the bull-
fight formed a chief attraction, the ladies all going to
it in their white mantillas, wearing all their jewellery
on this occasion. The evening before the bull-fight the
bulls could be seen at grass, and people could approach
them quite near. I went up to one, which almost
allowed me to touch it, so tame did it appear. The bull-
fight takes place in a very large open arena, the places

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in the shade, called "sombra," being much more expen-
sive than those in the sun.

At the opening of the bull-fight two heralds on horse-
back ride into the arena and salute the mayor, demand-
ing the key of the town in order to let the performance
take place. On receiving the key on a red velvet cushion
they ride out of the arena, when several picadores and
toreros enter the arena, the bull having been introduced
beforehand. At first the men on foot torment the bull
with banderillas, striking them into the bull whenever
they can get the opportunity. Later on the men on
horseback, whose horses' eyes are bandaged, spear
the bull as soon as they can get near it. The bull charges
the horses, which are miserable-looking animals, and
usually have their bellies ripped open by the bull at
the very commencement. The picadores have their
legs well protected, so they rarely come to grief, while
the sufferings of the poor horses are never much minded.

I went to the bull-fight with the Bavarian baron and
the celebrated German general. The latter had com-
manded a division against the French in the Franco-
Prussian War. Though he had seen a great deal of
bloodshed during that war, he told me that his nerves
were quite upset by this bull-fight, and that he felt like

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fainting ; therefore he excused himself for taking his
departure, as he said he could not really see any more
of the performance. When the bull is thoroughly
fatigued the picadores and the men on foot with ban-
derillas disappear, and the espada, or matador, enters
then upon the scene, dressed in a bolero of red, blue, or
green velvet, all embroidered with gold or silver lace,
with knee breeches of the same coloured velvet, white
stockings, and black shoes with silver buckles.

On this occasion the celebrated Frascuelo was the
espada, who brandished a red mantle in front of the
bull, which the latter very much resented at first, but
then gradually seemed to get used to, when Frascuelo,
waiting his chance, plunged his sword at the back of the
bull's neck till it penetrated through its body ; then
the bull staggered and fell. The applause at this moment
was quite deafening with exclamations of joy, especially
from the ladies in the boxes, who constantly threw
their rings off their fingers and bracelets to Frascuelo.
But this throwing of jewellery occurred principally after
Frascuelo had managed to kill several bulls in the same
fashion with more or less trouble. Some of the bulls
were indeed rather troublesome to kill, and in one case
Frascuelo tried to stand on a chair to put an end to the

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bull, when the latter overturned the chair, and nearly
succeeded in piercing the espada with its horns, but,
agile as Frascuelo was, he only just managed to get away,
when he renewed the attempt again. At times the public
would exclaim, " Bravo, toro ! " — applauding the bull
when the espada showed any awkwardness in the matter.
But Frascuelo was generally pretty sure of his affair,
and ended by doing what he attempted at first by means
of the chair, when the ladies in the boxes showed their
affection for him in the manner already described.

Some of these espadas make an enormous fortune
in a very short time. They are generally a Spanish
girl's and woman's ideal of what a man should be like.
No tenor at an opera is so f£ted as an espada is in Seville
after he has succeeded in dispatching several bulls.
The number of letters he receives from ladies of high
rank and girls is something quite astounding, so that
the wife of an espada has every need to be jealous of
him. The espadas are usually very religious, and always
kneel down to prayer before a crucifix at the commence-
ment of every performance.

An English officer of a Highland regiment, a friend
of mine, had some success as an espada in Spain, giving
all the money he derived from it to the poor there.

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After I had seen eight bulls killed, and the performance
was at an end, I went home.

On my meeting Manuela she inquired if it had not
pleased me immensely, when I said it had interested
me very much. She was very enthusiastic about the
bull-fight, saying it was the grandest sight in Spain,
and nothing in the world did she enjoy more. I told
her I thought it very cruel towards the horses. She
replied they were only old screws that were no longer
serviceable for anything else. When I said that it
did not prevent them from suffering all the same, Manuela
then maintained that stag and fox hunting were equally
cruel, and that it was merely a matter of prejudice
and nothing else. " We are accustomed to see horses
suffer at a bull-fight, and don't pay attention to it.
You make other animals suffer by hunting them. Be-
sides, racing is cruel, in a way, on the horses, some
people say." Manuela said then that she never missed
seeing a bull-fight, but now she was in deep mourning,
so could not go to one. During the feria the ladies
dressed in colours ; at other times most women and
girls are usually in black, wearing generally the man-
tilla.

There were some very pretty girls in Seville, but the

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beauties are mostly to be found among the common
people more than among the upper class, for in Andalusia
most of the ordinary people have some blood of the
Moors in their veins, which gives them a darker com-
plexion, perhaps, but also smaller features and very
tiny hands and feet. The'ophile Gautier says there is
nothing more charming in appearance than the foot
of an " Andaluza," which makes even a Frenchwoman's
foot appear large.

There are some magnificent houses in Seville, one in
particular, in which the principal staircase is of the most
beautiful white marble, being reserved for the ladies ;
the other staircase is equally beautiful in its way, being
of black marble, reserved for the gentlemen. This house
belongs to a millionaire in Seville.

The Guadalquiver, which runs through Seville, is
not very interesting, as the country it flows along is
mostly destitute of trees, and there are few hills, the
country being very flat indeed. The gardens which
belonged to the Duke of Montpensier are charming to
walk in ; almost every tropical plant is to be seen living
out in the open air, even in winter-time. As these
gardens are free to the public many people go to them,
spending a good deal of their time there. Manuela

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often went to these gardens of an afternoon. This
pretty young girl, with her lovely features, but rather
sallow tint, which, however, was made up for by her
very beautiful black eyes, with long eyelashes, and her
very white teeth, interested me immensely. She was
always so lively, so totally different from the nature of
a young English girl ; even in the greatest adversity she
could not understand any one being depressed. She
taught me several proverbs in Andalusian Spanish,
one being " Obas pan y queso saben A beso," which
means that "Fruit, bread, and cheese are worthy of a
kiss." Manuela's constitution was so delicate that
the English surgeon-major used often to say that she
would not be able to live for a winter in our English
rigorous climate. Manuela could not understand the
English way of keeping Sunday, as she imagined it was
a day for enjoyment, going to bull-fights or to a theatre.
She used often to say she was very thankful not to be
an English girl ; she would as soon be shut up in a
convent as live in England under such puritanical
customs on a Sunday.

One day I went to Jerez for the day with a German,
who had a letter of introduction to Senor Don Misa,
the great wine merchant there. We were very well

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received by Senor Don Misa, who asked us to taste
some of his very best sherries. One mark, Pedro Ximenes,
was very good, and he allowed us to taste a sherry of
1815, the year of the battle of Waterloo, which was at
three sovereigns the bottle; but it never leaves the
country, so he informed us. Sefior Don Misa supplied
my regiment in sherry, and most of the best English
regiments. Jerez itself was uninteresting, being exceed-
ingly flat, and no trees there whatever ; simply the
vine growing very close to the ground, and not as on
the Rhine, where it is an object of beauty to the eye,
being trained to grow to a certain height always. Another
day I went with this German and an Italian to see Malaga,
with which town we were fairly well pleased. The
German was bent on seeing the cathedral and other
churches, closely examining all the magnificent wood-
carving in them, which I found rather tedious. The
Italian was always looking out for pretty faces all the
time, exclaiming at every instant in Spanish, " Que
bonita ! " There were indeed some lovely girls in
Malaga, which we all three admitted ; but the Italian
was far more enthusiastic about them, losing his heart
at every moment, till we almost despaired of bringing
him back to Seville.

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I visited Toledo with the German on another occasion,
which town, with the exception of the Royal Manu-
factory of Arms, we found had absolutely nothing
to interest us. The Royal Manufactory of Steel
Arms, chiefly for swords and daggers, is one of the
very best in Europe, and the peculiar way in which they
work the upper part of the blade, either with gold or
silver inlaid, gives the weapon a very costly as well as
pretty appearance. Some of these articles are for sale
in the Royal Manufactory, but belong to the Govern-
ment. We purchased two daggers, which were mag-
nificently inlaid with gold arabesque design. These
daggers are of so good a steel that we tried to pierce
a silver coin with them, which we accomplished, running
the dagger right through it. A celebrated German
author says, " Aus alten Hufeisen schmiedet man die
besten Toledo klingen, und aus alten Volksanschauungen
die besten Geisteswaffen. Das Schmieden ist ein spezi-
fisch deutches Handwerk ; Siegfried war ein Schmied
ehe er ein Held wurde." Toledo is the oldest town in
Spain, and was the only one in which the Jews were
allowed to reside when they were banished from Spain.
This accounts for the residents there having more or
less a Jewish type of face. The town appeared dirty,

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and the inhabitants were more miserable-looking than
in the other towns of Spain mentioned.

One day I went to Cadiz, staying there the night.
The approach to Cadiz is often compared with that of
Constantinople, which, according to Alexander von
Humboldt, is one of the five most beautiful cities in
the world. The approach to Cadiz is perfectly lovely ;
seen from a distance the town seems to be built of the
most exquisitely white Carrara marble, with its minarets
towering above the houses ; while the sea which appears
to surround it is of a beautiful sapphire-blue, which
rivals in its loveliness the sky above, though the
shade of the latter is more like the turquoise, as it was
early in the morning ; later in the day the colour be-
comes more intense in its shade of blue ; then both
the sea and the heavens are nearly of the same exquisite
deep blue hue. On entering the town this illusion
of its colouring is destroyed by certain houses, which
are very far from the beautiful white colour that they
appear to assume during the approach to Cadiz. This
approach can well compare with that of Constantinople
in its beauty, some people even preferring that of the
former to that of the latter town.

I took a room at an hotel and then began to explore

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the town. On my return in the evening I went up to
what I thought was my room, when the chambermaid
told me it could not be my room, as it was let to some
one else. She asked me for the key, and then told me
that it did not belong to that hotel at all, but my hotel
was in quite an opposite part of the town. The streets
were all very similar in appearance, which accounted
for my error. However, finally I got back to my own
hotel safely.

When some days later I went to Granada the red
hills and grey rocks struck my fancy, and the elm trees
with their very massive foliage increased the beauty
of the scenery, which was such a contrast to the barren
country I had witnessed hitherto in Spain. I stopped
at the Hotel de los Siete Suelos, which is situated in
the midst of very fine trees, and is quite close to the
Alhambra. The range of mountains of Sierra Nevada
partly covered with snow is visible in the distance ;
as a background to the vivid green around it forms a
lovely spectacle.

On entering the Alhambra I made the acquaint-
ance of a young English lady who was married to
a Portuguese nobleman, and lived in some rooms in
the Alhambra. She volunteered to show me all over

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the Alhambra, which attention I very gladly took
advantage of, as she knew everything that there
was worth seeing, and could explain it all so well to me.
The Alhambra reminded me a little of the Alcazar at
Seville, though it was on a far larger scale, but in the
same style of Moorish architecture. The Court of Lions
and the adjacent rooms are really quite exquisite in
the way they are constructed, and the walls are certainly
a study in the manner they are decorated, with the
marvellous blending of colours and intricate designs,
which impart a magnificence to the tout ensemble almost
impossible to describe. I almost fancied myself in one
of those fantastical palaces of the " Arabian Nights,"
especially with such a fair guide as I had, who even
offered me a room in the Alhambra for a week, if I liked,
as her guest ; but I was obliged to return to Seville the
next day. Of an evening I went again to the Alhambra
and dined with this lady and her mother. Afterwards
she took me a delightful walk, where I heard the nightin-
gales sing as I have never heard before or since then in
my life. Altogether, I took a most pleasant souvenir
away with me of the Alhambra and of Granada.

On my return journey to Seville the engine of the
train broke down a long way from a station, when every-

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MDLLE. AIMEE DESCLEE

FRAULEIN ADRIENNE RUDNICK

BARONESS ADELSDORFER

FRAU LYDIA HAYNE-PATSCH

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body was more alarmed on account of brigands, with
which that part of Spain is infested, than because of
the accident. Some strong men, however, of the party
managed to get the engine off the line, and another
engine was procured some hours later, when the train
started off again for Seville.

The train left Granada at four in the morning, there-
fore we witnessed the most glorious sunrise imaginable,
which would require the pen of a Jean Paul to describe
in all its glory. The colours which the sun imparted
to the clouds were of all the various shades of an opal,
making some of the tiny clouds appear like roses in the
heavens. But more glorious still, if possible, was the
sunset at Granada, viewed from a window in the Alham-
bra, when at times the heavens and all around appeared
as if on fire ; then gradually the colours became more
subdued, and every shade melted away from the deepest
red to the most delicate violet, leaving here and there
a bunch of roses like those of the " Souvenir de la Mal-
maison," or " Blanche Laffitt " hi their pale pink nuance,
which was the effect of the afterglow.

I was glad to return to Seville again ; it was like
*home almost to me. I was delighted to see Manuela
again, and to relate to her what I had seen, when she
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told me I had seen more of Spain than she had ; but
she delighted in Seville, and had no desire to leave it
even for a time. Her elder sisters had been educated
in Paris and Brighton, and the eldest was engaged to
marry a charg6 d'affaires of the Spanish Embassy in
Paris, a marquis.

The Spanish troops are fine-looking men, but their
officers seem deficient in that amount of knowledge
which a German officer acquires. The Spanish officers
can mostly only speak Spanish, and but very few of
them have anything but a very superficial knowledge
of French, not enough to converse properly in that
language, and they seem more disposed to try to learn
German than English. Promotion in the Spanish Army
seems a great deal due to influence and to social position.
The Spanish military bands are good, but they invari-
ably play Spanish airs, which are rather wearisome
after a time.

A peculiarity which struck me very much in Spain
is that it is customary when people are out walk-
ing and you happen to see a pretty girl or woman
whom you do not know to exclaim aloud, " Bonita,
graciosa ! " so that she may overhear you. It does not
in the least matter whether she be accompanied by her

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father, brother, or husband at the time, nor whether
he overhears you too or not ; on the contrary, he is rather
flattered than otherwise at the compliment addressed
to his relation.

I was extremely sorry to bid adieu to Seville and to
Manuela, with whom I associated the place. On enter-
ing the train some men wanted to enter my compart-
ment, which I did not succeed in preventing. They
then tried to converse with me in every possible lan-
guage till I told them I was a Russian, when they left
me in peace. On my arrival at Madrid I chanced to
fall across one of them, who inquired where I was stay-
ing, and when I replied " Hotel de Paris," the man
said that there were some of my countrymen staying
at that hotel. I then said, ** No, I think you are mis-
taken ; there is not one there." " Oh," replied he,
" I know there are some Russians staying at the Hotel
de Paris." "Oh, of course, I remember," said I, re-
mindful then of what nationality I was supposed to be.
For the moment I had quite forgotten.

On travelling from Seville to Granada the train went
so slowly that a young Spaniard used very often to get
out of the train at a station, and then wait till after the
train had left some seconds and run to catch the train

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up, which he constantly succeeded in doing. The
Spanish in travelling are very fond of offering a stranger
some wine to drink or anything to eat they may have
with them, which they look upon as a great insult to
them if it be refused. The Spaniard is always very
proud, no matter to what class he may belong ; even
the peasants are proud in Spain. A Spanish gentleman
to whom I took a letter of introduction at Seville from
a nobleman in Madrid called upon me, and told me
that during my stay in Seville he placed his house, his
horses and carriages entirely at my disposal. I re-
mained only a day or two in Madrid, and then left for
Paris, en route to England, to rejoin a battalion of my
regiment.

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CHAPTER X

NICE — THE QUACK — DR. BROWN-SEGUARD — LADY
MILDRED BERESFORD-HOPE — THE INDIAN
GENERAL — CHAMPAGNE AS HAIR- WASH —
ROULETTE — MILITARY AMENITIES — THE MEDI-
TERRANEAN CLUB — LA FETE DES FLEURS —
AMERICAN GIRLS— THE MARQUIS OF AILESBURY
—MONTE CARLO— THE CASINO— THE ROSE

TRAVELLING to Nice, via Paris, I stopped at
Lyons at the Grand Hotel de Lyon. On my
arrival I felt rather unwell, so I entered a chemist's
shop. The man at the desk asked me to go into a room
at the back, which I did, and I found a fat, elderly man
sitting reading a book. He asked me what was the
matter with me, to which I replied that I felt excited
and very nervous. He felt my pulse and shook his
head, saying, " You are very ill indeed ; you must remain
at Lyons some weeks, I am afraid. Go to your hotel
and keep to your room. I will send you some medicine,
and come to see you there." I was rather alarmed, but
something told me that I had to do with a quack, so

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I made an excuse for leaving him, saying I had friends
outside waiting for me, but I would be sure to come
back again, a promise which I did not keep.

In Paris I had visited my doctor, Professor Doctor
Brown-Seguard, of the College de France, before leaving
for Nice. He told me that he thought at first I was
suffering from the same complaint as Lady Mildred
Beresford-Hope, and that he had seen her the day before,
previous to her departure for Nice. She had been
ordered to Nice by one of the greatest and most famous
of English doctors for an attack of rheumatism, but
that he (Dr. Brown-S6guard) had discovered that she
had another much more serious ailment, and that the
climate of Nice could only accelerate her death, but as
she had sent on her servants, horses, and carriages, he
felt it would be almost impossible for her to arrange to
go elsewhere, and thus he did not dissuade her from
going there. The doctor recommended my seeing the
same medical man at Nice whom he had advised Lady
Mildred Beresford-Hope to consult when she arrived
at her destination.

I left Lyons the day after I saw the man at the chem-
ist's, notwithstanding the advice he had given me to
the contrary. I stayed at Marseilles at the Grand

*»4

Hotel de Noailles to pass the night, leaving the following
morning by the early train for Nice. On my arrival
at Nice I went to an hotel, which Dr. Brown-Seguard
had recommended to me, situated not far from the
Hotel Splendide, though not looking out on the sea.

My first impression of Nice was that it was a very
clean, white-looking town, the houses being either white
or rosy pink ; the palm trees on the Avenue des Anglais
and elsewhere gave the place a somewhat Oriental appear-
ance, but I was disappointed in the climate. I had
expected to find it much warmer, whereas it was not
very much more so than Torquay in winter. It is true
that the sky was of an intense deep blue, and the sea
rivalled the sky in its beautiful shade of golden blue,
mingled with shades of silvery violet and pale green,
as in some of Bocklin's pictures. At times the sea
appeared young, fresh, silvery white, silvery sapphire,
blue, deep purple, gold emerald, and light green, spark-
ling everywhere like diamonds in the midday sun.
The mountains had a rosy golden reflection, the houses
appeared to be dipped in gold and rose colours, and
everywhere was quiet. The sea danced with lovely
colours changing in hue as in a kaleidoscope, but more
quickly, for they seldom remained longer than one

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instant the same colour. The beauty of nature around
me made me look at everything through rose-coloured
glasses.

I went to see the doctor to whom I had been recom-
mended by Dr. Brown-S6guard and on asking after
Lady Mildred Beresford-Hope I was told that she had
died the day before my arrival from the complaint that
Dr. Brown-Seguard had told me she was suffering from.
Lady Mildred Beresford-Hope was only twenty-eight
years old when she died. It made one think that those
whom the gods love die young, for she had everything
that is necessary to enjoy life — beauty, wealth, and no
cares, save this illness which carried her off almost
without warning.

At the hotel at which I was staying there were some
curious people. Among them was an English, or rather
Indian, general and his wife. The general had retired
from the service with a pension of one thousand pounds
a year, but he had a grievance. What Englishman has
not one ? I know of no one who has not a grievance,
and it is generally, as the Irish say, "agin the Govern-
ment." I have a grievance against the War Office,
which is quite equal to that of Major Dreyfus, but the
cruelty shown was more refined, and in no way less

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painful for me. But it would take too long for me to
describe it in this book. The general ought to have
beenra peer according to his rights, but to prove it would
have cost him some ten thousand pounds, which he had
not got to throw away in law. This was the general's
grievance, and it annoyed his wife more than it did him,
for she was a good deal younger than the general, and
would have delighted in a title, particularly in that of
countess, which, had her husband proved his rights,
she would have been.

The general's wife had golden hair, and said she im-
proved its colouring by washing it once a week in cham-
pagne. I don't for a moment doubt her statement,
but not having golden hair I have never tried the effect
of washing my hair in champagne. Any lady with
blonde locks who should chance to read this might
safely try the experiment, and if she should find that
it has not the desired effect, well, there is no harm done,
and she can drink the rest of the champagne, if she be
economical.

The general's wife found the evenings rather
slow at the hotel, therefore she purchased a roulette
table, and kept the bank with her husband, which
was not only very amusing but highly lucrative.

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One evening the proprietress of the hotel, who was an
Englishwoman, happened to come in and see us playing
roulette, whereupon she made a scene and stopped the
amusement altogether, much to the disgust of the
general's wife, and of those who had lost and had now
no chance of retrieving their fortunes; and they were
rather afraid of the Casino at Monte Carlo. Besides, it
is a tiresome journey there and back, in one day, for
people who are at all indolent.

The general's wife bought her own tea and constantly
gave tea-parties at five o'clock to her friends, merely
asking for hot water, milk, and cups from the proprie-
tress. One day she asked ten people to tea, and was
supplied with the cups, etc., as usual. At the end of
the week, however, ten francs were marked down on
her bill for hot water and the use of ten cups. She
protested against this charge, but all to no avail ; she
was obliged to pay it. Afterwards, however, she bought
her own cups and made her own tea, which was wiser.
There was a concierge at this hotel, who wore a showy
uniform of blue and gold, and whose duty was not only
to attend to the guests' requirements, but also to see
that no wines, spirits, or liqueurs were smuggled into
the hotel. At times he would ask the ladies what they

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carried in their hands, and confiscate the things if neces-
sary. Most ladies smuggled in wines and brandy in
their muffs, which the concierge did not often examine,
though he did so with those who did not tip him
enough.

The living at this hotel was the same as in most hotels
at Nice — not good. There were a great number of dishes
at dinner, but the quality of the meat was rather inferior,
and the same menu was often repeated. At one time
fricandeau de veau was served so often that some one,
(I am not sure it was not myself) wrote on the menu
"toujours fricandeau de veau" The proprietress took
no notice of this remark, but when all the guests com-
plained to her about the " eternal veal " she calmly
said, " If any one complains again I shall at once give
you all notice to leave my hotel." We looked else-
where for rooms, but, alas ! the hotels were quite full
and there was no chance of their becoming empty, so
we were forced to put up with fricandeau de veau,
and it was served to us now even on Sundays as a punish-
ment. When any guest was late at dinner a fine of
fifty centimes was imposed by the proprietress, and
this sum was marked on the bill at the end of the week.
I wonder the proprietress did not have us flogged for

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the benefit of our souls, just as some Methodist did to
certain girls and women of his chapel, so I read lately
in the papers.

Outside the hotel life was pleasant enough at Nice,
and some of the people at the hotel were agreeable and
amusing. A German colonel and his wife, whom I
made the acquaintance of, were very entertaining.
The colonel served in the Prussian Army, and was
pleasant but rather formal to people he did not know
well. I introduced him to the general, who, however,
could not converse with him, as they knew no language
in common. Every time the colonel came in the salon
he bowed very formally to the general and his wife,
and did the same on leaving, till the general said to
me, " How long is this bowing and scraping going to
last ? I must confess I am heartily tired of it. The
colonel bows every time he comes in the room and when
he leaves it, and I have to do the same thing, and some
days he enters the room a dozen times."

An English colonel I knew was living at the Hotel
Royal, where my father stayed for a time. I asked him
how he found the living there, to which'he replied that
it was the same as everywhere else at Nice — not good.
I told him that my father had said it was not at all bad,

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whereupon he laughed, saying, "Your father pays for
the whole pension, but never dines here. He always
dines at the Hotel de Paris at Monte Carlo, which, of
course, is excellent." The colonel tried the Hotel de la
Grande Bretagne, and the Hotel des Isles Britannique,
but they did not please him any better. A friend of
my father's, Hamilton-Scrope, who was staying at the
H6tel Royal, told me that he had been to winter resorts
all over the world, and that though Nice had its dis-
advantages, he thought that, taking it on the whole, it
was decidedly better than any other place concerning
climate, living, and in every way.

I belonged to the Mediterran6e Club, which is the
swell club at Nice, and on a certain evening of the week
dances were held there in the ball-room. Once I met
a colonel belonging to my regiment at one of these dances,
and offered to introduce him to a lady I knew. He
asked me to show him where she was sitting, which I
did, and when he saw the lady in question talking to a
young girl he at once asked me to introduce him. The
lady I took the colonel to was the widow of a very
wealthy baronet, who had fifty thousand pounds a year
of her own, and the young lady was her daughter. The
mother was still a youngish woman, and was very envious

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of her daughter. Moreover, she wanted to find a husband
for herself, so that instead of leaving the colonel with
her daughter she kept him attached to herself, not
leaving him for a minute with her daughter during the
entire evening. The colonel said to me afterwards,
" I could not get rid of the old lady, for she clung to me
like a leech. I wanted to dance with the daughter,
who is young and not bad-looking. I did not want to
be bothered with the mother." I told him how wealthy
she was, but this enraged him all the more, for he clearly
saw then that she wanted to capture him. This lady
was staying at the Hotel Westminster at Nice. She
had her own private salon and dining-room facing the
sea, with a delightful view on the Promenade des Anglais
also.

The Mediterrane"e Club is a fine building on the Prom-
enade des Anglais, and its members are mostly of the
French aristocracy ; the club rooms are very fine, and
the dinners there are excellent, but rather dear. Most
of the members play cards for very high stakes, and they
don't care much for members like myself who never
gamble at cards ; in fact, it is almost essential for a
member to play baccarat there. Of course I knew
several members. The grandson of the Prince de

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Rivoli Due de Mass6na was one, who told me that a
friend of his had lost forty thousand pounds one evening
at cards at the club. Monsieur de 1'Esquier d'Attainville
was a man of thirty, more English in his appearance
than French. He said to me once, " You are a man
who does not require much sleep." I asked him how
he knew that. He replied, " Because you are of such a
sensitive nervous nature ; people like you never require
much sleep."

I remained several months at Nice. I was there for
the Fete des fleurs and the carnival, which I saw from
the Mediterranee Club, with my father and some ladies
whom I invited there. The Fete des fleurs was very fine,
some carriages being covered with red and white roses,
even to the wheels, while others were decorated with
roses mixed with other flowers, such as marguerites,
lilies, and carnations. There were some beautiful turn-
outs with magnificent horses in the Corso during the
Fete des fleurs.

A lady I knew very well in Vienna, a Roumanian
from Bucharest, called Mitsa Michelaexo, who was a
remarkable beauty and called " La belle Mitsa," had
a wonderful turnout at the F&e des fleurs at Nice a year
or two ago with the Prince of Coburg, and took the first

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prize. This lady, who was about eight-and-twenty,
had a marvellous figure, a very pretty face, and light
brown hair with shades of gold in it, and beautiful teeth.
She spoke French very well, but not a word of German.
Her dresses were all made hi Vienna. Her brother was
in the Guards at Bucharest, and a Royal Prince of
Roumania was at one time greatly attached to her.

The throwing of confetti is a great nuisance at carnival
time, for it really is not safe to go out without a mask.
Some people pelted me with confetti as I left the Mediter-
ran6e Club, and if I had not slipped a mask on I should
have been blinded.

At times the scirocco wind blows, and it is quite
dangerous to walk out. One day I could scarcely get
back from the Mediterrane"e Club to my hotel. I was
nearly blown away. I had to seize hold of a lamp-post
to keep on my feet ; how I got home I don't know.

What one feels so much at Nice is the sudden change
in the temperature after sunset, when the thermometer
falls some ten or fifteen degrees. Invalids and people
not strong must be indoors before sunset. The nights
are extremely cold, and fires have to be indulged in all
through the whiter evenings. In the hotels wood fires
are burnt, and not coal. I never liked going out by

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night unless I was obliged to do so, and then generally
I drove out.

One week at the hotel the proprietress told me I
had not paid my bill. I replied that I had, and to
convince her that I was right I showed her the bill
receipted, when she said she had forgotten to enter it
in her book !

What I noticed at Nice particularly was that there
were very few, if any, quite young girls, which is very
much the same thing as being in a fine garden without
any roses. I missed the delicious perfume of the " La
France" rose, the "Souvenir de la Malmaison," the
"Blanche Laffitte " ; even the " Niphetos " and the
" Baronne de Rothschild " were not there ; only once and
again some " Mar6chal Niel " roses and the rose for
which Nice is famous in the winter months. As Helene
Jammerich, a lovely young danseuse of the Vienna Opera,
once said to Baron Marburg, an Austrian lieutenant of
dragoons : " Der Herr schwarmt nur fur die Jugend ! "
She said this apropos of a young danseuse at the Vienna
Opera whom I greatly admired, who had the most
glorious complexion I think I ever saw in my life, besides
having very lovely features and blonde hair.

There is a tea-place at Nice called " Rumpelmayer,"
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where very fashionable people take their tea or coffee of
an afternoon, and if there are any pretty girls or women
one is sure to see them there. I must confess, how-
ever, I never saw any remarkable beauties at " Rumpel-
mayer's," and I went there nearly every afternoon for
my tea.

I remember a lovely girl of sixteen, Sophie de Kiesz-
kowska, a Polish girl, whom I made the acquaint-
ance of on a steamer on the Danube in after years.
She was exquisitely blonde, with hair of a divine colour-
ing of a reddish-golden tinge, that reminded me of some
of Correggio's paintings of women in the Lichtenstein
Gallery in Vienna. Her face had the delicate pink-and-
white colouring of the Rose Marie apple, which is only
to be obtained in Austria, and is served generally for
dessert. Her features were most regular; she had a
tiny mouth and the nostrils of a Greek statue ; her eyes
were of a sapphire-blue, almost putting the intense
blue sky to shame ; while her eyelashes were black and
long, shading her lovely sapphire eyes, which had a
silvery reflection, and sometimes deigned to glance
amiably at me when I was talking to her.

This young girl stayed at Nice with the Comtesse
Zamoyska, who belonged to one of the best -known

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families there. Not that I met this lovely girl ever at
Nice, or anywhere near there, or any one nearly so beau-
tiful, but when there are no roses to be had one must
be content with carnations. I corresponded with her
for some time. She was the belle of Warsaw, and after-
wards she married a Polish count. When I look at
her photograph I think to myself how few girls there
are of such exquisite beauty as hers.

There were two American girls from Boston at our
hotel ; the elder was not very young, and had a heart
not of ice but of stone, and of a very hard stone too —
a flint, I should think, for she always used to say that
her young sister was sure to die within six months of
consumption, so it was of no use buying her any dresses,
or anything. I wonder she allowed her even to eat her
meals, for the elder sister complained that she was put
to much expense by her young sister. I sat at dinner
next to the younger girl, who was fair and pretty, and
what in Vienna is called " mollett," and what in English
we should call "plump."

This girl reminded me of a Malmaison carnation, and
I always felt a shiver of delight run through me when
I sat next to her. I am sure she had a warm heart,
for I felt it sometimes beating as I sat on her left at table.

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I could have loved this young girl, but her sister always
asserted that she was going to die in six months, so I
hesitated. She often spoke to me of Howells' novels,
praising them, and lent me one of them to read, which
I liked, for it was less heavy and wearisome than some
English novels.

There was a French girl at the hotel who had blue
eyes like the " bluet," very fine long black hair, and
small hands and feet. I thought then, with Bodenstedt,
that " ein blaues auge " was " ein treues auge," but
since then I have learnt that " ein blaues auge " means
at times " ein falsches auge." Heine says a French girl
never really loves, which I am inclined to think is quite
true.

An English general officer, with his wife and their
two young nieces, were among the people staying at our
hotel. The girls were pretty, but rather insipid, and
had not warm hearts I am positive, for a German officer,
who sat near them at table during dinner, used to com-
plain of the cold so much, particularly after talking to
them at dinner time.

My father used often to go to lunch with the Marquis
of Ailesbury and his wife at a restaurant in the country
about an hour's walk from Nice. This restaurant was

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close to the seashore, and had a fine view, being rather
high up. A Pole of the name of Konarski knew the
Marquis, and appreciated his dejeuners very much ; and
often Konarski would hang about this restaurant fish-
ing for an invitation to lunch. Sometimes, however,
Konarski had his walk for nothing, because the Marquis
did not invite him. Konarski called himself a count,
and it was said he had once shaved the Tzar of Russia,
and thought he had merited the title of count for having
done so.

'One day I was walking on the Promenade des
Anglais with my father when Konarski came up to
my father and asked him where the Marquis was
going to take his lunch. My father said : " How do
you do, Count ? Glorious day to-day, Count. I am
sure, Count, the Marquis will be glad to see you, but I
really don't know, Count, where he is lunching to-day."
After Konarski had gone I asked my father who he
was, and why he had said " Count " every instant.
My father replied : "It gives him so much pleasure to
be called ' Count,' so I do it on purpose to please him.
Nothing can give him more pleasure."

At our hotel some tableaux vivants were got up, to
pass away the long evenings, and also some dances,

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which were very fade, as the Austrians would say, be-
cause they were not animated enough.

I went to Monte Carlo with my father several times,
and dined at the Hotel de Paris ; the dinner was ex-
cellent. One day I met a major in my regiment, who
told me that he had been entirely cleaned out at Monte
Carlo at roulette, so that he was compelled to return to
England, and he had telegraphed for some money to
pay his return journey.

I knew a very pretty young English girl at Monte
Carlo, whose mother had a fine villa there ; she married
an officer in the Guards afterwards, and the King of
England presented her with a lovely diamond bracelet
on her marriage.

Monte Carlo is situated higher than Nice, and has a
glorious extensive view from the Casino all round this
lovely fertile country. This delightful view, which
overlooks the silvery sapphire-blue sea, is one of the
finest in Europe, and most picturesque. One is per-
fectly amazed at first at the loveliness and grandeur of
the tout ensemble. It is so unlike any other place. The
very fine palm trees in the beautiful grounds of the
Casino give Monte Carlo a most peaceful, quiet appear-
ance, which in reality it is not ; and it makes one think

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that the nations of Europe ought to compel the Prince
of Monaco to close this hell upon earth, which has every
appearance of a heavenly paradise with its exquisite
luxuriant vegetation flourishing in the depth of winter.
I heard the orchestra in the splendid rooms of the Casino,
but I was greatly disappointed with it. It is over-
rated, and instead of trumpets they had cornets, which
have a dull sound in comparison with the clear sound of
the trumpet. The orchestra of the Crystal Palace,
under Sir August Manns, was vastly superior to the
one at Monte Carlo, and so is the Carlsbad orchestra,
under the late August Labitzky. Of course, I need not
name the Philharmonic Orchestra in Vienna, which is,
in my opinion, the best in the whole world without
exception.

The people one meets at Monte Carlo are mostly dis-
sipated-looking. It is a place where one always expects
to be robbed in one way or another. I was always
afraid of having my pockets picked. Once I entered
the gambling-rooms with my father, when a man pushed
me. I seized his hat out of his hand and threw it over
the roulette table on to the ground. He looked daggers
at me, and went away in search of his hat. I played,
but never won in the long run, though once I filled my

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pockets with pieces, but soon lost them all again. The
climate of Monte Carlo is better than that of Nice, so
Dr. Brown-Seguard told me, but the entourage is so
detestable there.

Monaco, which lies at the bottom of the hill, is not
nearly so healthy, though many people stop there, as
it is cheaper than Monte Carlo or Nice. The rose
gardens around Nice are very fine, at Beaulieu for
instance, where some people I know make quite a
fortune with their roses, which they send to Nice and
to England.

Mentone, where many English stay in the winter
months, some having villas there, is also close to Monte
Carlo ; but Dr. Brown-S6guard told me that there
were so many consumptive people living at Mentone
that the houses and hotels are somewhat dangerous for
people to live in on account of the infection spreading,
especially for very delicate people. My father stayed
there one winter, as it was near Monte Carlo, and he
rather enjoyed being at Mentone, as the hotel he stayed
at was filled with nothing but healthy people.

The shops at Nice are extremely good, and the shop-
keepers are very polite. The apartments are dear, and
have to be taken for six months, and paid for in advance.

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The danger of people losing their money at Monte Carlo
and not being able to pay their rent afterwards has to
be guarded against. Many people have their letters
addressed "Poste Restante," which is not very wise. I
knew an Englishman at Nice who received a love-letter
from a girl, which was not for him at all, but for some
other person. However, the man after looking at the
letter tore it up, instead of returning it. How dis-
appointed the poor girl must have been not to receive
a letter from her lover in reply !

The Indian general at one time used to talk Hindu-
stani at dinner to his wife. One day she said to me,
" I must beware of telling secrets in Hindustani to my
husband, as I know you understand everything I
say." The general had a horror of flies, so always
flourished about a large red silk handkerchief to keep
them off.

An American lady at Nice had a villa, and some fine
horses to her carriage. She told me she was rather bored
at Nice after Paris, where she lived. She informed me,
too, that she had read through three circulating libraries
during the winter at Nice in the evenings. The Masse"na
is a good club, but not so good as the Mediterrane'e, and
there are a great many Germans who belong to it, be-

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sides Frenchmen. The theatre, which has been con-
structed in recent years, is an imposing building, where
operas are sometimes performed by great artistes, who
come from Paris for the season. Some parts of Nice
remind one of the streets of Paris — the poorer quarters of
Paris I mean, which are quite different from the fashion-
able quartier. There is no amusement in the way of
really good music of an afternoon at Nice, in which
it resembles Torquay and other English winter resorts.
The sun gets very hot during April, but I have seen a
slight fall of snow in March, and even April is sometimes
cold at Nice.

A lovely blonde little girl in Vienna, whose Chris-
tian name was Mizzi, often used to recite the following
prose poem, on Nice, to me : —

THE ROSE

Once I stood by the seashore at Nice and held a
crimson rose in my hand. Before me lay the sea, golden
blue, silvery violet, sparkling — the quiet sunny sea of
the south. The soft rocking pearls, emeralds, and opals
of the waves on the coast wetted my feet, monotonously
and rhythmically rustling like a harp, over the strings
of which fingers glide. It was in the spring. White

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seagulls skimmed the water, at one time lightly brushing
the surface with their breast, at another time flying
high in the heavens, like butterflies flying across meadows.
At a distance a ship was going towards the east, drag-
ging a grey line of smoke after her. Slowly she
disappeared from one's eyes in the endless desert of the
ocean.

I threw the rose into the sea.

The waves drew back, and bore it away.

I saw how it went. At first shining with its crimson
hue on the pearly foam, then becoming paler and paler
on the emeralds of the sea. But after a while it rolled
at my feet with the waves. I only observed that some
leaves of the rose had been torn away by the current,
and were floating separately. And again the waves
drew back, and again they carried the rose away ; but
after a while the flower had returned with the waves
to my feet. Yet now more of the leaves had been torn
away by the current, and they came in separately.

For a long time I stood by the sea — the waves came
up to me, and withdrew again, and always brought back
the rose smaller and smaller to my feet, and always more
of the torn-off leaves of the flower.

Finally nothing remained of the rose — only a handful

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of leaves, scattered on the waters. And the sea brought
them to me, continually, continually ... Is it not
sometimes so with the heart ? Finally it comes to a
handful of leaves that are scattered about, which come
swimming to one's feet. . . .

236

CHAPTER XI

MERAN — THE GRAPE CURE — A LITTLE DANSEUSE
— ROOMS FACING SOUTH — CONVENTS AND
CHURCHES — PRINCE AND PRINCESS BARIATYN-
SKI — A RUSSIAN VIEW OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE
—BARON BASELLI'S ANECDOTE— THE PRINCESS'S
CIGAR— AN AMERICAN VIEW OF ITALY

I WAS advised by Professor von Bamberger, in Vienna,
to take the grape cure at Meran for severe indiges-
tion and heart troubles, from which I was suffering. It
was in the early part of September and the weather was
glorious, as it always is at that time of the year in Vienna.
I thought to myself that it would be a pity to leave the
most charming capital in the world for a place the very
name of which caused me to shudder. I had heard that
consumptive people were usually sent there. Moreover,
I thought that I could eat the grapes in Vienna. They
are to be had very cheaply, namely, three kilos for
twenty kreutzers, which in English money is about
fivepence for six pounds of grapes. With regard to my
heart troubles, which were not very serious, where could

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I relieve them better than in Vienna ? Were there not
the most adorable girls to be found there ?

I can remember a little girl at the Ope"ra. I fancy
I can see her now before me ; she wore short dresses, a
little lower than her knees, and her hair was of a dark
blonde colour, which at certain times she wore loose
d la maniere anglaise, hanging down her back, and at
others done up with the " Gretchen frisur." Her face
was oval, and she possessed very regular tiny features
with grey eyes ; her figure was perfect for its size, for
she was quite a small girl of about thirteen, and she had
the graceful, stately walk of the Viennese danseuses at
the opera. This little girl used to do what is called
" statiren " in grand operas, which means that she
took a page's part in operas and danced in the ballet.
I met her once on the Graben and spoke to her. She
was very amusing in her conversation, and told me
various things about the opera and ballet, which latter
was always my faiblesse, as I had written and composed
the music for a ballet. Sometimes I used to meet the
little girl in the Volks Garten, when she was accompanied
usually by her mother. She was considered to be quite
a beauty at the Op6ra, which is an imperial theatre,
and to which the danseuses are all appointed by the

238

FRAULEIN LILLY BERGER

FOUR LADIES OF THE BALLET AT VIENNA

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K. K. Hofintendant, who is always a nobleman of high
rank chosen by the Emperor, and the danseuses have
a much higher standing in Vienna than elsewhere. But
if I were to enumerate all the attractive girls and
ladies in Vienna I am afraid I should never get to
Meran.

It was not till the month of December that Professor
von Bamberger told me decidedly that I should leave
for Meran. I went to Meran, not for the grape cure
for indigestion, nor for heart troubles, of which I
could have cured myself in Vienna, but for a nervous
complaint contracted in the service.

On arrival at Meran I stayed at the " Habsburger
Hof," as I knew the proprietor, Herr Braacher, who
possessed a delightful hotel, the " Belle vue," at
Gmunden, at which I have often stopped for the
summer season. I asked for rooms facing south,
when I was shown into some on the second
floor.

" Are these rooms facing the south ? " I inquired
of Herr Braacher, who himself showed me up to the
rooms. " Yes, of course," answered he. I looked at
a compass I happened to have with me ; it pointed to
the west. I shook it and shook it, but the compass would

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not move at all from the west. " There is something
wrong with my compass evidently," I said. " No,"
replied Hen Braacher, laughing. "I have no rooms
facing the south. All my best rooms face the west,
but I get so many bothering, fussy people, and I am so
used to telling them that the rooms face south, that I say
it more mechanically than otherwise." I stayed at this
hotel during most of the winter months. The rooms
were very comfortable, having double windows and a
good stove, and the living was uncommonly good, in-
cluding the late dinner.

Meran is certainly a pretty place. It is like a village,
and is surrounded by high mountains, rather too much so,
as the rising or setting sun can hardly be seen no matter
how one may try to see it. I never rose early enough to
wish to see the sun rise, but I often longed in my heart
to see it set, but a bothering mountain always got in my
way when I made the attempt to do so. For an active
person (I am not speaking about myself, for I am de-
cidedly the reverse), there are very charming walks about
Meran, and plenty of mountains to climb, even with
snow on them all the year round. I never indulged
in climbing them. I leave that pleasure to others.
While I was at Meran there was tolerably good skating

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until the month of February, when it commences to
be warm in the sun ; in fact, the spring is supposed
to begin in February, although it does not always
do so.

The Kursaal is not much of a place ; there are a reading
and a music room, where the Kur Kapelle plays in the
early morning and of an afternoon. The Kur Kapelle
is a fair band, and generally has an able conductor.
While I was at Meran the Kur Kapelle played very well
indeed a waltz of my own composition, and I went in
the early morning to hear the band rehearse it. In the
room in which the band plays there was always an
unpleasant smell of carbolic acid and creosote, used by
some of the patients suffering from consumption. Con-
sequently I rarely entered the Kursaal ; but in February
the band plays out of doors in the kiosk, opposite the
Kursaal, and the concerts are well attended. There
are plenty of nice shady walks, with seats everywhere
for invalids, for there are no streets as in a town. Some
people would call Meran delightful in the month of
February, but I always found it triste d mourir. The
only time I liked it was when I could sit out of doors
among the trees on the promenade, listening to the band
playing. Young children danced and played about, but
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there were few children at Meran, and these few were
troubled with lung complaints.

The dinners at the Kursaal were at one o'clock and
very fair indeed. They were much patronized, so that
it was hard to secure a seat. Every one is en pension ;
even at the Kursaal there are no dinners a la carte ; they
are all table cThdte a prix fixe. I wrote to my father
and asked him to come to Meran, but he answered me
that he had looked the place up in a guide-book, and
found that there was nothing there but churches and
convents ; that he did not suppose they would take
him in a convent ; and as to the churches, it would only
puzzle him very much to know which was the one he
ought to go to.

At my hotel Prince Bariatynski, a chamberlain of the
Tzar, was staying with the Princess and three daughters,
and they always sat in the dining-room at a small table
apart from the others. The Princess was a lady-in-
waiting on the Tzaritsa, and the young Princesses went
frequently to the Court at St. Petersburg to attend the
Court balls. These young girls, who were fairly good-
looking, used to skate beautifully, cutting figures on
the ice and skating backwards, as well as waltzing with
great facility. They did not associate with any one else

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in the hotel, excepting at times with Count Bourtouline,
who was a cousin of the Prince Bariatynski.

Count Bourtouline was a very agreeable man indeed,
and told me one day that the Prince Bariatynski be-
longed to an older family than the Tzar did, the family
dating before the Rurik, and that the Bariatynskis
were one of the first families in Russia. Count Bourtou-
line spoke French exceedingly well, but he said that
there were some Russians who spoke it much better
than the French themselves, as they spoke the pure
French of the period of Louis XIV and Louis XV, which
was now never to be heard in France. Count Bourtouline
asked me laughingly one day : "Do tell me if it is
really a fact that your English judges wear those old-
fashioned wigs in court, and that you still employ the
Fahrenheit thermometer in England." I informed
him that this was the case, but he could hardly realize
it. He asked me whether the Bible was universally
read in England by young people, and when I told him
so, he said that in Russia it was forbidden to young
people, and he seemed astonished that this was not so
in England. Count Bourtouline informed me that at
Easter in Russia it is usual to kiss the person who
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just after the service, and that sometimes he had
to kiss some very old women of the people, and at
other times a young girl whom he had never seen
before.

Baron Baselli, a general, and a chamberlain to the
Emperor of Austria, was also staying at the hotel. The
Baron told the same story over and over again to me
and to others. I know it by heart, so I will relate it
as he told it : —

" I was staying at Trieste at an hotel during the
cholera, when one day I heard a great noise in the room
next door to mine, so I asked of the chambermaid what
it could be, for I had never heard such a noise in my
life. ' It is nothing,' said she. ' What do you mean
by nothing ? ' ' Why, it's nothing, only a man dropped
down dead of the cholera ! ' I did not listen to any
more ; I packed my trunk and left Trieste, and did
not eat anything until I got into Germany."

Count Bourtouline would often ask the Baron, with
a smile, if he had ever had the cholera, when the latter
would answer : " Yes, I had it once and nearly died of
it, and when I was at Trieste. . . ." Then he would
tell this story which I have just related.

A nephew of Baron Baselli, a young cavalry lieutenant

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in Vienna, fell desperately in love with a very pretty
English girl named Kittinger, who was living there with
some Austrians I knew. She led him on, while she was
rather fond of a Prince Taxis. One evening Baron
Baselli called on her, but was refused admission as
Prince Taxis was there, and the Baron shot himself on
her doorstep. Baron Baselli had a grand funeral in
Vienna. The whole affair created an immense sensation ;
and the young English girl was asked to leave Vienna
at once. However, she came back after a time. The
parents of the Baron never recovered from the shock
this event caused them, for the Baron had ruined him-
self for this very heartless English girl.

We sat at dinner at one long table, and there were
many people at the hotel. One day a man suddenly
disappeared. I inquired where he had gone, and was
told by some one that he had left, but it turned out
that he had died, and as so many people die there
they bury them in the evening if possible, in order
that the fact may not be remarked by the other
guests.

It is quite astonishing how many people die of con-
sumption at Meran ; on the other hand, there are mostly
consumptive people staying there. One hears people

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coughing all day long. One poor fellow who sat near
me at table — a fine-looking, nice young fellow, a lieu-
tenant of the Prussian Garde Kiirassier Regiment from
Berlin, a man of six feet — told me he had got his lung
trouble on parade, and that he had only six months to
live. He seemed pretty well, but coughed fearfully at
times, and drank a great quantity of milk.

General von Mollersdorf, a Prussian, who was in
command of the Kaiser Alexander von Russland Kiiras-
sier Regiment in Berlin, and who was at my hotel, told
me that it was a mistake to go to Meran before February,
as it was nearly as fine weather in Berlin, but that
Meran was a perfectly delightful climate in the early
spring, when the vegetation began to flourish and the
trees to have foliage.

At my hotel a good many Germans arrived who dis-
approved of the late dinner, so it was put to the vote
whether we should have early or late dinner. The
majority voted for an early dinner. I put up with this
change for a bit, and then could stand it no longer.
The proprietor, Herr Braacher, asked me to remain on,
but I left for the Hotel Graf von Meran.

At the Hotel Graf von Meran, which was kept by the
proprietress of the Hotel Munsch in Vienna, I could

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dine late a la carte. A French lady was there who had
also left the "Habsburger Hof." At dinner there were
only three or four people. One evening the Princess
Ardeck, who was a sister of Prince Hanau, and daughter
of the Grand Duke of Nassau, and always dined of an
evening at the same time and same table as I did, was
dining with her son and a very pretty fair daughter
and a gentleman she had invited as her guest. During
dinner the Princess asked the French lady and myself
in French, as we had not finished our dinner, whether
we had any objection to her smoking a cigar. We said
that we had none, and she lighted her cigar and began
to smoke it.

The Princess was a very agreeable lady, and her
daughter was really pretty, but excessively naive
and not very spirituelle. Her mother wished to marry
her to the gentleman who was their guest, and
who was very much older than the daughter, but ex-
cessively wealthy. But one could see at a glance that
the girl did not care for him at all. The son of Princess
Ardeck was serving in the Death's Head Hussars, or
Schwarze Huzaren, of which the Emperor William
usually wears the uniform and is the Colonel-in-
Chief ; but the young Prince Ardeck died very soon

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after I saw him at Meran of a fever while with his
regiment.

With regard to ladies smoking at dinner, I was once
dining at the Hotel Stadt Frankfurt, in Vienna, with a
lady when two American ladies entered the room. They
sat at a table to order their dinner, but perceiving that
two ladies were smoking (one of whom was smoking a
cigar), they called the head waiter and desired him to
ask these ladies to leave off smoking while they were
having dinner. The waiter said : " It is more than my
position would allow me to do to ask these ladies to
leave off smoking, for one is the Princess Trauttmans-
dorff and the other is the Princess Esterhazy." Where-
upon the American ladies said that they must dine in
another room ; but the waiter told them that there
was only the Gastzimmer where the cabmen usually
dine, and where they decided to go as it was empty
at that hour.

Once, while leaving Bozen for Italy, which place is
only a drive of about two hours from Meran, and while
I was dining at an hotel there, I made the acquaintance
of an American. He asked me where I was going, to
which I replied that I was leaving for Florence. He
smiled and said : " You are going to Italy, a country

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where everything is very inferior compared with Austria.
For in the latter country the living is much better, the
wine and food are better, the houses are better to live
in, they are much more comfortable, the people are
much nicer, more polite, and the women prettier. I
don't know anything, the climate included, that is not
much better in Austria than it is in Italy ; even the
music and the drama are better."

I had never been to Italy then, and did not know
what to think of his statements ; but since that time I
have been several times to Italy, and I must confess
that the American was a very sensible man, as Americans
usually are,. They have far more common sense than
the English, and find out the best places to go to for
comfort and everything else, and always get their
money's worth. I have a great admiration for the
Americans, and generally get on well with them. This
American was quite right. Everything is far better in
Austria than it is in Italy. Some people may say that
in Italy in the winter the climate is better. It may be
at San Remo, but it certainly is not better at Genoa,
Florence, Venice, or Milan, for there is a far better
climate at Abbazia in the whiter months than at the
four towns I have named. March is the favourite month

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for Abbazia, and then the hotels are all quite full.
Abbazia, on the Adriatic, is warmer in winter than
Meran, which has the same climate as Montreux. The
American was quite right ; even the climate is better
in parts of Austria than in some parts of Italy in winter,
for Nice is in France.

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CHAPTER XII

ITALY— GENOA— MILAN— AN ENGLISH MAIDEN LADY
ON THE BALLET— LA SCALA— PRINCESS GONZAGA
—VENICE— THE BOLOGNA BALLET— MARIA GIURI
—FLORENCE— M I LAN— NAPLES

I HEARTILY rejoiced when my wish to visit Italy
was fulfilled, for everywhere had I heard the country
highly spoken of, and when at Seville a German ac-
quaintance was accustomed to compare the two coun-
tries, alleging that in his opinion everything was much
nicer in Italy, this greatly excited my anticipation, for
I was delighted with Spain and charmed with the pleasant
winter climate of Seville, as well as with the people,
and the other towns I had visited.

On my arrival in Genoa I was much struck with the
sea, which looked now silvery blue and then pale greenish ;
it was a very bright day in spring, and the sun shone
with great power. The houses near the water seemed
to be very white indeed, probably owing in a great
measure to the clear atmosphere, and the sky was of
a sapphire shade of blue, the sun pouring down its golden

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rays over the town and sea. The ships, with their dark-
coloured masts and white sails, gave the water a charm-
ing appearance, for the waves looked more intense in
their shade of blue when contrasted with the white sails
of the vessels, some of which were becoming smaller
and smaller in the distance, till they disappeared al-
together.

I stayed at the Grand Hotel de Genes, which had
formerly been a palace, and found many of the spacious
rooms very comfortable. Genoa impressed me as being
a business-like town, for looking out of the window
I noticed many men walking quickly at a certain hour
as if for their lives. The houses in the interior of the
town looked very sombre, but there were some exceed-
ingly fine old palaces, with facades beautifully carved
in stone. The theatre or opera house happened to
be closed at this visit of mine, but it exhibited a remark-
ably fine exterior.

At the table d'hote I made the acquaintance of Colonel
Martin, the then Colonel of our King's Dragoon Guards,
who had been visiting San Remo, with whose climate
and beautiful scenery he was delighted, while he averred
the quiet life pleased him better than the gay society
at Nice.

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One day I thought I would visit Pegli, a place close
to Genoa, and its lovely gardens near the sea afforded
me much enjoyment. A quantity of camellias were
growing there, and I somehow or other conceived the
idea that the white ones were reminiscent of the corpses
of young girls clad in white, and the red specimens
those of others bleeding to death from some internal
wound, while the perfume of the orange and lemon
trees only served to confirm my illusion. The day
after my return I had a bad sore throat and consulted
a chemist, but his remedy, being very severe, only
served to inflame the bad place. When at table I could
not eat my dinner, though it appeared to be very good ;
but later in the evening a young Italian count, who was
A.D.C. to General Marquis de Menabrea, very kindly
felt my pulse, and told me I had got fever, so had better
go to bed and take a good dose of quinine, adding,
" I hope you will then be all right in the morning, but
if not, send for a doctor."

The next day I was worse and could hardly swallow,
so I sent for a doctor, who told me the chemist's remedy
had nearly given me a kind of diphtheria. I was ill at
Genoa for three weeks, and during that time thought
of Pegli and its red and white camellias, feeling myself

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at times also like a corpse. The pension at the Grand
Hotel was eighteen francs a day, which I had to pay,
although I could not eat anything, and, what is more,
I was compelled to remain there by the doctor's orders.

From Genoa I proceeded to Milan, where I stayed at
the H6tel de France, on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele,
and found more to please me there ; indeed, I have
often returned to this famous town. With the dome
of Milan (which after St. Peter's at Rome and Seville
Cathedral is the largest church) I was quite infatuated,
for, seen beneath a very blue sky, it appeared almost like
a dream of marble, so exquisitely white in colour was it,
while the delicate style of architecture appeared like
the designs of a piece of elaborate Brussels lace. With
the living at Milan I was not, however, so satisfied, for
I did not like the Italian cooking, which reminded me
somewhat of the Spanish, though it was not, perhaps,
quite so oily.

I occupied the same room as Saint-Saens had done
a few weeks before, and found the city a very charming
place in the early spring, while I had nothing to com-
plain of in the climate, which, as a matter of fact, was
delightful. The pretty public gardens were tastefully
laid out, and it was pleasant to sit there when the warm

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weather set in, or to walk under the avenue of trees and
watch the carriages of the smart residents drive up
and down from five to seven o'clock in the afternoon,
before their occupants went to La Scala in the evening.
It was sometimes quite crowded with well-dressed
people of both sexes, and there is a peculiar Italian
custom that when a nobleman walking with ladies of
his acquaintance happens to meet a danseuse of the
famous theatre whom he knows he invariably salutes
her by taking off his hat. This has often been com-
mented upon by foreigners, particularly English people,
who seem surprised at the habit.

There are several very good cafes in Milan, such,
for example, as the Cafe" Biffi and Cafe" Cavour, where
the more important Italian and foreign newspapers
can be read. I always found vermouth and soda very
refreshing in the summer months, as the vermouth comes
from Turin, where the best is made, and I think it is
preferable to the Italian wines. Asti spumante is a
good imitation of champagne, but not to be compared
with the latter, as far as excellence of taste is concerned,
while chianti and barolo are the wines most favoured
in Italy; but they are very inferior to the French Bor-
deaux or Burgundies. I usually drank barolo at dinner,

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and thought it somewhat better than chianti, but I
cannot say that I ever liked it much.

During the summer some not at all bad concerts are
given in several of the cafes of an evening, and on one
occasion I listened at the Caf6 Cavour to the band
playing the " Promessi Sposi " of Ponchielli, some of
the music of which was so pathetic that it greatly affected
me, though the band was quite mediocre.

The streets are curiously paved with stones, which
are rather rugged, and ladies complain sometimes
that their heels get caught between them, especially
if they happen to be wearing Louis XV heels. The
pavement is not raised from the thoroughfare, as
is the case in England, but is even with it. This,
however, one soon gets accustomed to, though it
is dangerous when many carriages are passing too
near the footpath, which often happens in Milan. There
is a very fine bronze statue of the great Napoleon in the
courtyard of the Brera, which is well worth seeing,
as also is the interior of the building, where can be seen
the celebrated picture " Sposalizio," by Raphael.

I stayed at an Italian pension once at Milan to see
what it was like, but found the food worse than it was
in the hotel, though I got plenty of amusement for my

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trouble. The dinner-table was a long one, and there
were many German and Servian artists staying there,
most of them young and studying for the operatic
stage, while there were also some more or less celebrated
painters.

There was also an old English maiden lady who created
some amusement by saying that she often went to La
Scala, but did not approve of ballets. Some one asked
her why, when she replied, " I hate to see my sex dis-
grace itself so in short skirts and tights ; but I never
look at the girls, only at the men dancers." Thereupon
a young Servian girl laughed very heartily and said,
" Those you looked at are girls dressed as men." At
this remark I thought the old lady would have fainted,
and it is said she never went to a ballet again at La Scala.
However, notwithstanding her dislike to the costume
of the danseuse, she was very fond of seeing good dancing,
and one evening enlivened the company at the pension
by showing them the step of an English barn dance.

I may, perhaps, mention here that some years later
I met the above-mentioned young Servian girl with her
mother in London, where she had come to continue her
studies of singing under the celebrated Signor Vanuccini.
They arrived in the season, but did not much care for

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the life, everything being so different from Italy and
their own country, though the novelty at first pleased
them. Hyde Park and the Row were all they really
liked.

Signer Filippi, the father of the well-known actress in
London, used constantly to dine at this pension, and
was considered the best theatrical critic in Italy, always
writing for " La Perseveranza " — his articles on music,
the opera, and the drama being quite a pleasure for
any one to read. He was much feared by all the great
composers, as his opinion was thought to be the true
verdict on an opera or ballet at La Scala, and no other
man had so much weight with the singers, excepting,
perhaps, Hanslick in Vienna, whom even Adelina Patti
was afraid of at first. This pension overlooked the
beautiful arcades, which are covered over, and possess
some very good shops. It is very pleasant to walk
there on a wet day, and the visitor is reminded of the
Burlington Arcade, but this one is on a much larger scale,
being three hundred and twenty yards long, and the
roof (ninety-five feet high) is very much loftier ; in
fact, all the rooms in the pension were overlooked by
the glass roof of the arcades, which are the finest in the
world.

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La Scala was closed when I went to Milan on my
first visit, as it usually is in the late spring and summer
months, as also are most of the other theatres. I often
walked in the Giardini Pubblici of an evening, and the
scene was truly delightful, for the magnificent magnolias
in full bloom spread a powerful perfume all round, and
the fireflies flying in all directions reminded one of the
lovely garden in Kandy called Peradeniya, which is
supposed to be the original garden of Paradise.

On one visit to Milan I went afterward to Verona,
where I saw the amphitheatre, which is said to be the
finest of the Roman buildings that remain in a toler-
ably good condition. The size was enormous and,
of course, open, reminding one a little of the Spanish
arena for bull-fights, though the latter is very much
smaller inside. Everything else at Verona, however,
disappointed me, for the streets appeared dirty, and
the cholera was very bad there at the time.

I made the acquaintance in later years of the Princess
Gonzaga, who was the wife of the reigning Prince, and
they had their palace at Mantua. She was quite young,
spoke our language beautifully, and always read English
books — novels for preference. The Princess told me
when travelling in Italy to always take the train on a

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Friday and choose a first-class carriage, for under those
circumstances one was sure to be alone or nearly so,
as the Italians are very superstitious indeed, and rather
inclined to economy when taking a journey.

I met her in after years at Milan with her mother,
the Comtesse Mona Roncadelli, who was as charm-
ing as her daughter, and when in Vienna I often
dined at their table. The Princess Gonzaga used to be
invited to dine with the Empress of Austria, which was
a very great honour, for Her Majesty only sat at her
table with royalty, as a rule, at a dinner of ceremony
at the " Hof Burg," and she was very particular whom
she invited.

I was advised one year by Professor von Bamberger,
of Vienna, to spend the winter at Florence, and stopped
at different places on the Brenner Bahn. I was charmed
with the magnificent country through which I passed
en route, though at times it made one almost shudder
to look out of the window of the train and see at what
a height we were above the ravine, which was some
hundreds of feet below, while sometimes we were on
the edge of a precipice, and had to go slowly for fear
of an accident ; but the views were marvellous and
quite worth the journey.

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I stopped one night at Botzen, went on to Verona,
and from there travelled to Venice, where I remained
at an hotel on the Grand Canal for some days. On
the night of my arrival I stood by an open window
talking to an English clergyman and his wife, watching
the black gondolas gliding by, but I felt the morbid
sensation that they were carrying off the dead. It
must not, however, be imagined by those who have
never been to Venice that one cannot walk at all there,
for I went on foot to the square of San Marco, where
I was charmed with the cathedral — like every one else.
The lions by the arsenal looked very formidable in white
marble and gold, and the pink colour of the cathedral
was enhanced by the beautiful blue sky, but it would
be folly to try to imitate Ruskin or Taine by describing
the building. In the square of St. Marco there is an
excellent cafe (the " Florian "), where delicious coffee can
be drunk in the afternoon while listening to a good
Italian military band. Some very doubtful Russian
cigarettes are usually offered one by the waiter, and
these a Russian count used to call " dynamite cigarettes "
when he asked me to give him one.

I went in a gondola to see the church of St. Giovanni,
which is built of brick, but is well worth seeing, and

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I afterwards visited the church of Sta. Maria Gloriosa,
also built of brick, but at the same time one of the
finest churches in Venice. On the Grand Canal I ad-
mired the various palaces, particularly the Pesaro and
the Camerlenghi by the Rialto bridge, which I walked
over, by the way, in the most prosy way possible. I
mention this for some people who have never been to
Venice imagine one goes in a gondola everywhere, or
possibly flies over such obstacles as bridges.

The celebrated opera house La Fenice was closed at
the time, so I could only see it from outside ; but the
building appeared very imposing and well situated, with
its facade and steps leading down to the water of the
canal.

It is very delightful to hear voices singing at a distance
on the water at Venice by night, especially by moon-
light, when the canal sparkles with light in all directions
and the moon throws a bluish-white reflection on the
water, giving to it an appearance of crystal, while the
lights on the black gondolas have a reddish appearance,
as if they were very large rubies sparkling in the moon-
beams. These dark craft have always a death-like
appearance, notwithstanding the voices one hears in
them, and though the visitor after a while becomes used

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to their appearance, one cannot help regretting the
times of the Doges of Venice, when the gondolas were
gorgeous in bright colours.

From Venice I went to Bologna, where I stayed at
the Hotel Suisse, and in the evening walked about the
town, which seemed to me to be mostly built in the style
of the cloisters at Eton, giving the place a rather sombre
appearance. I was much struck with the leaning tower,
and later in the same evening went to the Teatro Nazion-
ale, where the opera " Fra Diavolo " was performed.
The singers did not please me, and I thought of leaving
before it was over, as midnight was approaching ; but
an Italian advised me to stop for the ballet, which I did,
though it was nearly one o'clock before it began. The
ballet given was " Excelsior," by Manzotti, with music
by Marenco, and as I had seen the lovely perform-
ances given in Vienna at the Opera, which are on a far
grander scale than any of those in England, at the
Empire or Alhambra, I almost thought it was useless
to remain. However, I did, and had one of those
agreeable surprises in life which come at times when
least expected.

" Excelsior " as danced at Bologna was quite beyond
anything I had imagined, for the beauty of the colours

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worn by the different danseuses, the quickness of their
movements, the marvellous precision and way they all,
without any exception, danced on their points (not, as
in England, on the half-point), and the number of per-
formers (for two hundred and fifty were constantly on
the stage at once), gave a splendour to the tout ensemble
I could hardly have realized if I had not seen it. Then
the prima ballerina assoluta, Maria Giuri, a fair young
girl of seventeen, from Trieste, appeared in the midst
of the corps de ballet, dressed in white gauze, with the
short skirts worn in Italy, and danced a " variation "
alone. At times her feet seemed hardly to touch the
ground, for she danced on her extreme points, and
appeared to fly through the air like a feather, performing
the most fantastical and difficult steps, while her pirou-
ettes and ronds de jambe excited the utmost enthusiasm,
as she constantly made from thirty to thirty-five without
resting on the other foot. I had never seen such beauti-
ful dancing before, and could not take my eyes off her,
for she seemed to be some fantastical apparition from
another world, and made me forget everything but her
marvellous dancing. I met Maria Giuri a year after-
wards at Mme. Beretta's school for pupils of La Scala,
when she told me that she was going to create " L' Amour,"

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MDLLE. MARIA U1URI OF "LA SCALA"

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the new ballet of Manzotti and Marenco, at La Scala
in Milan.

Mme. Beretta, who was an old lady, told me after-
wards that she herself had danced in London at Her
Majesty's with Taglioni, Cerito, and Fanny Elssler ;
but that none of them could dance like Giuri, who per-
formed certain steps which Taglioni never dreamt of,
while she was quite as graceful, if not more so. Giuri
was decorated by the Emperors of Austria, Germany,
and Russia on the same day for dancing before them
at a special performance in Poland, and she showed
me the decorations, which were all in brilliants and very
beautiful.

Some years ago I wrote a criticism in the " Saturday
Review " on Adele Sozo's dancing at the Empire, whose
style was very fine indeed, but not equal to Giuri's.
There are very few amateurs de la danse in England now,
I am afraid, which is the reason why Taglioni, Cerito,
and Fanny Elssler are still considered to be so much
superior to our present-day performers ; but this is
quite an illusion, for there are danseuses still living who
are far better indeed, only in those days people appre-
ciated the ballet as it ought to be, while now they are
more in favour of the English music-hall style.

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From Bologna I proceeded to Florence, where I
stayed at the Hotel de Russie, on the Place Manin, for
the winter months, but cannot say that the city came
up to my expectations. I was disappointed with the
general appearance, for it looked more sombre than I
had imagined, while the climate was disappointing,
there being very little sunshine on many days during
my visit. The river Arno was of a muddy colour, the
houses were all grey in appearance from old age, and
some of the palaces looked more like prisons with their
tiny windows than anything else.

I visited the Pitti, whose picture gallery, it is said,
is the finest in the world, and admired the paintings
of Fra Angelico, Perugino, and especially those of
Andrea del Sarto. But the picture which above all
others in the Pitti Gallery excited my admiration
was Raphael's " Madonna della Sedia." No one
who has not seen the original can possibly con-
ceive how beautiful the colouring of the golden auburn
hair and how delightful the expression on the very
lovely face are. All photographs and engravings of
this picture give one but a very feeble idea of
Raphael's most beautiful chef-d'oeuvre. The marvel-
lous statues in bronze of Benvenuto Cellini are also

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exquisite, one of the groups representing Perseus holding
the head of Medusa in his hand always attracting my
attention when I passed by.

I also visited the Uffizi Gallery, and was charmed
with the paintings of Titian and Raphael, while the
gigantic statue in marble by Michelangelo of David
was also worth seeing ; but his marble " Night and
Morning " pleased me very much better. The expres-
sion on the faces of the man and woman was wonder-
fully beautiful, and one could look at the work for
a long time without being in the least fatigued ;
indeed, the more the spectator gazes at it the more
he is struck by its great beauty of conception and
execution.

Of the palaces the most beautiful are the Palazzo,
Vecchio, the Strozzi, and the Corsini. The Lung Arno,
where the " Corso " of carriages takes place from after-
noon till evening, was generally crowded in the winter
and spring, when people drive out to the Cascine, which
is the favourite promenade. The place is a kind of Bois
de Boulogne, but not nearly so nice or half so pretty.
I walked out there one day, and on my return was
suddenly attacked by a kind of malarial fever, from
which I suffered more or less all through the winter ;

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but my English doctor thought I had caught it origin-
ally while in Venice.

There were several English people staying at the
Hotel de Russie, amongst them a lady who played the
zither very well, her performance on it reminding me
of the time I was in Austria. Of an afternoon it was
the fashion to take one's coffee at the Caf6 Giacosa,
which was very elegantly fitted up, and situated in the
Via Tornabuoni, the most fashionable street for shops
in Florence. The charges were somewhat high, viz.
one franc for each cup of coffee ; but it was said to
come from Mecca direct, and the cakes and pastry
there were very good indeed.

I often went of an afternoon to the Boboli Gardens,
which were very pleasant in the spring, and, as they
are situated on the slope of a hill, the view from the
top is exceedingly fine. I constantly witnessed a sunset
from the summit, when the whole country around was
plunged in the most delicate shades of violet, with a
few clouds in the sky here and there, scattered about
like roses, of a pale shade of red, the scene making me
think of the glorious sunsets I had seen at Granada in
Spain.

I once went to the Pergola Theatre, where I

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saw Mile. Clementine de Vere in " Rigoletto," and was
delighted with her fine voice. I saw her afterwards at
Milan, where she had sung formerly at La Scala, and
she now takes a leading part in the Moody-Manners
company, at present touring in this country.

I knew a Russian lady at Florence, a sister of the
Princess Baratoff, who, with her son, used to invite me
sometimes to their apartment, when the Samovar was
placed on the table, as is the Russian custom, and the
lady told me she got her tea direct from St. Petersburg
at a cost of thirty-five francs a pound ; it is needless
to say that the beverage, which was Overland China
tea, was delicious.

My doctor informed me that Florence was about the
same climate as Torquay in winter, if anything rather
colder than the latter place, and, indeed, I found it so,
especially at night. This may possibly have been owing
to the fact that the hotel, which had formerly been an
old palace, had stone floors, and the carpet did not
prevent one from feeling the cold.

I left Florence for Milan in March, as I was heartily
tired of the former place ; but while there I had been
to Fiesole and admired the drive, the villas, and their
gardens. In the early spring the carnations, roses, and

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violets sold in the streets of Florence are beautiful ; and
I also saw the carnival, but did not think very much of
it. The cathedral is a fine-looking building, both out-
side and in, while the new facade is imposing and even
gorgeous-looking in appearance.

I wanted to go from Florence to Rome ; but my
doctor dissuaded me from doing so, as he said I was
sure to get the fever there, so, as already remarked, I
left for Milan instead, where I stayed at first at the
Hotel de France, then tried a pension in the Via Man-
zoni, kept by a German lady.

I went to La Scala to see the ballet " Brahma,"
by Dall' Argine, which I had witnessed many years
before in Vienna, when Bertha Linda danced, and
the performance at La Scala pleased me very much.
The dancers were mostly pretty and young ; they
all danced on their points, and there were about
three hundred of them altogether. The premiere
danseuse was Emma Besone, who performed very well
indeed, though nothing like so well as Maria Giuri ;
but the corps de ballet was even better than the one at
Bologna, and there were several well-known dancers in
it. This theatre is the second largest in Europe (San
Carlo at Naples coming first), and it has, in my opinion,

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the best corps de ballet in Europe, certainly better than
the one at the Opera in Vienna and at the Marie Theatre
in St. Petersburg.

During one of the spring visits I made to Milan I
went to Como, and took the " Vaporetto " on the lake,
first of all going to Cadenabbia, with which place I was
enchanted, the scenery and view from the terrace of
the house I stayed at being delightful. The lake re-
minded me somewhat of Killarney, though the former
was on a far grander scale, while the vegetation was
more plentiful and pleasing to the eye. The climate
also was much better even in the spring, and the sun
was very powerful. The sky was of a beautiful golden
blue, and the lake almost of the same shade, while the
tiny silvery waves caught the eye from time to time as
the " Vaporetto " moved onwards through the blue
waters. Bellagio, in the distance, appeared like a small
town built of the purest white Carrara marble on a tiny
island, surrounded by blue water, with the sun shining
down upon it.

On returning to Como I shortly afterwards left for
Vienna, stopping at Botzen and various other places
en route.

I studied orchestration of the celebrated Amilcare

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Ponchielli while at Milan, and whenever he came to the
Hotel de France one would have imagined a prince of
the Royal Family had arrived by the way he was re-
ceived. He was always addressed as Maestro, and I do
not think that even Verdi was more popular at Milan.
One day Ponchielli came and asked me whether I was
going to assist at the " catastrophe " of his new opera,
" Marion Delorme," which was to be performed for the
first time that evening at La Scala. I told him that I
would go, of course, and hoped it would be a great
success. All the foremost singers in Italy were engaged,
and I secured a stall for eighty francs, though it was not
in the first row, those seats costing one hundred francs
each. The boxes and, indeed, every seat in the house
were taken long before the day of the performance, all
the celebrated people of the nobility and fashion being
present on that occasion. Everybody was in evening
dress as if for a gala performance, and the ladies in the
boxes were all decollete, wearing magnificent jewellery,
the rubies, emeralds, and diamonds on their necks
glittering and sparkling, and almost equalling in their
splendour the brilliant illuminations of the Opera House.
There was loud applause when the composer appeared,
and also after the prelude, which was splendidly played

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by the famous orchestra under Faccio, a well-known
Italian composer.

Pantaleone took the part of the heroine and sang
beautifully, acting her role, indeed, very well in this
highly dramatic opera, which was taken from Victor
Hugo's play. Tamagno, the celebrated tenor, sang the
leading man's part as no other tenor could have done ;
while Adele Borghi was given the page's part, and had
a charming song to sing. This last-named actress looked
very handsome in her dress of light blue velvet braided
with silver, and with her black hair arranged in curls,
admirably showing off her beautiful face. Notwith-
standing all these advantages, however, the opera met
with a lukewarm reception, and was pronounced only a
half-success. It was perhaps too ponderous, too heavy,
too Wagnerian (if one may say so) to please Italy ; but
it might suit England, as there are some charming songs
in it.

Ponchielli received eighty thousand francs for
" Marion Delorme " from Ricordi, the famous publisher
in Milan ; but whether it was owing to this " catas-
trophe " or not I do not know, but Ponchielli, poor man,
died very suddenly indeed. A statue has been erected
to his memory at his birthplace, Bergamo, in Italy ;
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and Puccini, the composer of " La Boheme " and
" Madama Butterfly," owes much to Ponchielli, who
encouraged him to go on with his compositions, and
first taught him orchestration at Milan.

I saw several operas at La Scala, and a very delightful
ballet called " Gretchen," hi which the prima ballerina
assoluta was Adelina Legnani, who danced magnificently.
One of the most charmingly original figures was at the
end, when all the three hundred danseuses, dressed in
white ballet skirts covered with violets, suddenly knelt
down in the form of an immense cross. Then Adelina
Legnani, dressed entirely in white, danced a pas seul in
between the cross, while the limelight threw a violet
reflection on the violets, giving a truly marvellous effect.
I never saw anything more effective before or since,
though I have seen some very wonderful ballets in
Vienna, costing from £10,000 to £12,000 each to mount.
I saw the ballet " Excelsior " many years ago at the
Dal 'Verme Theatre at Milan during the spring, when
Limido, a " star " of the first magnitude, electrified the
house by the way she danced. She went afterwards to
Vienna, where the critics were enthusiastic in their
praises ; but she died quite young in Paris at the age
of twenty-six.

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One year I visited Gorizia in the winter, and was
much pleased with the place — that is to say, with the
vegetation and climate, for the town itself is very dull,
there being so little amusement, except at the theatre.
To English people who want a quiet, cheap place in
the winter with a good climate — not, of course, equal to
that of Nice or San Remo in its mildness — I can safely,
however, recommend Gorizia.

Abbazia is, of course, the favourite place with Aus-
trians, but is more agreeable in February and March,
at which time of the year the hotels are crowded, and
it is difficult to find rooms. It is a very lovely place,
being situated on the Adriatic, but is rather empty
during December and January, probably on account of
the winds, though doctors in Vienna recommend patients
to go there for the winter. It is very lively in
the spring, and there is an excellent club (the Adriatic)
for ladies and gentlemen, at which one can dine, and
it is not difficult to obtain admittance. There are,
besides, all kinds of fetes and amusements, but Abbazia
is more expensive than Gorizia, and much more fashion-
able.

Any one desirous of spending the winter where there
are no winds could not do better than go to Sorrento,

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the air being full of perfume, and the mountains are all
around. The place is, indeed, so well protected from
the winds that the mother of the Tzar Alexander III
was recommended to go there as the most sheltered
place in the world.

Naples, of course, is much more animated for any one
desirous of enjoying pleasure and life, and the opera
house San Carlo (already mentioned) possesses some
not at all bad singers, even if they are not of the first
class, while the ballet is renowned, though in my opinion
not nearly so good as at Milan. It is not a place to stay
at, however, for any one subject to fever; and in the
old part of the town the streets are uncommonly bad
and gloomy-looking, though in the newer portion the
houses are very fine and high.

The town, which is said to be the most densely popu-
lated in Europe, is built at the base and on the slope
of a range of volcanic hills, and rises from the shore
like an amphitheatre — the town, some people say, being
seen at its best from the water. The cathedral is worth
seeing, and is one of the most important in Italy, while
Naples is the second seaport of the country. The sea is
glorious, particularly at sunset, when it glitters in gold,
sapphire, and purple colours, while the rock of the

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Island of Capri appears to mount from the water rosy
coloured, but veiled by a long shadow ; and the snow
shines like silver on the peak of the mountain St. Angelo,
attached, as it were, to the violet-blue and rosy-golden
peaks of the mountains, which appear almost like waves
of the sea. At the time of my visit the sky shone in
amethystine-blue tints, and the place was then marvel-
lously quiet, the silence being only interrupted by the
volcano, which hurled its glowing lava upwards, to
crumble in the air like an enormous firework, and then
all became quiet again.

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CHAPTER XIII

BELGIUM— THE THEATRE DE LA MONNAIE— MADAME
FRIEDBERG'S DANCING — SHOW PLACES AT
BRUSSELS— BARON AND BARONESS TANTEIGNIES
— KING LEOPOLD II— SIR RICHARD PULESTON'S
COAT OF ARMS— OSTEND AND SPA

A a child I can remember staying with my parents
in Brussels in a rather large house on the Boule-
vard de Waterloo. We remained during the winter.
The Boulevard de Waterloo is the widest boulevard
in Brussels ; it is one hundred metres in width, and
the house we lived in looked out on to a fine avenue of
trees.

One evening my parents took me to the Monnaie
Theatre ; we had a box, and as it was a gala performance
every one in the boxes and stalls wore evening dress.
Carlotta Patti, who was a sister of Adelina Patti, sang
that evening, but she met with no success, and the
audience showed its displeasure by abstaining from
applauding her. A ballet in one act took place after-

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wards in which Friedberg, a Russian, danced almost
alone. She made her appearance on the stage dancing
on her points and holding a gold mirror in her hand.
She wore a black dress of a very thin material covered
with flounces of black lace and adorned with glittering
gold tinsel, the skirt barely reaching to her knees. Fried-
berg danced on her points in the most marvellous manner ;
her entrechats, battements, pirouettes, ronds de jambe,
pas de souris excited the admiration of every one, and
brought the house down.

Friedberg was a blonde, a very pretty Russian danseuse
with a beautiful slender figure. She afterwards became
a viscountess by her marriage with a rich Belgian vis-
count. According to the lately deceased great critic,
Hofrath Hanslick, of the " Neue Freie Presse " in
Vienna, Friedberg was one of the greatest dancers the
world has ever seen ; she was famous for her graceful
" attitudes " and " arabesques." Friedberg entirely
saved the evening's performance at the Theatre de la
Monnaie, and it was one at which all the elegant world
in Brussels was present. The boxes were full and the
ladies were en grande toilette, which is quite unusual
for Brussels, where the people rarely dress for the opera
except on grand occasions.

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The Theatre de la Monnaie is a small but fine opera
house, and the boxes and stalls look nice. The build-
ing itself, however, cannot compare with the opera
houses in Paris and Vienna. I have been to the Monnaie
in recent years and seen " Mignon," by Ambroise Thomas,
very well given. It was followed by a ballet by the
celebrated modern Belgian composer Blochx, which
was fairly well danced. The corps de ballet was good
but small in number, and the premiere danseuse was
by no means first-rate.

Brussels is a charming town, and, as many people
have often said to me, it is a small Paris in its general
appearance and the life it offers one. I always stop
at the Hotel de Flandre on the Place Royale, which is
owned by the same proprietor as the Hotel Bellevue,
and I can speak most highly of the former hotel as regards
the comfort of the rooms and the cuisine, which is quite
excellent ; one could not wish for anything better.
The manager is obliging and goes out of his way to show
one attention. I happened to be in rather delicate
health on one occasion that I was there, so I can speak
from personal experience.

Brussels is built on two hills, and is in the form
of an amphitheatre. The principal street is the Mon-

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tayne de la Cour, and it has very elegant shops.
It leads into the Place Royale, a very fine square,
having in its centre a beautiful statue of Godefroid de
Bouillon on horseback, executed by the Belgian sculptor
Simonis. The church of St. Jacques sur Candenberg
with its six Doric columns is a fine imposing building in
the square. The Place du Musee at an angle with the
Place Royale is another smaller square built in the
last century, and the statue in its centre is of Charles de
Lorraine.

The royal museums of pictures, ancient and modern,
situated in the Rue de la Regence and Place du Musee,
are only separated from each other by the Royal Library.
The ancient museum is situated on the right side of the
Rue de la Regence facing the palace of the Comte de
Flandre. The museum of ancient pictures is by far
the more interesting of the two. The marble Doric
columns of the Palais des Beaux Arts in the Rue de la
Regence are very attractive. Two bronze groups adorn
the wings of the building. Four busts placed over
the doors and windows represent Van Eyck, Rubens,
Jean de Bologna, and Van Ruysbroeck. The old museum
cannot compare with the Paris Louvre, or with the
galleries of Madrid, Munich, Dresden, or Vienna, but

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nevertheless it contains some pictures which are well
worth seeing. The Flemish school is strongly repre-
sented, some of Jordaens' most brilliant pictures are to
be seen, and Rubens' war pictures, portraits, and genre
pictures, some of which are very fine. Snyders, Teniers
are represented by a few of their very best pictures.
The glory of the Brussels museum consists in its
numerous fine collections of pictures of Gothic Flemish
art.

The Royal Library is a large building which is near
the Palais des Beaux Arts, and contains a collection
of manuscripts of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
centuries, which is one of the richest in Europe ; there
are Prayer Books containing miniatures of Memling and
Vanderweyden. The " Rotonde," now the entrance
to the modern museum, and the salon in which the
collection of prints is exhibited, is a portion of the
palace built formerly by Charles de Lorraine. The
Pare Leopold, near the Place Royale, is one of the finest
public gardens one can see, with its large trees and
artificial lakes. In the summer months concerts are
held of an evening, and are always very well at-
tended. The band plays out of doors and refresh-
ments can be obtained during the performance.

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The orchestra which plays is that of the Theatre de
la Monnaie.

There are several theatres at Brussels besides the
Monnaie — the Theatre Royal du Pare, Theatre des
Galeries St. Hubert, Theatre Moliere, Theatre de 1'Alham-
bra, Theatre du Vaudeville, Theatre Hamand, Theatre
des Nouveautes, Nouveau Theatre. Some very good
companies come from Paris to perform at the Theatre
des Galeries St. Hubert, where opera bouffe, comedies,
and farces are given. The Theatre des Nouveautes is
more of a music-hall, but it is very well worth going to,
as some of the best artists from Paris are often there
during the winter.

Le Pole Nord is a skating-place which is exceed-
ingly well frequented ; some of the most fashionable
people go there to skate of an afternoon. The Pole
Nord is covered over, and refreshments can be obtained
there, while very comfortable seats are provided for the
people looking on at the skating, and the place is heated.
In summer the Pole Nord is a music-hall, and arranged
as a kind of jardin (Fete. In the Galeries St. Hubert,
near the theatre, there is a brasserie, where an excellent
dejeuner d la fourchette can be obtained at a very moderate
price.

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Of the cafes to dine at, I tried the two best. One is
very good and reasonable, the other more luxuriously
fitted up, and the dinner served was, perhaps, more
recherche, but the bill was thirty-five francs for two
people and we drank only a bottle of La Rose claret.
I asked the waiter to show me the bill of fare, and dis-
covered that we might have had the same dinner with
two extra dishes for five francs each ; of course, the
waiter was careful enough not to tell me before-
hand.

During my first stay at Brussels with my parents,
we knew several of the Belgian aristocracy, and among
these families were two that were quite famous for their
remarkable beauty — the family of the Baron de Tantei-
gnies, consisting of the Baroness and her daughters,
three young girls, and that of the Baron de Danitau,
who had also three young daughters ; the families were
first cousins. The Baron de Tanteignies had an appoint-
ment at Court and was always with the King of the
Belgians. His daughters were enthusiastic skaters,
and as the winter was a rather severe one, they skated
every day on the lake of the Bois de la Cambre, where
I first learnt how to skate. One daughter of Baron de
Tanteignies married an officer in the " Blues " Royal

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Horse Guards, and is now a famous rider with the Devon
and Somerset Staghounds, generally staying at Lady
Lovelace's fine property in the Exmoor country.

There are some very pretty women and girls in Brussels,
and they dress very stylishly. Their way of dressing
their hair and the hats they wear are of the latest
Paris fashion. I noticed this during a recent visit to
Brussels. I came from Vienna, in which city they are
much slower to adopt the latest style of Paris coiffure
and hat.

The English colony at Brussels was a large one, when
my parents were residing there, and among our friends
were Sir Richard Puleston and his wife and daughters.
Sir Richard Puleston constantly dined with the English
minister, Lord Howard de Walden. At one of these
dinners an Englishman who was present thought that
he would take home to his wife a nice wing of a chicken.
He carefully put it in his dress-coat tail-pocket when
he thought no one was looking at him, but his neighbour
at table, seeing the incident, said, " A wing of a chicken
is nothing without bread sauce," and poured some
bread sauce into the man's pocket, much to his
disgust.

Sir Richard on leaving Brussels sold his horses and

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carriages to a Belgian, but on returning to Brussels he
was much surprised to see the Belgian driving about in
the carriages with Sir Richard's arms ; even the harness
bore the arms. Sir Richard called on the Belgian and
asked him the reason of this, to which the latter replied,
" The fact of the matter is I have taken rather a fancy
to your crest and arms ! " " Oh, indeed," replied Sir
Richard, " in that case you may certainly keep them."
Sir Richard Puleston laughed heartily when he told
us this story, adding, "The poor fellow seemed so
afraid that I should deprive him of my crest and
arms."

Brussels is exceedingly hot in the summer. I never
suffered so from the heat as I did there once in July,
but in the winter the climate is considered to be rather
mild, compared with Vienna, and most towns in
Germany excepting Wiesbaden and Baden Baden, where
the winter is milder.

Ostend is a fashionable seaside resort ; there are very
extensive sands. On my first visit the Queen and
children of the King of the Belgians (Leopold II) used
to drive on the sands in a little carriage with four cream-
coloured ponies. I lived then with my parents at the
Hotel de Prusse in an apartment facing the sea, which

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had just been vacated by Prince Orloff, the Russian
Ambassador. The Kursaal, in which very good concerts
take place, is a fine building on the Digue, and various
amusements, such as dances and fetes, are given there.
The Kursaal has been reconstructed in recent years,
and is on a far grander scale than it formerly used to be.
The pier, which originally was a very poor one, is now
one of the finest on the Continent. Ostend is considered
one of the healthiest places in the world, but in summer
it is intensely hot at times, and there are no trees there.
The only protection against the hot sun is on the Digue
close to the sands. The Digue is a very fine promenade
in which are several large hotels, but I can remember
the time when there was only the Kursaal there. The
King and Queen of Wurtemberg were at Ostend during
my first visit.

One day, a Sunday, a number of people were sitting
on the Digue under the Kursaal. There were not
sufficient chairs for everybody, but an Englishman,
seeing two vacant chairs, at once took one of them.
A gentleman went up to him saying that the chair was
reserved, but the Englishman refused to give it up.
Some one, however, speaking English informed him
that the chair was reserved for the King of Wurtemberg,

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whereupon the Englishman looked, and felt, I imagine,
very foolish, and quickly disappeared from the scene.

One year the town of Ostend was to play a cricket
match against that of Bruges, and I was asked to play
for the former, but on the day of our intended visit to
Bruges we received a telegram saying that on account
of the cholera the authorities would not allow us to go
to Bruges, so the match did not take place.

Ostend is generally much frequented late in the
summer by Germans, Austrians, and Poles ; the Belgians
and English come there earlier in the season. The races
at Ostend used to be very good, but I have not been
to them in recent years. Formerly most of the principal
races were won by Englishmen with English horses.
Ostend is a nice clean town with many good streets,
but all the animation and gaiety takes place on the
Digue and on the sands. The inhabitants themselves
speak mostly Flemish, and a little French ; the latter
language they talk with a peculiar accent, and they
invariably say "septante" and "nonante." The upper
class, of course, speaks French, but even rich trades-
people speak Flemish better than they do French.
Flemish is more taught in the schools than French,
especially in the schools for the working classes.

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The Marche aux Herbes is a rather interesting square
in which vegetables and flowers are sold ; and the houses
in the Marche aux Herbes are very good for a small
town. The Belgian aristocracy in former years used
to frequent Ostend in the summer, as the King usually
went there.

Bruges struck me as being a very gloomy place when
I went there many years ago. It is one of the towns
which has most1 retained its appearance of the Middle
Ages and of the Renaissance. Bruges contains the
best collection of paintings by Memling. For a de-
scription of its famous cathedral and church of Notre
Dame, and church of Ste. Catherine with paintings of
Memling, I can strongly recommend Rodenbach's cele-
brated novel "Le Carillonneur de Bruges," which de-
scribes Bruges and its churches better than any book
I know of.

Liege is situated on the river Meuse, and the
church of St. Jacques there is one of the finest
churches in Belgium of the " style fleuri," end of fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, that is to say, the interior of
the church is in this style and it has no superior in Europe
in this respect. The church of St. Paul, the cathedral,
which is also a very fine church, is well worth visiting.
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In other ways the town of Liege did not attract me ;
in fact, I got out of the train here through a mistake,
and found I had twelve hours to wait for another train
to Paris. I heard, too, that the smallpox was raging
there, and not being able to pass the time agreeably at
Liege by myself, I took the train, starting three hours
sooner, for Brussels instead of for Paris. I could not
hold out any longer in Liege. I have never been there
since.

Spa is certainly a very lovely little place, charmingly
situated, with delightful woods all round; and there
are trees in the grounds where the band of the Casino
plays of an evening. Spa is situated in a valley with
the hills of the Spalommont close by, so that in the hot
summer months there is hardly any wind, and thus one
feels the heat very much. The principal spring at Spa
is the Pouhon ; it is good for anaemia, and is somewhat
like the Franzensquelle at Franzensbad, since it contains
iron also. Another spring, called Fontaine de la Sau-
veniere, is said to be effective against sterility, just
as the Franzensquelle at Franzensbad is supposed
to be.

There are some very pleasant rides through the
woods up exceedingly high hills with ravines on

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one side ; these would be dangerous were the
ponies at Spa not very sure-footed and accustomed
to the hilly districts and precipices quite close. I
stayed at the Hotel de Flandre at one time
during my last sojourn at Spa, which was a good,
nicely-situated hotel with a garden. The apartments
at Spa have the disadvantage that one has usually
to find one's own servants. Of an evening the grounds
of the Casino are very animated. There is a restaurant
there where one can dine very well, while listening to the
orchestra playing out of doors in the avenue of beautiful
large trees.

When last I was at Spa a very pretty girl, who was
the admiration of everybody, served at the buffet of
the restaurant, and once a Frenchman while I was
having my dinner made her acquaintance, talking to
her for some time. Afterwards he said to a friend of
his as he walked away : " Ah ! comme cette fille est une
vraie illusion ! " I thought to myself on hearing this
remark — how many beautiful things in life are an
illusion after all, though they may appear perfect for
a time.

There is a very good liqueur made at Spa called the
Elixir de Spa, which is often served at the hotels and

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restaurants. It is of a lovely green colour. The shops
in Spa are fairly nice, and there are several which sell
the famous " bois de Spa," in different kinds of boxes,
brushes, looking-glasses, etc., all having the wood of
which they are made hand painted in very vivid colours
on a light-green foundation ; the effect is decidedly
pretty.

The Casino rooms, where formerly the gambling took
place, are very fine, but they are not to be compared
with those of Homburg, Wiesbaden, or Baden Baden
in appearance, either from the outside or the inside.
I once entered the gambling rooms at Spa during the
gambling days, and I had not been there five minutes
before I had stolen from me a small gold Russian ten-
rouble coin which was hanging from my chain. It was
evidently cut with a sharp instrument from the tiny
ring by which it was suspended. I discovered my loss
only a few minutes after it had gone.

There are several girls' schools at Spa. I hap-
pened to know the schoolmistress of a pensionnat de
jeunes demoiselles, where there were young English
ladies chiefly. This schoolmistress had formerly been
a governess in an English nobleman's family in
London.

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Spa is very healthy, though it is decidedly warmer
in summer than the Bohemian watering-places, and
does not offer one as many amusements as the latter
do, though it is a pleasant place to stay at for the summer
months.

293

CHAPTER XIV

LHASA— THE TOWN AND PEOPLE— THE GRAND LAMA :
HIS VIEWS ON LIFE AND TIME AND ETERNITY

E\.SA, in Tibet, is at a height of 12,700 feet above
the sea and is surrounded by hills. Near the
town flows the river Kyichu (River of Delight). The
many trees and white houses with flat roofs surrounded
by turrets, and the temples with golden canopies,
crowned by the palace of the Dalai Lama, give Lhasa
a fantastic and rather imposing appearance. Lhasa
means " God's ground." The city is very nearly circular
in form, and the streets are wide and straight as in most
Oriental towns. Lhasa is situated at less than three
hundred miles from the Indian frontier, but some of
the roads are very bad indeed. In summer the vegeta-
tion is prolific, but in winter the valley of Isang Po
more resembles the hill stations in the Himalaya Moun-
tains, though sometimes it is as cold as it is in North
Siberia. The town of Lhasa, like others in Tibet, is
built much more in the Chinese than in the Indian style.

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As to the population of Lhasa, it is said to be between
40,000 and 60,000 inhabitants.

When I was stationed at Murree in the Himalayas,
I successfully effected with a brother officer an entrance
into Kashmir without having a pass, and we had man-
aged to keep secret our expedition, otherwise it might
have had disastrous results to us. We determined to
spend our next leave in the Tibet country. Having dis-
guised ourselves like some of the inhabitants of the hills
around Murree with a red turban and the complete attire
of this warlike tribe, the Pathans, we entered Tibet, and
arrived after many difficulties at Lhasa. My friend
could speak the different dialects of the hill tribes of
the Himalayas, so that we easily concealed our nation-
ality. Not only was he a good linguist, but he was a
famous sportsman, and had ventured into some parts of
the mountains where no Englishman had dared to go
before, and he had brought home more ibex horns as
trophies than the other officers of the regiment had seen
in their lives.

One peculiarity in Tibet we noticed was that the air
was so rarefied that there were absolutely no flies in
some mountainous parts of the country. At Lhasa we
were much struck with the famous Potala, or Golden

295

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Temple. It is nine hundred feet in length, and its sum-
mit is higher than any English cathedral. It is situated
on a height towards the northern part of the town, on
the side opposite to which the river flows. This temple
has the shape somewhat of a pyramid. It is one of
the most marvellous buildings in the world, and can
almost be said to vie in beauty of construction with
that of the palaces at Agra and at Delhi. This palace
is built in a series of terraces one above the other, and
everywhere one sees written on the doors and stones
the well-known prayer, " Om Mani Padme om." The
palace, the central part of which is of a bright crimson
with a golden roof, is built in nine stories, and in order
to mount these, one has to go up staircases some of
which are out of doors. They are zigzag and are very
curiously arranged. The top part of the building has
been employed from time immemorial as an observatory,
and twenty astrologers study the stars and draw horo-
scopes. The Dalai Lama, in whom Buddha is said to
be incarnate, lives hi the central building on the second
story, and it is very difficult to approach him. But on
two occasions he presents himself to the public, reclining
on a throne of a singular shape covered with cushions,
in the large audience room. One, however, is forbidden

296

THE AUTHOR IN THE UNIFORM OF THE liOTH KING'S ROYAL RIFLES

THE AUTHOR AND LADY FRIENDS MENTIONED IN THE BOOK

On left Princess ZU ISENBURG-BIRSTEIN, bride of Prince Victor Salvator,

son of Imperial Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria

[ To face page 296

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to ask him a question, or to make any request to him.
I had a great desire to have a special audience of the
Dalai, as I had heard that Manning, a friend of Charles
Lamb, had been granted one on several occasions. My
brother officer, who, as I have already said, was an
adept at Eastern languages, and knew that Eastern
people are easily got over by bribery in some form or
other, managed to obtain this honour for us.

On being conducted before the Grand Lama I was
startled to notice that he was a young boy, of ten or
twelve years old, of very striking beauty. He reminded
me of a boy I had seen in the bazaar at Agra. I was
with the Vicomte d'Assailly, a captain in the loth
Chasseurs a Cheval at that time, and he said that he had
never seen such a beautiful face, for this particular boy
had large black eyes, with long eyelashes, which were
blackened with henne", and his cheeks were artistically
painted, while his features had the regularity of a Greek
statue. What struck me the most in regard to the
Grand Lama was the exceptional beauty of his eyes,
which had a deep penetrating look, almost some-
thing superhuman in them. I was all the more
startled when the Dalai Lama addressed me in
a language in German, in the dialect of Frank-

297

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fort-on-the-Main, that I had not heard since I was
a child. I imagined that it was a boy friend of mine
of my schooldays, Baron Vogelsang, who was before
me.

The Grand Lama spoke to me of my past life,
more particularly of when I was a boy at school,
and then he said that what we call time does not exist,
that it is an illusion like the idea of space. " What is
a century, a year, a day ? " said he. " You imagine
that the earth requires one day to turn round on its
axis ? Take the Equator, divide it into twenty-four
equal parts, build a house on each of these points. What
will be the result ? According to your ideas there will
be an hour's difference in the time hi each of these houses.
Place these houses ten degrees further north now, they
will be closer together, but there will be always one
hour's difference between them. Now place them so
near the Pole as to form a complete circle, the difference
in tune won't have changed. If it is twelve o'clock in
one house, it will be one o'clock in that on the right and
eleven hi that on the left, and if these houses communi-
cate together by doors you will be able to walk over a
century in five minutes. You will also be able to see
the centuries that have passed in going the opposite way.

298

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On the other hand, you will be able to stop the time
and prolong it indefinitely in rushing into the next
house at the moment when the hour is on the point of
being over. It will be always twelve o'clock. At the
Pole itself this exercise would be superfluous, for time
does not exist there at all. As to what you call mathe-
matics, they are quite as much an illusion as the idea of
time. Mathematics are based on a supposition that the
number one exists, which it does not really. What is
your number one ? Is it a stone, a tree, an animal ?
This stone, tree, or animal are not the same thing for
any two people on the earth, because there are not two
minds alike. Besides, the stone that you see to-day
is not your stone of yesterday, for since yesterday your
mind has changed, however little it may be. Mathe-
matics are based therefore on something which has no
tangible existence or one to be denned, and if you con-
sider them closer you will find they are full of contra-
dictions, of nonsense and of absurdities. No one is
contented with his lot, everybody suffers," said the
Dalai Lama, and then apparently guessing my thoughts
at that moment, " You do not believe in the eternal,
true doctrine of reincarnation— what can there be more
evident, nevertheless ? You imagine that your power-

299

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lessness to remember the former states of your existence
is a proof of their impossibility ? But can you remember
the two first years of your actual life ? Nevertheless,
you lived even before that time. You have a sort of
idea that you have always existed and you cannot
imagine a single moment in which you won't exist any
more. What is called death is only a transition, a part
of our state in which we pass into another form of life.
Some people hope to meet one day in another world all
those whom they love. This forgetfulness of past lives
is really a good thing for us. What would become of
us if we remembered all these former existences, illusions,
vain hopes, follies, crimes ? Every one has enough
cares, troubles, and delusions in each fresh incarnation
not to be envious of his former troubles. The past is
a dream, the present only is real, and the future is nearly
an illusion. We are always discontented with our
present condition, and we always hope for a happy
future in an imaginary time to come. It is always
to-morrow, in a week, in a year, that we shall be happy,
but this happy moment never comes, and the desired
object flies from us afar, like the bird of paradise in the
legend, flying from tree to tree, enticing us on thus all
our life like the tomb. . . . No, immortality doesn't

300

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exist in the sense of your religion. We shall not awake
to find ourselves in some heavenly palace one day.
Our future life will be as we have made it ourselves.
Reincarnation is not a vain theory, but a solid reality.
It is not the first time we were on earth ; if it were thus,
death would suppress us at once for ever. What begins
with time must end with time. If a certain event only
had to happen once in time and space, all possible things
would have happened long ago, for it is eternity which
lies behind us. The world is not hidden behind a cur-
tain, there is no doubt, no uncertainty. All this is
evidence, truth, clearness."

The audience was at an end. My friend asked me what
I thought of what I had just heard from the Dalai Lama.
I answered : " Mein Lieber wenn wir Gott nicht mehr
begreifen und wo die Wissenschaft aufhort da fangt
erst der fromme Glaube an."

301

INDEX

Ailesbury, Marquis of, 228
Alhambra, The, 207
Andra, Professor, Dr., 23, 31
Andra, Fraulein Margarethe, 24
Ardeck, Princess, 247
Auerbach, Berthold, 23

Bamberger, Professor von, 92,
237, 260

Bariatynski, Prince, 242
Bariatynski, Princess, 242
Baselli, Baron, 92, 244
Bath, Marquis of, 112
" Bauer als Millionar, Der," 48
Bavaria, Albert of, 126

Beresford-Hope, Lady Mildred,
214

Beretta, Madame, 45, 265
Berkeley, Earl of, 14, 1 6
Bernhardt, Frau, 145
Bernstorff, Count, 27
Besone, Emma, 270
Binz, Professor, 23
Bismarck, Prince, 24, 95
Blanc, M., 10

Bombelles, Countess de, 102
Borghi, Adele, 273
Bourtouline, Count, 179, 243
Brandenburg, Princess, 9

Brown-Seguard, Dr., 214 et seq.,
232

Buys, Herr Brandt, 77

Casapesena, Princess, 92
Chevet, Mme., 10
Chwosteck, Dr., 98
Clerk, Mr. Tierney, 174
Cumberland, Duke of, 113, 118

Dahlberg, Dr., 64
Da vies, Dr. Yorke, 101
Dechen, Excellenz von, 24
Desart, Countess, 10
Dorrien, Captain Fred, 15

Ebing, Professor Baron Krafft, 94
Erb, Professor, 41, 53, 64, 66
Edward VII, H.M., 18, 56, 61. 89,

91
Esterhazy, Princess, 248

Farina, Jean Maria, 29
Festetics, Countess, 68
Filippi, Signer, 258
Friedberg, Madame, 279

Gargarine, Princess, 66
Germany, Emperor William I of,

9. 13. 104
Germany, Emperor William II of,

16

Germany, Crown Prince of, 18
Giers, M. de, 95
Goldschmidt, Herr, 12
Gonzaga, Princess, 112, 259
Gortschakow, Princess, 66

3°3

Index

Hamilton, Duke of, 68
Headfort, Marquis of, 12
Hochberg, Dr. Ritter von, 70
Holland, Lady, 29

Jammerich, Hel&ae, 225
Jeschko, Herr, n

Kieskowska, Sophie de, 226
Konarski, " Count," 229
Konnemann, Herr, 67

Labitzky, August, 76, 231
Lama, The Grand, 296 et seq.
" Landhaus am Rhein," 23
Legnani, Adelina, 274
Lenbach, Franz von, 28
Liegnitz, Princess, 9
Linda, Bertha, 270
" Loreli," 32
Lowther, Miss T., 17

Manns, Sir August, 77, 231
Marburg, Baron, 225
Martin, Col., 252

Melikoff , General Prince Louis, 66
Metschersky, Prince, 66
Metschersky, Princess, 59
Metternich, Prince, 36
Michelaexo, Mitsa, 223
Mignano, Duke of, 112
Misa, Senor Don, 204
Mizzi, Beautiful, 94
Mollerdorf, General von, 246

Neufville, Irma von, 24, 26
Nunziante, Marquise, 112

Orleans, Duke of, 90

Ponchielli, Amilcare, 272
Puleston, Sir Richard, 285
Pulszky, August von, 112

Reinhold, Frau Devrient, 46
Reuss XXVII, Prince, 31
Rothschild, Baron Nathaniel, 36
Rothschild, Baroness James
Edouard de, 70

Saint Juste, Comte de, 166
Salburg, Countess, 1 1 1 , 113
Salm Salm, Princess, 30
Scala, La, 45
Scheve, Major von, 43
Servia, King Alexander of, 83
Servia, King Milan of, 84
Sozo, Addle, 265
Steinschneider, Dr., 95
Strauss, Johann, 57
Sturm, Jean Baptiste, 35

Tanteignies, Baron de, 284
Taxis, Prince, 245
Tilly, Marshal, 148
Trauttmansdorff, Princess, 248

Weber, Fraulein Marie, 24
Wiedemann, Herr, 94
Wilma, Tournay, 175
Windischgraetz, Princess, 113
Wittelsbach, Otto von, 128
Wrede, Prince Alfred, 112

Zamoyska, Countess, 162, 226

PLYMOUTH : WILLIAM 3KKNDON AND SON, LIMITED, PRINTERS