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Statue  of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon 


VIENNA 


AND   THE    VIENNESE 


BY 

MARIA   HORNOR  LANSDALE 


ILLUSTRATED 


PHILADELPHIA 

HENRY  T.    COATES  &  CO. 

1902 


THE  LISf 

CONGRESS, 
Two  C 

CLASS  ^XXr    «o 


COPTBIGHT, 

HENRY  T.  01  >ATE8  A  CO. 

1902. 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


TO  FACE  PAGE 

Statue  of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon,    .    .    .  Frontispiece. 

Interior  of  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Stephan,     .    .  14 

The  Hoher  Markt, 24 

The  Stock  Exchange, 40 

Votif  Kirche, 44 

The  Parliament  Houses, 58 

The  Museum  of  Natural  History, .    .  74 

The  Imperial  Opera  House, 92 

The  Schwarzenberg  Palace, 100 

Emperor  Francis  Joseph, 114 

The  Prater, 134 

Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Stephan, 176 

Elizabeth  Brucke, 188 

Tbe  Arsenal, 206 

The  University, 220 

Interior  of  the  Belvedere, 232 

v 


vi  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

to  face  page 

Monument  of  Empress  Maria  Theresa, 240 

Josefs  Platz  and  Statue  of  Emperor  Joseph  IE,    .     .    250 
Gateway  of  the  Hofburg  on  the  Michaeler  Platz,    .    278 

Empress  Elizabeth, 284 

Monument  of  Archduciie><  Maria  Christina,  ....    296 

The  Karls  Kirche, 310 

Beethoven  Monument, 

Statue  of  Schubert,     

The  Prater  Stern, 


VIENNA  AND   THE  VIENNESE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


The  Arrival— Formalities  of  Fifty  Years  Ago — Destruction  of  the 
Fortifications— Modern  Improvements— The  Old  Town— Char- 
acter of  the  People— Comparatively  Small  Proportion  of  Ger- 
mans— Other  Nationalities — A  Portrait  of  the  Emperor  Joseph 
II. — The  Stephans  Platz— The  Commissionnaires— The  Graben — 
Photographers'  Windows — The  Jewish  Quarter — Wealth  and 
Influence  of  the  Jews. 


In  these  days  there  is  no  more  trouble  about  getting 
into  Vienna  than  there  is  about  getting  into  Pekin. 
You  are  asked  to  produce  neither  papers  nor  passport, 
and  the  secrets  of  your  baggage  are  respected.  The 
Linien  wall  has  fallen,  there  are  no  more  gates  at  which, 
even  as  late  as  the  year  1890,  you  were  required  to 
pay  the  sum  of  four  kreuzers  (less  than  two  cents)  to  a 
uniformed  tax  collector  for  wear  and  tear  on  the  street 
paving.  Beyond  this  toll,  however,  even  then  you  had 
no  further  concern  with  the  authorities. 

Fifty  years  ago  all  this  was  very  different.  At  that 
time — about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century — 


2  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

one  would  have  supposed  the  Austrian  capital  to  be 
situated  in  the  kingdom  of  the  elect,  so  difficult  was  it 
of  access.  Permission  to  enter  could  be  obtained  only 
as  a  special  act  of  grace,  and  must  be  accompanied  by 
letters  of  introduction  to  saints  in  good  standing. 
Besides  this,  some  "  well-known  personage  n  had  to  be 
found  willing  to  answer  for  one  throughout  the  term 
of  his  sojourn,  a  precaution  that  did  not  at  all  deter 
the  police  from  dogging  the  stranger's  footsteps,  keep- 
ing a  strict  watch  upon  all  intercourse  he  might  hold 
with  the  citizens,  and  tampering  with  his  mail. 

One  had,  to  be  sure,  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that 
all  the  foreign  ambassadors  were  subjected  to  a  super- 
vision if  anything  more  severe  and  irritating.  On  one 
occasion  a  certain  English  ambassador,  who  was  some- 
thing of  a  wag,  aware  that  all  his  letters  passed 
through  the  cabinet  noir,  conceived  the  idea  of  making 
a  very  slight  alteration  in  his  seal.  The  change  passed 
unobserved,  and  his  letters  continued  to  reach  their 
destination  bearing  the  old  seal.  Encountering  M.  de 
Metternich  at  a  reception  one  day,  he  said  to  him  care- 
lessly, "Oh,  by  the  way,  Prince,  you  might  mention  to 
your  people  that  we  have  altered  our  seal  at  the  Em- 
bassy )  they  seem  not  to  have  noticed  it."  "Dunce-!" 
muttered  the  Prince,  between  his  teeth,  and  marched 
off  without  another  word. 

The  day  finally  came,  however,  when  Francis  Joseph 
gave  his  people  a  constitution,  and  Vienna,  throwing 
off  the  fetters  of  the  middle  ages,  suddenly  emerged 


MODERN  IMPROVEMENTS.  3 

into  the  wide  freedom  of  modern  times.  The  transi- 
tion was  sudden,  and  it  took  the  ancient  monarchy  a 
long  time  to  recover  from  the  shock.  Fancy  a  ship, 
constructed  solely  to  ride  at  anchor  in  a  protected 
harbor,  suddenly  finding  herself  in  mid-ocean,  assailed 
by  winds  from  all  four  quarters  at  once.  Yet  such 
was  very  much  the  position  in  which  Austria  was 
placed  almost  without  preparation. 

These  political  changes  were  promptly  taken  ad- 
vantage of  by  the  city  of  Vienna  to  improve  her 
material  condition.  The  fortifications  that  for  so 
long  had  imprisoned  her  wTere  overthrown;  on  the 
sites  but  lately  occupied  by  frowning  battlements 
or  yawning  moats,  extensive  boulevards  appeared. 
Charming  gardens  were  laid  out;  and  magnificent 
buildings,  reached  by  flights  of  marble  stairs,  their 
facades  glittering  with  frescoes  and  gilding,  arose  as 
if  by  magic ;  for  in  Vienna  everything,  modern  as 
well  as  ancient,  is  on  a  grand  and  imposing  scale.  No 
capital  in  Europe,  indeed,  has  undergone  such  startling 
architectural  changes  in  so  short  a  space  of  time.  In 
1858  this  city,  which  has  occupied  the  same  site  since 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  was  still  inclosed 
by  walls  and  moats,  and  confined  within  the  same  re- 
stricted area  that  had  been  deemed  only  sufficient  for 
its  needs  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Suburbs  had,  of 
course,  grown  up  in  the  course  of  the  centuries,  but 
these  were  separated  from  the  city  proper  by  fields 
and  meadows.     Within  the  walls  the  overcrowding  was 


4  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

very  great.  But  small  space  could  be  spared  for  high- 
ways, and  the  narrow  streets  and  tortuous  lanes,  twist- 
ing in  and  out  among  the  lofty,  fortress-like  palaces 
of  the  nobles,  were  plunged  in  perpetual  shadow. 

It  was  very  picturesque,  this  mediaeval  town,  pre- 
served almost  intact  to  our  own  day,  but  it  was  also 
very  uncomfortable.  The  Glacis-Gruende,  as  the  sys- 
tem of  ramparts  and  moats  was  called,  was,  to  be  sure, 
provided  at  intervals  with  stone  gateways  and  bridges 
leading  to  the  open,  sun-lit  fields  beyond  ;  but  the 
populace  preferred,  for  the  most  part,  to  repair  for  air 
and  exercise  to  the  summits  of  the  wide  walls  them- 
selves, which  thus  became  a  popular  resort,  serving  in 
lieu  of  the  public  gardens,  which  the  restricted  area  of 
the  town  was  unable  to  afford. 

The  fortifications  which  served  this  peaceful  purpose 
probably  followed  the  line  traced  out  by  Otakar,  Kin.: 
of  Bohemia,  who  fortified  Vienna  in  l°.7o.  in  antici- 
pation of  an  attack  by  Rudolph,  the  founder  of  the 
House  of  Habsburg.  As  time  went  on  and  the  outer 
defences,  or  Linien  wall  and  Graben,  were  constructed, 
it  might  have  been  supposed  that  those  ancient  walls 
had  fulfilled  their  destiny,  and  had  no  further  work  to 
do  beyond  that  of  quietly  crumbling  into  oblivion  ; 
but  such  was  not  the  case:  they  had  still  a  conspicuous 
mission  to  perform. 

"  Architecturally,"  says  one  observer,  writing-  in  the 
year  1884, !  "Vienna  has  had  a  great  opportunity,  and 
1  Letter  to  The  Nation. 


KING  STEEET.  5 

has  made  the  most  of  it.  This  opportunity  lay  in 
finding  space1  for  grand  buildings  just  where  it  was 
most  desirable  for  them  to  stand,  and  that,  after  the 
city  had  become  large  enough  to  need  them.  It  was 
then  discovered  that  the  greatest  curse  of  Vienna 
might  be  turned  into  its  greatest  blessing.  The  high 
wall  was  tumbled  down  into  the  deep  ditch,  and  thus 
a  fair  foundation  was  laid  for  the  edifices  demanded 
exactly  on  that  inner  ring,  by  the  State,  the  city,  and  all 
industrial  interests.  The  belt  thus  opportunely  dis- 
covered was  two  miles  long  and  about  fifteen  hundred 
feet  wide.  It  was  a  relief  to  the  inner  town,  so  long 
laced  in  too  tightly  for  breathing,  and  to  the  suburbs,  so 
long  vainly  pressing  toward  the  metropolitan  centre. 
Ample  room  and  verge  enough  being  thus  vouchsafed, 
such  an  array  of  majestic  buildings,  as  I  nowhere  re- 
member in  a  consecutive  series,  straightway  began  to 
rise  each  side  of  a  Ring  street  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
wide — wider  than  the  Parisian  boulevards  or  any  other 
street  of  equal  extent.  .  .  .  No  sooner  had  the  ram- 
parts fallen,  and  the  value  of  the  land  thus  thrown 
open  become  apparent,  than  the  title  to  that  inherit- 
ance began  to  be  disputed.  It  was  too  rich  a  windfall 
not  to  be  claimed  by  more  than  one  heir.  The  State, 
the  city,  and  the  Imperial  family,  each  said  it  was  all 
their  own;  but  the  contending  parties  compromised, 
and  each  thus  secured  not  only  standing-room  for  the 

1  The  ground  formerly  occupied  by  the  Glacis-Gruende,  leveled  in 
accordance  with  a  decree  of  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  in  1858. 


6  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

structures  it  needed,  but  a  residue  of  land  the  sale  of 
which  to  private  parties  materially  helped  to  erect 
them.  This  new  Vienna  has  breathed  a  new  spirit 
alike  into  the  city  proper  and  the  outlying  suburbs ; 
everywhere  are  improvements  that  would  never  have 
been  thought  of  but  for  the  example  of  Ring  Street. 
The  changes  are  so  great  that  an  officer  told  me  to-day 
that,  coming  home  from  ten  years  of  garrison  duty,  he 
was  at  a  loss  to  find  the  house  he  was  born  in.  In 
forty-two  years  the  population  has  doubled." 

The  "  Ville  "  or  city — the  old  and  business  part  of 
Vienna — is  like  a  dark  island,  well  nigh  engulfed  in 
the  white  sea  of  the  new  suburbs.  There  is  found 
the  core  and  centre  of  mercantile,  political  and  social 
life.  The  pick  of  the  "modern  improver"  has 
spared,  to  a  certain  extent,  those  winding  streets  and 
tiny  squares,  crowded  with  ancient  landmarks,  and 
still  instinct  with  the  life  and  spirit  of  the  old  mon- 
archy. There,  hidden  away  in  the  labyrinth  of  dark, 
picturesque  streets,  that  turn  and  twist  and  cross  and 
re-cross  one  another,  may  still  be  found  towering,  six- 
storied  houses,  with  enormous  arched  doorways, 
flanked  by  massive  caryatides.  These  transport  one 
in  spirit  back  two  or  three  hundred  years:  their 
carved  and  ornamented  tourelles,  rising  skyward  like 
a  forest  of  stone,  soften  the  grim  angles  and  lend  the 
look  of  castles  to  these  ancient  walls,  behind  which 
feudal  power  and  personal  might  were  once  so  strongly 
entrenched. 


ARCHITECTURAL  BEAUTIES.  7 

In  order,  however,  to  enjoy  to  the  full  these 
architectural  beauties,  one  should  make  a  tour  of 
the  city  upon  some  fine  moonlit  night.  Thread  the 
captivating  maze  of  those  ancient  streets,  all  of  which 
appear  to  be  playing  at  hide-and-seek,  or  flying  hither 
and  thither  in  a  mad  effort  to  escape  from  the  wind ; 
note  the  romantic  beauty  of  the  scene,  the  exquisite 
effects  and  unexpected  revelations  that  meet  one  at 
every  turn.  One-half  of  the  town  is  plunged  in  a 
sea  of  black  shadow ;  the  other  is  bathed  in  floods  of 
light,  limpid  and  silvery  as  the  dawn,  and  under  the 
influence  of  these  alternate  reflections  of  agate  and 
opal  the  bearded  faces  of  the  caryatides  seem  to  work 
with  the  contortions  and  grimaces  of  living  creatures. 
One  would  say  that  those  great  naked  bodies  of  fauns 
and  satyrs  were  struggling  to  throw  off  their  cases  of 
masonry,  and  to  join  the  nymphs  who,  like  themselves 
but  half  free,  can  be  seen  starting  out,  with  breasts 
thrown  forward  and  writhing  hips,  from  their  stone 
prisons,  like  the  nymphs  of  the  old-time  oaks  of  fable. 

In  the  brilliant  light  of  the  winter  moon  the  pol- 
ished tiles  of  the  Cathedral  shine  like  the  scales  of 
a  monster  fish.  On  the  Salzgries,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Danube  Canal,  a  group  of  soldiers  gaze 
dreamily  up  at  the  stars,  as  they  smoke  their  pipes 
beneath  the  archway  of  a  huge  barrack.  From 
thence  some  flights  of  stairs  bring  one  out  opposite 
the  facade  of  the  Church  of  Maria  Stiegen,  with  its 
Gothic  clock-tower  and  sculptured  porch.    The  moon's 


8  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

reflections  cast  a  shining  mantle  over  those  old  stone 
saints,  forever  praying  for  the  living  and  for  the  dead. 
Utterly  alone  in  the  deserted  streets,  which  wind 
about  like  silver  ribbons,  a  sensation  of  dreamy  mel- 
ancholy gradually  steals  over  the  senses,  and  one 
lingers  to  gaze  in  silence  over  the  city,  sleeping 
beneath  its  silvery  canopy,  as  though  surrounded  by 
the  stillness  and  icy  lifelessness  of  a  cemetery. 

In  Vienna  one  is  confronted  at  every  step  with 
ancient  institutions  and  ancient  buildings,  as  well  as 
with  evidences  of  the  solid  foundations  of  that  1  lab- 
burg  dynasty  that  has  endured  for  over  six  centuries. 
The  handsome  shops,  the  procession  of  magnificent 
equipages,  the  animation  and  gaiety  of  the  stn 
everything  bears  witness  to  the  presence  of  a  truly 
Imperial  Court  and  of  an  aristocracy  at  once  wealthy 
and  distinguished,  and  which  alone,  perhaps,  of  all 
the  societies  of  Europe  ha-  succeeded  in  preserving 
some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  age  of  chivalry. 
Vienna  is  a  rallying  point  for  races  and  for  trade,  and 
serves  as  the  common  meeting-place  of  all  Germany 
and  the  countries  of  the  East,  Life  is  simply  charm- 
ing among  this  frank,  cordial  people,  who  are  never 
out  of  humor.  Joseph  Richter  doubts  "if  they  have 
a  better  time  in  Paradise  ;  true,  it  frequently  happens 
that  when  Monday  comes  there  is  nothing  to  eat  :  but 
what  does  that  signify,  provided  one  has  enjoyed  him- 
self on  Sunday?"  It  is  indeed  the  land  of  "blue 
Mondays"  and  "green  Thursdays." 


CHAEACTEK  OF  THE  INHABITANTS.  9 

Immediately  on  arriving  one  begins  to  feel  at  home ; 
it  is  like  falling  in  with  friends  of  the  good  old  time, 
who  still  know  how  to  laugh,  drink,  talk  and  sing. 
Everywhere  throughout  the  whole  town  you  inhale 
the  atmosphere,  as  it  were,  of  a  familiar  house ;  and 
everything  is  so  paternal,  so  engaging,  so  open  and 
friendly,  that  only  a  heart  of  bronze  could  fail  to  love 
the  place. 

"  If  you  cannot  spend  your  life  in  Paris,  then  by 
all  means  spend  it  in  Vienna,"  wrote  Patin,  an 
eminent  Parisian  doctor,  in  1673.  With  its  pleas- 
ant, simple  customs  and  easy-going  ways,  its  love  of 
pleasure  and  its  friendly  attitude  towards  foreigners, 
Vienna  is  the  Japan  of  Germany.  And,  like  Paris, 
Vienna  should  be  visited  in  the  winter  time ;  it  is 
never  more  itself  than  when  enveloped  in  its  furs  and 
mantles.  In  summer  the  notabilities  go  off  to  their 
country  places,  and  the  middle  classes  scatter  about 
among  the  neighboring  resorts  —  Baden,  Dobling, 
Weidling,  or  farther  afield  to  Ischl,  Gmunden,  Aussee, 
and  so  forth,  and  the  town  is  deserted.  But  from  the 
first  of  October  to  the  first  of  April  the  theatres  are 
crowded,  the  violins  set  all  Vienna  in  motion,  and  the 
whole  place  is  under  the  spell  of  Strauss's  fiddle-bow. 

It  is  asserted  by  German  writers  that  Vienna  is  not 
a  German  city.  "  Overrun  for  centuries  by  Slavs, 
Magyars  and  Italians,"  they  say,  "  Vienna  has  not  a 
single  drop  of  pure  German  blood  left  in  her.  Here, 
as  at  Prague,  there  is  a  Bohemian  theatre ;  you  will 


10  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

find  Italian  opera,  Hungarian  and  French  singers, 
and  Polish  clubs.  In  a  crowded  omnibus  it  some- 
times happens  that  one  cannot  exchange  a  single  word 
with  any  fellow-passenger,  no  one  understanding  Ger- 
man. In  some  of  the  cafes,  Hungarian,  Zech,  Slav- 
onic, Polish  and  Italian  newspapers  are  found,  aud 
but  one  in  German.  If  one  has  been  but  a  short  time 
in  Vienna,  he  may  himself  still  be  a  German  of  pure 
stock,  but  his  wife  will  be  Galician  or  Polish,  his 
cook  Bohemian,  his  children's  nurse  Dalmatian,  his 
man  a  Servian,  his  coachman  a  Slav,  his  barber  a 
yar,  and  hi-  son's  tutor  a  Frenchman.  A  majority 
of  the  Administration's  employees  are  Zechs,  and  the 
Hungarians  have  most  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the 
government.     Xo,  Vienna  is  not  a  German  city!" 

A  recent  estimate  of  the  relative  proportion  of  the 
German  and  other  nationalities  in  Austria  gives 
and  a  half  million-,  out  of  a  total  population  of  about 
forty-two  millions,  as  German.  "Of  the  remainder, 
seven  and  a  half  millions  are  Magyars,  two  and 
three-quarters  Roumanians,  half  a  million  Italians, 
and  twenty  and  a  half  millions  are  Slav- — Poles, 
Czechs,  Serb-,  Slovens,  Slovaks.  Croat-,  Ruthen- 
ians,  Dalmatians,  Istrians,  Bosnians.  Of  the  above 
total,  fourteen  and  three-quarter  million  Slav.-, 
and  a  half  million  Germans,  and  the  rive  hundred 
thousand  Italians  make  up  the  population  o^l  Austria  ; 
while  rive  million  Slavs,  two  and  three-quarter  million 
Roumanians,  two  million  Germans  and  -even  and  a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  VIENNA.  H 

half  million  Magyars  are  in  Hungary.  To  these 
must  be  added  the  eight  hundred  thousand  Slavs  of 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  who,  with  those  enumerated 
above,  although  diversified  in  dialect  as  much  as,  and 
in  religion  even  more  than,  the  different  Latin  races 
of  Europe,  are  nevertheless  united  by  a  vague,  though 
widely  prevalent  faith  in  a  common  origin  and  na- 
tional destiny."  L 

Observe  attentively  the  passers-by  on  a  Vienna 
street.  Out  of  a  hundred  of  those  whom  you  meet, 
twenty  perhaps  will  have  German  features.  Among 
the  women  the  difference  is  even  more  striking ;  they 
have  the  vivacity  of  the  Slavonic  races ;  they  are  well 
formed,  slender,  nervous ;  their  feet  are  pretty,  with 
well-arched  insteps,  altogether  unlike  the  Bavarian 
goose-foot,  or  the  elephant  pad  of  the  Prussian. 
Their  hair  is  superb,  and  their  teeth  even  and  as 
white  as  milk ;  some  of  them  have  dull  complexions, 
like  the  Parisians,  but  others  have  skin  as  clear  and 
fresh  as  an  English  woman's,  or  again  the  brilliant, 
dark  hue  of  the  Italian.  The  women  of  Vienna  are, 
moreover,  endowed  with  a  temperament,  and  it  is  in 
this  particular,  more  than  in  any  other,  that  the  con- 
trast is  most  marked  between  them  and  their  lym- 
phatic, impassive  sisters  of  Germany,  whose  lives  are 
passed  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  kitchen  garden. 

Of  the  Viennese  architecture  Mme.   de  Stael  re- 

1  Article  by  "  An  Eastern  Diplomat,"  in  Harper's  3Iagazine  for 
March,  1898. 


12  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

marks  that,  except  for  some  Gothic  buildings  recalling 
mediaeval  times,  there  is  nothing  that  reminds  one  of 
other  parts  of  Germany.  In  the  inner  city  one  comes 
across  little  streets  as  tortuous,  and  also  as  dirty,  as 
the  obscure  Venetian  calk,  which  they  resemble.  The 
stone  Christs  iu  the  courtyards,  and  the  statu 
saints  that  one  sees  on  the  stairways,  likewise  recall 
Italy  ;  and  there  was  even,  until  comparatively  lately, 
a  portrait  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  II.,  depicted  as 
Saint  Joseph,  surmounting  a  doorway  in  the  Graben. 
It  is  said  that  one  of  this  Emperor's  favorite  ministers 
had  bought  a  house,  and,  anxious  t<>  give  public 
expression  to  his  gratitude  for  the  many  favors  heap  d 
upon  him  by  his  master,  could  hit  upon  no  more  suhV 
able  device  than  to  hang  a  portrait  of  the  Emperor 
over  his  doorway.  lie  had.  however,  reckoned  with- 
out the  police,  who  promptly  reported  the  matter  to 
the  Emperor.     The  minister  was  summoned. 

"You  know  perfectly  well,"  -aid  Joseph,  "that  it 
is  forbidden  to  employ  the  Emperor's  portrait  for  a 
sign." 

" But,  sire,"  protested  the  horrified  minister,  "this 
is  no  sign,  unless  indeed  it  be  in  sign  of  homage — ven- 
eration. I  placed  yon  there  over  my  door  to  repre- 
sent my  protector,  my  guardian  angel,  my  patron 
saint—" 

"We  will,  it'  yon  please,  leave  the  saints  otit  of  the 
question.  I  am  out  o^  touch  with  the  entire  celestial 
hierarchy." 


A   PORTRAIT  OF  EMPEROR  JOSEPH  II.         13 

"  I  merely  meant,"  continued  the  minister,  "  to  tes- 
tify in  some  public  way  my  gratitude  to  you." 

"The  sentiment  appeals  to  me;  but  I  cannot  allow 
people  to  post  me  up  like  that  on  the  fronts  of  their 
houses,  unless  possibly — "  added  the  Emperor,  but  did 
not  finish  his  sentence. 

"  Speak,  sire,  I  implore  you — speak,"  said  the 
minister. 

"  Well,  then,  although  I  must  confess  that  I  do  not 
feel  the  smallest  vocation  for  filling  the  role  of  such  a 
saintly  personage,  if  you  can  find  an  artist  who  will 
undertake  to  change  me  into  a  Saint  Joseph,  I  will 
allow  the  picture  to  remain." 

Off  went  the  minister,  enchanted  with  his  success, 
and  on  the  following  day  a  skillful  brush  converted 
the  flowing  white  wig  of  Joseph  II.  into  locks  of 
glossy  black,  the  imperial  robe  became  a  long  tunic, 
such  as  was  worn  by  the  Jews,  and  the  sceptre  blos- 
somed into  a  fleur-de-lis.  Finally,  to  guard  against 
any  possible  mistake,  beneath  the  picture  were  in- 
scribed the  words,  "  To  Saint  Joseph." 

There  are  a  number  of  buildings  in  Vienna  dating 
from  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  In  the 
fifteenth  century  architecture  took  there  a  remarkable 
flight,  and  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Stephan  soared  far 
above  those  of  either  Strasburg  or  Cologne ;  its  spires 
may  be  seen  from  the  most  distant  points  of  the  hori- 
zon— to  remain  for  all  time  a  common  ral lying-point 
for  all  the  peoples  and  races  that  go  to  make  up  the 


14  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

monarchy.  It  is  of  vital  importance  that  a  nation 
should  have  a  flag ;  whether  it  be  of  silk  or  of  stone 
is  of  less  moment — it  stands  for  country. 

The  Stephans  Platz  is  the  heart  of  the  city ;  there 
is  the  central  station  for  the  various  omnibus  lines 
which  communicate  with  nineteen  different  districts ; 
there  are  the  banking  houses,  the  leading  tailors' 
establishments,  the  headquarters  of  the  licensed  Coni- 
missionnaires  (Dienstmamier) — a  service,  by  the  way, 
of  the  greatest  use.  The  charge  is  extremely  low, 
and  the  employees  are  obliged  to  show  their  tariffs 
on  demand.  They  are  dressed  in  a  distinctive  uni- 
form ;  a  metal  badge,  fastened  on  the  left  breast,  dis- 
plays the  number,  which  is  repeated  on  the  facing 
the  coat;  and  on  their  red  leather  caps  are  small  metal 
badges,  on  which  is  engraved  the  word  Diensbman* 

These  men  are  employed  for  every  sort  of  work — 
to  bottle  wine,  clear  out  pipes,  clip  dogs,  beat  carpets, 
pack  trunks;  above  all,  to  carry  letters  and  packages. 
A  Viennese  lady  out  on  a  shopping  tour  may  be  - 
closely  followed  by  a  Commissionnaire,  whom  she 
loads  like  a  pack-mule.  As  a  rule  the  men  employed 
are  both  reliable  and  intelligent,  and  one  can  confide 
the  most  delicate  matters  to  them  without  risk,  and 
set  them  to  follow  up  the  most  obscure  -cents.  There 
are  sixteen  hundred  Commis.-ionnaires  in  Vienna 
alone. 

From   the   Stephans  Platz  it  is  but  a  step  to  the 
Graben — the  Graben,  whose  broadside  of  shops  arouses 


Interior  of  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Stephan 


THE  GKABEX.  15 

every  dormant  sense  of  covetousness,  appeals  to 
every  taste,  and  can  satisfy  the  caprices  of  the  most 
fastidious  ;  the  Graben,  with  its  cafes  dores,  provided 
with  red  velvet  couches,  but  whose  patrons  swarm 
over  the  sidewalks  in  summer  time,  protected  by  quan- 
tities of  coquettish  little  awnings ;  the  Graben,  always 
crowded  with  promenaders,  both  men  and  women — 
the  Boulevard  des  Italiens  of  Vienna.  There  the 
fashionable  world  and  all  strangers  assemble  in  the 
morning,  and  again  in  the  evening.  During  the 
afternoon  every  one  drives  in  the  Prater  or  on 
the  Ring  Strasse.  Here — on  the  Graben — from  ten 
a.m.  to  mid-day,  and  from  six  to  nine  p.m.,  there  is  a 
constant  coming  and  going — a  rush  and  palpitation  of 
life,  the  demi  monde  especially  turning  out  in  force. 

Among  the  Graben's  chief  attractions  are  the  photo- 
graph and  engraving  shops,  before  whose  windows 
crowds  are  always  collected,  workwomen  and  me- 
chanics elbowing  fashionable  dames ;  soldiers,  bakers' 
apprentices  and  cobblers'  boys  push  in  between  young 
diplomats  and  old  bankers,  and  strangers  come  to 
town  on  business  or  pleasure.  Among  all  the  attrac- 
tions displayed,  the  most  popular  are  the  photographs 
of  that  charming  corps,  the  Viennese  actresses,  almost 
as  unpretendingly  attired  as  was  Eve  before  the  fall,  or 
Venus  when  she  rose  from  the  waves.  Nor  is  it  alone 
the  favorites  of  the  stage  who  here  rendezvous,  and 
transfix  one's  heart  Avith  their  coquettish  glances ;  all 
those  ladies  of  the  aristocracy,  whether  married  or  sin- 


16  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

gle,  whose  beauty  entitles  them  to  the  distinction,  com- 
pete in  this  way  for  public  favor;  their  photographs 
sell  at  the  same  rates  as  those  of  the  comediennes  and 
ballet  dancers.  Xo  one  seems  to  see  any  impropriety 
in  this  custom,  and  the  photographers  reap  the  benefit. 

Sixty  or  seventy  years  ago,  however,  this  was  not 
the  case,  for  an  English  traveler  of  that  day  regrets 
that  "  it  is  not  possible  here,  as  with  us,  to  enter  a 
print  shop  and  obtain  an  excellent  portrait  of  any  lady 
of  distinction,  whose  countenance  has  particularly 
captivated  your  fancy.  ...  I  confess  I  regret  that  I 
cannot  carry  away  with  me  a  select  portfolio  of 
female  head-." 

In  a  place  like  Vienna,  where  lounging  i-  such  an 
interesting  and  agreeable  occupation,  how  one  comes 
to  regret  the  universal  sameness  in  manners  and  ens- 
toms  that  is  rapidly  killing  out  the  last  ves  ges 
individuality  in  even  the  most  remote  countries.  One 
never  meets  now  on  the  Graben  a  Hungarian  wearing 
his  boots,  his  embroidered  dolman,  his  plait  of  hair; 
a  Pole,  with  his  circular-cut  hair  and  short  redii  e 
a  Wallachian,  with  his  braided  breeches;  a  Serbian, 
with  his  little  jacket  and  a  dagger  thrust  in  his  belt 
Only  the  Turks  and  the  Galician  Jews  still  wear  their 
national  dress.  If.  however,  on  leaving  the  Graben, 
you  will  cross  the  Hoher-Markt  into  tl. 
you  will  think  that  you  have  strayed  into  a  Carpathian 
village.  In  Vienna  these  picturesque  ethnographic 
surprises  still  occasionally  break  the  universal  common- 


THE  JEWISH  QUARTER.  17 

place  sameness  of  modern  life.  The  morning  is  the 
time  to  visit  the  Judengasse,  for  it  is  between  the 
hours  of  nine  and  eleven  that  those  old  houses,  dark 
and  sinister  as  the  dens  of  wild  beasts,  pour  forth 
their  streams  of  unwashed,  uncombed  inhabitants, 
clad  in  long,  black,  greasy  surtouts  and  high  hats. 
They  have  pointed  beards  and  pale  blue  eyes,  their  large 
flat  ears  are  half  hidden  beneath  long  side  locks  which 
fall  from  either  temple  and  frame  their  thin,  pallid 
faces.  Forming  in  compact  groups,  all  these  old  clothes 
dealers  begin  to  ply  their  trade,  selling  and  reselling, 
bargaining,  beating  down,  counting,  speculating,  with 
many  gesticulations  and  much  jabbering  of  Israelitish 
patois  and  shaking  off  of  fleas.  There  are  those 
whose  flexible  fingers  grasp  ear-rings,  watch-chains, 
strings  of  coral ;  one  might  easily  mistake  them  for 
raiders  of  the  fifteenth  century,  just  back  from  the 
pillage  of  a  castle.  Here  one  holds  out  a  pair  of  old 
shoes,  torn  and  down  at  the  heels,  while  he  clasps  to 
his  bosom  a  battered  clock  or  a  worn-out  coffee-mill ; 
another  has  flung  a  pair  of  convict's  breeches  across 
his  shoulders,  stained,  frayed,  worn — a  mere  heart- 
rending bunch  of  rags — while  from  the  gaping  pocket 
of  his  foxy  surtout  the  head  of  a  Dresden  shepherdess 
or  court  beauty  peeps  mournfully  out,  as  though  from 
a  prison  window. 

Yonder  a  small,  yellow-haired  Jew  displays,  with 
an   air  of  triumph,  a  pair  of  the  daintiest  Turkish 
slippers  imaginable,  each  one  a  solid  mass  of  pearls 
2 


18  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

and  spangles  and  embroidery.  He  shakes  them  mis- 
chievously under  the  very  noses  of  his  elders,  who 
smile  indulgently  in  their  long  beards.  What  fairy 
or  goddess  once  encased  her  pretty  feet  in  these  charm- 
ing slippers,  which,  with  their  foundation  of  blue  vel- 
vet, suggest  the  sabots  of  the  Virgin  ?  From  whence 
did  they  come?  What  journey,  or  rather  what  ship- 
wreck, could  it  have  been  that  ended  in  casting  them 
into  the  dirty  paws  of  this  Jew  broker '!  What  a 
pretty  tale  might  be  written  under  the  title,  "  Travels 
and  Confessions  of  a  Pair  of  Slipper-  !" 

This  street  of  the  Jews  has  preserved  much  of  the 
forbidding  aspect  of  a  ghetto  of  bygone  days  ;  it  is 
dark,  dirty,  gloomy.  The  houses  arc  Leprous  colored, 
and  the  window-panes  are  covered  with  a  gray,  sticky, 
ooze-like  slime.  The  shops  resemble  caves \  to  enter 
them,  you  must  push  your  way  through  garland-  of 
old  shoes,  mangy  furs,  tattered  silk  dresses,  all  sorts 
of  filthy  rags,  mixed  indiscriminately  with  perfectly 
new  liveries,  long  cloaks  of  the  kind  worn  by  priests, 
and  military  uniforms.  These  strange  shops  are  the 
sewers  into  which  filter  all  the  various  form-  of 
wretchedness  of  a  great  city  ;  they  are  the  burial- 
ground  of  all  luxuries,  receptacle-  of  crime  and  of 
virtue — the  final  end  of  vanity.  And  yet.  even  here, 
there  sometimes  appears  in  the  half  light  of  a  door- 
way the  radiant  face  of  a  young  ffirl,  a  dark-skinned 
Rebecca,  with  the  dazzling  teeth  and  great  aqua- 
marine colored  eves  of  the  Orient. 


THE  JEWISH   QUARTER.  19 

At  certain  hours  of  the  afternoon  the  whole  neigh- 
borhood is  as  dead  as  though  placed  under  an  ever- 
lasting curse ;  no  sound  of  labor,  no  more  cheerful 
bustle  of  trade — all  those  spiders  now  go  about  the 
business  of  spinning  their  webs  in  utter  silence.  Even 
the  children  have  ceased  their  games  and  deserted  the 
street ;  only  here  and  there  one  sees  some  poor,  pale, 
little  creature,  coughing  painfully  and  showing  the 
effects  of  the  damp,  unhealthy  atmosphere. 

The  interiors  of  the  houses  are  unspeakably  squalid. 
As  one  ascends  the  stair  the  rickety  banister  sticks 
to  one's  fingers,  and  the  walls  on  either  side  ooze. 
Entering  a  small,  dark  room,  the  ceiling  is  covered 
with  soot,  the  furniture  is  crowded  close  together.  On 
a  crooked  chest  of  drawers  are  ranged  some  old  cups, 
and  on  a  shelf  near  by  a  few  pewter  vessels.  Behind 
the  porcelain  stove  sits  an  old  man,  glassy-eyed, 
doubled  up,  muttering  to  himself.  Hearing  a  strange 
voice,  he  painfully  raises  his  head  and  blinks. 

"  Ah/'  he  says,  "  it  is  you,  Rebb-Katz.  I  am  glad 
— very  glad,  indeed.  .  .  .  Think  of  it  !  Yerouchou- 
lam  has  been  rebuilt  in  spite  of  all  the  prophecies  of 
the  gois  (Christians).  We  are  to  start  to-morrow,  are 
we  not,  Rebb  ?  The  face  of  the  whole  world  is  going 
to  be  different  now ;  those  who  had  no  country  are  to 
find  one  again  at  last.  As  for  me,  Rebb,  I  want  to 
live  near  Solomon's  Temple.  .  .  .  Ah,  in  a  fine  new 
city  the  Meschiach  might  well  come.  .  .  .  What  re- 
joicings, Rebb  !     We  will  eat  a  lamb  !" 


20  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

"  Pay  no  attention  to  him,"  whispers  his  wife. 
"  He  is  so  old  that  he  has  become  quite  childish." 

And  the  quavering  voice  continues  to  mutter  : 

"  Oh,  Yerouchoulam  \" 

"  Ah,  old  man/'  one  might  reply,  "  Jerusalem  has 
indeed  been  rebuilt ;  but  you  do  not  have  to  cross  the 
seas  to  find  her.  The  new  Jerusalem  rises  on  the 
shores  of  the  Danube.  You  are  in  the  promised  land 
of  Israel  here." 

Who  have  built  all  those  great  palaces,  which  have 
placed  Vienna  on  a  pinnacle  above  every  city  in  the 
world?  The  Jews.  Who  owns  the  Austrian  press? 
The  Jews.  In  whose  hands  are  the  funds  of  the  mon- 
archy?    In  those  of  the  Jews. 

"  Vienna,"  run-  a  sentence  in  the  Guide  Humor- 
isteque,  published  during  the  Exposition — "  Vienna 
has  18,398  banking  houses,  two  of  which  are  con- 
trolled by  Christians." 

Among  the  patrons  of  the  Jewish  money-lenders 
may  be  found  the  Polish,  Hungarian  and  Galician 
nobility.  Do  you  happen  t<>  want  thirty  thousand 
florins?  Nothing  is  easier ;  there  is  no  hurry  at  all 
about  returning  the  loan,  only  you  will  kindly  sign 
notes  for  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand. 

In  this  way  was  brought  about  the  ruin  of  a  cer- 
tain prince,  who  had  formerly  been  so  rich  that  on  the 
occasion  of  the  coronation  of  Alexander  II.  he  had 
caused  handfuls  of  gold  to  be  scattered  on  the  street-. 
They    seized    everything,    even    his    gala    dress,    the 


INFLUENCE  OF   THE  JEWS.  21 

diamond  buttons  of  which  were  afterwards  sold  in 
London. 

The  Vienna  Bourse  is  quite  as  beautiful  as  Solo- 
mon's Temple.  The  Leopoldstadt  is  inhabited  by 
forty  thousand  Jews.  Half  of  the  total  number  of 
scholars  educated  at  the  Academic  Gymnasium  are 
Jews.  At  the  very  popular  College  of  the  Bene- 
dictine Fathers,  where,  some  thirty  years  ago,  not  a 
single  Jew  was  to  be  found,  they  now  number  a  large 
proportion  of  the  students.  At  the  School  of  Com- 
merce more  than  half  the  scholars  are  Jews ;  and  in 
other  schools  it  is  the  same  story,  many  Jews  from  the 
provinces  being  sent  to  Vienna  to  be  educated.  The 
majority  of  both  doctors  and  lawyers  are  Jews,  and 
there  is  no  profession  that  does  not  number  them 
among  its  members.  There  are,  in  short,  more  Jews 
in  Austria  than  in  any  other  country  of  Europe,  Rus- 
sia alone  excepted.  In  the  large  cities,  such  as  Vienna, 
Budapest  and  Prague,  they  assimilate  with  the  mass  of 
the  population,  and  are  only  distinguished  by  their 
religion ;  but  in  the  small  towns  and  country  dis- 
tricts, especially  in  Hungary  and  Galicia,  they  pre- 
serve their  national  dress  and  language — a  sort  of 
German  jargon — and  publish  books  and  newspapers 
in  Hebrew. 

The  Jewish  family  is  often  more  moral  than  the 
Christian.  With  them  the  primitive  law  of  parental 
authority  and  filial  obedience  has  been  preserved  in- 
tact, and   for  the   most  part  they  present  the  simple 


22  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

and  impressive  picture  of  the  patriarchal  home-life 
of  the  Bible. 

The  emancipation  of  the  Jew  was  not  fully  con- 
summated until  the  year  1856.  In  1849  no  Jew  was 
allowed  to  spend  a  night  in  Vienna  without  a  police 
permit,  which,  moreover,  he  was  obliged  to  renew  every 
fifteen  days.  In  1425  a  rumor  was  circulated  in 
Vienna  that  a  certain  old  Jew,  named  Israel,  had 
obtained  possession  of  a  consecrated  wafer,  which  he 
had  made  use  of  in  a  sacrilegious  performance,  gotto  n 
up  to  parody  the  office  of  the  Mass.1  The  excitement 
caused  by  this  tale  was  so  intense  that  the  Emperor 
Albert  11.  proceeded  to  shut  up  all  the  Jews  in  the 
country.  Some  of  the  unfortunate-  submitted  to  bap- 
tism, in  order  to  save  their  lives ;  others  hung  them- 
selves, or  opened  a  vein,  while  in  their  cells.  On  the 
12th  of  March  a  hundred  of  them  were  burned,  and 
hardly  were  the  flames  extinguished  when  the  poorer 
University  student-  began  to  grope  among  the  ashes 
for  any  gold  pieces  which  the  wretched  creatures 
might  have  concealed  about  their  persons.  All  their 
property  was  c  ►nfiscated. 

"How  the  times  have  changed  !"  observed  a  Vien- 
nese, one  day,  after  furnishing  these  detail-.     "  N 
it  is  the  Jews  who  confiscate  our  belongi    gs 

1  This  is  the  same  story  that  lui>  been  circulated  in  all  countries 
and  iu  all  ages  as  a  preliminary  to  a  Jewish  persecution.     It 

ablv  always  unfounded. 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  Hoher-Markt—  Christmas  Eve  —  Vindobona — The  Hof— Civic 
Arsenal — Pius  VI.  in  Vienna — The  Emperor  Joseph's  Eeforms 
— Revolution  of  1848 — Murder  of  Count  Latour — The  Wipplin- 
ger  Strasse— Old  Rathhaus— Church  of  Maria  Stiegen. 

The  Hoher-Markt,  or  Upper  Market,  from  which 
the  Jews'  quarter  is  entered,  is  an  open  square,  filled 
with  stalls.  An  effort  was  made  in  Vienna,  as  in 
Berlin,  to  erect  a  central  market,  but  without  success. 
The  retail  dealers  go  every  morning  to  the  market- 
houses,  near  the  Wien,  to  lay  in  supplies  for  the  day, 
carrying  their  purchases  away  in  little  carts  drawn 
by  dogs. 

In  the  Hoher-Markt  are  to  be  found  a  complete 
assortment  of  vegetables,  fruits,  fish,  game  and  pig's- 
meat,  though  the  choice  of  vegetables  is  naturally 
somewhat  restricted  in  a  city  where  cauliflowers  are 
sold  on  the  Graben,  side  by  side  with  lemons  and 
oranges.  Pears  and  apples,  on  the  contrary,  are  to  be 
had  in  great  abundance ;  they  are  brought  down  from 
upper  Austria  on  rafts,  heaped  up  in  great  pyramids. 
Game  also  is  very  cheap ;  it  is  not  at  all  unusual  for 
as  many  as  ten  thousand  hares  and  three  or  four 
hundred  pheasants  to  be  killed  in  a  single  hunt.     The 

23 


24  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE 

Bohemian  pheasant,  in  particular,  is  very  highly  es- 
teemed.    Xapoleon  III.  used  to  have  five  hundred  of 
them  sent  to  Paris  every  year  for  his  Tuileries  dinners. 
In    the   Viennese    markets    are    to    be    found   the 
usual    supply    of    viragos,   whose    flow   of    invective 
is    the   wonder    and    enw    of    all    the    less    hi^rhlv 
gifted.      Joseph    II.    one    day    overturned    a    basket 
of  eggs  belonging  to  one  of  them,  for  the  pure  plea- 
sure of  hearing  her  expend  her  rich  vocabulary. 
The  time  to  visit  the  Hoher-Markt,  ho 
stmas   Eve.      A   forest   lias    suddenly  grown  up 
there  in  a  single  night — a  :       -       3  marvelous  as  that 
of  a  fairy-tale,  illustrated  by  Dore.    Ribl 

entwine  the  fir  tree-  like  a  tropical  bindw 
blue.  red.  yell  L     It  looks  as  1 

eian  had  waved  hi.-  hand  over  a  rain  1  turned  it 

into  myriad-  of  serpents.     Gil  led  nut-  sparkle  among 
-fruit  on  1      -  At 

night,  when  the  whole   -  i-  lit  up.  t'.. 

-till  more  fantastic.     The  ground,  covered  with  snow, 
and   tlu-   wooden  -  ged  streets  under- 

neath the  dark  fir  I      -   a  placethech 

-  .     The  crowd  presses 
to  the  gaily-d  >ths,  lit  up  like  so  many  altar-, 

and  loaded  with  gilded  drui   a  s;  horses       obits 

-  [ueak  when  you  punch  them  in  the  £ 

y  rabbi:-  -  ut  in 

furbe]      =  s  in       _  - .    N     a's    arks, 

swords,  and  all  those  thousand-and-one  varieties 


The  Hoher  Markt 


i 


THE  HOF— THE  CIVIC  ARSENAL.  25 

toys  that  the  approach  of  Christmas  casts  up  like  a 
rising  tide  on  the  thresholds  of  the  shops. 

In  proportion  as  the  crowd  increases,  the  forest 
grows  less ;  long  files  of  Commissionnaires  shoulder  the 
fir  trees  and  disappear  into  the  surrounding  darkness, 
like  the  giants  of  northern  fables,  until  at  last  the 
whole  wonderful  scene  has  melted  away  like  a  dream. 

A  Latin  inscription  on  the  facade  of  Baron  Sina's 
palace,  on  the  corner  of  the  Marcus  Aurelius  Strasse, 
states  that  it  occupies  the  site  of  the  Roman  Praefco- 
rium,  and  that  the  Markt  Platz  was  the  Forum  of  the 
Roman  city  of  Vindobona,  where,  as  every  one  knows, 
the  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius  died.  The  Platz  is 
ornamented  with  a  horrible  monument,  in  the  most 
rococo  style,  loaded  with  ornament,  turned,  and 
twisted  like  a  madrigal  done  in  stone;  it  is  dedicated 
to  the  Virgin,  but  the  Cupid-like  cherubs  who  frolic 
and  turn  somersaults  in  the  marble  clouds,  are  more 
suggestive  of  a  confectioner's  decorations  for  a  wed- 
ding breakfast  than  of  anything  to  do  with  the  Queen 
of  Heaven.  Xot  far  away  is  the  Hof,  one  of  the 
largest  and  finest  squares  of  the  city.  In  the  centre 
rises  another  ugly  column,  shaped  like  a  cup  and  ball, 
a  copy  of  those  in  the  Hoher-Markt  and  Graben. 
The  building  which  rises  on  the  left,  massive  and  solid 
as  a  fortress,  is  the  Civic  Arsenal,  owned  by  the  city. 
The  valuable  collection  of  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
tury arms  and  armor,  formerly  kept  here,  has  now  been 
moved  to  the  new  Rathhaus.    Almost  directly  opposite 


26  VIENNA   AND   THE  VIENNESE. 

the  Arsenal,  at  the  other  end  of  the  Hof,  rises  the 
palace  of  the  Papal  Xuncio.  From  its  balcony,  which 
overlooks  the  square,  Pius  VI.  gave  the  Pa}  al  bene- 
diction to  the  people  on  the  occasion  of  his  fruitless 
visit  to  Vienna  in  1782. 

Joseph  II.  found  himself  seriously  impeded  in  his 
tremendous  scheme  of  reform  by  the  intolerance, 
wealth  and  superstition  of  the  Church.  He  accord- 
ingly determined  to  sweep  these  away  at  a  blow. 
Edict  followed  edict — freedom  <»t"  tic  press,  freedom 
<•!'  religious  belief  and  worship,  freedom  of  the  Aus- 
trian Church  from  all  obligation  t<>  Rome,  save  in 
strictly  spiritual  matter-.  These  and  similar  enact- 
ments reduced  the  clergy  and  the  country  at  larg 
state  of  breathless  stupefaction,  and  a  careful  report  of 
every  measure  was  -cut.  by  the  Emperor's  order,  t<»  the 
Vatican.  Tope  Pin-  VI.  -aw  hi-  Austrian  revenues 
dwindling  and  disappearing  before  hi-  very  eyes,  while 
in  his  ears  was  the  sound  of  mourning  raised  by  thirty- 
six  thousand  inmates  of  religious  houses,  which  the 
Emperor  had  suppressed  with  a  single  stroke  of  the  pen. 
Vigorous  remonstrances  were  presented  through  the 
Papal  Nuncio  at  Vienna,  and  when  these  had  no  effect, 
the  Pope,  who  believed  that  his  Romans  had  nol  e 
him  the  title  of  II  Pers  §  for  nothing,  determined 
to  himself  go  to  Vienna  and  wring  concessions  from  its 
mad  Emperor.  He  would  come  in  person,  he  -aid,  to 
reason  as  a  lather  with  his  son  :  and  he  added  thai  he 
would  lodge  with  his  Nuncio.     Joseph  replied  that  he 


THE   WAR  OFFICE.  27 

considered  it  a  mark  of  the  greatest  benevolence,  on 
the  part  of  the  Pope,  to  take  this  long  journey  solely 
to  see  him ;  that  it  would  not  canse  him  to  alter  his 
policy  by  so  much  as  a  hairVbreadth,  and  that  he  could 
not  think  of  permitting  him  to  stay  anywhere  but  in 
his  own  Hof  burg ;  and  then  proceeded  to  have  every 
entrance  but  one  to  the  said  Hof  burg  walled  up,  so 
that  his  guest  would  not  be  able  to  hold  secret  inter- 
views with  any  one  during  his  stay.  The  Cardinal 
Archbishop  of  Vienna,  a  brilliant  and  influential  aris- 
tocrat, had,  in  fact,  to  pay  a  heavy  fine  and  leave  the 
capital  for  conducting  an  "  illegal  correspondence " 
with  the  Pope  during  this  visit. 

Pius  was  greeted  throughout  his  journey  from  the 
frontier  with  the  most  gratifying  exhibitions  of  venera- 
tion and  loyalty,  but  when  he  was  met  by  the  Emperor 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  the  latter,  instead  of  kneel- 
ing and  kissing  the  slipper,  embraced  his  Holiness 
affably  as  an  equal.  The  visit  was  entirely  fruitless, 
and  its  only  result  was  a  loss  of  prestige  for  the  Holy 
See.  Frederick  the  Great  was  heard  to  remark  after- 
wards that  he  might  after  all  have  come  to  believe  in 
the  infallibility  of  the  Pope — "but — but  that  journey 
to  Vienna  ! " 

On  the  left  of  the  Hof  is  the  War  Office,  and 
directly  opposite  it  stood  the  lamp-post,  which  played 
so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  horrible  drama  enacted 
there  on  October  6th,  1848.  During  the  night  word 
had    been   brought   to    the   War    Minister,  Theodor 


28  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

Count  Baillet  Yon  Latour,  that  the  Richter  battalion 
of  Grenadiers,  under  orders  to  proceed  to  Hungary 
the  next  morning,  had  fraternized  with  the  suburban 
National  Guards,  and  had  promised,  with  the  latter's 
support,  and  that  of  the  students  of  the  Academic 
Legion,  to  refuse  to  march.  Orders  were  issued  looking 
to  the  suppression  of  the  threatened  revolt,  and  at  an 
early  hour  on  the  morning  of  the  6th  all  the  Ministers, 
as  well  as  a  number  of  Generals  and  other  officers  of 
high  rank,  had  assembled  in  the  War  Office.  News  of 
tumults  at  the  Tabor  bridge,  and  of  the  death  of 
General  Bredy,  was  quickly  followed  by  reports  of 
risings  in  other  parts  of  the  city.  In  every  direction  bar- 
ricades were  being  thrown  up;  sonic  Civic  National 
Guards,  who  had  sought  to  prevent  the  mounting  by 
the  student-  of  two  cannons  from  the  Arsenal,  had 
been  forced,  after  an  interchange  of  shots  in  which  some 
lives  had  been  lost,  into  St.  Stephen'-  Church,  when 
the  struggle  had  continued  to  the  very  steps  of  the 
altar.  The  crowd  in  the  Hofplatz  was  increasing  every 
moment,  and  by  three  in  the  afternoon  it  was  deemed 
prudent  to  close  the  main  gate,  placing  the  one  cannon 
in  the  inner  courtyard  so  as  to  lace  it,  with  a  guard  of 
some  two  hundred  grenadiers,  cannoniers  and  mem- 
bers of  the  Civic  Cavalry  to  defend  it.  Their  ord  - 
were,  in  case  the  gate  should  be  forced,  t<>  discharge 
the  cannon  and  then  to  hold  back  the  assailants  at  the 
points  of  their  bayonets.  Had  this  programme  been 
carried  out,  the  subsequent  tragedy  might  have  been 


THE  MURDER  OF  COUNT  LATOUR.  29 

averted  ;  but,  unfortunately,  at  four  o'clock,  when  the 
fall  of  the  gate  was  momentarily  expected,  the  War 
Minister  suddenly  resolved  to  throw  it  open  and  admit 
the  mob,  apparently  hoping  by  this  unexpected  move  to 
check  the  fighting,  and  to  win  the  besiegers'  confidence 
long  enough  for  a  parley.  The  result  was  most  disas- 
trous; the  mob  poured  in;  the  grenadiers,  whose  pre- 
vious orders  had  been  hurriedly  changed  to  a  command 
not  to  fire,  were  thrown  into  confusion  and  disorder, 
and  in  a  short  time  the  insurgents,  many  of  them 
drank,  and  all  crazy  with  excitement,  had  taken  pos- 
session of  all  but  the  upper  part  of  the  building,  and 
were  actively  engaged  in  destroying  or  plundering 
everything  they  could  lay  hands  on,  and  searching 
through  all  the  papers  they  could  find  in  the  hope  of 
discovering  proofs  of  Count  Latour's  treason.  An  in- 
tercepted correspondence  between  Jellachich,  the  Croa- 
tian General,  and  Count  Latour  had  been  printed  and 
widely  circulated  in  Hungary.  From  this  it  had  ap- 
peared that  the  real  object  of  the  advance  of  the 
Croatian  army  was  to  support  the  Emperor's  advisers 
in  resisting  the  demands  of  the  Diet  and  the  people. 
Supplies  famished  by  the  Minister  of  War  were 
acknowledged,  and  plans  for  dissolving  the  Academic 
Legion,  reorganizing  the  National  Guard,  and  de- 
claring Vienna  to  be  in  a  state  of  siege  were  ex- 
posed. It  was  these  revelations,  capped  by  the 
attempt  to  remove  the  German  battalion  of 
Grenadiers,    always    friendly  to    the  Viennese   peo- 


30  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

pie,    that    aroused    the   popular    resentment   against 
La  tour. 

The  War  Minister  now  dismissed  the  Generals  and 
other  Ministers  who  had  been  conferring  with  him,  and 
they  all  succeeded  in  effecting  their  escape.  His  own 
attempt  to  reach  the  loft  of  a  neighboring  church  having 
failed,  he  hid  in  a  small,  dark  room  at  the  top  of  the 
building.  In  the  meantime  the  mob  had  grown  more 
violent  ;  cries  of  "Death  to  Latouf  !"  could  be  heard 
rising  above  the  tumult.  Some  officers  of  the  National 
Guard,  who  had  accompanied  the  insurgents,  now  tried 
vainly  to  hold  them  in  check.  "You  think  we  are 
imt  going  to  avenge  ourselves?"  yelled  one  frantic  voice. 
"  How  about  my  father,  who  has  just  been  killed?" 
"And  my  brother?"  howled  another.  "And  my 
mother?"  came  from  still  a  third.  "Death  to  Latour! 
Death  to  the  traitor!"  shrieked  the  whole  n  . 
furious,  savage  throng. 

First  Vice-President  Smolka,  who  had  been  - 
from  the  Diet  to  protect  the  War  Minister,  in  order 
to  gain  time  now  circulated  a  report  that  the  latter 
was  no  longer  in  the  building;  then,  seeing  that 
sooner  or  later  he  was  sure  to  be  discovered,  and 
that  each  fresh  delay  only  served  to  infuriate  the 
crowd  still  more,  Smolka  mounted  hurriedly  to  the 
fourth  floor  and  begged  Latour  to  give  out  his 
resignation. 

''It  is  your  sole  chance,  Excellency,"  he  said. 

Latour,  without  answering  a  word,  reached   for  a 


THE  MURDER  OF   COUNT  LATOUR.  31 

sheet  of  paper,  and  wrote  the  following  lines  :  "  I  am 
ready,  with  his  Majesty's  approval,  to  send  in  my 
resignation  as  Minister  of  War.'' 

"  Excellency,"  urged  Smolka,  after  reading  the 
paper,  "  you  had  much  better  make  no  allusion  to  the 
Emperor.  It  will  only  serve  to  stir  up  fresh  griev- 
ances. In  your  place,  I  should  simply  announce  my 
resignation." 

"  I  will  not  alter  a  ward  that  I  have  written,"  said 
Latour,  coldly. 

Whereupon  Smolka  folded  the  sheet  and  went  out. 
"  Latour  has  resigned !"  he  began  to  call  out,  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  as  soon  as  he  reached  the  lower 
floors,  where  the  insurgents  were  still  immersed  in 
their  patriotic  work  of  hacking  the  furniture  to  pieces. 

"  Kead  the  paper  aloud  !"  called  out  a  number  of 
voices,  interrupted  by  cries  of  "  Then  he  is  up  there, 
after  all,"  from  a  group  of  tipsy  workingmen,  who 
had  rolled  up  their  sleeves,  as  though  they  were 
butchers. 

Smolka  found  himself  obliged  to  read  the  resig- 
nation aloud ;  but  hardly  had  the  words  "  with  his 
Majesty's  approval "  passed  his  lips,  when  his  voice 
was  drowned  by  savage  howls. 

"  Where  is  he  hiding  ?  Where  is  he  ?  We  want 
to  see  the  Minister.  .  .  .  We  want  to  talk  to  Latour," 
came  from  all  sides. 

"  It  is  out  of  the  question  for  all  of  you  to  come," 
cried  Smolka.     "  Let  twenty  of  you  follow  me ;  but 


32  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

first  you  will  have  to  swear  that  Latour's  life  is  to  be 
spared." 

"Very  well,"  said  some  of  the  National  Guard. 
"We  promise  that  he  shall  have  a  hearing  before  a 
council  of  war." 

Smolka  thereupon  led  the  way  to  the  upper  story, 
followed  by  twenty  insurgents,  who  had  been  de- 
tailed from  the  crowd.  On  reaching  the  room 
where  he  had  left  the  Minister,  however,  he  found 
it  fastened.  Just  at  this  moment  the  mob  poured  up 
by  another  stair  and  overflowed  into  all  the  corridors 
of  the  fourth  floor,  yelling  : 

"  Make  him  come  out !     AVe  want  Latour  !" 

Suddenly  a  door  opened,  and  the  Minister  appeared 
before  them. 

"  Here  I  am/'  he  said.  "  You  say  you  wish  to 
take  charge  of  me  yourselves,  and  accordingly  I  con- 
fide myself  to  your  protection." 

They  at  once  forced  him  to  descend,  amid  storms 
of  imprecations.  His  appearance  in  the  courtyard, 
where  the  patriots  were  drinking  and  feasting,  was  the 
signal  for  such  a  savage  outburst  that  he  blanched  and 
trembled.  It  was  plain  to  be  seen  that  the  lust  of 
blood  had  risen  to  the  brains  of  the  crowd  and  mad- 
dened them. 

"  Oh  !"  cried  a  workman,  close  by,  with  a  loud  burst 
of  laughter,  "  you  are  scared,  are  you  ?  Here,  this 
may  revive  you  !"    And  he  spat  in  his  face. 

"  I  have  faced  bullets  many  a  time  without  flinch- 


THE  MURDER  OF  COUNT  LA  TOUR.  33 

ing,"  Latour  was  heard  to  murmur.  "  Rather  a  bullet 
than  this  !" 

"You  will  have  your  wish  immediately/'  said  the 
man,  raising  his  gun  and  taking  aim ;  but  as  he  was 
drunk  he  missed  fire. 

The  smell  of  the  powder  among  those  close  at  hand, 
and  the  sudden  report  of  the  gun,  heard  all  over  the 
courtyard,  was  all  that  was  needed  to  tear  away  the 
last  vestige  of  restraint. 

"  Kill  him  !  kill  him  !"  shouted  a  number  of  voices 
at  once. 

The  men  surrounding  the  prisoner  were  dispersed 
with  kicks  and  blows,1  and  a  burly  blacksmith,  heavy- 
lipped,  leaden -eyed,  with  a  brutal  expression  and 
powerful  muscles,  still  wearing  his  leather  apron, 
deliberately  raised  his  hammer  and  brought  it  down 
on  the  gray  head  of  the  unfortunate  Minister.  Almost 
at  the  same  moment  he  was  struck  with  an  iron  bar, 
and  received  thrusts  from  a  sabre,  a  bayonet  and  an 
iron  pike — the  last  was  probably  the  blow  that  killed 
him.  Latour  fell  heavily  to  the  ground,  bathed  in 
blood,  just  as  the  clock  of  the  War  Office  struck  a 
quarter  to  four  o'clock.  The  crowd  pressed  forward, 
striking  and  slashing  the  body,  which  still  gave  signs 
of  life.  With  insensate  rage,  it  was  then  raised  for 
the  people  to  see,  and  in  response  to  yells  of  "  Hang 

1  In  the  subsequent  investigation  it  was  shown  that  some  at  least 
oi  these  faithfully  tried  to  protect  the  prisoner,  and  themselves  re- 
ceived injuries. 
3 


34  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

him  !  hang  him  !"  a  cord  was  tied  around  the  neck 
and  the  body  fastened  to  the  grating  of  a  window. 
The  cord  almost  immediately  broke,  and  its  ghastly 
burden  fell,  only  to  meet  with  renewed  indignities. 
The  clothing  was  stripped  off  and  torn  to  shreds,  to 
be  distributed  as  souvenirs,  and  the  naked  body,  after 
being  dragged  by  the  feet  out  of  the  main  gateway 
and  across  the  Platz,  was  strung  up  to  the  iron  bar  of 
a  lamp-post,  and  a  number  of  the  National  Guards 
fired  a  volley  at  it. 

As  nightfall  drew  on,  the  lights  were  lit  and  the 
assassins  held  high  revel  in  the  Platz,  eating  and 
drinking,  singing  and  dancing,  in  the  very  shadow  of 
the  mangled,  swinging  corpse,  some  women  of  the 
streets  even  dipping  their  handkerchiefs  in  the  pool 
of  blood  collected  beneath  it,  and  carrying  them  off 
triumphantly  as  ensigns.1  At  a  late  hour,  when  the 
Platz  was  finally  deserted,  a  member  of  the  Legion, 
who  had  remained  on  guard,  bought  a  piece  of  muslin 
from  a  neighboring  concierge  and  covered  that  hideous 
Thing  which  but  a  few  hours  before  had  been  called 
Latour.  Some  time  after  midnight  two  or  three  of 
the  National  Guard  of  Penzing,  in  defiance  of  the 
remonstrances  of  one  of  the  Academic  Legion,  took 
the  body  down  and  carried  it  to  the  Military  Hospital. 

1  The  verdict  of  the  physicians  who  examined  the  body  and  testi- 
fied before  the  court  states  that  the  War  Minister,  Count  Latour, 
was  tortured  to  death,  thirty-one  of  the  forty-three  wounds  found  on 
the  body  having  been  inflicted  while  he  was  still  alive. 


THE  OLD  KATHHAUS.  35 

The  investigation  by  the  Imperial  Royal  court- 
martial  into  the  murder  of  Count  Latour  brought  out 
the  fact  that  it  had  been  deliberately  planned,  and 
announced  some  time  before.  In  the  "Aula,"1  in  par- 
ticular, it  had  been  spoken  of  openly ;  one  student 
had  declared  in  a  speech  that  the  Diet  had  condemned 
the  War  Minister.  Latour  himself  said  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  murder  that  he  had  received  warnings  from 
at  least  twenty  different  sources.  In  the  confessions 
of  some  of  those  implicated  it  appeared  that  a  certain 
sum  of  money  had  been  promised  to  every  one  who 
should  take  a  hand  in  the  murder.  This  was  to  be 
paid  in  the  Aula;  and  one  of  the  assassins,  Jurkovich 
by  name,  a  member  of  the  National  Guard,  was  very 
bitter  over  the  fact  that  he  had  failed  to  receive  his 
pay — thirty  guldens — saying  that  he  was  sure  he 
deserved  the  same  reward  as  "  the  man  with  the 
hammer."  Ninety-nine  persons  were  arrested  and 
examined  by  the  court,  eleven  of  whom  were  found 
guilty  and  condemned — three  to  death,  and  the  re- 
mainder to  terms  of  imprisonment  varying  from  eight 
to  twenty  years. 

From  the  scene  of  this  tragic  occurrence  a  short 
street,  close  to  the  Arsenal,  leads  to  the  Wipplinger 
Strasse,  one  of  the  longest  and  oldest  thoroughfares 
in  Vienna.  No.  8  is  the  Old  Rathhaus,  now  aban- 
doned, but  worthy  of  a  visit.     The  interior  dates  from 

1  Aula — a  hall,  a  court.  The  general  assembling  place  of  the 
University  students  of  Vienna. 


36  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

the  fifteenth  century,  and  the  facade  from  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  the  great  council  hall 
are  some  interesting  frescoes  and  stained  glass,  and 
the  Gothic  courtyard  has  a  fine  fountain,  ornamented 
with  mythological  figures — Perseus  and  Andromeda. 

In  the  next  street,  the  Salvatorgasse,  is  the  Bohe- 
mian Church  of  Maria  Stiegen— Maria  am  Gestade, 
or,  on  the  river  bank.  This  church  is  a  veritable 
jewel  in  stone,  chased  and  cut,  its  exquisite  open-work 
dome  surmounting  a  fine  fifteenth  century  heptagonal 
tower.     It  has  some  good  old  stained  glass. 

An  odd  ceremony  took  place  here  in  the  year  1622, 
when  two  dwarfs,  measuring  respectively  two  and  a 
half  and  two  feet,  were  married,  with  every  accom- 
paniment of  pomp  and  circumstance.  The  pair  were 
escorted  through  the  streets  bv  fiftv  dwarfs,  graded 
according  to  their  height,  like  the  pipes  of  an  organ. 
After  the  ceremony  there  was  a  grand  banquet,  given 
by  the  city  of  Vienna,  the  bridal  couple  being  seated 
on  gilded  chairs,  covered  with  velvet  and  placed  be- 
neath a  canopy.  The  celebration  concluded  with  a 
number  of  toasts  to  the  Emperor  and  others,  proposed 
by  the  diminutive  master  of  ceremonies.  avIio  had  to 
be  hoisted  up  on  the  table  for  the  purpose. 


CHAPTER   III. 

The  Telegraph  Office — Viennese  Portiers  —  Schottenring — Stock 
Exchange — The  Krach  of  1873 — Ring  Theatre  Disaster — An 
Old  Man's  Curse — Yotif  Kirche— Attempted  Assassination  of 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph — Franzensring— University — Viennese 
Latin  Quarter — Eathhaus  —  Historical  Museum  —  Arms  and 
Armor — Marshal  Loudon — Andreas  Hofer — Mementoes  of  Bel- 
grade— Hofburg  Theatre. 

On  the  left  of  the  Wipplinger  Strasse,  as  one  goes 
towards  the  Ring  Strasse,  is  the  palatial  building  of 
the  Central  Telegraph  Office.  At  the  entrance  one 
of  those  distinctively  Viennese  portiers  may  be  seen, 
marching  majestically  back  and  forth,  and  arrayed  as 
though  about  to  take  part  in  a  comic  opera.  Every 
inch  of  these  magnificent  beings  is  covered  with  gold 
lace  ;  they  wear  cocked  hats  and  carry  long  staves,  sur- 
mounted by  silver  balls.  These  portiers  represent  the 
last  vestige  of  the  Spanish  habits  and  customs  intro- 
duced into  Vienna  by  Charles  VI.  At  that  period 
every  noble  had  a  hundred  or  more  persons  attached 
to  his  establishment — negroes,  huntsmen,  pages,  foot- 
men, a  hairdresser,  an  apothecary,  a  secretary,  and  so 
on — and  always  one  of  these  resplendent  portiers, 
whose  military  hat  and  raised  baton  were  worth  in 
themselves  a  whole  regiment  of  guards. 


38  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

The  telegraph  office  is  a  model  establishment.  It 
does  not  deal  with  telegraphs  alone,  but  forwards 
sealed  letters  destined  for  any  point  within  the  line  of 
the  suburbs,  delivering  them  as  expeditiously  as  tele- 
grams by  means  of  a  system  of  pneumatic  tabes.  The 
majority  of  the  employees  belong  to  the  fair  sex, 
among  whom  a  Countess  was  at  one  time  numbered — 
Madame  the  Countess  of  TTimpffen,  the  daughter  of 
the  Inspector  General  of  Telegraphs,  who,  moreover, 
received  a  diploma  from  the  Minister  of  Commerce. 

To  those  conservative  persons  who  persist  in  think- 
ing that  the  telegraph  has  not  been  a  benefit  to 
humanity,  and  that  the  world  got  along  just  as  well 
without  it,  the  following  anecdote  is  dedicated: 

A  certain  citizen  of  Munich  went  to  Vienna  at  the 
time  of  the  great  Exposition,  and,  overjoyed  at  finding 
Bavarian  beer  so  worthily  represented,  pledged  his 
beloved  compatriot  so  frequently  and  generously  that 
he  could  not  for  the  life  of  him  recollect  at  what 
"  Hotel  Garni "  he  had  put  up  ;  and  here  is  where 
the  admirable  usefulness  of  the  telegraph  comes  in. 
Hastening  to  the  office,  he  sends  the  following  mes- 
sage to  his  other  half: 

"Do  tell  me  where  I  am  stopping  in  this  con- 
founded Vienna.  My  address  for  the  moment  is 
Brasserie  Dreher,  at  the  Exposition." 

And  the  faithful  wife  at  once  replies  : 

"You  are  staying  at  No.  12  rue  de  la  Porte-du- 
Paradis." 


THE  STOCK  AND  FLOUR  EXCHANGES.    39 

The  part  of  the  Ring  Strasse  into  which  the  Wipp- 
linger  Strasse  leads  is  called  the  Schottenring.  It  is 
a  business  street — the  Wall  Street  of  Vienna — and 
its  most  conspicuous  building  is  the  Stock  Exchange, 
standing  on  the  left,  about  midway  between  the 
Franz-Josephsquai  and  the  Franzensring.  This  stately 
building  was  begun  in  1872,  but  was  only  completed  five 
years  later.  The  main  hall,  where  most  of  the  trans- 
actions are  carried  on,  is  lined  with  costly  marbles, 
and  divided  into  three  aisles  by  ranges  of  red  Doric 
columns.  Owing  to  an  annoying  reverberation, 
hangings  have  been  suspended  above — a  vain  effort 
to  deaden  the  infernal  uproar  of  the  coulissiers. 
Each  stock-broker  has  his  private  office,  where  he 
can  smoke  and  receive  his  friends,  and  a  special  room 
is  put  aside  for  the  use  of  the  financial  reporters  of 
the  Vienna  press,  the  Bourse  bulletins  being  written 
up  during  the  meetings.  The  Flour  Exchange  is  in 
the  basement,  while  the  afternoon  and  evening  sessions 
are  conducted  in  and  before  a  neighboring  cafe.  The 
horse-play  of  the  members  seems  to  be  of  the  same 
character  as  that  carried  on  in  other  Exchanges,  the 
Tippen  differing  only  in  name  from  the  same  stale 
joke  in  other  lands,  its  humor  consisting  in  knock- 
ing off  and  battering  to  pieces  the  high  hat  of  a 
brother  member. 

It  was  in  a  provisional  building  close  by,  wdiose 
site  is  now  occupied  by  a  private  residence,  that  the 
Krach  (crash)  of  1873  occurred. 


,40  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

"  The  French  millions/'  says  Sacher-Masoch,  in  his 
Golden  Calf,  "  were  a  cadeau-grec  for  poor  Germany  ; 
it  was  that  gold  which  let  loose  in  Berlin,  in  Vienna 
and  in  a  hundred  other  German  cities  the  fever  of 
speculation,  and  carried  one  back  to  the  days  of  Law.'' 
The  rage  for  speculation  invaded,  in  fact,  all  classes 
of  society,  and  people  completely  lost  their  heads. 
Enormous  fortunes  were  made  and  lost  in  a  single  day, 
and  no  scheme  was  too  wild  to  find  enthusiastic  sup- 
porters ready  to  risk  everything  they  possessed. 

Such  an  inflated  condition  of  the  monev  market  is 
always  accompanied  by  a  glittering  show  of  prosperity, 
and  never  was  Vienna  the  scene  of  wilder  or  more 
feverish  gaiety  than  during  the  mouths  preceding  the 
disaster.  When  the  crash  came,  it  was  sudden  and 
overwhelming.  In  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours 
thirty  stock  companies  failed,  and  some  two  hundred 
brokers  became  bankrupt.  Several  of  these  unfortu- 
nate brokers  committed  suicide  on  the  premises  of  the 
Exchange,  their  bodies  lying  there  unheeded  by  the 
frantic  crowds,  who  rushed  about  calling  for  vengeance 
upon  the  Rothschilds  and  de  Soheys,  whom  they  ac- 
cused of  having  precipitated  the  crisis.  Young  Baron 
de  Schey.  having  imprudently  shown  himself,  was 
nearly  killed,  and  when  the  tumult  subsided,  one  of 
his  employees  was  actually  picked  up  in  a  dying  con- 
dition. On  the  following  Jay  the  building  was  de- 
serted, save  for  a  squad  of  police,  placed  in  charge  of 
the  premises. 


The  Stock  Exchange 


THE   RING   THEATRE   DISASTER.  41 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  two  most  sensational  disas- 
ters which  have  ever  occurred  in  Vienna  should  have 
taken  place  within  ten  years  of  one  another,  and  not 
two  hundred  paces  apart.  The  ecclesiastical  looking 
building  that  stands  on  the  corner  of  the  Hess^asse  is 
the  Siihnhaus,  erected  by  the  Emperor  on  the  site  of 
the  Ring  Theatre,  burned  down  on  the  9th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1881,  with  frightful  loss  of  life.  Contributions  for 
the  families  of  those  who  perished  in  the  fire  poured 
in  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  especially  from  the 
United  States,  and  the  rents  derived  from  the  apart- 
ments in  the  Siihnhaus  are  likewise  devoted  to  charity. 
Every  year  a  memorial  Mass  is  said  on  the  anniversary, 
in  the  chapel  on  the  ground  floor.  A  circumstance 
which  few  remember  links  this  disaster  with  the  most 
critical  and  stormy  period  in  the  history  of  the  capital, 
the  revolution  of  1848.  A  visitor  writing  from 
Vienna  on  the  evening  of  December  11th,  two  days 
after  the  fire,  relates  the  following  occurrence  : 

"  A  curious  incident  happened  to  me  to-day  as  I  was 
passing  the  spot.  I  saw  an  old  man,  with  a  white  beard, 
constantly  trying  to  break  the  ranks  of  the  soldiers 
and  police  before  the  theatre.  I  heard  him  call  out, 
'I  knew  my  curse  would  some  day  be  fufilled.'  This 
he  repeated  constantly.  I  followed  him  through  the 
en  »wd,  and  asked  hi  in  why  he  said  this.  He  exclaimed, 
1  Don't  you  know  that  this  very  spot,  now  a  great 
grave,  was  the  scene  where,  in  1848,  nine  revolu- 
tionary martyrs  were  shot  ?     My  son,  amongst  them, 


42  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

stood  where  now  we  stand.  On  the  spot  where  later 
the  theatre  was  there  was  a  ditch  before  the  barracks, 
and  earth- walls,  called  the  Glacis,  now  the  Ring  Strasse. 
There  I  stood,  while  my  son,  in  the  ditch,  with  eight 
others,  was  shot  by  the  soldiers.  Many  other  people 
were  shot.  Some  time  later,  during  the  assault  on 
Vienna,  I  saw  some  falling  and  cursed  the  spot,  and 
knew  I  should  not  die  before  my  curse  was  fulfilled.' 
On  leaving  him  I  inquired  further.  I  find  his  story 
was  true.  There  really  was  a  spot  before  the  barracks 
where  many  were  shot  and  hanged,  and  it  was  thought 
by  many  when  the  Square  and  Ring  Theatre  were  first 
built  that  the  spot  was  unlucky:" 

"  This  is  my  hour;  it  lias  come,  it  has  come ;  and  at  last  I  can  say 
Vengeance  is  mine  for  the  hell,  for  the  horrible  hell  of  that  day  ; 
The  balance  has  swung  to  my  hand;  I  am  paid  for  the  travail  of 

years. 
This  is  my  hour;  I  have  lived  for  it,  watched  for  it,  sought  it  with 

tears." 

On  the  right,  directly  opposite  the  opening  of  the 
Sehottengasse,  is  the  triangular  Maximilian  Platz, 
facing  which,  and  elevated  above  the  surrounding 
level,  so  as  to  be  seen  to  the  best  advantage,  stands 
what  is  considered  by  some  the  most  splendid  Gothic 
structure  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  corner-stone, 
brought  from  the  Mount  of  Olives,  was  laid  in  1856 
by  the  unfortunate  Archduke  Ferdinand  Max,  later 
Emperor  of  Mexico,  for  whom  the  Platz  is  named. 
The  architect  was  Heinrieh  von  Ferstel. 


WOUNDING  OF  EMPEROR  FRANZ  JOSEPH.     43 
They  are  now  erecting  on  the  Glacis  a  Gothic 


church,  which  will  really  be  a  very  beautiful  building. 
...  It  is  practically  a  copy  of  Cologne  Cathedral  on 
a  small  scale,  being  two  hundred  and  ninety-five  feet 
in  length  externally,  with  a  nave  ninety-four  feet  wide 
internally;  and  inside  the  transept  is  one  hundred  and 
sixty  feet  from  wall  to  wall;  so  it  is  really  a  first-class 
church,  so  far  as  dimensions  go.  Its  details  are  all  de- 
signed with  elegance,  and  executed  with  care ;  so  that, 
when  completed,  it  will  probably  be  the  best  modern 
reproduction  of  the  style  of  Cologne  Cathedral.  The 
poetry  and  abandon  of  the  older  examples  will  be 
wanting ;  but,  after  the  completion  of  one  or  two  such 
buildings,  we  shall  be  saved  from  the  monstrosities  of 
that  strange  style  which  the  Germans  have  recently 
been  in  the  habit  of  assuming  was  Gothic."  l 

"On  February  18th,  1853,  while  Franz  Joseph  was 
walking  on  the  old  fortifications  of  the  inner  town  of 
Vienna,  a  Hungarian,  of  the  name  of  Joseph  Libenyi, 
threw  himself  upon  the  young  monarch  and  plunged 
a  long  dagger  into  the  back  of  his  neck.  Fortunately 
the  stiff  military  collar  of  the  Emperor's  coat  some- 
what paralyzed  the  violence  of  the  stroke,  but  it  was, 
nevertheless,  a  most  dangerous  wound,  and  Count 
O'Donnel,  who  was  then  aide-de-camp  to  the  Emperor, 
and  who  had  accompanied  him  on  that  morning,  fear- 
ing that  the  weapon  might  have  been  poisoned,  cour- 
ageously sucked  the  wound.     The  Emperor,  who  had 

1  James  Ferguson,  A  History  of  Architecture. 


44  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

until  that  moment  remained  upright,  and  entreated  the 
crowd  which  had  immediately  gathered,  not  to  hurt 
his  would-be  assassin,  fell  fainting  to  the  ground."  1 

The  church,  which  was  not  completed  until  1879, 
was  built  to  commemorate  the  Emperor's  escape  from 
this  attempted  assassination. 

At  this  point  the  Ring  Strasse  makes  a  sharp  bend 
to  the  left,  and  takes  the  name  of  Franzensring,  and 
immediately  beyond  the  broad  Universities  Strasse 
rises  the  imposing  new  University.  The  date  usually 
given  for  the  founding  of  the  University  of  Vienna 
is  1365.  Rudolph  IV.,  with  his  brothers  Leopold  the 
Just  and  Albert,  it  is  stated,  signed  the  act  on  the 
1 2th.  of  March  of  that  year.  Jean  Pezzl,  in  the  fifth 
edition  of  his  New  Description  of  Vienna,  states  that 
it  was  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.,  stupor  mundi 
Fridericus,  who  founded  it  in  1237,  Duke  Rudolph, 
and  twenty  years  later  his  nephew,  Albert,  having 
merely  added  to  it. 

At  all  events,  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  Uni- 
versity having  had  a  continuous  existence  for  nearly 
five  and  a  half  centuries.  In  1662  it  was  given  over 
to  the  Jesuits  by  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II.,  but  by 
the  middle  of  the  next  century  it  had  fallen  into  such 
decay  that  a  complete  reorganization  was  found  neces- 
sary. Gerard  van  Swieten,  an  eminent  man  and  phy- 
sician to  the  Court,  accordingly  prepared,  in  conjunc- 
tion  with  Professor  Rieger,   a  new   plan   of  studies. 

1  The  Martyrdom  of  an  Empress. 


Votif  Kirche 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF   VIENNA.  45 

Maria  Theresa  approved  the  plan  and  erected  new 
buildings  (on  the  Universitats  Platz,  now  used  by  the 
Academy  of  Sciences),  and  the  University  was  re- 
opened on  April  5,  1756.  The  schools  of  Medicine 
and  Surgery  were  on  the  ground  floor;  those  of  Law, 
Theology,  Philosophy  and  the  political  sciences  on 
the  second ;  while  the  third  was  a  well-equipped 
observatory,  with  all  the  instruments  and  charts  neces- 
sary for  the  study  of  astronomy. 

A  decree  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  in  1784  ordered 
all  the  studies  to  be  conducted  in  German,  with  the 
exception  of  Dogmatic  Theology  and  Ecclesiastical 
Law.  Three  years  later  the  same  ruler  decreed  that 
a  small  annual  tuition  fee  should  be  paid  for  all 
except  the  theological  courses,  the  money  to  be  ap- 
plied for  the  benefit  of  poor  students  distinguished 
for  their  industry  or  ability. 

LTnder  Leopold  II.  the  University  of  Vienna  was 
admitted  among  the  Estates  of  Lower  Austria,  its 
rector  having  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Prelates.  The 
present  building  on  the  Ring  Strasse  was  begun  in 
1873,  its  architect,  Ferstel,  dying  in  1883,  before  it 
was  completed. 

"  The  manifold  practical  necessities  of  a  great  school 
absolutely  prescribed  the  division  of  his  [Ferstel's] 
structure  into  various  masses.  Therefore  he  was 
obliged  to  desert  the  early  Renaissance  in  favor  of 
that  i  high  Renaissance '  style  which  allows  the  archi- 
tect to  treat  his  facades  with  much  more  diversity. 


VIENNA   ANB   THE    VIENNESE 

Fersfcel  hi  -      .      le     his   ~:mcture  into  four  pa:~- — 

r:    -.:.    " "".:.  :~:   si:  .-::    :::-. 

and  a  :        ie —  an     to  each  of  these  he  has 

i  Ln  .    i  ;:ri_:    ::    its     >wn.     All    :  m 

-  i      :->.    however,     hi    a    nni:  boldly- 

united     y  projecting  corner 

fch  into  an  )igani    wh 

1  is  fori     1      isis      L  upon     y 
the  h:  :     U   the  :  all  the 

Is. 
••  The  richest  and  most  I  the  ex- 

_.      In 
.  "   .    I  r  of  its  great  lengl 

the  cen- 

tral  portion  oi  ned  it  with      .  fty 

\rd  roof.     The  lavish  u~     a  sters    in        th 

-.     ..-■-- 

of  deeo- 
g  ives  t  his  fi  stal  :  vrhich 

imme 

assem       -  :    the    Univers  _    -nped 

e  Aula,     p  g       :  is  a  m      - 

s  ipported   by  thir: 
Lumns.     In  the  tw  gs 

3,  tog  :i:er  with 
lass-]       as     nd  minor  apartm       -  totality 

aS      .     g  mmodati  :"    us 

...   The  pog  of  the  build!   _     - 

wholh  library.     It  is  a  huge  hall, 


THE   UNIVERSITY   OF    VIENNA. 

which  rises  through  the  entire  height    :  the  building, 

without  external  windows,  and  divided  from  the  other 
us  ::'  th  ..    -  ::  "     [I. 

.:.::._:.:- 
tion  is  also  shown  by  the  interioi 

:    iron   gratings.      1  hese    gratings    :  rm 
ii  -v     /....      -.«:::>..  y  ::    :.     :      - 

ease?.  _    ~"  ..  r  :  -...:'  :   ::.:..:   :i  v  " --.;.. ;-. 

The  two  reading-rooms    aeeommo  hundred 

renty  desks. 
"But   the   University      uilding        -         -    its   trne 
.  -.;:;■•      n.y    '  "". .-..    "".     '  :  -   :h       _..    :  -    :::r  :-- :~-    I 
::::  ::      arcaded  quadrangle, 

is  unequaled  in  all  the  domain  of  modern  arehitec- 
tiire.     It   measures   two  hundred  and  :  : 

one  hundred  and  fifty  in  breadth;  forty-six 

bold   arches   lead   ire:::    it    ::.:      the  wide,  encircling 

;1   ist  :.      -.  lebouch   th  1   suj    :  I:  is 

wholly   unorname:::         -  Junius  which 

its    :  st  rieSj  the   three  orders  bein^   su  - 

cording        the  B  man  :  shion. 

suits  wholly  from  the  nobilil 

the  remarkable  feeling  for  s[ 

which     _  encil   of  signer.      It    is 

leted  by  the  three-branched 
and   :  -branched   one    for   general   use. 

equally  ha]  py  is  the  arrang  .e  subor 

trcases  ssages.  1 

.  an  imp:     -  .id  beautiful  |  ive  unrolls 


48  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

itself — and  this  is  in  architecture  the  surest  sign  of  a 
talent  which  does  not  work  by  the  careful  addition  of 
detail  to  detail,  but  creatively  conceiving  its  result  at 
once  and  as  a  whole."  l 

"By  favor  of  the  American  Consul  I  was  among 
the  invited  guests  at  the  dedication  [of  the  Uni- 
versity], less  than  a  week  ago.  The  ceremony  was 
simple  and  brief,  and  chiefly  of  interest  as  marking 
the  beginning  of  the  second  half-thousand  years  in 
the  life  of  the  institution,  and  as  showing  an  Emperor 
— yes,  '  His  Apostolic  Majesty ' — delighting  to  honor 
higher  culture. 

"The  monarch,  received  at  the  door  by  the  Aca- 
demical Senate,  was  escorted  to  their  hall,  not  large, 
and  densely  packed.  He  took  a  chair  in  front  of  a 
table  on  a  low  platform"  and  listened  to  a  fifteen- 
minutes'  speech  from  the  rector,  standing  on  the  floor 
before  him.  After  a  few  historical  sketches,  he  was 
thanked  for  his  granting  the  ground  for  the  building 
to  stand  on,  thirty  years  before,  and  aiding  in  its  con- 
struction at  least  half  as  long.  In  reply,  the  Emperor 
stood  up  and  read  a  speech  of  fourteen  lines,  rejoicing 
in  the  completion  of  a  work  which  he  had  always  had 
at  heart,  and  trusting  that  multitudes  would  make  full 
proof  of  the  institution,  and  learn  there  alike  science 
and  patriotism.  He  was  greeted  with  a  student  song 
and  a  triple  shout  of  *  Hoch  !'  Then  several  persons 
prominent  in  building  the  pile  were  presented  to  him 
1Siegmund  Feldmaun,  in  Die  Gegenwart. 


KATHHAUS  PARK— THE  RATHHAUS.     49 

as  he  walked  about,  and  all  was  over.  His  dress  was 
the  ordinary  Austrian  uniform,  with  no  ornaments 
save  the  medals  and  chains  of  certain  orders.  This 
uniform,  a  tight  fit,  with  short  skirts,  is  decidedly 
unbecoming.  An  American  wrould  call  it  a  '  bob- 
tailed  blue/  " l 

The  district  lying  to  the  west,  and  called  Josefstaclt, 
is  the  Latin  Quarter  of  Vienna,  its  lodging-houses  and 
cafes  swarming  with  students  of  all  nationalities  and 
speaking  every  known  language. 

Adjoining  the  University  is  the  Rathhaus  Park,  over- 
looking which  rises  the  great  Gothic  Rathhaus,  or 
Town  Hall. 

"This  is  an  enormous  building,  enclosing  seven 
courtyards,  with  open  arcades  on  its  ground  floor,  an 
imposing  loggia,  which  rises  through  two  stories,  and 
a  tower,  which  is  only  exceeded  in  height  by  the  spire 
of  St.  Stephen's  Church.  It  is  a  splendid  bulwark  of 
self-conscious  civic  power,  and  its  evidence  establishes 
Friedrich  Schmidt  in  the  first  place  among  contempo- 
rary Gothic  builders,  a  place  which  had  been  accorded 
to  him,  indeed,  ever  since  the  death  of  Yiollet-le- 
Duc.  .  .  .  When  he  set  himself  to  build  a  Gothic 
Town  Hall,  he  saw  very  clearly  that  old  examples 
would  give  him  no  help  on  the  practical  side  of  his 
problem.  In  the  Middle  Ages  people  gave  plenty  of 
space  to  no  one  but  the  Creator ;  themselves  they  were 
content  to  crowd  into  narrow,  little,  low-ceiled  apart- 

1  Letter  to  The  Nation,  November  13,  1884. 
4 


50  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

ments,  which  modern  needs  and  habits  have  vastly 
outgrown.  .  .  .  Schmidt  resolutely  seized  upon  the 
Renaissance  type  of  the  palace  architecture  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  in  its  spirit  constructed  the 
skeleton  of  his  building.  While  the  ornamentation, 
the  variable  play  of  form,  and,  in  a  word,  the  whole 
artistic  development,  speaks  of  Gothic  art,  gables  and 
canopies  and  pinnacles  accent  the  silhouette  of  the 
structure;  pointed  arches  connect  the  columns  and 
appear  in  the  facade,  and  the  broad  windows  of  the 
projecting  bay  show  the  characteristic  tracery ;  but 
the  supports  and  framework  of  the  structure — all  that 
really  raises  and  binds  it  together — acts  entirely  in 
the  spirit  of  Renaissance  construction.  This  organic 
intermingling  of  two  contradictory  styles  stamps  the 
work  of  Schmidt  as  a  true  achievement.  In  it  cer- 
tainly does  speak  the  '  spirit  of  modern  times,'  for 
the  artist  has  cast  into  a  novel  shape  antiquated  forms, 
bequeathed  to  us  by  conditions  of  life  that  no  longer 
exist ;  and  in  solving  this  problem  he  has  surely  won 
himself  a  lasting  fame."  x 

Schmidt's  own  account  of  his  work  was  that,  while 
he  could  not  say  precisely  to  what  style  it  belonged, 
it  was  an  expression  of  the  modem  sjiirit. 

On  the  summit  of  the  high  central  tower  stands  the 

Eisemer  Mann,  a  halberdier  holding  a  weathercock. 

A  bas-relief  portrait  of  the  Emperor  surmounts  the 

main   entrance.     The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  1873, 

1  Siegiuuud  Feldmauu,  in  Die  Gegenwart. 


THE  HISTORICAL  MUSEUM.  51 

and  the  work  was  completed  ten  years  later,  on  the 
two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  deliverance  of 
Vienna  from  the  Turks. 

The  Rathhaus  is  the  official  residence  of  the  Mayor, 
and  in  addition  to  its  court-rooms,  coimcil,  assembly 
and  reception  halls,  and  other  apartments  for  the  con- 
duct of  municipal  affairs,  it  contains  the  Historical 
Museum  and  the  interesting  collection  of  arms  and 
armor,  brought  hither  from  the  Civic  Arsenal  on  the 
Platz  am  Hof.1 

This  famous  collection  includes  broadswords,  espa- 
dons,  halberds  and  boar-spears,  arranged  in  great 
trophies  of  bluish  steel.  Bucklers  of  every  style  hang 
from  the  walls,  like  the  carapaces  of  monster  tortoises. 
Here,  too,  are  preserved  articles  of  historical  interest, 
such  as  the  hat  of  Marshal  Loudon,  who  was  of 
Scottish  descent,  and  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
and  renowned  officers  in  Maria  Theresa's  army.  He 
contributed  largely  to  the  victory  won  by  the  Austri- 
ans  over  Frederick  of  Prussia  at  Hochkirchen,  in 
1758.  And  here  we  see  the  mountain-staff  of  Andreas 
Hofer.  By  the  humiliating  Peace  of  Schonbrunn 
(October  14,  1809),  Austria  had  been  obliged  to  yield 
her  territory  right  and  left.  Already,  by  the  Peace 
of  Presburg  (1805),  the  Tyrol  had  been  ceded  to 
Bavaria.  It  was  now  again  given  up  and  evacuated 
by  the  Austrian  army.  The  Tyrolese,  however,  be- 
long to  that  class  of  persons  who  do  not  know  when 
1  See  page  25. 


52  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

they  are  beaten,  and  under  their  peasant  leader, 
Andreas  Holer,  they  continued  the  struggle  alone, 
until,  driven  from  one  position  after  another,  they 
finally  were  obliged  to  yield.  Andreas  Hofer  was 
tried  by  court-martial  at  Mantua  and  shot  (February 
20,  1810). 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  blindfold  me,"  said  the 
peasant  patriot  to  the  officer  in  command,  "  nor  to 
make  me  kneel  down.  I  am  Andreas  Hofer,  the  inn- 
keeper of  the  Sable.  I  am  standing  before  my 
Creator,  and  it  is  on  foot  that  I  wish  to  yield  up  my 
soul.     Soldiers,  fire  !  M 

The  arms  and  flags  captured  from  the  Turks  are 
arranged  in  enormous  trophies.  Among  them  is  the 
green  standard,  taken  near  Belgrade  by  Field-Marshal 
Loudon,  on  which  are  represented  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars,  the  hand  of  Mahomet,  and  several  verses 
from  the  Koran.  On  a  great  blood-red  banner  is  in- 
scribed, "La  ildha  ilia  alldhu,  Muhdmmed  rasul  alld- 
chi :"  God  alone  is  God,  and  Mahomet  is  his  prophet. 
Cimiters,  with  huge  curved  blades,  Kandjars,  Kurd 
lances,  janizary  drums  and  turbans  abound  in  this 
part  of  the  collection,  turning  the  place  into  the  sem- 
blance of  a  temple,  filled  with  opiraa  spolia. 

Under  glass  is  preserved  a  ghastly  trophy,  the  skull 
of  the  Turkish  General  Kara-Mustapha,  together  with 
his  shirt — the  one  in  which  he  died — and  the  silken 
cord  pointedly  sent  him  by  the  Sultan  after  his  defeat. 
When,  in  obedience  to  this  hint,  he  had  strangled  him- 


THE  HOFBURG  THEATRE.  53 

self,  the  skin  was  stripped  from  his  face  and  sent  to 
Constantinople,  to  prove  beyond  any  possibility  of 
doubt  that  he  was  really  dead.  When  Belgrade  was 
taken,  his  body  was  found  in  a  mosque,  and  Cardinal 
Kollenirz  sent  the  head,  the  silken  cord  and  the  shirt 
to  the  Vienna  Arsenal.  That  copper-colored  skull, 
stuck  on  a  peg,  with  the  strangler's  cord  lying  by  it, 
has  a  really  horrible  effect.  It  seems  to  grimace  still, 
as  though  in  the  last  convulsions,  while  from  the 
depths  of  those  two  black  holes  one  can  almost  see 
the  fierce  glitter  of  the  eyes,  flashing  with  wrath  and 
defiance. 

Facing  the  Rathhaus  is  the  Renaissance  Hofburg 
Theatre.  The  Burg  Theatre  has  a  continuous  history 
of  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  On  the 
11th  of  March,  1741,  an  edict  was  issued  directing 
Joseph  Sellier,  manager  of  the  Karntner-Thor  Thea- 
tre, to  put  up  a  stage  in  the  " ball-house"  of  the 
Burg.  Thirty-five  years  later,  by  a  decree  of  the 
Emperor  Joseph  II.,  it  became  the  German  National 
Theatre.  It  was  Joseph's  policy  to  encourage  and 
foster  native  talent  in  all  its  branches,  and  to  this  end 
it  was  provided  that  only  the  German  tongue  should 
be  spoken  on  the  boards  of  the  Burg  Theatre.  By  the 
Emperor's  orders  a  plan  was  made  out  for  the  direc- 
tion of  the  affairs  of  the  institution.  The  leading  male 
and  female  actors  met  once  a  week  to  decide  upon  the 
plays  to  be  given,  and  to  assign  the  parts.  Later  on 
the  Emperor  placed  the  management  in  the  hands  of 


51  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

a  single  director  (an  office  which  has  been  maintained 
ever  since),  and  gave  the  appointment  to  Friederich 
Ludwig  Schroeder,  to  whose  versatile  talents  and  mar- 
velous ability  the  Burg  Theatre  owes,  in  large  measure, 
its  world-wide  celebrity. 

The  two  principles  which  Schroeder  laid  down  as 
being  of  vital  importance,  and  which  have  been  faith- 
fully adhered  to  by  all  his  successors,  were,  first,  the 
necessity  for  faultless  elocution,  and,  second,  the  closest 
possible  following  of  nature  in  dramatic  representa- 
tion. The  keen  personal  interest  taken  by  the  Em- 
peror in  all  that  concerned  the  theatre  also  had  much 
to  do  with  its  prosperous  career.  It  is  said  that  he 
never  failed  to  say  to  visitors  to  his  court,  ""Well,  and 
what  do  you  think  of  my  theatre?" 

A  playbill,  which  has  been  preserved,  of  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century  tells  us  something  of 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  day.  In  a  note, 
"  Cavaliers  are  requested  to  give  their  chairs  to  such 
ladies  as  may  be  unprovided  with  seats,  and  to  refrain 
from  extinguishing  the  lights." 

About  the  year  1814  the  name  of  "National  Thea- 
tre" was  replaced  by  "The  Theatre  that  is  near  the 
Burs:."  Until  about  fifteen  years  as;o  the  "best 
equipped  company  in  Germany  "  continued  to  present 
a  repertory  which  included  not  only  all  the  leading 
plays  of  that  country,  but  the  masterpieces  of  dramatic 
literature  of  all  lands,  in  the  identical  small,  incon- 
venient buildino;  which  had   served  them  for  over  a 


THE  HOFBURG  THEATRE.  55 

hundred  years.  They  actually  dreaded  to  remove 
from  a  spot  grown  famous  by  its  brilliant  traditions 
and  almost  unchecked  career  of  prosperity,  and  it 
was  not  without  misgivings  that  on  the  14th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1888,  they  took  up  their  quarters  in  the  mag- 
nificent building,  designed  by  Freiherr  von  Has- 
enauer,  which  faces  the  new  Rathhaus  on  the  Ring. 
Every  invention  of  modern  theatre  construction 
has  been  employed  to  place  this  among  the  first 
theatres  of  the  world.  The  arrangements  for  egress 
and  ingress,  the  machinery  for  shifting  the  scenes,  the 
great  movable  stage,  entirely  made  of  iron,  the  superb 
decorations,  which  cover  every  part  of  the  house,  make 
it  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  capital ;  while  the  stage 
setting  is  perfect  to  a  degree  not  equaled  by  even  the 
renowned  Saxe-Meiningen  troupe  itself. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Parliament  Houses— The  Architect  Hansen— Arrangement  of 
the  Interior — Appearance  of  the  House  when  in  Session — Party- 
Divisions — System  of  Representation — Agrarianism — The  Aus- 
gleich — A  Memorable  Sitting — Dr.  Lecher's  Twelve-Hour  Speech 
—  The  Palace  of  Justice — Deutsche  Volks  Theatre  —  Imperial 
Museums — Picture  Gallery — Armor — Industrial  Art — Imperial 
Treasury — Benvenuto  Cellini. 

Beyond  the  Rathhaus,  and  on  the  same  side  of  the 
Ring  Strasse,  are  the  Houses  of  Parliament — Reichs- 
raths-Gebaude — built  in  the  Greek  style,  and  designed 
by  the  architect  Hansen. 

"  The  Parliament  House  of  Hansen  seems  like  a 
solidified  dream  when  it  is  compared  with  the  effective 
reality  of  the  University,  so  thoroughly  infused  with 
the  very  breath  of  modern  life.  .  .  .  Inclination,  train- 
ing and  natural  endowment  have  made  Hansen  the 
last  survivor  of  the  Periclean  age.  He  has  always 
professed  the  cult  of  '  pure  form,'  and  in  the  Parlia- 
ment House,  his  ripest  and  richest  work,  all  the  tradi- 
tions of  Attic  soil  spring  and  bloom  once  more. 

"  A  mighty  flight  of  steps  leads  up  to  the  building, 
which  is  surrounded  by  Corinthian  columns  of  a  shin- 
ing marble,  resembling  that  of  Paros.  The  three  projec- 
tions of  the  principal  front  appear  like  temple  facades, 

56 


THE  PARLIAMENT  HOUSES.  57 

crowned  with  gables.  The  caryatides  which  support 
the  narrower  fronts  are  taken  directly  from  the  Erec- 
theum.  A  beautifully  designed  palinette  frieze  runs 
beneath  the  dentils  of  the  main  cornice,  and  on  the  flat 
roof  stands  a  very  Olympus  of  figures  in  bronze  and 
stone. 

"Yet,  in  spite  of  the  diversity  of  its  elements, 
the  whole  building,  especially  when  it  is  seen  from  a 
proper  distance,  is  impressive  by  reason  of  its  noble 
lines,  dominated  by  the  portico  of  the  main  entrance ; 
of  the  monumental  grandeur  of  its  proportions,  and 
of  that  pictorial  grace  which  Hansen  knows  how  to 
spread  over  all  his  works.  .  .  .  An  imposing  peristyle, 
surrounded  by  twenty-four  monolithic  marble  columns, 
divides  the  building  into  two  equal  parts,  one  of  which 
is  occupied  by  the  Upper,  the  other  by  the  Lower 
House,  while  the  apartments  for  the  delegations,  which 
include  members  of  both  Houses,  form  the  continuation 
of  the  peristyle. 

"But  Hansen  must  not  alone  be  held  responsible 
if  we  here  perceive  a  certain  incongruity  between 
artistic  success  and  practical  convenience.  On 
this  point  the  artist  had  no  models  which  he  could 
consult.  He  stood  before  a  virgin  problem,  the  diffi- 
culty of  which  will  only  be  understood  by  those  who 
are  acquainted  with  the  complicated  mechanism  of 
parliamentary  customs.  Moreover,  this  problem  was 
rendered  still  more  difficult  by  the  demand  that  both 
Houses  should  be  united  under  a  single  roof.     It  was 


VIENNA   AND   THE   VIENNESE. 

thus  impossible  that  the  building  should  be  central- 
ized. A  parallel  disposition  was  prescribed,  which 
threatened  to  prove  monotonous  in  the  highest  degree. 
Hansen  has  cleverly  avoided  this  danger  by  the  inter- 
polation of  the  above  mentioned  peristyle ;  but,  in 
comparison  to  the  cramped  dimensions  of  the  other 
divisions,  it  absorbs  an  immense  amount  of  space,  and 
how  useless  it  is  we  see  from  the  fact  that  no  better 
name  has  been  found  for  it  than  that  of  'I!  ikmeshalle.' 
This  "Hall  of  Fame,"  however,  will  indeed  be  such,  in 
so  far  as  its  builder  is  concerned,  for  it  is  without 
doubt  one  of  the  most  beautiful  interiors  of  the  world. 
We  may  set  the  narrowest  possible  limits  for  the  use 
of  Grecian  architecture  in  modern  times :  we  may 
bring  up  against  it  all  sorts  of  theoretical  objections ; 
but  this  result  silences  all  doubt. 

"  Especially  important  is  the  proof  it  gives  of  the 
praiseworthy  audacity  of  Hansen  in  clothing  an 
immense  structure,  destined  for  distinctively  n: 
uses,  wholly  in  the  art  forms  of  Greece.  He 
not  turn  to  his  Hellenism  merely  for  his  superficial 
decoration  ;  lie  grasps  it  also  in  its  constructive  ele- 
ments, which,  as  we  know,  are  extremely  scanty,  and 
deny  the  architect  many  thing-.  Yet.  nevertheless, 
he  has  surmounted  all  difficulties  and  erected  his 
mighty  work  in  entire  renunciation  of  the  aid  01 
vaults  and  arches.  .  .  . 

"  Gilded  capitals  carry  the  entablatures,  the  orna- 
mentation   of    which    is    relieved,  tenderly  yet 


The  Parliament  Houses 


•« 


THE  PARLIAMENT  HOUSES.  59 

liantly,  upon  a  deep-toned  ground ;  the  walls  are 
painted  throughout  in  succo  lustro,  after  the  Pom- 
peiian  manner;  the  marble  quarries  of  every 
land  have  been  robbed  to  furnish  shafts,  pavements 
and  all  accessories;  and  this  intermingling  of  hues 
and  shades,  this  splendor  of  gold  and  color,  produces 
a  magical  effect.  .  .  .  There  may  be  some  ground  for 
seeing  in  the  Parliament  House,  as  a  whole,  only  an 
interesting  experiment ;  but  by  this  one  quality — by 
the  manner  in  which  its  interior  is  finished — it  is 
raised  to  high  importance,  and  becomes  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  architectural  sights  of  the  century."  l 

Hansen,  it  may  be  added,  is  of  Danish  extraction, 
and  has  had  at  least  one  opportunity  to  test  the 
purity  of  his  style  on  the  very  soil  of  Greece  itself, 
having  designed  the  University  of  Athens. 

A  yellow  and  black  flag  flying  from  the  roof  of  the 
Parliament  Houses  is  the  signal  that  Parliament  is  in 
session. 

"  .  .  .  Two  chambers,  almost  exactly  alike,  sepa- 
rated by  a  stately  vestibule,  contain  the  Abgeordneten- 
haus  and  the  Herrenhaus.  ...  In  the  Abgeordneten- 
haus  two  narrow  galleries,  like  balconies  in  a  theatre, 
admit  a  limited  public,  for  whom  there  are,  perhaps, 
two  hundred  seats,  and  as  many  more  standing-places. 
For  entrance  you  obtain  tickets  gratis  of  the  concierge, 
and  become  entitled  to  a  numbered  seat.  Crowding 
is   furthermore  restrained   by  a   device  at  the  outer 

1  Siegmund  Feldmann,  in  Die  Gefjenivurt. 


60  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

door  which  at  once  attracts  the  notice  of  a  stranger. 
At  the  entrance,  and  extending  through  the  great 
portal  into  the  street,  you  observe  a  curious  labyrinth 
of  iron  railings.  If  occasion  demands,  the  short 
route  may  be  barred  off,  and  every  person  be  made  to 
turn  sixteen  times  in  single  file  before  arriving  at  the 
door.  Whether  this  '  crowd-compeller '  is  to  prevent 
attacks  upon  the  House,  or  is  simply  for  the  con- 
venience of  custodians,  I  did  not  learn;  but  if  by 
chance  factious  citizens  rushed  upon  the  Parliament 
with  rash  intentions,  there  would  be  plenty  of  time 
here  for  cool  reflection. 

"  The  seating  capacity  of  the  chamber  is  something 
under  four  hundred.  .  .  .  The  Speaker,  or  rather  the 
President  of  the  Assembly,  is  flanked  on  either  side 
by  a  first  and  second  vice-president,  who  are  almost 
continually  in  their  places.  At  a  slightly  lower  level 
stands  a  row  of  tables  for  secretaries  and  others ; 
but  the  one  in  the  centre,  immediately  in  front  of 
the  President,  is  reserved  for  the  so-called  JBerich- 
terstatter.  From  this  tribune  chairmen  of  committees 
in  charge  of  bills  make  their  reports,  instead  of  from 
their  seats.  In  front  of  all  stands  a  semi-circle  of 
desks  for  Ministers  of  State. 

"  The  general  appearance  of  the  members  in  session 
gives  one  a  good  impression  of  the  intelligence  and 
character  of  the  assembly.  The  quorum  necessary  to 
conduct  business,  however,  not  being  very  high,  and 
the  duty  of  regular  attendance  apparently  not  weigh- 


PAKTY  DIVISIONS  IN   AUSTRIA.  61 

ing  heavily  on  their  minds,  one  must  study  the  dele- 
gates in  sections,  according  to  the  questions  in  which 
they  are  interested.  Some  days  since  a  member 
opened  his  speech  to  some  fifty  colleagues  with  the 
words, '  Honorable  and  totally  empty  house/  For  a 
European  assembly  there  would  seem  to  be  a  great 
many  young  men,  though  youth  is  not  a  characteristic 
of  the  whole  body.  .  .  . 

"  To  one  coming  from  Switzerland,  it  is  a  little 
startling  to  see  priests  on  the  floor  of  the  House, 
dressed  in  the  robes  of  their  order,  and  wearing  con- 
spicuous gold  rosaries  about  their  necks.  In  that 
republic,  which  suffered  so  much  from  Jesuits  that 
it  has  since  mistrusted  all  ecclesiastics  in  politics, 
no  clerical  can  be  elected  to  Parliament ;  but  at 
Vienna  there  are  twenty  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives alone,  and  to  the  Senate  many  high  dignitaries 
of  the  Church  belong  by  right. 

"  The  party  divisions  in  Austria  are  almost  bewil- 
dering. In  the  House  of  Representatives  there  are 
no  less  than  sixteen  party  names,  many  of  them 
derived  from  differences  of  nationality,  others  from 
political  sentiment.  ...  In  respect  of  policy  there 
are  .  .  .  German  Liberals,  German  Nationals,  Ger- 
man Clericals,  Feudal  party,  Middle  party,  and  anti- 
Semites,  if  not  other  classifications.  The  largest 
single  group,  according  to  a  recent  list,  is  that  of  the 
German  Liberals,  numbering  one  hundred  and  nine. 
I  am  speaking,  it  is  perhaps  needless  to  remark,  of  the 


62  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

divisions  in  the  Austrian  kingdom,  not  in  the  Imperial 
Austro-Hungarian  Parliament.  .  .  .  l 

"  The  system  of  representation  in  the  House  differs 
from  that  to  which  we  are  accustomed  in  America. 
The  delegates  represent  not  only  certain  territories, 
but  also  certain  classes  of  interests.  Of  these  class 
divisions,  there  are  four — large  landed  property, 
cities,  boards  of  trade,  rural  communities — that  is  to 
say,  certain  members  are  elected  by  groups  of  land- 
lords, others  by  chambers  of  commerce,  city  precincts 
and  rural  precincts.  The  attempt  is  thus  made  to 
balance  the  representation  of  interests  before  election 
rather  than  by  numerical  weight  after  election.  The 
result  at  present  is  that  landed  property  receives  by 
far  the  strongest  representation,  and  the  effect  is  seen 
in  the  prominence  given  to  agrarian  legislation. 

"In  contrast  to  the  statement  often  made  in  America 
that  the  farmers  are  chiefly  represented  by  lawyers,  it 
may  be  noted  that  nearly  one-half  of  the  Austrian 
delegates  are  actual  owners  of  land. 

"  There  is  a  continual  increase  in  the  number  of 
teachers  and  professors  elected — this  also  in  many 
cases  being  an  evidence  of  agrarianism,  as  professors 
in  the  agricultural  schools  are  chosen  to  represent  that 
class  of  interests.     But  the  economists  are  also  there, 

1  The  Austro-Hungarian  Parliament  is  made  up  of  members  of  the 
Reichsrath  (the  Austrian  or  Cisleithan  part  of  the  monarchy),  and 
the  Reichstag  (the  Hungarian  or  Transleithan  part  of  the  monarchy  |. 
Each  Parliament  is  represented  by  twenty  members  from  its  upper 
and  forty  members  from  its  lower  House. 


ECONOMIC  PEOBLEMS  IX  AUSTRIA.  63 

and,  strange  to  say,  one  of  the  most  active  members 
and  fluent  speakers  of  the  Liberal  party  is  the  emi- 
nent geologist,  Professor  Suess,  of  the  University  of 
Vienna.  .  .  . 

"  The  economic  problems  which  lie  in  the  path  of 
Austria  were  exhibited  one  day,  quite  incidentally,  in 
a  lecture  by  Professor  Menger,  at  the  University.  .  .  . 
In  the  course  of  an  historical  sketch  of  the  great 
commercial  movements  of  Europe,  the  influence  of 
geographical  situation  was  brought  forward,  and  the 
unfavorable  position  of  Austria  particularly  empha- 
sized. .  .  .  One  hindrance  to  rapid  advancement, 
according  to  his  mind,  was  the  easy-going,  home-stay- 
ing disposition  of  the  people,  in  contrast  with  the 
enterprise  of  the  Englishman.  In  Vienna,  for  in- 
stance, if  a  proprietor  of  a  cafe  had  three  sons,  every 
one  stayed  in  the  city  and  opened  a  new  cafe,  to  com- 
pete with  all  the  rest ;  and  all  the  bakers'  sons  became 
bakers  on  the  old  spot.1  The  speaker  did  not  leave  it 
doubtful  that  he  thought  it  better  for  part  of  the 
population  to  emigrate."  2 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  scenes  that  ever  took 
place  in  any  Parliament  was  enacted  in  the  Austrian 
House  on  October  28, 1897.  The  Prime  Minister,  Count 
Badeni,  had  gotten  a  bill  through  making  the  Czech, 

JThis  is  the  more  surprising  when  we  consider  the  phenomenal 
success  of  the  "Vienna  Bakeries"  established  in  America  since  the 
Centennial  Exhibition. 

2  J.  M.  Vincent,  in  a  letter  to  The  Nation,  November,  1891. 


64  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

instead  of  the  German  tongue,  the  official  language 
of  Bohemia.  The  German  minority  were  indignant, 
and  when,  shortly  afterwards,  the  Ausglelch1  came 
before  the  House,  they  determined  to  obstruct  its  pas- 
sage till  the  Czech  language  bill  should  be  repealed. 

The  re-enactment  of  the  Ausglelch  was  of  vital 
importance  to  the  Government,  and  the  Opposition 
hopefully  set  to  work  to  use  every  lawful  obstruction- 
ist measure  (and  they  are  many)  to  delay  its  passage. 
All  went  merrily  ;  if  they  could  but  keep  things  going 
for  a  few  weeks  longer,  victory  would  surely  be  theirs, 
for  it  was  not  supposable  that  the  Government  would 
let  Hungary  go  merely  to  accommodate  the  Bohe- 
mians in  the  matter  of  language. 

2  "  And  now  took  place  that  memorable  sitting  of  - 
the  House  which  broke  two  records.  It  lasted  the 
best  part  of  two  days  and  a  night,  surpassing  by  half 
an  hour  the  longest  sitting  known  to  the  world's  pre- 
vious parliamentary  history,  and  breaking  the  long- 
speech  record  with  Dr.  Lecher's  twelve-hour  effort — 
the  longest  flow  of  unbroken  talk  that  ever  came  out 
of  one  mouth  since  the  world  began. 

"At  8.45,  on  the  evening  of  the  28th  of  October, 
when  the  House  had  been  sitting  a  few  minutes  short 
of  ten  hours,  Dr.  Lecher  was  granted  the  floor.  .  .  . 

1  The  Ausgleich  is  the  name  given  to  the  agreement  drawn  up 
between  Austria  and  Hungary  in  1867.  It  must  be  parsed  on  afresh 
every  ten  years. 

2  "Stirring  Times  in  Austria,"  by  Mark  Twain.  Harper's  Maga- 
zine for  1898. 


A   MEMORABLE  SITTING  OF   PARLIAMENT.     65 

The  galleries  are  crowded  on  this  particular  evening, 
for  word  has  gone  about  that  the  Ausglelch  is  before 
the  House ;  that  the  President,  Bitter  von  Abraham- 
owicz,  has  been  throttling  the  Rules ;  that  the  Oppo- 
sition are  in  an  inflammable  state  in  consequence,  and 
that  the  night  session  is  likely  to  be  of  an  exciting 
sort. 

u  The  gallery  guests  are  fashionably  dressed,  and 
the  finery  of  the  women  makes  a  bright  and  pretty 
show  under  the  strong  electric  light.  But  down  on 
the  floor  there  is  no  costumery. 

"  The  deputies  are  dressed  in  day  clothes,  some  of 
the  clothes  neat  and  trim,  others  not ;  there  may  be 
three  members  in  evening  dress,  but  not  more.  There 
are  several  Catholic  priests,  in  their  long  black  gowns, 
and  with  crucifixes  hanging  from  their  necks.  No 
member  wears  his  hat.  One  may  see,  by  these  details, 
that  the  aspects  are  not  those  of  an  evening  session  of 
an  English  House  of  Commons,  but  rather  those  of  a 
sitting  of  our  House  of  Representatives. 

"  In  his  high  place  sits  the  President,  Abrahamo- 
wicz,  object  of  the  Opposition's  limitless  hatred.  He  is 
sunk  back  in  the  depths  of  his  arm-chair,  and  has  his 
chin  down.  He  brings  the  ends  of  his  spread  fingers 
together  in  front  of  his  breast  and  reflectively  taps 
them  together,  with  the  air  of  one  who  would  like  to 
begin  business,  but  must  wait  and  be  as  patient  as  he 
can.  .  .  .  He  looks  tired,  and  maybe  a  trifle  harassed. 
He  is  a  gray-haired,  long,  slender  man,  with  a  color- 


66  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

less  long  face,  which  in  repose  suggests  a  death- 
mask.  .  .  . 

"  Presently  the  Chair  delivered  this  utterance  : 

"  '  Dr.  Lecher  has  the  floor/  .  .  . 

"  Yells  from  the  Left  [the  Opposition],  counter 
yells  from  the  Eight  [the  Government  majority],  ex- 
plosions of  yells  from  all  sides  at  once,  and  all  the  air 
sawed  and  pawed  and  clawed  and  cloven  by  a  writhing 
confusion  of  gesturing  arms  and  hands.  Out  of  the 
midst  of  this  thunder  and  turmoil  and  tempest  rose 
Dr.  Lecher,  serene  and  collected,  and  the  providential 
length  of  him  enabled  his  head  to  show  out  above  it. 
He  began  his  twrelve-hour  speech.  At  any  rate,  his 
lips  could  be  seen  to  move,  and  that  was  evidence. 
On  high  sat  the  President,  imploring  order,  with  his 
long  hands  put  together,  as  in  prayer,  and  his  lips 
visibly,  but  not  hearably  speaking.  At  intervals  he 
grasped  his  bell,  and  swung  it  up  and  down  with 
vigor,  adding  its  keen  clamor  to  the  storm  weltering 
there  below. 

"  For  several  hours  the  pandemonium  continued.  To 
stormy  and  repeated  demands  for  the  floor,  in  order 
to  put  motions,  the  President  merely  replied  that  Dr. 
Lecher  had  the  floor.  The  Aasgleich  was  the  Order 
of  the  Day,  and  it  had  been  the  Government's  plan 
to  rush  it  through,  choke  off  debate,  and  get  it  re- 
ferred to  a  select  committee.  The  President,  there- 
fore, ignored  the  rules  and  declined  to  put  the  motions 
to  adjourn. 


DR.  LECHER'S  TWELVE-HOUR  SPEECH.         67 

"  But  into  the  Government's  calculations  had  not 
entered  the  possibility  of  a  single-barreled  speech, 
which  should  occupy  the  entire  time-limit  of  the  sit- 
ting, and  also  get  delivered  in  spite  of  all  the  noise.  .  .  . 
In  the  English  House  an  obstructionist  has  held  the 
floor  with  Bible-readings  and  other  outside  matters;  but 
Dr.  Lecher  could  not  have  that  restful  and  recuperative 
privilege ;  he  must  confine  himself  strictly  to  the  subject 
before  the  House.  More  than  once,  when  the  Presi- 
dent could  not  hear  him  because  of  the  general 
tumult,  he  sent  persons  to  listen  and  report  as  to 
whether  the  orator  was  speaking  to  the  subject  or  not. 
The  subject  was  a  peculiarly  difficult  one,  and  it  would 
have  troubled  any  other  deputy  to  stick  to  it  three 
hours  without  exhausting  his  ammunition,  because  it 
required  a  vast  and  intimate  knowledge — detailed  and 
particularized  knowledge — of  the  commercial,  rail- 
roading, financial  and  international  banking  relations 
existing  between  two  great  sovereignties — Hungary 
and  the  Empire.  But  Dr.  Lecher  is  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  of  his  city  of  Briinn,  and  was  master 
of  the  situation.  His  speech  was  not  formally  pre- 
pared. He  had  a  few  notes  jotted  down  for  his  guid- 
ance; he  had  his  facts  in  his  head;  his  heart  was  in  his 
work;  and  for  twelve  hours  he  stood  there,  undisturbed 
by  the  clamor  around  him,  and  with  grace  and  ease  and 
confidence  poured  out  the  riches  of  his  mind  in  closely 
reasoned  arguments,  clothed  in  eloquent  and  faultless 
phrasing.  .  .  . 


68  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

"  There  was  but  one  way  for  Dr.  Lecher  to  hold 
the  floor — he  must  stay  on  his  legs.  If  he  should 
sit  down  to  rest  a  moment,  the  floor  would  be  taken 
from  him  by  the  enemy  in  the  Chair.  When  he 
had  been  talking  three  or  four  hours,  he  himself 
proposed  an  adjournment,  in  order  that  he  might  get 
some  rest  from  his  wearing  labors  ;  but  he  limited  his 
motion  with  the  condition  that  if  it  was  lost  he  should 
be  allowed  to  continue  his  speech,  and  if  it  carried  he 
should  have  the  floor  at  the  next  sitting.  Wolf  [the 
Opposition  leader]  was  now  appeased,  and  withdrew 
his  own  thousand  times  oifered  motion,  and  Dr. 
Lecher's  was  voted  upon — and  lost.  So  he  went  on 
speaking.  .  .  . 

"  At  a  quarter  to  two  a  member  of  the  Left  de- 
manded that  Dr.  Lecher  be  allowed  a  rest,  and  said 
that  the  Chairman  was  '  heartless/  Dr.  Lecher  him- 
self asked  for  ten  minutes.  The  Chair  allowed  him 
five.  Before  the  time  had  run  out  Dr.  Lecher  was  on 
his  feet  again. 

"  The  members  of  the  Majority  went  out  by  de- 
tachments from  time  to  time,  and  took  naps  upon 
sofas  in  the  refreshment  rooms,  and  also  refreshed 
themselves  with  food  and  drink — in  quantities  Dearly 
unbelievable — but  the  Minority  stayed  loyally  by  their 
champion.  Some  distinguished  deputies  of  the  Ma- 
jority stayed  by  him,  too,  compelled  thereto  by  admi- 
ration of  his  great  performance.  "When  a  man  has 
been  speaking  eight  hours,  is  it  conceivable   that  he 


DR.  LECHER'S  TWELVE-HOUR  SPEECH.         69 

can  still  be  interesting — still  fascinating  ?  When  Dr. 
Lecher  had  been  speaking  eight  hours,  he  was  still 
compactly  surrounded  by  friends  who  would  not  leave 
him,  and  by  foes  (of  all  parties)  who  could  not,  and 
all  hung  enchanted  and  wondering  upon  his  words, 
and  all  testified  their  admiration  with  constant  and 
cordial  outbursts  of  applause.  Surely  this  was  a 
triumph  without  precedent  in  history. 

"  During  the  twelve-hour  effort,  friends  brought  to 
the  orator  three  glasses  of  wine,  four  cups  of  coffee 
and  one  glass  of  beer — a  most  stingy  reinforcement 
of  his  wasting  tissues ;  but  the  hostile  Chair  would 
permit  no  addition  to  it.  But  no  matter;  the  Chair 
could  not  beat  that  man.  He  was  a  garrison  holding 
a  fort,  and  was  not  to  be  starved  out. 

"  When  he  had  been  speaking  eight  hours  his  pulse 
was  72  ;  when  he  had  spoken  twelve  it  was  100." 

Finally  the  words  (revealing  in  themselves  a  quite 
unquenchable  sense  of  humor),  "I  will  now  hasten  to 
close  my  examination  of  the  subject,"  announced  that 
the  end  was  near ;  and  a  few  minutes  later,  with  the 
spirited  utterance,  "  The  Germans  of  Austria  will 
neither  surrender  nor  die  !"  the  orator  sat  down. 

Wild  and  deafening  were  the  storms  of  applause 
that  followed  ;  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Left  would 
hardly  permit  its  plucky  champion  to  go  in  search  of 
the  food  and  rest  of  which  he  stood  in  such  sore  need. 
At  last,  however,  he  managed  to  escape,  but  after  a 
meal  and  a  three  hours'  sleep,  he  was  back  in  his 


70  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

place,  prepared  to  sit  out  the  remainder  of  that 
memorable  sitting. 

Dr.  Lecher's  performance  resulted  in  victory  for 
the  time  being,  and  the  Opposition  was  apparently 
making  steady  headway  throughout  all  the  wild  and 
tumultuous  sittings  that  followed,  when  one  fine  day 
the  Prime  Minister,  Count  Badeni,  and  the  President 
hit  upon  the  unfortunate  expedient  of  introducing  a 
squad  of  policemen  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  and 
compelling  the  forcible  ejection  of  the  unruly  obstruc- 
tionist deputies. 

The  immediate  result  of  this  unprecedented  act  was 
to  brins:  down  the  Ministry  with  a  crash,  and  the  new 
Prime  Minister  staved  off  the  impending  crisis  by 
getting  passed  a  one  year's  prolongation  of  the 
Ausgleieh. 

Separated  from  the  Houses  of  Parliament  by  the 
Schmerling  Platz  is  the  German  Renaissance  Palace 
of  Justice,  where  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Empire 
holds  its  sittings,  and,  standing  a  little  back  on  the 
Bellaria  Strasse,  is  the  Italian  Renaissance  Deutsche- 
Volks  Theatre. 

Next  in  this  wonderful  series  of  buildings,  all 
erected  within  the  space  of  about  fifty  years,  and 
which  place  the  Ping  Strasse  in  the  foremost  rank 
of  European  streets,  are  the  vast  Imperial  Museums, 
twin  buildings  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  style,  con- 
taining— one,  the  Natural  History  Museum,  and  the 
other    the   Art   History  Collections  of  the   Imperial 


THE  IMPEKIAL  MUSEUMS.  71 

family,  formerly  scattered  about  in  a  variety  of  gal- 
leries and  museums. 

The  exteriors  of  these  two  buildings  are  exactly 
alike,  even  to  the  ornamental  details.  But  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  Picture  Gallery  the  eifect  is  marred  by 
the  over-ornamentation.  Gilding,  bright  wall  tints, 
aggressive  magnificence  and  newness  are  not  the  sur- 
roundings that  best  set  off  old  masterpieces  of  art,  and 
these  have  been  further  dealt  hardly  with  in  the  mat- 
ter of  cleaning  and  "  restoring."  Moreover,  one  must 
patiently  survey  much  that  is  quite  worthless  in  this 
collection,  in  order  not  to  miss  the  really  valuable 
treasures  which  it  contains.  The  great  attraction  lies 
in  the  Velasquez  series  of  portraits,  the  examples  of 
the  Venetian  school,  and  the  Diirer,  Van  Dyck  and 
Rembrandt  pictures. 

One  critic  declares  of  the  Viennese  galleries  in 
general  that,  " .  .  .  everywhere,  to  an  acre  of 
rubbish,  you  may  find  perhaps  a  few  feet  of  decent 
work ;  everywhere  a  big,  rather  than  a  good,  show 
is  the  ideal  striven  after.  But  what,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  can  be  expected  of  people  who,  though  they 
brag  of  their  capital  as  a  great  art  centre,  deliberately 
took  the  beautiful  old  glass  from  the  windows  of  St. 
Stephen's  Church  to  replace  it  with  hideous  memorials 
to  some  popular  hero  or  popular  event?  I  neither 
know  nor  care  which.  They  may  pride  themselves  on 
their  gaudy,  new  picture  gallery,  but  to  the  real  lover 
of  art  it  can  have  little  attraction  until  its  walls  are 


72  viesxa  asi  the  vtexxese 

:    :..;-..:-."  .::.:-..". — um:I    z   ::--::„-    :-f    :~_t 

-     .  and  die  remaining  fifth  filled  with 
the  canvases  which  alone  deserve   :     have  survive 
the  generation  that  produced  them.55 

-      liter  furthers:  re   asserts   :hat  many  of  the 

pictures    catalogued  as  being         T::  I     :  retto, 

r  Veronese,    :  sc  me  others  of  the  great  mask  rs    are 

spun     —      ictnres   from  which  the  master  himself 

-  .rank  ic    lisgosf 

Be  all  of   this   as  it  may3      n    entering   :he  rooms 

uing    :  specimens    of   industrial   art 

and    Im]>  rial     Tress  lisa]  must 

Fhese  unique  collections  b  rough: 

the  Bel  al  and  Hofburg.  and  are 

admirably    ar:      _  nd    cat.  -  _  I  he    writer 

quote  -     bimsell     -  me    enthusiasm   in 

og  them. 

"Fews  _  ays  sg  5  as  the 

_  :iie  public  tL 

most  pi         ts  j     rels    .nd  price]  95  treasures  - 

thei  of   arm       can  compel 

-  loe  and  beauty  with  :  -     ne  of 

As  a  nil      :  llectoi    _      -    scam]  les     I 

nd  country,  he  is  content,  but  here  there 

is  hardlv  a  suit,  hardly  a  weapon,  which  did  not  be- 

famous  i  _  :nus  adding  a 

ich  those  who  otherwise  care  little 

forth    -  illustrafx        ann       resisi      Armor  that 

-       :;  merits  one  might  pc—  i:a  indifference, 


BEXYEXUTO   CELLINI.  73 

one  stops  to    look  at  with  a  suspicion  of  sentiment, 

when,  for  example,  it  happened  to  be  the  property  of 
that  Bourbon  who  fell  beneath  one  of  the  phenomenal 
shots  of  Benvenuto  Cellini — as  recorded  by  himself.1 
.  .  .  And  this  personal  interest  asserts  itself  in  the 
other  departments  as  well.  Here  is  the  famous  Cel- 
lini salt-cellar,  made  for  Francis  L.  really  less  delight- 
ful in  itself  than  in  his  naive  description  of  its  beauty 
and  his  own  greatness  f  here  the  Albert  Dfirer  sketch- 

1  "  I  turned  to  Alessandro  and  said,  '  Let  us  go  home  as  soon  as  we 
can,  for  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  here  ;  you  see  the  enemies  are 
mounting,  and  our  men  are  in  flight.'  Alessandro,  in  a  panic,  cried, 
1  Would  God  that  we  had  never  come  here  !5  and  tamed  in  maddest 
haste  to  fly.  I  rock  him  up  somewhat  sharply  with  these  words, 
1  Since  you  have  brought  me  here,  I  must  perform  some  action  worthy 
of  a  man;'  and  directing  my  arquebus  where  I  saw  the  thickest 
and  most  serried  troop  of  fighting  men,  I  aimed  exactly  a:  one  whom 
I  remarked  to  be  higher  than  the  rest.  .  .  .  Then  I  turned  to  Ales- 
sandro  and  Cecchino,  and  bade  them  discharge  their  arquebuses, 
showing  them  how  to  avoid  being  hit  by  the  besiegers.  ...  I  dis- 
covered afterwards  that  one  of  our  shots  had  killed  the  Constable  de 
Bourbon  ;  and  from  what  I  subsequently  learned,  he  was  the  man 
whom  I  had  first  noticed  above  the  heads  of  the  rest." — The  Life  of 
Benvenuto  Cellini.     Translation  of  John  Addington  Symonds. 

2  "  After  a  minute  description  of  the  salt-cellar,  Benvenuto  Cellini, 
in  his  autobiography,  says:  'When  I  exhibited  this  piece  to  his 
Majesty,  he  uttered  a  loud  outcry  of  astonishment,  and  could  not 
satiate  his  eyes  with  gazing  at  it.  Then  he  bade  me  take  it  back 
to  my  house,  saying  he  would  tell  me  at  the  proper  time  what  I 
should  do  with  it.  So  I  carried  it  home,  and  sent  at  once  to  invite 
several  of  my  best  friends.  We  dined  gaily  together,  placing  the 
salt-cellar  in  the  middle  of  the  table,  and  thus  we  were  the  first  to 
use  it.'  " — The  Life  of  Benvenuto  Cellini.  Translation  of  John 
Addington  Svmonds. 


74  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

book,  open  at  water-color  drawings  of  figures  designed 
by  him  for  the  triumph  of  Maximilian ;  here  the 
decorations  worn  by  the  Habsburgs  of  centuries." 

In  short,  the  only  fault  to  be  found  with  these 
magnificent  collections  is  that  they  are  too  superb,  too 
overwhelming.  A  single  visit  leaves  one  with  an  im- 
pression only  of  dull  despair;  and  really  to  see  and 
enjoy  their  treasures  one  must  go  again  and  again. 


The  Museum  of  Natural  History 


CHAPTEE  V. 

Maria  Theresa  Monument — Imperial  Stables — Empress  Elizabeth's 
Fondness  for  Horses  —  The  Equestrienne  Elisa  —  Ill-natured 
Gossip  of  the  Viennese — The  Empress's  Mode  of  Life  at  Godolo 
— Imperial  Equipages — Coronation  Coach — Collection  of  Sleighs 
— Saddles — Weapons  of  the  Chase — Hofgarten — Yolksgarten — 
Temple  of  Theseus— Ancient  Flower  Fete — The  Albertina— 
Collections  of  Archduke  Albert — Diirer  Collection — Album  of 
Jacques  Collot's  Sketches — Private  Galleries — Prince  Lobko- 
witz — His  Downfall  —  Eccentricities — His  Device  for  Getting 
the  Streets  Cleaned. 

In  the  Platz  between  the  two  museums  stands  the 
imposing  bronze  monument,  erected  in  1888,  to  Maria 
Theresa.  Beyond  the  Platz,  in  the  Hoffstall  Strasse, 
are  the  Imperial  stables,  whose  four  hundred  occu- 
pants are  fed  out  of  marble  mangers,  and  treated  with 
a  solicitude  and  deference  that  many  human  beings 
might  well  envy. 

The  basket-shaped  racks  are  of  polished  steel,  and 
each  horse's  name  is  inscribed  on  a  metal  plate.  The 
grooms  look  like  lackeys,  and  everything  in  these 
great  stables  shines  and  glistens  like  the  fittings  of  a 
salon.  Here  were  kept  the  twelve  stallions,  left  by 
the  Elector  of  Hesse,  who  died  at  Prague,  to  the 
Emperor  of  Austria,  a  clause  in  the  legacy  requiring 


YIEXXA  AKD  THE  VIEXXESE 

that    Lh    .      .    b        -   :      lie   with    them.     When   the 
Prosaans  made  their  entry  ini    the         ad  DueL;    the 
h  and  1    it       \_        ned  on       :   the   finest    >rec 

si  Is  in  -  nany.  had  all  the  mares  put  :  death. 
Eh  -v  in  B-lc  .:  og  aim  Is  had  atsas  an  th  - 
-   _  -  -  -  Sesh-coloi 

Formerly    the    stables      :    the    Austrian    Empei 
_:ained    as    many      ~     six    hundred   horses 
igh    this    number  had    been   red. 
:     :     re    still     remained  gh   to    provide    the 

Empress     El  :a    with    the     eompanionshij     she 

ferred     f  sfa  1    the 

:      .  i-air  lii       f  her  father's       si .      :   i   :  . 

_  :  art.     H  orites   were   the 

pure-: :.      led  S         -  ses       :th  their  superb 

_      -  :     :..-..      s   tb    igh   they 

a  part  of  eaeh  day  in  t       st  n  sh 

Vienna.     A:    me  tun    -  gaged  the  serv      s 

nne  called 
I  :  ice  with  her  1       sev     d   hours 

moroing  in  her  private  riding-sen 

Viennes  -  re  in 

twisting         I  distorting  every  act  f  the  E 

into  son  _  lor  undigni-  _ 

to  tell  one      tother  that  her  li      -  -         fecting 

herself  in      II  tb  - ots     :  a  circu- 

including  jumping  through  hoops,  and  other  acr 

Elis     was   presented  with  a  horse,  which  used 


THE  EMPRESS   ELIZABETH.  77 

to  figure  on  Reny's  circus  bills  as  "  The  Empress's 
horse." 

No  professional  rider,  however,  could  surpass  her 
Majesty  in  graceful  or  daring  horsemanship.  Espe- 
cially did  she  love  a  wild  gallop  in  the  open,  and 
was  never  so  entirely  happy  as  when  on  some  exciting 
chase,  surrounded  by  the  yelping  pack,  the  cries  of  the 
huntsmen  and  the  winding  of  the  horns.  She  would 
sometimes  mount  bare-back,  and  was  very  fond  of 
jumping,  often  taking  leaps  that  were  exceedingly  dan- 
gerous. Her  opinion  of  people  was  largely  influenced 
by  their  skill  in  horsemanship.  To  those  of  her  ladies- 
in-waiting  who  sat  well,  rode  straight,  and  were  imper- 
vious to  physical  fatigue,  she  was  the  most  indulgent 
of  mistresses  ;  but  for  any  who  fell  short  of  these 
requirements  she  had  but  scant  consideration.  Her 
mode  of  life  at  Godolo  is  thus  described  by  one  of 
the  ladies  of  her  court : 

"  Every  morning  she  attended  Mass  as  early  as  five 
o'clock,  and,  after  drinking  a  cup  of  black  coffee, 
without  milk  or  sugar,  she  mounted  her  horse,  and, 
accompanied  by  one  of  her  ladies-in-waiting,  galloped 
off  through  the  magnificent  park,  which  is  traversed 
in  every  direction  by  broad,  sandy  avenues.  Changing 
horses  several  times  in  the  course  of  the  morning,  she 
would  remain  in  the  saddle  until  noon,  when,  after 
taking  a  cold  bath,  she  would  sit  down  with  her  lady 
to  a  simple  luncheon,  consisting  of  very  rare  steak, 
dry  toast,  and  a  glass  of  Montrose  claret.     Towards 


78  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

four  o'clock  her  Majesty  again  went  out  riding,  return- 
ing only  just  in  time  to  dress  for  dinner." 

The  Imperial  equipages  are  kept  above  the  stables, 
being  raised  and  lowered  by  machinery,  as  they  are  re- 
quired. There  is  a  large  collection  of  state  carriages, 
gilded  and  resplendent  as  so  many  suns.  The  coronation 
coach  is  carved  and  gilded  all  over,  and  enclosed  by  a 
single  sheet  of  glass ;  paintings  by  Rubens  represent- 
ing Justice,  Strength,  and  other  attributes  supposed  to 
belong  to  the  monarchical  state,  adorn  the  outside,  the 
inside  being  finished  in  velvet  and  gold.  On  those 
rare  and  imposing  occasions,  Imperial  coronations,  this 
carriage  is  drawn  by  eight  white  horses,  ten  footmen, 
forty  lackeys  and  eight  "  heiduques  "  marching  at  the 
sides.  The  driver  and  postilion  are  dressed  in  black 
and  yellow  velvet,  and  wear  long  plumes  in  their 
hats.  At  the  Imperial  coronations  at  Frankfort,  the 
Swiss  Guard,  the  Hereditary  Marshal  holding  a  sword 
aloft,  and  the  mounted  field-marshals  preceded  the 
carriage,  and  immediately  behind  it  came  the  troop  of 
Imperial  pages,  clad  in  floating  robes  of  black  velvet, 
braided  with  gold,  the  chiefs  of  the  Imperial  Guard, 
and  the  halberdiers  in  crimson  tunics. 

The  collection  of  sleighs  is  most  interesting.  Some 
of  them  are  swan-shaped,  while  that  which  Maria 
Theresa  used  to  drive  herself  is  in  the  form  of  a  large, 
gilded  shell.  Among  the  saddles  is  preserved  that  of 
the  Emperor  Maximilian,  as  well  as  his  riding  trou- 
sers of  Siberian  dog-skin;  his  leash,  and  his  Mexican 


THE  HOFGAKTEN  AND  VOLKSGAKTEN.    79 

hat.  There  is  also  the  saddle  of  Kara  Mustapha,  its 
cloth  embroidered  with  rubies  and  pearls,  crescents 
and  diamonds ;  his  golden  spurs  and  silver-gilt  stir- 
rups shining  and  glittering  with  Oriental  splendor. 
The  coronation  harness  is  entirely  composed  of  gold 
and  velvet,  with  golden  bells. 

Four  rooms  contain  the  weapons  of  the  chase, 
dating  some  of  them  from  the  remotest  days  of  the 
Habsburg  dynasty,  from  lances  used  by  the  first 
Dukes  for  hunting  wild  boars  and  bears,  down  to  the 
graceful  guns  which  Maria  Theresa  carried  on  her 
shooting  expeditions.  On  the  walls  of  one  of  these 
rooms  are  some  silver-mounted  horns  of  the  wild  goat, 
presented  by  Victor  Emmanuel. 

Opposite  the  Maria  Theresa  Monument  is  the 
Burgthor,  and  beyond  it  is  the  Hofgarten — the  Jardin 
des  Tuileries  of  Vienna.  This  is  a  favorite  resort  of 
the  ladies  in  the  spring  and  summer  time.  They 
promenade  up  and  down  the  walks,  listening  to  the 
music,  and  keeping  an  eye  on  their  children  at  play. 
Another  public  garden,  the  Volksgarten,  serves  as  a 
pendent  to  this,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Burgthor. 
With  its  cool,  shady  paths,  its  elegantly  appointed 
cafe  and  its  Temple  of  Theseus,  the  garden  of  the 
people  is  a  gay  and  lively  neighbor  for  the  grave 
Palace  of  Justice  opposite. 

"  In  a  fit  of  enthusiasm  arising  from  the  acquisition 
of  the  statue  of  Theseus  by  Canova,  they,  too  [the 
Viennese],  determined  on  having  a  Walhalla  in  which 


80  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

to  enshrine  their  purchase,  and  forthwith  commenced 
the  erection  of  a  copy  of  the  so-called  Temple  of 
Theseus  at  Athens.  Had  they  paused  to  investigate 
the  matter  a  little,  it  would  probably  have  been  found 
that  the  temple  they  were  copying  was  really  dedi- 
cated to  Mars,  and  that  the  shrine  of  their  new  god 
was  of  a  different  shape  and  style  altogether.  But 
the  Viennese  are  not  antiquarians,  so  this  did  not 
matter.  Had  they  been  architects,  they  would  have 
known  that  to  be  seen  to  advantage  the  Grecian  Doric 
order  must  be  placed  on  a  height,  where  it  can  be 
looked  up  to,  and  the  Grecians,  in  consequence,  always 
chose  elevated  sites  for  their  temples.  There  are  no 
hills  in  Vienna  suited  for  this  purpose ;  but  there 
were  some  grand  old  bastions  which  would  have 
formed  the  noblest  terraces  for  such  a  building,  had 
the  idea  suggested  itself  to  them.  The  next  best 
place  was  the  crest  of  the  Glacis,  where  it  could  have 
been  approached,  though  in  a  far  less  degree,  on  an 
ascending  plane;  but  even  this  advantage  was  ne- 
glected, and  they  finally  determined  on  erecting  it  at 
the  bottom  of  the  ditch  !"  x 

The  Theseus  does  not,  however,  now  occupy  the 
temple  built  for  it,  but  is  placed  at  the  top  of  tlic 
main  stairway,  and  facing  the  central  entrance,  in  the 
New  Picture  Gallerv. 

From  earliest  times  the  Viennese  have  had  a  great 
predilection    for   gardens ;    they    love    flowers,   trees, 

1  Ferguson,  History  of  Architecture. 


AXCIEXT  FLOWER  FETE.  81 

birds ;  not  a  bourgeois  salon  but  has  its  flower-stand 
and  bird-cage — geraniums  and  canaries.  Unable  to 
stock  their  public  gardens  with  nightingales,  they 
have  musicians  there  instead,  and  every  evening,  from 
the  first  spring  day  mild  enough  to  allow  a  bud  to 
shoot  or  a  coat  to  be  thrown  open,  the  Volksgarten 
and  the  Stadt  Park  are  transformed  into  huge  open- 
air  concert  halls  where  twice  a  week  military  bands 
perform,  and  Strauss,  the  "  Schone  Edi,"  King  of  the 
Waltz,  reigns  triumphant. 

It  was  from  Vienna  that  Holland  obtained  her  first 
tulips.  Matthias  Corvin,  King  of  Hungary,  who  died 
at  Vienna  in  1490,  wrote  that  "  the  entire  territory 
of  Vienna  is  like  an  enormous  garden,  surrounded  by 
orchards  and  vineyards."  In  old  times  the  appear- 
ance of  the  first  violet  was  celebrated  with  much 
mirth  and  gaiety,  whoever  found  the  first  of  those 
fragrant  messengers  of  spring  being  carried  into 
Vienna  in  triumph. 

It  was  a  pretty  festival;  the  Court  always  took 
part  in  it ;  the  people  proceeded  in  procession  to 
the  Kahlenberg,  which,  since  the  evening  before, 
had  been  surrounded  by  a  guard  of  armed  men,  so 
that  no  one  might  search  the  ground  beforehand. 
At  the  head  of  the  procession  marched  a  band  of 
fiddlers,  wearing  bearskin  caps,  ornamented  with 
peacock  feathers ;  next  came  a  motley  group  of  pages 
and  squires,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  with  their  guard 
of  honor,  and  the  members  of  the  Fools'  Council  in 


vo  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

harlequin  dress,  with  foolscaps  and  bells.  At  a  given 
signal  every  one  scattered  over  the  mountain-side,  and 
whoever  found  the  first  blossom  was  declared  ki::_  : 
the  festival :  he  was  pi  wirh  a  golden  violet, 

and  placed  in  the  seat  of  honor  at  the  banquet  that 
followed  the  "  bal  ehatnpetre."  He  also  had  the  right 
to  dance  with  the  Duchess,  and  his  name  was  recorded 
in  the  chronicles  for  posterity. 

Adjoining  the  Hofgarten  is  the  Albertina,  the 
famous  collection  begun  by  Duke  Albert  of  Sachsen- 
Teschen,  son  of  Frederick  Augustus.  Elector  of 
Saxony  and  King  of  Poland.  His  taste  for  the  fine 
arts  was  strenjtht-ned  and  developed  by  a  journey  he 
made  through  Italy  with  his  young  the  gifted 

Maria  Christiua.  fifth  and  favorite  daughter  of  M  iria 
Theresa.     He  commissioned  the  Austrian  Ambass 
at  Venice,  Jacques  Durazz-.,  to  purchase  old  Italian 
engravings  for  him:    and  during  his   sojourn  in    the 
Netherlands   as    Stadtholder  he    devoted   himself  to 
drawiugs  of  the    Flemish    masters.     Un- 
fortunately the  ship,  laden  with  these  valuable  draw- 
ings and  the  Duke's  fiue  library,  foundered  on  its 
from  Belgium  to  Hamburg,  in  the  year  1 792.     Some 
of  the  citizens  of  the  Xetherlands.  in  order  to  c 
the  Duke  for  his  loss,  then  set  themselves  to  work  to 
rummage  through  the  entire  country,  with  the  result 
that  a  hundred  and  tbrty-scven  original  drawings     y 
Rembrandt  and  a  superb  collection  of  Rubens'  draw- 
ings were  purchased,  and  now  form  a  unique  feature 


THE   DUBEB   COLLECTION   OF   PAINTINGS.      83 

of  this  rauseuui.     But  the  pearl  ::'  the  ce-Iect:o:i  is  ... 
series    ::   the   ;  r:  -V.:  :■::.-=    :■:'   Al'::reoh:    Diirer.   ' 

wes  ife  High:  ::■  : -r  zf:\.  ::'  .Rudolph  II. — :....: 
perfectly  mad  but  art-loving  Emperor  who  a  ised 
the  >~ :::.:  ,-:T  —  -^hs  "Feast  :-i  the  E  sary"  I0 
to -be  carried  from  Venice  fee  Prague  >n  the  sfa  Lers 
of  four  men,  in  order  not  to  expose  it  to  the  joltings 

:  ;:  ._•->.      I>-.;;er  pa::::e  l   :h:s   ;  :  :  ...    at  \  erhce 

in  1506,  an    was  paid  one  hundred  and  ten  florins  for 

it     In  17S2  the  same  picture  was     at  np  at  public 

11  Pra^      .."..._  -.vi:h  "  son: :     the:     -  l  trash."  by 

order  of  Joseph  II.1 

A  portrait  by  the  artist  of  himself  .:  the  ._  .  1 
thirteen  -  -  -  frotrtisp:-:  :  :  -  : 
tion,  which  includes  some  of  the  master's  earliest  at- 
tempts, as  well  as  some  of  his  masterpieces.  Some 
bear  dates  f  the  period  when  was  311  pie  appren- 
tice; other-  give  >  the  stumes  rn  vthe  Nurem- 
;  :---'  hhi—  . :'  his  ■'._  y — :hm:::i:;_  •.;::.-":::,>  --f.hh  reoail 
Holbein's  sh  itches  of  the  ladies  of  Bale.  Diirer  under- 
stood the  secret  of  combining  the  characteristi  s  of  an 
-:: :  ;  : a.:  TTh:h  :h:\h        1  h  -e  sta  Iv     :  :h 

1  model — Nature.     Iv  g    that  his 

brush,  his  trair.el  ~:     ::\;  -  ■>. 

This  Bunch  of  Violets,  into  which  he  seems  to  have 

ierare  described  in  the  inventory  of  this  collection 
Naked  Female  Bitten  by  a  Mad  Goose"  proved  to  be  Titian's 
"  Leda  with  the  Swan." 


84  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

instilled  the  very  scent  as  well  as  the  color,  surely  he 
picked  them  himself,  or  at  least  received  them  from 
the  reverential  hands  of  some  noble  dame,  who  ad- 
mired and  appreciated  his  genius ;  and  this  Captive 
Hare — he  had  seen  it !  Did  he  not  paint  this  land- 
scape in  the  open  air,  seated  in  some  field  on  a  fair 
summer  morning  ?  That  Dead  Crow  he  stood  long 
in  front  of,  and  perhaps  felt  sorry  that  it  had  to  die. 

There  is,  in  addition  to  these  finished  works,  a 
marvelous  series  of  sketches  done  in  pencil  on  green 
paper — studies  for  the  figures  of  the  apostles  in  the 
Assumption.  Every  one  of  these  men,  like  those  in 
the  pen-and-ink  drawing  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi, 
impresses  you  with  a  sense  that  the  originals  have 
lived — that  they  are  drawn  from  life.  There  is  an 
incomparable  air  of  dignity  in  their  attitudes,  and  the 
forms  of  these  bald-headed  old  men  are  still  alert  and 
vigorous  ;  and  how  admirable  are  the  draperies,  falling 
in  lines  full  of  harmony !  What  rhythmic  grace  ! 
what  amplitude  !  Diirer  had  the  feeling  for  corporeal 
life  ;  he  was  in  advance  of  his  age,  just  as  Shakes- 
peare was  in  advance  of  his. 

M.  Thausing,  for  many  years  director  of  the  Alber- 
tina,  once  made  a  wonderful  discovery.  Rummaging 
among  the  miscellaneous  collections  of  a  second-hand 
book-dealer,  he  came  across  an  album  filled  with 
sketches  by  Jacques  Collot.  On  the  first  page  was  a 
portrait  of  the  artist — a  true  type  of  a  Bohemian 
head,    moustache   curled   upwards,  dreamy  eyes  and 


JACQUES  COLLOT'S  SKETCHES.       85 

busliy  hair.  Following  it  are  a  number  of  studies 
made  from  Holbein's  Dance  of  Death,  which  bear 
unmistakable  evidence  of  having  been  made  from  the 
original  drawings.  The  execution  of  the  French 
artist  is  decidedly  superior  to  that  of  the  Dutchman  ; 
it  is  more  refined,  more  ironical  and  sarcastic,  more 
vigorous ;  there  is  nothing  clumsy  about  the  drawing — 
nothing  stiff;  it  is  as  though  his  pencil  changed  every- 
thing it  touched,  transforming  pebbles  into  diamonds. 
Not  infrequently  Collot  introduces  fresh  actors  into 
the  drama.  For  example,  in  the  scene  where  Death 
is  removing  the  nuptial  garland  from  a  bride,  Collot 
adds  two  individuals — a  servant,  in  the  act  of  handing 
her  mistress  her  necklaces  and  jewels,  and  a  Death,  who 
seizes  and  dances  away  with  them  ;  also,  he  modifies 
and  interprets,  in  his  own  fashion,  Holbein's  concep- 
tion of  the  physiognomy  and  attitudes  of  Death. 
Hence  this  series  of  drawings  may  be  taken  almost  as 
an  original  work — a  new  Danse  Macabre,  less  naive, 
more  mocking  and  more  cruel  than  the  other. 

The  remaining  sketches  in  this  album  were  made  at 
the  siege  of  Breda.  They  consist  of  picturesque  camp 
scenes,  races  and  shooting-matches  between  the  sol- 
diers, studies  of  horses,  episodes  of  battles,  skirmishes, 
portraits  of  camp  followers  and  vivandieres,  of 
Turks  and  Hungarians  ;  then  groups  of  children,  in- 
fants at  the  breast,  cripples  with  hats  awry  and  ragged 
capes,  tattered  beggars,  roystering  Bohemians ;  here  a 
group    of  soldiers,    drinking   the    stirrup-cup ;    there 


86  VIENNA  AND   THE  VIENNESE. 

another  group,  chaffing  a  solidly-built  woman,  well 
able  to  look  out  for  herself,  and  every  line  is  executed 
with  a  devil-may-care  dash  and  spirit — a  magic  touch 
that  infuses  the  very  breath  of  life  into  these  yellow 
bits  of  paper.  The  horses  gallop  across  the  page  ;  one 
can  hear  the  sutlers  quarreling  and  cursing;  the  cold 
breath  of  the  tomb  blows  across  the  leaf,  and  makes 
you  shiver  as  your  eye  falls  ou  that  ferocious  figure  of 
Death,  hastening  to  the  combat,  with  the  haughty  air 
of  a  conqueror,  his  head  ornamented  with  a  great 
plumed  hat,  and  across  his  shoulder  a  banner,  whose 
folds  are  gathered  between  the  bony  fingers  of  one 
hand. 

Vienna  has  reason  to  be  proud  indeed  of  her  art 
treasures.  The  Belvedere  Galleries,  even  before  they 
were  incorporated  with  the  Imperial  Art  Museum, 
ranked  among  the  finest  collections  in  Europe;  and 
.-he  can.  moreover,  boast  of  four  valuable  private  gal- 
leries— those  of  Count  Ozernin,  Cunt  Harrach, 
Prince  Liechtenstein  and  of  Count  Schonborn.  These 
are  all  open  to  the  public,  and  contain  admirable  ex- 
amples of  the  ancient  German.  Italian  and  Dutch 
schools  of  art. 

A  little  to  the  north  of  the  Albertina  stands  the 
Lobkowitz  Palace,  an  ostentatious  rococo  building, 
erected  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Prince  Wenceslaus  Eusebius  Lobkowitz  played  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  public  affairs  in  the  reign  of  Leopold 
I.     He  belonged  to  the  junior  branch  of  an  ancient 


PEIXCE   LOBKOWITZ— HIS  DOWNFALL.         87 

Bohemian  family,  and  held  a  number  of  important 
offices,  finally  becoming  Prime  Minister  on  the  dis- 
grace of  Prince  Auersperg,  who  had  held  that  office. 
Witty,  agreeable,  generous  and  good-humored,  Lobko- 
witz  unfortunately  never  could  learn  to  hold  his 
tongue,  and  consequently  was  always  getting  into 
trouble. 

On  the  death  of  the  Empress,  Margaret  Theresa, 
Leopold  wished  to  marry  again,  and  was  hesitating 
between  a  Princess  of  the  Margravate  and  his  cousin, 
the  Tyrolese  Princess  Claudia  Felicitas,  a  daughter  of 
the  Grand  Duke  Ferdinand.  A  number  of  other 
partis  were  suggested  to  the  Emperor,  and  all  their 
portraits  were  hung  in  a  room  in  the  Burg.  One  day 
when  Lobkowitz,  who  was  a  great  favorite  with  the 
Emperor,  was  examining  this  strange  collection,  Leo- 
pold asked  his  advice  as  to  which  bride  he  should 
select.  The  Minister  named  several  Princesses,  but 
none  of  those  whose  portraits  were  before  them. 
Later,  when  Claudia  became  Empress,  she  heard  of 
this ;  also  that  he  had  repeated  some  discreditable 
tales  concerning  her.  She  determined,  therefore,  to 
have  her  revenge.  A  charge  was  preferred  against 
Lobkowitz  that  he  was  planning  a  secret  alliance  with 
France,  and  the  Empress,  with  the  aid  of  the  Jesuits 
—  his  inveterate  enemies  —  procured  his  disgrace. 
Quite  unprepared  for  the  impending  misfortune,  the 
Minister  was  driving  to  Court,  as  usual,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  17th  of  October,  1674,  when  he  was  ar- 


vv  VIENNA   AND   THE   VIENNESE. 

rest*  1  on  the  street  by  the  captain  of  the  body-guard 
of  halberdiers,  and  informed  that   by  special  ore1        : 
the   EmperoT  he  was    leprived  forthwith    ::    all   his 
dignities.      When  the  astonish       Minister  asked,  not 
unnatural  y,  I  giveas  me  reason,  he  was  solemnly 

warned  against  making,  am  in     :       in  of 

death. 

He  was  then  told  that  within  tin  ys  he  must 

Vienna   and   retire   to    his   estate  of   Ruudnitz 
in    Bohemia,   there    to   remain   in   exile.     There 
nothing  for  it  but  t         iy,  and         the  third  day  -     - 
ceeding  his  arrest,  the  Viennese  were  much  edified  bv 
_    -     :    :       lat     all-]    weri   I   :  v  rite  being 
pen  can     _         ross  tb 
I  3  _  It  was   -   -- 

I    I   that  the  Muni  ;ucil  might     Ls     have 

hand  in  the  Minist      -  -  they  bore 

him  a  _  _  them  to  clean  the  so     te     I 

I.     It  is  told  th  :  g  in  vain,  by 

-    :  alt  mate  threats  and  pi    mises    I    induce  the 
Council  to  do  this,  the  Prime  Minister  at  last  had  re- 
urse  t    a  trick.     H-  9ent  I      _   - 

m  st  i      :  Vienna  :         me  to  s       him.     Hie  Burgo- 
mastei  I  in  his  state     arriage,  'dad  in  an  en 

silk  stoc]      gs         1       sh     -  I  with 

silver  buck 
••A:.,  mj  dear  I      _        si     .  isityouP'  cried  I 
fcz,  at  the  saj  -        ig  his  hat.     ~  I  am  so 

verv  son  it  an  im       :  :   msiness 


DEVICE  FOR  GETTING  CLEAU   STREETS.       89 

me  to  go  out.  Will  you  just  step  iuto  rny  carriage, 
aud  we  eau  talk  as  we  drive.  I  will  drop  you  ou 
your  street.'' 

Sebastieu  Fiugeuslieur  thereupon  dismissed  his 
coachman  aud  seated  himself  beside  the  Minister,  who 
discoursed  to  him  fluently  about  the  weather.  The 
carriage  drove  through  all  the  dirtiest  streets  in  Vienna, 
finally  stopping  near  the  Town  Hall. 

"  A  thousand  pardons  !M  cried  Lobkowitz ;  "  but  I 
shall  have  to  put  you  down  here,  my  dear  Burgo- 
master. I  find  I  have  lingered  too  long,  and  my 
engagement  takes  me  iu  the  opposite  direction." 

The  door  was  thrown  open  and  a  footman  stood 
ready  to  help  the  Burgomaster  out ;  but  when  the 
latter  saw  the  sea  of  mud  with  which  the  street  was 
flooded,  he  drew  back,  and,  turning  to  Lobkowitz, 
said,  in  a  tone  almost  of  supplication  : 

"  If  your  Excellency  would  be  so  kind  as  to  allow 
the  coachman  to  drive  just  a  little  further." 

"Impossible!"  said  the  Minister.  "I  tell  you  I 
am  expected,  aud  I  am  twenty  minutes  late  now/' 

So,  whether  he  liked  it  or  not,  the  Burgomaster  had 
to  step  out — and  in,  too,  for  the  mire  reached  above 
his  ankles,  and  he  reached  his  house  in  a  very  sorry 
plight.  Lobkowitz  went  home,  shrieking  with  laugh- 
ter ;  and  from  that  day  there  was  a  marked  improve- 
ment in  the  condition  of  the  Viennese  streets. 

Even  in  exile,  Lobkowitz  continued  to  give  his 
fanciful  humor  rein.     He  fitted   out   one-half  of  the 


90  VIENNA   AND  THE  YIENOTSE. 

hall  of  his  castle  with  all  the  magnificence  of  a  princely 
establishment ;  while  the  other  half  was  as  poor  and 
meagre  as  the  most  miserable  hovel. 

"It  is  my  way,"  he  explained  to  visitors,  "of 
keeping  the  past  and  the  present  always  before  my 
mind.'3  He  composed  for  his  epitaph  the  following 
summary  of  his  career  : 

"  I  have  been — Count,  Prince,  Duke. 
I  am— dust,  shadow,  nothing  !M 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Buildings  on  the  Ring  Strasse — Academy  of  Fine  Arts — Schiller 
Monument — The  Opera  under  Leopold  I. — "  The  Habsburg 
Lip  "  —  The  Empress  Claudia  —  Expedient  of  the  Devout 
Eleanora  of  Mantua — Charles  VI.'s  Taste  for  Music — Joseph 
Fuchs — Imperial  Performers — Arrangements  of  the  House — 
The  Present  Opera  House — Deaths  of  the  Architects — Interior 
Fittings — Mechanical  Devices — Costumes — Hofopem  Orchester 
— The  Conductor  Hans  Richter — The  Ballet — The  Audience — 
Cafes  Chantants,  "  the  Opera  of  the  People  " — The  Tyrolese 
Singers — The  Viennese  Singers — Furst — His  Power  of  Mimicry 
— Street  Musicians — "  0  du  lieber  Augustin" — Opera  House — 
Adelige  Casino — Stadtpark — Ice  Fetes — The  Due  de  Richelieu 
in  Vienna — Austrian  Museum  of  Art  and  Industry — Export 
Academy — Franz  Josephs  Barrack — The  Danube:  Where  Is  It? 
—Viennese  Signs— Reminders  of  Paris— The  Ring  Promenade 
— Excellent  Street  Paving— Street  Cleaning— The  Cab  Drivers 
— Sedan  Chairs  Were  Not  Always  a  Luxury — Omnibuses — The 
Ring  a  Fashionable  Resort — Absence  of  Decorations — Racial 
Characteristics — Jewesses. 

The  Albrechtgasse,  which  skirts  the  side  of  the 
Hofgarten,  leads  back  to  the  Ring,  directly  opposite 
the  Schiller  Platz  and  the  great  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts.  Attached  to  the  latter  are  schools  of  painting, 
sculpture  and  architecture.  The  facade  has  gilded 
niches,  in  which  stand  terra  cotta  figures  representing 
the  heroes  and  goddesses  of  Olympia,  the  whole  form- 
ing a  remarkably  poor  background   for   the  bronze 

91 


92  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

statue  of  Schiller,  which  rises  in  the  centre  of  the 
Platz.  Were  this  but  of  marble,  instead  of  bronze,  it 
would  be  much  more  effective. 

The  veneration  shown  by  Germany  for  her  literary 
heroes  is  altogether  admirable.  No  fewer  than  forty 
statues  of  Schiller  and  Goethe  are  to  be  found  on  Ger- 
man soil.  How  many  monuments,  it  may  be  asked, 
has  France  erected  to  Moliere  or  Corneille  ? 

A  little  beyond  the  Academy  is  the  Opera  House. 
As  early  as  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Leopold  I. 
(1657-1705)  the  opera  was  performed  at  Vienna  with 
great  magnificence.  One  hundred  thousand  florins 
were  expended  upon  the  production  of  Sesti's  "  II 
Porno  d'Oro  "  alone. 

In  this  opera  the  scene  was  changed  twenty-three 
times,  and  there  were  the  same  number  of  combats. 
In  the  ninth  scene  of  the  first  act,  Paris  was  discovered 
displaying  to  Juno  a  glittering  galaxy  of  diamonds  : 
on  the  right,  two  genii  were  bearing  away  the  figure 
of  Momus,  while  on  the  left,  Minerva,  completely 
armed,  stood  poised  upon  a  rainbow.  The  final  scene 
represented  Olympus  above  the  clouds,  and  Jupiter, 
from  his  throne,  informing  the  assembled  goddesses 
that  the  golden  apple  could  belong  to  none  other  than 
to  the  Emperor's  bride  (his  second  wife,  Claudia  of 
Tyrol),  as  she  combined  the  stately  dignity  of  Juno, 
with  the  virtue  and  wit  of  Minerva  and  the  beauty 
of  Venus. 

Leopold    was    passionately    fond    o£    music,    and. 


The  Imperial  Opera  House 


THE  OPERA  UNDER  LEOPOLD  I.  93 

although  he  possessed  a  fully  developed  "  Habsburg 
lip,"  l  he  himself  played  very  well  on  the  flute  and 
also  on  the  spinet.  The  Empress  Claudia  shared  this 
taste,  and  her  musical  proficiency  was  one  reason  of 
her  great  influence  over  her  husband.  Sometimes  she 
utilized  the  opera  to  bring  things  to  the  Emperor's 
notice,  which  even  she  hardly  dared  to  tell  him  of 
plainly.  Thus  the  "  La  Laterna  di  Diogene  "  was 
an  exposition  of  the  abuses  rife  in  the  Viennese  Court 
at  that  time. 

Leopold's  third  wife,  Eleanora  of  Mantua,  was,  on 
the  contrary,  a  pronounced  devote  ;  obliged  to  accom- 
pany the  Emperor  to  the  opera,  she  took  with  her  a 
copy  of  the  Psalms,  bound  to  look  like  a  libretto,  and 
studied  them  devoutly  throughout  the  performance. 

The  Emperor's  passion  for  music  remained  with  him 
to  the  very  end.  When  on  his  death-bed,  after  the 
last  rites  of  the  church  had  been  performed,  he  asked 
to  have  the  Court  band  brought  to  his  chamber,  and 
as  they  played  he  expired. 

Leopold's  youngest  son,  the  Emperor  Charles  VI., 

inherited  his  father's  musical  taste.     In  his  time  the 

lA  striking  physical  characteristic  of  the  Habsburgs  was  the 
heavy  hanging  under  lip.  It  was  transmitted  through  many  genera- 
tions. When  the  marriage  between  the  Emperor  Napoleon  and 
Marie  Louise  was  definitely  arranged,  a  portrait  of  the  Archduchess, 
painted  expressly  for  the  purpose,  was  sent  from  Vienna  to  her 
Imperial  fiance,  who  had  never  seen  her.  Napoleon,  it  is  said,  after 
examining  it  eagerly,  expressed  the  greatest  satisfaction  at  finding 
that  his  bride  had  "the  Habsburg  lip,"  as  his  wish  was  to  marry 
one  whose  distinguished  birth  would  instantly  be  recognized. 


94  VIENNA  AXD  THE  VIENNESE. 

band  of  the  Burg  Opera  was  brought  to  a  high  state 
of  proficiency,  under  the  leadership  of  the  gifted 
Styrian,  Joseph  Fuchs.  Occasionally  on  such  high 
festivals  as  the  Emperor's  or  the  Empress's  birthday, 
Charles  would  himself  lead  the  band,  while  distin- 
guished ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  Court  would  per- 
form on  the  various  instruments,  and  sometimes  the 
two  Archduchesses  would  even  take  part  in  the 
ballet !  Metestasio,  who  had  then  settled  in  Vienna, 
composed  the  librettos ;  the  soprano  parts  were  sung 
by  eunuchs. 

Notwithstanding  the  enormous  expense  of  these  per- 
formances (it  never  cost  less  than  sixty  thousand  florins 
to  bring  out  a  new  opera),  the  public  was  admitted 
free  of  charge,  certain  boxes  being  set  aside  for  the 
use  of  the  Court  and  distinguished  guests.  The  Em- 
peror and  Empress  occupied  an  estrade,  placed  directly 
in  front  of  the  stage.  A  page  knelt  on  either  side 
throughout  the  performance  to  fan  their  Majesties  ;  the 
rest  of  the  Imperial  family  sat  on  the  stage  itself. 

The  exterior  of  the  present  Opera  House,  which 
was  begun  in  1861,  is  not  especially  impressive. 
Five  unimposing  statues,  wearing  an  air  of  ex- 
cessive  ennui,  are  stationed  between  the  square  col- 
umns of  an  Italian  loggia,  and  constitute  the  chief 
decoration  of  the  facade.  The  two  architects,  Van 
der  Xiill  and  Sicardsburg.  both  came  to  untimely  ends 
before  the  completion  of  the  building — one  shot  him- 
self, from   chagrin   at   the   sinking  of  the  foundation. 


THE  PKESENT  OPERA  HOUSE.  95 

and  the  other  actually  died  of  mortification,  caused  by 
the  severe  and  quite  unjust  criticisms  of  the  Viennese 
press.  The  interior,  however,  fully  atones  for  any  dis- 
appointment one  may  feel  at  the  exterior.  Regarded 
from  a  practical  standpoint,  it  is  unsurpassed.  Three 
thousand  spectators  can  be  accommodated  comfortably, 
each  individual  being  well  seated,  and  commanding 
an  uninterrupted  view  of  the  stage — one  of  the  largest 
in  Europe. 

When  the  Opera  House  was  opened  in  1869,  it  was 
greeted  with  paeans  of  praise.  Never  had  there  any- 
where been  seen  such  sumptuous  fittings,  such  mag- 
nificence of  decoration,  such  air  and  space  and  com- 
fort, such  light  and  ventilation.  The  Imperial  box, 
which  occupies  the  middle  of  the  house,  is  furnished 
with  several  ante-rooms  and  a  splendidly  decorated 
foyer.  The  machinery  for  opening  and  closing  the 
trap-doors,  shifting  the  scenery,  and  so  on,  is  operated 
by  steam  and  electricity.  The  scenery  is  all  got 
ready  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  evening  the  head 
machinist,  installed  in  a  little  box,  has  merely  to 
touch  a  button,  and  the  wings  at  once  begin  to  glide 
on  or  off,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  the  trap-door  to  rise 
or  fall.  Electric  wires  also  connect  the  manager's 
box  with  the  dressing-rooms  of  all  the  actors,  actresses 
and  ballet-dancers;  with  the  orchestra,  the  director 
of  the  scenery,  and  the  entire  service  of  the  house ; 
and  he  can  also  sound  a  general  fire-alarm  throughout 
the  city. 


96  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

The  employees  of  the  Opera  number  seven  hun- 
dred. There  is  a  carpenter  shop,  a  tailors  and  dress- 
makers' establishment,  and  a  studio  for  scene-painting, 
attached  to  it ;  and  it  is  not  uncommon  for  as  many 
as  four  hundred  dancers  to  take  part  in  a  single  ballet. 
The  costumes  are  truly  magnificent,  fashioned,  as  a 
rule,  out  of  the  richest  qualities  of  silks  and  velvets, 
and  designed  by  the  leading  modistes.  No  pasteboard 
helmets  or  tin  armor  are  found  here,  as  at  other  the- 
atres. Everything  of  this  sort  that  is  required  is 
furnished  from  the  Imperial  Arsenal,  and  the  collec- 
tion, preserved  in  a  special  room,  forms  a  museum  in 
itself. 

The  Hofopern  Orchester  of  Vienna  ranks  perhaps 
higher  than  any  other  orchestra  in  the  world.  Since 
1875  the  famous  conductor,  Hans  Richter,  has  been 
associated  with  it ;  and  on  the  death  of  Hellmesberger, 
in  1893,  he  became  head  Kapellmeister. 

Richter  conducted  the  Nibelungen  Ring  at  Bayreuth 
in  1876,  and  has  been  conductor-in-chief  of  the  Bay- 
reuth Festivals  ever  since.  He  is  very  well  known 
in  England,  having  frequently  given  concerts  in  Lon- 
don, and  conducted  the  Birmingham  Festivals. 

The  ballet  is  likewise  produced  at  Vienna  in  a 
manner  to  place  it  far  above  all  other  ballets.  The 
dancers  are  really  beautiful  and  graceful  women, 
trained  to  the  very  highest  degree  of  perfection  in 
their  art,  and  most  exquisitely  costumed.  A  perform- 
ance is  given  in  the  Burg  Opera  every  evening,  except 


THE  CAFES  CHANTANTS— FURST.      97 

in  summer.  Society,  in  its  silks  and  laces,  its  diamonds 
and  decorations,  its  gorgeous  uniforms,  gold  lace,  pomps 
and  vanities,  flows  up  the  great  stairways  and  into  the 
boxes,  and  forms  of  itself  an  exhibition  almost  as  in- 
teresting and  quite  as  dazzling  as  that  to  be  seen  on 
the  stage. 

At  the  other  extremity  of  the  musical  balance  is 
what  has  been  misleadingly  entitled  the  "  Opera  of  the 
people" — that  is,  the  Cafes  Chantants.  These  un- 
healthy excrescences,  which  are  always  to  be  found  in 
a  community  where  the  love  of  music  is  widely  devel- 
oped, are  perhaps  a  little  less  hopelessly  vulgar  and 
meretricious  in  Vienna  than  elsewhere,  by  reason  of  the 
Tyrolese  singers,  who  may  be  found  here  and  there, 
rendering  the  charming  and  plaintive  songs  of  their 
native  mountains.  The  entire  audience  will  sometimes 
join  in  the  chorus  of  Andreas  Hofer's  hymn,  and  then 
it  seems  for  a  moment  as  though  the  image  of  Country 
suddenly  raised,  and  glorified  the  ignoble  faces  and 
squalid  surroundings  into  something  vigorous  and 
almost  fine. 

The  Viennese  singers  have  won  a  world-wide  repu- 
tation ;  if  they  figure  on  a  programme,  the  perform- 
ance is  sure  to  draw  a  crowded  house.  Furst  was  the 
Christopher  Columbus  of  this  branch  of  art.  An  ex- 
cellent mimic,  he  made  a  great  hit  by  taking  off  the 
most  familiar  Viennese  types — the  terrible  Hausmeistcr 
(portier) ;  the  Polish  Jew ;  the  curt  and  haughty  em- 
ployer, with  his  lean  jaw,  his  fierce  moustaches,  his  air 
7 


98  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE 

of  a  hungry  crocodile ;  the  hack  driver,  with  his  florid 
countenance ;  the  happy-go-lucky  shoemaker's  appren- 
tice ;  the  bent  and  tottering  old  soldier — all  of  these, 
and  manv  others,  Furst  was  able  to  imitate  exactly,  in 
the  tones  of  their  voices,  their  gestures,  all  the  little 
characteristics  that  were  so  familiar  to  his  audiences. 
AVords  were  easily  provided,  and  Furst  soon  found  him- 
self the  most  popular  man  in  Vienna,  besides  being 
the  founder  of  a  school. 

On  a  plane  below  his  are  the  innumerable  harpists, 
violinists,  flutists,  soloists,  of  the  street.  During  the 
day  they  wander  about  from  one  courtyard  to  another, 
and  in  the  evening  they  are  found  in  the  cheap  tav- 
erns and  restaurants. 

The  most  celebrated  member  of  this  class  was  the 
seventeenth  century  Augustin,  whose  songs  are  still 
sung  and  loved  by  his  compatriots.  Augustin's  circum- 
stances were  like  those  of  most  other  street  Bohemians  ; 
ragged,  thin,  and  miserably  poor,  his  songs  are  epitomes 
of  his  life,  wild  bursts  ofgayety  interspersing  the  pre- 
vailing melancholy,  sobs  and  laughter,  line  irony  and 
deep  despair.  This  nightingale  of  the  gutter  had 
withal  an  exquisite  feeling  for  beauty  in  all  its 
forms.  And  now,  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  two 
centuries,  that  despairing  cry  of  his,  worthy  to  rank 
with  the  productions  of  Villon  and  of  Murger, 
still  echoes  not  alone  in  the  streets  of  Vienna, 
where  he  lived  and  suffered  and  died,  but  through- 
out the  world. 


THE  ADELIGE  CASINO  CLUB.  99 

"  O,  du  lieber  Augustin,  Augustin,  Augustin, 
O,  du  lieber  Augustin,  alies  ist  bin  ! 
Geld  ist  weg,  mad'l  ist  weg,  alles  weg,  alles  weg! 
O,  du  lieber  Augustin,  alles  ist  bin  !" 

Opposite  the  Opera  House  is  the  Heinrichshof, 
a  huge  apartment  house,  with  three  large  courts, 
and  fronting  on  four  streets.  Beyond  this,  on  the  left 
and  right,  stand  two  of  the  principal  hotels  of  Vienna, 
the  Grand  Hotel  and  the  Hotel  Imperial,  the  latter 
at  one  time  the  palace  of  the  Duke  of  Wiirtemberg. 
The  inner  side  of  this  part  of  the  Ring  is  the  favorite 
afternoon  promenade  of  "  Society  "  in  the  spring  and 
fall.  Beyond  lie  the  Schwarzenberg  Platz  and  bridge, 
named  after  the  field-marshal,  Prince  Carl,  who  distin- 
guished himself  in  the  battle  of  Leipsic,  in  1813. 

The  exclusive  Adelige  Casino  Club  is  in  the  Kolo- 
wratring,  which  is  reached  next.  To  this  club  only 
noblemen  of  ancient  descent  are  admitted,  its  doors 
being  closed  inexorably  to  any  simple  gentleman. 
From  the  Johannesgasse  to  the  Stuben  Briicke,  extends 
the  charming  Stadtpark,  its  lawns  sprinkled  with  chil- 
dren and  its  lake  with  ducks.  In  winter  this  pretty 
sheet  of  water  becomes  a  smooth  expanse  of  ice,  and 
here  the  skaters  disport  themselves  in  gay  crowds. 
Sometimes  fetes  are  held,  fetes  that  transport  the  on- 
looker to  fairyland  at  once,  for  they  take  place  at 
night,  by  the  light  of  torches,  whose  ruddy  gleams 
cause  every  frozen  twig  and  icicle  in  the  surrounding 
trees  and  shrubbery  to  sparkle  and  glitter  like  jewels. 
LofC. 


100  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Hungarians,  with  boots  fitting  like  gloves,  short 
braided  jackets  and  caps  of  otter  skin,  fly  by,  hand- 
in-hand  with  young  girls,  whoui  they  guide  as  skill- 
fully as  though  following  the  figures  of  a  cotillion, 
and  whose  graceful,  swaying  figures  are  enveloped  in 
the  cloud-like  drapery  of  their  long  veils  and  loose- 
flying  hair. 

After  Tegetthof's  expedition  to  the  Arctic  regions, 
the  fashionable  women  of  Vienna  introduced  a 
skating  costume  modeled  after  the  picturesque 
dress  of  the  Esquimaux,  consisting  of  a  cap,  coat, 
breeches  and  tightly-fitting  leggings,  all  of  fur. 
It  does  away  entirely  with  the  inconvenient  skirt. 
The  hair  is  allowed  to  take  care  of  itself,  the  hands 
are  buried  in  a  small  muff,  and  the  effect  of  the  whole, 
while  a  trifle  bizarre,  is  decidedly  coquettish. 

The  Kursalon  is  provided  with  coffee  and  mineral- 
water  rooms,  and  here  are  held  the  winter  military 
concerts. 

The  Johannesgasse  skirts  this  end  of  the  Park. 
On  November  9,  1725,  the  Due  de  Richelieu,  Am- 
bassador Extraordinary  at  the  Court  of  Austria, 
alighted  at  Xo.  5,  the  residence  of  the  Count  of  Ives- 
tenberg.  The  horses  of  his  suite  were  shod  in  silver, 
his  own  in  gold,  and  so  loosely  attached  that  they  usu- 
ally dropped  off  en  route.  The  gallant  Duke's  five 
months'  sojourn  in  Vienna  was  rich  in  adventures. 
One  day  he  and  his  friend.  Count  Zinzendorf,  visited 
a  celebrated  fortune-teller.     After  answering  a  num- 


The  Schwarzenbcfg  Palace 


i 


THE  DUC  DE  EICHELIEU  IN  VIENNA.       101 

ber  of  questions  put  to  him  about  members  of  the 
Austrian  Court  and  the  diplomatic  corps,  the  man,  in 
his  turn,  asked  a  question. 

"  Now,  gentlemen,  tell  me  what  you  wish  for  above 
all  else." 

"I,"  said  Richelieu,  promptly,  "would  like  more 
than  anything  else  to  possess  the  key  to  the  hearts  of 
Princes." 

"  And  I  that  to  the  hearts  of  women,"  cried  Zin- 
zendorf. 

"  For  some  people,"  observed  the  sorcerer,  "  the  key 
to  a  woman's  heart  would  be  a  most  useless  possession, 
because  the  women  they  love  have  no  hearts." 

"You  insult  my  mistress,"  cried  Zinzendorf,  his 
usually  pale  features  becoming  suddenly  flushed. 
Then  he  added  shortly,  "  Are  you  prepared  to  prove 
your  assertion  ?  " 

"  I  am,"  was  the  reply. 

Turning  toward  Richelieu,  the  Count  said,  "You 
hear  him  !  .  .  .  This  vile  liar  dares  to  maintain  his 
insult.  ...  I  demand  proofs.     I  will  have  proofs." 

Thereupon  the  sorcerer  entered  into  such  detailed 
statements  regarding  the  life  and  career  of  a  certain 
well-kuown  lady,  that  Zinzendorf,  quite  beside  himself, 
drew  his  sword ;  the  other  did  the  same.  They  were 
about  equally  matched ;  but  the  fortune-teller,  being 
much  more  cool  and  self-possessed,  had  the  advantage. 
Suddenly  turning  aside  his  adversary's  blade,  he  was 
on  the  point  of  driving  his  sword  home,  when  Riche- 


102  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

lieu,  who  had  followed  every  movement,  struck  in  and 
gave  him  a  fatal  wound.  The  man,  with  a  short  cry, 
fell  lifeless  to  the  floor,  bathed  in  blood.  For  a  mo- 
ment the  two  friends  stood  gazing  at  one  another  in 
stupefaction  ;  then  they  fled.  The  police  did  not  dare 
to  call  the  Ambassador  to  account  for  the  murder, 
which  he  himself  took  very  airily.  Some  one  ven- 
turing to  refer  to  it  one  evening,  during  a  reception  at 
the  palace,  he  laughed  cheerfully,  and  said,  "  Well,  but 
it  was  the  devil  I  killed ." 

Directly  opposite  the  Stadtpark  are  the  park  and 
building  of  the  Horticultural  Society,  the  latter  used 
for  balls  and  exhibitions,  and  beyoud  them,  on  the 
same  side  of  the  street,  is  the  palace  of  the  Archduke 
William,  General  Inspector  of  Artillery,  and  Grand 
Master  of  the  German  Order.  It  is  in  the  Italian 
Renaissance  style,  with  fluted  columns,  statues  and 
trophies. 

Further  on  to  the  right  is  the  Austrian  Museum  of 
Art  and  Industry,  a  sort  of  permanent  exhibition, 
where  strangers  may  study  the  best  productions  of 
Viennese  industrial  art.  The  jewelry  and  goldsmiths' 
work  is  remarkable  for  its  exquisite  taste  and  the 
beauty  of  the  workmanship;  while  the  brilliant  color- 
ing of  the  carpets  and  woven  stuffs,  and  the  diaphan- 
ous character  of  the  muslins,  proclaim  the  influence 
of  the  Orient.  The  Viennese  carvings  in  ivory,  more- 
over, may  be  compared  in  fineness  of  execution  with 
the  work  of  that  character  done  in  China  and  India. 


THE  MUSEUM  OF  ART   AND  INDUSTRY.      103 

The  specimens  of  bookbinding  reveal  the  hands  of 
true  masters  of  the  art,  and  all  forms  of  leather-work 
are  a  specialty.  The  leather  establishments,  even  of 
Paris,  send  to  Vienna  for  workers  in  stamped  leather. 

When,  however,  it  comes  to  furniture,  bronzes,  the 
thousand  and  one  articles  of  elegant  and  costly  luxury, 
which  are  classed  together  in  Germany  under  the  gen- 
eral head  of  Galanterie-Waaren,  Vienna  industry  is 
the  child  of  that  of  Paris,  though  the  Vienna  work- 
man puts  something  of  his  own  spirit  into  his  work, 
and  originates  to  a  certain  extent. 

The  iridescent  glassware,  invented  by  Lobmeyr, 
and  carved  meerschaums,  are  among  the  articles  in 
the  production  of  which  A^ienna  excels.  A  school 
of  Industrial  Art  is  established  in  the  adjoining  build- 
ing ;  it  was  founded  by  the  Emperor,  and  has  proved 
invaluable  in  developing  and  encouraging  a  class  of 
workmen  who  have  honorably  earned  their  title  of 
"the  rivals  of  the  Byzantines."  The  museum  has 
been  in  existence  about  forty  years. 

Notwithstanding  the  high  quality  of  many  of  the 
wares  they  have  to  offer,  it  has  long  been  the  standing 
complaint  of  Austrian  exporters  that,  owing  to  the 
scarcity  of  Austrian  merchants  in  foreign  lands,  they 
had  difficulty  in  finding  a  market  abroad.  To  remedy 
this  state  of  things  there  was  opened  in  Vienna  in 
October,  1898,  an  Export  Academy,  connected  with 
the  Imperial  Royal  Commercial  Museum,  and  under 
the  superintendence  of  a  member  of  the  Ministry  of 


104  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Commerce.  The  students  are  drawn  from  the  gradu- 
ates of  commercial  and  grammar  school s,  and  must  pass 
preliminary  examinations.  The  course  of  study  and 
the  discipline  are  strict.  A  student  who  has  absented 
himself  from  classes  for  eight  days,  without  showing 
satisfactory  cause,  is  dismissed.  There  are  frequent 
and  severe  examinations.  The  object  of  this  Export 
Academy  is  to  promote  the  Austrian  export  trade,  and 
it  is  expected  that  the  graduates,  on  leaving  school, 
will  take  positions  with  manufacturing  and  exporting 
firms  in  Austria  to  master  the  practical  details  of  bus- 
iness. Later,  the  Government  and  the  Chambers  of 
Commerce,  with  the  aid  of  the  foreign  Consuls,  under- 
take to  aid  in  establishing  them  advantageously  with 
firms  abroad. 

The  curriculum  includes  the  study  of  French  and 
English  speech  and  correspondence,  domestic  and 
foreign  law — as  it  relates  to  commerce — economics, 
practice  in  office  work,  etc.,  etc.1 

Opposite  the  Museum  of  Art  and  Industry  is  the 
Franz  Josephs  drill  ground.  The  imposing  red  brick 
barracks,  which  were  erected  here  after  the  revolution 
of  1848,  have  lately  been  pulled  down.  They  formed 
part  of  a  system  of  fortifications  designed  to  hold  the 
interior  of  the  city  in  check.  The  Corporation  had 
long  been  eager  for  their  removal,  deeming  the  site  far 
too  valuable  to  be  devoted  to  such  a  purpose. 

The  Aspern  Briicke  forms  a  continuation,  in  a  direct 

1  Sae  Vienna  Export  Academy,  C.  B.  Hurst,  Consul-GeneralVienna. 


VIENNESE  STREET  SIGNS.  105 

line,  of  the  Ring ;  it  leads  to  the  suburb  called  Leo- 
poldstadt,  and  to  the  Prater ;  but  the  visitor  is  warned 
not  to  look  for  the  majestic  Danube,  the  "  beautiful 
blue  Danube"  of  poetry  and  song.  It  does  not  reflect 
the  city  in  the  calm  waters  of  its  stately  bosom,  and 
the  attenuated  arm  that  flows  beneath  the  Aspern 
bridge  has  barely  sufficient  water  to  float  the  little 
steamboats  plying  back  and  forth  between  the  city 
and  the  Prater.  It  is  somewhat  of  a  blow  to  the  trav- 
eler to  find  Vienna  situated  not  on  the  banks  of  the 
Danube,  but  at  an  hour's  distance  from  it. 

One  amusing  feature  of  the  Viennese  streets  is  the 
quaint  character  of  many  of  the  signs.  Those  of  the 
small  hotels  and  taverns  are  enough  in  themselves  to 
show  the  very  ancient  origin  of  the  Imperial  capital. 
Golden  Geese,  Golden  Lambs,  Golden  Grapes,  Golden 
Crosses,  Golden  Crowns,  Golden  Stags,  Golden  Bou- 
quets, and  Golden  Oxen,  abound.  There  is  a  tavern 
of  the  Blue  Goat,  another  of  the  Black  Bear,  of  the 
Gold  Peacock,  of  the  Three  Rabbits.  The  shopkeepers 
as  well  have  a  pleasant  custom  of  naming  their  shops, 
calling  them  "  The  Laurel  Crown,"  "  The  Camelia," 
and  so  on.  Those  which  have  French  names  are  less 
happy,  good  intention  being  more  in  evidence  than 
good  grammar.    Here  are  three  taken  down  at  random : 

"  Choix  des  vetements  confectionnes  pour  les  hommes 
au  dernier  gout  aux  etoffes  du  pays  et  de  V  etrangere  " 
"  Gfrande-Mode-Establissement"  "Specialite  de  bottincs 
pour   femmes   claquees."      They    remind    one   of  the 


106  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

"specialties  de  Serviette  en  peau  d'avocat"  and  the 
"  Vin  blanc,  bon  pour  les  huitres"  which  were  adver- 
tised in  the  streets  of  Paris  itself  not  so  very  many 
years  ago. 

To  the  Parisian  visiting  Vienna,  not  the  least  of 
its  pleasures  consists  in  the  continual  reminders 
of  his  native  land  that  meet  him  at  every  turn. 
You  arrive  at  a  hotel  and  are  met  by  a  waiter 
speaking  French ;  French  newspapers  are  in  the 
reading-room ;  at  the  theatre,  where  you  go  to  study 
the  drama  of  the  country,  you  find  plays  by  Dumas 
or  Feuillet  on  the  boards.  Attend  a  public  ball — the 
dancing  is  almost  the  same  as  at  Valentino's.  In 
Vienna,  as  in  London,  Berlin  and  St.  Petersburg, 
everywhere  you  find  Nouveautes  de  Paris,  Modes  de 
Paris,  Coiffeurs  de  Paris.  Every  hairdresser  in  Ger- 
many is  named  Hippolyte. 

"Our  workmen/'  once  said  a  Viennese  manufacturer, 
"  all  serve  an  apprenticeship  in  Paris ;  it  is  there 
they  get  their  hands  in.  But  if  we  fail  to  send  them 
back  for  a  certain  space  of  time  every  four  or  five 
years,  they  lose  their  taste  and  their  facility,  and  seem 
incapable  of  getting  beyond  their  old  models." 

One  of  the  directors  of  the  Vienna  opera  once 
declared  that  Paris  was  the  only  place  where  an  opera 
libretto  could  be  properly  prepared,  citing  as  an  ex- 
ample one  of  Mozart's  operas,  which  they  found  means 
to  have  remodeled  in  Paris,  and  which  up  to  that  time 
had  in  Germany  been  declared  impossible  of  production. 


THE  RING  PROMENADE.  107 

The  Viennese  streets  are  full  of  life  and  movement. 
That  section  of  the  King  Strasse  which  lies  between 
the  rotunda  of  the  Horticultural  Society  and  the 
Opera  House  has  all  the  animation  of  the  Champs- 
Elysees.  On  a  fine  spring  or  autumn  day  Court 
equipages  file  by,  the  drivers  wearing  yellow  breeches 
and  laced  three-cornered  hats ;  private  carriages  tear 
by  like  the  wind ;  horsemen  prance  up  and  down, 
bowing  to  the  ladies  who  promenade  on  the  side- 
walks under  full  sail;  here  and  there  one  sees  pic- 
turesque groups  of  Hungarian  officers,  in  boots  and 
skin-tight  pantaloons,  laced  and  ornamented,  their 
kalpacs  surmounted  with  an  aigrette.  Austrian 
officers  lounge  by  in  pairs,  charming — curled  and 
scented  like  the  gallant  militaires  of  light  opera, 
bodies  swaying,  chests  inflated,  a  glass  stuck  in  one 
eye,  hair  carefully  divided  in  the  middle,  with  the 
part  reaching  to  the  back  of  the  neck.  They  are 
usually  tall  and  thin,  poised  on  top  of  their  long  legs 
like  herons,  their  fresh,  rosy  faces  framed  in  reddish 
wrhiskers  of  the  color  of  dried  moss. 

Long-haired  students,  artists  in  peaked  hats,  child- 
nurses  in  striking  costumes — scarlet  skirts,  embroi- 
dered bodices  and  caps  of  gold  cloth — turbaned 
Turks,  wearing  the  crescent  on  their  backs;  scholars 
of  the  Theresianische  Ritter-Akademie,  in  their  natty 
and  becoming  military  uniform  ;  small  flower-girls  ; 
dog  fanciers  ;  portiers  (disguised  as  church  beadles), 
standing  majestically  in  the  doorways  of  the  houses — 


1  ;  v  VIENNA  AND   THE  VIENNESE 

all  these,  combined  with  the  shirring  eharao:::  :  the 
scene,  lend  to  this  boulevard  a  character  at  once  indi- 
vidual and  cosmopolitan. 

The  Ring  has       sides  its   a  iewalks,  two  carriage 
-  and  two  avenues        ■   :   .       uestrians  an 
for  pedestrians.     One  of  the  driveways  is  used  by  I 
tramway  cars  i  which   are  plastered  all         .    :  Jtside 
-   ith     Ivertisei     ate     :-abs  and  omnibuses 

Vienna    is  famed  for  ti        ::  f  its  sb     - 

paving.         Ine  impression  pi  y  the  stre -:-    : 

Vienna  on  the  newly-arrivf     Amerk       >  alt  _ 

:  "       .  I  Wj 

tour  of  hv    -:  _  i  _  the  chiri    itiesoi 

Em   pe.    The:      -  -   Die  asphalt,  .  :.  .        st  part 

js  about  eight  i         5  in  s 
used.     They:.      -  I   surfa       with  sh  rply-cut 

_   5,  and  are  admirably  la: 
i    ;s       is  are  b  :  usually  an  a  qua::., 

inch  in  width.     The  curbs   are  -  lid :  the  side- 

walks    :   excellent       astro  :    :: —  frequently  they 
laid  with  blocks  simii...  :    tho£      f  the  sti     b 

3  smoot  surface  grt   fcly    :.    iliu  -  -    - 

w  .':    :  the  sfai     :-        aere       Ihes 
Waring   com:       3  uni  s  tc    industry  and 

with  the  sti      -      aners    f  Xew  York;  they 
I    them  are  okL     In 
summer   the   more   important  streets     f  Vienna 
sprinkled   twice   a   day:  they  als     sprinkled  and 

by  machine  in  the  inght   bei  _  ht  and 


STREET   CLEAKIS  5— THE    3AB  LEIYIIIS.     log 

:  ni  A.  ::.     and  they  are  swept  by  hand  a  nuniber  of 
times  during  the 

The  street  sweepings   and  the  refuse  collected  from 
file  bouses   :.         ;  agon  :    the  grounds     : 

(he   various       otra  t  rs,    who   have  a  force   of  men, 

men  and  children  employe!  to  sort  out  anything 
that  may  re-sold  •  all  materials  for  fuel,  sneh  as 
pieces  of  wood  :  -  :r  charred  ein  lers,  are  esj  ecially 
valuable.  On  Saturday  the  employees  are  given  : 
their  own  nse  the  fuel  collected  on  that  day,  the  wily 
contractors  being  careful  to  measnre  the  amount  and 
gauge  the  work  to  be  expected  from  them  on  other 
days  by  it.  The  sidewalks  re  cleane::  twice  every 
by  the  house:. 

The  conclusion  reached  by  Colonel  W   after 

a  careful  inspection  of  the  Viennese  practice  and 
meth:  Is,  was  that  the  main  thoroughfares  :  New 
York  were  better  cleaned  than  those  of  Vienna  ;  and 
that  the  worst  paved  and  most  negl  ted  sb  :-  : 
N  York  were  cleaner  than  all  but  the  pri^  a  . 
sb     :-    :  V:Tcna. 

Xh     J  two-horse  cab),  with  its  frisky  pa::     : 

s,  is  titted  np  with  curtains  and  mirrors ;  only  a 
stand  and  clock  are  needed  to  turn  it  into  a  regu- 
lar apartment.  The  horses  are  driven  at  a  speed  that 
rivals  the  pace  of  some  blooded  animal.  As  a  rule, 
each  driver  owns  his  carriage  and  horses.  On 
of  the  Exposition  -  :  187     :  :      .  strike,  because 

thorities  wished  tc    _:nd  them  down  to  a  tariff — 


110  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

they,  the  spoiled  children  of  Vienna,  accustomed  to 
unlimited  tips  and  to  being  treated  like  friends  and 
companions  !  The  true  Viennese  will  always  "  tutois  " 
his  cabman,  who  belougs,  however,  to  a  very  different 
and  much  more  agreeable  class  than  the  ordinary  cab 
driver.  As  a  rule,  he  is  a  jovial  soul,  with  a  clever 
repartee  always  ready  on  the  tip  of  his  tongue.  He 
descries  you  from  afar,  and  politely  doffs  his  hat, 
indicating  by  a  gesture  that  his  carriage  is  at  your  dis- 
posal. It  is  customary  to  pay  by  the  hour,  but  in  one 
hour  a  Viennese  nacre  covers  six  times  as  much  dis- 
tance as  a  Parisian  one.  It  is  a  point  of  houor  with 
the  driver  to  gallop  his  horses  on  all  the  streets  where 
this  is  allowed,  for  in  that  fortunate  city  the  police  have 
actually  been  obliged  to  restrict  the  speed  of  the  cabs. 
The  Viennese  cabman  is  usually  large  and  fat ;  he 
lias  the  florid  complexion  of  a  Councilor  of  State  and 
the  corporation  of  a  notary ;  his  lace  is  ornamented  with 
rubies,  like  the  decoration  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  and 
his  countenance,  like  his  entire  person,  breathes  con- 
tentment and  happiness.  In  summer  he  dresses  in 
nankeen  ;  in  winter  he  proudly  envelopes  himself  in  a 
mangy  tippet,  evidently  purchased  in  the  Juden 
Strasse.  He  is  excessively  polite ;  when  you  pass 
near  a  cab-stand,  where,  assembled  in  a  sort  of  club, 
the  drivers  are  discussing  politics,  or.  gathered  in  a 
little  group,  are  listening  to  one  oi  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
tales,  one  of  them  will  run  up,  and,  hat  in  hand,  smil- 
ingly inquire  if  "his  Grace"   would  like  a  carriage. 


THE   VIENNA   CAB  DEI  VERS.  m 


He  who  stalks  stiffly  cm,  without  paving  any  attention, 
is  sure  to  hear  a  bantering  voice  answering  for  him : 
"  Leave  his  Grace  alone  ;  don't  vou  know  the  doctor 


It  is  very  seldom  that  a  Viennese  cab  driver  grazes 
a  carriage  or  other  vehicle  in  passing;  his  facility  is 
quite  remarkable.  It  is  commonly  said  that  he  can 
drive  his  carriage  around  a  five-franc  piece  ;  moreover, 
one  never  hears  those  torrents  of  mutual  invective  so 
common  in  the  streets  of  Paris.  In  the  Count  of  San- 
dor,  who  married  a  daughter  of  Prince  Metternich, 
the  Viennese  cabmen  recognized  a  superior,  and  un- 
covered respectfully  before  this  celebrated  whip. 
"  Why,  to  see  him  drive  the  four  horses  of  his  car- 
riage," one  of  them  was  beard  to  say,  one  day,  "  you 
would  think  him  a  born  cabman !"  It  sometimes  hap- 
pens that  very  highly-placed  individuals  prefer  a 
fiaher  to  their  own  carriages,  the  drivers  of  the  for- 
mer being  philosophers,  in  whose  discretion  the  most 
entire  confidence  can  be  reposed.  From  time  to  time 
efforts  have  been  made  to  put  the  Viennese  cabmen 
into  neat  livery,  and  to  transform  them  into  a  respecta- 
ble, well-conducted  class,  but  without  success.  Home- 
sick for  the  free,  Bohemian  existence  to  which  they  are 
accustomed,  they  soon  dispense  with  all  their  lately- 
acquired  grandeur,  and,  returning  to  the  battered 
stosser  (a  shiny,  high  hat),  and  red  waistcoat  of  their 
choice,  climb  joyously  back  to  their  seats. 

It  once  happened  that  a  very  well-known  cabmau, 


112  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

who,  for  thirty  years  or  more,  had  driven  the  same 
carriage  through  the  streets  of  Vienna,  was  summoned 
by  a  lawyer  to  his  office.  "  I  have  to  inform  you," 
said  the  lawyer,  "  that  you  are  not  a  coachman's  son, 
as  you  have  always  supposed.  I  have  papers  that 
clearly  prove  your  identity.  You  are  a  son  of  one  of 
the  aristocratic  families  of  the  capital.  At  your  birth, 
on  account  of  certain  malformations,  your  parents  ex- 
changed you,  paying  a  certain  sum  of  money  to  have 
the  affair  arranged.  Thus  it  comes  about  that  the  son 
of  the  cabman  B.  is  a  Count,  and  the  son  of  Count 
K.  is  a  cabman.  I  have  the  means  in  my  hands  to 
restore  you  to  all  your  rights  of  succession,  of  which 
this  substitution  has  deprived  you." 

"  I  am  a  cabman,  and  a  cabman  I  will  remain/' 
replied  B.,  after  taking  a  few  moments  for  reflection. 
"  No  doubt  it  is  a  fine  thing  to  be  a  Count ;  but  I  had 
rather  be  a  cabman,  as  I  much  prefer  to  have  the  blue 
sky  over  my  head,  rather  than  a  gilded  ceiling.  Birds 
die  when  you  put  them  in  a  cage.  For  my  part,  I 
want  to  live  and  sing  a  while  longer."  And  he  did, 
in  fact,  continue  to  live  a  cabman. 

A  Viennese  dramatic  writer,  Bauerle,  took  this  inci- 
dent from  real  life  for  the  foundation  of  a  play,  called 
"The  Cab-driver  Marquis,"  which  had  quite  a 
success. 

It  has  not  always  been  an  easy  matter  to  get  about 
in  Vienna,  though  some  time  at  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  there  was  a  well-ordered  company  of 


SEDAN   CHAIR  ADVENTURE— OMNIBUSES.     113 

sedan-chair  carriers  established  in  the  capital.  By  the 
hour  a  chair  cost  four  cents,  and  for  a  whole  day 
twenty  cents. 

A  story  is  told  of  Antoine  Kuranda,  who,  having 
on  one  occasion  taken  a  chair  to  go  to  a  ball,  suddenly 
felt  the  floor  give  way.  The  night  was  stormy,  rain 
falling  in  torrents  and  a  high  wind  blowing,  so  that  all 
his  efforts  to  make  the  porters  hear  were  unavailing. 
He  was  obliged,  therefore,  to  keep  pace  with  them  and 
plunge  blindly  through  puddles  and  gutters,  until  the 
scene  of  the  festivity  was  reached.  When  the  unfor- 
tunate secretary  was  at  last  relieved,  he  was  a  melan- 
choly object — breathless,  battered,  and  covered  with 
mud  from  head  to  foot. 

The  old  omnibuses  are  divided  into  two  compart- 
ments. In  the  first — the  coupe — some  regard  to  man- 
ners is  expected ;  the  other  is  for  smokers.  There  are 
no  seats  on  top,  and  the  conductor,  in  big  boots  and 
fur-edged  cloak,  stands  on  a  raised  step  at  the  back. 
These  forlorn  old  vehicles,  lumbering,  dirty,  musty, 
unspeakable,  seem  to  be  the  dubious  offspring  of  an 
alliance  between  a  rural  diligence  and  a  decayed  berlin. 

Throughout  this  entire  section  of  the  Ring  the  street 
is  a  mass  of  vivid  coloring ;  to  the  sparkle  of  gay 
harnesses  is  added  the  glint  and  sheen  of  elegant  toi- 
lettes, the  rustle  of  silk  and  velvet,  the  glitter  of 
brilliant  uniforms.  There  is  a  movement,  a  life,  a 
play  of  color,  such  as  one  sees  in  Fortuny's  water- 
colors.     The   Ring  is  also  the  fashionable  shopping 


114  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

street  of  the  capital.  There  are  to  be  found  the 
jeweler.-'  shops,  the  dealers  in  objds  d 'art  et  de  luxe, 
and  the  leading  florists. 

In  winter  it  is  the  custom  to  take  the  children  to 
the  Ring  a  little  before  noon.  These  little  men,  gotten 
up  like  Highlanders,  and  little  ladies,  dressed  out  like 
Empresses,  bow  to  one  another  with  all  the  airs  of 
grown  people,  and  talk  like  the  puppets  of  a  miniature 
theatre.  Perhaps  they  have  been  to  the  ballet  the 
evening  before,  and  they  gravely  exchange  opinions 
on  the  dancing.  Fanfan  Benoiton  would  be  looked 
upon  in  these  days  as  a  very  stupid  little  person 
indeed. 

The  best  time  of  all  though  to  see  the  Ring  is  in 
the  afternoon,  between  the  hours  of  three  and  five, 
especially  on  a  Sunday  towards  the  end  of  autumn  or 
in  the  beginning  of  spring.  All  the  new  toilettes  are 
displayed,  and  people  meet  as  they  would  in  a  salon. 
It  is  like  being  on  the  Prado  at  Madrid.  There  is 
nothing  that  quite  corresponds  to  it  in  Paris,  for  the 
Ring  is  a  place  where  all  classes  are  to  be  seen — the 
great  world,  the  demi  mondc,  the  middle  class,  even 
the  exclusive  Court  and  diplomatic  Set.  A  coupe 
draws  up  to  the  sidewalk,  two  valets,  clad  in  long 
redingotes,  stand  by  the  door,  and  out  gets  a  Princess 
or  a  Countess,  and  trips  lightly  off  on  her  pretty  feet 
to  take  a  walk  on  the  Rinir.  The  Prince  Imperial 
used  to  walk  there  almost  daily,  notwithstanding  the 
crowd  that  would  follow  him.  and  which   evidently 


Emperor  Francis  Joseph 


-vwMif  -^ 


THE  EIXG  A  FASHIONABLE  EESOET.         115 

annoyed  him  greatly.  The  Count  of  Andrassy,  too, 
liked  to  saunter  there,  talking  familiarly  with  his 
friends  and  smoking,  his  hands  clasped  behind  his 
back.  Xor  did  M.  Gambetta  fail  to  show  himself  on 
the  Ring  in  '76,  arm  in  arm  with  M.  Etienne,  director 
of  the  Nouvelle  Presse  libre. 

It  is  a  famous  place,  moreover,  for  flirtations ;  in 
that  moving,  shifting  crowd  eye  seeks  eye,  and  many 
things  are  said  in  that  mute  language  that  lovers 
understand.  It  is  the  hunting-ground  for  what  has 
been  called  the  "  eye  chase/'  while  every  spoken  lan- 
guage can  be  heard  there,  much  as  on  the  Tower  of 
Babel. 

The  number  of  idlers,  loungers,  dandies,  first  and 
second  secretaries  of  legation,  is  incalculable,  all  armed 
with  sticks  and  eye-glasses.  Formerly,  when  Societv 
used  to  promenade  on  the  ramparts,  each  individual 
was  accompanied  by  a  dog.  The  most  fashionable 
breed  was  the  milk-white  or  coal-black  Pomeranian, 
with  elongated  muzzle.  Xo  man,  with  any  pretension 
to  style,  could  dispense  with  his  "  Spitzerl "  ;  and  the 
do£  market  was  established  close  by  the  chicken 
market. 

One  thing  that  always  strikes  a  Parisian  is  the  ab- 
sence of  decorations.  Among  all  this  crowd  of  people 
not  one  is  seen,  for  it  is  not  considered  good  stvle  in 
Vienna  to  wear  decorations  on  the  street,  and  thev  make 
endless  fun  of  persons  who  make  this  display  of  the 
trade-marks  of  knowledge  or  of  merit,  which,  indeed, 


116  •  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

but  too  often  are  like  Bordeaux  labels  fastened  on 
bottles  of  "petit  bleu."  The  elegants,  in  order  to  dis- 
tinguish themselves  from  ordinary  everyday  mortals, 
are  quite  content  with  a  simple  flower  in  the  button- 
hole. 

There  is  no  better  place  than  the  Ring  in  which  to 
study  the  many  and  various  types  of  the  monarchy. 
Take  your  seat  at  the  window  of  oue  of  the  cafes  and 
look.  The  spectacle  is  quite  unique.  To  begin  with, 
the  crowd  is  as  variegated  as  at  a  fair  ground,  and  no 
where  else  does  one  find  such  handsome  samples  of  the 
human  race ;  in  no  other  spot  do  the  women  impress 
you  as  they  do  here.  A  party  of  young  girls  ad- 
vances ;  the  purity  and  grace  of  their  outline?  would 
arouse  the  envy  of  a  Greek  statue;  their  cheeks  have 
the  delicate  tints  of  a  tea-rose  ;  in  their  eyes  are  the 
deep  shadows  of  the  Orient ;  the  arched  feet  and 
light  step  indicate  Hungarian  blood.  Their  dress  dis- 
plays a  natural  elegance  of  taste,  while  in  their  man- 
ner of  walking  there  is  something  of  the  feline,  sway- 
ino-  grace  of  the  Parisienne.  The  Slav  women  of 
Bohemia  and  Poland  also  possess  that  powerful  charm 
— racial  individuality  ;  they  are  large  and  strong  of 
limb,  with  big,  soft,  black  eyes,  and  skin  like  marble — 
a  contrast  at  once  poetical  and  unusual.  They  make 
one  think  of  the  swans  of  the  North,  or  the  White 
Nixies  of  the  Netherlandish  legends.  Their  features 
are  finelv  chiseled  and  intelligent,  and  underneath  this 
icy  mask  there  burns  a  fiery  spirit. 


RACIAL   CHARACTERISTICS   OX   THE   RING.    117 

In  this  cosmopolitan  assemblage  one  comes  across 
Italians  prattling  in  their  melodious  language,  like 
swallows  in  a  northern  clime  announcing  the  return 
of  spring ;  and  then  there  is  the  pretty  Viennese 
herself,  with  her  taking  manners,  her  little  nose  tilted 
into  the  air.  and  her  arch  glances.  The  Viennese 
women  preserve  their  brilliant  coloring  even  when 
they  get  old.  and  belong  to  that  type  of  beauty — a 
trifle  too  robust,  perhaps — which  has  been  rendered 
classic  by  some  of  the  Italian  masters. 

Those  women,  decked  out  like  the  show  windows 
of  a  jeweler's  shop,  with  a  slight  down  on  the  upper 
lip.  little  curls  on  the  temples,  ear-rings  in  the  form 
of  hoops,  or  little  coffers  or  bells,  are  Jewesses 
bankers'  wives  and  millionaires — weather-beaten  ves- 
sels which  have  navigated  every  sea.  and  long  since 
doubled  Cape  Tempest.  But  how  handsome  their 
daughters  are  !  and  how  expressive  that  Jewish  cast 
of  countenance  and  the  great,  full  eves  can  be  ! 

The  Viennese  men  are  large  and  strongly  built. 
though  one  does  not  meet  on  the  Ring  those  giants 
who  are  to  be  seen  beneath  the  lindens  of  Berlin. 
The  Viennese  type  of  face  is  intelligent,  frank  and 
full  of  sprightly  good  humor.  The  Austrian  race  is 
an  exuberant  one.  There  is  no  country  whose  people 
have  better  blood  in  their  veins.  But.  as  lias  already 
been  pointed  out.  were  it  to  be  analyzed,  a  very  -mail 
proportion  of  it  would  prove  to  be  German. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Government  Printing  Office  —  Chromolithography  —  Destruction  of 
Old  Notes — Staid  Character  of  the  University  Students— L  - 
ing  Newspapers  and  the  State  of  the  Austrian  Press — Sums  Paid 
for  Press  Influence  in  the  Franco-Prussian  War — The  '"Revolver 
Pre-s  " —  "Personals"  —  The  Story  of  M.  X.  —  Society  of  the 
neordia'- — The  Censorship — Mark  Twain  on  the  Newspaper 
Tax. 

The  Singer  Strasse  leads  in  a  southeasterly  direc- 
tion from  the  end  of  the  Graben.  On  the  right  is  the 
old  Government  Printing  Office  'the  new  one  is  on 
the  Rennweg,  near  the  BelvedN 

Here  was  born  the  chromolithographic  art:  taken 
up  by  private  enterprise,  it  ultimately  became  one  of 
the  most  flourishing  branches  of  Viennese  trade.  A 
large  force  of  workmen  is  constantly  employed  in  the 
Government  Printing  Offices,  from  whence  books  are 
issued  in  nearly  every  language  of  the  world.  But 
the  main  work  of  the  office  is  the  printing  of  paper 
monev,  stamp-,  stamped  envelopes  and  postal  cards. 
The  men  employed  in  these  departments  are  kept 
under  a  strict  watch,  and  are  carefully  selected  for  their 
positions.  Government  employees  make  a  minute  in- 
spection of  every  impression,  and  register  each  fresh 
note  in  their  books,  as  though  it  were  the  name  oi  a 

1  LS 


THE  GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE.       H9 

newly-born  infant.  A  great  deal  of  the  work  consists 
in  the  renewal  of  torn  and  worn-out  paper-money. 
The  notes  which  return  to  the  fold,  after  a  life  of 
wandering  and  vagabondage,  in  a  condition  that  sug- 
gests that  of  the  prodigal  son,  are  locked  into  iron 
chests  until  their  identity  has  been  established — for  it 
sometimes  happens  that  among  these  sons  of  the  house 
a  bastard  will  slip  in ;  they  are  kept  for  two  or  three 
years  and  then  burned.  Several  millions  of  florins 
will  be  cast  into  the  flames  in  a  single  day. 

A  number  of  years  ago  some  enterprising  individ- 
uals formed  a  company  in  Galicia,  whose  business  it 
was  to  collect  old  revenue  stamps  and  restore  them  to 
an  appearance  of  virgin  purity.  As  the  value  of  some 
of  these  stamps  amounts  to  as  much  as  twenty  dollars, 
the  industry  was  a  lucrative  one ;  but  the  chief  of  the 
printing  office,  M.  de  Beck,  after  many  experiments, 
at  length  succeeded  in  discovering  certain  coloring 
matter  that  changed  its  hue  as  soon  as  it  was  brought 
into  contact  with  an  acid,  and  thus  put  a  stop  to  the 
business. 

Before  the  University  was  moved,  the  neighborhood 
to  the  north  corresponded  to  the  Latin  quarter  of 
Paris,  but  at  no  period  did  its  manners  and  customs  in 
any  way  resemble  those  of  the  Faubourg  Saint  Michel. 
The  academic  citizen  of  Vienna  is  the  most  respectably 
prosaic  of  human  beings;  his  young  affections  are  cen- 
tred in  his  pipe  and  his  schop,  and  the  quarter  he  in- 
habits has  the  character  of  a  small  country  town. 


120  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

On  the  AVollzeile  are  many  of  the  leading  newspaper 
offices.  The  Viennese  press  developed  as  suddenly  and 
as  rapidly  as  did  that  of  America.  Before  1848  the 
Austrians  had  neither  Parliament  nor  Constitution, 
and  hardly  knew  so  much  as  the  meaning  of  the  word 
politics.  Metternich  would  hear  of  no  newspaper 
except  the  Augsburg  Gazette,  which  he  had  bought 
himself,  and  in  Vienna  the  only  papers  published  were 
the  Vienna  Gazette  and  two  or  three  little  literary 
journals,  which  dangled  from  the  points  of  the  censor's 
scissors.  "  Ah,  we  were  all  very  stupid  in  those  days/' 
an  old  Viennese  once  plaintively  observed ;  u  but  we 
were  very  happy  as  well." 

On  one  occasion  a  writer,  who  was  editing  a  small 
theatrical  journal,  alluded  in  an  editorial  to  a  certain 
portrait  of  Xapoleon,  which  he  had  seen  in  a  private 
house;  he  treated  it  solely  from  an  artistic  standpoint. 
The  article  was  suppressed.  Why  ?  Because  the  name 
of  Napoleon  must  not  appear  in  print  It  was  forbid- 
den to  print  Madame  or  Mademoiselle  before  the  names 
of  actresses,  and  the  censorship,  which  exercised  its 
functions  even  in  the  matter  of  fashion-plates,  confis- 
cated those  in  which  the  cut  of  the  corsage  did  not 
answer  to  their  standards  of  decorum. 

On  the  very  day  that  the  liberty  of  the  press  was 
proclaimed  iu  Austria — that  is.  on  the  20th  of  March, 
1848 — the  first  number  of  the  Constitution  appeared, 
edited  by  Leopold  Ha?fner.  Hsefner  was  a  hat-maker. 
In  order  to  lend  a  Parisian  air  to  his  hats,  he  hit  upon 


LEADING  NEWSPAPERS.  ]21 

the  device  of  stamping  them  with  the  well-known 
label,  Jules  Janin,  a  Paris.  The  brilliant  critic  little 
dreamed  that  his  name  served  to  distinguish  most  of 
the  head-gear  worn  in  the  Austrian  Empire,  where  he 
was  supposed  to  be  an  especially  excellent  hat-maker. 
Such  is  fame. 

The  Constitution  burst  upon  the  public  like  a  bomb- 
shell, and  soon  had  a  tremendous  circulation,  due  partly 
to  the  conditions  of  the  hour,  and  partly  to  the  indis- 
putable talent  of  the  editor.  Before  long  another  paper 
was  started — the  Austrian  Gazette,  This  was  quickly 
followed  by  another  and  another,  until,  at  the  end  of 
one  year,  there  were  no  fewer  than  two  hundred  and 
seventeen  papers  in  circulation.  Among  these,  the 
Presse  at  once  took  a  leading  position,  mainly  by  reason 
of  the  enterprise  displayed  by  its  editors  in  obtaining 
the  earliest  and  most  accurate  news.  This  paper  was 
founded  by  a  well-known  Parisian  baker.  He  was 
the  first  to  sell  those  admirable  Viennese  rolls.  Hap- 
pening to  fall  in  with  M.  Emile  de  Girardin,  who  had 
just  completed  his  invention  of  a  cheap  printing  press, 
M.  Zang  conceived  the  idea  of  furnishing  food  for  the 
brain,  as  well  as  for  the  body.  He  went  at  once  to 
Vienna,  held  out  golden  inducements  to  the  two  lead- 
ing editors  of  the  Austrian  Gazette  to  join  him  in  the 
new  enterprise,  and  the  Presse  became  an  immediate 
and  brilliant  success ;  it  paid  its  way  almost  from  the 
start,  and  in  a  very  short  time  large  profits  were  real- 
ized.    Great  was  the  exasperation  among  the  editors 


122  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

of  all  the  rival  papers,  and  reports  were  circulated  in 
the  capital  that  Zang  had  secret  sources  of  income.  It 
was  easy  enough,  they  declared,  for  him  to  dispense 
with  subsidies,  for  had  he  not  just  inaugurated  in 
Vienna  the  American  and  Mercantile  Press? 

In  the  reaction  that  followed  the  revolution,  all  the 
Liberal  newspapers  were  at  first  suppressed ;  it  was 
forbidden  to  print  the  words  "  Democracy/'  "  Revo- 
lution "  or  "  Constitution."  There  was  not  even  a 
conservative  press,  nothing  but  the  official  organs, 
edited  in  the  ministerial  bureaus. 

Presently,  however,  more  reasonable  counsel  pre- 
vailed, and  the  dawn  of  a  golden  era  broke  for  Aus- 
trian journalism.  Herr  Zang,  the  fortunate  editor  of 
the  Presse,  had  his  office  besieged  by  important 
personages  who  humbly  begged  to  be  allowed 
the  privilege  of  emptying  their  own  portfolios  into 
his.  At  the  time  of  the  Polish  insurrection,  this 
paper  published  a  few  sympathetic  words  concerning 
the  skill  exhibited  by  the  insurgents;  the  Galician 
Poles  thereupon  sent  the  editor  four  handsome  horses 
in  testimony  of  their  appreciation.  Unfortunately  these 
noble  animals,  though  not  in  any  way  descended  from 
the  famous  one  of  Troy,  sewed  the  seeds  of  discord  and 
treason.  One  of  the  most  brilliant  sub-editors,  named 
Etienne,  claimed  his  share  of  the  reward,  but  Herr 
Zano;,  who  thought  four  horses  not  one  too  many  to 
draw  him  and  his  fortune,  would  listen  to  no  such 
suggestion,  and  Etienne,  throwing  the  corner  of   his 


SUMS  PAID  FOR  PRESS  INFLUENCE.         123 

cloak  across  his  shoulder  with  a  tragic  gesture,  stalked 
off,  muttering  threats. 

A  week  later  posters  appeared  in  every  street  and 
alley  of  Vienna  announcing  a  great  new  daily  paper, 
the  Neue  Freie  Presse — a  cruel  title  for  poor  Zang.  The 
public  rose  to  the  bait,  and  very  soon  the  new  Presse 
supplanted  the  old  one.  Thanks  to  the  cleverness, 
real  ability  and  Yankee  shrewdness  of  Etienne,  its 
editor-in-chief,  no  one  who  wished  to  be  well  informed 
could  afford  not  to  read  the  new  paper,  which  was 
gotten  up  in  the  style  of  the  Times,  and  before  whose 
office  princely  equipages  could  be  seen  night  and  day, 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  editors  and  collaborators. 
Etienne,  who  had  personal  reasons  for  hating  the 
Empire,  plunged  into  a  war  to  the  death  against  the 
Napoleonic  dynasty.  It  was  said  in  Vienna  that  the 
Neue  Freie  Presse  had  demanded  one  million  florins 
from  Prussia  as  the  price  of  its  support,  but,  as  a  fact, 
it  is  much  more  probable  that  Herr  Etienne,  at  a 
pinch,  would  have  offered  Bismarck  that  amount  to 
push  on  to  Sedan. 

On  the  eve  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Franco- 
Prussian  war  the  director,  or  one  of  the  directors  of 
the  French  press,  hastened  to  Vienna ;  but  what 
papers  did  he  succeed  in  buying  up?  Those  for  which 
Prussia  had  no  use.  The  Tages  Presse,  a  paper  with- 
out the  smallest  weight  or  importance,  but  which 
nevertheless  was  promised  a  hundred  and  twenty  dol- 
lars a  day  ;  one  other  insignificant  sheet,  which  valued 


124  VIENNA  AND   THE  VIENNESE 

its   services   ::  forty  dollars  a  day,  and  the  Jf 

sdtSy  which  was  tc   receive  sixty    Lollars  every  time 

it  demonstrated,  the  super:;:::-"  ::  the  ;.-..: 
the  fusil  a  aigviUe. 

Prussia  found  that  the  influence  wielded  by  her  in 
Austria,  through  the  m€  li  im    :  the  Vienna  press,  was 

aluable  t    be    lisj  msed  with,  and     rhen   th 
was    vei  she  /:_>  establish  el  there  a  branch  of 

the  famous  "Bureau  of  Public  Int  illigen .-.-."  the  man- 
agement of  which  was  in  the  hands  of  an  indi- 
vidual wh    was  subs           tljexpellc  i  thecapitaL 

If  journalism  does  not      ring  honors  in  Vieni        I 
" .   st  it  is  :  :  .     roads  by  which  the  wealth  that 

procures  them  is  won.     An      -  -        I  ited  there 

in  the  same  fashion  as  a  commercial  enterprise,  a  manu- 
ihocolate.  The  print::.,  presses 
must  above  all  eke  turn  out  money,  a  trick  that  the 
editors  seem  i  mpletely  to  have  mastered.  In  the 
Placht  trial,  which  arcs        it  of  s  nest 

I  Ith  the  foui        _  ank,  it  w  - 

that  as  much  as  thirty-five  to  osand  fl  rins  had  been 
expended  to  purchase  the  inf.:.:.  f  the  leading 
paper?     ■:'   Vienna,   the    Presse    and    the    h 

iving   fifteen    t        -  tor   their 

When  the  Anglo-Bank  launch  I  the  Turkish  -hares 
larg     sums  :     -  -  literally 

1  These,  and  the  foil  a  .-  n  from  a  work  of  Bro- 

ke, of  Leir  German  j 


THE   "REVOLVER  PRESS."  J25 

golden  in  this  instance)  of  certain  papers.  Twelve, 
sixteen,  and  fifty  thousand  florins  were  paid  respect- 
ively to  the  Fremdenblatt,  the  Faubourg  Gazette  and 
the  Presse,  while  the  Tagblatt,  which  had  about  the 
same  circulation  as  the  Petit  Journal  has  in  Paris,  got 
in  return  for  a  very  warm  support  thirty-two  thousand 
florins — about  sixteen  thousand  dollars  1  The  term 
"revolver  press"  was  especially  invented  to  de- 
scribe the  small  journalists  of  Vienna,  who  have 
long  practiced  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube  a  verit- 
able camorra.  The  staff  of  reporters  attached  to  these 
papers  is  composed  of  spies  (usually  in  the  pay  of  Prus- 
sia), both  by  nature  and  by  trade;  in  addition,  there  are 
a  number  of  secret  agents,  brokers  who  deal  in  scandal 
and  blackmail.  Pay  enough  and  you  will  be  well 
treated — that  is  the  simple  rule  by  which  this  branch 
of  journalism  is  conducted;  it  exists  on  reputations, 
made  or  lost  with  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  and  lurks  for 
you  in  a  corner  of  its  newspaper,  as  other  brigands  do 
in  the  corner  of  a  wood. 

The  president  of  a  large  railway  company,  who  had 
been  repeatedly  approached  by  one  of  these  "  revolver 
journalists,"  but  without  results,  received  one  day, 
in  a  closed  wrapper,  a  copy  of  a  newspaper  in  which 
there  was  a  racy  account  of  some  shady  episodes  in 
his  own  past.  The  article  broke  off  Avith  a  promise 
to  give  the  continuation  in  the  next  issue  of  the  paper. 
The  victim  paid  down  his  money  and  was  let  off. 
Another  railroad  magnate  adopted,  under  similar  cir- 


126  VIENNA  AND   THE  VIENNESE 

euinstanees,  a  totally  different  and.  on  the  whole,  more 
satisfactory  method.  A  newspaper  man  came  to  his 
office  and  showed  him  the  proof-sheets  of  a  scandalous 
article:  but.  instead  of  receiving  hush-money,  he  wj  s 
kicked  into  the  street,  with  the  warning  that,  should 
he  dare  to  print  so  much  as  a  single  line  of  it,  he 
would  be  a-sassinated.     The  threat  i    >k  effect 

In   1871   the   edit  r     :  fcy   paper   had   the 

audacity  to  threaten  a  Court  omcial  with  the  publica- 
tion of  a  defamatory  article,  if  he  were  nut  given  a 
certain  sum  uf  money  down,  and  the  assurance  of  the 
same  amount  annually.  The  official  brought  suit,  and 
the  editor  had  four  months  in  prison. 

In  1*72  a  lady  brought  suit  against  a  man  of  let- 
ters who  threatened  to  wi  licial  romanc  ; 
her  family,  in  which  all  her  relatives  were  to  be  put 
in  the  pillory. 

Woe  to  the  debutante  who  refus  -   :    come  to  terms 

bh  the  representatives  of  the^e  papers.  Reporters 
have  been  known  to  call  at  the  house  of  a  blushii  _ 
maiden,  and  in  a  friendly,  amicable  way  arrange  with 
her  family  the  sum  which  their  spontaneous  admi- 
ration  was  to  cost  Xumbers  of  artists  pay  a 
stipulated  yearly  sum  for  favorable  criticisms  of 
their  work. 

X  rices  such  as  th:>se  which  are  occasionally  seen  in 
the  personal  columns  of  American  newspapers  abound 
in  all  the  Viennese  papers.  They  are  expressed  in 
the  most  ingenuous  lanoua2.'e.  and  are  frank  and  con- 


"PERSONALS"   IX   THE   NEWSPAPERS.        127 

fiding  to  an  astonishing  degree.  Here  are  two.  cut 
at  random  from  some  of  the  leading  journals  : 

"  Hand  and  Heart  are  at  the  disposal  of  a  rich  lady,  -willing  to 
provide  a  handsome  student  of  22  with  the  means  to  complete  his 
course  of  studies." 

"  Listen,  Men,  Listen! — I  am  young  and  pretty,  a  slender  bru- 
nette, and  I  wish  to  get  married  between  now  and  the  next  Carnival. 
I  have  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  those  amiable  qualities 
which  are  sure  to  make  a  man  happy.  I  belong  to  the  servant 
class,  and  if  this  fact  does  not  deter  you,  offers  can  be  sent  to  '  Bru- 
nette 20,'  office  of  this  paper.  I  would  prefer  an  Hungarian  Guards- 
man.    Letters  will  be  received  until  December  3d.'' 

I  do  not  know  to  which  ingenious  nation  we  owe 

the  invention  of  that  useful  institution,  the  Matri- 
monial Agency.  At  Vienna,  just  as  at  London, 
Berlin  and  Pari-,  there  are  establishments  whose 
business  it  is  to  provide  persons  with  suitable  mates. 
Fresh  applicants  are  described  in  the  papers  like  so 
much  merchandise — age,  color  of  the  hair,  whiteness 
of  their  souls  and  of  their  teeth,  sweetness  of  their 
character;  everything  is  set  firth  in  the  most  alluring 
lan^uase.     Here  is  one  : 

"  Marriageable  Young  Women. 

"  At  A.  B.'s  a  large  number  of  marriageable  young  women,  in- 
cluding all  ages  and  classes,  witb  portions  ranging  from  5u0  florins 
to  150,000  florins.  Several  wealthy  yonng  ladies,  who  wish  to  make 
love  marriages.     All  communications  absolutely  confidential." 

Of   course   these    advertisements    are    not    always 


128  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

genuine,  and  sometimes  practical  jokes  are  played  at 
the  expense  of  a  too  confiding  applicant. 

A  notice  once  appeared  in  the  Tagblatt  signed 
M.  X.  It  set  forth  that  "  a  young  girl  of  good  family, 
ill-treated  by  her  parents,  would  like  to  be  abducted 
by  a  gentleman  of  distinction.  Write  to  the  office  of 
this  paper,  under  the  initials  K.  V.,  and  send  photo- 
graph/' Among  quite  a  number  of  replies  that  this 
ingenuous  announcement  called  forth,  there  was  one 
from  an  elderly  officer,  who  begged  for  further  par- 
ticulars— as  to  the  age,  fortune,  condition  and  so  forth 
of  the  unhappy  maid.  M.  X.  gave  him  any  amount 
of  information,  more  than  he  had  asked  for,  and  for 
the  next  three  months  there  was  a  constant  interchange 
of  perfumed  notes  and  protestations  of  undying  affec- 
tion, the  missives  of  M.  X.  being  signed  with  the  poetic 
name  of  Julia.  One  day  the  officer  sent  his  adored 
unknown  an  order  on  a  certain  book  store  for  two 
volumes  of  which  he  was  himself  the  author  ;  they  were 
two  treatises  on  artillery.  Julia,  naturally  anxious  to 
do  something  in  return  for  this  delicate  attention,  in- 
vited him  to  ride  bv  a  certain  house  on  the  following 
day.  "  I  will  be  at  the  window  with  my  brother,  but 
be  careful  not  to  look  too  hard,  for  mv  brother  is  a  roujjh. 
creature,  and  would  be  perfectly  capable  of  rushing  out 
and  picking  a  quarrel  with  you  on  the  spot."  At  the 
appointed  time  M.  X.  called  on  the  lady  of  the  house 
and  asked  her  to  look  out  of  the  window  with  him  at  one 
of  the  archdukes  who  was  to  ride  bv.     The  officer  came 


THE  STORY  OF  M.  X.  129 

prancing  down  the  street,  but  hardly  had  he  smiled 
gallantly  at  the  window,  when  M.  X.,  with  an  angry 
look,  ordered  the  lady  away.  The  next  day  there 
came  a  letter  full  of  ardor.  Julia  responded  precisely 
to  the  idea  he  had  formed  of  her,  and  he  longed  to  call 
her  his  own.  He  enclosed  two  tickets  for  the  opera ;  he 
would  occupy  the  next  seat  to  hers,  and  they  must  then 
contrive  to  arrange  for  an  elopement,  as  he  was  bent 
on  making  her  his  wife.  The  tickets  were  presented 
by  M.  X.  to  a  lady  of  his  acquaintance  with  a  young 
daughter.  "  You  may  have  an  old  gentleman  for  your 
neighbor,"  he  told  her,  "who  has  fallen  very  much 
in  love  with  your  daughter."  Sure  enough;  no  sooner 
were  they  settled  in  their  orchestra  chairs,  than  the 
old  gentleman  began  to  sigh  deeply,  and  to  gaze  at  her 
with  eyes  full  of  tender  feeling.  Presently  he  at- 
tempted to  take  her  hand.  "Oh,  Julia,"  he  whis- 
pered, "  how  I  love  you  !  A  carriage  will  be  waiting 
at  the  close  of  the  performance,  and  nothing  would  be 
simpler  than  for  me  to  carry  you  off."  To  which  the 
girl  replied  in  clear,  loud  tones  that  she  did  not  know 
who  he  was,  but  that  he  was  extremely  impertinent. 

On  the  following  day  the  elderly  stranger  appeared 
at  the  ladies'  house  and  apologized.  "  I  have  been 
made  the  victim,"  he  said,  "  of  an  odious  trick,  and  I 
beg  you  to  tell  me  who  gave  you  the  tickets  you  used 
last  evening."  The  mother,  who  began  to  see  through 
the  matter,  told  him  it  was  M.  X.  "Ah,"  said  her 
visitor,  "  it  was  M.  X.,  was  it  ?  Allow  me  once  more 
9 


130  VIENNA  AXD  THE  VIENNESE. 

to  express  my  sincere  regrets  for  what  has  happened." 
And  he  marched  off  to  the  superintendent  of  police. 
M.  X.  was  summoned ;  but,  on  hearing  the  story,  the 
official  merely  laughed,  and  the  case  was  dismissed. 

The  Viennese  journalists  are  organized  into  a  society 
called  the  Concordia  ;  the  initiation  fee  is  about  fifty 
dollars,  and  the  annual  subscription  fiye.  They  give 
a  series  of  balls  and  entertainments  in  the  winter,  the 
proceeds  from  which  are  devoted  to  a  general  fund  for 
the  relief  of  needy  members,  and  of  the  widows  and 
orphans  of  those  who  die  without  means. 

The  throttled  condition  of  the  Austrian  press  to-day 
is  a  source  of  wonderment  to  every  foreigner  who 
visits  that  country. 

"Political  development,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "will 
have  a  hard  struggle  so  long  as  the  mediaeval  press  laws 
continue  to  exist.  In  no  constitutional  State  in  Europe 
are  the  conditions  for  free  expression  of  opinion  so  un- 
favorable. Anything  '  dangerous  to  public  interests  ' 
may  be  confiscated  by  administrative  order,  and  the 
door  is  so  open  to  official  discretion  that  a  quotation 
from  the  Bible  might  occasion  the  suppression  of  an 
issue.  This  censorship  not  only  extends  over  the  pub- 
lished statement,  but  also  begins  in  preventive  fashion 
before  publication.  Newspapers  are  accustomed  to  re- 
ceive notice  from  State's  attorneys  and  police  officials 
that  certain  matters  are  not  to  be  touched  upon,  and 
the  business  is  thus  carried  on  in  a  manner  in  no  sense 
judicial,    but   rather   administrative   and   dictatorial. 


MARK  TWAIN  OX  THE  NEWSPAPER  TAX.    131 

Moreover,  the  Government  can  regulate  the  criticism 
of  its  action  by  means  of  the  license  law.  Official 
permission  must  be  obtained  before  a  newspaper  can  be 
started,  and  the  character  and  political  antecedents  of 
the  proposed  publishers  may  easily  cause  the  bureau 
of  censorship  to  decide  that  another  journal  is  unneces- 
sary to  the  welfare  of  the  country. 

"  On  the  top  of  this  conies  the  stamp  duty.  On  the 
margin  of  every  copy  of  every  unofficial  paper  you 
may  observe  a  black  seal,  like  our  postal  canceling 
stamp,  which  indicates  that  a  fraction  of  a  cent  has 
been  paid  to  the  Austrian  Government.  This  brings 
into  the  treasury  about  1,300,000  florins  every  year  as 
a  direct  tax  on  the  educational  interests  of  the  country. 
Furthermore,  the  semi-official  papers  which  publish 
legal  notices  are  exempt  from  this  duty,  and  can  thus 
thrive  at  the  expense  of  the  others.  Then  it  requires 
a  special  license  to  sell  newspapers.  The  newsboy  is 
unknown.  Only  at  the  scattered  kiosks  and  certain 
other  well-defined  places  can  the  journals  of  the  day 
be  bought  when  not  taken  by  subscription.  The  result 
is  good  for  the  cafes,  whither  everybody  flocks  to  read 
the  news,  but  not  for  the  general  spread  of  intelli- 
gence." ! 

Mark  Twain  whimsically  complains  of  the  news- 
paper stamp  tax.  "  Every  American  newspaper  that 
reaches  me  has  a  stamp  upon  it,  which  has  been  pasted 
there  in  the  post  office,  or  down  stairs  in  the  hotel  office; 
1  J.  M.  Vincent.     Letter  to  The  Nation,  December,  1901. 


132  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

but  no  matter  who  put  it  there,  I  have  to  pay  for  it,  and 
that  is  the  main  thing.  Sometimes  friends  send  me  so 
many  papers  that  it  takes  all  I  can  earn  that  week  to 
keep  this  Government  going."  The  censor,  he  says, 
receives  a  copy  of  every  paper  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  His  clerks  run  through  them,  marking  the 
suspicious  paragraphs,  and  handing  them  over  to  him 
for  inspection,  and  they  are  stricken  out  or  left  in,  ac- 
cording to  the  state  of  his  mind,  or  his  temper,  or  his 
digestion.  The  clerks  do  not  always  hold  the  same 
views,  and  there  is  no  time  for  consultation ;  so  it  some- 
times happens  that  practically  the  same  article  which 
has  been  suppressed  in  one  paper  appears  in  full  in 
another.  The  first  one  then  quotes  the  article  in  full 
in  its  next  edition,  and  explains  why  it  is  so  late  in 
appearing.  The  suppression  of  an  article  means,  of 
course,  that  the  entire  edition  must  be  reprinted,  an 
expensive  and  vexatious  business.  It  occasionally 
happens  that  after  an  issue  has  actually  been  distrib- 
uted, the  censor  pounces  down  upon  it,  the  copies  are 
sent  for  to  the  houses  where  they  have  been  lei't,  and 
destroyed. 

Again  and  again  has  this  matter  of  the  censorship 
of  the  press  been  brought  forward  in  the  House,  but 
thus  far  with  very  little  result. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Out-of-Door  Life— Street  Types — Pork  Shops— Fruits  and  Vegetables 
— Show  Windows — Street  Arabs — Milk  Women — Tyranny  of  the 
Portiers— The  Door  Tax— A  Clever  Trick— The  Lottery— Cafes : 
Their  Introduction  into  Europe — How  Coffee  was  First  Brought 
to  Vienna — Increase  of  Cafes  :  Their  Popularity  To-day — The 
Evolution  of  the  Waiter — Vienna  Rolls — Cafe  Damn — Eti- 
quette of  the  Restaurant  — Wine  Shops — Beer  Kellers  — The 
Esterhazy  Keller — Austrian  Wines — The  Cuisine — Hotel  Res- 
taurants— The  Mehlspeisen— Suppers. 

Oxe  hardly  remembers  to  feel  fatigue  in  Vienna. 
The  streets  are  so  full  of  life  and  animation,  and  there 
is  so  much  to  amuse  and  distract  the  mind,  that  the 
body  is  well  nigh  forgotten.  Places,  quite  as  much 
as  individuals,  have  a  physiognomy  of  their  own — 
pleasing  or  otherwise — which  attracts  or  repels  at 
first  sight.     That  of  Vienna  is  distinctly  attractive. 

These  gay,  careless,  gregarious  people  live  in  public. 
Get  up  as  early  as  you  will  during  the  spring  and 
summer  months,  and  you  will  find  the  streets  and 
parks  and  gardens  and  restaurants  already  gay  with 
life  and  bustle. 

In  the  open  air  and  the  sunshine  the  citizens  are 
breakfasting  or  reading  or  love-making,  with  the 
same  degree  of  cheerful  indifference  to  the  public  eye. 


134  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

The  street  types  are  varied  and  picturesque.  There 
is  the  Slav  tinman,  with  his  load  of  saucepans,  mouse- 
traps and  salad-baskets — his  wide  hat,  his  tattered 
bunda,  and  his  feet  wrapped  about  with  strips  of 
cloth ;  the  Bohemian  musician,  wandering  from  the 
courtyard  of  one  house  to  that  of  another,  his  violin 
or  guitar  tucked  under  his  coat ;  then  the  slight,  grace- 
ful young  girls  employed  in  the  laundries,  whom  one 
sees  flying  along  with  hands  on  their  hips  and  a  sort 
of  yoke  on  their  backs ;  apple  and  onion  hucksters, 
who  carry  their  wares  in  baskets  on  their  heads,  and 
cry  them  from  door  to  door.  They  are  called  "  Kroa- 
tins,"  though  they  are  no  more  natives  of  Croatia  than 
are  the  little  sausages  sold  at  the  street-corners  a  pro- 
duct of  Frankfurt,  though  these  are  always  called 
"  Frankfurt  sausages."  At  Frankfurt  the  compli- 
ment is  returned  in  kind,  and  there  they  go  by  the 
name  of  "  Vienna  sausages."  They  are  eaten  with 
the  fingers,  like  cakes,  and  are  as  dear  to  the  hearts 
of  the  Viennese  as  is  macaroni  to  the  hearts  of  the 
Neapolitans. 

Devoted  as  the  Viennese  are  to  every  form  of  pork, 
any  one  coming  direct  from  France  cannot  tail  to  be 
struck  by  the  contrast  presented  in  the  arrangement 
of  the  pork-merchants'  windows.  Here  we  find  no 
ruby  or  topaz-colored  jellies  sparkling  in  their  glass 
cases;  no  fine,  appetizing  hams  display  their  pink 
outlines  against  a  background  of  pale  sausages.  Fra- 
grant truffles,  punctuating  the  white  paper  linings  of 


The  Prater 


FRUITS  AND  VEGETABLES— SHOW  WINDOWS.  135 

their  dainty  baskets  with  little  black  dots,  are  un- 
known ;  golden  pates  do  not  tempt  the  passer-by ;  the 
sausages  are  not  dressed  out  in  silver  pantalettes, 
like  tight- rope  walkers  in  the  circus;  and  the  propri- 
etor himself,  divested  of  the  long  white  apron,  reach- 
ing from  the  shoulders  down  to  the  ground,  has  not 
that  solemn  air  of  a  sacrificing  priest  which  distin- 
guishes his  Parisian  brother. 

The  same  difference  is  noticeable  between  the  fruit 
and  vegetable  shops  of  the  two  cities.  Those  in 
Vienna  are  dark,  smoky  holes,  with  no  pyramids  of 
fruit  arranged  on  foundations  of  green  moss;  no 
chaplets  of  pink  onions,  or  heaps  of  tender-hearted 
lettuce ;  no  glowing  melons  so  arranged  as  to  stand 
out  in  relief,  like  bands  of  gold  braid,  against  the 
vivid  green  of  the  young  peas.  All  these  clear  and 
brilliant  hues,  which  are  to  be  found  in  extinct  nature, 
seem  to  disappear  as  soon  as  one  leaves  France. 

Apart  from  the  show  in  the  jewelers'  windows,  and 
the  meerschaum  pipes,  nothing  but  the  display  of 
coffins  in  the  rue  de  Carinthie  is  worthy  of  especial 
notice  in  the  Viennese  shop  windows. 

It  would  seem  as  though  the  Viennese  were  desirous 
of  imparting  something  cheerful  even  to  the  idea  of 
death  itself — of  transforming  a  dreary  object  into 
something  almost  attractive.  Their  coffins  are  of  the 
finest  workmanship,  covered  with  carving  and  stained 
to  look  like  rosewood  or  tortoise  shell ;  they  are 
closed  with  gilded  clasps,  and  might  almost  be  mis- 


136  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

taken  for  pieces  of  furniture,  clothes-presses,  chests, 
or  even  musical  boxes. 

The  Viennese  street  Arab  is  the  "  Schusterbub  " — 
that  is,  the  cobbler's  apprentice.  He  has  the  usual 
characteristics  of  his  kind — impudence,  effrontery, 
intrepidity.  He  is  ready  to  do  one  a  good  turn,  or  a 
bad  one,  as  the  fancy  takes  him.  One  encounters 
him  constantly  on  the  street,  his  hair  flying,  the  end 
of  an  old  cigar  between  his  teeth,  his  shirt-sleeves 
rolled  up  to  the  shoulder,  one  hand  slipped  behind 
the  strap  of  his  gaping  apron,  the  other  clasping  a 
pair  of  shoes.  He  gets  over  the  ground  as  nimbly  in 
his  ancient  slippers  as  though  he  were  shod  in  pumps, 
and  he  is  the  terror  and  scourge  of  the  milk-women 
and  portiers. 

The  milk- women  look  as  though  they  had  just 
stepped  off  the  stage.  They  wear  bright,  canary- 
colored  gowns,  aprons  as  white  as  their  own  milk, 
small  blue  shawls  with  red  spots,  crossed  over  dark- 
colored  jackets,  and  their  pretty,  fresh-colored  faces 
are  surrounded  by  a  frame  of  dark,  curly  hair,  kept 
within  bounds  by  a  red  silk  handkerchief,  knotted 
under  the  chin. 

It  is  the  never-failing  joy  and  delight  of  the  "  Schus- 
terbub "  to  overturn  by  a  single,  quick,  adroit  move- 
ment of  the  foot  either  the  tin  milk-cans  or  the  por- 
tier's  pan  of  sweepings.  All  the  Viennese  portiers 
are  not  gotten  up  in  carnival  costume.  Those  of  the 
middle-class   establishments    wear    light     blue,   long- 


THE  DOOR  TAX— A  CLEVEE  TRICK.  137 

tailed  coats,  red  waistcoats  and  long  striped  or 
checked  black  trousers.  In  the  morning  they  may  be 
seen  at  the  entrance  to  their  courtyards,  carrying  their 
brooms  with  as  much  majesty  as  Charlemagne  wielded 
his  sword.  At  ten  o'clock  at  night  they  emerge,  clad 
in  long;  flowered  dressing-gowns,  with  a  key  in  one 
hand  and  a  lantern  in  the  other.  They  then  proceed 
to  enact  the  part  of  St.  Peter.  The  institution  of  the 
Cordon  does  not  exist  in  Vienna.  The  door  can  be 
opened  only  by  unlocking  it,  and  every  time  the 
portier  is  called  up  for  that  service  he  must  be  paid. 
Up  to  midnight  the  tariff  is  ten  kreutzers  (four  cents 
and  a  fraction) ;  after  that  it  is  twenty  to  thirty,  accord- 
ing to  the  hour.  If  one  pays  a  number  of  calls  in  an 
evening,  he  pays  first  to  get  in  and  then  to  get  out. 
As  the  hour  of  ten  draws. near,  whole  families  may  be 
seen  hurrying  out  of  the  theatres  and  beer-houses, 
and  hastening  with  eager  steps  in  all  directions,  in 
order  to  escape  the  doorkeeper's  tax. 

One  is  reminded  of  the  story  told  by  Yillemot  of 
a  Parisian  portier  endowed  with  the  same  thrifty  in- 
stincts as  his  Viennese  brothers.  A  reveler,  returning 
one  night  at  a. very  late  hour  indeed,  found  the  door 
fastened,  while  a  muffled  voice  from  within  announced 
that  the"  hour  for  the  Cordon  was  passed.  "  J'ouvre  a 
la  clef"  (five  francs). 

'  The  belated  one  pleaded  earnestly,  but  argument 
and  entreaty  alike  failed  to  make  any  impression  on 
the   stony  heart  on  the  other  side  of  the  door.     The 


138  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE, 

portier  would  not  even  modify  his  demand.  The 
entire  amount,  or  he  would  go  back  to  bed.  At  last, 
dispirited  by  the  icy  wind,  the  wanderer  slid  a  five- 
franc  piece  beneath  the  door,  and  instantly  it  swung 
open.  But  now  the  scene  changes.  The  late  sup- 
pliant was  young  and  powerful ;  the  portier  was 
neither;  and  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  the  latter 
found  himself  spinning  around  in  a  circle,  the  result 
of  this  evolution  being  to  land  the  portier  without  and 
the  other  within  the  now  fast-closed  door. 

"  M.  Gustave,"  came  in  pleading  accents  through 
the  keyhole,  "  it  is  most  unkind  of  you  to  treat  me  so  ! 
lam  in  my  night- shirt ;  the  Engineer-Chevalier's 
thermometer  registers  but  sixteen  degrees.  I  declare 
to  you,  on  my  word  of  honor,  that  I  am  far  from 
well ;  this  is  really  so.  I  have  coughed  frequently 
during  the  day." 

"  My  friend,"  came  back  the  answer,  "  you  know 
the  rules  of  this  establishment.  The  time  for  the 
Cordon  is  passed.     Touvre  a  la  clef"  (ten  francs). 

"But,  my  dear  M.  Gustave,  how  am  I  to  get  ten 
francs  in  this  costume  ?     I  have  no  money  about  me.'' 

"Very  well:  slip  under  the  five  francs  /slipped 
under  a  few  minutes  ago.  I  will  give  you  credit  for 
the  other  five." 

If  the  Viennese  householders  would  only  conspire 
for  one  night  and  follow  the  manoeuvres  ot  M.  Gus- 
tave, this  outrageous  tax — this  levy  that  recalls  the 
pleasant  customs  of  the  mediaeval  barons — would  dis- 


THE  LOTTERY.  139 

appear  in  the  course  of  twenty-four  hours,  and  the 
portiers  would  no  longer-  have  the  laugh  entirely  on. 
their  side. 

Every  now  and  then  a  sound  of  martial  music  is 
heard  in  the  street ;  every  one  runs  to  the  window  to 
watch  the  regiment  returning  from  drill,  while  small 
boys,  idlers — every  one  who  has  any  time  to  waste — 
fall  in  behind  and  march  with  it,  keeping  step,  often 
arm  in  arm,  as  far  as  the  barrack. 

A  people  as  open  to  impressions  as  are  the  Viennese, 
and  who  are  as  readily  carried  away  by  anything  that 
catches  the  eye  or  the  ear,  are  naturally  unable  to 
•resist  the  seductions  of  street  placards.  A  great 
deal  of  science  is  devoted  to  the  construction  of  those 
enormous  posters,  red,  blue,  white,  yellow,  that  line 
the  walls  and  flare  out  from  every  street-corner.  On 
a  ball  advertisement  will  be.  seen  an  airy  danseuse, 
wafting  you  a  kiss  from  the  toe  of  her  slipper;  while 
a  lottery  notice  displays  a  cornucopia-horn  of  abun- 
dance, overflowing  with  golden  ducats. 

Throughout  the  entire  Austro-Hungarian  State  the 
Government  sustains  the  lottery  system,  and  derives 
large  profits  from  it.  A  glass  door,  beside  it  a  black- 
board covered  "with  rows  of  white  figures,  and  a  group 
of  absorbed,  wide-eyed  women — by  these  signs  you 
recognize  the  lottery  office.  Every  few  moments  a 
daughter  of  Eve,  incited  by  the  devil,  swallows  the 
bait,  and  seizing  the  number  that  has  tempted  her, 
rushes  in  to  have  it  registered  by  an  official  who  is 


140  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

stationed  behind  a  wooden  grating  within  the  office. 
But  paying  your  ten  or  twenty  kreutzers  for  a  ticket  is 
by  no  means  the  end  of  the  matter.  It  must  be  kept 
going.  Now,  to  support  a  ticket  entitling  the  holder 
to  take  part  in  all  the  drawings  is  about  as  costly  as 
to  support  a  child.  In  its  practical  workings  the 
lottery  is  an  encouragement  to  idleness  and  a  discour- 
agement to  thrift ;  for  the  working  classes  it  takes  the 
place  of  the  savings-bank,  only  with  the  difference 
that  they  never  get  their  deposits  back. 

The  feature  that  strikes  a  stranger  in  Vienna  more 
perhaps  than  any  other  is  the  extraordinary  number 
of  cafes  one  sees.  They  must  mount  up  far  into  the 
thousands.  One  could  fancy  himself  in  an  Oriental 
town. 

Coffee  was  introduced  in  Europe  by  sailors  and 
merchants  trading  with  the  East.  A  cafe  was  opened 
in  Marseilles  in  1654,  just  two  years  after  the  first 
one  had  been  established  in  London. 

An  English  merchant,  named  Edwards,  trading 
with  Turkey,  brought  back  with  him  to  London,  in 
1652,  a  Greek  servant,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  mak- 
ing coffee  daily  for  his  master.  Visitors  who  hap- 
pened in  at  the  time  were  served  with  it  as  well,  and 
soon  came  to  like  it  so  much  that  they  flocked  in 
crowds,  to  the  great  inconvenience  of  the  merchant. 
In  order  to  put  a  stop  to  this,  Mr.  Edwards  set 
his  servant  up  in  a  public  coffee  house,  in  St. 
Michael's  Alley,  Cornhill ;  the  sign,  which  displayed 


INTRODUCTION   OF  COFFEE  IN  VIENNA.     141 

a  portrait  of  the  Greek,  announced  that  he  was 
"  the  first  who  made  and  publicly  sold  coffee  drink  in 
England." 

By  1675  the  number  of  coffee  houses  had  increased 
so  rapidly  as  to  alarm  Charles  II.,  who  considered 
them  hotbeds  of  sedition,  and  by  his  orders  they 
were  closed. 

The  following  account  of  the  causes  which  led  to 
the  introduction  of  coffee  into  Vienna,  while  perhaps 
a  little  amplified,  is,  in  its  main  facts,  correct  enough. 
In  July,  1683,  the  Turkish  army,  under  the  Grand 
Yizier,  Kara  Mustapha,  completed  the  investment  of 
Vienna,  and  the  siege  of  the  city  began.  For  two 
months  the  inhabitants,  under  the  able  command  of 
Rudiger  Count  Starhemberg,  were  able  to  hold  out; 
but  at  length,  reduced  by  illness  and  weakened  by 
famine,  they  seemed  to  have  reached  a  point  where 
further  resistance  was  useless.  The  enemy  had  gained 
possession  of  the  outworks,  and  the  urgent  messages 
sent  to  the  Imperial  army  under  the  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine and  John  Sobieski,  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the 
garrison,  had  no  effect.  Apparently  the  generals  were 
unable  to  comply,  while  in  some  instances  the  messen- 
gers fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks  and  were  hung, 
in  full  sight  of  the  besieged,  as  a  warning.  The  story 
goes  that  at  this  crisis  a  young  Pole,  named  Georges 
Kulczycki,  asked  permission  to  speak  to  the  Governor 
General.  Kulczycki  was  a  strong,  active  and  very 
handsome  youth  of  twenty-three.     He  had  a  shop  on 


142  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

the  Leopold  Strasse,  but  had  served  as  a  volunteer  in 
Frank's  Free  Company. 

"  What  do  you  want  ?  "  asked  Count  Starhemberg, 
who   was   found   walking   up   and  down,  plunged  in 

anxious  thought. 

© 

"  To  be  allowed  to  communicate  with  the  Imperial 
army.  I  will  undertake  to  let  them  know  what  our 
situation  is." 

"The  Turks  will  hang  you  sky-high  !"  answered 
Starhemberg;  and  he  resumed  his  uneasy  march  up 
and  down. 

"  No,  they  won't  hang  me,"  said  the  Pole. 

"  Why  should  they  spare  you  any  more  than  any 
one  else  ?  " 

"  Because  I  don't  intend  to  be  hung." 

© 

"  Have  you  a  talisman  ?  " 

"  Well,  I  will  manage  them/' 

"  You  really  want,  then,  to  go  into  the  enemy's 
lines  ? "  asked  the  Governor,  stopping  and  looking 
attentively  at  the  young  man. 

"I  will  go  through  them;  and  I  engage  to  cany  a 
message  from  you  to  the  army,  and  to  bring  back  a 
report  of  my  mission." 

Starhemberg  reflected  a  moment,  and  then  said : 

"  Very  well,  then,  go  !  But  what  reward  do  you 
expect,  in  case  you  succeed  ?  " 

"  None.  All  I  ask  is  the  honor  of  being  of  use  to  you." 

"Good!  I  will  give  you  my  dispatches  to-night. 
You  may  go  now,  and  may  God  be  with  you  !  M 


THE  POLISH  SPY,   KULCZYCKI'S  COUP.      143 

That  night,  in  the  midst  of  a  terrible  storm  that 
was  raging  in  Vienna  and  throughout  the  neighbor- 
hood, the  daring  Pole,  accompanied  by  a  servant  who 
had  been  with  him  in  the  East,  slipped  quietly  out  of 
the  capital.  Both  men  were  disguised  as  Turks.  The 
next  morning  they  were  in  the  enemy's  camp,  and 
were  promptly  taken  before  an  Aga,  to  give  an 
account  of  themselves.  Kulczycki  fluently  explained 
that  he  was  a  merchant  of  Belgrade,  and  that  his 
object  in  comiug  to  the  camp  was  to  propose  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  market  to  supply  the  Turkish  army. 
This  novel  idea  appealed  to  the  Aga,  who,  saying  that 
he  would  submit  it  to  the  heads  of  the  army,  ordered 
the  two  visitors  to  be  given  food  and  drink,  and 
warned  them  not  to  wander  far  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  camp,  as  the  outposts  of  the  Imperial  forces  had 
advanced  as  far  as  the  foot  of  the  Leopoldberg. 

This  information  was  precisely  what  Kulczycki 
wanted.  He  managed  to  communicate  with  a  soldier 
of  the  Christian  army,  without  arousing  the  suspicions 
of  his  hosts,  and  in  two  days  returned  safely  to 
Vienna,  bringing  the  welcome  news  that  an  attack 
on  the  Turkish  camp  would  be  made  at  once.  The 
attack  resulted  in  the  complete  rout  of  the  Mussulman 
host,  the  Turks  retreating  in  such  haste  and  panic  that 
their  abandoned  camp  was  found  to  contain  quantities 
of  rich  booty,  besides  many  pieces  of  artillery,  a  num- 
ber of  ensigns  and  a  standard.  Among  other  things, 
a  great  quantity   of  sacks,   filled   with   small,   hard, 


144  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

greenish  grains,  were  seized.  Shortly  afterwards 
Starhemberg  sent  for  the  young  Pole  who  had  been  of 
such  signal  service,  and  insisted  upon  his  accepting 
some  sort  of  recompense.  The  young  man  agreed,  and 
asked  for  the  sacks  of  grain. 

"  Certainly,"  said  the  Governor,  "  you  may  have 
them  ;  but  what  will  you  do  with  them  ?  "  there- 
upon Kulczycki  told  him  how,  according  to  tradition, 
a  certain  dervish,  having  been  driven  out  of  his  con- 
vent at  Mecca,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  had  taken 
refuge  in  a  neighboring  cave,  where  he  had  kept 
himself  alive  by  chewing  the  grains  of  a  wild  plant 
called  kahhoa.  As  the  taste  was  raw  and  bitter,  he  tried 
roasting  them,  and  then  steeping  them  in  hot  water, 
finally  obtaining  a  delicious  beverage.  The  news  of  this 
discovery  at  last  reaching  the  ears  of  the  authorities,  it 
was  taken  as  a  sign  of  divine  favor;  the  dervish  was 
restored  to  his  convent,  and  the  use  of  coffee  soon  be- 
came general — "  as,"  added  Kulczycki,  "it  soon  will 
become  here,  when  people  have  once  learned  to  like 
it." 

In  addition  to  the  bags  of  coffee,  the  grateful  city 
presented  him  with  a  house,  and  the  Pole  set  to  work 
to  establish  his  business.  At  first  he  went  from  house 
to  house,  carrying  his  cups  of  coffee  on  a  tray ;  but  as 
the  drink  became  more  and  more  popular,  he  opened  a 
shop  where  his  customers  could  be  served  at  all  hours, 
calling  it  "  The  Sign  of  the  Blue  Bottle."'  There  was  not 
a  spot  in  Vienna  as  popular  as  this  modest  resort.     In 


INCREASE  OF  CAFES  IN  VIENNA.  145 

the  rear  of  the  common  room  was  a  great  fireplace, 
where  the  water  boiled  merrily  in  copper  vessels ;  long 
wooden  benches  ran  along  the  walls ;  there  were  no 
tables ;  the  customers  either  held  their  cups  or  placed 
them  on  the  bench  beside  them.  Two  swinging 
lamps  lighted  the  apartment,  and  the  host,  chibouk  in 
mouth,  walked  up  and  down,  beaming  with  satisfaction 
and  contentment.  Every  evening  a  distinguished  com- 
pany gathered  in  the  little  inn.  Count  Starhemberg, 
Marc  Avian — Sobieski's  Capuchin  confessor,  who  had 
stood  upon  the  heights  of  the  Kahlenberg  on  the  eve 
of  the  battle  and  blessed  the  Christian  hosts — Prince 
Eugene  of  Savoy,  and  the  popular  poet  Augustin, 
were  among  its  patrons. 

After  Kulczycki's  death,  in  1703,  a  number  of  cafes 
were  opened,  and  later  on  Vienna  was  attacked  with 
a  species  of  Turkomania;  only  Turkish  pipes  and 
Turkish  tobacco  were  smoked ;  the  elegants  wore 
Turkish  dressing  gowns,  and  the  masked  balls  saw 
nothing  but  Turkish  costumes.  Turkish  music  be- 
came the  rage ;  it  was  the  Wagner  music  of  the  day, 
and  nothing  but  drums  and  cymbals  satisfied  the 
musical  taste  of  society.  The  walls  of  the  cafes  were 
hung  with  pictures  of  languishing  odalisks,  dark-eyed, 
and  with  marvelous  lashes,  who  reclined  on  heaps  of 
cushions,  with  narghillas  uncoiled  at  their  feet. 

In  1778  a  wealthy  bookseller  opened  a  literary  cafe 
in  his  own  dwelling,  where  not  only  all  the  current 
literature  published  in  most  of  the  modern  languages 
10 


146  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

was  to  be  found,  but  political  pamphlets  as  well  ;  and 
even  Voltaire's  works  were  sold,  though  not  openly. 

At  the  present  day  every  one  frequents  the  cafes  in 
Vienna — men  and  women,  soldiers,  priests,  children. 
The  cafe  is  the  centre  of  social  life;  there  business 
is  discussed  and  bargains  concluded.  One  goes  to  the 
cafe  to  hear  the  news,  to  criticise  the  Government,  to 
pass  judgment  on  a  new  book  or  on  the  latest  play.  It 
corresponds  to  the  Forum  of  the  ancients.  By  four 
o'clock  it  is  hard  to  find  a  vacant  place ;  every  one  in 
the  capital  is  drinking  coifee,  some  in  their  own  homes, 
but  the  majority  in  the  cafes,  where  indeed  the  quality 
of  the  beverage  is  excellent  and  the  seryice  of  the  very 
very  best,  superior  to  anything  you  can  find  elsewhere. 

The  Viennese  waiter  is,  in  fact,  the  king  of  his  craft, 
a  model  for  all  his  brethren,  and  in  great  demand 
throughout  Germany,  by  reason  of  his  brisk  ways, 
pleasant  manners,  his  good  humor  and  honesty.  His 
training  begins  early,  when,  as  an  apprentice,  his  duty  is 
to  serve  the  customers  with  beer.  The  objects  of  his 
ambition  at  this  stage  is  to  carry  a  phenomenal  number 
of  frothing  beer-mugs  in  each  hand,  and  to  duck  in  and 
out  among  waiters  and  guests  without  dropping  any  of 
these  or  spilling  their  contents.  Notwithstanding  the 
dignity  of  the  swallow-tailed  coat  in  which  he  is 
arrayed,  he  is  a  forlorn,  unkempt,  negleeted-looking 
little  object,  without  the  pale  of  all  but  the  minimum 
of  fees  or  consideration  of  any  kind.  Having  j^erved 
his  apprenticeship,  he  is  promoted  to  be  a  waiter,  and 


VIENNESE   WAITERS— VIENNA  EOLLS.       147 

a  remarkable  change  at  once  becomes  apparent.  Now 
his  coat  must  be  well  brushed,  his  linen  clean,  his  dis- 
heveled little  mop  is  carefully  smoothed  and  parted ; 
he  dons  a  low-cut  waistcoat,  and  his  long  practice  in 
the  art  of  carrying  brimming  beer-mugs  enables  him 
soon  to  acquire  a  similar  facility  in  the  matter  of 
plates  and  dishes.  The  next  promotion  places  him  in 
the  rank  of  those  who  serve  only  the  most  distinguished 
guests,  receive  the  largest  fees  and  attend  to  the  money ; 
and  the  topmost  rung  of  the  ladder  is  reached  with 
the  appointment  of  general  overseer.  This  important 
functionary  stalks  majestically  about  in  a  short  coat — 
he  has  passed  beyond  the  swallow-tail — overlooking 
the  conduct  of  every  detail  of  the  establishment,  and 
thoroughly  competent,  by  reason  of  his  long  course 
of  training,  to  keep  his  subordinates  up  to  their  duty. 

The  moment  a  stranger  enters  a  Viennese  cafe,  the 
waiter  recognizes  his  nationality,  and,  with  a  cheerful 
alacrity  quite  devoid  of  obseqiousness,  hastens  to  bring 
him  the  French,  Hungarian,  Italian  papers,  as  the 
case  may  be ;  if  the  guest  happens  to  be  a  Russian, 
he  will  also  place  a  box  of  cigarettes  at  his  elbow. 
The  cafe  is  really  a  reading  room  as  well,  where  as 
many  as  a  dozen  copies  of  each  of  the  leading  papers 
are  taken.  Coffee  served  with  milk  is  called  a  "  me- 
lange;" with  very  little  milk  it  is  a  "capuziner,"  and 
the  Viennese  usually  eats  a  roll  or  some  little  cakes 
with  it. 

The  roll  industry  is  a  large  and  flourishing  one  in 


148  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Austria,  and  the  variety  manufactured  is  very  great. 
You  can  have  a  "  milk-roll,"  or  a  "  butter-roll/'  or  a 
u raisin-roll,"  or  a  "powdered  sugar-roll,"  or  any 
one  of  many  other  kinds  of  rolls.  Sometimes  they 
are  used  for  trials  of  capacity ;  the  two  competitors, 
seated  opposite  one  another  at  a  small  table,  try  which 
of  them  can  eat  the  greater  number.  He  who  is  out- 
distanced has  to  pay  the  bill. 

The  Cafe  de  l'Europe,  on  the  Stephans  Platz,  is  the 
one  most  frequented  by  foreigners.  The  gilded  youth 
of  the  capital  patronize  the  gorgeous  new  cafes  of  the 
Ring.  Formerly  the  great  resort  of  the  aristocratic 
portion  of  the  army,  the  diplomats  and  all  the  leading 
lights,  was  the  famous  Cafe  Daum,  No.  16  Kohl- 
markt.  In  each  one  of  its  half-dozen  or  so  rooms 
there  assembled  a  particular  clique — the  military  in 
one,  the  diplomats  in  another,  writers  in  another,  and 
so  on.  The  Ministers  sat  in  the  main  apartment,  dis- 
cussing the  next  day's  news  in  whispers,  or  repeating 
yesterday's  scandal.  The  vicissitudes  of  this  cafe  fol- 
low the  same  lines  as  the  history  of  Austria  itself. 
Before  the  revolution  of  1S48,  one  saw  there  no  one 
but  solemn  bureaucrats,  engaged  in  the  perusal  of  the 
Gazette,  the  Observer,  or  the  Journal  of  the  Theatres. 
From  time  to  time  a  sally  of  the  witty  Saphirs  would 
cause  a  fleeting  smile  to  lighten  up  their  wooden  fea- 
tures. In  those  happy  days  there  was  no  talk  of 
Schleswig.  nor  of  United  Italy  ;  still  less  of  United 
Germany.     Bismarck  was  as  vet  unfamous. 


VICISSITUDES  OF  THE  CAFE  DAUM.         149 

The  company  talked  to  one  another  in  hushed  tones 
of  the  speech  that  had  just  been  delivered  before  the 
French  Chambers.  But  at  last  an  unhappy  day  dawned 
when  Vienna  bristled  with  barricades,  and  the  Cafe 
Daum  underwent  a  sudden  and  violent  transformation  ; 
its  quiet  rooms  were  invaded  by  members  of  the  Legion, 
with  cockades  stuck  in  their  hats,  representatives  of 
the  people,  in  costumes  of  every  hue,  braided  down  all 
the  seams,  and  wearing  Hessian  boots  and  carrying 
sabres  ;  "  Young  Czechs,"  Poles,  Hungarians,  celebri- 
ties of  twenty-four  hours,  a  tattered,  eager  crowd, 
among  whom  numbers  of  women  could  be  seen,  clad 
in  the  garb  of  the  Revolution.  Noise,  confusion,  ex- 
clamations, shouts,  scenes  like  those  witnessed  in  the 
cafes  of  the  boulevards  during  the  Commune.  Reac- 
tionary circulars  were  seized,  torn  in  pieces  and  tram- 
pled under  foot.  Excited  orators  mounted  the  tables 
to  deliver  their  harangues.  On  one  occasion  the  poet 
Zeidlitz,  the  Austrian  Koerner,  Avas  bold  enough  to  de- 
claim, in  the  Cafe  Daum,  his  Soldiers  of  Liberty,  not- 
withstanding the  strophe  in  it  addressed  to  the  mur- 
derers of  Latour.  To  these  wild  days  of  storm  and 
excitement  followed  the  comparative  tranquillity  of  the 
siege.  The  Cafe  Daum  then  became  the  headquarters 
of  the  military  authorities.  Again  solemn,  immovable- 
looking  individuals,  with  stiff  collars,  closely-cut  hair 
and  eye-glasses,  took  possession  of  its  little  tables. 
Before  the  doors  there  was  always  a  group  of  officers 
lounging,  glass  in  eye,  a  cigar  between  the  lips,  en- 


150  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

gaged  in  the  absorbing  duty  of  scanning  every  woman 
who  passed  by.  After  the  battle  of  Solferino  the  charac- 
ter of  the  habitues  changed  again.  It  was  then  fre- 
quented entirely  by  civilians,  physicians,  lawyers,  bank- 
ers, artists,  men  of  letters ;  and,  after  theatre  hours,  by 
processions  of  black-coated  deputies,  and  diplomats 
covered  with  orders.  Frequently  the  discussions  went 
on  till  morning;  for  in  Vienna  the  cafes  are  allowed  to 
remain  open  as  long  as  the  customers  choose  to  remain. 
The  cafes  and  wine-shops  are  indeed  second  homes  for 
the  citizens,  many  of  whom  spend  a  large  proportion 
of  their  time  in  them.  The  patrons  are  divided  into 
two  classes — the  stammc/iiste,  or  habitues,  and  the  lau- 
fende,  or  transients.  The  habitues  of  the  wine-shops 
are  called  wirthskausbruder  (tavern  brothers);  certain 
tables  are  set  aside  for  their  use,  and  woe  to  any  one 
who  has  the  temerity  to  seat  himself  at  one  of  them. 
There  are  men  who  for  thirty  years  have  settled  them- 
selves down  daily  at  the  same  hour  on  the  same  chair, 
to  drink  the  same  wine  or  beer,  from  the  same  glass, 
read  the  same  newspaper,  and  smoke  the  same  tobacco 
from  the  same  pipe.  The  stamniyade  are  favored 
guests;  they  are  better  and  more  promptly  served  than 
the  transients,  enjoy  a  certain  amount  of  considera- 
tion from  the  waiters,  and  they  usually  spend  two  or 
three  hours  of  every  day  in  the  cafe,  wine-shop  or  beer 
cellar  of  their  choice.  A  terrible  waste  of  time  or 
money,  some  one  says.  Well,  so  it  is ;  but  the  Viennese 
is  neither  close  nor  calculating,  and  has  adopted  for  his 


THE  VIENNESE  WINE-SHOPS.  151 

maxim  a  German  phrase,  which  seems  to  have  been 
expressly  in  vented  for  him,  Leben  und  sich  leben  lassen 
— Live  and  let  live.  Where  could  one  find  a  more 
amiable  code  of  philosophy,  or  a  more  frankly  idle 
people  ? 

The  architecture  of  the  larger  Viennese  wine-shops 
is  somewhat  Babylonish  in  style.  In  those  which  are 
under  ground  the  pillars  and  ceilings  are  lost  to  sight 
amid  thick  clouds  of  smoke  rising  night  and  day  from 
innumerable  pipes  and  cigars,  and  the  atmosphere  is 
suffocating,  and  laden  with  a  strong  smell  of  cooking. 

The  scene  is  a  changing  one,  full  of  interest  and  life. 
Here  are  a  group  of  officers  coming  in,  there  a  file  of 
employees  passing  out.  The  newspaper  agent,  with  a 
pile  of  damp  sheets  hanging  over  his  arm,  and  the  ped- 
dler of  pamphlets,  illustrated  papers  and  popular  songs, 
circulate  about  among  the  tables.  A  peddler,  with  a 
quantity  of  neckties  and  paper  collars,  has  been  known 
to  do  a  lively  business  in  a  cafe,  some  of  his  patrons 
changing  their  collars  on  the  spot.  Italians,  with 
baskets  of  plaster  figures  of  bellicose  warriors,  flour- 
ishing their  swords  in  the  air,  or  maidens  timidly 
counting  the  petals  of  a  marguerite,  pass  like  the  figures 
in  a  procession.  Photographers  spread  out  before  you 
pictures  of  the  prettiest  of  the  Viennese  actresses; 
while  above  all  the  stir  and  movement  arises  the  loud 
hum  of  many  voices,  the  clinking  of  glasses,  the  rattle 
of  forks  and  plates.  The  Austrians  wherever  they  eat 
have  the  air  of  being  at  a  banquet. 


152  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

The  kellers  are  a  notable  feature,  as  famous  in  their 
way  as  the  best  known  kellers  of  Leipsic,  or  Ham- 
burg, or  Bremen.  One  goes  to  them  to  drink  wine 
and  eat  "  delicatessen,"  pates,  oysters,  caviar,  smoked 
fish,  Westphalia  ham,  and  so  on.  The  most  famous 
of  these  establishments  is  the  Esterhazy  Keller,  open 
daily  from  eleven  to  one  and  from  five  to  seven.  This 
black,  subterranean  hole  is  provided  with  neither 
tables  nor  chairs ;  greasy  benches  run  along  the  walls, 
and  a  few  flickering  candles  send  their  feeble  rays 
into  the  gloom.  The  most  varying  types  of  counte- 
nance meet  the  eye  through  the  obscurity.  Close  by 
sits  a  workman,  enveloped  in  a  long,  threadbare  coat, 
its  short  sleeves  displaying  the  dirty  cuffs  beneath. 
He  is  dining  off  a  "  half  pint,"  and  a  cold  cutlet, 
which  he  takes  from  his  pocket,  wrapped  in  a  bit  of 
newspaper.  Xext  to  him  sit  a  couple  of  soldiers  on 
leave.  With  a  big,  stout  girl  between  them,  they  are 
in  great  spirits,  and  the  lady  is  obliged  to  throw  her 
head  well  back,  so  convulsed  is  she  with  laughter  at 
the  humorous  ways  of  her  two  cavaliers,  one  of  whom 
has  just  poked  her  in  the  ribs,  while  the  other  is  in 
the  act  of  pinching  her  leg.  Further  along  is  a  very 
old  man,  a  veritable  living  skeleton,  seeking  to  ex- 
tract from  the  soul  of  the  grape  a  last  impulse  of 
warmth  and  life.  There  are  any  number  and  all 
varieties  of  women,  some  wearing  black  shawls,  others 
in  a  "caraco"  or  dressing-sacque ;  some  wear  bonnets 
or   hats,   others   are   bareheaded ;    some   are   young, 


THE  ESTERHAZY  KELLER.  153 

with  brilliant  teeth  and  sparkling  eves;  others  old, 
bent,  haggard,  wrinkled,  with  shaking  heads  and 
scrawny  necks,  clutching  with  hands  like  talons  their 
measures  of  wine.  In  one  corner  a  tippler,  with 
outstretched  legs  and  sunken  arms,  mutters  indis- 
tinctly. He  is  seated  on  his  hat,  a  pipe  is  between 
his  teeth,  and  his  cravat  has  come  untied,  the  ends 
hanging  limply  down. 

At  the  end  of  the  apartment  a  somewhat  more 
brilliant  illumination  displays  the  counter — a  dirty 
board,  covered  with  drops  of  tallow,  and  supported 
on  two  hogsheads.  Behind  this  barrier,  which  takes 
the  place  of  a  table,  a  clerk  is  seated  on  a  straw- 
bottomed  chair.  He  wears  a  cap  drawn  down  over 
the  eyes  and  iron-rimmed  spectacles  ;  before  him  lies 
a  ledger ;  on  his  right  is  a  bottle  of  ink,  on  his  left 
a  jug  of  wine,  while  a  damp  handkerchief  and  a 
snuff-box  lie  close  at  hand.  It  is  this  individual's 
duty  to  take  in  the  money  and  to  register  every  glass 
of  wine  that  is  sold.  Two  men  in  shirt-sleeves  stand 
behind  the  counter,  busily  employed  in  washing  and 
refilling  the  glasses.  Through  the  gloom  one  can  faintly 
distinguish  the  outlines  of  two  rows  of  hogsheads, 
ranged  along  the  wall  like  so  many  sphynxes,  and 
in  front  of  the  counter  picturesque  groups  of  men  in 
rags,  gentlemen  in  fur- trimmed  coats,  foreigners,  vaga- 
bonds and  pickpockets,  all  illumined,  without  distinc- 
tion of  class  or  degree,  by  the  yellow,  flickering  rays 
of  the   candles.     "  Beware   of  pickpockets ! "  (or  its 


154  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

German  equivalent)  is  posted  up  at  the  entrance.  So 
brisk  is  the  custom  that  one  has  to  fall  into  line  to 
reach  the  counter  and  get  one's  glass,  the  money  for 
which  is  taken  then  and  there.  Children  slip  be- 
tween one's  legs,  holding  bottles  which  they  bring 
to  have  filled,  and  servants  of  wealthy  establishments 
enter,  carrying  baskets,  for  the  wine  of  the  Esterhazy 
Keller  is  well  known  for  its  excellent  quality.  A 
vendor  of  sausages  and  black  bread  presents  his 
basket  and  urges  his  wares  upon  you.  In  a  corner 
of  the  apartment  you  can  see  his  stewpan  boiling 
away,  and  throwing  out  little  jets  of  steam,  like  a 
teakettle.  Every  one  smokes  and  spits  and  joins  in 
the  general  conversation ;  through  the  buzz  and  hum 
is  heard  the  occasional  crack  of  a  sausage-skin.  What 
a  smell !  The  atmosphere  is  thick  with  a  mixture 
of  strong  odors,  among  which  the  smell  of  wine, 
and  of  damp  clothing  drying  on  human  bodies,  pre- 
dominate. 

The  "  Consolation  "  the  "  Assommoir,"  the  zinc 
counter,  do  not  exist  in  Vienna.  There  are  a  few 
liquor-shops,  but  they  hide  away  out  of  sight,  as 
though  ashamed  of  themselves.  Brandied  plums  and 
cherries  and  green  oranges,  as  well  as  absinthe,  are 
hardly  to  be  had  anywhere.  In  the  wine-shops  there 
is  a  "  tasting  room  " — something  like  the  public  room 
of  an  inn  ;  but  as  the  proprietors  are  not  permitted  to 
keep  a  restaurant,  they  cannot  have  either  table-cloths 
or   napkins.     You   are  given,  instead  of  the   latter. 


AUSTKIAX   WINES— VIENNA  CUISINE.        155 

pretty  bits  of  tissue  paper,  stamped  with  vignettes  of 
the  liveliest  and  most  appetizing  subjects. 

Austro-Hungaiy  can  boast  of  some  fifteen  different 
native  wines.  Charles  IV.  introduced  some  vines 
from  Burgundy  into  the  country.  In  lower  Austria 
the  grape  can  be  cultivated  as  high  up  as  two  thou- 
sand metres  above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  and  the 
Garnpoldskircken,  Voeslau,  Ivlosterneubourg  compare 
favorably  with  the  wines  of  Burgundy  and  some  of 
the  Rhine  wines.  In  the  lower  Tyrol,  Vorarlberg, 
Styria,  Carinthia,  Moravia,  Illyria,  Dalmatia,  Hun- 
gary, Transylvania,  Croatia,  and  the  military  districts, 
excellent  wines  are  manufactured,  which  in  the  Slav 
provinces  form  the  habitual  drink  of  rich  and  poor 
alike.  The  Slav  race  is  indeed  stronger  and  more 
active,  as  well  as  better  looking,  than  the  purely 
German  race,  rendered  heavy  by  the  consumption  of 
much  beer. 

It  is  rather  difficult  for  a  foreigner  to  get  good  food 
here,  and  yet  Vienna  ranks  second  only  to  Paris  in 
culinary  matters.  The  truth  is  that  the  Vienna 
cuisine,  as  well  as  its  people,  is  international ;  but 
foreigners,  unless  they  be  particularly  well  up  in 
philology,  etymology  and  the  kindred  sciences,  have 
considerable  difficulty  in  unraveling  the  mysteries  of 
an  Austrian  menu. 

The  best  restaurants  are  those  in  the  hotels.  Most 
hotels  are  provided  with  no  fewer  than  three  :  one  in 
the  basement  for  coachmen  and  others  of  that  class, 


156  VIENNA  AND   THE  VIENNESE. 

another  on  the  ground  floor,  patronized  by  the  Vien- 
nese, and  a  third  upstairs,  used  principally  by  foreign- 
ers. The  table  d'hote  system  is  not  in  general  use.  all 
the  meals  being  served  a  la  carte.  For  the  sum  of 
fifty  cents  you  get  a  dish  of  meat,  a  vegetable  and  a 
sweet  dish  ;  this  last,  the  mehlspeisen,  represents  the 
great  achievement  of  the  Viennese  cuisine.  What 
endless  variety,  what  originality,  is  displayed  in  the 
preparation  of  those  delicate  jam  tarts,  chocolate  puffs, 
or  rice  paddings  soaked  in  red  wine  !  The  dinner 
hour  is  from  three  to  four  o'clock,  and  the  supper  hour 
fr<>m  seven  to  eleven.  The  theatres  let  out  at  ten 
'v.  after  which  every  one  has  supper.  The  res- 
taurants overflow  with  customers.  The  respectable 
Viennese  papa,  who  wishes  to  give  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren a  treat,  takes  them  first  to  a  theatre  and  then  to 
a  restaurant  for  supper.  The  evening  would  not  be 
a  success  were  this  last  to  be  omitted,  and  the  pleas- 
ure, as  well  as  the  cost,  is  just  doubled  thereby. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


In  the  heart  of  the  city,  close  to  the  Stephans 
Platz.  is  seen  the  famous  Stock  im  Eisen.  It  is  the 
trunk  of  an  old  larch,  standing  some  twelve  or  fifteen 
feet  high,  girdled  with  an  iron  band  and  closed  with 
a  strong  lock.  Into  the  stump  nails  have  been  driven 
so  close  together  that  the  surface  is  now  a  solid  plate 
of  iron. 

The  legend  of  this  "  iron  trunk  "  runs  as  follows  : 

About  the  year  1450  there  stood  on  the  Markt 
Platz  an  ancient  house,  of  gloomy  and  forbidding 
appearance.  From  daybreak  to  nightfall  a  thick  cloud 
of  black  smoke  hovered  over  its  gabled  roof,  while 
the  sound  of  heavy  blows  on  the  anvil,  the  scraping 
of  files,  the  deep  breathing  of  two  enormous  pairs  of 
bellows,  and  the  roar  of  a  monster  furnace,  combined 
to  produce  a  truly  infernal  din.  which  fairly  shook  the 
earth  for  some  distance  around.  The  house  belonged 
to  Erhard  Marbacher,  locksmith  in  chief  of  the  city 
of  Vienna. 

Master  Marbacher  was  a  fat  man,  with  hard,  red 
cheeks,   a   flat   nose,   and    keen,  sparkling  eye-  ;    his 


158  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

waist  was  as  completely  encircled  in  flesh  as  his  name 
was  in  glory,  and  that  is  saying  a  great  deal,  for  he 
had  produced  some  marvelous  work  in  beaten  iron, 
and  had  raised  the  blacksmith's  trade  to  the  height  of 
an  art.  When  he  appeared  at  the  door  of  his  work- 
shop, with  leather  apron,  shirt-sleeves  rolled  back, 
collar  unbuttoned,  and  face  and  arms  blackened  with 
smoke,  he  had  much  the  air  of  a  hippopotamus  emerg- 
ing from  the  depths  of  a  black  sea,  to  take  the  air  on 
the  bank.  Erhard  was  a  good  master,  working  as 
hard  as  his  unwieldy  bulk  would  permit,  and  adored 
by  his  workmen  and  apprentices.  If  he  was  severe 
at  times,  he  was  always  kind-hearted. 

Next  to  the  master-locksniith's  house  stood  a  baker's 
shop,  and  Marbacher,  who  dearly  loved  a  chat,  used 
ofteu,  when  the  day's  work  was  over,  to  go  in  there, 
and,  seated  on  a  bag  of  flour,  his  two  bauds  restiugon 
his  great  hips,  intersperse  his  conversation  with  loud 
bursts  of  joyous  laughter. 

Greth  Mux,  the  proprietress,  was  a  widow,  and  the 
younger  of  her  two  sons,  a  great,  overgrown  lad  of 
eighteen,  although  carefully  brought  up  in  the  fear  of 
God,  gave  her  serious  cause  for  anxiety.  He  dis- 
obeyed her  every  hour  of  the  day,  and  for  the  most 
part  refused  outright  to  work  at  all.  Now,  as  it  is  the 
chief  consolation  of  the  unhappy  to  pour  out  their 
woes  to  a  sympathetic  listener,  the  unfortunate  woman 
recounted  all  her  troubles  to  her  neighbor,  Master 
Erhard. 


LEGEND  OF  THE  "STOCK  IM   EISEN."        159 

One  evening  the  locksmith  dropped  in,  in  a  more 
cheery  humor  even  than  usual,  but  he  found  the  widow 
in  tears.  Her  wretched  son  had  so  far  forgotten  him- 
self  as  actually  to  threaten  her. 

"  Never  mind,  mother ;  never  mind/'  said  the  kind- 
hearted  man.  "  I  have  come  on  purpose  to  make  a 
suggestion,  if  you  will  agree  to  it.  I  will  undertake 
to  make  an  honest,  hard-working  artisan  out  of  your 
boy." 

"  Oh,  Master  Erhard,  may  heaven  bless  you  for 
your  goodness  to  me  !"  cried  the  widow,  at  once  begin- 
ning to  dry  her  eyes  on  her  apron. 

"  Very  well ;  now  listen." 

"  Yes,  yes ;  I  am  listening  !"  And  Greth  rested  her 
elbows  on  the  table  and  her  head  on  her  hands. 

"  What  I  have  to  propose  is  as  simple  as  that  two 
and  two  make  four.  It  is  that  my  nephew  shall  be 
apprenticed  to  you  as  a  baker,  and  your  son  to  me  as  a 
blacksmith.     Will  that  suit  you  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  perfectly,  excellently  ! "  said  the  widow, 
jumping  up  and  seizing  the  hand  that  Erhard  held 
out.  "  Let  it  be  considered  settled ;  and  you  must  be 
very  strict,  you  understand." 

"  Oh,  you  need  not  be  uneasy  on  that  score  !  Mar- 
tin will  not  be  the  first  scapegrace  I  have  broken  in. 
He  is  young  yet,  and  if  he  were  made  of  iron  I  would 
mould  him  into  shape  !  "  And  the  blacksmith  made  a 
gesture  that  showed  the  mother  he  had  methods  of 
his  own. 


160  VIENNA  AXD  THE   VIENNESE. 

"  God's  will  be  done,  then  ! "  she  murmured,  some- 
what scared  by  the  significance  of  the  motion. 

The  following  day  the  workshop  numbered  a  new 
apprentice  among  its  employees.  Martin,  stationed 
before  the  furnace,  was  working  the  bellows.  He 
looked,  to  be  sure,  sulky  and  ill-humored,  but  he  did 
his  work,  and  as  time  went  on  even  seemed  to  take 
some  interest  and  pride  in  it.  Apparently  the  truth 
had  dawned  on  him  at  last,  that  in  order  to  get  on  in 
this  world  one  must  make  an  effort;  and  so  every- 
thing went  on  smoothly  enough.  The  mother  was 
enchanted,  and  attributed  this  truly  miraculous  change 
to  her  neuvaines  to  St.  Antoine ;  while  Marbacher 
swelled  out  and  grew  fatter  than  ever  with  pride  and 
satisfaction.  One  afternoon  he  called  Martin,  and 
entrusted  him  with  a  commission. 

"  My  boy,"  said  he,  "  take  this  bucket  and  bring  it 
back  full  of  clay  of  the  kind  we  need  for  casting  that 
dragon's-head.  You  will  find  it  in  abundance  on  the 
edge  of  the  Siechenhaus  forest,  bevond  the  St.  George 
Gate.  Be  sure  not  to  play  on  the  road,  or  you  will 
not  get  back  before  the  curfew.  Iu  my  household, 
remember,  people  are  not  allowed  to  stay  out  all 
night." 

Martin  promised  to  be  back  in  good  time,  and, 
taking  the  pail,  set  forth.  It  was  a  glorious  spring 
day ;  overhead  the  sky  looked  like  a  great  canopy  of 
deep,  soft  blue  silk,  in  the  centre  of  which  the  sun 
shone  like  a  huge  cluster  of  diamonds;  wild-fiowers 


LEGEND   OF   THE   -STOCK   IM   EISEN."        161 

of  every  hue  nodded  and  beckoned  from  the  fields, 
and  gorgeous  butterflies  darted  hither  and  thither, 
like  truant  lovers.  It  was  the  month  of  April,  and 
Martin,  who  had  not  been  outside  the  town  since 
the  winter,  felt  as  though  he,  too,  had  wings,  that 
bore  him  along  nearly  as  easily  as  did  those  of  the 
birds  overhead.  Quitting  the  road,  he  wandered 
through  the  fields,  and  when  he  finally  reached  the 
edge  of  the  forest,  after  roving  long  and  blissfully, 
it  was  already  four  o'clock. 

The  horizon  was  bathed  in  warm,  luminous  light, 
and  the  Cathedral  spire  and  the  towers  and  pointed 
roofs  of  the  town  stood  out  clearly  against  the  intense 
blue  of  the  heavens.  Filling  his  pail,  he  poised  it 
on  top  of  his  head,  and  started  back,  whistling  as  he 
went.  As  he  neared  the  city,  the  road  led  through 
a  little  plantation  of  linden  trees,  beneath  which  the 
youths  of  Vienna  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  to 
play  at  bowls.  On  this  particular  afternoon  quite  a 
number  of  boys  were  there,  and  among  them  Martin 
recognized  some  of  his  old  associates.  Placing  his 
bucket  behind  a  tree,  he  lost  no  time  in  joining 
them.  The  hard  work  in  the  smithy  had  hardened 
his  muscles,  and  to  his  infinite  pride  it  soon  became 
apparent  that  not  one  among  them  could  now  bowl 
as  well  as  he.  Absorbed  in  the  sport,  he  gave  no 
further  thought  either  to  the  sun  or  to  his  master's 
warnings.  Suddenly,  however,  a  bell  began  to  toll, 
its  monotonous  sound  resembling  the  melancholy  cry 
11 


162  VIENKA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

of  some  nocturnal  bird.  The  players  all  stopped, 
listened  a  moment,  and  then  set  off  as  fast  as  their 
legs  would  carry  them  in  the  direction  of  the  nearest 
gate.  It  was  the  curfew,  and  the  possibility  of  being 
shut  out  so  frightened  Martin  that,  quite  :'  _  :- 
ting  his  pail,  he  began  to  run  as  well.  Suddenly, 
however,  he  remembered  it.  and  not  daring  to  return 
empty-handed,  flew  back  to  get  it.  Fear,  and  the 
wholesome  -  :  tor  authority  that  Master  Erhard 
had  managed  to  instill  into  him.  gave  him  wings,  and 
lie  ran  so  hard  that  his  feet  hardly  seemed  to  touch 
the  ground;  but  precious  moments  had  been  lost, 
and  with  all  his  erlbrts  he  arrived,  panting  and  drip- 
ping with  perspiration,  in  front  of  the  gate,  only  in 
time  to  hear  the  harsh  creaking  of  the  key  as  it  turned 
in  the  luck.  The  poor  la  1  called  aloud,  __  ig  and 
imploring  to  be  admitted  ;  but  not  a  sound  or  move- 
ment came  in  response.  Mean while  night  had  fallen, 
the  shadows  grew  deeper,  and  an  invi-ible  brush 
1  to  lay  an  inky  c  Ating  over  sky  and  earth, 
the  held-,  the  town  and  the  rampart-.  Martin,  thor- 
oughly frightened,  and  thinking  with  dread  of  the 
coming  night,  as  w  :  the  beating  and  dism  - 

sure  to  follow  on  the  next  day.  threw  hin>  U 
by  the  r<  adside  and  sobbed  aloud.  After  awhile  the 
.  issuing  from  behind  some  cloud-,  flooded  the 
place  with  light,  and  Martin,  raising  his  head  to  look 
about  him.  was  -tartled  to  rind  some  <:>ne  standing 
close   by  him.     The    stran_  i       as        talL   :hin  man, 


LZ-jKNT'    07    177      -Z      7    71    77777 

yellow-eyed,  with  a  nose  like  the  beak  :  a  hawk,  and 
a  black  moustache  and  beard,  the  latter  v  infe  .  His 
black  velvet  :  was  sormoonted  by  a  crimson  plume, 
which  glowed  and  sh  k  like  :  ngne  of  flame ;  his 
clawlike  fingers  .-;.sped  the  :  1  Is    :  a  long  cl  ak,  ths 

I  behind  m  the  g  jnd,  and  from  a  imson 
belt  stock  the  ivoiy  handle  of  a  dagger.  More 
alarmed  than  ever  by  the  singular  appearance  of  this 
personage,  Martin  made  :.  m  ve  m  -.: it  :  nm 
but  he  was  sfo]  ped  a  hand  laid  familiarly  on  his 
shoulder. 

■•  My  lad,"  said  the  stranger,  u  why    .         ;  sit  here 
and  cry  1      Xne    lifficolty  is      very  easy  me  fee 

H        is  something  that  will  se:        as       pass- 
He  drew  from  his]       :  :      -jail  leathei     arse 
took  from   it   a   sequin.  .  when  he  blew  on   it, 

changed  int    ten  shining  gold-pieces. 

u  Here   you   are  !  "    >  g  the  gold  t 

in.     "Play  this  music  in  the  ears     :  the   _ 
keeper,  and   I    -  by  my  beard  that  he  will  listen 

:      \  a  then  '.  " 

The        rentice  began  :    take  heart     _ 
as  he  :     k  the  g   I  \.  it  seemed  to  burn  his  n::_     - 
his  alarm  was  not  by  any  means 

••  I  nev      -        b     much  gold  he  said,  in  a 

hesfc  ting  I  ne. 

•'  Oh,  well,  when  this  is   g  ne,  :  plenty 

mure  where  it -came  from  !     Yon  nerd  ._        all  mt." 


164  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

"  Call  you  ?  " 

"  Yes.  Say  i  Raab—Rebeck-Quardec '  three  times, 
and  then  I  will  come." 

"  But  how  will  I  ever  pay  you  back  ?  " 

"  Oh,  that  is  a  purely  secondary  matter  !  "We  will 
settle  after  you  are  dead." 

"After — I — am — dead?"  faltered  Martin. 

"  Yes,  indeed  !  You  will  leave  me  your  soul,"  said 
the  stranger,  carelessly. 

"  But,  my  soul,  why  that  belongs  to  God.  I  cannot 
will  it  away,"  said  the  boy,  who  had  been  carefully 
trained. 

"  Ha  !  ha  ! "  laughed  the  other,  harshly.  "Are  you 
afraid  I  will  pluck  it,  like  a  pigeon?  So  you  believe 
all  the  fables  the  monks  tell  you  ?  Is  it  because  you 
are  hoping  to  get  into  Paradise  that  you  say  that  ?  " 

"  Why,  of  course  ! "  answered  the  boy,  simply, 

"  Oh !  oh !  oil !  They  are  all  alike  !  They  all  really 
believe  that  Paradise  is  a  delightful  place.  My  poor 
boy,  I  have  been  there  myself,  and  I  simply  could 
not  stand  it !  Nothing  to  live  on  but  light  and  air — 
just  what  the  flowers  have.  Never  a  bottle  of  wine, 
nor  a  slice  of  good  ham.  It  is  the  most  monstrous  life, 
about  as  much  variety  as  in  a  litany.  Many  a  time,  I 
do  assure  you,  I  have  surprised  some  anchorite  saint, 
actually  longing  for  water  from  the  spring  and  a  few 
roots  from  the  desert.  Xow,  on  the  other  hand,"  he 
continued,  in  an  insinuating  voice,  "  if  your  soul 
should  conclude  to  come  to  me  at  vour  death,  I  will 


LEGEND  OF  THE   "STOCK  IM  EISEN."        165 

engage  to  give  it  a  very  different  sort  of  existence.  I 
live  in  a  great  marble  palace,  situated  on  the  border 
of  a  large  lake,  on  which  I  give  my  nocturnal  fetes. 
In  my  dominions  you  only  end  one  festivity,  in  order 
to  begin  another ;  and  the  souls  are  all  clothed  in  pal- 
pable form,  so  that  the  lover,  for  instance,  himself 
restored  to  youth,  meets  once  more  his  sweetheart,  in 
her  pristine  beauty  and  freshness.  .  .  .  What  do  you 
think  of  it  ?     Will  you  join  us  ?  " 

Martin  lowered  his  head,  and  felt  within  himself 
that  he  was  won. 

"  Think,"  said  the  other,  "  whether  you  would  like 
to  find  all  roads  on  earth  open  to  you ;  to  have  your 
name  covered  with  glory,  and  your  heart  winning  love ; 
to  outdo  your  master  in  his  own  art,  and  to  under- 
stand perfectly  the  two  sciences  of  good  and  evil." 

"  I  agree,  on  one  condition,"  said  Martin.  "  It  is, 
that  my  soul  is  not  to  belong  to  you,  unless,  in  the 
course  of  my  life,  I  once,  through  my  own  fault,  fail 
to  attend  mass  on  Sunday." 

"  Done  !  I  am  a  good  devil,  and  I  will  accept  the 
condition.  Now  write  your  signature  at  the  bottom 
of  this  document." 

He  thereupon  produced  a  sheet  of  parchment,  and, 
as  they  could  not  see  very  well,  accommodatingly 
blew  on  his  fingers,  which  then  shone  like  so  many 
candles.  Martin  was  amazed  to  find  himself  sign- 
ing his  name  with  a  flourish,  never  having  been 
able   to    write'   a    word    in    his    whole    life.      Then 


166  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

the  infernal  light  was  extinguished  and  the  man 
disappeared. 

Martin  was  like  one  awakening  from  a  nightmare ; 
there  was  a  singing  in  his  ears,  his  head  was  heavy, 
his  eyelids  felt  like  lead,  his  breath  came  in  labored 
gasps,  and  his  legs  would  hardly  carry  him ;  but,  with 
it  all,  there  were  the  gold-pieces  in  his  pocket. 

He  betook  himself  to  the  city  gate,  and,  rattling 
them  in  his  hand,  asked  to  be  let  in. 

"  Coming  ! "  cried  a  voice ;  and  a  moment  later  he 
was  in  the  city. 

Making  his  way  to  the  house,  he  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing his  room  without  disturbing  any  one. 

The  next  day,  to  his  surprise,  no  questions  were  put 
to  him,  and  everything  went  on  as  usual.  The  truth 
was  that  the  locksmith  thought  he  had  seen  his  appren- 
tice enter  the  house  at  the  proper  time,  take  his  place 
at  the  evening  meal,  and  go  soberly  to  bed  at  the 
usual  hour. 

A  few  days  later  Martin's  unknown  friend  appeared 
in  the  workshop,  introducing  himself  to  Master  Erhard 
as  a  gentleman  belonging  to  the  Court. 

"  I  am  commissioned,"  said  he,  "  to  order  from 
you  an  iron  hoop,  with  hinges,  and  a  lock  that  no 
human  power  will  be  able  to  open." 

"A  difficult  order,"  said  Erhard ;  "  very  difficult, 
and  one  that  will  require  study  and  reflection.  A  lock 
that  no  human  power  can  open — not  easy  that  .  .  ." 

"  It  must  be  made,  though,"  said  the  stranger. 


LEGEND  OF  THE   "STOCK  IM   EISEN."        167 

"  Is  there  any  hurry  ?  " 

"  Oh,  a  great  deal  of  hurry  ! " 

"  In  that  case  I  cannot  undertake  to  fill  the  order. 
It  will  require  a  carefully  worked  out  plan  and  the 
most  skillful  labor." 

"  Oh,  Master  Marbacher,  what  an  answer  to 
make  !  Why,  I  will  lay  a  wager  that  I  can  find 
some  one  among  your  people  more  ingenious  than 
you." 

Erhard  flushed  at  this;  but  the  visitor,  whose 
■  pointed  beard  wagged  maliciously,  turned  around  and 
faced  the  workmen  and  apprentices. 

"  Is  there  no  one,"  he  cried,  "  who  can  make  a  lock 
that  no  human  force  will  be  able  to  open  ?  " 

For  a  moment  there  was  a  dead  silence ;  the  work- 
room might  have  been  a  desert  spot. 

"  Come,"  cried  the  stranger ;  "  are  you  all  afraid  to 
answer  ?" 

Just  then  Martin  stepped  forward,  and  in  a  clear, 
decided  tone  said,  "  I  will  undertake  the  order." 

Marbacher  felt  as  though  the  ground  were  giving 
way  beneath  his  feet. 

"  You,  Martin  ?  You  ?  The  youngest  apprentice 
in  my  shop — you  propose  to  execute  a  piece  of  work 
that  Master  Erhard  finds  too  difficult  ?  It  is  absurd. 
I  forbid  it." 

"  You  have  the  order,"  said  the  stranger,  in  such  a 
tone  of  authority  that  Marbacher  drew  back  abashed. 

"I  will  call 'again  in  six  days,"  he  continued,  "and 


:  g  vienisa  ax:  the  viknxesk 

Mastei   Marbacher  will  nc       abi  see  :"_;:  the  work  is 

That  same  night  Martin  set  fa  work;  butwhen    lay 

:     if  :  and  him  still  seated  on  his  len 

planning,  con trr.-  ing3  torturing   his     rain  in  the  effort 
I     Lesign  s  me  peril  ::.  but  all  in 

n  ;  the  lines  1  1  like  the  tangled  thtr 

:   a   wel  .      Night    found   him   no   furthei 
Master  Erb  ghter  heart,  mur- 

muring to  himself  as  hr  :  U     -  ill  never 

- 

To  wards  tw  _      e  apprentiee, 

.  d  his  chair,  and  had 

trange  dream.     He  seemed  <  sringthi      _ 

ms    :  an  and  -        sitoated  on  1 

It  seemed  that  it  had  on 
I,  who  had  colle  se  rooms 

all:       si       _  :  nous  locks  of  th  palaces 

x  that  he  had  robbed.     There  they  hoi 

_  -        2  bast         signs  on  the 

— Venetian   .      >.  Neapolitan,  Turkish.  Spank 
Qchu     Martin  was  filled  with  admiral 

manship  and  their  in__  -   mechan- 

ism :   -  :   '...  slight  pressn]       "ould  n: 

Like  the  fingers  of  a 

the  air  like  a  bii     5  tal     -  - 

in  particular,  in  the  form  of      spid  se  mech- 

anism was  as  ing  -     s  that  of  a   watch.     A  label 

V  n  Raslan  had  caused  it  to  be 


LEGEXD   OF   THE   -STOCK   IM   EISEX."        169 

made  by  a  clever  magician  for  the  door  of  the  tower 
in  which  he  had  shut  up  his  recreant  wife.  The  key 
was  a  A'eritable  jewel,  of  the  finest  open-work,  like  a 
bit  of  exquisite  lace.  Martin  made  a  careful  drawing 
of  the  lock,  and  had  barely  completed  it  when  the 
floor  of  the  room  seemed  to  sink  beneath  his  feet ;  he 
had  a  sensation  of  falling  from  immense  heights,  and 
finally  awoke,  lying  on  his  back  in  his  own  chamber. 
The  sun  was  pouring  through  the  window,  and  one 
brilliant  ray  fell  like  a  bar  of  gold  athwart  a  sheet  of 
paper  on  which  he  recognized  in  amazement  the  draw- 
ing of  a  lock,  which  he  supposed  existed  only  in  his 
dreams.  Shaking  himself,  to  be  quite  sure  that  he  was 
reallv  awake,  he  seized  the  paper  and  hurried  down  to 
the  shop,  where  he  at  once  set  to  work.  To  carry  out 
the  design  was  the  least  part  of  the  task,  and  when,  three 
daws  later,  the  stranger  appeared  and  asked  Master 
Marbacher,  with  an  ironical  smile,  to  call  his  appren- 
tice, the  latter  at  once  advanced,  carrying  an  iron  hoop 
to  which  was  attached  the  wonderful  lock.  The  cour- 
tier fitted  the  little  key  in  its  hole,  and  then  tried  all 
the  skeleton  keys  of  the  establishment;  but  the  lock 
was  proof  against  them  all,  and  the  work  was  pro- 
nounced a  triumphant  success.  Martin  had  produced 
a  masterpiece. 

"  It  is  perfect !"  cried  the  stranger;  and  then,  turning 
towards  Marbacher,  who  stood  with  his  men  and  boys 
in  a  wondering  group  around  him,  he  said,  indicating 
the  young  apprentice,  "  He  has  succeeded  by  dint  of 


170  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

pluck  and  perseverance.  For  my  part,  I  shall  give 
him  a  purse  full  of  gold.  What  will  you  do  for  him, 
Master  Erhard  ?  " 

"  I  will  appoint  him  a  journeyman,  and  give  him 
his  freedom,"  replied  the  master,  in  a  harsh  voice,  for 
he  was  choking  with  rage  and  jealousy. 

The  stranger  stepped  out  and  fastened  the  hoop 
about  the  trunk  of  a  larch  tree  that  stood  in  the  Horse- 
Market,  locked  it  himself,  and,  taking  the  key,  de- 
parted.    Nor  did  they  ever  see  him  again. 

The  following  week  Martin  left  Vienna  and  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  studio  of  Master  AVeit,  at  Nu- 
remberg. He  was  Jfcon  engaged  to  work  on  the  tomb 
of  Saint  Sebald,  which  was  then  occupying  the  genius 
of  the  master,  and  which  remains  to  this  day  one  of 
the  art  treasures  of  the  town.  The  young  man  was 
also  given  several  important  pieces  of  work  at  Augs- 
berg,  on  the  completion  of  which  he  returned  to 
Vienna.  Just  at  that  time  the  Bourgeois  Council 
were  offering  the  title  and  prerogatives  of  Master  to 
any  journeyman  locksmith  who  should  succeed  in 
making  a  key  that  would  open  the  iron  band  encir- 
cling a  certain  tree  on  the  Horse-Market  Platz,  which 
had  been  dubbed  "the  tree  of  the  iron."  A  number 
of  attempts  had  already  been  made,  but  none  were 
successful.  Martin,  who  remembered  perfectly  the 
design  of  the  one  he  had  already  made,  easily  dupli- 
cated it  in  two  or  three  days. 

The  Burgomaster  and  Councilors,   in    their    robes 


LEGEND  OF  THE   "STOCK  IM  EISEX."       171 

of  office,  with  long,  gold-embroidered  capes  of  velvet, 
and  the  corporation  of  locksmiths  and  farriers,  with 
banners  flying,  and  closely  followed  by  a  great  crowd 
of  people,  proceeded  to  the  spot  to  witness  the  trial, 
which,  it  was  announced,  was  to  be  the  last. 

Martin,  after  politely  saluting  the  dignitaries, 
approached  the  tree,  drew  a  tiny  key  from  his  pocket, 
and,  after  displaying  it  to  the  people,  inserted  it  in  the 
keyhole,  and  using  some  force,  for  the  springs  had 
rusted,  succeeded  in  turning  it.  The  hoop  opened  and 
fell  to  the  ground.  The  crowd  broke  into  loud  shouts 
of  applause,  and  all  the  journeymen  locksmiths  present 
yelled  with  delight  at  the  triumph  of  their  fellow. 
Brandishing  aloft  the  hammers  that  each  carried  in  his 
belt,  they  rushed  up,  one  after  the  other,  and  drove  a 
nail  into  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  in  memory  of  the 
occasion. 

Martin  was  publicly  invested  with  the  grade  and 
dignity  of  Master.  The  Burgomaster  laid  his  sword 
on  his  head  in  sign  of  blessing,  the  dean  of  the  cor- 
poration of  locksmiths  and  farriers  gave  him  three 
hand-shakes,  and  four  brother  journeymen,  hoisting 
him  on  their  broad  shoulders,  carried  him  home  in 
triumph. 

Martin  now  settled  permanently  in  Vienna,  where 
his  fame  increased  every  day.  It  was  he  who  made 
the  wonderful  gates  of  the  Cathedral  Choir,  and  the 
story  was  current  that,  finding  that  they  did  not  quite 
reach  the  wall,  he  'simply  seized  them  with  both  hands 


172  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

and  dragged  them  towards  him,  when  the  iron 
stretched  like  so  much  woolen  cloth. 

Through  all  his  triumphs,  however,  his  mysterious 
bargain  lay  heavy  on  his  soul.  When  Sunday  came, 
his  nervous  anxiety  to  keep  the  saving  condition  usu- 
ally caused  him  to  attend  two  masses,  instead  of  one. 
At  night  sleep  came  with  difficulty,  for  his  mind  was 
continually  dwelling  upon  the  fatal  condition,  and  his 
old  mother,  listening  in  the  darkness,  would  hear  him 
tossing  from  side  to  side,  muttering  fervid  prayers,  and 
ever  and  anon  breaking  into  deep  sighs.  With  riches, 
glory,  everything  that  the  world  counts  as  necessary  to 
happiness,  he  was  nevertheless  not  happy. 

At  last,  on  returning  late  one  night  from  a  grand 
entertainment,  he  thought  the  situation  out.  What 
did  he  gain  by  torturing  himself  with  anxious  fears  in 
this  way?     Xothing  at  all. 

"  Come,"  he  said  to  himself,  u  it  is  sheer  folly  !  I 
may  just  as  well  live  and  enjoy  myself  while  I  can; 
and  to  the  devil  with  all  this  care  !" 

From  thenceforth  he  threw  himself  into  all  the 
diversions  of  the  town  with  a  sort  of  frenzy.  Every 
night  found  him  taking  his  place  at  the  card-tables, 
where  he  vied  with  the  most  reckless  in  the  wildness 
of  his  play.  One  Saturday  an  important  piece  of 
work  detained  him  so  long  that  it  was  for  beyond  the 
usual  hour  when  he  arrived  at  the  gaming  tables. 
Taking  his  place,  his  wild  mood  infected  the  others, 
and  the  entire  night  passed  without  the  plavers  being 


LEGEND  OF  THE   "STOCK  JM  EISEN."        173 

aware  of  it.  The  innkeeper  threw  open  doors  and 
windows  and  bustled  about,  but  still  the  game  went 
on.  At  last,  entering  in  his  Sunday  clothes,  he 
remarked,  in  the  deprecating  tone  of  one  who  does  not 
wish  to  offend  : 

"  Just  a  little  less  noise,  if  you  please.  High  mass 
has  begun,  and  you  know  the  Burgomaster  is  getting 
very  strict  in  his  old  age,  and — " 

"  High  mass  has  begun  ?  "  stammered  Martin,  turn- 
ing pale  and  dropping  his  cards. 

"  Well,  it  is  hardly  the  hour  for  matins,"  said  the 
innkeeper,  "  seeing  ten  o'clock  has  struck." 

The  locksmith  arose,  and  supporting  himself  against 
the  tables  and  chairs,  reached  the  door  and  went  out, 
with  uncertain  steps.  The  others  gazed  after  him  in 
wonder,  and  then,  looking  at  one  another,  said  that  he 
had  gone  mad. 

The  first  person  Martin  encountered  was  his  old 
friend,  whom  he  had  never  seen  since  the  day  he  had 
left  Marbacher's  workshop.  He  was  walking  along 
with  a  jaunty  air,  twirling  the  ends  of  his  moustache, 
his  hat  cocked  over  one  ear,  and  his  hand  resting  on 
the  hilt  of  his  short  sword. 

"  Too  late,  my  friend,  too  late  ! "  he  called  out, 
gaily,  as  Martin  appeared ;  but  the  latter  seemed 
endowed  with  new  energy  at  the  sight  of  him,  and 
started  for  the  Mennonite  church  on  a  run,  hoping  to 
get  there  in  time  for  a  second  and  later  mass.  The 
other,  without  appearing  to  hurry,  kept  pace  with  him 


174  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

easily.  Thus  they  reached  the  church.  Martin 
cleared  the  steps  at  a  bound,  and  entered,  panting  and 
exhausted,  just  as  the  priest,  turning  towards  the  wor- 
shipers, pronounced  the  Ite  missa  est 

"  Oh,  my  God,  have  mercy  on  me ! "  cried  the 
wretched  man,  as  he  fell  on  the  flags  unconscious. 

A  puff  of  smoke  and  flame  was  seen  to  issue  from  the 
half-closed  mouth,  and  the  body  turned  quite  black. 
Notwithstanding  these  equivocal  tokens,  the  body  was 
interred  with  great  pomp  in  the  Cathedral  Cemetery. 
It  was  said  that  at  the  evening  hour  when  Martin  had 
been  used  to  take  his  place  at  the  card-table,  a  plain- 
tive voice  would  be  heard  calling  out,  "  A  Mass  !  a 
Mass  ! "  From  that  time  on  it  became  the  custom  for 
every  journeyman  locksmith  who  came  to  Vienna,  or 
who  left  for  some  other  town,  to  drive  a  nail  into  the 
"  Stock  im  Eisen,"  at  the  same  time  reciting  a  Pater 
for  the  repose  of  the  unfortunate  Master's  soul. 


CHAPTER   X. 

Sensations  of  Early  Spring— St.  Stephan's  Tower— The  Belfry— The 
"Fire  Watch  "—Count  Starhemberg  and  the  Siege  of  1683— The 
Emperor  Leopold — His  Treatment  of  Sobieski — French  Campaign 
of  1805 — Peace  of  Pressburg — View  from  the  Summit  of  St.  Ste- 
phan's Tower — The  Danube — Hungary — Galicia — The  Puthe- 
nians  —  The  Poles — Bohemia — John  Zizka — Tyrol — Variety  of 
States  and  Paces  in  the  Austrian  Empire — What  is  the  Outlook  ? 

At  Vienna,  as  elsewhere,  the  Spring  sometimes  pays 
little  fleeting  visits  ahead  of  time,  dropping  in  with  a 
sunny  smile  in  the  very  midst  of  the  snows  of  winter. 
Then  the  town  becomes  like  a  white-draped  chamber 
of  the  dead,  where  the  atmosphere  has  suddenly  been 
illumined  with  shafts  of  golden  sunshine,  and  per- 
fumed with  flowers.  So  soft  and  fresh  does  the  air  be- 
come that  the  entire  population  may  presently  be  seen 
inhaling  deep  breaths  at  the  open  windows,  and  then 
pouring  out  into  the  streets  as  though  it  were  a  national 
holiday.  Everything  seems  to  be  quite  new  and  young, 
and  you  identify  yourself  so  entirely  with  this  rejuve- 
nated nature  around  you,  that  with  her  you  seem  to 
feel  the  thrill  of  renewed  life,  the  stirring  of  the  sap  in 
your  veins.  The  bo'dy  feels  light,  the  soul  more  ethe- 
real ;  one  is  sensible  of  influences  from  above;  a  sursum 
cor  lifts  one  from  the  earth. 

175 


1 76  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Ir  is  on  such  a  day  as  this  that  one  should  make 
the  ascent  of  the  Tower  of  St.  Stephan's.  After 
procuring  tickets  from  the  sacristan,  you  begin  to 
climb  the  tortuous  spiral  stair,  turning  always  to  the 
left :  gradually  as  you  mount  it  grows  somewhat 
lighter  :  an  occasional  narrow  slit  admits  a  sort  of  twi- 
light gleam.  At  one  stage  a  small  door,  like  the  trap- 
>f  a  cellar,  leads  to  the  gallery,  which  hangs  like 
a  bit  of  lace  from  one  end  of  the  building  to  the  other. 

Reaching  a  small  balcony,  which  is  about  on  a 
height  with  the  neighboring  roofs,  you  step  out  and 
pause  to  take  breath,  while  the  tops  of  the  surround- 
ing buildings  seem  to  recede  in  the  brilliant  atmos- 
phere like  the  waves  of  a  glowing  sea. 

This  tower  on  which  you  stand  is  a  restoration  of 
the  one  begun  by  Duke  Rndolph  IV.  about  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the  original  struc- 
ture having  been  declared  unsafe  in  1860.  It  is  the 
most  beautiful  thin^r  of  its  kind  in  Germany,  a  marvel 
of  design  and  execution.  The  tower  is  square,  and 
from  it  springs  the  exquisi:-  I  _  nal  spire,  rising  to 
a  total  heigh:  at  tour  hundred  and  for:   - 

feet,  and  tapei  a  IF  at  the  summit  to  an  extra- 
ordinarily small  angle.  All  _  .  the  whole  is  re- 
markably rich  and  ornamental,  there  is  no  open-work 
at  all  in  the  spire. 

At  the  next  stage  is  the  entrance  to  the  belfry,  to 
get  into  which  you  must  climb  down  a  ladder,  as 
though  descending  into  the  hold  of  a  ship.     All  aboi 


Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Stephan 


ST.   STEPHAX'S   BELFRY— FIEE  WATCH.       177 

are  enormous  beams,  crossing  and  recrossing  one  an- 
other, and  heavily  bound  and  clamped  with  iron,  with 
massive  bolts  like  serpents'  heads.  The  bells,  like 
some  rank  bronze  vegetation,  hang  in  bunches  from 
the  intricate  network  of  beams,  which  twist  and  inter- 
lace like  the  branches  of  a  monstrous  prehistoric  tree  ; 
while  the  clappers  suspended  just  over  your  head 
might  be  the  pistils  of  giant  campanulas.  The 
great  bell  is  called  u  Josephine,"  because  it  was  cast 
in  the  reign  of  Joseph  I.  It  was  made  from  guns 
captured  from  the  Turks  in  the  celebrated  victory 
before  Vienna  (1683),  and  was  rung  for  the  first  time 
on  the  occasion  of  Charles  VI.'s  triumphal  entry, 
after  his  coronation  in  1712.  So  penetrating  and  far- 
reaching  are  the  tones  of  this  bell  that  it  can  be 
heard,  so  it  is  said,  in  the  Styrian  mountains,  and  has 
been  nicknamed  by  the  populace  the  Poummerin. 

Fifty  steps  more  bring  one  to  the  station  for  the 
"  Fire- Watch."  These  wear  a  uniform  something  like 
that  of  the  soldiers  of  the  line,  and  their  duty  is  to 
keep  a  constant  and  vigilant  watch  for  the  first  indi- 
cation of  fire  in  any  part  of  the  city.  As  soon  as  a 
puff  of  suspicious-looking  smoke  is  seen,  the  alarm  is 
given  by  means  of  an  ingenious  contrivance  invented 
by  an  eminent  professor  of  astronomy.  The  lookout 
points  a  telescope  in  the  direction  of  the  fire,  and 
this,  passing  over  graduated  dials,  indicates  a  certain 
number,  corresponding  to  a  number  entered  in  the 
register  of  streets  and  houses ;  the  spot  having  been 
12 


178  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

ascertained  by  consulting  the  register,  it  is  telegraphed 
to  the  central  Fire  Department  station.  In  old  times 
a  huge  speaking  trumpet  was  used  to  announce  a  fire 
to  the  city. 

Mounting  still  higher,  one  reaches  an  elevated  plat- 
form, where  may  be  seen  the  stone  bench  from  which 
Count  Starhemberg,  in  the  siege  of  1683,  was  wont  to 
watch  the  movements  of  the  besieging  Turks,  and 
scan  the  horizon  in  the  hope  of  discerning  reinforce- 
ments for  his  spent  garrison.  Week  after  week  had 
gone  by  since  the  Vizier  with  his  army  had  sat  down 
before  the  Austrian  capital.  The  Emperor  Leopold  I. 
had  fled  with  the  Court,  leaving  his  capital  and  his 
people  to  be .  captured  by  the  Turks,  or  delivered  by 
John  Sobieski  and  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  as  heaven 
and  their  own  valor  might  dictate.  The  Duke  of 
Lorraine  and  Count  Starhemberg  accomplished  won- 
ders in  the  short  space  of  time  that  remained  to  them 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Turkish  host.  They  repaired 
the  fortifications,  and  armed  and  drilled  the  students 
and  citizens  to  act  as  reinforcements  for  the  weak  and 
insufficient  garrison  left  by  the  Emperor.  These 
things  done,  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  withdrew  with  his 
cavalry  to  harass  the  enemy,  and,  if  possible,  to  delay 
their  approach.  The  siege  opened  about  the  middle 
of  July,  and  by  the  beginning  of  September  the  city 
was  in  a  truly  deplorable  condition.  The  Turks  had 
gained  possession  of  a  part  of  the  defences,  and  the 
garrison    could    see  no    hope   of   holding   out    much 


THE  SIEGE  OF  1683   BY  THE  TURKS.        179 

longer.  Day  after  day  Count  Starhemberg  mounted 
to  the  summit  of  the  Cathedral  tower  to  gaze  off  to 
the  northwest,  in  the  direction  from  which  the  hoped- 
for  succor  was  to  arrive.  The  Emperor,  having  sent 
urgent  messages  to  John  Sobieski  that  the  Imperial 
troops  had  assembled,  and  only  awaited  his  leader- 
ship to  attack  the  enemy,  he,  with  a  small  force,  made 
a  series  of  forced  marches  across  Silesia  and  Moravia, 
reaching  Tulln,  only  to  find  the  bridge  unfinished  and 
the  promised  army  to  consist  of  nothing  but  the 
detachment  of  cavalry  under  the  Duke  of  Lorraine. 
There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  await  the  arrival  of 
his  own  army,  which  was  coming  by  a  longer  route, 
and  the  German  contingents,  then  assembling  at  dif- 
ferent points.  Then  came  the  urgent  messages  from 
Starhemberg,1  describing  the  desperate  straits  to  which 
the  garrison  was  reduced,  and  Sobieski  determined  to 
make  the  advance  at  once. 

It  is  said  that  Starhemberg,  now  well-nigh  dis- 
tracted, spent  the  entire  night  (September  11,  1683) 
on  the  bench  in  the  Cathedral  tower.  Everything  had 
much  the  same  appearance  as  usual.  The  moon,  flood- 
ing the  slopes  of  Heligenstadt  and  Xussdorf,  showed 
only  the  white  tents  of  the  encamped  host.  From 
time  to  time  the  stillness  was  broken  by  the  voices  of 
the  Turkish  sentinels,  posted  on  the  Burg  bastion, 
captured  by  them  some  days  before.  Finally,  day 
broke,  and  as  the  gray  light  turned  to  pink  and  crept 

*See  p.  141. 


180  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE 

slowly  around  the  horizon,  Starhemberg  suddenly 
leaped  to  his  feet,  and  throwing  his  body  across  the 
led^e,  strained  his  eves  off  to  where  the  broad  bosom 
of  the  Danube  shone  like  a  silver  band.  Between  it 
and  him  lay  the  Kahlenberg,  and  now,  as  the  light 
grew  stronger,  all  further  uncertainty  vanished.  The 
Christian  standards  could  plainly  be  descried,  floating 
from  its  heights.  The  Governor,  whose  courage  and 
endurance  had  never  flinched  during  the  terrible  eight 
weeks  that  the  siege  had  lasted,  leaped  on  the  bench 
which  had  been  the  scene  of  his  weary  vigils,  and, 
waving  his  sword  in  the  air,  shouted,  in  a  voice  that 
echoed  below  in  the  narrow,  deserted  streets,  "  To 
arms!  We  are  saved!" — then  flung  himself  down 
the  narrow  stair,  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
men. 

In  the  meantime  John  Sobieski,  accompanied  by  his 
son,  was  attending  mass,  celebrated  in  the  Leopoldsberg 
chapel  by  Marco  Aviano,  the  Commander's  Capuchin 
confessor.  After  the  mass  James  Sobieski  was  knighted 
by  his  father.  The  other  leaders  were  Charles  of  Lor- 
raine, the  Elector  of  Saxony,  the  Margrave  Louis  of 
Baden,  Count  Sylvanus  Caprara,  the  Prince  of  Salm, 
and  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  not  yet  twenty  years  of 
age,  and  about  to  take  part  in  his  first  engagement. 
It  was  owing  to  the  refusal  of  Louis  XIV.  to  give 
him  a  command  that  he  had  taken  service  with  the 
House  of  Habsburg. 

Five  guns  gave  the  signal  for  the  attack,  and  the 


THE  TUEKISH  DEFEAT  BEFORE  VIENNA.     181 

Christian  host,  pouring  down  the  slopes  of  the  sur- 
rounding hills,  fell  upon  the  Mussulmans  at  a  point  on 
the  Danube  near  Xussdorf.  The  battle  lasted  nearly 
all  day,  but  as  evening  approached  the  Turks  became 
panic-stricken  and  fled  in  great  disorder.  The  next 
morning  their  camp  was  taken  possession  of  by  the 
victors,  and  an  extraordinary  amount  of  booty  found. 
John  Sobieski,  to  whom  were  assigned  the  tents  of  the 
Vizier  Kara  Mustapha,  found  these  filled  with  all  man- 
ner of  valuable  articles,  gold  and  silver  ornaments, 
jewels,  provisions,  rich  trappings,  silk  standards  and 
hangings,  besides  large  sums  of  money.  Writing  an 
account  of  the  battle  to  his  wife,  he  adds,  "And  I 
shall  not  be  met  with  the  reproach  of  the  Tartar  wives, 
'  You  are  not  a  man,  because  you  have  come  back  with- 
out booty/  for  the  Grand  Vizier  has  left  me  his  heir, 
and  I  inherit  millions  of  ducats." 

The  Emperor's  ingratitude  to  the  valiant  Pole  was 
so  marked  as  to  cause  the  greatest  dissatisfaction  among 
the  Viennese  people,  who  naturally  contrasted  their 
salvation  by  him  with  their  desertion  at  the  hands  of 
their  sovereign.  Leopold  entered  the  city  on  the  14th, 
in  solemn  pomp,  by  the  same  gate  —  the  Stuben  — 
through  which  he  had  fled  so  shamelessly.  Proceeding 
to  the  Cathedral,  he  listened  to  the  singing  of  a  Te 
Deum  of  thanksgiving  by  the  Bishop  of  Neustadt,  the 
former  Chevalier  of  Malta,  Leopold  Kolonicz,  who 
had  rendered  the  Governor  invaluable  services  during 
the  siege.     After  the  service  the  Emperor  dined  with 


182  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

the  Electors  of  Bavaria  and  Saxony,  but  he  was  much 
troubled  as  to  how  he  ought  to  receive  Sobieski.  An 
Emperor  could,  it  seems,  give  his  hand  to  a  hereditary 
King,  but  for  an  elective  King,  particularly  for  one 
who  had  just  given  you  back  your  capital,  there  was 
no  precedent.  It  was  finally  decided  that  the  meeting 
should  take  place  on  horseback,  so  that  there  might 
be  no  question  of  hand-shaking.  But  the  Emperor's 
stiff,  haughty  demeanor  towards  the  troops,  as  well  as 
towards  their  General,  offended  every  one.  Neither 
Sobieski  nor  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  received  any  credit 
or  compensation  for  the  great  services  they  had  ren- 
dered, and  both  made  the  filthy  and  unsanitary  condi- 
tion of  the  camp  vacated  by  the  Turks  an  excuse  to 
withdraw  from  Vienna  with  their  men.  The  attitude 
of  Leopold  towards  them  was  attributed  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Jesuits,  who  dreaded  the  anti-Spanish 
influence  such  popular  heroes  might  be  expected  to 
exert.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  the  Emperor's 
personal  jealousy  entered  largely  into  it  as  well. 

Count  Starhemberg  and  Bishop  Kolonicz  fared  better. 
The  former  was  made  Field-Marshal,  Minister  of  State 
and  member  of  the  Aulic  Council,  besides  receiving 
some  valuable  presents.  The  collar  of  the  Golden 
Fleece  was  sent  to  him  by  the  King  of  Spain,  and  a 
letter  of  congratulation  by  the  Pope ;  and  he  was, 
moreover,  authorized  to  introduce  into  his  armorial 
bearings  the  spire  of  St.  Stepha n's,  a  wall  and 
the   letter  L,  as  being  the  initial   letter  of  Leopold. 


VIEW   FROM  ST.  STEPHAN'S  TOWER.         183 

To  the  Bishop  was  given  some  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ment. 

It  was  from  the  same  tower  of  St.  Stephan's  that 
the  Viennese  watched  the  approach  of  the  French 
army  in  the  campaign  of  1805.  After  the  surrender 
of  General  Mack  at  Ulm,  the  surrender  of  Archduke 
Ferdinand  at  Nordlingen,  and  the  retreat  of  the 
Russian  forces,  the  road  to  Vienna  was  left  free. 
Murat  and  Lannes  accordingly  marched  in  and  took 
possession  of  the  capital  in  November.  A  few  weeks 
later  Napoleon  won  his  brilliant  victory  at  Austerlitz, 
ami  this  was  followed  by  the  peace  of  Prcssburg,  with 
its  humiliating  concessions.  Austria  ceded  something 
like  twenty  provinces,  besides  paying  an  enormous 
money  indemnity.  Napoleon  then  withdrew  his  forces, 
and  the  Emperor  Francis  entered  his  capital. 

Perched  upon  the  summit  of  this  historic  tower,  the 
noises  of  the  city  rise  like  the  roar  of  the  surf.  The 
tower,  like  a  mighty  cliff,  rears  itself  above  the 
crowded  sea  of  roofs  and  gables,  whose  pointed  crests 
are  not  unlike  the  caps  of  turbulent  waves.  Here 
and  there  a  long  stream  of  smoke,  issuing  from  some 
factory,  might  indicate  a  steamboat  lying  at  anchor, 
while  the  snowy  lines  of  the  suburbs  suggest  ranges 
of  spray-tossed  breakers. 

As  one's  gaze  sweeps  the  horizon  to  the  northeast,  in 
search  of  the  shores  of  this  mighty  sea,  it  embraces 
first  the  plains  of  Hungary,  then  Galicia,  and  loses 
itself   in    the   defiles   of   the   Carpathian   Mountains. 


184  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

There  are  those  vine-clad  slopes,  at  whose  feet  flows 
the  Danube. 


"  Crown  with  a  branch  of  the  vine 
This  lovely  daughter  of  the  Magyar  land. 
Vine  and  poet  have  the  same  vocation — 
Vine  and  poet  give  their  souls  to  the  world. 
Wine  is  the  soul  of  the  vine ; 
Song  is  the  soul  of  the  poet." 

What  pictures  the  mind  conjures  up,  as  one  traces 
the  track  of  the  Danube,  flowing  down  from  its  source, 
at  the  edge  of  the  Black  Forest,  to  empty  itself  into 
the  Black  Sea !  After  the  Volga,  it  is  the  largest  and 
most  powerful  river  in  Europe,  and  its  importance  for 
Austria  and  Germany  can  hardly  be  over-estimated, 
for  it  is  their  hijjliwav  of  communication  with  the 
East.  In  Roman  times  it  was  one  of  the  frontiers 
of  the  Empire ;  its  further  banks  were  covered  with 
unexplored  forests  and  inaccessible  mountains.  Tra- 
jan's conquests  in  the  Carpathians  were  accounted 
among  the  most  striking  indications  of  the  all-embrac- 
ing power  of  the  Roman  arms.  Later,  the  character 
of  the  Danube  changed.  No  longer  a  frontier,  it 
became  the  great  highway,  by  which  the  nations 
advanced  westward  or  were  swept  back  to  the  East. 
Huns  and  Avars  appear  on  the  Danube,  and  after 
them  Slavs,  Magyars,  Turk-,  take  the  same  route. 
Charles  the  Great  leads  his  victorious  Franks  and 
Bavarians,    the    colonizers    of     Austria,    along    the 


THE  KIVEK  DANUBE.  185 

Danube ;  Crusaders,  bound  for  Constantinople,  and 
those  armies  of  more  recent  date  which  have  driven 
back  the  Mussulmans,  all  pass  up  and  down  the  same 
mighty  stream,  wThile  its  waters  have  time  and  again 
served  as  a  roadway  for  the  armies  of  France. 

Even  more  important,  though,  have  been  its  func- 
tions as  a  highway  of  commerce  and  industry. 
Before  artificial  means  of  communication  had  been 
opened,  the  entire  trade  of  southern  Germany  passed 
up  and  down  this  natural  road ;  a  large  population 
settled  on  its  banks,  and  towns  and  villages  multi- 
plied rapidly  in  its  valley.  When  the  Germans  and 
Magyars  gained  possession  of  the  river,  they  secured 
to  themselves  the  certainty  of  a  powerful  empire. 
Masters  of  the  Danube,  it  did  not  take  long  for  the 
Austrians  to  possess  themselves  of  the  Alpine  range, 
the  great  natural  fortress  of  Europe,  whose  situation 
makes  it  equally  valuable  either  for  attack  or  for 
defence.  In  Roman  times  only  the  upper  part  of  the 
river  was  called  Danubius,  the  lower  waters  going  by 
the  name  of  the  Ister. 

In  proportion  as  the  river-bank  is  left  behind,  the 
aspect  of  the  country  becomes  more  and  more  wild 
and  forbidding.  To  the  golden  stretch  of  the  harvest- 
fields  succeed  immense  plains  of  monotonous,  gray, 
mournful  steppes — regions  still  unknown  and  mys- 
terious. 

These  are  the  pouslas  or  Hungarian  steppes,  through 
which  the  traveler  will  sometimes  journey  for  whole 


186  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

days  together  without  encountering  a  single  human 
habitation.  This  is  the  land  of  independence,  the 
country  of  John  Hunyade  and  Matthias  Corvin.  As 
early  as  1222  Hungary  became  a  constitutional  mon- 
archy; it  survived  the  Mongol  invasion  of  twenty  years 
later,  and  successfully  resisted  the  encroachments  of 
Austria  for  three  hundred  years ;  and  it  was  only 
after  the  Turkish  victory  of  1526  that  the  kingdom 
fell  to  piece?. 

Beyond  Hungary,  in  the  extreme  northeast  corner 
of  the  empire,  is  Galicia,  the  largest  of  the  crown 
lands,  whose  official  name  is  "  The  Kingdom  of 
Galicia  and  Lodomeria,  with  the  Grand  Dnehy  of 
Cracow."  During  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  the  subject 
of  constant  disputes  between  Poland  and  Hungary, 
now  coming  under  the  dominion  of  one  of  these  coun- 
tries, and  then  of  the  other.  Religion  has  always 
played  a  part  in  the  struggles  of  this  province,  the 
Poles  of  the  western  district?  belonging  to  the  faith 
of  Rome,  the  Ruthenians  of  the  east  to  the  Orthodox 
Greek  Church.  As  early  as  the  middle  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  Daniel  of  Lodomeria  applied  to  Inno- 
cent IV.  for  aid  against  his  Hungarian  rival,  and 
allowed  himself  to  receive  his  crown  at  the  hands  of 
a  Papal  Legate;  but  Innocent  having  failed  to  do  all 
that  was  expected  of  him.  the  Prince  returned  to  his 
former  faith,  and  to-day  a  Roman  Catholic  Ruthenian 
finds  it  extremely  difficult  to  join  the  Greek  Church,  a 
political  significance  being  attached  to  such  a  st?p,  in 


BOHEMIA- JOHN   ZIZKA.  187 

consequence  of  the  well-known  inclination  of  the 
Ruthenians  towards  Russia.  The  Poles;  on  the  con- 
trary, find  in  Galicia  a  congenial  atmosphere.  "  It  is 
the  only  country/'  said  one  of  their  statesmen,  "  where 
we  can  still  think,  talk  and  act  as  Poles."  It  was,  in 
fact,  only  in  1772  that  Maria  Theresa  detached  the 
country  from  the  Polish  Republic,  in  virtue  of  cer- 
tain rights  claimed  by  her  as  Queen  of  both  Bohemia 
and  Hungary ;  while,  should  war  ever  break  out 
between  Austria  and  Russia,  Galicia  would  undoubt- 
edly be  the  chief  scene  of  battle,  as  the  sympathy 
between  the  Ruthenians  and  their  brother  Russians  is 
open  and  avowed. 

Off  to  the  northwest  lies  Bohemia,  the  scene  of 
that  long  and  obstinate  struggle  for  freedom  of  con- 
science associated  with  the  honored  names  of  John 
Huss,  Jerome  of  Prague,  and  John  Zizka.  The  last 
was  a  national  hero,  the  friend  and  favorite  of  King 
Wenceslaus.  Taking  some  vague  observations  made 
by  the  King  more  seriously  than  they  were  intended, 
the  fiery  patriot  started  a  religious  war.  National 
and  political  complications  soon  arose,  and  the  whole 
country  became  involved.  Fire  and  the  sword  marked 
the  route  of  the  patriots,  for  Zizka  was  not  always 
able  to  curb  the  fierce  spirits  whom  religious  and  politi- 
cal persecutions  and  the  constantly  recurring  treachery 
of  the  nobles  to  the  national  cause  had  let  loose.  A 
more  than  doubtful  tradition  tells  that,  when  he  had 
become  totally  blind,  as  the  result  of  losing  an  eye  in 


188  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

the  attack  on  the  Castle  of  Rabi,  in  the  campaign  of 
1421,  he  caused  a  Roman  Catholic  priest  to  be  brought 
to  him,  for  the  pure  pleasure  of  knocking  him  over 
the  head.  Another  anecdote  relates  that  he  directed 
his  followers  to  strip  his  body  after  death  and  use  the 
skin  for  a  drum,  with  which  to  arouse  his  fellow- 
countrymen  to  fight  for  the  cause  of  liberty.  His 
was  a  character  typically  Slav,  extraordinarily  brave, 
simple  and  unpretending,  but  fanatical.  The  feeling 
he  inspired  in  his  men  may  best  be  understood  from 
the  fact  that,  after  his  death,  they  dubbed  themselves 
"  The  Orphans." 

Bohemia  is  a  kingdom,  but  it  is  not  as  independ- 
ent as  Hungary.  With  the  exceptions  of  Joseph  II. 
and  the  present  Emperor,  the  Austrian  sovereigns 
have  uudergone  the  ceremony  of  coronation  as 
Kings  of  Bohemia  in  the  Prague  Cathedral,  swear- 
ing to  preserve  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  king- 
dom. The  Czech  portion  of  the  inhabitants  value 
this  ceremony  very  highly,  as  sustaining  their  claims 
to  an  independent  government ;  but,  as  a  fact,  though 
allowed  a  separate  Diet,  they  are  obliged  to  send  rep- 
resentatives to  the  Reichsrath  at  Vienna,  of  which 
the  Hungarian  parliament  is  entirely  independent. 

To  the  south  float  the  vaporous  outlines  of  the 
Styrian  mountains,  beyond  which  lie  the  Tyrolese 
Alps,  the  two  forming  a  sort  of  double  line  of  ram- 
parts. 

The  Tvrol !     Who  does  not  know  the  Brittauv  of 


Elizabeth— Brucke 


TYROL— ANDREAS  HOFER.  189 

Austria,  with  its  proud  and  warlike  people — poetic, 
industrious  and  intrepid? 

Tyrolese  singers  abound  all  over  Germany  ;  Tyrol- 
ese  songs  are  heard  in  every  part  of  the  world.  It  is 
a  land  of  beauty  and  of  plenty,  too,  where  the  peas- 
ant, dwelling  in  the  shadow  of  his  glorious  mountains, 
is  still  able  to  maintain  himself  in  comfort,  and  the 
huntsman  can  still  hope  to  find  sufficient  game  to 
repay  him  for  his  perilous  expeditions. 

Tyrol  has  formed  a  part  of  the  hereditary  dominions 
of  the  Archdukes  of  Austria  ever  since  the  Countess 
Margaret — Die  Maultasche — having  married  for  her 
second  husband  Louis  of  Brandenburg,  made  over  all 
her  possessions  to  the  House  of  Habsburg,  on  the 
death  of  her  son,  Meinhard  III.,  in  1363.  Twice 
since  then  Tyrol  has  been  attached  for  brief  periods 
to  Bavaria.  First,  after  the  peace  of  Pressburg,  in 
1805  ;  but  four  years  later  the  inhabitants  took  advan- 
tage of  the  fresh  breaking  out  of  war  between  France 
and  Austria,  to  drive  out  the  Bavarians.  For  a  year, 
under  the  leadership  of  Andreas  Hofer,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  keeping  the  French,  Bavarian  and  Saxon 
forces  at  bay,  but  the  treaty  of  Schonbrunn  again 
handed  them  over  to  Bavarian  rule.  After  Napoleon's 
downfall,  however,  Tyrol 'onca  more  reverted  to  Aus- 
tria, which  has  retained  it  ever  since. 

What  a  wonderful  impression  one  receives,  standing 
thus  on  the  summit  of  St.  Stephan's  Tower,  and  taking 
a  mental  bird's-eye  view  of  the  Austrian  Empire !    It  is 


190  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE 

as  though  one  were  perched  on  the  top  of  a  lighthouse, 
in  the  midst  of  an  archipelago,  whose  every  island 
belonged  to  a  separate  country.  As  the  mind  pene- 
trates far  beyond  the  limits  of  mere  sight,  and  mar- 
shals one  after  another  those  provinces  of  varied  and 
once-conflicting  nationalities,  religions,  tongues ;  of 
opposing  habits  of  life  and  government ;  finding  in 
each  a  marvelous  vitality  and  individuality,  while  yet 
they  are  bound  together  in  one  political  whole — one 
cannot  refrain  from  -peculating  upon  the  future  of 
the  Empire. 

The  problem  of  its  continuance  is  so  intricate,  so 
many  questions  ethnographical,  geographical,  philo- 
logical, national  and  political  are  involved,  that  even 
the  most  tar-sighted  hesitate  to  launch  into  prophecy. 
Not  the  least  factor  in  the  complicated  relations  of  the 
various  units  that  go  to  make  up  the  Empire  lies 
in  the  fact  that  the  religions  and  nationalities  are 
all  inextricably  interlaced  geographically,  while  the 
races  are  split  up  by  differences  of  religion,  language 
and  policy.  The  Germans  are  settled  in  large 
numbers  in  Transylvania,  in  Moravia,  in  Bohemia, 
and  in  Silesia  ;  the  Hungarians  do  not  confine  them- 
selves to  Hungary,  but  have  spread  into  Austria, 
being  especially  numerous  in  Vienna  ;  the  Poles,  who 
are  Slavs  quite  as  truly  as  are  the  Hungarians,  speak 
a  different  language,  and  are  not  politically  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  latter  ;  the  Puthenians,  also  Slavs, 
are  opposed  to  both  Poles  and  Hungarians,  and  differ 


VARIOUS  STATES  AND  RACES  IX  AUSTRIA.     191 

from  them  in  religion  and  language;  the  Croatians, 
Slavs  as  well,  hold  aloof  from  all  the  others,  while  all 
combine  in  looking  down  upon  the  Slavonians,  and 
it  is  significant  that  when  a  Pan-Slavonic  Congress  is 
held,  the  delegates  are  obliged  to  meet  on  a  common 
ground  of  the  German  language. 

"Xow,  complicated  as  the  problem  already  is,  it 
would  be  relatively  simple  if  political  parties  ran  par- 
allel with  these  national  fragments.  But  this  is  very 
far  from  being  the  case.  It  by  no  means  follows  that 
because  a  man  is  a  Czech,  he  is  also  a  partisan  of 
Federalism  and  a  hater  of  the  Germans ;  he  may  be 
a  Clerical,  or  he  may  be  a  Social  Democrat.  In  like 
manner,  a  German  may  be  an  enemy  of  the  German 
party,  because  he  happens  to  be  a  Conservative,  a 
Clerical,  or  an  anti-Semite.  The  Serbs  and  Croatians 
are  not  only  one  and  the  same  race,  but  they  speak 
the  same  language ;  yet  they  hate  each  other  because 
they  are  members  of  different  churches.  The  Ger- 
mans, as  we  saw,  instead  of  presenting  a  united  front 
to  the  enemy,  are  split  up  into  half  a  dozen  political 
fractions,  who  breathe  fire  and  flame  against  one 
another.  And  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  chapter  :  the 
threads  become  hopelessly  entangled  and  confusion 
worse  confounded."1 

This  writer  finds  the  only  solution  of  the  problem 
to  lie  in  a  sweeping  reform  in  the  system  of  parlia- 

1 "  Breaking  Up  of  the  Austrian   Empire." — X.  E.  Prorok,  Con- 
temporary Review,  1S98. 


192  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

mentary  representation,  by  which  the  Austrian  peoples 
could  make  their  voices  heard  in  Parliament.  His 
belief  is  that  "  from  the  day  on  which  Anstrian  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  ceased  to  represent  the  few,  and 
came  as  spokesmen  of  the  masses,  the  conflict  of  rival 
nationalities,  and  the  struggle  between  Centralists  aud 
Federalists,  would  vanish  as  by  the  waving  of  a  ma- 
gician's wand.  ...  If  democratic  Switzerland  can 
exist  and  prosper,  despite  its  heterogeneous  elements, 
a  democratic  Austria   would   have  equal  chances  of 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Manoeuvres  on  the  Drill-Grounds — The  Austrian  is  a  Good  Soldier 
— Koeniggreetz — The  Array  :  Its  Origin — The  Imperial  Array — 
Characteristics  of  the  Imperialists — Army  Reorganization  in 
1868— Law  of  Recruitment— The  Landsturm — The  Battle  of 
Custozza — Archduke  Albert — General  Uchatius — The  Uchatius 
Gun — Imperial  Arsenal — Simplicity  of  General  Uchatius's 
Quarters — Character  of  the  Man — His  Struggles  and  Final 
Triumph — Prussia's  Spy  System — The  Army  Museum — Inter- 
esting Relics — Prince  Eugene — Gustavus  Adolphus — Pappen- 
heim— Wallenstein — His  Career,  Assassination — Anecdote  of 
his  Recovery  from  an  Illness. 

The  drill-grounds  in  and  near  Vienna  are  a  never- 
failing  attraction  for  all  the  idlers  of  the  capital,  and 
for  many  busy  people  as  well.  Around  the  gates  a 
crowd  of  sight-seers  is  always  gathered,  watching 
the  manoeuvres.  Now  the  line  of  soldiers,  clad  in 
neat,  dark  uniforms,  dash  forward  at  charge  bayo- 
nets— it  has  been  said  that  the  secret  of  warfare 
lies  in  the  legs — then  they  deploy  with  quick,  alert 
movements  in  a  long  line  of  skirmishers.  No  mili- 
tary man  could  fail  to  admire  the  unison  of  their 
movements  and  the  rapidity  with  which  even  the 
young  recruits  catch  the  meaning  of  the  slightest 
gesture  of  their  superior. 

The  Austrian  is,  in  fact,  an  admirable  soldier;  he 
13  193 


194  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

has  never  sustained  any  but  an  honorable  defeat,  and 
has  contrived  to  put  up  a  good  fight  with  whatever 
weapons  and  ammunition  he  may  chance  to  have. 
The  Hungarians  have  fought  with  clubs,  and  the 
Wallachians  of  Transylvania  with  pebbles.  At  Sol- 
ferino,  when  Baron  Culoz's  regiment  had  exhausted 
their  supply  of  cartridges,  they  *  gathered  up  stones, 
and,  like  the  Swiss  at  Saint  Jacques,  with  such  ammu- 
nition tried  to  repulse  the  assault  of  the  French.  A 
division  of  the  Austrian  army,  which  was  reduced  to 
similar  straits  at  Kceniggrastz,  charged  a  squadron  of 
Prussian  cuirassiers  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  and 
forced  them  to  retreat.  When  this  battle  was  over, 
the  Prussian  general,  Steinmetz,  said  to  a  number  of 
Austrian  press  correspondents,  assembled  in  an  inn 
near  by,  "Gentlemen,  when  your  troops  return,  you 
will  do  well  to  spare  them  anything  like  reproaches. 
AVe  have  been  confronted  to-day  by  brave  men,  who 
fought  us  for  three  hours  without  flinching.  AVe  had 
almost  lost  the  day,  when,  through  a  mistake  of  your 
left  wing,  we  saw  our  opportunity  and  fell  upon  your 
rear.  It  was  that  that  gave  us  the  victory ;  and  I 
may  as  wTell  tell  you  frankly  that  we  suffered  more 
from  your  artillery  than  you  did  from  ours." 

The  army  is  indeed  older  than  the  monarchy,  and 
is  not  of  Austrian  origin,  being  an  outgrowth  of  the 
landskmokt  (the  early  German  infantry)  of  Maxi- 
milian, of  Charles  V.,  and  of  Ferdinand  L,  recruited 
from  the  various  countries  which  were  once  grouped 


THE  IMPERIAL  ARMY.  195 

around  Austria.  In  the  sixteenth  century  it  was 
composed,  for  the  most  part,  of  mercenaries,  gathered 
in  from  Italy,  Spain,  Burgundy,  Wallachia  and  Croa- 
tia ;  but  the  kernel  was  still  composed  of  the  German 
element,  as  can  be  seen  by  the  names  of  the  leaders 
of  that  period.  Under  Rudolph  II.,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  earliest  perma- 
nent regiments  were  formed,  though  even  these  owed 
their  first  allegiance  to  their  immediate  chiefs,  and 
could  be  transferred  by  them  at  will  to  service  under 
some  other  Power.  Finally,  under  Wallenstein,  an 
Imperial  army  was  raised,  whose  members  owed  duty 
only  to  the  sovereign,  and  from  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  (1618-1648)  really  dates  the  Austrian  army. 

This  Imperial  army  was  made  up,  like  everything 
else,  of  good  and  bad  qualities.  Composed  of  widely 
opposed  elements,  its  officers  differed  from  one  an- 
other, not  only  in  origin,  but  in  training  and  prin- 
ciples, and  preserved  much  of  the  pride  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  earlier  landsknecht.  The  severe  dis- 
cipline of  the  Prussian  army  was  unknown,  and  they 
were  divided  on  questions  of  politics.  Each  regiment 
took  good  care  to  have  at  Vienna  an  agent  or  repre- 
sentative of  some  sort,  whose  duty  it  was  to  look  out 
for  its  interests  and  obtain  the  good-will  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. The  officers  were  constantly  talking  of 
their  rights,  but  never  of  their  duties.  The  battalion 
commanders  acted  each  as  he  thought  best,  and  criti- 
cised their  superiors  freely ;  while  the  Commander-in- 


196  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Chief  did  not  by  any  means  always  obey  the  orders 
he  received  from  Vienna.  An  army  so  disorganized 
and  imperfect  could  hardly  be  expected  to  hold  its 
own,  and  to  protect  the  old  German  Empire  in  its 
death  struggle. 

They  were  cheerful  souls,  those  men  who  made  up 
the  old  Imperial  army,  gay,  careless  of  the  future, 
ready  to  accept  whatever  the  day  might  bring  forth. 
Look  at  them  as  depicted  in  some  of  the  old  engrav- 
ings. A  party  of  "  Kaiserliehen,"  encamped  on  the 
borders  of  a  stream,  at  the  edge  of  the  forest ;  one 
roasts  some  geese  (stolen  from  a  neighboring  farmyard \ 
which  he  has  spitted  on  his  ramrod ;  others  play  at 
cards,  while  others  lie  about  on  the  ground  asleep,  or 
day-dreaming.  The  air  seems  to  resound  with  the 
noise  of  song  and  laughter.  They  look  forward  to  the 
day  of  battle  as  to  some  fete ;  everything  recalls  the 
picturesque  tableau  of  Wallenstein's  camp,  so  happily 
rendered  by  Schiller.  The  military  spirit  was  a  per- 
sonal matter,  manifesting  itself  in  the  individual  sol- 
dier. Comradeship  was  held  a  sacred  duty,  and  the 
bearing  of  the  leaders  towards  their  subordinates  bor- 
dered on  familiarity.  Beneath  those  tattered  old 
uniforms,  exposed  to  the  sun  and  rain  of  so  many 
different  lands,  there  breathed  a  sense  of  personal 
dignity  that  the  most  disastrous  defeats  had  no  power 
to  extinguish.  A  German  writer  has  said  that  the 
Imperialists,  had  they  been  better  officered,  would 
have  been  invincible. 


ARMY  REORGANIZATION  IN    1S6S.  197 

Their  name — Kaiserlichen — of  which  they  were  im- 
mensely proud,  gave  them  a  sense  of  being  individu- 
ally attached  to  the  person  of  the  Emperor ;  and  they 
considered  themselves,  moreover,  the  greatest  military 
body  in  Christendom.  At  the  battle  of  Fleurus  (1794), 
when  the  Prince  of  Coburg  commanded  General  Juos- 
donowich  to  withdraw,  the  latter,  trembling  with  rage 
and  mortification,  planted  his  sword  in  the  ground, 
and  shouted  aloud  that  the  army  had  been  betrayed — 
victory  was  being  repulsed  at  the  very  moment  when 
she  was  smiling  and  beckoning  them  on.  "  Farewell 
to  Austria's  beautiful  Belgium !  The  House  of  Habs- 
burg  will  know  it  no  more ! " 

The  Austrian  army  has  had  much  to  suffer  from  the 
fatuous  practice  of  appointing  officers  from  among  men 
of  good  birth,  without  regard  to  their  military  capacity. 
In  1850  there  were  five  Archdukes,  two  Landgraves, 
twenty-four  Princes,  forty-six  Dukes,  and  eighty-six 
Counts  holding  military  rank  in  Austria. 

The  unsuccessful  Avar  with  Prussia  in  1866,  and  the 
new  Constitution  of  the  following  year,  resulted,  how- 
ever, in  the  complete  reorganization  of  the  army. 
The  law  of  recruitment  dates  from  1868.  It  makes  all 
men  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  thirty-six  liable 
to  military  service.  The  term  is  twelve  years,  three 
with  the  colors,  seven  in  the  reserves  and  two  in  the 
Landwehr.  Nine  thousand  of  the  men  in  excess  of 
the  actual  budget  are  drafted  into  the  "  Reserve  of 
Recruitment,"  where  they  receive  military  instruction 


198  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

during  a  period  of  eight  weeks.  The  third  part  of 
the  contingent  is  drafted  directly  into  the  Landwehr 
for  twelve  years,  and  every  two  years  they  undergo 
three  weeks  of  battalion  manoeuvres.  Thus  the  Aus- 
trian army  may  be  divided  into  two  classes — the  first 
composed  of  men  whose  training  is  completed,  and 
the  second  of  those  with  whom  it  has  only  been 
roughly  outlined.  The  two  represent  an  effective 
force  which  may  be  mobilized  at  any  time  of  about 
871,000  men.  As  in  case  of  war  Germany  can 
give  her  army  12  per  cent,  of  her  population, 
Russia  10  per  cent.,  and  France  9.6  per  cent.,  while 
Austro-Hungary  furnishes  only  3.8  per  cent.,  the 
project  of  the  Landsturm  |  Levy-in-mass)  was  brought 
before,  and  voted  upon,  by  the  two  Parliaments, 
Austrian  and  Hungarian,  in  1886.  It  includes 
every  man  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-two 
years  not  already  connected  with  some  other  branch 
of  the  service,  and  all  officers  who  have  either  retired 
or  resigned.  It  is  composed  of  two  classes.  The 
younger  men  (to  the  age  of  thirty-seven)  may,  in  case 
of  need,  be  drafted  into  active  service,  while  the  other 
class  is  to  be  reserved  for  garrison  and  similar  duty. 
By  this  system  the  Government  has  at  its  disposal  about 
four  hundred  thousand  additional  men ;  but  it  is  ques- 
tionable whether  the  men  of  the  Landsturm  can  rightly 
be  reckoned  as  belligerents,  as  they  are  not  obliged  to 
wear  a  uniform,  and  have  no  distinguishing  mark 
other  than   a  "  bras-art."     In    Hungary  and   certain 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CUSTOZZA.  199 

provinces  of  the  Empire,  as  Tyrol,  Vorarlberg,  Bosnia 
and  several  others,  the  organization  differs  in  several 
details. 

Much  has  been  said  of  the  Austrian  cavalry  and 
infantry,  but  the  officers  themselves  recognize  the 
superiority  of  the  Prussian  infantry.  The  course  of 
instruction  provided  for  privates  is  admirable,  but  it 
is  hinted  that  it  is  not  the  same  in  every  regiment,  and 
that  the  men  doing  garrison  duty  in  the  provinces  do 
not  fare  as  well  in  this  respect  as  those  stationed  in  or 
near  Vienna.  Between  1868  and  1878  the  staff 
underwent  a  number  of  reorganizations.  At  that 
time  Baron  Kuhn  and  Baron  Rodich  were  perhaps 
better  fitted  than  any  of  the  other  generals  to  com- 
mand an  army,  except,  of  course,  Archduke  Albert, 
son  of  Archduke  Charles  and  Henrietta,  Princess  of 
Xassau-AVeilbourg. 

Archduke  Albert  was  the  victor  of  Custozza.  On 
the  20th  of  May,  1866,  Italy  and  Prussia  declared  war 
against  Austria.  On  the  23d  the  Italian  army  endeav- 
ored to  occupy  the  strong  positions  on  the  chain  of  hills 
lying  between  Mincio  and  Adigio.  Ignorant  of  the  fact 
that  seventy  thousand  Austrians,  under  Archduke 
Albert,  were  already  entrenched  there  (they  thought  the 
enemy  was  massed  beyond  Adigio),  the  Italians  ad- 
vanced in  three  divisions,  under  Durando,  Cucchiari 
and  Delia  Rocca,  with  such  long  intervals  between 
that  each  division  was  obliged  to  engage  the  enemy 
successively.     Thus,   notwithstanding    their    splendid 


200  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

bravery,  they  were  defeated.  It  was  the  first  battle 
of  the  two  sons  of  Victor  Emmanuel,  both  of  whom 
covered  themselves  with  honor.  Humbert,  then  Prince 
of  Piedmont,  succeeded  in  repulsing  an  attack  of  two 
regiments  of  Uhlans.  Amedeus,  Duke  of  Aosta,  was 
wounded.  The  campaign  ended  with  the  battle  of 
Sadowa,  won  by  the  Prussians  in  Bohemia,  on  the  3d 
of  the  following  July. 

The  influence  of  Archduke  Albert  in  the  army  and 
at  Court  was  unbounded ;  but  he  was  a  very  different 
sort  of  man  from  General  Kuhn,  for  instance,  who 
was  a  progressionist  of  the  most  pronounced  type, 
while  Archduke  Albert  could  never  adopt  a  new  idea 
without  a  struggle.  Xo  one,  however,  could  surpass 
him  in  his  mastery  of  the  art  of  strategy ;  he  could 
take  in  a  situation  at  a  glance,  and  his  judgment  was 
as  clear  and  rapid,  when  formed  amid  the  smoke  and 
din  of  battle  as  on  a  parade  day.  His  quite  extra- 
ordinary knowledge  of  geography  enabled  him  to 
understand  and  weigh  intelligently  all  plans  of  opera- 
tions as  they  were  submitted  to  him,  and  he  had  the 
military  genius  necessary  to  carry  them  out  with  mar- 
velous vigor.  His  officers  stood  in  awe  of  him,  but 
he  was  adored  by  his  men,  and  to  him  Austria  owes 
some  of  her  most  brilliant  victories.  From  1866  to 
1869  he  was  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army,  becom- 
ing afterward  In spector-General.  His  book,  "  Respon- 
sibility  in  War,"  was  widely  read  and  translated  into 
several  foreign  lano;uao;es.    He  died  in  Februarv,  1895. 


GENERAL  UCHATIUS— IMPERIAL  ARSENAL.    201 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  however,  the  most  conspicu- 
ous personality  in  Austrian  military  circles  was  General 
Uchatius,  the  inventor  of  a  gun  that  Avon  him  wide 
celebrity.  He  was  born  in  1811,  entered  the  artillery 
as  a  cadet  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  became  suc- 
cessively officer,  major  and  chief  of  the  department 
for  casting  guns  in  the  arsenal.  In  1867  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  grade  of  General,  and,  after  his  im- 
portant discovery  of  the  bronze-steel  that  goes  by  his 
name,  was  made  Chevalier  and  then  Baron.  It  w7as 
only  after  twenty  years  of  patient  research  that 
General  Uchatius  succeeded  in  producing  a  metal 
combining  the  valuable  qualities  of  lightness,  elasticity 
and  cheapness. 

The  Imperial  Arsenal,  where  General  Uchatius  had 
his  quarters,  was  erected  after  the  revolution  of  1848. 
It  occupies  a  height  lying  to  the  south  of  the  Belve- 
dere, in  the  district  called  Favoriten.  The  buildings 
are  of  brick,  with  stone  dressings ;  casemented  bar- 
racks occupy  the  angles.  The  entrance  is  through  a 
monumental  gateway — the  Commandantur-Gebdude — 
above  which  is  seen  Austria,  surrounded  by  repre- 
sentations of  the  various  handicrafts  which  have  to 
do  with  warfare.  Within  are  a  chapel,  the  Army 
Museum,  a  cannon  foundry,  a  gun  factory,  carpenters' 
yards,  workshops  and  smithies,  and  there  is  also  a 
school  for  cadets. 

The  vast  enclosure,  which  covers  more  than  half  a 
square  mile,  is  like  a  small  walled  town.     There  are 


202  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

rows  of  smoking  chimneys  ;  vehicles  pass  to  and  fro ; 
crowds  of  men — soldiers  and  workmen — stream  in  and 
out  of  the  buildings ;  the  air  is  filled  with  the  hoarse 
breathing  of  the  furnaces  and  the  resounding  blows 
of  the  hammers.  Admission  to  the  foundry  and  cast- 
ing-rooms has  been  absolutely  forbidden  ever  since  a 
Russian  General,  while  visiting  them,  attempted  to 
surprise  the  secret  of  the  construction  of  the  Uchatius 
gun.  He  subsequently  published,  under  his  own  name, 
a  Russian  translation  of  a  pamphlet  written  by  the 
inventor. 

Nothing  more  severely  simple  could  well  be  im- 
agined than  the  apartment  which  served  General 
Uchatius  at  once  as  bed-chamber,  workshop  aud  office. 
A  narrow  iron  bedstead,  furnished  with  tent-like  cur- 
tains, stood  in  one  corner ;  there  was  a  writing-table, 
and  close  to  it  a  globe,  discolored  and  dingy  with  use ; 
and  there  were  some  mounted  photographs  of  the 
General's  only  intimates — guns ;  but  for  articles  of 
luxury,  comfort  even,  there  were  none — not  a  sofa, 
not  an  arm-chair,  not  a  picture.  It  was  like  a  Bene- 
dictine's cell,  and  though  the  occupant  wore  a  beard, 
his  head  was  distinctly  monkish  and  ascetic  in  charac- 
ter. His  face  was  serious,  the  expression  gentle  and 
kindly ;  the  brow,  somewhat  bent  and  melancholy, 
concealed  behind  its  deep  furrows  the  soul  of  a  man 
who  had  struggled  and  suffered.  He  began  with  the 
dregs  of  the  cup.  "  If  it  were  all  to  do  over  again." 
he  once  observed,   in   allusion   to   his   invention.    "  I 


PKUSSIA   BRIBES  ARSENAL  EMPLOYEES.     203 

would  not  have  the  courage  to  undertake  it."  The 
entire  army  was  against  him,  and  the  Viennese  news- 
papers, which  later  could  not  make  enough  of  him,  at 
that  time  made  him  the  butt  for  every  kind  of  ridi- 
cule and  insult.  It  was  only  after  a  series  of  com- 
pletely successful  experiments  that  even  his  friends 
were  convinced.  At  last,  when  the  Government  gave 
him  his  first  order,  a  howl  was  heard  from  Herr  Krupp 
that  he  had  been  robbed !  The  matter  was  brought 
before  the  courts,  and  Uchatius,  completely  vindicated, 
was  enabled  to  issue  triumphant  from  these  final 
trials. 

If  any  proof  were  needed  as  to  the  gun  that  bears 
his  name  being  entirely  his  own  invention,  it  would 
be  found  in  the  great  trouble  taken  by  the  Prussian 
Government  to  discover  the  secret.  Proceedings  were 
instituted  at  Vienna  some  time  in  the  seventies,  and 
conducted  with  closed  doors  (in  order  to  spare  the 
German  Chancellor) ;  for  Prussia,  true  to  her  tradi- 
tional policy,  had  bribed  three  employees  of  the 
Arsenal,  and  obtained  from  them  drawings  of  the 
machinery  used  by  General  Uchatius  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  his  guns. 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  war  with  Austria  was 
already  practically  decided  upon  in  Prussia  when 
King  William  visited  the  Emperor  Franz  Joseph,  at 
Vienna  in  1864,  and  at  the  time — June  of  the  same 
year — when  the  two  sovereigns  met  at  Carlsbad, 
Prussian  officers,  in  the  guise  of  peaceable  citizens, 


204  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

were  flooding  Bohemia.  They  settled  in  the  towns  as 
artists,  professors,  librarians ;  introduced  themselves 
into  castles  as  Verwalter  (manager  or  steward),  on 
farms  as  agriculturists,  and  in  villages  as  photo- 
graphers. In  this  way  the  War  Office  at  Berlin  was 
supplied  with  topographical  plans  of  the  entire  country 
up  to  the  very  gates  of  Vienna — much  superior,  both 
as  to  details  and  accuracy,  to  those  owned  by  the  Aais- 
trians  themselves.  But  better  still,  they  had  found 
means  to  procure  copies  of  all  the  documents  and 
reports  of  the  Austrian  Minister  of  War,  and  even, 
though  it  seems  almost  incredible,  the  military  figures 

©  i  *  © 

destined  for  the  correspondence  of  the  army.  This 
last  achievement  could  not  possibly  have  been  accom- 
plished without  the  connivance  of  some  of  the  subor- 
dinates of  the  bureaus,  probably  placed  there  through 
Prussian  influence.  Moreover,  they  knew  at  Berlin 
every  smallest  detail  of  the  military  organization  of 
Austria,  the  names  of  the  heads  of  the  different 
corps,  the  effective  strength  under  them,  and  the 
resources,  local  or  otherwise,  capable  of  being  utilized 
in  case  of  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities. 

When,  in  1877,  Baron  X ,  attache  of  the  Topo- 
graphical Military  Institute  of  Vienna,  offered  to 
furnish  the  German  Ambassador  with  the  new  plans 
of  mobilization,  the  Prussian  military  attache,  after 
examining  them,  returned  them,  saving  that  he 
"  already  possessed  a  more  complete  set."  Who  does 
not  recall  the  remarkable  revelations  of  the  Drevfus 


THE  AEMY  MUSEUM.  205 

trial,  when  the  ante-chamber  of  the  German  Embassy 
at  Paris  resembled  the  stage  of  a  melodramatic  the- 
atre? Policemen,  villains,  spies,  members  of  the  Secret 
Service  and  other  mysterious  individuals  apparently 
meandered  in  and  out  at  will,  but  were  never  seen  by 
any  chance  when  their  discovery  would  have  inter- 
fered with  the  development  of  the  plot ;  while  the 
German  attache  consistently  hits  upon  the  waste-paper 
basket  as  the  most  suitable  place  in  which  to  secrete 
the  incriminating  document. 

But  to  return  to  the  Vienna  Arsenal.  The  Army 
Museum,  which  faces  the  gateway  and  is  entered  from 
the  court,  is  a  brick  building;  in  highlv  ornate  Roman- 
esque  style.  A  severe  treatment  would  possibly  have 
been  more  consistent  with  its  surroundings  and  pur- 
poses ;  yet  the  general  effect  is  in  itself  extremely 
pleasing.  The  interior  is  excessively  rich.  A  great 
vestibule,  surrounded  by  groups  of  marble  pillars,  is 
lined  with  fifty-six  statues  of  Austrian  heroes ;  while 
the  huge  marble  group  on  the  stair  represents  Austria 
protecting  her  children.  In  the  Ruhmeshalle  and  the 
adjoining  rooms  are  series  of  frescoes,  representing 
scenes  from  Austrian  history.  In  the  weapon  rooms, 
in  addition  to  the  collections  of  arms,  are  many  objects 
of  great  historic  interest,  as  the  sword  and  head-piece 
of  Libussa,  Queen  of  Bohemia  ;  the  sword  of  General 
Mack,  of  whose  futile  plan  to  advance  straight  on 
Paris  from  the  Netherlands,  in  the  spring  of  1794, 
the  French  observed  that  the  Allies  were  always  an 


206  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

idea,  a  year  and  an  army  behind-hand.  There,  too, 
is  a  cuirass,  encrusted  with  gold,  presented  to  the 
Prince  of  Savoy  by  Pope  Innocent  XIII.,  after  the 
victory  of  Zenta  (1697).  The  Pontiff  showed  more 
appreciation  than  the  Emperor  on  this  occasion,  for 
when,  after  annihilating  the  Turkish  army  at  the  cost 
of  only  five  hundred  of  his  own  men,  and  completely 
reducing  Bosnia,  Prince  Eugene  returned  to  Vienna, 
his  sole  reward  consisted  in  a  reproof  for  having 
given  battle  contrary  to  orders.  Close  by  is  a  lock 
of  the  brilliant  young  commander's  hair.  In  the 
same  case  are  two  relics  of  the  battle  of  Liitzen, 
fought  in  November,  1632,  by  the  Imperialists,  com- 
manded by  Wallenstein,  and  the  Swedes,  under  their 
gallant  and  beloved  King,  Gustavus  Adolphus.  The 
first  of  these  relics  is  a  buff  waistcoat,  blood-stained 
and  perforated  with  bullet-holes,  taken  from  the  body 
of  the  Swedish  King,  after  the  battle.  He  was  lead- 
ing the  attack  of  his  cavalry  on  the  right  wing,  when 
word  came  that  his  left  was  falling  back  before  the 
fire  of  the  Imperialists.  He  at  once  galloped  across 
the  field  to  rally  his  men ;  but  while  reeonnoiterirnr 
the  position  of  the  enemy  he  was  mortally  wounded, 
and,  with  the  exclamation,  "  My  God  !  my  God  !"  fell 
from  his  saddle. 

AVallenstein,  when  he  saw  that  the  battle  was  inevit- 
able, had  sent  urgent  orders  recalling  Pappenheim 
from  a  projected  attack  on  Maurieeburgh,  then  held 
by    the    Swedes.     Pappenheim    accordingly   arrived, 


The  Arsenal 


WALLENSTEIN— HIS  CAEEER.  207 

with  eight  regiments  of  cavalry,  and  had  almost 
turned  the  fortunes  of  the  day,  when  his  own  death 
so  disheartened  the  Imperialist  army  that  on  the  ap- 
proach of  night  Wallenstein  was  obliged  to  withdraw 
his  men,  leaving  the  Swedes  masters  of  the  field.  The 
blood-soaked  paper  containing  his  last  orders  to  Pap- 
penheim  was  found  on  the  latter' s  body  after  the  battle, 
and  is  preserved  close  to  the  waistcoat  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus. 

At  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Liitzen,  Wallen stein's 
career  was  fast  drawing  to  a  close. 

Descended  from  an  old  Bohemian  family,  the  birth 
of  this  remarkable  man  took  place  in  1583  on  his 
father's  estates  on  the  Elbe.  He  married  first  a 
wealthy  and  elderly  widow,  whose  entire  fortune  and 
lands  he  inherited  on  her  death  in  1614;  while  his 
second  marriage  to  a  daughter  of  the  powerful  Minis- 
ter, Count  Harrach,  brought  him  into  intimate  rela- 
tions with  the  Court.  The  Emperor  Matthias  died  in 
1619,  and  it  was  under  his  successor,  Ferdinand  II., 
a  son  of  Archduke  Charles  of  Styria  and  Mary  of 
Bohemia,  that  Wallenstein  won  his  brilliant5"  military 
reputation. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1626  the  Emperor  found 
himself  in  urgent  need  of  troops  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  the  House  of  Austria,  and  who  might  be  relied  upon 
to  act  independent  of  the  wishes  and  plans  of  Bavaria 
and  the  League.  Such  a  force,  to  number  about 
thirty-five  thousand  men,  Wallenstein  offered  to  raise, 


208  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

and  to  provide,  moreover,  for  its  equipment  and 
maintenance.  The  offer  was  eagerly  accepted,  and 
Wallenstein  was  given  absolute  authority  to  levy  his 
men  and  appoint  his  officers  without  interference 
from  any  one.  Thus  was  formed  the  famous  army 
with  which,  during  the  three  succeeding  years,  Wal- 
lenstein  won  a  series  of  splendid  victories  for  the 
House  of  Austria.  Then  the  jealous  and  well-founded 
fears  of  the  Princes,  who  saw  their  estates  and  prin- 
cipalities on  the  eve  of  absorption  into  the  Habs- 
burg  dominions,  demanded  the  disgrace  of  the  too 
powerful  General.  Ferdinand,  therefore,  most  unwil- 
lingly signed  the  order  of  dismissal  in  July,  1629,  and 
Wallenstein  withdrew  to  his  Bohemian  estates,  where 
for  several  years  he  lived  in  orreat  magnificence,  main- 
taining  his  vast  establishment  on  a  royal  scale.  Many 
of  his  former  officers,  who  shared  in  his  disgrace,  held 
offices  in  his  household ;  he  had  suites  of  pages,  attend- 
ants and  servants.  A  thousand  horses  were  maintained 
in  his  stables,  and  when  he  traveled  his  suite  num- 
bered a  hundred  carriages. 

In  1630  Gustavus  Adolphus  determined  to  come  to 
the  aid  of  the  oppressed  Protestants  of  Germany,  and 
in  June  of  that  year  he  landed  with  a  considerable 
force  at  Rugen.  By  the  summer  of  1632  his  successes 
had  been  so  remarkable,  and  his  army  had  been  so 
largely  augmented,  that  Ferdinand  found  himself 
seriously  threatened.  Tilly  was  dead,  and  there  was 
but  one  man  who  could  be  counted  upon  successfully 


GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS'S  DEATH.  209 

to  oppose  the  victorious  advance  of  the  Swedish  King; 
that  man  was  Wallenstein.  The  Emperor  accordingly 
sent  him  imploring  messages  to  come  to  his  assistance. 
For  some  time  Wallenstein  held  off,  but  at  length, 
having  obtained  a  promise  of  absolute  supremacy, 
providing  that  not  the  Emperor  himself,  nor  his  son, 
was  to  have  any  control  over  the  government  or  move- 
ments of  the  army,  Wallenstein  agreed  once  more  to 
raise  a  force  and  to  place  himself  at  its  head.  His  first 
encounter  with  Gustavus  Adolphus  occurred  near  Nu- 
remberg, and  resulted  in  victory  for  the  Imperialists^ 
A  few  months  later  the  two  armies  met  again  at  Lutzen, 
when,  as  already  described,  the  Swedes  won  the  battle, 
but  lost  their  leader.  For  a  little  over  a  year  longer 
Wallenstein  remained  at  the  head  of  the  Imperialist 
army;  but  the  Emperor  found  that  in  recalling  him  he 
had  bound  a  heavy  burden  upon  his  own  back.  "  It 
is  as  though  I  had  a  co-rex"  he  declared.  " I  am  not 
free  to  act  as  I  see  fit  in  my  own  dominions."  With 
the  Emperor  in  this  frame  of  mind,  it  was  not  difficult 
for  Wallenstein's  enemies,  with  Maximilian,  the  power- 
ful Elector  of  Bavaria,  at  their  head,  to  procure  his 
downfall — only  this  time  it  was  determined  to  make  it 
final. 

In  February,  1634,  Wallenstein,  who  was  fully  aware 
of  the  plots  against  him,  went  to  Eger,  a  fortress  on 
the  Bohemian  frontier ;  he  had  been  negotiating  with 
both  the  Swedes  and  the  Saxons,  and  on  finding  him- 
self seriously  threatened  at  home,  had,  with  a  view  to 
14 


210  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

his  own  safety,  sent  word  to  the  Duke  of  Weimer  to 
mass  his  troops  on  the  Bohemian  frontier.  Some 
knowledge  of  these  plans  had  come  to  one  Colonel 
Walter  Butler,  an  Irishman,  serving  under  Wallen- 
stein.  This  officer  was  marching  with  his  regiment 
of  dragoons  towards  Prague,  when  he  met  Wallenstein 
on  his  wray  to  Eger,  and  was  ordered  to  turn  and  accom- 
pany the  General.  Circumstances  occurred  on  the 
march  to  strengthen  his  suspicion  that  Wallenstein 
was  meditating  treachery,  and  he  sent  a  message  to 
some  of  his  brother  officers  declaring  that  he  accom- 
panied Wallenstein  under  compulsion,  but  that  it  might 
turn  out  that  his  so  doing  was  "  a  special  providence 
of  God  to  achieve  some  particular  heroic  deed." 

The  commandant  of  the  fortress  of  Eger  was 
John  Gordon,  a  Scotsman.  Another  Scotsman,  named 
Walter  Leslie,  was  a  major  of  cuirassiers,  serving 
under  Adam  Terzka,  a  brother-in-law  of  Wallenstein. 
Terzka's  cuirassiers  had  formed  part  of  the  escort  to 
Eger.  These  three  men,  Leslie,  Gordon  and  Butler, 
now  formed  a  plot  to  assassinate  the  General.  Gordon 
invited  four  officers,  who  were  known  to  be  faithful  to 
Wallenstein,  to  a  supper  in  the  citadel.  As  the  dessert 
was  placed  on  the  table,  a  party  of  dragoons,  under 
another  Irishman  named  Devereux,  was  suddenly 
introduced  into  the  hall.  The  guests  were  surrounded, 
and,  after  a  brief  struggle,  were  all  dispatched.  The 
conspirators  then  proceeded  to  Wallenstein's  apart- 
ments.   He  had  taken  a  bath  and  was  on  the  point  of 


ASSASSINATION  OF   WALLENSTEIN.  211 

getting  into  bed.  Pushing  past  his  valet,  who  was 
bringing  his  master  his  evening  draught  of  beer  in  a 
silver  tankard,  they  burst  into  the  room.  Wallenstein 
was  in  his  shirt,  leaning  against  a  table.  Quite  un- 
armed, he  could  offer  no  resistance,  and  fell  at  the  first 
thrust  of  Devereux's  partisan. 

Wallenstein  was  a  tall,  spare  man,  very  pale,  with 
reddish  hair  and  extraordinarily  brilliant  eyes.  He 
was  all  his  life  greatly  influenced  by  astrology,  and  an 
hour  before  his  death  had  been  consulting  with  the 
famous  astrolger,  Giovanni  Seni,  whose  calculations,  it 
is  said,  warned  him  of  his  impending  danger. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  how  he  once  was  restored 
to  health,  after  a  serious  illness,  by  entrusting  himself 
to  the  ministrations  of  a  former  soldier  of  his  army. 

It  was  in  1626,  when  his  constitution  had  become 
seriously  undermined  by  exposure  in  the  Hungarian 
campaign.  One  stormy  evening  a  carriage  drove 
up  before  the  doors  of  the  Palace  Harrach,  on 
the  Freiung,  in  Vienna,  and  Wallenstein,  desperately 
ill,  was  lifted  out  and  carried  in  on  a  litter. ' 

A  few  days  later  a  common  soldier,  a  Croatian, 
presented  himself  at  the  doors  and  demanded  to  see 
the  General.  He  was  refused,  but  persisted  so  noisily 
that  the  uproar  reached  the  sick  man's  ears,  and  the 
servants  were  obliged  to  explain  the  cause. 

"  Let  him  in,"  said  Wallenstein. 

No  sooner  had  he  set  eyes  on  the  stranger  than  he 
raised  himself  in  bed  and  cried  out : 


212  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

"  Oh,  it  is  you,  is  it — the  Gitschin  rascal !  I  re- 
member you  perfectly." 

Wallenstein  knew  every  soldier  in  his  army,  and 
never  forgot  a  face. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  man,  "  I  am  that  '  Gitschin  brute' ! " 
and  he  came  close  to  the  bedside.  "  General,  this  was 
the  way  of  it.  I  was  drunk,  and  here  you  and  Pap- 
penheim  come  riding  down  the  dirtiest  street  in  all 
Gitschin,  and  I  passed  close  by  you,  with  never  a 
thought  whether  I  splashed  generals  or  only  ordinary 
people.  Then  you  stood  right  up  in  your  stirrups  and 
called  out,  and  your  voice  shook,  you  were  so  angry, 
i  Hang  the  brute  ! '  Faith,  I  didn't  want  to  be  hung, 
so  what  did  I  do  but  fire.  The  ball  must  have  whis- 
tled close  to  your  ear.  And  then  you  just  settled  in 
your  saddle,  and  you  said,  in  the  quietest  way — I  can 
hear  you  now — '  Let  the  brute  go  ! '  General,  you 
spared  my  life  that  day,  and  I  have  come  here  now  to 
save  yours." 

There  was  a  short  pause,  the  two  men  looking  one 
another  steadily  in  the  eve. 

"General,"  said  the  Croatian,  presently,  "don't 
you  believe  all  the  doctors  tell  you.  Sometimes  an 
ignorant  man  like  me  knows  more  than  any  of  them. 
I  know  what  is  the  matter  with  you,  and  I  can  cure 
you." 

"  Are  you  a  sorcerer  ?  " 

"  No,  General,  I  am  not ;  but  I  have  an  old  remedy 
for  your  trouble." 


WALLEXSTEIX'S  RECOVERY  FROM  ILLNESS.  213 

"  I  ask  no  better  than  to  try  it." 

"  Good  !  Then  give  your  people  orders  to  let  me 
into  the  kitchen,  while  I  go  to  buy  some  herbs  that  I 
need.  I  will  prepare  a  medicine;  and  if  you  take  it  I 
will  guarantee  your  recovery.     I  swear  it ! " 

And,  sure  enough,  Wallenstein,  having  faithfully 
followed  the  man's  directions,  was  shortly  completely 
cured. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

The  Hof  burg — Austria  in  Charlemagne's  Time — The  Oslmark — The 
Romans  and  Avars — The  Babenberg  House — Henry  Jasomir- 
gott — The  Duchy — Trade  with  the  East — The  Emperor  Freder- 
ick II.— Otakar  II.  of  Bohemia— Rudolph,  Founder  of  the 
House  of  Habsburg— Early  Adventures — Elected  Emperor — 
Albert  I. — His  Assassination — The  Emperor  Henry  VII. — Sus- 
picious Circumstances  of  his  Death — Albert  II. — Imperial  Dig- 
nity and  the  House  of  Habsburg — Growing  Importance  of 
Vienna— Frederick  III.  Imprisoned  in  the  Hofburg — Matthias 
Corvinus — Maximilian  I. — Marries  Mary  of  BurguuJy — Her 
Death — Greatness  of  Maximilian's  Reign — Aulic  Council — 
Charles  V. — First  Siege  of  Vienna  by  the  Turks — Ferdinand  I. 
— Maximilian  II.— Matthias— The  Court  Established  in  Vienna 
— The  Defenestratio  Pragensis—  The  Thirty  Years'  War — Car- 
dinal Clesel  Seized — Death  of  Matthias — Ferdinand  II. — A 
Religious  Emperor — Protestant  Disturbances — Ferdinand's  Nar- 
row Escape — His  Reign — Impression  Left  on  Vienna — Corpus 
Christi  Procession— The  "Vienna  Chapel" — Ferdinand  III. — 
Vienna  Besieged  by  the  Swe  1— Monument  in  the  Hof— Death 
of  the  Emperor— Leopold  L— Second  Siege  by  the  Turks— The 
Emperor's  Funeral— Joseph  I. — His  Dislike  of  the  Jesuits — 
Dies  of  Small-pox — Treatment  of  the  Disease — Schonbrunu — 
Charles  VI. — His  Antiquarian  Tastes— Fisher  von  Erlach — 
The  Imperial  Library— Prince  Eugene— Builds  the  Belvedere — 
Brilliant  Victories — Life  in  Vienna — Death — The  Hofburg  in 
the  Eighteenth  Century — Etiquette  of  the  Court — The  Empress 
Christina  of  Brunswick — The  Pragmatic  Sanction. 

The  Imperial  Hof  burg,  for  nearly  three  hundred 
years  the  official  residence  of  the  House  of  Austria, 

214 


THE  OSTMAEK  FORMED  INTO  A  DUCHY.     215 

is  an  irregular  agglomeration  of  buildings,  dating  from 
different  periods,  built  in  no  particular  style  and  im- 
posing only  from  its  size.  Around  it,  however,  there 
hovers  a  cloud  of  splendid  memories,  and  every  stone 
speaks  of  a  historic  past. 

The  easternmost  district  of  the  dominions  of  the 
Emperor  Charlemagne  (7G8-814)  was  the  tract  of 
country  lying  between  the  Enns  and  the  Raab.  From 
the  name  Ostmark,  or  Eastern-march,  by  which  it 
came  to  be  called,  is  derived  the  modern  Oesterreich — 
Austria. 

In  the  century  which  followed  that  of  Charle- 
magne's death,  Otho  II.  (973-983)  granted  the  Ost- 
mark to  the  House  of  Babenberg  in  fief.  The  Romans, 
when  they  held  this  territory,  had  built  a  town 
which  they  called  Yindobona,  and  although  there  is 
no  evidence  to  that  effect,  it  is  extremely  probable  that 
the  Avars,  who  succeeded  them,  until  they  were  them- 
selves driven  out  by  Charlemagne,  continued  to  occupy 
this  site.  We  have,  however,  no  actual  account  of 
Vienna  as  a  city  until  the  time  of  the  Babenberg  Duke, 
Henry  II.  (1141-1177),  "  Jasomirgott"  (from  Ja  so 
mir  Gott  helfe,  an  exclamation  that  was  constantly  on 
his  lips).  He  was  a  son  of  the  Margrave  Leopold  V., 
in  whose  time  the  Ostmark,  together  with  Styria  and 
Carniola,  was  formed  into  a  duchy.  By  an  agreement 
made  between  Henry  Jasomirgott  and  the  Emperor 
Barbarossa  the  Ostmark  was  detached  from  Styria  and 
Carniola,  formed  into  a  distinct  duchy,  and  conferred 


216  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

on  Duke  Henry  as  an  inalienable  fief.  On  failure  of 
male  issue  it  was  to  descend  in  the  female  line,  and 
on  failure  of  the  female  line  to  be  disposed  of  by  will. 
These  matters  arranged,  Duke  Henry  established  his 
capital  at  Vienna  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the 
Markgrafenburg,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Hof  burg. 

Vienna  had  by  now  become  a  busy  and  important 
town ;  it  had  several  streets,  two  churches — St. 
Stephanas  and  the  Pfarr  Church,  now  St.  Rupert's — 
a  market-place,  and  a  number  of  shops  and  manufac- 
tories. During  the  period  of  the  Crusades  the  town 
attained  in  fact  a  most  remarkable  growth.  Owing 
to  its  situation  near  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  it 
became  the  centre  of  an  enormous  traffic  with  the 
East,  and  by  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century 
had  grown  to  the  dimensions  of  the  present  Old 
Town. 

In  the  meantime  the  male  descent  from  Henrv 
Jasomirgott  had  failed ;  his  great-grandson,  Fred- 
erick II.  the  Warlike,  died  in  1246  without  issue 
and  without  a  will.  Three  female  claimants  at 
once  arose.  The  all-powerful  Emperor  Frederick  II. 
set  all  their  claims  aside,  attached  the  duchy  to  the 
Imperial  Crown,  and  appointed  the  Count  of  Werden- 
berg  to  be  its  ruler.  A  period  of  disorder  followed 
the  death  of  the  Emperor;  the  duchy  was  annexed 
first  by  one  neighboring  State  and  then  by  another, 
and  formed  part  of  the  domains  of  Otakar  II.  of 
Bohemia   when,    in    1273,  after   an    interregnum   of 


RUDOLPH  OF  HABSBUKG.  217 

nearly  twenty  years,  Rudolph  of  Habsburg,  the 
founder  of  the  House  of  Austria,  was  chosen  by  the 
German  Electors  to  succeed  the  Emperor  Conrad  IV. 

Rudolph  of  Habsburg  was  at  that  time  in  his  fifty- 
fifth  year;  but  his  stormy  and  adventurous  career 
had  not,  if  tradition  is  to  be  believed,  been  without 
premonitions  of  coming  greatness.  It  is  told  that  he 
was  one  day  hunting  a  wild  boar  down  a  narrow 
valley,  through  which  rushed  a  mountain  torrent, 
swollen  by  recent  rains.  On  the  bank  he  saw  a  priest, 
bearing  the  viaticum,  who  stood  irresolute,  not  daring 
to  attempt  the  dangerous  passage. 

"  My  father/'  cried  the  Count,  "  you  must  mount 
into  my  saddle  !  It  is  the  only  possible  way  of  cross- 
ing ;  and,  moreover,  my  horse  has  too  often  been  the 
bearer  of  death  in  these  forests  to  miss  this  oppor- 
tunity of  carrying  life  and  hope." 

The  priest  gratefully  accepted  the  offer,  and  Ru- 
dolph, after  watching  till  he  had  reached  the  other  side 
in  safety,  fell  on  his  knees  beneath  a  great  oak  tree 
and  began  to  offer  up  prayers  for  the  departing  soul. 

In  due  course  of  time  the  priest  returned ;  but  as 
he  was  about  to  dismount,  the  other  stopped  him, 
begging  that  he  would  keep  the  horse,  and  thence- 
forth consecrate  it  to  the  service  of  God. 

The  following  day,  Rudolph,  while  on  his  way  to 
visit  the  Abbey  of  Fahr,  met  an  old  nun  called  Sister 
Bertha,  who,  to  his  great  amazement,  saluted  him  by 
the  title  of  Emperor. 


218  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?"  demanded  the 
Count. 

"  I  mean,"  replied  the  sister,  "  that  as  you  yester- 
day performed  a  good  and  holy  deed,  it  is  right  that 
you  should  know  that  you  and  your  descendants  are 
destined  to  sit  upon  the  Imperial  throne." 

The  early  years  of  Rudolph's  career  had  been  an 
almost  continuous  succession  of  struggles  with  the 
neighboring  barons — struggles  which  invariably  re- 
sulted, however,  in  the  strengthening  and  increasing 
of  his  own  domains. 

In  1273,  while  engaged  in  a  quarrel  with  the  Abbot 
of  St.  Gallen,  he  received  news  from  Basle  that  the 
townsmen,  backed  by  their  Bishop,  had  massacred  a 
number  of  nobles,  friends  and  relatives  of  Rudolph, 
at  a  recent  tournament.  Instantly  making  peace  with 
the  Abbot,  and  securing  him  as  an  ally,  Rudolph  hur- 
ried oif  to  attack  Basle.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that 
he  heard  of  his  election. 

After  laying  waste  the  surrounding  country,  he  had 
encamped  before  the  city,  and  was  only  awaiting  the 
expiration  of  a  truce  to  continue  the  attack,  when  he 
was  awakened  one  night  in  his  tent  by  his  nephew, 
Frederick  of  Hohenzollern,  who  brought  him  word 
of  his  elevation.  Notwithstanding  Sister  Bertha, 
Rudolph  was  utterly  astounded  and  could  hardly 
credit  the  news ;  but  the  people  of  Basle,  when  they 
heard  it,  threw  open  their  gates,  saying,  in  reply  to 
the  Bishop's  angry  remonstrances,  that  they  had  taken 


THE  EMPEROR  RUDOLPH-ALBERT  I.        219 

arms  against  the  Count  of  Habsburg,  not  against  the 
Roman   Emperor.     Upon   which    the   indignant  and 
impious  prelate  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  "  Sit  fast,     , 
thou  Lord  God,  or  Rudolph  will  occupy  thy  throne !" 

Rudolph  at  once  set  about  increasing  his  posses- 
sions, both  by  war  and  by  means  of  those  more 
peaceable  methods  for  which  his  house  later  became 
famous.  By  marrying  one  of  his  daughters  to  a  son 
of  Henry  of  Bavaria,  he  gained  over  that  province  to 
his  side  and  was  able  to  attack  the  powerful  Otakar 
II.,  King  of  Bohemia.  The  campaign  closed  with 
the  siege  and  capture  of  Vienna  by  Rudolph,  who 
was  left  in  possession  of  Austria,  Styria,  Carinthia, 
Carniola  and  Windischmark.  Peace  was  further 
assured  by  intermarriages  between  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  Otakar  and  Rudolph. 

Under  Albert  L,  son  and  successor  of  Rudolph,  a 
revolt  broke  out  among  the  Swiss  Cantons,  which  had 
been  forcibly  annexed  by  his  father ;  and  it  is  to  this 
period  that  the  legend  of  William  Tell  and  Gessler  is 
assigned.  In  1308  Albert  was  assassinated  on  the 
banks  of  the  Reuss,  by  his  nephew  John,  whose  in- 
heritance he  had  withheld.  Through  the  influence  of 
Baldwin,  Elector  of  Treves,  and  Peter,  Archbishop 
of  Mentz,  the  Count  of  Luxembourg  was  chosen  to 
succeed  him  as  Emperor,  under  the  title  of  Henry 
VII.  His  appointment  was  confirmed  by  the  Pope, 
Clement  V.  The  coronation  took  place  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  and  later  in  the  Church  of  St.  John  Latcran, 


220  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

at  Rome ;  and  Henry  crossed  the  Alps  at  the  head  of 
an  army.  Five  years  later  he  died  suddenly,  near 
Siena,  at  a  moment  so  opportune  for  his  enemies  that 
the  story  was  circulated  and  commonly  believed  that 
he  had  received  poison  in  a  consecrated  wafer,  from  a 
Dominican  friar  named  Bernard  di  Montepulciano. 

"  Assassin  ! "  the  Emperor  is  reported  to  have  cried, 
in  his  death  agony,  "  you  have  administered  death  to 
me  in  the  bread  of  eternal  life.  Fly  !  save  yourself ! 
or  my  Germans  will  surely  kill  you." 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1438  that  the  Imperial 
dignity  was  restored  to  the  House  of  Habsburg,  in 
the  person  of  Albert  II. ;  but  from  that  date  to  the 
abdication  of  Francis  II.,  in  1806,  every  Emperor, 
with  the  two  only  exceptions  of  Charles  VII.  of  Ba- 
varia (1742-1745)  and  Francis  I.  of  Lorraine  (1745- 
1765),  were  Habsburgs. 

Vienna  now  became  more  and  more  identified  with 
the  House  of  Austria ;  successive  rulers  made  the 
Hofburg  their  occasional  place  of  residence,  adding 
to  it  and  erecting  new  buildings  in  other  parts  of  the 
town.  Duke  Rudolph  IV.  (1358-1365),  called  the 
Founder,  from  the  number  and  importance  of  his 
institutions,  rebuilt  the  already  existing  Church  of 
St.  Stephan  and  founded  the  University  of  Vienna.1 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  Hofburg  served  on  one 
occasion  (1462)  as  a  prison  for  its  Imperial  resident, 
when  the  Viennese,  siding  with  Albert,  brother  of  the 

1  See  page  44. 


The  University 


FREDERICK   III.— MAXIMILIAN  I.  221 

Emperor  Frederick  III.,  in  a  quarrel  that  had  arisen 
between  them,  shut  the  latter  into  the  citadel,  together 
with  the  Empress  and  their  young  son  (afterwards  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  L),  and  conducted  the  siege  so 
strictly  that  the  garrison  had  almost  exhausted  its 
supply  of  food,  when  Podiabrad,  Kiug  of  Bohemia, 
sent  his  son,  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  force,  and 
relieved  the  castle.  Maximilian  never  forgot  this 
incident,  and  though  he  was  barely  five  years  old 
at  the  time,  he  could  never  quite  forgive  the  Viennese 
for  the  hunger  and  discomfort  they  forced  him  to  en- 
dure during  the  siege. 

In  1477  Vienna  was  attacked  and  captured  by 
Matthias  Corvinus  of  Hungary,  and  it  was  not  until 
after  his  death,  in  1490,  that  Maximilian  not  only  won 
back  his  own  Austrian  possessions,  but  assumed  the 
title  of  King  of  Hungary.  Maximilian  I.  was  the 
true  founder  of  the  greatness  of  his  house. 

"  Uniting  in  his  person  those  wide  domains  through 
Germany  which  had  been  dispersed  among  the  collateral 
branches  of  his  house,  and  claiming,  by  his  'marriage 
with  Mary  of  Burgundy '    most  of  the  territories  of 

1  If  the  tradition  may  be  trusted,  which  assigns  to  King  Matthias 
Corvinus  the  oft-quoted  Latin  epigram, 

"  Bella  gerant  alii ;  tu,  felix  Austria,  nube  ; 
Nam  quae  Mars  aliis,  dat  regna  Venus." 

"  Wars  let  others  wage,  but  thou,  lucky  Austria,  marry; 

For  kingdoms  which  Mars  gives  to  others,  Venus  gives  to  thee;" 

it  would  refer  to  this  marriage.     Mary  of  Burguudy  died  in  1482, 


222  VIENNA  AUTO  THE  VIENNESE. 

Charles  the  Bold,  he  was  a  Prince  gjreater  than  any 

had  sat  on  the  Teut  nic  thr  ne  since  th<    leathof] 
eriek  the  Second.     But  it  was  as  Arch  I  ike    :  Austria, 
Count  ■  :'  I~u  \.  ]>.C:r    :  >:■■■;:■..  ..::".  <_:;::.::_::..  :eu."L\I 
-      eri  :     :  lands  in  Swabia,  Als  ad  Switzerland, 

that  he  was  great — n  :  -  B  man  Emperor.  F  r.  just 
as  6  >m  him  the  Austrian  monarchy  I  _.:>.  sc  with  him 
the  Holy  Empire,  in  its  I  I  meaning,  aids.  .  .  .  It  is 
d  :  oly  in  imperial  history  that  the  J  ssi  n  of  Maxi- 
milian is  lark.  That  time — a  time  of  change 
and  movement  in  every  part  of  human  life,  a  time 
when  printing  had  become  common  and  books  were  no 
longer  ~  the  rgy,  when  drilled  troops  were 
g  the  feudal  militia,  when  the  is  f  gunpowder 
was  hanging  the  face  of  war — was  especially  marked 
.  i  even:,  bo  which  the  h  i  fers  no 
parallel.!:--:  re    r  since — the  dis                     - 

To  Maximilian  Vienna    nres  the  establishment  of 
an  Imperial  Court,  the  Re  .     -  A  ili     Coun- 

cil, which,  under  one  term   or  an         i        ntinues  to 
exist  down  to  the  present  day. 

Maximilian's  _.        -  I  g        ssor,  the 

Charles  V..  spent  his  youth  in  (he  Netherlands.     On 
rf  his  m                a  .1  the 

lie,    he     assum    -     :         _       :nment    of    Spain. 
the  result     fa  fid]    .    n  1 - .      She  was       ttwenty-fiv 

X  as  I  og   as  I  live,"  exclaimed  Maximilian,  as  her  body 

shall  ]        .  feol  _Lne." 

:  T,  z  H<      -  1  James  Bryee 


■:ha7.iz.-  v.— fzj.io'av:  :  __; 

Vienna,  therefore,  saw  him  but  little,  and  in  1521— 22 

nand.     Ferdinand  was  in  Vienna  in   1529,  when  die 

1  u.l:-.  Z'-.zrii.^  Llz-:  A'iszri2,  ::.::.  H";:_  :;\  i:.:  .  -I:-.-: 
to-  it.  He,  with  his  court,  fled  to  Linz,  leaving  the 
capital  to  be  protected  by  Micholas  V  n  >dm.  The 
7 ■;.-.>.-  : :iL-:^i'i~l  ;-.  :~~—-  ne  ."..;--  —-_-.-  v...  _  .— - 
successful  assault  and  then     i: 

Ferdinand,  brother  and  successor  (in  Austria)  of 
Charles  V.,  and  his  son,  Maximilian  II.,  held  their 
Courts   alternately    at    Prague    an  I    Vienna,  while 

Pl'iI:.   .-    II..    -:-      :    M:.~  -    II..    irVt:        i: 

:■:    Vienna  at  all  after  he  became  Emperor.     His 
brother   Matthias  (1612-1619),  on  the   other  hand, 
he  first  to  establish  the  Court  permanently  at 
Vienna,  and  there  ever  since  his  :  has  remained. 

M :..::".  ■.:.:  -  ~; »  '."':::,:  in  tl~  K:::::_.  7rr."  :_.  i.vl 
gouty,  when  he  received  news  of  the  event  called  the 
u Defenestratio  Pragen-:-.'"  His  was  the  attempted 
murder  of  two  Catholic  Councilors  of  Prague  ; 

extraordinary  method  of  throwing  them  out  of 
the  window.  The  conspirators,  headed  by  th-r 
testant  Count  Matthias  Thurn,  entered  the  Bohemian 
Chancellerie  at  Prague  on  the  2  :  11  -.  1618,  ex- 
pelled two  of  the  Councilors,  and  executed  sommary 
justice  on  the  others, 

u .  .  .  Martinitz  and  Slawata,  it  was  resolved  there 
and  then  tor  ecording  to  ancient  Bohemian 

usage,  by  the .  punishment  of   "defenestration,"   by 


viz: ".',.  A5i  rzz     :z:  :  z-i 

plunging  them,  as  the~  were,  in  then  Spanish  costume, 
with  cloaks  and  hats,  fro^i  tbe  window  into  the  dry 
'..:...  :  :„->  :  -:_t  T-:  :-:z:pLf:-=  '.--  ::.  :_t  --  :-rt- 
:  7.  Philip  Fabric:  >  -  precipitated  after  them. 
XI:   "    :  .-    :.  -      _    :    ::    Ht   :       -  ::"      teei 

owing  to  their  cloaks  filling  with  air  and  there] 
breaking  their  ikll.  and  to  their  alighting  on  a  hear     I 
waste  paper  and  other  rubbish,  they  all  of  them  mira- 
cakmdy  escaped  with  their  lives.     The  very  humble 
and  very  poli :  -  rxpedited  last,  is  said 

to  have  had  sufficient  presence  of  mind,  as  he  fell  upon 

n  MartinitZj  most  earnestly  to  beg  his  ExceUeu 
•    :"_-."- 

Th  I  in  a  neighboring 

house  and  protected  until  they  could  _  I   he- 

rnia.    The  secret  red  at  once  to  Vienna,  where 

he  brought  the  first  intelligence  of  the  nJ  the 
Emperor.2 

The  Emperor  Matthias  and  his  chief 
dinal  C.  _idy  judged  that  this  act  of  the  Pro- 

:--.--:__  -  -  -    "      .. 

have  tried  to  avert  finther  trouble  by  conciliation,  but 
ois  course  Archduke  Ferdinand,  cousin  and  heir3 

die  Emperor  would  by  no  mean;     _         ^nd  the 

1  Verse's  Jwrn'j*  Owrfe 

:    .-   .1  !-:  -_r  -:-t     :   I  _  •    1  ~  :  1  Z  '     ;'.'.' 

3  Matthias's  two  brothers,  Marraiiliaa  and  Albeit,  bent?  childless, 
lad  resigned  their  dane  to  their  coram  Ferdinand,  who  had  nsae 

_ :_-.    >:  ii  ::  *=•:-.-=  :_t  £-;-:=asi;-  :.:  :~;  ±z:z.- 


EMPEROR   MATTHIAS-CARDIXAL   CLE.-EL.     225 

••  I'erenestratio    Piagensi&  "    ushered    in   the    T 
Years'  Wj  i . 

Matthias,  worn  out  and  evidently  dying,  lay  faming 
and  helpless  in  his  bed  in  the   Hoi     ng,   while  his 
cousin    Ferdinand,   who    had    already 
K  i  d  _  both  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary       -     ely  directed 
the  policy  of  the  Government     °  The  Emperor  is  de- 
serted by  every  e   fee  the  Sax  present 
u  there  being1  very  few  in  his  ante-chamber  at  die 
nary  hour  of  attendance,  whereas  in  the  King's  apart- 
ments [Ferdinand  als    resi         in  the  H  fl  mg  when 
in  Vienna]  there  issoch            vd  that    aecan  scarcely 
move/3 

Cardinal  Clesel   still  sto         los     to  the  E 

sst       g  enough  t    intei :  re  with  Fer- 
dinand's plans.     The  King  &ei   :  re  induced  him 
day  to  come  t        -  tments,  where  he  was   b 

ed  of  his  Cardinal's  robes  and  hat,  and  hurried 
by  a  private  passag      :.y  out  of  the  palace  and  : 
H    was  kept  closely  confined  rs,  and  then 

allowed  -    _    I     ES     .  .  where  he  lived  in  the  I 

_     >.     In  1627  he  was  recalled  -man 

Emperor    who  had  banished  him.  and  entered 

Vienna  amid  :  _.    _  -  ther  public  de- 

strations.     H     lied  in  1  -  sting  to  the  last 

against  tl.       '_   try     :    Ferdinand's  treatment  of  the 

-      its,     ad  was  1  in   tfa     I     ihedral  of    St 

St       an. 

The  news   of  Clesel's  banishment  was  ght  to 

15 


226  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Matthias  by  Archduke  Maximilian  (his  brother)  and 
King  Ferdinand.  The  unfortunate  Emperor,  now 
having  no  one  about  him  upon  whom  he  could  rely, 
was  powerless  to  resent  it ;  he  was  furiously  angry, 
but  rather  than  let  this  be  seen,  he  stuffed  the  bed- 
clothes into  his  mouth,  until  he  could  control  himself. 
Eight  months  later  he  died,  and  was  the  first  of  the 
Emperors  to  be  laid  in  the  Imperial  vault  of  the 
Capuchin  Church.  At  the  moment  of  the  Emperor's 
death,  Ferdinand  found  himself  in  a  very  dangerous 
position.  Count  Matthias  Thurn  had  marched  a 
Bohemian  army  into  Austria  almost  unopposed,  and 
was  now  beneath  the  walls  of  Vienna.  The  King 
was  in  the  H  of  burg,  without  soldiers  or  money.  His 
advisers,  the  Jesuits,  urged  flight  and  a  temporizing 
policy  ;  but  he  would  agree  to  neither.  The  Viennese, 
who  were  largely  Protestants,  had  been  obliged  to 
deliver  up  their  arms  to  the  Governor ;  but  they  con- 
tinued to  assemble  in  the  streets,  and  could  be  heard 
under  the  windows  of  the  Hofburg,  threatening  to 
shut  the  King  up  in  a  monastery  in  order  to  be  rid 
of  him. 

Count  Thurn  had  his  headquarters  near  the  Stu- 
benthor,  and  the  siege  was  pressed  until  the  very 
walls  of  the  Hofburg  were  battered  by  the  Bohemian 
guns,  planted  near  the  Church  of  St.  Ulric.  On  the 
night  of  the  6th  of  June  (1619)  Ferdinand  was  driven 
from  his  own  apartments  by  the  enemy's  lire,  while 
the  attitude  of  the  citizens  became  vet  more  threaten- 


FERDINAND   II.— SIEGE  OF   VIENNA.         227 

ing.  The  King  spent  the  remainder  of  the  night  in 
prayer  before  a  crucifix,  and,  as  he  afterwards  as- 
serted, received  a  supernatural  assurance  of  safety. 
On  the  following  day  some  members  of  the  Austrian 
Estates  suddenly  burst  in  upon  him,  and  violently 
demanded  his  signature  to  an  agreement  of  union  with 
Bohemia.  Ferdinand  refused,  whereupon  one  of 
them,  clutching  him  by  a  button  of  his  doublet,  cried, 
u  Xandel  [the  diminutive  for  Ferdinand],  give  in — 
thou  mud  sign  !" 

At  that  moment  there  was  heard  a  flourish  of 
trumpets  in  the  courtyard  below.  The  Councilors, 
alarmed,  hurried  off  to  see  what  it  meant.  A  report 
spread  through  the  town  that  a  large  body  of  soldiers 
had  won  its  way  in  to  relieve  the  Emperor.  A  panic 
ensued,  and  by  the  time  that  the  relieving  force  was 
discovered  to  consist  of  only  five  hundred  cuirassiers, 
under  Dampierrc,  who  had  slipped  in  by  the  un- 
guarded water-gate  near  the  Danube,  it  was  too  late 
to  stem  the  rising  tide  of  loyalty  to  the  King ;  and  a 
few  days  later,  hearing  that  Prague  was  threatened, 
Count  Thurn  was  obliged  to  raise  the  siege.  Ferdi- 
nand very  naturally  attributed  his  rescue  to  a  miracu- 
lous intervention  of  heaven  in  his  behalf. 

Ferdinand  left  a  distinct  and  enduring  impression 
upon  Vienna.  One  religious  order  after  another  was 
welcomed  by  him  to  the  capital,  and  established  there. 
He  completed  the  Capuchin  Church,  begun  by  Mat- 
thias ;  and   his  wife,   Eleanora  of  Mantua,  built  the 


228  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Loretto  Chapel  in  the  Augustines'  Church,  to  receive 
the  hearts  of  the  Emperors.  Ferdinand,  finding  that 
the  solemn  procession  of  Corpus  Christi  was  frequently 
disturbed  by  conflicts  between  Catholic  and  Protestant 
mobs,  inaugurated  the  custom  of  taking  part  in  it  in 
person — a  custom  which  the  Austrian  sovereigns  have 
ever  since  observed.  The  late  Empress  of  Austria  is 
said  to  have  given  great  offence  by  sometimes  refus- 
ing to  join  in  this  procession.  Ferdinand  also  founded 
the  "Vienna  Chapel,"  to  furnish  music  for  the  services 
of  the  church. 

His  son,  Ferdinand  III.,  almost  repeated  in  1645 
the  experience  of  his  father  during  the  siege  of  1019. 
A  Swedish  army  lay  encamped  before  Vienna,  while 
the  Emperor,  frightened  but  determined,  insisted  upon 
remaining  in  the  Hofburg,  having  previously  dis- 
patched the  Imperial  archives  and  treasure,  with 
almost  his  entire  Court,  to  Gratz.  The  Swedes  were 
at  last  forced  to  abandon  the  siege,  and  the  Emperor, 
in  fulfillment  of  a  vow  made  in  the  hour  of  danger, 
erected  a  monument  commemorative  of  the  dogma  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception  in  the  Platz  am  Hof  in 
Vienna.  This  monument  was  replaced  in  1667  by 
his  son,  Leopold  I.,  by  the  one  we  see  there  to-day. 

Ferdinand  died  in  the  Hofburg.  He  was  lying 
there  ill,  when  on  the  night  of  April  2,  1657,  a  lire 
broke  out  in  his  apartment.  A  halberdier  of  the 
guard  seized  the  cradle  containing  the  Emperor's 
youngest  child,  to  convey  it  to  a  place  of  safety.     In 


DEATH  OF  LEOPOLD  L— JOSEPH  I.  229 

his  haste  he  fell  and  broke  the  cradle,  and  although 
the  child  was  not  hurt,  the  Emperor  received  such  a 
fright  that  he  died  in  a  few  hours. 

During  the  reign  of  his  son,  Leopold  I.,  the  Turks 
again  overran  Austria.  Their  siege  of  Vienna  in 
1683,  and  its  defence  under  Count  Starhemberg,  have 
been  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter. 

Leopold  I.  died  in  1705,  after  a  reign  of  forty- 
eight  years.  His  body,  habited  in  Spanish  costume, 
with  hat,  cloak  and  sword,  lay  in  state  for  three  days 
in  the  Rittersaal  of  the  Hofburg.  The  heart  was 
deposited  in  the  Loretto  Chapel,  and  the  bowels  in 
St.  Stephan's.  The  body  was  conveyed  to  the  Capu- 
chin Church  by  night,  through  streets  illumiuated  by 
innumerable  torches,  while  an  enormous  throng  of 
courtiers  and  ecclesiastics,  bearing  lighted  tapers,  ac- 
companied it  on  foot.  No  fewer  than  thirteen  of  the 
religious  orders,  to  whom  the  Emperor  had  shown  the 
strongest  attachment,  were  represented. 

Leopold's  son,  Joseph  I.,  was  educated  in  a  far 
more  liberal  school  than  was  his  ascetic  and"  monkish 
father.  He  was  taught  to  look  with  distrust  upon 
the  growing  influence  exercised  by  the  priests  in  secu- 
lar affairs.  Especially  active  and  meddlesome  had 
the  Jesuits  become,  and  the  young  Emperor's  former 
tutor,  Rumniel,  devoted  himself  with  great  zest  to  the 
task  of  circumventing  them.  Accordingly  a  ghostly 
visitor  began  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  Hofburg, 
and  for   several   successive  nights  the  Emperor  was 


230  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

awakened  by  a  shadowy  form,  which  warned  him  to 
get  rid  of  Hummel.  Frederick  Augustus  the  Strong, 
Elector  of  Saxony,  was  in  Vienna  at  the  time,  and 
hearing  of  this,  he  quietly  obtained  permission  to  pass 
a  night  in  the  Emperor's  room.  When  the  ghost  ap- 
peared, the  powerful  Elector  suddenly  rose  up  and 
flung  it  out  of  the  window  into  the  deep  fosse  below 
(where  the  present  Imperial  Library  now  stands). 
No  more  ghosts  were  seen,  aud  the  Emperor  conceived 
a  strong  dislike  of  Jesuits ;  he  refused  to  have  a 
Jesuit  for  confessor,  and  when  this  was  resented, 
threatened  to  expel  all  members  of  the  order  from 
Austria. 

Joseph  I.  reigned  only  six  years,  being  carried  off 
in  1711  by  that  scourge  of  the  eighteenth  century — 
small-pox.  The  treatment  of  this  dread  disease  was  very 
little  understood  at  that  time,  the  main  idea  apparently 
being  to  shut  the  patient  up  as  closely  as  possible. 
Joseph,  wrapped  in  "  a  piece  of  English  flannel,  nearly 
twenty  yards  in  length,"  was  kept  in  a  room  from 
which  every  breath  of  air  was  rigidly  excluded,  and 
when,  notwithstanding  this  care,  he  died,  it  was 
thought  that  the  Jesuits  must  have  given  him  poison. 
Two  Empresses,  six  Archdukes  and  Archdnchesses 
and  two  Electors  died  of  small-pox  in  the  Austrian 
dominions  during  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  Emperor  Joseph  had  an  especial  liking  fur 
Schonbrunn;  a  former  hunting-lodge  of  the  Emperor 
Matthias,  situated  near  Vienna,  on  the  Wien.    At  the 


CHARLES   VI.— PRINCE  EUGENE.  231 

time  of  his  death  he  was  deeply  immersed  in  plans 
for  completing  the  chateau,  which  Leopold  I.  had 
begun  there.  This  chateau  was  altered  by  Joseph's 
niece,  the  Empress  Maria  Theresa,  into  the  building 
which  we  see  to-day.  It  became  famous  as  the  head- 
quarters of  Napoleon  in  1805,  and  again  in  1809,  and 
later  it  was  the  residence  of  the  ex-Empress  Marie 
Louise,  and  of  her  son,  the  Duke  de  Reichstadt. 

Under  Charles  VI.,  who  succeeded  Joseph,  Vienna 
was  beautified  by  the  erection  of  many  fine  buildings. 
This  Emperor  had  artistic  and  antiquarian  tastes.  He 
was  a  great  collector  of  coins,  pictures  and  books,  and 
employed  that  admirable  architect,  Fisher  Von 
Erlach,  to  erect  suitable  buildings  to  contain  them. 
It  was  he  who  built  the  Imperial  Library,  wherein  he 
placed  not  only  his  own  books  and  MSS.,  but  the 
library  of  Prince  Eugene,  which  he  purchased  on  the 
latter's  death,  in  1736.  Prince  Eugene  was  likewise 
a  public  benefactor  to  Vienna.  In  1714,  when  there 
was  a  fierce  outbreak  of  the  plague,  he,  in  order  to 
give  employment  to  some  of  the  thousands  of  persons 
thrown  out  of  work,  erected  a  number  of  handsome 
buildings,  notably  the  Belvedere,  which  was  after- 
wards purchased  by  Maria  Theresa. 

Prince  Eugene  was  a  grandson  of  Charles  Emanuel 
of  Savoy ;  his  father  was  an  officer  of  the  Swiss 
Guards  at  the  Court  of  Louis  XIV.  His  mother  was 
Olympia  Mancini,  one  of  the  gay  nieces  of  Cardinal 
Mazarin.      She  got  into  hot  water  at  the  Tuileries, 


232  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

and,  obliged  to  leave  France,  settled  in  Brussels, 
where  Eugene  was  educated.  When  twenty  years 
old  he  endeavored  to  obtain  an  appointment  in  the 
French  army,  but  was  refused.  He  next  turned  to 
the  Austrian  Court,  where  he  was  immediately  given 
a  commission,  and  from  thenceforth  devoted  his  bril- 
liant military  talents  to  the  service  of  the  House  of 
Habsburg.  After  his  victory  over  the  Turks  at 
Zsnta,  in  1697,  Louis  recognized  the  mistake  he  had 
made  and  tried  to  lure  the  young  commander  back  with 
glittering  offers  of  gold  and  high  military  rank,  but 
without  success.  The  loyal,  upright,  ugly  little  man  had 
offered  his  sword  to  Austria  and  it  had  been  accepted, 
and  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he  never  wavered  in  his 
allegiance,  although  the  brilliant  victories  he  won  for 
his  adopted  country  sometimes  met  with  very  poor 
reward.  He  was  the  greatest  general  Austria  ever 
had,  and  won  no  fewer  than  thirteen  important  bat- 
tles. The  closing  years  of  his  life  lie  passed  amid  the 
most  peaceful  pursuits  in  Vienna,  adding  to  his  col- 
lections, conducting  a  large  correspondence,  assisting 
in  the  councils  of  State,  and  taking  a  lively  and  bene- 
ficent interest  in  schemes  for  the  improvement  of  the 
industrial  conditions  of  Vienna.  His  evenings  he 
invariably  spent  in  the  company  of  his  devoted  friend, 
the  widow  of  Count  Adam  Batthiany,  Ban  of 
Croatia. 

"  Eugene's  well-known  cream-colored  horses,  with 
pink  harness,  used  of  themselves  to  find  the  way  from 


Interior  of  the  Belvedere 


PRIXCE  EUGEXE— HIS  DEATH.  233 

the  palace  of  the  Prince  to  that  of  the  beautiful 
Countess,  where  they  would  stop  of  their  own  accord, 
although  now  and  then  it  was  some  time  before  any 
one  alighted,  because  Eugene  was  asleep  within  the 
coach,  the  coachman  asleep  on  the  box,  the  heyduck 
asleep  on  the  steps  at  the  carriage  door,  and  the  two 
footmen  asleep  in  the  rumble."  As  the  Prince  was 
not  then  an  old  man — he  was  but  seventy-two  when 
he  died — Xature  must  have  been  taking  her  revenge 
for  the  manner  in  which  she  had  formerly  been 
defrauded,  for  it  is  said  that,  in  his  prime,  he  usually 
slept  only  about  three  hours. 

One  April  morning,  in  the  year  1737,  he  was  found 
dead  in  his  bed,  his  head  buried  in  his  hands.  "AYhen 
Prince  Eugene's  servants  went  into  his  chamber 
this  morning,"  writes  Mr.  Robinson,  British  Minister 
at  the  Court  of  Vienna,  under  date  of  April  27th, 
1737,  "they  found  him  extinguished  in  his  bed,  like  a 
taper.  He  dined  yesterday  as  usual,  and  played  cards 
at  night  with  his  ordinary  company,  but  with  such 
appearance  as  prognosticated  to  nice  observers  the 
crisis  of  his  life.  ...  In  a  word,  my  lord,  his  life 
was  glorious,  and  his  death  easy.''' 

The  Emperor  Charles  VI.  was  the  last  strictly  to 
enforce  the  pompous  and  wearisome  system  of  Court 
etiquette  imported  into  Austria  from  Spain.  The 
Hofburg  at  that  time  still  preserved  the  appearance 
of  a  mediaeval  fortress.  A  traveler,  writing  in  1704, 
says  that  it  was  "of  mean  appearance,  especially  the 


234  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

inner  courtyard,  with  the  apartments  of  the  Emperor ; 
the  walls  thick  and  ponderous,  like  a  city  wall ;  the 
staircases  dark,  without  any  ornament ;  the  rooms  low 
and  narrow,  the  flooring  of  common  deal,  meaner  than 
which  could  not  be  found  in  the  house  of  the  hum- 
blest citizen.  All  is  as  plain  as  if  it  were  built  for 
poor  friars.  On  a  small  spot,  called  the  '  Paradise 
Garden,' !  fenced  in  with  walls,  under  the  windows  of 
the  apartments  of  the  Empress,  some  flowers  and 
shrubs  drag  on  a  stunted  existence." 

Amid  these  unpretending  surroundings  the  most 
elaborate  ceremonial  was  observed.  The  members  of 
the  Imperial  family  exacted  "  the  Spanish  Reverence  " 
from  nobles  even  of  the  highest  rank.  This  consisted 
in  making  a  profound  obeisance  and  kneeling  on  one 
knee.  It  was  ordered  that,  when  the  Emperor's  name 
occurred  in  the  public  reading  of  proclamations,  ora- 
tions, and  such  like,  it  must  likewise  be  received  with 
"the  Spanish  Reverence."  The  court  dress  was 
Spanish — a  short,  black  cloak,  trimmed  with  point 
lace  ;  a  broad-brimmed  hat,  turned  up  on  one  side,  with 
a  long  plume  ;  red  shoes  and  stockings.  But  the  pow- 
dered, flowing  wig,  in  vogue  in  France  in  the  eight- 
eenth century,  had  been  added  by  the  Emperor.  No 
one  else  was  permitted  to  appear  at  Court  wearing  any 
kind  of  wig. 

On  the  occasion  of  a  state  dinner  the  Ambassadors 
and    the   Papal   Nuncio  attended  standing,  but  were 

1  Eliminated  in  1809. 


ETIQUETTE   OF  THE   COURT.  235 

permitted  to  retire  when  the  Emperor  had  taken  his 
first  draught  of  wine.  The  meals  always  began, 
whether  on  occasions  of  ceremony  or  otherwise,  with 
the  Chamberlain  presenting  wine  to  the  Emperor  and 
Empress,  who  then  pledged  each  other ;  the  cup  bear- 
ers poured  out  the  wine  kneeling.  When  the  Empress 
drank  his  health  and  while  the  grace  was  being  said, 
the  Emperor  uncovered,  but  during  the  rest  of  the 
meal  he  kept  his  hat  on.  The  apartments  of  the  Im- 
perial pair  were  called  respectively  "the  Emperor's 
side "  and  "  the  Empress's  side,''  and  there  was  a 
general  feeling  that  life  was  a  little  less  solemn  and 
fatiguing  on  "the  Empress's  side."  In  the  matter  of 
entertainments,  however,  the  Court,  under  the  very 
transparent  ruse  of  "  incognito,"  would  frequently  in- 
dulge in  quite  riotous  revelry.  There  were  "ridottos," 
theatricals,  "  merendas,"  sleighing  parties — when  the 
gentlemen  drew  lots  for  the  lady  each  was  to  drive  and 
sit  next  to  at  supper,  and,  most  popular  of  all,  the 
"  AVirthschaft "  or  "  tavern."  At  this  last  the  Em- 
peror and  Empress  took  the  parts  of  landlord  and 
landlady.  The  guests  appeared  in  fancy  dress  and 
masks,  the  gentlemen  providing  the  ladies'  costumes. 
The  "merenda,"  also  very  popular,  was  a  supper 
served  at  two  o'clock,  followed  by  dancing,  which  was 
kept  up  till  well  into  the  day. 

The  complicated  ceremonial  of  the  Court  rendered 
it  necessary  to  have  enormous  retinues  of  persons  con- 
stantly in  attendance.     At  state  dinners,  for  instance, 


236  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

each  dish  when  it  reached  the  Emperor  had  passed 
through  the  hands  of  twenty-four  officials.  As  the 
Hofburg,  large  though  it  was  even  then,  could  not 
pretend  to  accommodate  all  this  throng  of  people, 
there  had  been  established  by  Ferdinand  I.  what  was 
termed  "  Court-quarters" — that  is,  a  regulation  requir- 
ing every  house-holder  to  let  (for  a  very  small  sum) 
the  whole  of  his  second  story  for  the  use  of  the  Court ; 
and  this  not  only  at  Vienna,  but  at  Saxenburg,  or 
Gratz,  or  wherever  the  Court  might  happen  to  be. 
Joseph  II.  (1780-1790)  abolished  this  very  trying 
custom. 

Charles  VI.,  when  still  quite  young,  had  married  the 
beautiful  Elizabeth  Christina,  Princess  of  Brunswick 
Wolfembuttle.  The  only  son  born  of  this  marriage 
died  in  infancy.  Two  daughters  lived  to  grow  up,  the 
elder  of  whom  became,  on  the  death  of  her  father, 
the  Empress  Maria  Theresa.  Towards  the  close  of 
his  life,  Charles  was  repeatedly  urged  by  his  advisers 
and  by  the  Empress  to  take  steps  to  have  his  son-in- 
law  Francis,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  recognized  as  King  of 
the  Romans.  The  reason  he  gave  for  refusing  to  act 
on  this  prudent  advice  was  hardly  calculated  to  soothe 
his  wife's  affectionate  solicitude  concerning  her  daugh- 
ter's future,  for  he  declared  that  he  thought  the  Em- 
press (to  whom  he  is  represented  as  having  been 
"tenderly  attached")  much  more  likely  to  die  first,  and 
he  therefore  "entertained  hopes  of  male  issue  by  a 
future  marriage."     The  historian  goes  on  to  say  that. 


THE  PRAGMATIC  SANCTION.  237 

tt  in  consequence  of  this  ill-judged  policy,  he  endan- 
gered the  loss  of  the  Imperial  crown,  and  exposed  his 
successor  to  the  greatest  difficulties."  The  Emperor  had, 
however,  been  most  active  and  determined  in  getting 
the  agreement  of  the  Powers  to  the  Pragmatic  Sanc- 
tion, by  which  the  Austrian  throne  was  to  be  secured 
to  the  female  succession  according  to  the  laws  of  primo- 
geniture. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

Maria  Theresa  —  Difficulties  she  had  to  Encounter  —  Modifies  the 
Etiquette  of  the  Court  —  Astonishes  the  Audience  in  the  Burg 
Theatre— Jo^ph  IL— The  Eirst  Emperor  to  Appear  at  an  Audi- 
ence in  Uniform  —  A  Protectionist  —  Keep-  Down  the  Price  of 
Meat — Frederick  the  Great's  Opinion  of  the  Emperor — "  Count 
Falkenstein" — His  Travels  and  Adventures — Simplicity  of  his 
Habits — Intimacy  with  Catharine  II.  of  Russia — Audiences  in 
the  Hof  burg — His  Disappointments — His  Marriages — His  Death. 

The  close  of  Charles  VI.'s  reign  marks  an  era  in 
the  history  of  his  House.  He  was  the  sixteenth  and 
last  Austrian  ruler  of  the  direct  male  line  of  Habsburg, 
and  cm  his  death  the  Imperial  dignity  passed,  for  the 
first  time  since  the  election,  in  1438,  of  Albert  II., 
out  of  his  House.  The  realm,  moreover,  which  he 
had  found  in  a  condition  of  great  power  and  pros- 
perity, was  at  the  moment  of  his  death  at  its  lowest 
ebb  ot  weakness  and  misfortune. 

Notwithstanding  the  Pragmatic  Sanction.  Maria 
Theresa  found  herself,  on  her  accession,  involved  in 
most  serious  difficulties.  Outwardly,  indeed,  all  was 
peaceful  enough  :  but  it  was  well  known  that  the 
Elector  of  Bavaria  would  lose  no  rime  in  presenting 
a  claim  to  the  Austrian  throne ;  that  France  was 
prepared  to  oppose  the  election  of  the  Queen's  hus- 

23S 


MARIA    THERESA'S    ACCESSION. 

band,  Francis  of  Lorraine,  to  be  Emperor ;  and  that 
among  her  own  people,  owing  to  the  iailuie  of  the 
grape  crop  and  a  general  scarcity  of  provisions,  there 
was  a  smouldering  ike  of  discontent*  The  beautiful 
-...:.-"      :  _      J         _        ..v  :  i:   ~  ver.    -  i  - 

cessfully  to  weather  not  only  these  storms,  but  the 
many  more  severe  ones  that  disturbed  her  long  and 
brilliant  reign.  Under  her  the  stiff  Spanish  etiquette 
of  the  Court  was  modiz  L  She  was  easy  and  acces- 
sible, devoted  to  gaiety  of  all  kinds,  and  simple, 
aim  st  homely,  in  her  ways.  She  was  passionately 
fond  of  her  handsome  husband  i  who  later  became  the 
Emperor  Fi  is  I.),  and  for  three  years  after  his 
death  she  shut  herself  up  and  never  appeared  in 
places  of  public  amusement. 

On  the  evening  of  the  12th  of  Febmary3     "    v 
however,  news   was  brought   to  Vienn     that 
Louisa,  wife  of  the  Empress's  second  son,  Leopold, 
Grand  Duke  of  T   -  given  birth  to  a  -     . 

This  event  was  of  great  importance — for,  as  Jos 
the   Empress's   eldest    son,    was  -     H    meant 

nothing  less  than  the  birth  of  a   male  to   the 

Austrian  throne.  This  infant  was,  indeed,  to  reign 
later  as  the  Emperor  I  -  II. 

She   received   the   news  in   the   evening,   whilst 
working  in  her  cabin  et      With   nt    farther  ad 
rushed  out  in  her  plain  house  dress,  or  rather  neglegt7 
ran  through  the  ante-chamber,  the  outer  rooms 
passages  the  theatre  of  the  Hofbu  _  lean- 


240  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

ing  far  over  the  balustrade  of  the  Imperial  box, 
called,  with  motherly  triumph,  down  into  the  pit,  in 
the  broadest  Vienna  dialect,  '  Poldel  (Poldy,  Leopold) 
has  a  boy;  and  just  as  a  token  of  remembrance,  on 
my  wedding-day.  Is  not  he  gallant  V  The  pit  and  the 
boxes  were  electrified."1 

On  the  death  of  Francis  I.,  his  eldest  son,  Joseph, 
became  Emperor;  but  he  did  not  succeed  to  the 
Austrian  inheritance  until  the  death  of  his  mother, 
Maria  Theresa,  which  occurred  fifteen  years  later. 
Under  him  the  etiquette  of  the  Court  was  still  further 
modified.  The  "  Reverence "  was  done  away  with. 
"  Men,"  he  declared,  " should  kneel  only  before  God;'' 
while  officials  were  permitted  to  wait  upon  their 
superiors  in  walking  dress  and  boots.  He  was  the 
first  Emperor  to  appear  in  uniform  on  occasions  of 
state.  "My  Lord  Chamberlain,"  he  observed,  the 
first  time  that  he  did  so,  "  will  faint  when  he  sees 
this." 

Under  Joseph  IL  the  industrial  interests  of  Vienna 
and  of  the  whole  country  received  a  tremendous 
impetus.  He  was  a  protectionist  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced type,  and  enforced  his  decrees  against  the 
purchase  and  sale  of  foreign  goods  by  seizing  and 
destroying  outright  all  articles  of  that  kind  that  were 
found  in  the  possession  of  merchants  or  store-keep- 
ers. On  one  occasion  the  Viennese  were  treated  to 
the  sight  of  a   huge   pyre   of  watches,   costly   laces, 

1  Vehese's  Austrian  Courts. 


Monument  of  Empress  Maria  Theresa 


JOSEPH   II.— A  POPULAK  RULER.  241 

silks,  jewelry,  cloth,  etc.,  burning  merrily  in  the  open 
square.  When  all  were  destroyed,  the  ashes  were 
thrown  in  the  river.  Private  individuals  were  al- 
lowed to  import  foreign  articles  on  payment  of  a 
sixty  per  cent.  duty. 

Landed  proprietors  who  remained  more  than  six 
months  of  the  year  out  of  the  country  were  obliged 
to  pay  double  taxes. 

The  master-butchers  of  Vienna  tried  in  1787  to 
have  the  price  of  meat  raised,  declaring  that  they 
could  make  no  profits  with  the  existing  rates.  The 
Emperor  advised  them,  in  that  case,  to  go  out  of 
business,  and  allow  the  journeymen  to  take  their 
places,  as  these  men  were  more  than  willing  to  do, 
adding  that  if  any  butcher  was  found  raising  his 
prices,  he  would  receive  fifty  lashes  for  each  pound 
of  meat  sold. 

The  Emperor  insisted  that  no  distinction  should 
be  made  between  the  classes  in  respect  of  the  admin- 
istration of  the  law.  Viennese  society  was  there- 
fore edified  by  such  sights  as  a  Count  .Liechten- 
stein, who  had  committed  forgery,  sweeping  the 
streets,  wearing  the  brown  dress  of  a  convict,  with 
cropped  hair  and  in  chains;  while  a  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  Guards,  who  was  a  defaulter,  had  to 
stand  for  three  days  running  in  the  public  pillory, 
and  then  go  to  the  House  of  Correction. 

Joseph  II.  was  the  Austrian  example  of  the  popu- 
lar ruler,  represented  in  France  by  Henry  IV.  and 
16 


242  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Napoleon,  and  in  Prussia  by  Frederick  II.  "  This 
young  Prince/'  wrote  the  King  of  Prussia  in  his 
Memoirs,  "adopted  a  frank,  open  manner,  that 
seemed  natural  to  him.  His  disposition  was  gay  and 
vivacious ;  but  with  an  ardent  desire  to  know  things, 
he  lacked  the  patience  to  learn." 

Joseph  was  thirty-nine  when  his  mother's  death 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  affairs.  He  had  taken 
advantage  of  the  long  period  that  intervened  between 
his  majority  and  his  accession  to  travel  in  foreign 
countries,  with  a  view  to  investigating  such  laws  and 
customs  as  might  be  beneficial,  if  introduced  into  his 
own  country. 

He  traveled  incognito,  under  the  name  of  Count 
Falkenstein,  and  many  and  piquant  are  the  stories 
which  are  told  of  his  adventures.  The  hero  of  all 
these  popular  tales  soon  acquired  an  European  repu- 
tation and  was  everywhere  known  and  liked. 

In  Paris  he  established  himself  in  a  small  "  hotel 
garni,"  and  when  he  went  out  either  walked  or  drove 
in  a  hired  cab.  One  day  he  surprised  Buffon  in  his 
dressing-gown.  The  savant  tried  to  escape,  so  as  to 
get  into  a  coat. 

"  No,  no  I"  cried  the  visitor.  "  Stay  as  you  are  ; 
you  look  very  well  in  that  costume,  and  when  a  mas- 
ter receives  a  visit  from  one  of  his  students,  he  should 
certainly  not  put  himself  out." 

While  going  through  the  Hotel  Dieu  he  saw  a  sick 
man,  and  one  who  was  dying,  and  a  corpse,  all  in  one 


JOSEPH  II.  TRAVELS   INCOGNITO.  243 

bed.  He  at  once  left  the  building,  declaring  that  such 
an  institution  was  not  a  benefit  to  society. 

The  librarian  of  the  Library  of  Paris  expressed  his 
regret  that  the  light  was  so  poor  that  he  could  not  see 
the  collection  of  works  on  Theology." 

"Oh,  my  dear  sir,"  said  Joseph,  "  where  there  is 
theology,  there  is  never  much  light !" 

When,  in  the  course  of  his  tour,  he  arrived  at  Wur- 
temberg,  the  Duke  sent  him  word  that  his  castle  had 
been  prepared  for  him  ;  but,  true  to  his  habits,  Joseph 
replied  that  he  preferred  to  put  up  at  a  hotel.  The  Duke 
thereupon  ordered  every  hotel,  inn  and  tavern  in  Wur- 
temberg  to  remove  its  sign,  at  the  same  time  causing  a 
huge  board,  bearing  the  arms  of  the  Austrian  House 
and  the  words  "  Hotel  de  l'Empereur  Joseph  II."  to  be 
displayed  above  the  main  entrance  to  the  castle.  Joseph 
could  not  but  yield  to  such  determined  hospitality. 
At  the  castle  gate  he  was  received  by  the  Duke, 
dressed  in  the  costume  of  an  innkeeper,  while  all  the 
gentlemen  of  his  court  were  attired  like  butlers,  valets, 
waiters  and  so  on.  The  ladies  were  dressed  to  look 
like  maids — the  kind  one  sees  on  the  stage — with 
white  caps,  short  skirts  and  lace  kerchiefs  and  aprons. 

The  royal  guest  at  once  fell  in  with  the  joke,  and 
the  play  was  kept  up  till  the  next  day.  AVhen  the 
time  came  for  him  to  leave,  a  carriage  drew  up  in 
front  of  the  gate,  and,  seated  on  one  of  the  horses,  he 
noticed  a  postillion,  whose  muddy  boots  and  frayed 
waistcoat  attracted  his  attention. 


244  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

"  That  fellow  is  no  flatterer,  at  all  events,"  said  he, 
as  he  got  inside.  "  I  suspect  he  is  a  tippler,  but  we'll 
give  him  a  good  fee  all  the  same." 

The  shabby  postillion  drove,  however,  with  a 
rapidity  and  skill  that  was  simply  amazing. 

"If  you  would  like  to  enter  my  service,"  said 
Joseph,  when  they  reached  the  first  relay,  "  I  will 
engage  you  at  once." 

"  I  am  sorry,  sire,"  replied  the  postillion ;  "  but  I 
am  so  situated  that  I  cannot  leave  my  own  country." 

"  And  why  is  that  ?  "  asked  the  Emperor. 

"Parbleu  !"  cried  the  man,  with  a  shout  of  laugh- 
ter; "because  I  am  engaged  to  drive  the  car  of 
State."  And  he  pulled  off  his  cap,  to  which  a  wig  was 
attached. 

"  The  Prince  of  "Wurtemberg  !  "  exclaimed  Joseph, 
much  amused. 

"The  same,  at  your  service,"  replied  the  Duke, 
with  a  low  bow. 

"  You  played  your  part  exceedingly  well,"  said  the 
Emperor ;  "  only,  had  I  thought  a  little,  I  would  have 
seen  through  it,  for  I  noticed  you  never  once  swore." 

While  visiting  Moravia,  Joseph,  in  order  to  show 
his  respect  for  the  dignity  of  agriculture,  publicly, 
with  his  own  hand,  opened  a  furrow  in  a  grain  field, 
on  the  estate  of  Prince  Liechtenstein.  The  plow 
used  by  him  on  this  occasion  was  wrapped  in  silk  and 
placed  in  the  hall  of  the  Moravian  estates. 

On  the  Hungarian  frontier  it  is  said  that  Joseph 


JOSEPH  II.  AND  THE  KIXG  OF  PRUSSIA.    245 

was  met  one  day  by  a  peasant,  who  ran  up  to  him, 
crying  out  : 

"  Most  merciful  Emperor  !  we  have  four  days  of 
statute-labor ;  on  the  fifth  day  we  are  obliged  to  go 
fishing  with  the  Seigneur;  on  the  sixth  we  have  to 
hunt  with  him ;  the  seventh  day  belongs  to  God.  Most 
merciful  Emperor,  how  can  we  pay  our  taxes  and 
dues?" 

"  How,  indeed  ?  "  said  the  Emperor,  thoughtfully. 

And  although  it  was  not  until  the  death  of  Maria 
Theresa,  fourteen  years  later,  that  he  was  free  to  do 
anything  for  the  serfs,  he  never  forgot  them,  and  in 
1785,  five  years  after  his  accession,  he  abolished  serf- 
dom in  Hungary  and  obliged  the  nobility  to  pay  their 
proportion  of  the  taxes. 

In  September,  1774,  a  meeting  was  arranged  to  take 
place  at  Xeustadt  between  Joseph  and  the  King  of 
Prussia,  and  preparations  were  made  for  a  great  mili- 
tary review.  Suddenly,  however,  the  sky,  which  had 
been  brilliantly  clear,  became  overcast;  peals  of 
thunder  were  heard,  and  the  rain  fell  in  such  torrents 
that  the  review  had  to  be  abandoned.  As  the  two 
sovereigns,  completely  drenched,  were  hastening  to 
get  under  shelter,  Frederick  was  heard  to  observe, 
"  After  all,  we  have  to  acknowledge  that  there  is  one 
ruler  still  more  powerful  than  ourselves." 

The  simplicity  of  Joseph's  establishment  offered  a 
violent  contrast  to  that  of  his  grandfather,  Charles 
VI.      Two    o'clock   was   his   dinner   hour,  but   the 


246  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Emperor's  conscientious  devotion  to  duty  was  such 
that  it  was  sometimes  five  o'clock  before  he  would 
allow  himself  to  stop  working.  The  meal,  in  the 
meanwhile,  was  kept  warm  on  a  stove.  Being  a 
widower  and  childless,  the  Emperor  usually  dined 
alone,  waited  upon  by  a  solitary  servant,  with  whom 
he  conversed  all  the  time.  Dinner  lasted  about  half 
an  hour.  Like  all  the  Habsburgs,  Joseph  was  ex- 
ceedingly fond  of  music,  and  himself  played  on  the 
violoncello  and  piano.  He  once  asked  Mozart's 
opinion  of  a  sonata  which  he  had  written.  Mozart 
made  the  very  courtier-like  reply  that  "  the  sonata 
was  very  good  in  its  way,  but  that  he  who  had  written 
it  was  better ;"  but  he  handed  it  back,  with  some  cor- 
rections. 

The  Emperor  would  never  have  a  mattress  on  his 
bed  until  about  a  year  before  his  death,  when  the  doc- 
tors advised  it.  Before  that  he  slept  upon  a  bag 
filled  with  straw,  and  covered  with  a  stag's  hide  and  a 
linen  sheet;  for  a  pillow  he  had  a  leather  cushion, 
filled  with  horse-hair.  He  always  shaved  himself, 
until  he  was  too  ill  to  do  so  any  longer.  Once,  when 
journeying  to  Paris,  he  arrived  at  Rheims  ahead  of 
his  suite.  The  landlord  of  the  inn,  finding  him  alone 
and  engaged  in  shaving,  asked  if  he  were  one  of  the 
Emperor's  people,  and  what  position  he  held.  "  I 
sometimes  shave  him,"  answered  Joseph. 

AVhen  in  Vienna  he  occupied  a  suite  of  three 
rooms  on  the  first  floor  of  the  Hofburg.  and  in  the 


AUDIENCES  IN  THE   HOFBUEG.  247 

same  wing  as  the  Rittersaal.  His  windows  overlooked 
the  Bastei,  which  were  at  that  time  the  Boulevards  of 
Vienna.  In  his  bedchamber  there  hung  a  portrait  of 
Catharine  II.  of  Russia,  presented  to  him  by  the 
Empress  herself.  Joseph  had  been  dispatched  by 
his  mother  to  Poland,  in  1780,  to  meet  Catharine, 
and  to  win,  if  possible,  the  Russian  interests  from 
Prussia  to  Austria.  He  succeeded  so  entirely  that, 
from  the  time  of  his  visit,  Frederick  the  Second's 
influence  in  Russia  waned,  while  Catharine  and 
Joseph  for  years  kept  up  a  lively  and  intimate  cor- 
respondence. 

The  third  room  of  the  Emperor's  suite  was  his  pri- 
vate study.  It  was  provided  with  a  mechanical  ar- 
rangement, by  which  papers  could  be  sent  up  from 
the  Chancellerie,  situated  directly  beneath  it.  Here 
the  Emperor  worked  throughout  the  entire  morning, 
usually  beginning  at  about  six  or  seven  o'clock.  On 
the  days  when  he  crave  audiences,  the  "  Controlorffanff" 
or  passageway  leading  to  his  cabinet,  was  thronged 
with  persons  of  all  classes  and  conditions.  From  time 
to  time  the  Emperor  appeared  at  the  door,  took  the 
petitions  from  some  and  showed  in  others  who  wished 
for  personal  interviews.  The  reason  he  gave  for  per- 
forming this  office  himself  was  that  he  wished  to  have 
as  few  barriers  as  possible  between  himself  and  his 
people,  and  he  insisted  on  having  those  persons  with 
whom  he  had  made  appointments  shown  in  at  once,  as 
he  said  he  had  spent  too  many  weary  hours  himself 


248  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

waiting  in  his  father's  ante-chamber,  not  to  know  how 
tiresome  it  was. 

Joseph  died  on  the  20th  of  February,  1790,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-nine.  His  end  was  very  sad.  All  through 
his  active  life  he  had  labored  conscientiously  for  the 
welfare  of  his  country  and  his  people,  as  he  under- 
stood it ;  and  yet  he  lived  to  see  all  his  work  undone. 
The  capture  of  the  Bastile  (July  14,  1789)  had  been 
the  signal  for  an  insurrection  in  the  Netherlands. 
News  reached  Vienna  of  first  one  disaster  and  then 
another.  At  last,  when  it  became  known  that  Brus- 
sels was  in  the  hands  of  the  Patriots,  the  Emperor, 
whose  health  had  been  failing  for  some  time,  became 
extremely  melancholy.  "When  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  a 
Belgian,  visited  him  in  February  (1790),  the  Emperor 
said  to  him  : 

"  Your  country  has  killed  me  ;  the  taking  of  Ghent 
is  my  agony — the  evacuation  of  Brussels  is  my  death." 

But  even  more  bitter  to  the  dying  Emperor  was  the 
course  which  he  was  obliged  to  follow  in  Hungary. 
Here  his  policy  of  centralization  had  met  with  violent 
opposition,  and  his  reforms  with  scarcely  less  hostility. 
Buoyed  up  by  the  example  of  the  people  of  the  Neth- 
erlands, as  well  as  by  the  general  spirit  of  revolution 
that  was  abroad,  the  Hungarians  now  sent  in  a  list  of 
grievances,  and  threatened  to  resort  to  "  the  insurrec- 
tion" if  they  were  not  immediately  redressed.  So 
Joseph,  ill  and  broken-spirited,  issued,  only  about 
three   weeks    before    his    death,   a    decree    revoking 


JOSEPH  II.'S   DISAPPOINTMENTS.  249 

almost  all  the  reforms  he  had  introduced  into  Hun- 
gary, and  at  the  same  time  sent  back  the  Crown  of 
St.  Stephen,  with  which  the  Austrian  rulers  were 
crowned  as  Kings  of  Hungary,  and  which  he  had 
caused  secretly  to  be  removed  to  Vienna.  Joseph 
was  also  obliged  to  yield  to  demands  made  at  this 
time  by  the  Tyrolese,  and  in  his  last  hours  to  undo, 
in  that  country  as  well,  the  careful  labor  of  years. 

But  more  pathetic  far  than  any  of  these  public 
griefs  were  the  sorrows  and  disappointments  of  the 
Emperor's  private  life.  He  had  married,  when  only 
nineteen  (1760),  the  young  daughter  of  Philip,  Duke 
of  Parma.  He  was  passionately  in  love  with  his 
wife,  who — whether  because,  as  is  sometimes  alleged, 
of  a  previous  attachment,  or  whether  solely  on  ac- 
count of  a  constitutional  melancholy — never  returned 
his  affection.  As  she  was  gentle  and  reserved,  Joseph 
remained  unconscious  of  this,  and  during  the  three 
years  of  their  married  life  was  happy,  tender  and 
devoted.  Then  the  gentle  young  Princess,  barely  yet 
twenty  years  of  age,  was  taken  ill  with  small-pox. 
Her  husband,  beside  himself  with  anxiety,  would  not 
leave  her  bedside,  and  when  at  last  she  died,  he  had 
to  be  removed  by  force. 

Passionate  as  was  his  sorrow,  it  would  doubtless 
have  worn  itself  out  in  time,  and  have  left  no  sting 
behind,  had  not  his  sister  Christina  (she  who  married 
Albert,  Duke  of  Saxe-Teschen,  and  whose  monument 
by  Canova  in   the  Augustiner  Kirche  has  been  de- 


250  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

scribed)  tactlessly  endeavored  to  arouse  him  by  telling 
him  that  his  wife  had  confided  to  her  that  she  did  not 
really  love  him,  and  only  assumed  an  affectionate  de- 
meanor from  a  sense  of  duty. 

The  iron  that  entered  into  Joseph's  soul  at  this 
shattering  of  his  dream  left  hira  hard  and  bitter,  and 
the  Bavarian  Princess  Josepha,  whom,  solely  to  please 
his  family,  he  married  two  years  later,  much  against 
his  own  inclinations,  had  to  suffer  for  it. 

This  unfortunate  lady,  who  was  plain,  nervous  and 
unattractive,  capped  her  other  shortcomings  by  fall- 
ing violently  in  love  with  her  husband.  The  Imperial 
family,  after  insisting  on  the  marriage,  now  rather 
meanly  deserted  the  bride,  and  she  was  treated  on  all 
sides  with  unkindness  and  neglect.  Joseph  simply 
could  not  endure  her,  his  dislike  being  increased  by 
her  nervous  adoration.  The  only  person  who  seemed 
to  feel  the  least  sympathy  or  kindliness  for  her  was 
her  father-in-law.  the  Emperor  Francis. 

"Oh,  wretched  me!"  she  exclaimed,  bursting  into 
tears,  when,  about  six  months  after  her  marriage,  the 
news  of  the  Emperor's  death  was  received,  "  I  have 
lost  my  only  friend  !* 

Fortunately  for  the  poor  young  thing,  the  same 
dreadful  malady  that  had  carried  off  her  predecessor 
seized  upon  her.  and  she  died  in  1767.  after  but  two 
years  of  married  life. 

After  these  unfortunate  experiences,  Joseph,  though 
still  only  twentv-six  years  old,  could  never  again  be 


Josefs  Platz  and  Statue  of  Emperor  Joseph  II 


JOSEPH  lL'S  DEATH.  251 

induced  to  try  matrimony.  The  two  little  girls  born 
to  him  by  his  first  wife  died  in  infancy,  and  there 
were  no  children  by  his  second  marriage.  In  his 
latter  years  therefore  the  Emperor  lavished  all  the 
devotion  of  a  naturally  affectionate  nature  upon  Eliza- 
beth of  \Vurteniberg,  the  wife  of  his  nephew — and 
successor,  Francis.  Elizabeth  returned  this  affection 
very  heartily,  and,  herself  in  precarious  health  at  the 
time,  wras  deeply  distressed  when  she  realized  that  the 
Emperor's  death  was  inevitable.  There  was  a  painful 
interview,  from  which  the  Princess  was  carried  in  a 
swooning  condition,  and  three  days  later  she  died. 

This  news  was  received  by  the  dying  Emperor  with 
an  agony  of  grief.  He  ordered  that  the  Princess 
should  lie  in  state  in  the  Hofburg  Chapel,  but  not  for 
long.  "  She  must  be  removed  to  make  room  for  my 
own  corpse/'  Two  days  later  he  died,  his  last  words, 
murmured  as  if  to  himself  a  few  moments  before  his 
death,  being,  "  I  believe  I  have  done  my  duty  as  a 
man  and  as  a  Prince ;"  and  he  asked  that  on  his 
tomb  should  be  carved  the  words,  "  Here  rests  a 
Prince  whose  intentions  were  pure;  but  who  was  so 
unfortunate  as  to  see  all  his  plans  miscarry ." 

The  Prince  de  Ligne  beautifully  summed  up  his 
career  in  the  lines — 


"  II  entreprit  beaucoup,  et  commandant  ton  jours 
Ne  put  rien  achever,  excepte  ses  beaux  jours." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Leopold  II. — Policy  of  his  Government — His  Short  Reign  and 
Sudden  Death — Francis  II. — His  Disinclination  for  Work — 
Louis  XVI.  Declares  War  with  Austria — Wonderful  Changes 
in  the  World's  History  —  The  French  Wars  —  Peace  of  Lune- 
ville — Napoleon  Proclaimed  Emperor — Francis  Assumes  Title 
of  Emperor  of  Austria — Alliance  Against  France  —  Napoleon 
in  Vienna — Austerlitz — The  Peace  of  Pressburg — Metternich  on 
the  Condition  of  Austria — The  Hhehibund — Abdication  of  the 
Emperor  Francis — End  of  the  German  or  Holy  Roman  Empire 
— War  Again — The  Defeat  of  Eckmiihl — Archduke  Charles — 
Napoleon  Back  in  Vienna — The  Peace  of  Vienna — Humiliations 
for  Austria — Napoleon's  Marriage  with  the  Archduchess  Maria 
Louisa — Josephine  Helps  to  Bring  it  About — Interview  Be- 
tween Josephine  and  Princess  Metternich — Lofty  Tone  Assumed 
by  the  Emperor  Francis  and  Metternich — The  Previous  Pielig- 
ious  Ceremony  Ignored — Birth  of  the  King  of  Rome — Over- 
throw of  Napoleon — The  Congress  of  Vienna — The  Prince  de 
Ligne — Gaieties  During  the  Congress — Metternich's  View  of  its 
Labors — Frederick  von  Gentz's  Account — News  of  Napoleon's 
Escape  from  Elba  —  Action  of  the  Powers — Waterloo — Death 
of  the  Emperor  Francis — Popular  Misconceptions  of  his  Char- 
acter— The  Emperor  Ferdinand— His  Weak  Nature — Metter- 
nich More  Powerful  than  Ever — His  Absolutism — Revolution 
of  1S4S — Meetings  in  the  Hof burg— Archduke  Ludwig— Arch- 
duchess Sophie — "I'll  Have  No  Shooting" — Deputations  to  the 
Hof  burg — Metternich  muss  Abdankoi — The  Emperor  Grants  a 
Constitution — More  Troubles  —  The  Constitution  a  Failure — 
Revolution — Murder  of  Count  Latour — The  Emperor  Abdicates. 

The   Emperor  Joseph  II.  was  succeeded   by  his 
252 


LEOPOLD  IL'S  SHOET  EEIGX— FRANCIS  II.    253 

brother,  Leopold  II.,  Duke  of  Tuscany,  the  "  Polclel  " 
of  his  mother,  Maria  Theresa. 

In  his  short  reign  of  barely  two  years  he  was  fur- 
ther obliged  to  recall  many  of  Joseph's  measures ;  so 
that  at  his  death,  which  occurred  quite  suddenly  in 
March,  1792,  the  country  was  very  nearly  in  the  state 
in  which  Maria  Theresa  had  left  it. 

Leopold's  son,  Francis,  was  now  called  upon  to 
mount  the  throne ;  but,  to  the  embarrassment  of  those 
about  him,  he  at  first  flatly  refused  to  do  anything 
demanding  so  much  trouble  and  hard  work. 

This  Prince  had  been  summoned  to  Vienna  during 
the  lifetime  of  his  uncle,  the  Emperor  Joseph,  in 
order  that  he,  as  heir  presumptive  to  the  throne, 
might  receive  some  training  to  fit  him  for  the  posi- 
tion he  would  one  day  be  called  upon  to  fill ;  but  the 
spectacle  of  Joseph's  upright  and  fearless  discharge  of 
his  duties,  and  his  close  application  to  his  work,  only 
served  to  disgust  the  youth  with  the  profession  of  an 
Emperor.  To  his  dying  day  Francis  had  a  hearty 
dislike  of  anything  that  required  close  application, 
and  would  procrastinate  eternally  in  the  transaction 
of  ordinary  business.      % 

After  two  days'  argument,  however,  his  confessor 
succeeded  in  overcoming  his  reluctance  to  assume  his 
new  position  by  telling  him  that  all  he  need  do  would 
be  to  appoint  a  Cabinet  and  then  leave  everything  to 
his  Ministers.  Within  two  months  of  his  accession, 
Louis  XVI.,  husband  of  Francis's  great-aunt,  Marie 


254  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Antoinette,  egged  on  by  his  advisers,  proposed  to  the 
National  Assembly  that  war  should  be  declared  against 
the  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  This  was  in 
April.  In  July  Francis  was  crowned  as  Emperor. 
In  the  following  winter  the  King  and  Queen  of 
France  were  guillotined. 

Francis's  long  reign  of  forty-three  years  saw  marvel- 
ous changes  effected  in  the  conditions  of  the  world  at 
large,  and  his  own  dominions  in  particular.  For 
twenty-three  years  of  this  reign  Austria  was  engaged 
in  a  succession  of  wars  with  France.  The  first  of 
these  terminated  in  1797,  with  the  Peace  of  Campo 
Fornio,  the  second  with  the  Peace  of  Luneville,  signed 
in  1801.  In  1804  Xapoleon  was  proclaimed  Emperor, 
and  in  the  same  year  Francis,  who  foresaw  that  the  title 
of  Roman  Emperor,  now  held  for  so  long  by  members 
of  his  family,  might  one  day  become  extinct,  assumed 
that  of  Emperor  of  Austria  for  himself  and  for  his 
successors.  In  1805  war  again  broke  out,  an  alliance 
having  been  formed  between  Russia,  England,  Austria 
and  Sweden  against  France.  By  November  of  that 
year,  however,  Xapoleon  was  in  Vienna,  and  on  the 
2d  of  December  he  won  the  decisive  battle  of  Aus- 
terlitz.  The  Peace  of  Pressburg,  which  followed,  im- 
posed upon  Austria  the  most  humiliating  and  disastrous 
conditions.  Metternich,  writing  of  it  two  years  later, 
says,  "The  Austrian  monarchy,  sapped  in  its  founda- 
tions, only  figured  in  the  balance  of  Powers  as  an  inert 
mass  in  opposition  to  France.     Her  military  state  dis- 


CHANGES  IN  THE  WORLD'S  HISTORY.       255 

organized,  without  confidence  in  herself,  deprived  of  a 
great  quantity  of  material  resources,  she  awaited  a  new 
creation.  Victorious  France  covered  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  ancient  Empire  of  Germany  with  armies  intox- 
icated with  a  success  as  rapid  as  it  was  easily  bought.'' 

The  German  Empire  was  in  fact  no  more.  In  July, 
1806,  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Paris — the  Rheinbund,  or 
Act  of  Confederation  of  the  Rhine.  Sixteen  sovereign 
houses  separated  from  the  Empire  and  accepted  the 
"protection"  of  the  Emperor  of  France.  A  few  weeks 
later  Xapoleon,  through  his  Envoy  at  the  Diet  at  Pe- 
gensburg,  declared  that  he  no  longer  recognized  the 
existence  of  the  Empire,  and  within  the  week  the  Em- 
peror Francis  abdicated. 

"Of  those  who  in  August,  1806,  read  in  the  Eng- 
lish newspapers  that  the  Emperor  Francis  II.  had 
announced  to  the  Diet  his  resignation  of  the  Imperial 
Crown,  there  were  probably  few  who  reflected  that  the 
oldest  political  institution  in  the  world  had  come  to  an 
end.  Yet  it  was  so.  The  Empire,  which  a  note 
issued  by  a  diplomatist  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube 
extinguished,  was  the  same  which  the  crafty  nephew 
of  Julius  had  won  for  himself,  against  the  Powers 
of  the  East,  beneath  the  cliffs  of  Actium ;  and  which 
had  preserved  almost  unaltered,  through  eighteen 
centuries  of  time,  and  through  the  greatest  changes 
in  extent,  in  power,  in  character,  a  title  and  preten- 
sions from  which  all  meaning  had  long  since  departed. 
.  .  .  Strictly  speaking,  it  is  from  the  year  800  A.D., 


256  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

when  a  King  of  the  Franks  was  crowned  Emperor 
of  the  Romans  by  Pope  Leo  III.,  that  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  must  be  dated. 
But  in  history  there  is  nothing  isolated,  and  .... 
among  the  institutions  of  the  Middle  Ages  there  is 
scarcely  one  which  can  be  understood  until  it  is 
traced  up  either  to  classical  or  to  primitive  Teutonic 
antiquity."  1 

"  His  deed  [Francis's]  states  that  finding  it  impos- 
sible, in  the  altered  state  of  things,  to  fulfill  the  obliga- 
tions imposed  by  his  capitulation,  he  considers  as  dis- 
solved the  bonds  which  attached  him  to  the  Germanic 
body,  releases  from  their  allegiauce  the  States  who 
formed  it,  and  retires  to  the  government  of  his  heredi- 
tary dominions  under  the  title  of  Emperor  of  Austria. 
Throughout,  the  term  '  German  Empire '  (Deutsches 
Reich)  is  employed.  But  it  was  the  crown  of  Augus- 
tus, of  Constantine,  of  Charles,  of  Maximilian,  that 
Francis  of  Habsburg  laid  down,  and  a  new  era  in  the 
world's  history  was  marked  by  the  fall  of  its  most 
venerable  institution.  One  thousand  and  six  years 
after  Leo,  the  Pope,  had  crowned  the  Frankish  King, 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-eight  years  after  Caesar 
had  conquered  at  Pharsalia,  the  Holy  Roman  Empire 
came  to  its  end. 

"  There  was  a  time  when  this  event  would  have  been 
thought  a  sign  that  the  last  days  of  the  world  were 
at  hand.  But  in  the  whirl  of  change  that  had  be- 
1  Introduction  to  The  Holy  Boman  Empire.    James  Bryee. 


HUMILIATIONS  FOR  AUSTRIA.  957 

wildered  men  since  a.d.  1789,  it  passed  almost   un- 
noticed." l 

The  Peace  of  Pressburg  was  soon  broken  by  both 
Prussia  and  Russia,  while  Austria  only  remained  in- 
active in  order  to  reorganize  her  army  and  collect  her 
resources.  Iu  the  spring  of  1809,  these  preparations 
being  completed,  hostilities  broke  out  in  Bavaria.  The 
campaign  was  unsuccessful ;  the  Austrians,  after  re- 
peated defeats,  were  obliged  to  withdraw. 

"  What  will  they  say  of  us  at  Vienna  ?  "  asked  the 
Commander,  Archduke  Charles,  miserably,  as  he  and 
General  Lindenau  were  escaping  from  the  battle-field 
of  Eckmiihl. 

"  Why,  that  your  Imperial  Highness  lias  been  a 
young  fool,  and  I  an  old  ass,"  growled  the  General. 

Early  in  May  Xapoleon  once  more  had  his  head- 
quarters at  SchSnbrunn,  and  was  in  possession  of 
Vienna.  On  the  21st-22d  of  that  month  Archduke 
Charles  won  a  brilliant  victory  over  Xapoleon  at 
Aspern,  near  Vienna  ;  but  in  July  the  Austrians  were 
again  defeated  at  TTagram.  The  campaign  closed  in 
October  witli  the  Peace  of  Vienna,  by  which  Austria 
was  deprived  of  thirty-two  thousand  srpiare  miles  of 
territory,  three  and  a  half  million-  of  her  people,  and 
all  her  seaports.  Before  withdrawing,  the  French,  as 
a  final  demonstration,  blew  up  the  fortifications  of 
Vienna. 

Xapoleon   was   now  desirous   of    strengthening  his 

1  The  Hohj  Roman  Empire.     James  Bryce. 
17 


258  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

position  by  an  influential  alliance,  and  he  was  also 
extremely  anxious  for  an  heir.  Of  what  avail  was  it 
to  be,  as  he  announced  himself,  the  successor  of  Char- 
lemagne,1 if  he  himself  had  no  successor?  Several 
years  before  Talleyrand  and  Fouche  had  concocted  a 
scheme  for  inducing  the  Emperor  to  contract  a  fresh 
marriage.  Their  plan  was  to  force  Josephine  herself 
to  take  the  initiative  and  ask  for  a  separation ;  but 
Metternich  says  she  baffled  all  their  calculations  and 
manoeuvres,  and  consequently  the  plot  failed.  Towards 
the  close  of  1809,  however,  it  was  well  understood 
that  Napoleon  had  made  up  his  mind  to  a  divorce,  and 
Metternich  was  actively  negotiating  to  have  the  Arch- 
duchess Maria  Louisa  chosen  for  Josephine's  successor. 
In  these  negotiations  it  is  curious  to  find  Josephine 
and  her  son,  Prince  Eugene,  taking  an  active  part. 
The  Princess  Metternich,  writing  to  her  husband 
from  Paris,  in  January,  1810,  describes  an  interview 
at  Malmaison,  in  which  the  Empress  had  said  to  her, 
"  I  have  a  plan  which  occupies  me  entirely,  the  suc- 
cess of  which  alone  could  make  me  hope  that  the  sac- 
rifice I  am  about  to  make  will  not  be  a  pure  loss.  It 
is  that  the  Emperor  should  marry  your  Archduchess. 
I  spoke  to  him  of  it  yesterday,  and  he  said  his  choice 
was  not  yet  fixed.  .  .  ."  Throughout  the  negotia- 
tions Metternich  insisted  upon  the  high  motives  that 
were  swaying  himself  and  his  master.    In  his  instruc- 

1  He  is  quoted  on  one  occasion  as  sayiug,  "  Je  nai  pas  succede  a 
Louis  Quatorze  mais  a  Charlemagne." 


NAPOLEON'S  MARKIAGE  TO  MARIA  LOUISA.    259 

tions  to  the  Austrian  Minister  at  Paris,  he  reminds  him 
that  "his  Majesty  will  never  force  a  beloved  daugh- 
ter to  a  marriage  which  she  abhors,  and  he  will  never 
consent  to  a  marriage  which  would  not  be  in  con- 
formity with  the  principles  of  our  religion."  The 
stumbling  block  of  the  divorce  was  gotten  over  by 
airily  ignoring  the  private  religious  ceremony  per- 
formed between  Xapoleon  and  Josephine  in  the  Tuil- 
eries,  prior  to  their  coronation,  and  by  thus  regarding 
their  marriage  as  purely  a  civil  contract,  with  which 
the  Church  had  no  concern.  In  March,  1810,  the 
marriage  with  the  Archduchess  was  celebrated  by 
proxy  at  Vienna.  The  bride  went  immediately  to 
Paris.  A  year  later  a  son  was  born,  to  whom  was 
given  the  title  of  King  of  Rome. 

These  happy  events  had,  however,  not  the  smallest 
weight  in  securing  for  Xapoleon  the  support  of  Aus- 
tria after  the  unsuccessful  Russian  campaign  of  1812. 
The  fact  of  his  being  the  husband  of  "a  beloved 
daughter"  did  not  make  the  Emperor  Francis  desire 
Napoleon's  overthrow  one  whit  the  less,  and  wThen  at 
last  the  tide  of  fortune  turned  and  the  European 
Powers  saw  their  opportunity  to  crush  the  man  who 
had  for  so  long  dominated  them,  Austria  eagerly 
joined  the  Allies. 

In  March,  1814,  the  victorious  Allies  entered  Paris, 
only  the  Emperor  Francis,  out  of  "consideration  for 
his  daughter,"  lingered  on  the  road  and  arrived,  with 
a  small  party,  two  weeks  later.     Vienna  is  described 


260  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

as  being,  on  the  receipt  of  this  news,  "giddy  with 
delight,"  and  the  event  was  celebrated  with  magnifi- 
cent fetes  and  illuminations. 

In  the  fall  the  Great  Congress  of  Vienna  was  con- 
vened. Crowned  heads  and  Grand  Dukes,  potentates, 
Princes  and  Palatines,  Emperors  and  Electors,  to- 
gether with  a  host  of  minor  dignitaries,  poured  into 
Vienna,  with  their  ladies  and  their  suites.  And  all  the 
members  of  this  great  throng  were  the  guests  of  the 
Emperor  Francis.  As  many  as  could  be  accommo- 
dated were  given  apartments  in  the  Hofburg;  the 
others  were  quartered  about  in  the  town. 

Among  the  many  people  who,  without  having  any 
official  business  there,  were  attracted  to  Vienna  by  all 
the  brilliant  doings,  was  a  certain  voung  Comte  de  la 
Garde-Chambonas,  who  has  left  a  volume  of  sprightly 
Souvenirs  of  the  Congress.  Immediately  on  his  ar- 
rival he  waited  upon  the  Prince  de  Ligne. 

"'You  have  come  just  at  the  right  moment,'  cries 
the  veteran,  mockingly.  c  All  Europe  is  here ;  and  if 
you  are  fond  of  fetes  and  balls,  you  will  have  enough 
of  them,  I  promise  you,  for  dancing  is  the  chief  busi- 
ness of  this  Congress.' 

"Such  complicated  and  important  interests  were 
certainly  never  before  discussed  amidst  so  much  fes- 
tivity and  dissipation.  A  kingdom  was  dismembered 
or  ao-orandized  at  a  ball ;  an  indemnity  granted  at  a 
dinner;  a  restitution  proposed  during  a  hunt,  and  a 
bon-mot  or  a  happy  observation  sometimes  cemented 


THE  CONGRESS  OF  VIENNA.  261 

a  treaty,  which  otherwise  might  have  lingered  through 
tedious  discussion  and  correspondence." 

Metternich' s  view  of  the  character  of  the  Congress, 
of  which  he  was  the  presiding  genius,  was  quite  dif- 
ferent. He  took  exception  to  the  mot  of  the  Prince 
de  Ligne,  that  "  Le  Congres  danse  mais  ne  marche 
pas." 

"  The  Congress  opened,"  says  Metternich,  "  on 
November  3,  1814,  with  an  unpretending  conference, 
not  at  all  corresponding  to  the  expectations  of  a  pub- 
lic greedy  for  a  spectacle.  .  .  .  During  the  Congress 
a  number  of  crowned  heads,  with  numerous  retinues, 
and  a  crowd  of  tourists,  assembled  within  the  walls 
of  Vienna.  To  provide  social  recreation  for  them 
was  one  of  the  duties  of  the  Imperial  Court ;  that 
these  festivities  had  no  connection  with  the  labors  of 
the  Congress,  and  did  not  interfere  with  them,  is 
proved  by  the  short  duration  of  the  Congress,  which 
accomplished  its  work  in  five  months." 

Frederick  von  Gentz,  the  close  friend,  supporter 
and  confidant  of  Metternich,  tells  us  that  "  The  grand 
phrases,  '  reconstruction  of  social  order,'  'regenera- 
tion of  the  political  system  of  Europe/  i  a  lasting 
peace,  founded  on  a  just  division  of  strength/  etc., 
etc.,  were  uttered  to  tranquilize  the  people  and  to  give 
an  air  of  dignity  and  grandeur  to  this  solemn  assem- 
bly ;  but  the  real  purpose  of  the  Congress  was  to 
divide  amongst  the  conquerors  the  spoils  taken  from 
the  vanquished." 


262  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

As  a  fact,  the  greed,  mutual  jealousy  and  conflicting 
claims  of  the  Powers  represented  were  such  that  the 
five  months  were  spent  principally  in  wrangling,  and 
it  is  more  than  likely  that  the  Congress  would  have 
brokeD  up  in  discord  and  a  general  war  have  resulted, 
had  not  a  common  danger,  which  suddenly  involved 
them  all,  driven  them  to  seek  one  another's  support. 

"  A  conference  between  the  Plenipotentiaries  of  the 
five  Powers,"  writes  Metternich,  "  took  place  in  my 
house  on  the  night  of  March  6th,  and  lasted  till  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  Since  the  Cabinets  had  met 
in  Vienna,  I  had  given  my  servants  orders  that  if  a 
courier  arrived  at  night  lie  was  not  to  awaken  me.  In 
spite  of  this  order  a  servant  brought  me,  at  six  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  a  dispatch  sent  by  courier  and  marked 
urgent.  AVhen  I  saw  on  the  envelope  the  words, 
'  From  the  Consul-General  at  Genoa/  having  been 
only  two  hours  in  bed,  I  laid  the  dispatch,  unopened, 
on  the  nearest  table  and  turned  round  again  to  sleep. 
Once  disturbed,  however,  sleep  would  not  come  back. 
About  half-past  seven  I  resolved  to  open  the  dispatch. 
It  contained  the  information  in  six  lines  : 

"'The  English  Commissary,  Campbell,  has  just 
appeared  in  the  harbor  to  inquire  whether  Napoleon 
has  been  seen  in  Genoa,  as  he  has  disappeared  from 
the  Island  of  Elba.  This  question  being  answered  in 
the  negative,  the  English  ship  has  again  put  out  to 
sea.' 

"  I  was  dressed  in  a  few  minutes,  and  before  eight 


ESCAPE  OF  NAPOLEON   FROM   ELBA.         263 

o'clock  I  was  with  the  Emperor.  He  read  the  dis- 
patch and  said  to  me,  quietly  and  calmly,  as  always  on 
great  occasions,  i  Napoleon  apparently  wishes  to  play 
the  part  of  an  adventurer.  That  is  his  concern  ;  ours 
is  to  secure  to  the  world  that  peace  which  he  has  dis- 
turbed for  years.  Go  without  delay  to  the  Emperor 
of  Russia  and  the  King  of  Prussia,1  and  tell  them  that 
I  am  ready  to  order  my  army  to  march  back  to  France. 
I  do  not  doubt  but  that  both  monarchs  will  agree 
with  me/  " 

There  is  something  almost  ludicrous  in  the  dismay 
and  alarm  of  the  assembled  Potentates  who  had  just 
been  ruffling  it  so  grandly,  when  they  learned  of  the 
escape  of  the  one  man  whom  they  all  feared.  The 
news  was  made  public  when  a  brilliant  company  had 
assembled  in  the  Hofburg  to  witness  some  tableaux 
vivants.  It  came  like  a  thunderbolt,  and  was  heard 
with  general  consternation.  Metternich,  cool,  col- 
lected, and  in  his  element,  took  the  lead.  The 
Powers  agreed  to  sink  their  differences,  Napoleon 
was  proclaimed  an  outlaw,  and  each  country  prepared" 
for  war.  The  battle  of  Waterloo  (June  18, 1815)  de- 
cided Napoleon's  fate  forever,  and  the  partition  of 
Europe,  hastily  concluded  during  the  last  weeks  of 
the  Congress,  was  carried  out. 

In  1835  the  Emperor  Francis  died. 

"  Good  Father  Francis,"  "  The  People's  Emperor," 

1  These  two  Powers  were  on  the  eve  of  allying  themselves  against 
Austria,  France  and  England. 


264  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

left  behind  him  a  cheaply-gained  reputation  for  a 
kindly ;  amiable  father  of  his  people,  one  who  took  a 
good-natured  interest  in  all  their  little  affairs.  As  a 
fact,  his  was  a  thoroughly  cold,  impassive  and  calcu- 
lating nature.  Metternich  was  execrated  and  Francis 
was  beloved,  yet  the  Minister  had  a  genuine  dislike  of 
bloodshed,  while  his  master  regarded  it  with  com- 
plete indifference 

"  The  people  ! "  said  he,  on  one  occasion.  "  I  know 
nothing  of  the  people.     I  know  only  of  subjects/' 

One  way  in  which  he  gained  his  popularity  was  by 
frequently  pardoning  persons  convicted  of  murder,  for- 
gery, and  such  crimes,  but  towards  political  offenders 
he  was  unrelenting.  "  With  respect  to  granting  par- 
dons," said  he,  of  this  class  of  persons,  "  I  am  a  very 
bad  Christian.  It  goes  against  the  grain  with  me. 
Metternich  is  much  more  merciful." 

But  because  he  would  sometimes  advise  the  Viennese 
about  their  domestic  affairs  and  discuss  with  them  the 
marriages  of  their  sons  and  daughters,  they  could  not 
sufficiently  extol  his  kind  heart.  A  contemporary 
observer  wrote  that  the  Emperor  would  listen  to  cases 
of  peculiar  hardship  and  suffering  that  were  laid 
before  him  "  with  a  cold,  so  to  speak,  petrified  coun- 
tenance, and  answer,  '  Well,  well,  we'll  see  about  it/ 
Yet  he  never  does  anything." 

Mrs.  Trollope,  in  her  Vienna  and  the  Austrians, 
is  reduced  to  almost  an  hysterical  condition  when  con- 
templating   the    character  of  "  this  great  and    good 


THE  EMPEROR  FERDINAND.  265 

man."  He  had  been  dead  but  two  years  when  she 
visited  Vienna,  and  she  heard  many  anecdotes  of  him 
which  she  enthusiastically  repeats — his  exquisite  con- 
descension, in  telling  the  Princess  Metternich  that  he 
"  could  not  do  without  her  husband  -"  which,  indeed, 
was  strictly  true,  for  it  was  Metternich  who  governed  j1 
the  affection  he  displayed  towards  his  unfortunate 
grandson,  the  Duke  of  Reich  stadt,  whose  father's  in- 
veterate enemy  he  had  been ;  his  amiable  way  of  say- 
ing to  the  toAvnspeople  who  came  to  his  audiences, 
"  Well,  my  children,  .  .  .  wThat  is  there  I  can  do  for 
you  ? "  and  many  other  details  of  the  same  conde- 
scending, but  unconvincing  character. 

The  Emperor  Francis  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Fer- 
dinand, who  reigned  for  thirteen  years  and  abdicated 
after  the  revolution  of  1848. 

Ferdinand's  coronation  in  his  Italian  dominions  took 
place  in  1838.  It  was  marked  by  a  general  pardon 
for  all  political  offenders — a  concession  which  Metter- 
nich had  for  years  labored  in  vain  to  wring  from 
"Good  Father  Francis."  Metternich,  indeed,  was  now 
more  absolute  than  ever.  The  new  Emperor  was 
feeble,  both  intellectually  and  physically,  and  was, 
moreover,  so  poorly  educated  that  he  was  unfit  to 
govern.  To  the  veteran  Minister,  therefore,  was  con- 
fided the  conduct  of  affairs. 

While  the  world    was   progressing   towards   more 

1  Metternich  wrote  of  the  Emperor,  "  Heaven  has  placed  me  near 
a  man  who  seems  as  if  he  had  been  made  for  me." 


266  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

liberal  forms  of  government,  however,  Metternieh's 
principles  of  absolutism  became,  with  advancing  years, 
more  deeply  rooted  than  ever.  In  Galicia  riots  broke 
out ;  in  Italy  hatred  of  the  Austrian  rule  manifested 
itself  in  ever-recurring  disturbances ;  and  in  Hungary 
Kossuth  had  arisen  to  weld  together  the  elements  of 
the  opposition,  and  to  give  vigorous  life  to  the  national 
discontent.  From  Denmark,  from  Prussia,  from  Sax- 
ony, Bavaria  and  A\  iirtemberg,  tidings  came  of  decrees 
wrung  from  unwilling  rulers;  of  reforms,  of  liberal 
demands ;  and  everywhere  was  heard  the  hated  word 
"  Constitution  " — a  word  so  abhorrent  to  the  ears  of  the 
Emperor  Francis  that  he  forbade  his  physician  to  use 
it  even  in  referring  to  his  state  of  health.  And  all 
the  time  Metternich  trimmed  and  temporized,  confi- 
dent in  his  own  power  to  stem  the  curreut,  and  refus- 
ing to  recognize  that  the  hour  for  concessions  had 
sounded.  Then  came  the  news  of  the  revolution 
of  1848  in  Paris,  and  on  the  29th  of  February  word 
was  received  in  Vienna  of  the  flight  of  Louis  Philippe. 

Many  and  anxious  were  the  conclaves  held  in  the 
Hof  burg  to  devise  means  for  repressing  the  revolution 
that  was  now  ready  to  break  out  at  any  moment  in 
Vienna.  Placards  appeared  demanding  the  resigna- 
tion of  Metternich.  The  Princess  Metternich  tells 
of  a  series  of  anonymous  letters  received  by  her  hus- 
band, filled  with  threats  and  calling  upon  him  to  resign. 

"  There  was  a  strange  scene  in  the  Hof  burs'  one 
March  day  in  that  maddest  of  all  mad  years,  '48.    The 


SCENE   IN   THE   HOFBUKG,   MAKGH,   1848.      267 

Habsburgs  were  assembled,  Archdukes  and  Archduch- 
esses without  end,  in  the  Emperor  Ferdinand's  private 
apartment.  .  .  .  The  poor  old  Emperor,1  with  his 
weak,  kindly  ways,  and  his  head  that  was  always  on 
the  shake,  was  present  at  this  family  conclave,  with 
the  Empress  at  his  side,  almost  as  weak  and  almost  as 
kindly  as  himself.  Opposite  him  sat  his  brother,  the 
Archduke  Ludwig,  who  was  more  hated  in  Austria 
than  all  the  other  Habsburgs  put  together.  .  .  .  He 
was  virtually  the  regent  of  the  Emperor,  he  and  Prince 
Metternich  dividing  all  power  between  them.2  His 
elder  brother,  Archduke  Franz  Carl,  was  also  at  the 
council,  but  only  as  a  matter  of  form  ;  for,  although 
heir  to  the  Crown — the  Emperor  was  childless — he  was 
a  personage  of  no  importance.  Both  Prince  Ludwig 
and  Metternich  were  known  to  entertain  for  him  the 
most  unmitigated  contempt.  .  .  .  But  their  scorn  of 
him  was  as  nothing  to  their  hatred  of  his  wife,  the 
Archduchess  Sophie,  '  the  only  man  in  the  family,'  as 
Count  Beust  used  to  call  her.  .  .  .  For  she  was  a 
clever,  clear-sighted,  keen-witte]  woman,  who  had  no 
patience  with  their  antediluvian  ways,  and  cared  not 

1  Ferdinand  was  but  fifty-five,  but  his  poor  health  and  feeble  mind 
made  him  seem  like  an  old  man. 

2  Metternich  says  in  his  Memoirs  that  the  Emperor  Francis's  la^t 
illness  was  so  brief  that  he  had  only  time  to  dictate,  a  few  hours 
before  his  death,  an  "exhortation  "  to  his  successor,  advising  him  in 
every  emergency  to  consult  his  uncle,  the  Archduke  Ludwig,  and 
Metternich.  And  the  Minister  adds  that  Ferdinand  evincing  no 
desire  to  conduct  the  Government,  three  men  were  selected  for  this 
duty,  the  Archduke  Ludwig,  Count  Kolowrat  and  himself. 


268  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

one  whit  for  family  traditions.  .  .  .  Better  grant  fifty 
Constitutions,  she  told  her  relatives  roundly,  than  lose 
a  crown.  Whereupon  glances  of  unconcealed  mistrust 
were  exchanged,  and  a  whisper  of  '  Philippe  Egalite ' 
went  round. 

"  The  Archduke  John  alone,  he  who  was  the  Empe- 
ror's uncle,  took  up  his  stand  by  her  side  and  declared 
stoutly  that  she  was  in  the  right ;  if  the  Austrian  Grown 
were  to  be  sayed,  concessions  must  be  made  and  at 
once.  The  Archduke  John  was  known  in  those  days 
as  the  '  White  Raven,'  because  he  was  a  Habsbnrg 
democrat.  He  had  married  the  daughter  of  an  inn- 
keeper, and  had  forced  the  world,  practically  at  the 
point  of  the  sword,  to  treat  her  with  the  honor  due  to 
his  wife.  It  was  he  and  the  Princess  Sophie  against 
the  whole  Habsburg  clan  that  day.  .  .  .  They  two 
strove  with  heart  and  soul  to  awaken  any  glimmering 
of  common  sense  their  relatives  might  have.  .  .  .  They 
argued  and  pleaded,  threatened  and  entreated;  but  for 
any  good  they  did  they  might  just  as  well  have  been 
fast  asleep  in  their  beds.  Prince  Metternich  listened 
to  them  with  a  gentle,  deprecating  smile,  shaking  his 
head  sorrowfully  from  time  to  time,  as  if  to  say.  How 
can  Habsburgs  be  so  misguided?  As  for  Archduke 
Ludwig,  he  told  them  bluntly  they  were  renegades. 
'As  things  are,  so  they  must  remain,"  he  declared,  and 
fas  things  are,  so  they  must  remain,'  was  caught  up  on 
all  sides. 

il  At  length  the  Archduchess  appealed  to  the  Em- 


SCENE  IN  THE  HOFBUEG,   MARCH,   1848.      269 

peror,  beseeching  him  to  think  of  her  boy,  and  for  his 
sake  to  yield  to  the  popular  demands.  Then  for  a 
moment  there  was  keen  anxiety  even  on  Metternich's 
well-trained  face,  for  the  old  man  was  evidently 
touched  by  what  she  said.  .  .  .  But  Prince  Lud- 
wig  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  in  a  voice  of  thunder  bade 
him  think  of  his  dead  brother,  the  Emperor  Franz  of 
ever  blessed  memory.  '  The  Emperor  Franz,  when  on 
his  death-bed,'  he  said,  'had  summoned  him  and  made 
him  swear  never  to  allow  the  Austrian  Crown  to  be 
despoiled  of  one  jot  or  tittle  of  its  prerogative.  .  .  .' 
The  old  Emperor  cowed  before  him  in  fear  as  he  spoke, 
and  the  Archduchess  gave  up  the  struggle  in  despair. 
She  rushed  from  the  room,  crying  as  she  went,  '  Man 
will  also  meinem  Sohn  das  Schiksal  des  Herzogs  von  Bor- 
deaux bereiten  ! '  (They  are  determined  to  bring  the 
Duke  of  Bordeaux's  fate  upon  my  son  as  well.)  .  .  . 
Before  many  minutes  had  passed  it  was  decided  that, 
come  what  would  in  Vienna,  there  should  be  none  of 
that  weak  yielding  to  the  populace  that  was  going  on. 
elsewhere.  .  .  . 

"  Just  when  this  point  was  settled,  a  curious  little 
episode  occurred.  The  Emperor  suddenly  raised  his 
head,  and  looking  first  at  Ludwig  and  then  at  Metter- 
nich,  remarked  sharply,  '  Ich  lass1  nit  schiessen '  (I'll 
have  no  shooting).  The  company  glanced  at  one 
another  in  amazement,  for  he  spoke  as  he  had  never 
spoken  before.  .  .  .  '  Do  as  you  like,'  he  continued,  in 
reply  to  some  remonstrance ;  '  manage  affairs  in  your 


270  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

own  way,  only,  now  remember,  I'll  have  bo  shoot- 
ing.' 

u  "When  the  Viennese  heard  his  words  they  dubbed 
him,  '  I'll-have-no-shooting  Ferdinand/  and  from  that 
day,  whenever  he  appeared  among  them,  they  cheered 
him,  poor,  feeble-brained  creature  though  he  were,  as 
no  Habsburg  had  ever  been  cheered  before/' ' 

For  days  after  this  the  Hofburg  was  besieged  with 
deputations.  Every  club,  association  and  society  in 
Austria  was  petitioning  the  Emperor  for  something, 
and  a  very  pretty  game  was  kept  up  by  Archduke 
Ludwig,  who  attempted  to  frustrate  them,  on  the  one 
hand  and  Princess  Sophie,  who  tried — and  usually  suc- 
ceeded, to  get  them  the  Emperor's  ear,  on  the  other. 
All  the  time  the  hatred  and  mistrust  of  Metternich 
was  gaining  in  depth  and  force  until  one  day  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Landtag  came,  at  the  head  of  some  thou- 
sands of  the  citizens,  to  demand  the  Minister's  dismis- 
sal. While  he  was  endeavoring  to  gain  admittance  to  the 
Hofburg,  a  scuffle  occurred  in  the  streets  between  the 
people  and  the  soldiers ;  a  shot  was  fired,  and  instantly 
matters  assumed  a  serious  aspect. 

Barricades  were  thrown  up  in  the  streets,  and  the 
populace  poured  out  of  the  houses,  ready  to  take  part 
in  the  struggle.  The  Imperial  party  at  first  tailed  to 
realize  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  it  was  not 
until  word  was  brought  that  one  regiment  had  frater- 
nized with  the  people,  another  had  refused  point 
1  In  Vienna  in  the  Mad  Ye.r\  '48.     Edith  Sellers. 


METTERNICH  RESIGNS  HIS  OFFICE.         271 

blank  to  obey  the  order  of  Archduke  Maximilian  to 
fire,  and  the  Commander  of  the  Civic  Guard  had  de- 
clined to  order  out  his  men  for  the  purpose  of  restor- 
ing order,  that  they  began  to  have  a  glimmering  of 
their  own  peril. 

To  the  insistent  demand  for  Metternich's  dismissal 
no  one  had  thus  far  paid  any  heed — he  least  of  all. 
"  Mettemich  muss  abdanken!"  had  been  the  burden 
of  the  cries  heard  for  days  past  in  the  streets  of 
Vienna  and  under  the  very  windows  of  the  Hofburg; 
and  now,  just  when  for  the  first  time  the  Imperial 
family  began  to  think  that  after  all  something  would 
have  to  be  done  to  appease  the  wild  beast  that  was 
abroad,  and  to  look  around  for  a  scapegoat,  some  one 
— sent,  it  is  said,  by  the  Archduchess  Sophie — "opened 
the  council  chamber  door  softly,  and  whispered, 
i  Mettemich  muss  abdanken!'  and  the  courtiers  in 
the  ante-chamber  repeated  the  words  quite  eagerly. 
Had  a  thunderbolt  fallen  at  the  Chancellor's  feet,  he 
would  not  have  looked  more  startled.  He  gave  but 
one  glance  at  Prince  Ludwig.  It  was  enough ;  in  his 
face  he  read  his  own  fate.  ...  In  an  instant  he  was  on 
his  feet,  explaining,  with  much  quiet  dignity,  that,  if 
by  resigning  his  office  he  could  in  any  way  contribute  to 
the  restoration  of  peace,  he  would  resign  it  and  gladly. 
No  one  spoke ;  no  one  had  for  him  a  word  of  sym- 
pathy. He  went  his  way  without  even  a  parting 
greeting."  l 

1  Vienna  in  the  Had  Year,  '48. 


272  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

The  Viennese  spent  the  night  in  wild  jubilations 
over  their  victory,  only  to  find  in  the  mcrnino-  that 
Prince  Windischgratz  had  been  appointed  Military 
Governor  of  the  city,  and  that  he  had  declared  Vienna 
to  be  in  a  state  of  siege.  The  populace  once  more 
poured  into  the  streets  and  besieged  the  Hofburg, 
demanding  to  see  the  Emperor.  Ferdinand  was, 
however,  befriending  them  in  a  more  practical  fashion 
than  by  bowing  to  them  from  a  balcony.  Notwith- 
standing the  most  earnest  representations  from  almost 
every  one  about  him,  he  refused  to  empower  the  new 
Governor  to  clear  the  streets,  adhering  obstinately  to 
his  "  Ich  lass'  nit  schiessen."  At  last,  on  the  loth,  the 
Archdukes  decided  that  there  was  nothing  for  it  but 
to  allow  the  people  to  see  the  Emperor,  hoping  that 
they  might  then  be  induced  quietly  to  disperse  to 
their  homes,  and  to  abate  their  demands.  Ferdinand 
accordingly  was  driven  about  through  the  city  in 
an  open  carriage.  "Wherever  he  went  he  was  greeted 
with  cries  of  "  Vivat  unser  KonstitutUmeller  Kaiser  .'" 
"  Vivat  unser  Ferdinand  der  nit  schiessen  tdsstl93 

"  The  old  man  was  delighted  ;  he  lavished  kindlv 
words,  smiles  and  greetings  on  all  sides ;  and  no 
sooner  was  he  in  the  Hofburg  again  than,  to  the  dis- 
may of  the  Court,  he  announced  that  '  ein  so  gutes 
Volky  welches  ihm  so  sehr  Hebe,  mi'isse  halt  avch  die 
verlangte  Konstitution  hahen  '  [So  good  a  people,  and 
one  that  loved  him  so  much,  must  certainly  have  this 
Constitution  that  thev  wanted.)     Thev  must  have   it, 


THE  CONSTITUTION  PEOVES  A  FAILUEE.     273 

too,  that  very  day,  he  insisted ;  the  decree  granting 
the  Constitution  must  be  drawn  up  there  and  then. 
And  it  was  drawn  up,  for  the  Princess  Sophie  was  at 
hand  to  prevent  delay ;  and  he  signed  at  once,  push- 
ing aside,  quite  angrily,  those  who  would  have  stayed 
his  hand. 

"'Am  I,  or  am  I  not,  Emperor?'  he  demanded, 
with  a  touch  of  the  old  Habsburg  spirit,  in  reply  to 
a  suggestion  that  the  decree  should  be  submitted  to  a 
family  council." 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  affairs  of  the  Empire 
were  in  too  serious  a  condition  for  so  simple  a  solu- 
tion. With  an  empty  exchequer,  mutual  distrust  and 
jealousy  in  the  National  parties,  serious  distress 
among  the  working  classes,  and  a  painful  absence  of 
men  of  ability  to  take  the  lead  in  the  government, 
the  dissatisfaction  grew  deeper  and  deeper.  To  crown 
all,  the  famous  Constitution,  when  it  finally  appeared, 
was  a  miserable  affair,  satisfactory  to  no  one.  The 
Emperor  went  (or  was  taken)  secretly  to  Innspruck, 
with  the  Court,  and  remained  there  till  the  middle  of 
August.  After  his  return  there  were  evident  indica- 
tions that  his  power  of  resistance  was  spent,  and  the 
Court  party  was  getting  the  upper  hand.  Then  came 
the  order  removing  the  two  Grenadier  regiments 
known  to  be  friendly  to  the  citizens  to  distant  garri- 
son duty,  and  replacing  them  with  two  regiments  of 
Czechs,  between  whom  and  the  Viennese  there  was  an 
old  standing  quarrel.  This  was  all  that  was  needed 
18 


274  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

to  bring  matters  to  a  crisis.  The  attack  on  the  AVar 
Office  and  murder  of  Count  Latour,  described  in  a 
previous  chapter/  quickly  followed,  and  the  revolution 
of  1848  was  on  in  earnest.  It  failed  miserably.  By 
November  Prince  Windischgratz  had  taken  possession 
of  the  capital,  with  a  hundred  thousand  men  at  his 
back,  and  a  few  weeks  after  this  the  Emperor  Ferdi- 
nand abdicated. 

"  If  they  shoot  at  my  people,  I  will  just  go  away," 
he  had  been  heard  to  declare  more  than  once ;  and 
that  is  what  he  did,  resigning  his  crown  to  his  nephew, 
Francis  Joseph — the  young  son  of  the  Archduchess 
Sophie,  who  still  occupies  the  throne. 
1  See  p.  27. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

The  Imperial  Hof  burg— Statue  of  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy — Arch- 
duke Charles— The  Franzens  Platz— Interior  of  the  Burg— 
The  Burg  Kapell— Anecdote  of  the  Emperor  Leopold  I.— Statue 
of  the  Emperor  Joseph  II. — The  Imperial  Library — "  Incuna- 
bula"—  Rare  MSS. —  Verbotene  Bucher  —  Apartments  of  the 
Emperor — His  Audiences — Private  Interviews — Guard  Mount 
— Scenes  in  the  Franzens  Platz — The  Roving  Population — 
Church  Ceremonies— Easter  Even — Corpus  Christi — The  Pro- 
cession— Maunday  Thursday — Washing  the  Feet — The  Cere- 
mony as  it  is  Performed  in  the  Hofburg — Other  Religious 
Observances — Frederick  II. 's  Annual  Pilgrimage  to  Herrnals 
— Superstitions — The  Lottery — The  Princess  Metternich's  Cook 
and  the  Emperor's  Illness. 

The  Hofburg,  the  residence  for  so  many  succeed- 
ing generations  of  the  Imperial  House,  a  brief  outline 
of  whose  history  as  it  is  connected  with  Vienna  we 
have  attempted  to  give  in  the  preceding  chapters,  is 
approached  from  the  Ring  Strasse  by  a  monumental 
gateway — the  Burjjthor.  erected  in  1822.  Bevond 
this  is  the  Outer  Burg  Platz,  where  are  seen  on  the 
right  a  statue  of  Prince  Eugene  of  Savov,  and  on  the 
left  one  of  Archduke  Charles,  brother  of  the  Emperor 
Francis.  After  the  peace  of  Pressburg,1  Archduke 
Charles  wTas  appointed  President  of  the  Aulic  Council 

1  See  p.  254. 
275 


276  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

of  War,  and  it  was  he  who  reorganized  the  army  and 
established  the  "  Landwehr."  The  statue  represents 
him  at  the  battle  of  Aspern,  a  spot  near  Vienna,  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Danube,  where  the  Archduke 
completely  defeated  Napoleon  on  the  21st  and  22d  of 
May,  1809. 

On  the  southeast  of  the  Outer  Burg  Platz  and  skirt- 
ing the  Hofgarten,  is  the  new  wing  of  the  palace;  a 
corresponding  wing  is  designed  to  extend  along  the 
northwest,  on  the  side  of  the  Volksgarten.  In  the  cen- 
tre of  the  palace  is  the  Inner  Burghof,  or  Franzens 
Platz,  with  a  broDze  monument  of  Emperor  Francis 
II.  :  facing  the  Franzens  Platz  are  the  winor  erected 
by  Leopold  I.  and  the  Residenz,  in  which  is  situated 
the  magnificent  "  Rittersaal."  Here  also  are  the 
apartments  occupied  by  Maria  Theresa  and  by  Joseph 
II.  On  the  north  is  the  "  Amalienhof."  A  passage 
and  a  drawbridge  crossing  an  ancient  moat  lead  from 
the  Franzens  Platz  to  the  "  Schweizerhof,"  the  oldest 
part  of  the  Burg  (1210),  which  gets  its  name  from  the 
old  Swiss  Guard  of  the  palace.  The  Imperial  Trea- 
sury is  also  reached  from  the  Franzens  Platz.  The 
richest  and  most  valuable  collections  have  been  re- 
moved from  the  Treasury  to  the  Imperial  Museum  of 
Art  History.1  South  of  the  "  Schweizerhof "  is  the 
Burg  Ivapell,  built  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury; a  small  part  of  the  choir  is  all  that  now  repre- 
sents the  original  building. 

1  See  p.  72. 


VIENNA  CHAPEL— JOSEFS  PLATZ.  277 

Here  Ferdinand  II.  was  wont  to  hear  two  masses 
daily,  and  on  Sunday  two  sermons,  one  in  German  and 
one  in  Italian,  besides  the  vesper  service.  It  was  he, 
as  has  been  already  mentioned,  who  instituted  the 
"  Vienna  Chapel,"  consisting  of  eighty  instruments 
and  voices. 

The  Emperor  Leopold  I.  used  to  hear  three  masses 
daily  in  the  Burg  Kapell,  remaining  kneeling  through- 
out, and  never  raising  his  eyes  from  the  various  books 
spread  open  before  him  on  the  floor. 

One  day,  while  this  Emperor  was  dining,  the  room 
in  which  he  sat  was  struck  by  lightning.  Amid  the 
general  excitement  that  followed,  Leopold  calmly  ob- 
served, "As  the  Lord  has  given  such  a  visible  sign 
that  it  is  now  a  better  time  for  praying  and  fasting 
than  for  banqueting,  take  the  meats  away." 

From  the  Burg  Kapell  a  gateway  leads  to  the 
Josefs  Platz,  on  the  east.  Here  is  seen  a  fine  bronze 
equestrian  statue  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  II.,  with  an 
inscription  by  Abbe  Neumann  : 

"Josepho  Secundo,  arduis  nato,  magnis  perfuncto,  majoribus  praz- 
cepto,  qui  saluti  publicce  vixit  non  diu,  sed  lotus.'" 

The  Imperial  Library,  built  by  the  Emperor  Charles 
VI.  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  is 
reached  from  the  southeast  corner  of  the  Josefs  Platz. 
In  addition  to  its  splendid  collection  of  rare  MSS.  and 
Oriental  documents,  this  library  possesses  no  fewer 


278  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

than  six  thousand  "  Incunabula/'  that  is  to  say, 
books  printed  before  the  sixteenth  century. 

Among  the  greatest  treasures  are  a  Psalter  of  Saint 
Hildegarde,  wife  of  Charlemagne,  which,  besides 
being  interesting  from  its  historical  associations,  is  a 
very  beautiful  example  of  the  illuminator's  art;  a 
copy  of  "  Gerusalemrne  Conquistata,"  written  with 
Tasso's  own  hand  ;  rare  copies  of  "  Gerard  de  Rous- 
sillon,"  and  of  the  "  Divine  Comedy."  the  latter  with 
fourteenth  century  illustrations ;  and  a  "  Parseval," 
also  finely  illustrated. 

Among  the  MSS.  collected  by  Madam  Ida  Pfeiifer, 
in  the  course  of  a  journey  around  the  world,  there 
are  a  Calendar  and  a  Book  of  Fables,  belonging  to  a 
certain  tribe  of  cannibals.  It  appears  that  these 
amiable  and  interesting  anthropophagi  have  a  code  of 
laws,  and  number  among  their  people  men  of  science 
and  of  letters.  They  combine,  it  would  seem,  with  a 
weakness  for  eating  one  another,  a  taste  for  bucolic 
verse.  Certain  shelves  of  the  library  bear  the  label, 
"  Verbotene  Bucher"  —  prohibited  books.  These 
consist,  for  the  most  part,  of  "  heretical "  religious 
works,  with  a  sprinkling  of  such  books  as  Rousseau's 
"  Confessions,"  and  Ovid's  "Art  of  Loving." 

The  new  facade  of  the  Burg,  facing  the  Michaeler 
Platz  on  the  north,  was  erected  in  1800-90.  It  occu- 
pies a  part  of  the  site  of  the  old  Burg  Theatre,  once 
an  integral  part  of  the  Palace,  the  theatre  in  which 
Maria   Theresa  so  startled  the  audience  by  announc- 


Gateway  of  the  Hofburg  on  the  Michacle,  Plat* 


THE  AUDIENCES  OF  FKANCIS  JOSEPH.      279 

ing,  from  the  Imperial  box,  the  birth  of  a  grand- 
son. 

The  apartments  occupied  by  the  present  Emperor 
are  reached  from  a  vestibule  between  the  Michaeler 
Platz  and  the  Franzens  Platz. 

"  One  can  say  of  him  (Francis  Joseph)  that  he  has 
been,  and  still  is,  the  most  popular  and  sincerely 
beloved  monarch  in  all  Christendom ;  beloved,  too, 
by  both  rich  and  poor ;  by  the  high-born  and  by  the 
humbler  classes.  To  the  latter,  in  particular,  he  has 
been  always  accessible,  ever  ready  to  lend  an  ear  to 
their  personal  troubles  and  grievances,  and  eager  to 
redress  them.  Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  this 
than  the  scenes  which  take  place  in  his  ante-chamber 
on  Monday  and  Thursday  mornings,  when  he  is  in 
Vienna.  The  great  ante-room  is  thronged  with  car- 
dinals and  prelates,  with  generals  and  statesmen,  with 
great  nobles  and  magnates,  and,  mingling  with  all 
these  high  and  mighty  personages,  are  Bohemian 
bricklayers,  miserable  creatures  from  the  poorer 
quarters  of  Vienna,  and  village  priests,  all  waiting 
to  submit  their  troubles,  their  sorrows,  their  wrongs 
and  their  grievances  to  'unserii  guten  Kaiser.' 
I  need  scarcely  add  that,  very  much  in  accord- 
ance with  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament,  it 
is  the  village  priest  who  is  generally  received  before 
the  scarlet-robed  cardinal;  the  poorly-clad  peasant 
before  the  cabinet  minister  in  his  gold-embroidered 
uniform,  and   the   farmer  before  the  great  territorial 


280  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

magnate.  .  .  .  Any  one  who  has  serious  business  with 
him  may  see  him,  and  speak  with  him  quite  alone, 
without  even  a  secretary  being  present.  The  appli- 
cant, whatever  may  be  his  station,  is  ushered  into  a 
study,  and  finds  the  Emperor  in  a  plain  uniform,  with- 
out a  single  decoration.  He  may  say  what  he  likes, 
sure  of  being  hearkened  to  with  patient  attention. 
The  scenes  that  have  been  enacted  in  the  Emperor's 
private  chamber  no  chronicler  will  ever  tell.  Of  the 
acts  of  kindness,  mercy  and  charity  shown  ;  of  the 
swift  redress  of  wrongs;  of  the  shrewd,  soldierly 
advice  given,  and  of  the  Imperial  magnanimity  dis- 
played at  all  times,  no  record  has  been  kept,  excepting 
in  the  Emperor's  own  memory,  if  even  there."  l 

The  Burg,  like  the  Imperial  Residence  at  Berlin, 
has  its  legend,  or  phantom.  Here  it  is  a  White  Lady, 
who  appears  on  the  eve  of  some  terrible  calamity. 
Other  phantoms  cross  the  pages  of  the  history  of  the 
Burg  ;  but  they  have  lost  caste,  and  a  modern  and 
incredulous  world  refuses  to  be  terrified  by  them. 

Every  day,  at  one  o'clock,  the  gray  walls  of  the  Old 
Residence  are  enlivened  by  the  gay  sounds  of  military 
music.  These  concerts  are  a  sort  of  musical  absinthe, 
taken  before  the  great  evening  concerts,  and  are  one 
of  Vienna's  chief  attractions,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
Viennese. 

The  Guard  House  is  on  the  south  of  the  Franzens 
Platz.     The  Guard   Corps   is  drawn  up  under  arms, 
1  Martyrdom  of  an  Empress. 


CEKEMONIES  OF  THE  CHUECH.  281 

waiting  to  be  relieved  ;  the  band,  disposed  in  a  circle, 
performs  marches,  waltzes  and  pot  pourris,  while  two 
or  three  hundred  people  stand  about  in  groups,  or 
walk  around  the  statue  of  the  Emperor  Francis,  who 
is  represented  on  foot  and  in  the  act  of  blessing  his 
people.  The  crowd  is  largely  composed  of  individ- 
uals clad  in  what  might  pass  for  coal-heavers? 
blouses;  their  shoes  give  evident  signs  of  wear;  their 
garments  are  forlornly  ragged ;  in  short,  they  are  the 
lazzaroni  of  Vienna. 

With  both  hands  thrust  deep  in  his  tattered 
pockets,  and  an  old  cigar  end,  picked  up  before  the 
door  of  some  cafe,  between  his  teeth,  a  member  of 
this  community  will  pass  his  days  tramping  about  in 
the  wake  of  every  band  that  marches  through  the 
streets.  He  has  probably  breakfasted  "  by  heart ;"  l 
he  will  dine  off  a  bit  of  sausage  and  an  end  of  bread, 
and  sup  in  some  kitchen  off  of  broken  bits,  given  in 
exchange  for  an  errand  done  for  madam,  or  some 
trifling  favor  performed  for  the  cook. 

On  the  Feast  of  "Corpus  Christi,"  and  during 
Holy  Week  and  at  Easter,  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Church  are  conducted  at  Vienna  with  accompaniments 
of  mediaeval  pomp  and  circumstance.  On  Easter 
Even  a  blare  of  trumpets  announces  that  the  Holy 
Sacrament,  which  has  previously  been  transferred 
from  its  usual  place  on  the  altar  of  the  Burg  Kapell 

1  Dejeuner— diner  par  coeur—a.  French  figure  of  speech  signifying 
to  go  without  a  meal  involuntarily. 


282  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE 

to  a  tomb  especially  constructed  to  receive  it  in  a 
distant  chapel,  is  about  to  be  escorted  back  to  its 
golden  tabernacle.  The  procession,  in  which  the 
Emperor  and  Empress  take  part  in  full  court  dress, 
passes  arouud  one  of  the  interior  courts  of  the  Burg, 
and  presents  a  very  brilliant  spectacle. 

But  the  most  imposing  of  these  ceremonies  is  the 
FronleichnamsfeS',  the  "  Corpus  Christi  "  festival,  insti- 
tuted by  Pope  Urban  IV.  in  1264,  in  honor  of  the 
Consecrated  Host.  As  already  mentioned,  it  was  the 
religious  Emperor  Ferdinand  II.  (1619—1637)  who 
inaugurated  the  custom  of  the  Emperor  taking  part 
in  person  in  this  celebration,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
Protestants  from  creating  a  disturbance. 

The  departure  of  the  procession  is  announced  by  a 
salvo  of  artillery,  and  presently  it  is  seen  slowly  issu- 
ing forth  from  beneath  the  draped  and  decorated 
archway  of  one  of  the  entrances  to  the  Burg.  There 
is  a  flourish  of  trumpets,  at  once  warlike  and  sacer- 
dotal, and  then  the  military  escort,  in  full  dress,  and 
each  soldier  wearing  an  oak  leaf  in  his  shako,  forms 
in  two  solid  lines.  The  throng  of  spectators,  thus 
swept  back  on  either  hand,  flows  up  against  the 
neighboring  walls  like  a  wave  of  the  sea  ;  while  over- 
head every  window  and  balcony  shows  a  compact  mass 
of  curious  faces  and  outstretched  necks.  The  cortege- 
sweeps  along,  gorgeous  and  many-colored  as  the  pro- 
cessions of  saint- one  sees  in  the  stained-glass  windows 
of  ancient    cathedrals.     First  come  the  lesser  clerg 


CORPUS   CHRISTI-THE  PEOCESSION.         283 

the  vivid  whiteness  of  whose  lace-edged  surplices  is 
increased  by  contrast  with  the  black  cassocks  worn 
below.  Next  are  the  equerries,  wearing  red,  gold- 
embroidered  waistcoats ;  and  then  the  pages,  their 
pretty,  cherubic  faces  surmounting  doublets  of  satin  ; 
lackeys  in  scarlet  coats  and  knee-breeches;  game- 
keepers in  black  and  blue  liveries ;  cooks,  whose  ad- 
vance guards  arejheir  own  stomachs,  and  their  noses 
their  cup-bearers.  Following  the  Emperor's  house- 
hold come  kettle-drummers  in  gala  uniform,  the  mu- 
sicians of  the  Court  Chapel  wearing  side-arms ;  then 
more  pages,  displaying  on  their  breasts  the  Imperial 
escutcheon ;  chamberlains,  with  the  key  worn  cross- 
wise ;  chevaliers  of  the  Teutonic  Order,  wearing  long 
cloaks,  like  those  in  which  St.  Joseph  is  usually  repre- 
sented; and  then  a  group  of  nobles,  in  furred  capes, 
slashed  and  festooned  boots,  broad  hats  looped  back 
with  diamond  aigrettes,  and  curved  sabres,  glorious 
and  resplendent  as  so  many  Magi. 

The  Archbishop  bears  the  Holy  Sacrament  in.  a 
shrine  encrusted  with  rubies,  and  enveloped  in  a  cloud 
of  incense,  through  which  it  shines  like  a  celestial 
luminary ;  while  the  dove,  worked  in  silver  thread, 
its  outspread  wings  sewn  with  spangles,  stands  out 
against  the  crimson  heaven  of  the  dais  as  though  it 
were  living  and  breathing  in  this  atmosphere  of  para- 
dise. Behind  the  Archbishop,  Avhose  tunic  glows 
with  embroidery  as  rich  and  gorgeous  as  that  on  the 
cloak  of  a  Byzantine  Emperor,  walks  the    Emperor 


2s4  VIENNA  AND   THE  VIENNESE. 

Francis  Joseph,  wearing  the  uniform  of  a  General  of 
the  army.  He  is  surrounded  by  his  staff  of  marshals 
and  officers,  and  followed  by  the  German  Guard,  uni- 
formed in  red  and  gold,  and  the  Hungarian  Guard, 
with  shining  helmets,  and  leopard-skins  thrown  over 
their  shoulders,  caught  together  on  their  breasts  with 
jeweled  clasps.  Heralds-at-arms,  sounding  upon 
their  silver  trumpets ;  members  of  the  Imperial 
Guard,  armed  with  lances ;  the  Police  Corps  of  the 
Court,  their  black  helmets  surmounted  with  scarlet 
crests  ;  and  the  Castle  Guard,  carrying  halberds,  bring 
up  the  rear  of  this  imposing  cortege.  It  is  like  a 
vision  of  fairyland.  All  this  Imperial  and  sacerdjtal 
pomp,  the  robes  of  crimson  and  violet,  the  glowing 
tunics  and  chasubles,  the  floating  albs,  the  gold-laced 
uniforms,  the  plumed  head-pieces,  the  theatrical  liv- 
eries, the  cloud  of  lace,  the  flaming  mass  of  gold 
braid,  church  ornaments  of  gold  and  jewels,  sweeps 
before  one's  dazzled  eyes  like  a  celestial  vision. 

The  Viennese  dote  on  these  magnificent  func- 
tions, and  such  enormous  crowds  congregate  to  see 
them  that  on  great  feast-days  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  make  one's  way  through  some  of  the  streets,  so 
dense  is  the  throng  of  persons  going  about  from  one 
church  to  another,  impelled,  however,  more  by  curi- 
osity than  by  piety. 

On  Maunday  Thursday  the  Archbishop  washes  the 
feet  of  the  Canons,  to  each  of  whom  is  handed  a  cup 
oi'  Spanish  wine.    Formerly  the  magistrates  and  prom- 


Empress  Elizabeth 


,~  s^z 


CEREMONY  OF  WASHING  THE   FEET.        285 

inent  ladies  who  witnessed  this  ceremony  presented 
similar  cups  to  the  Archbishop. 

The  Emperor,  assisted  during  her  lifetime  by  the  late 
Empress,  also  performs  this  office  in  the  Hof  burg  for 
twenty-four  old  men  and  women,  who  are  then  waited 
upon  at  table,  and  presented  each  with  a  small  purse 
full  of  silver  pieces.  Witnesses  of  this  ceremony  declare 
that  it  is  impossible  to  view  it  without  emotion.  Especi- 
ally impressive  was  it  when  the  late  Empress,  in  the 
full  bloom  of  her  majestic  beauty,  took  part.  The 
spectacle  of  the  sovereign  of  the  haughtiest  Court  of 
Europe  humbly  kneeling  before  each  feeble  old  man ; 
of  that  glorious  Imperial  head  bent  low  at  the  feet  of 
each  trembling  old  woman,  recalled  irresistibly  the 
words  pronounced  by  Christ  in  that  upper  room  in 
Jerusalem — "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  the  ser- 
vant is  not  greater  than  his  lord.  .  .  ." 

Mrs.  Trollope  has  left  a  graphic  description  of  this 
ceremony  as  she  saw  it  performed  in  1836  by  the  Em- 
peror Ferdinand  I.  (of  Austria)  and  his  Empress. 

"  A  long,  narrow  table  was  spread  down  each  si'de 
of  the  grande  salle  of  the  palace,  raised  on  an  estrade 
covered  with  a  carpet ;  on  the  inner  side  of  each  table 
were  twelve  arm-chairs,  and,  about  an  hour  after  the 
spectators  who  lined  the  walls  had  taken  their  places, 
twelve  old  men  and  as  many  old  women  were  led  in, 
each  by  two  supporters,  and  placed  in  them.  They 
were  neatly  and  warmly  clothed  for  the  occasion,  but 
the  form  of  their   garments   looked  as  if  they  were 


286  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

coeval  with  the  institution.  After  they  had  been  some 
time  seated,  the  usual  three  announcing  taps  were 
heard  upon  the  floor,  the  throng  of  officers  and  high 
officials  of  the  Court  fell  back,  and  the  Emperor  and 
all  the  Archdukes  at  present  in  Vienna,  all  in  military 
uniforms,  walked  up  the  room.  Immediately  after- 
wards the  Empress,  Archduchess  Sophie  [mother  of 
the  present  Emperor],  and  a  dozen  attendant  ladies 
followed.  They  mounted  the  estrades  on  which  the 
tables  were  placed ;  the  Emperor  and  his  suite  on  the 
side  allotted  to  the  men,  and  the  Empress,  Archduchess 
and  their  ladies  on  the  other. 

"  The  graceful  Empress  placed  herself  opposite  a 
tidy,  little  old  woman,  whose  superiority  of  age  (she 
only  wanted  one  year  of  a  hundred)  gave  her  the  first 
place,  the  Archduchess  stood  next,  and  they  had  both 
a  grand e-maitresse  behind  them ;  while  ten  noble 
ladies  in  attendance  stationed  themselves  each  one  op- 
posite an  old  woman,  all  of  whom  were  placed  in  order 
from  the  venerable  ninety-nine  down  to  the  cadette 
aged  eighty- four. 

"  On  the  other  side  of  the  room  the  Emperor  and 
the  Archdukes  and  the  gentlemen  in  waiting  did  the 


same. 


"  As  soon  as  the  Court  had  thus  placed  themselves, 
and  each  old  pensioner  received  a  kind  word  or  two, 
which  in  more  than  one  instance  called  up  a  blush  of 
pleasure  and  agitation  on  the  faded,  furrowed  cheek  ot^ 
age,  a  double  file  of  servants  in  state  liveries  marched 


THE   CEREMONY   IN  THE  HOFBURG.         287 

up  the  room,  each  bearing  a  tray  laden  with  what  ap- 
peared to  be  very  dainty  viands,  but  of  which  meat, 
of  course,  made  no  part. 

"  The  top  of  the  female  table  was  immediately  before 
the  place  we  occupied,  and  the  Empress  being  stationed 
at  that  end  of  it,  our  attention  was  naturally  fixed  upon 
her,  and  certainly  no  one  ever  went  through  a  ceremony 
with  greater  perfection  of  demeanor  in  every  way. 
The  first  part  of  the  humble  Christian  office  she  had 
lent  herself  to  perform  consisted  in  placing  with  her 
own  hands  the  various  dishes  provided  for  the  venera- 
ble senior  upon  whom  she  waited ;  and  this  was  done 
with  a  quiet,  gentle  sweetness  that  made  us  almost 
forget  the  Empress  in  admiration  for  the  woman. 
Her  august  sister-in-law,  and  each  fair  dame  in  order, 
followed  the  edifying  example,  and  the  table  was 
speedily  covered.  Nothing,  however,  was  eaten  by 
the  guests  but  soup;  it  having  been  ascertained  for 
some  years  past,  that  sending  home  untouched  the  por- 
tion served  to  each,  for  their  private  enjoyment  and 
that  of  their  friends,  gave  them  more  pleasure  than 
eating  a  nervous  meal  in  the  Imperial  presence,  and 
having  the  remnants  sent  after  them.  Three  entrees, 
and  a  dessert,  comprehending  I  imagine  as  much  food 
as  would  serve  a  family  for  a  week's  feasting;,  were  sue- 
cessively  placed  on  the  table,  and  removed  by  royal 
and  noble  hands,  with  all  the  zeal  and  activity  of  care- 
ful attendants. 

"  I  suppose  one  of  the  old  women  looked  wistfully 


288  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

at  the  parting  dishes,  as  if  she  were  hungry ;  for  the 
Archduchess  Sophie  bent  across  the  table,  spoke  a  few 
words  to  her,  and  then  proceeded  to  cut  oif  a  slice  of 
bread  from  a  loaf  that  flanked  her  plate,  and  gave  it 
to  her.  It  was  eaten  with  much  apparent  appetite, 
aided  perhaps  by  the  draught  of  what  I  presume  was 
wine,  which  the  poor  soul  drank  with  evident  and 
hearty  goodwill  from  a  goblet  that  stood  before  her. 
This  draught  was,  I  think,  taken  by  all,  and  was  in 
every  way  well-timed,  as  it  served  to  drink  to  the  health 
of  their  Imperial  hosts,  to  recruit  strength  and  spirits 
that  must  undoubtedly  have  been  somewhat  tried  by 
the  whole  scene,  and  to  fortify  them  against  the  effects 
of  the  severe  cold  without. 

"  The  dinner  having  been  thus  placed  and  removed, 
the  tables  were  withdrawn  with  great  celerity  and  the 
most  remarkable  part  of.  the  ceremony  began.  Pages 
approached  with  gold  basin,  ewer  and  napkins;  the 
beautiful  Empress  drew  off  her  gloves  and  tied  a 
white  linen  apron  round  her  waist,  while  every  lady 
on  the  estrade  knelt  down  before  the  poor  old  woman 
opposite  to  her  and  pulled  off  her  shoe  and  stocking. 
When  this  was  completed  they  drew  back,  and  a  long 
line  of  white  linen  cloth  was  placed  by  some  of  the 
attendants  over  the  row  of  naked  feet,  to  prevent  their 
being  unnecessarily  exposed. 

"  Meanwhile  a  priest  placed  himself  at  a  desk  pre- 
pared for  him,  exactly,  by  the  way,  in  front  of  the 
Nuncio  and  the  Turkish  Ambassador,  who  sat  side  by 


THE   CEREMONY  IN  THE  HOFBURG.         289 

side  on  the  same  bench  we  occupied — the  former  hav- 
ing performed  the  prescribed  ablutions  for  twelve  poor 
men  at  an  early  hour  of  the  morning,  that  he  might 
be  present  at  this  Imperial  ceremony.  The  Gospel 
from  whence  the  necessity  of  performing  this  act  of 
humiliation  is  drawn  by  Roman  Catholics  was  read ; 
and  it  was  then  that  one  might  perceive  how  truly  the 
Empress  of  Austria  submitted  herself  to  the  perform- 
ance of  this  lowly  office  from  genuine  religious  feel- 
ing. She  had  hitherto  performed  the  part  she  had 
taken  upon  herself  with  an  air  of  smiling  kindness ; 
but  her  countenance,  which  is  one  of  great  feeling,  is 
rather  grave  than  joyous,  and  even  her  smile  expresses 
more  of  goodness  than  of  gaiety.  But,  while  she  placed 
the  dainty  dishes  that  were  to  be  their  portion  before 
the  poor  people  seated  at  the  board,  her  look  and  man- 
ner spoke,  without  the  slightest  shade  of  affectation,  a 
well-pleased,  gracious  hospitality,  that  had  no  mixture 
of  penance  in  it.  But  no  sooner  did  the  priest  begin 
to  pronounce  the  words  of  the  Gospel,  than  her  soul 
seemed  to  retire  into  itself;  her  lips  moved  in  prayer,' 
and,  though  neither  her  hands  nor  eyes  were  raised  to 
heaven,  nor  gesticulations  of  any  kind  used  to  produce 
the  external  appearance  of  devotion,  there  was  some- 
thing in  her  whole  person  that  might  have  helped  a 
painter  at  need,  who  wished  to  represent,  not  the  mar- 
tyrdom, but  the  holy  self-devotion  of  a  saint. 

"  When  the  preparations  were  completed  she  drew 
near  the  first  woman  in  the  line,  and,  kneeling  down, 
19 


290  VIENNA   AXD   THE   VIENNESE 

dipped  the  corner  of  a  napkin  in  water  and  touched 
the  foot,  which,  having  wiped,  she  bent  low  her  fair 
Imperial  head  and  kissed  it.  ...  I  think  it  impossi- 
ble for  any  real  Christian,  let  the  form  of  his  Chris- 
tianity be  as  simple  and  undemonstrative  as  it  may,  to 
see  this  gracious  creature  drag  herself  along  upon  her 
knees  in  the  performance  of  this  painful  ceremony, 
without  feeling  that  she  had  humbled  her  heart  before 
God. 

"  On  ri-ing  from  her  knees  she  was  very  pale,  and 
I  saw  tears  in  her  fine  dark  eyes  ;  but  she  presently 
resumed  her  tranquil  air,  laid  aside  her  apron,  drew 
on  her  gloves,  and  concluded  the  business  of  the  morn- 
ing by  throwing  over  the  neck  of  each  poor  old  soul  a 
ribbon,  from  which  depended  a  little  purse  containing 
forty  pieces  of  silver,  adding  what  really,  from  the  man- 
ner of  its  reception,  seemed  more  precious  still,  the 
favor  of  her  extended  hand  to  kiss.  Even  this,  how- 
ever, was  not  enough  to  satisfy  the  feeling  she  in- 
spired, for  after  she  had  passed  by  I  saw  one  of  the 
old  women  stretch  out  a  palsied  hand  to  seize  her 
dress,  which  she  pressed  fervently  to  her  lips,  and  I 
almost  envied  the  good  soul  her  opportunity,  tor  I 
should  have  well  liked  to  kiss  the  hem  of  her  garment 
myself. 

"  We  were  in  the  front  row  of  the  tribune,  which 
was  so  placed  that  the  gentlemen  who  were  walking 
about  the  room  were  able  to  converse  with  those  placed 
in  it,  and  I  overheard  a  young  scapegrace  say  as  he 


THE  CEREMONY  IX  THE  HOFBURG.         291 

passed,  '  N'est  ce  pas  jouer  la  comedie  ? '  i  Au  moins 
la  piece  est  fort  belle,'  was  the  answer. 

"  The  kind-hearted  Emperor  appeared  to  perform 
his  part  of  the  ceremony  in  serving  the  table  with  great 
activity  and  good  nature ;  but  we  were  too  far  from 
his  estrade  to  see  very  well  what  was  done  upon  it. 

"  The  twenty-four  poor  people  were  all  dressed  in 
new  uniforms  for  the  occasion  :  the  women  in  gowns 
of  gray  cloth,  with  large,  round  black  hats,  over 
which,  though  they  were  flexible  enough,  the  ribbon 
that  sustained  the  purse  was  not  passed  without  some 
little  difficulty.  The  caps,  pinners  and  aprons  were 
all  most  delicately  white.  The  dress  of  the  men  was 
of  the  same  material  as  the  gowns  of  the  women,  and 
their  hats  were  nearly  similar.  The  greatest  singu- 
larity of  the  male  attire  was  a  sort  of  white  muslin 
tippet  round  their  necks,  such  as  we  often  see  in  the 
pictures  of  Holbein.  Their  gray  beards,  which  had 
been  permitted  to  grow,  in  honor  of  the  ceremony,  added 
greatly  to  their  venerable  and  picturesque  appearance. 
The  ages  of  the  men  varied  from  ninety-nine  to  eighty- 
three  ;  those  of  the  women  from  ninety-nine  to  eighty- 
four,  the  aggregate  of  age  among  the  females  surpass- 
ing by  eight  years  that  of  the  males.  The  old  women, 
too,  appeared  considerably  the  most  active  and  robust. 
They  are  twenty-four  of  the  oldest  poor  people  to  be 
found  in  the  city,  capable  of  being  brought  to  the 
palace."1 

1  Vienna  and  the  Austrians.     Frances  Trollope. 


292  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  "  Passion  Play  "  was 
acted  at  midday  of  Good  Friday,  in  the  choir  of  the 
Cathedral.  On  Palm  Sunday  a  wooden  ass.  painted 
and  crowned  with  flowers,  was  drawn  along  in  the  pro- 
cession— a  custom,  the  memory  of  which  still  survives 
in  the  Viennese  proverb,  "  Beautiful  as  the  ass  of  the 
Palms."  Formerly  the  priest  used  to  appear  at 
Christmas,  at  the  portal  of  the  Cathedral,  to  pro- 
nounce the  "  Blessing  of  the  Wolves,"  a  custom 
dating  from  the  time  when  wolves,  made  bold  by 
hunger,  would  sometimes  venture  in  the  winter  time 
into  the   very  streets  of  the  city,  their  savage  howls 

asionally  mingling  with  the  religious  services  of 
the  Cathedral. 

All  Souls'  Day  is  observed  with  reverent  piety. 
The  graves  are  decorated  with  wreaths  and  flowers, 
and  lit  up  with  lanterns,  tapers  and  small  lamps. 
Among  the  lower  classes  it  is  firmly  believed  that, 
should  one  have  the  c  >urage  to  walk  through  a  ceme- 
terv  at  midnight  of  that  day.  he  would  meet  a  loner 
pn  -cession  of  phantoms.  1  g  after  whom  would 

be  seen  the  spirits  of  all  who  were  destine-d  t<;>  die  in 
the  course  of  the  -  og  year.  In  a  popular  drama, 
which  was  given  every  year  on  the  eve  of  All  Souls', 
this  funereal  pro  -  □  was  represented  passing  slowly 
bb  the  stage,  while  the  entire  theatre  was  filled 
with  the  sobs  and  moans  of  the  audience. 

Under  Ferdinand  IT.  (1 619-1 637J  an  annual  pil- 
grimage to  the  estate  ol  Hernials  was  instituted,  in 


SUPERSTITIONS— THE   LOTTEKY.  293 

expiation  cf  the  preaching  there  of  the  first  Protestant 
sermon  delivered  in  Austria.  The  pilgrimage  t  k 
place   in   Holy  Week.     The    highway  leading    foam 

Vienna  to  Hernials  was  divided  into  Stations  of  the 
Cross.  The  procession-  set  out  from  the  Hofburg, 
each  individual  masked,  mounted  on  an  ass.  and  cos- 
tumed to  represent  some  Biblical  personage — one  of 
the  three  wise  men,  an  apostle,  the  Virgin,  Joseph, 
Mary  Magdalen,  even  Herod  and  Pilate,  would  ap- 
pear :  and  all  along  the  route  there  were  throngs  of 
persons  on  foot,  also  masked-  stumbling  under  heavy 
burdens,  these  sometimes  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  flag- 
ellating themselves,  and  carrying  on  their  breasts 
boards,  on  which  lists  of  their  particular  sins  were 
set  forth. 

Many  ancient  superstitious  practices  are  still  relig- 
iously observed  by  the  Viennese.  They  never  fail, 
for  example,  to  address  a  "God  keep  you"  or  "God 
bless  you"  to  any  one  who  sneezes.  In  the  Middle 
Ages  all  nervous  affections  were  believed  to  be  caused 
by  an  evil  spirit,  whom  prayer  alone  could  exorcise; 
but  in  certain  Austrian  villages  it  is  customary  to 
apply  the  whip  to  children  suffering  from  whooping 
cough. 

The  lottery  tends  to  keep  alive  a  quantity  of  super- 
stitious practices.  Mention  to  your  landlady  that  you 
have  lost  your  pocket-book,  she  will  eagerly  inquire 
the  exact  date  and  hour  when  it  was  lost,  in  order  to 
purchase  a  lottery  ticket  with  corresponding  numbers. 


294  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

"  I  am  certain  to  win,"  she  will  say.  When  Baron 
Sina  died,  all  the  old  Avomen  in  Vienna  bought  tickets 
corresponding  to  the  date  of  his  death.  This  form  of 
superstition  is  not  confined  to  the  lower  classes. 
During  the  last  illness  of  the  Emperor  Francis,  in 
the  spring  of  1835,  the  Princess  Melanie,  wife  of 
Prince  Metternich,  makes  the  following  entry  in  her 
journal  : 

"March  1. — This  morning's  report  is  a  fairly  good 
one.  Our  revered  Emperor  had  passed  a  tolerably 
quiet  night.  My  people  told  me  the  cook  had  yester- 
day put  into  the  lottery  with  the  following  numbers  : 
No.  12  (the  Emperor  having  been  born  on  the  12th  of 
February) ;  43  (to-day  being  the  forty-third  anniver- 
sary of  his  accession);  and  67  (his  age).  The  tickets 
cost  her  thirty  kreutzers  [about  seventeen  cents],  and 
this  morning  she  has  won  2800  florins  [nearly  $1200]. 
We  looked  upon  this  as  a  good  omen,  and  Clement 
[Prince  Metternich]  wrote  about  it  to  the  Empress, 
who  showed  the  note  to  our  good  Emperor." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Augustiner  Kirche — The  Loretto  Chapel— Monument  of  the 
Archduchess  Maria  Christina— Canova's  Monument  at  Venice 
— Tomb  of  General  Daun— His  Services  to  Austria— Gratitude 
of  Maria  Theresa— She  Establishes  the  Order  of  Merit  called 
by  her  Name— Church  of  the  Capuchins,  the  St.  Denis  of  the 
Imperial  House— Tomb  of  Maria  Theresa  and  Francis  I. — 
Personal  Charm  of  Francis— His  Wife's  Devotion — Her  Grief 
at  his  Death— Visits  to  his  Tomb— Her  Unwieldy  Size— Death 
of  the  Empress— Disturbances  in  the  Streets — Tombs  of  Maria 
Louisa  and  the  Duke  of  Pieichstadt — Tomb  of  Maximilian, 
Emperor  of  Mexico — Agreement  of  Spain,  Great  Britain  and 
France  for  a  Demonstration  in  Mexico — France's  Action — 
Causes  Assigned  for  the  Policy  of  Napoleon  III. — The  Arch- 
duke Maximilian  Invited  to  be  Emperor — France  Promises 
Support — The  Oath  of  Office  Administered  at  Miramar — Maxi- 
milian and  Carlotta  go  to  Mexico — Difficulties  of  the  Situation 
— Desertion  of  France — The  Empress  goes  to  Europe  to  Appeal 
for  Aid — Maximilian  Betrayed  by  General  Lopez — President 
Juarez  Orders  the  Emperor  and  Generals  Miramon  and  Mejia 
to  be  Shot — The  Emperor's    Body  Conveyed  Back  to  Austria. 

A  subterranean  passageway  leads  from  the 
Burg  to  the  Augustiner  Ivirche,  in  the  Augustiner- 
gasse,  the  Court  church  of  Vienna.  Here,  in  the 
Loretto  Chapel,  built  in  1627  by  Eleanora  of  Mantua, 
wife  of  Ferdinand  II.,  are  preserved  in  silver  urns 
the  hearts  of  the  Emperors  and  Empresses  who  have 
reigned    since   her   day.     The  church  is  Gothic,   its 

295 


296  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

oldest  part  dating  from  1330.  On  entering  the  at- 
tention is  at  once  drawn  to  the  imposing  white 
marble  monument  of  the  Archduchess  Maria  Chris- 
tina, executed  by  Canova,  a  poor  copy  of  which  was 
erected  in  1827  in  the  Church  of  St.  Maria  Gloriosa 
de  Fraru  at  Venice,  as  a  memorial  to  the  sculptor 
himself,  his  heart  being  preserved  there  in  an  ala- 
baster vase. 

A  half-open  door  in  the  centre  of  a  marble  pyra- 
mid leads  to  the  interior  of  the  tomb,  about  to  enter 
which  are  a  number  of  allegorical  figures.  Virtue, 
veiled,  carries  an  urn,  containing  the  ashes  of  the 
Archduchess.  Goodness  supports  the  figure  of  a 
feeble  old  man,  bowed  down  with  the  weight  of 
years  and  grief.  A  weeping  child  brings  up  the  rear. 
Aloft,  Happiness  is  seen  bearing  a  medallion,  on 
which  are  carved  the  calm  and  smiling  features  of 
the  beautiful  Archduchess.  She  was  the  favorite 
daughter  of  Maria  Theresa,  and  was  married  to  Duke 
Albert  of  Saxe  Teschen,  a  son  of  the  King  of  Poland. 
Apart  from  her  handsome  face,  she  was  especially 
famed  for  her  beautiful  hands.  Her  death  occurred  in 
1798. 

The  Emperor  Leopold  II.  is  interred  in  the  Au- 
gustiner  Kirche,  and  here  likewise  is  seen  the  tomb 
of  the  celebrated  Austrian  General  Daun,  who  at  a 
critical  moment  saved  the  Monarchy  to  the  Habsburgs. 

In  the  spring  of  1757  Frederick  II.  of  Prussia 
(Frederick   the   Great)   made  a   determined   effort  to 


Monument  of  Archduchess  Maria  Christina 


Y 


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L^-  - 

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V     L 

.,  'T—  - 

SIEGE  OF  PRAGUE— GENERAL  DAUN.        297 

break  down  the  league  formed  against  him  by  most 
of  the  European  Powers.  Suddenly  appearing  in 
Bohemia  in  April,  he  made  a  rapid  advance  towards 
Prague,  and  on  the  6th  of  April  defeated  the  Aus- 
trians,  after  a  desperate  battle  in  which  both  sides  lost 
heavily.  Prague;  where  twenty-eight  thousand  of  the 
Austrian  army  took  refuge,  was  at  once  blockaded,  and 
before  many  weeks  had  passed  was  reduced  almost  to 
a  state  of  famine.  Maria  Theresa  contrived,  however, 
to  get  a  message  introduced  within  the  walls,  couched 
in  the  most  hopeful  and  encouraging  terms,  and 
giving  no  hint  of  the  really  desperate  situation  in 
which  she  found  herself.  The  townspeople  and  gar- 
rison accordingly  determined  to  hold  out,  in  the  belief 
that  relief  would  shortly  come. 

It  was  then  that  the  Bohemian  General,  Count 
Daun,  by  pursuing  a  plan  of  his  own,  and  op- 
posing the  wishes  and  advice  of  all  his  officers,  won 
a  brilliant  victory  over  the  Prussians  at  Kolin  (June 
18,  1757),  and  thus  turned  the  tide  of  fortune  in 
favor  of  the  Austrian  arms.  The  siege  of  Prague  was' 
raised,  the  Prussians  rapidly  withdrew  from  Bohemia, 
and  the  Princes  of  the  Empire,  who  had  been  waver- 
ing in  their  allegiance,  once  more  rallied  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  Empress-Queen. 

When  the  news  of  the  victory  of  Kolin  was  re- 
ceived, Vienna  went  into  paroxysms  of  joy.  The 
Empress,  determined  to  show  her  appreciation  of 
General  Daun's  achievement,  and  to  do  him  all  pos- 


VIENNA  AND   THE   VIENNESE. 

sible  honor,  went  to  announce  the  glorious  news  to 
the  Countess  Daun  in  person.  Banquets  were  given, 
rewards  were  distribute1!  generously  among  all  who 
had  contributed  to  the  victory,  and  the  Empress  insti- 
tuted the  Order  of  Maria  Theresa — a  military  order 
of  merit — in  commemoration  of  the  event.  The  deco- 
ration is  a  gold  Maltese  —  namelc  I  in  white  on  a 
white  circlet:  framing  the  medallion,  which  is  : 
the  word  Fort  Hue. 

Four  years  .   the  anniversary  ::  the  battle, 

she  writes  to  General  Daun  : 

"My  deae  Coukt  Dattx: 

•     .  ■•         m       •   lay  1     ;    98  with  mi  :  B5e 
my,  believe  me,  m   si  heartfelt     hanks  and   congratulation-.      7 
Monarchy  oT-v  -  bo  yon  its 

ence.  my  fine  and  beloved  army,  and  the  life  of  my  dear  and  only 
brother-in-law.  .  .  .'* l 

But  the  St.  Penis  of  the  Hons  Austria  is  the 

Church  of  the  Capuchins,  on  the  Neoe  Markt.     Here 
Matthias  II.  and  his  wife  were  buried  (in  1619 
1618  res]  L  it  has  £  :hen    been  the 

burial-place  of  manv  members  of  the  Imperial  family. 

In  striking  contrast  with  the  other  t         3,  most 
which  are  extremely  simple,  is  the   Large  £  hagos 

built  by  Maria  Theresa   :     receive  her  own  and  her 
husband's  bodies. 

The  Empress  married,  in  1736,  Francis    1  I-     :"aine, 

1  Prince  Ch  tries     :'  I  -;-  the  Em] 

hduehess  Maria  Anne,  in  174-L 


DEATH  OF  FRANCIS  I.  999 

Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  later,  German  Emperor. 
His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
and  niece  of  Louis  XIV. 

Francis  was  exceedingly  handsome;  he  was  cheerful, 
amiable  a  ad  pleasure  loving,  with  winning  manners, 
generous  and  manly.  Throughout  the  twenty-nine 
years  of  their  married  life  he  was  the  object  of  his 
wife's  passionate  if  somewhat  exacting  love.  He  died 
on  August  18,  1765,  at  Innspruck,  whither  he  had 
gone  to  attend  the  marriage  of  his  second  son  (after- 
wards Leopold  II.)  with  the  Spanish  Infanta,  Maria 
Louisa.  Maria  Theresa  never  recovered  from  this 
blow,  and  for  the  remaining  fifteen  years  of  her  life 
she  wore  mourning  for  her  "  never-enousrh-to-be- 
praised  handsome  and  amiable  Francis.'''  She  de- 
clared that  in  him  she  had  lost  "  the  most  affectionate 
friend,  the  most  dearly  beloved  companion  during  a 
union  of  thirty  years,  and  the  only  joy  of  my  life," 
and  she  insisted  upon  making  his  shroud  with  her  own 
hands.  She  abandoned  the  apartments  on  the  first 
floor  of  the  Hofburg,  which  she  had  occupied  with 
her  husband,  and  established  herself  in  another  part 
of  the  palace,  and  she  every  year  set  aside  the  entire 
month  of  August,  as  well  as  the  eighteenth  day  of 
every  month,  to  be  passed  as  a  time  of  mourning,  and 
in  the  exercise  of  particular  acts  of  devotion. 

Although  in  her  youth  the  Empress,  besides  being 
very  beautiful,  had  a  graceful  and  well-proportioned 
figure,   she  became    later,  owing  to  a  dropsical   com- 


300  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

plaint,  exceedingly  corpulent.  Towards  the  close  of 
lier  life,  therefore,  when  she  wished  to  visit  her  hus- 
band's tomb  iu  the  Capuchins,  she  had  herself  placed 
in  an  arm-chair,  and  lowered  into  the  vault  by  means 
of  ropes.  On  the  last  of  these  visits  one  of  the  ropes 
broke.  "  See  ! n  she  cried,  "  he  wishes  to  keep  me.  I 
shall  come  soon."  Shortly  after  this  she  was  taken 
ill;  the  malady  increased  rapidly  and  the  Empress 
suffered  greatly.  As  the  end  drew  near,  she  started 
up,  and  asked  to  have  the  windows  thrown  open. 
"Where  does  your  Majesty  wish  to  go?"  asked  her 
eldest  son  Joseph,  who  for  several  days  had  hardly 
left  her  bedside. 

"To  thee  !  I  am  coming !  "  cried  the  dying  Empress, 
and  immediately  expire!  (November  29,  1780). 

The  body,  very  simply  habited,  lay  in  state  for  four 
days;  the  heart  was  placed  in  the  Loretto  Chapel  of  the 
Augustiner  Kirche,  and  the  bowels  beneath  the  higb 
altar  of  St.  Stephan's  Cathedral.  It  is  said  that  owing 
to  a  lately  imposed  tax  upon  liquors,  the  Empress,  /.: 
the  moment  of  her  death,  was  very  unpopular  among 
the  Viennese;  so  that,  notwithstanding  the  presence  of 
an  escort  of  Grenadiers,  the  funeral  procession  to  the 
Capuchin  Church  was  the  occasion  of  disturbances  in 
the  streets,  some  stones  actually  beiug  hurled  at  the 
coffin. 

The  Capuchin  vault  also  contains  the  tomb  of  Maria 
Louisa,  daughter  of  Francis  II.,  and  wife  of  Napoleon, 
and  of  her  son,  the  Duke  of  Reichstadt  (died  1832). 


COALITION   AGAINST  MEXICO.  301 

Close  by  lies  the  unfortunate  Maximilian,  Emperor  of 
Mexico,  and  brother  of  the  present  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph. 

In  1861  France,  Spain  and  Great  Britain  entered 
into  an  alliance  for  the  purpose  of  exacting  from 
Mexico  compensation  for  losses  and  injuries  inflicted 
upon  their  respective  subjects  on  Mexican  territory. 
An  expedition  was  planned,  but  before  anything 
could  be  accomplished  Great  Britain  and  Spain  made 
private  settlements  with  Mexico  and  withdrew  from 
the  alliance.  France,  from  the  first  the  most  interested 
party,  was  left  to  handle  the  matter  alone.  Various 
causes  have  been  suggested  to  explain  the  keen  interest 
manifested  throughout  by  the  French  Government  in 
Mexican  affairs.  To  provide,  by  the  establishment  of  a 
stable  and  friendly  government,  a  steady  supply  of  cot- 
ton for  the  French  market,  independent  of  the  United 
States,  was  the  reason  given  out ;  while  the  fantastic 
notion  that  Napoleon  III.  contemplated  transplanting 
the  Papal  See  from  Europe  to  Mexico,  in  order  to  ac- 
complish the  re-establishment  of  a  temporal  state,  was' 
seriously  discussed  in  more  than  one  European  capital. 

Two  prominent  Mexicans,  Generals  Miramon  and 
Almonte,  had  visited  the  Courts  of  the  three  Powers 
unofficially — the  Mexican  Government  being  then  Re- 
publican, with  President  Juarez  at  its  head — as  repre- 
sentatives of  the  monarchical  party  in  Mexico,  and 
had  urged  them  to  intervene  to  establish  a  monarchy, 
which  they,  of  course,  declared  was  earnestly  desired 


302  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

by  a  majority  of  the  people.  France  now  sent  a  mili- 
tary expedition  to  Mexico ;  after  winning  one  or  two 
battles  over  the  troops  of  the  Republic,  the  French 
entered  the  capital  amid  every  appearance  of  national 
rejoicing,  the  opposition  keeping  well  out  of  sight.  A 
provisional  government  was  organized,  and  on  July 
10,  1863,  the  so-called  Assembly  of  Notables  voted  to 
establish  an  Imperial  form  of  government,  and  to  invite 
Archduke  Maximilian  of  Austria  to  come  and  rule 
over  them. 

Archduke  Maximilian  was  then  thirty  years  old. 
He  had  married  Carlotta,  of  Belgium,  a  Princess 
whose  jealousy  and  animosity  helped  to  embitter 
the  early  married  life  of  the  late  Empress  Elizabeth, 
as  her  ambition  proved  the  ruin  of  her  husband.  The 
couple  occupied  the  beautiful  Palace  of  Miramar, 
on  the  Adriatic.  Here,  in  October,  1863,  a 
Mexican  deputation  waited  upon  the  Archduke  to 
offer  him  the  crown.  This  he  declined  to  accept, 
unless  it  could  be  shown  that  the  vote  of  the  "  Nota- 
bles ''  voiced  the  desires  of  the  people  of  Mexico. 

On  the  10th  of  April,  1864,  the  delegation  returned. 
Some  sort  of  general  election  had  been  attempted, 
with,  they  declared,  the  result  that  Maximilian  was 
the  desired  of  the  people. 

"  It  was  Sunday,  and  one  of  the  most  serene  and 
lovely  of  Italian  days,  as  the  Mexican  deputation 
left  their  apartments  in  the  Hotel  de  Yille,  of  Trieste, 
and  repaired  to  the  palace  of  Maximilian.  .  .  .  They 


MAXIMILIAN  GOES   TO   MEXICO.  303 

were  presented  to  the  Archduke  in  the  magnificent 
hall  of  reception.  Maximilian,  in  the  uniform  of  a 
Vice-Admiral  of  the  Austrian  navy,  stood  before  a 
table  covered  with  a  cloth  of  richest  tapestry.  Carlotta 
was  by  his  side,  also  in  very  elegant  attire.   .   .  . 

"The  oath  of  office  was  administered  by  high  dig- 
nitaries of  the  Church.  The  assembly  then  repaired 
to  the  chapel,  where  the  grand  Te  Deum  was  chanted. 
The  flag  of  Mexico  rose  proudly  over  the  tower  of 
the  castle,  greeted  by  salutes,  which  echoed  along  the 
hills,  from  the  frigates  in  the  harbor,  and  from  the 
Castle  in  Trieste. 

"  Four  days  after  this,  on  the  14th  of  April,  Maxi- 
milian and  Carlotta  left  their  beautiful  home  on  the 
shores  of  the  Adriatic  to  enter  upon  that  tragedy  in 
Mexico  which  is  one  of  the  saddest  in  the  annals  of 
time.  .  .   . 

"  At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  Emperor  and 
Empress,  having  taken  an  affectionate  and  tearful 
adieu  of  their  friends,  arm-in-arm  descended  the  mar- 
ble steps  of  the  palace  to  the  sea  which  washed  their 
base.  The  air  was  filled  with  the  roar  of  cannon,  with 
the  music  of  the  bands,  and  with  the  acclaim  of  the 
thousands  who  were  clustered  upon  every  adjacent 
point.  A  boat,  canopied  with  purple  and  gold, 
received  them  and  conveyed  them  to  the  steamer 
Novara.  The  event  was  announced  by  a  salute  from 
all  the  frigates  in  the  harbor,  and  from  the  guns  in 
the   Castle   of  Trieste,  while   the   crews   of  the    boats 


304  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

and  the  ships  almost  drowned  the  thunders  of  the 
cannon  by  their  shouts. 

"  The  flag  of  Mexico  was  unfurled  and  the  steamer 
weighed  anchor  and  put  to  sea,  escorted  by  the  French 
frigate  Themis  and  an  Austrian  fleet  of  eleven 
steamers." 

The  Imperial  pair  landed  at  Civita  Vecchia  and 
visited  Rome,  where  they  had  a  magnificent  military 
reception,  followed  by  two  days  of  public  festivities. 
They  attended  mass  at  the  Vatican,  where  the  Pope 
was  the  celebrant.  They  had  also  two  long  private 
audiences  with  his  Holiness,  and  on  the  20th  of  April 
they  re-embarked  at  Civita  Veeehia.  More  than  a 
month  later  (May  28th)  they  arrived  at  Vera  Cruz. 

All  writers  asree  in  onvinu;  Maximilian  and  Carlotta 
credit  for  a  conscientious  and  unwearying  zeal  in  the 
performance  of  the  difficult  task  that  lay  before  them. 
They  did  all  that  courage,  earnestness  and  fortitude 
could  accomplish  to  rescue  the  people  and  the  country 
they  had  come  to  rule  over,  from  the  state  of  anarchy 
and  misery  into  which  years  of  misrule  had  reduced 
it.     But  the  odds  were  too  fearfully  against  them. 

France  had  agreed  to  keep  an  army  of  twenty-five 
thousand  men  in  Mexico  until  the  work  of  pacifica- 
tion should  be  accomplished,  and  in  any  case  to  main- 
tain there  for  six  years  a  force  of  eight  thousand  men, 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Emperor.  The  necessary  funds 
were  to  be  raised  by  the  creation  of  two  loans,  one  at 
least  of  which,  in  small  shares  at  a  high  rate  of  inter- 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  THE  MEXICAN  SITUATION.    305 

est,  was  taken  up  for  the  most  part  by  small  proprie- 
tors in  the  provinces  of  France. 

Maximilian  found  a  large  proportion  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  his  new  realm  in  a  state  of  sullen  opposition 
to  his  government ;  the  exchequer  was  bankrupt ;  the 
United  States  inimical.  M.  Thiers  described  the 
progress  of  the  French  forces  through  the  country  as 
being  like  that  of  "  a  vessel  cleaving  its  way  through 
waters  which  immediately  close  upon  its  track." 
On  the  approach  of  the  French,  the  native  troops 
and  officials  would  abandon  the  towns,  returning  as 
soon  as  the  army  had  passed  on.  And  all  the  time 
Juarez  (the  ex-President  of  the  Mexican  Republic) 
was  able  to  keep  his  army  in  some  sort  of  state  of 
organization,  avoiding  actual  engagements  as  far  as 
possible,  and  awaiting  the  opportunity  for  decisive 
action. 

On  October  3d,  1865,  Maximilian  issued  a  de- 
cree, declaring  that  all  persons  found  in  arms  against 
his  government,  and  all  who  supplied  arms  or  provi- 
sions to  the  same,  were  liable  to  be  tried  by  court- 
martial  and  shot  within  twenty-four  hours.  The  exe- 
cution within  a  fortnight  of  the  publication  of  this 
decree  of  six  Mexican  officers  captured  by  the  French, 
aroused  a  general  feeling  of  horror,  and  had  the  effect 
of  strengthening  the  Emperor's  enemies  and  of  weak- 
ening his  own  party. 

In  1866  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  in  consideration  of 
the  urgent  representations  of  the  United  States  Gov- 
20 


306  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

ernment,  and  the  discontent  of  his  own  people,  who 
had  grown  heartily  sick  of  the  enterprise,  agreed  to 
ignore  his  treaty  and  to  withdraw  his  troops  from 
Mexico.  Realizing  to  the  full  what  was  likely  to 
result  from  this  cold-blooded  act  of  desertion,  the 
Empress  Carlotta  hastened  to  Europe  and  made  the 
most  passionate  personal  appeals  to  the  Emperor  to 
abide  by  his  promises.  Failing  entirely  with  him,  she 
next  went  to  Rome  to  implore  the  intervention  of  the 
Pope,  and  it  was  on  this  journey  that  the  first  symp- 
toms of  the  insanity  that  shortly  afterwards  destroyed 
her  reason  appeared.  The  cause  has  been  some- 
times ascribed  to  poison,  which  it  was  thought  had 
been  administered  in  Mexico  ;  but  the  strain  and  anx- 
iety to  which  she  had  been  subjected  were  quite  enough 
in  themselves  to  unsettle  her  mind. 

Maximilian  meantime  was  struggling  with  a  situa- 
tion that  every  moment  became  more  desperate.  In 
March,  1867,  the  Emperor,  with  a  small  force,  was 
surrounded  at  Queretaro  by  the  Republican  army. 
By  the  middle  of  May  the  place  was  so  reduced  by 
famine  that  a  sortie  was  planned  for  the  night  of  the 
14th.  The  plan  was  betrayed  by  the  Mexican  General 
Lopez,  who  had  turned  traitor.  This  man  was  on  the 
closest  terms  of  intimacy  with  the  Emperor,  who  re- 
garded him  with  peculiar  affection  and  confidence. 
His  high  position  in  the  Imperial  councils  enabled  him 
easily  to  admit  the  enemy  into  the  town  and  to  put 
them  into  complete  possession   of  the  defences.     The 


EMPEROE  MAXIMILIAN'S  EXECUTION.       307 

Emperor  and  his  staff  were  captured,  and  a  month 
later,  after  being  subjected  to  a  form  of  court-martial, 
"  Maximilian,  the  Archduke  of  Austria,  and  the  so- 
called  Generals  Miramon  and  Mejia,"  were  condemned 
to  be  shot. 

aThe  court-martial  was  convened  on  the  13th  of 
June,  in  the  theatre  of  Iturbide.  The  court  occupied 
the  stage,  while  the  house  was  filled  to  overflowing 
with  spectators.  The  Emperor,  however,  did  not  ap- 
pear before  the  court.  He  said,  '  If  I  am  to  be  con- 
demned, my  presence  or  absence  will  make  no  differ- 
ence.' " 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  19th  of  June  the 
Emperor  and  the  two  generals  were  shot  at  the  foot 
of  a  hill  called  the  Hill  of  the  Bells,  about  a  mile 
from  Queretaro — the  same  spot  where  they  had  been 
captured. 

Earnest  efforts  were  made  by  his  physician  and 
some  of  the  foreign  Ministers  to  obtain  the  Emperor's 
body,  in  order  to  send  it  back  to  Austria ;  but  this 
Juarez  absolutely  refused  to  allow,  and  it  was  not  till 
the  month  of  November,  when  the  Austrian  Admiral 
Tegethoff  presented  a  formal  request  to  that  effect, 
from  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  to  "the  President  of 
Mexico,"  that  the  latter  consented  to  permit  the  re- 
mains to  be  removed  from  the  San  Andres  Hospital, 
in  the  city  of  Mexico,  where  they  had  been  deposited. 

The  Novara,  the  same  ship  which  had  brought 
Maximilian  and  Carlotta  to  Mexico  three  years  before, 


308  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

lay  at  Vera  Cruz,  waiting  to  receive  all  that  re- 
mained of  the  unfortunate  Prince.  The  coffin  was 
placed  upon  a  bier  in  the  centre  of  the  saloon ;  at  the 
head  an  improvised  altar  was  arranged  ;  and,  sur- 
rounded by  lighted  candles,  and  attended  night  and 
day  by  a  guard  of  honor,  it  was  conveyed  across  the 
ocean.  On  nearing  the  Austrian  coast,  the  Xovara 
was  met  by  a  Government  fleet  and  escorted  into  port, 
and  the  body  was  interred  with  solemn  pomp  in  the 
vault  of  the  Capuchin  Church  in  Vienna. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

Sunday  in  Vienna — Music  in  the  Churches— Fashionable  Attrac- 
tions—Character of  the  "Audiences" — Mile.  Murska  at  the 
Minorites — Afternoon  and  Evening  Concerts — Why  is  Vienna 
the  Most  Musical  City  of  the  World  ? — Mozart  Forced  to  Seek 
Appreciation  in  Prague — First  Production  of  "  Le  Nozze  di 
Figaro " — The  Rehearsals — The  Singers  Strike  on  the  First 
Night — Reception  of  the  Opera  in  Prague — Birth  and  Child- 
hood of  Mozart — Presented  at  Court  at  the  Age  of  Six — Marie 
Antoinette— The  Archbishop  of  Salzburg — Mozart's  Position  in 
the  Archbishop's  Household— Marries  Constance  Weber — His 
Appearance — Poverty  and  Struggles— Court  Appointment — 
Small  Pay  and  Large  Promises— Mozart's  Disinterestedness — 
Prodigies  of  Work— The  "  Requiem  "—Illness  and  Death— 
"  Papa  Haydn  "—His  Love  for  Mozart— His  Birth  and  Early 
Training — Receives  an  Appointment  from  Prince  Esterhazy— 
Gets  Rid  of  his  Wife — His  Tranquil  Life — Journeys  to  England 
— Old  Age — "God  Save  the  Emperor !"— Death — His  Standing 
in  Art — Gliick  the  "Father  of  German  Opera" — Early  Experi- 
ences— Influence  of  Calzabigi  and  Rameau — Transition  Period  — 
Goes  to  Paris — Marie  Antoinette  a  Former  Pupil — Returns  to 
Vienna — Nervousness — Unhappiness — Death — Gl lick's  Portrait 
by  Duplessis. 

By  the  native  of  the  Continent  the  London  Sun- 
day is  said  to  be  accounted  the  most  depressing 
experience  that  life  has  to  offer.  The  Viennese 
Sunday,  on  the  contrary,  seems  to  be  ordered  ex- 
pressly with   a  view  to  the  enjoyment  of   unlimited 

309 


310  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

gaiety  and  dissipation.  All  the  shops  and  factories 
are  closed,  work  is  entirely  suspended,  and  one  sees 
only  people  in  holiday  attire.  The  hotel  chamber- 
maid emerges  in  a  white  bonnet  with  pink  ribbons ; 
the  industrious  little  woman  who  has  the  cigar  shop 
at  the  corner  dons  her  solitary  silk  gown,  and  proudly 
displays  the  portrait  of  her  husband,  made  into  a 
lar^e  brooch.  Bv  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  the 
whole  town  has  put  its  house-key  under  its  door-mat, 
and  is  off  to  the  various  pleasure  resorts,  purposing  to 
crown  the  day's  enjoyment  by  eating  the  evening  meal 
in  a  restaurant.  From  morn  till  night  there  is  a  suc- 
cession of  material  pleasures,  with  a  running  accom- 
paniment of  spiritual  harmonies;  a  chorus  of  church- 
bells  and  of  tinkling  wine-glasses,  sacred  music  and 
the  rattle  of  dishes,  psalms  chanted,  with  a  refrain  of 
street  songs.  One  realizes  on  that  day  especially  that 
Vienna  stands  at  the  threshold  of  Italy  and  of  the 
Orient.  The  winds  that  blow  through  that  halt-open 
door  quicken  her  senses,  and  fill  her  people  with  a 
passionate  love  of  music,  motion,  pleasure,  sensuous 
life.  The  gorgeous  ceremonies  of  the  Church  are 
spectacles  which  work  upon  their  emotions ;  but  they 
are  nothing  more.  People  attend  the  Mass  as  they 
would  attend  a  musical  matinee,  and  the  programme 
is  carefnllv  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  even- 
ing before.  On  Saturday  one  frequently  overhears 
in  some  cafe  such  dialogues  as  the  following: 
"Where  are  you  going  to  Mass  to-morrow?'' 


The  Karls  Kirche 


V 


MUSIC   IN   THE  VIENNA  CHURCHES.         31 1 

"I  have  not  the  least  idea.  Gary  on  !  the  Presse." 

The  waiter  brings  the  paper,  and  after  a  careful  ex- 
amination of  the  list  of  announcements  for  the  following 

day,  it  is  ascertained  that  the  Baroness  de  VT is 

advertised  to  chant  the  Sanctus  at  the  Augustines  ;  so 
it  is  decided  to  go  to  hear  her. 

At  the  Burg  Chapel,  the  Church  of  the  Augus- 
tines, the  Votif  Kirche  and  the  Karls  Kirche 1  the 
music  is  selected  from  the  works  of  the  great  com- 
posers, and  is  carefully  rendered.  Every  one  has  his 
or  her  especial  church  in  the  same  sense  as  one  might 
have  his  or  her  favorite  theatre. 

Piety  at  the  Augustines  wears  white  kid  gloves  and 
silk  attire.  It  is  the  same  audience  that  one  sees  at 
the  opera,  the  real  music-lovers  of  Vienna ;  and  they 
come  to  hear  an  offertory  or  a  Gloria,  sung  by  the 

Baroness  de  Z ,  or  Mile.  B ,  members  of  the 

opera  company,   with  a  clarionet  accompaniment  by 

M.  F .     On  great  festivals  the  chorus  is,  or  was, 

sometimes  composed  of  society  women,  members  of 
the  aristocracy.  As  soon  as  the  solo  begins  every  one 
turns  his  back,  so  to  speak,  upon  God,  and  faces  the 
charming  performer,  who,  albeit  perched  up  on  high, 
contrives  so  to  place  herself  that  the  admiring  throng 
below  may  not  lose  the  play  of  her  fine  eyes,  which 
she  rolls  effectively  as  an  accompaniment  to  her  trills. 

1  The  church  erected  in  what  is  now  the  Wieden  district  by  the 
Emperor  Charles  VI.,  after  plans  by  Fischer  von  Erlach,  to  com- 
memorate the  cessation  of  the  plague  in  1716. 


312  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

One  would  never  suspect  that  he  was  in  a  church. 
Occasionally  there  is  heard  a  muttered  bravo,  bravis- 
simo,  amid  the  murmurs  of  sehr  gut  or  tres-bien.  Some 
of  the  listeners  keep  time  with  their  feet,  and  others 
hum  the  air  below  their  breath.  Close  by  a  languish- 
ing fine  lady  exclaims  aloud,  "  Oh,  admirable \" 
Nothing  is  needed  to  complete  the  picture  but  two 
or  three  men  in  the  act  of  lighting:  their  cigars.  AVhen 
at  length  the  soloist  gives  her  final  trill,  and  the  clar- 
ionet sounds  its  closing  note,  the  entire  company 
saunters  out,  leaving  the  priest  alone  at  his  neglected 
altar. 

On  one  occasion,  when  the  Italian  Opera  was  in 
Vienna,  the  congregation  at  the  Church  of  the  Mino- 
rites, frequented  mainly  by  Italians,  ranged  itself  in 
two  compact  masses  on  either  side  of  the  entrance,  un- 
covering as  Mademoiselle  Murska,  who  had  just  sung 
a  magnificent  solo,  passed  down  between  them,  her 
long  red-gold  hair  floating  about  her  shoulders,  and 
with  the  same  pretty,  modest  air  which  made  her 
rendering  of  the  part  of  "  Marguerite  "  surely  one  of 
the  most  satisfactory  impersonations  that  has  ever 
been  seen  on  the  stage. 

All  the  church-going  public  may  be  seen  again  on 
Sunday  afternoon  or  evening  at  the  Cursalon,  the 
Casino,  the  Horticultural  Society  building,  or  at  one 
or  another  of  the  innumerable  cafes  or  restaurants, 
where  concerts  are  given.  The  music  of  the  military 
bands  is  excellent,  and  many  of  them  have  their  colors 


MOZART— REHEARSALS  OF  "FIGARO."       313 

hung  all  over  with  the  medals  and  decorations  they 
have  won. 

Vienna  has  held  its  place  as  the  most  musical  city 
in  the  world  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half— just 
why  it  is  not  very  easy  to  determine.  At  no  time 
have  the  emoluments  offered  by  the  Viennese  patrons 
of  art  been  liberal  enough  to  account  for  the  prefer- 
ence given  to  the  Austrian  capital  by  musical  geniuses. 
Nor  has  the  Viennese  public,  with  all  its  undoubted 
love  of  music,  ever  been  a  discriminating  one.  Again 
and  again  did  Mozart,  utterly  heart-sick  and  discour- 
aged by  the  failure  of  the  Viennese  to  appreciate  his 
work,  carry  it  elsewhere,  notably  to  Prague.  In  the 
spring  of  1786,  when  "  Le  Nozze  di  Figaro"  was 
about  to  be  produced,  Mozart's  father  writes  to  his 
daughter,  from  Vienna : 

"  The  first  stage  rehearsal  of  '  Le  Nozze  di  Figaro ' 
will  take  place  on  the  28th.  It  will  be  fortunate  if 
the  opera  succeeds,  for  I  know  that  there  are  im- 
mensely strong  intrigues  against  it.  Salieri  and  all 
his  tribe  will  move  heaven  and  earth  to  put  it 
down." 

A  young  Irishman,  Michael  Kelly,  a  pupil  of 
Aprile,  who  was  in  Vienna  with  Stephen  Storace  and 
his  sister,  gives  an  account  of  the  first  rehearsal  : 

"  I  remember  Mozart  was  on  the  stage,  with  his 
crimson  pelisse  and  gold-laced  cocked  hat,  giving  the 
time  of  the  music  to  the  orchestra.  Figaro's  song, 
'  Non  piu  andrai,  farfallone  amoroso,'  Benucci  gave 


314  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

with  the  greatest  animation  and  power  of  voice.  I 
was  standing  close  to  Mozart,  who,  sotto  voce,  was  re- 
peating, '  Bravo,  bravo,  Benucci ! '  and  when  Benucci 
came  to  the  fine  passage,  '  Cherubino,  alia  vittoria, 
alia  gloria  militar/  which  he  gave  out  with  stentorian 
lungs,  the  effect  was  electricity  itself,  for  the  whole  of 
the  performers  on  the  stage,  and  those  in  the  orches- 
tra, as  if  actuated  by  one  feeling  of  delight,  vociferated 
1  Bravo!  bravo!  Maestro.  Viva!  Viva  grande  Mo- 
zart ! '  Those  in  the  orchestra  I  thought  would  never 
have  ceased  applauding,  by  beating  the  bows  of  their 
violins  against  the  music  desks.  The  little  man 
acknowledged,  by  repeated  obeisances,  his  thanks  for 
the  distinguished  marks  of  enthusiastic  applause  be- 
stowed upon  him." 

There  were  in  Vienna  at  this  time  a  quite  extra- 
ordinary number  of  musical  celebrities,  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  first  performance  of 
"  Figaro  "  was  listened  to  by  Haydn,  Gluck,  Paesiello, 
Storace,  Salieri,  Righini,  Anfossi,  and  others.  Not- 
withstanding the  enthusiastic  reception  given  to  the 
new  opera  at  the  rehearsals,  on  the  first  night,  at  the 
close  of  the  first  act,  a  number  of  the  performers  sud- 
denly struck  and  refused  to  return  to  the  stage. 
Mozart,  frantic  at  the  prospect  of  failure  for  a  work 
upon  which  he  had  built  such  high  hopes,  rushed  to 
the  Emperor's  box,  and  in  great  agitation  explained 
the  situation.  Joseph  at  once  sent  an  order  that  there 
was  no  disobeying,  and  the  performance   proceeded. 


SUCCESS  OF  "FIGARO"   IN   PRAGUE.         315 

Although  the  audience  showed  a  certain  amount  of 
enthusiasm,  the  net  results  were  so  discouraging, 
that,  after  the  third  night,  Mozart  declared  that  never 
again  would  he  attempt  to  bring  out  an  opera  in 
Vienna. 

Nine  months  later  (February,  1787)  the  composer 
went  to  Prague,  on  the  invitation  of  Count  Thurn,  an 
enlightened  and  liberal  connoisseur.  On  the  night 
of  his  arrival  "  Figaro  "  was  given. 

"  The  news  of  his  presence  in  the  theatre  quickly 
ran  through  the  parterre,  and  the  overture  was  no 
sooner  ended  than  the  whole  audience  rose  and  gave 
him  a  general  acclamation  of  welcome,  amid  deafening 
salvos  of  applause. 

"  The  success  of  '  Le  Nozze  di  Figaro/  so  unsatis- 
factory at  Vienna,  was  unexampled  at  Prague,  where 
it  amounted  to  absolute  intoxication  and  frenzy.  Hav- 
ing ran  through  the  whole  previous  winter  without 
interruption  and  rescued  the  treasury  of  the  theatre 
from  ruinous  embarrassments,  the  opera  was  arranged 
in  every  possible  form — for  the  pianoforte,  for  wind 
instruments  (garden  music),  as  violin  quintettes  for 
the  chamber,  and  German  dances ;  in  short,  the  melo- 
dies of  '  Figaro '  re-echoed  in  every  street  and  every 
garden ;  nay,  even  the  blind  harper  himself,  at  the 
door  of  the  beer-house,  was  obliged  to  strike  up  '  Non 
piu  andrai/  if  he  wished  to  gain  an  audience  or  earn 
a  kreutzer.  .  .  .  The  director  of  the  orchestra,  Stro- 
bach,    under    whose    superintendence    '  Figaro '    was 


316  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

executed  at  Prague,  often  declared  the  excitement  and 
emotion  of  the  band  in  accompanying  this  work  to 
have  been  such  that  there  was  not  a  man  among  them, 
himself  included,  who,  when  the  performance  was 
finished,  would  not  have  cheerfully  recommenced  and 
played  the  whole  through  again. "  i 

Finding  the  Bohemians  so  favorably  disposed 
towards  him,  Mozart  arranged  to  give  a  concert  in 
the  opera  house,  in  which  every  piece  was  to  be  of  his 
own  composition. 

"  The  concert  ended  by  an  improvisation  on  the 
pianoforte.  Having  preluded  and  played  a  fantasia, 
which  lasted  a  good  half-hour,  Mozart  rose  ;  but  the 
stormy  and  outrageous  applause  of  his  Bohemian 
audience  was  not  to  be  appeased,  and  he  again  sat 
down.  His  second  fantasia,  which  was  of  an  entirely 
different  character,  met  with  the  same  success.  The 
applause  was  without  end,  and  long  after  he  had 
retired  to  the  withdrawing  room  he  heard  the  people 
in  the  theatre  thundering  for  his  reappearance.  In- 
wardly delighted,  he  presented  himself  for  the  third 
time.  Just  as  he  was  about  to  begin,  when  every 
noise  was  hushed  and  the  stillness  of  death  reigned 
throughout  the  theatre,  a  voice  in  the  pit  cried  t  From 
Figaro  ! ?  He  took  the  hint,  and  ended  his  triumphant 
display  of  skill  by  extemporizing  a  dozen  of  the  most 
interesting  and  scientific  variations  upon  the  air  '  Xon 
piu  andrai.' 

1  Life  of  Jlozart.     Edward  Holmes. 


BIRTH  AND  CHILDHOOD  OF  MOZART.       317 

"  It  is  needless  to  mention  the  uproar  that  followed. 
The  concert  was  altogether  found  so  delightful  that  a 
second,  upon  the  same  plan,  soon  followed.  A  sonnet 
was  written  in  his  honor,  and  his  performances 
brought  him  one  thousand  florins  [about  four  hundred 
and  twenty  dollars  !].  Wherever  he  appeared  in  pub- 
lic, it  was  to  meet  testimonies  of  esteem  and  affection. 
His  emotion  at  the  reception  of  '  Figaro '  in  Prague 
was  so  great  that  he  could  not  help  saying  to  the 
manager,  Bondiui,  '  As  the  Bohemians  understand  me 
so  well,  I  must  write  an  opera  on  purpose  for  them.' 
Bondini  took  him  at  his  word  and  entered  with  him 
on  the  spot  into  a  contract  to  furnish  his  theatre  with 
an  opera  for  the  ensuing  winter.  Thus  was  laid  the 
foundation  of  '  II  Don  Giovanni/  "  l 

Mozart,  whose  Christian  names  were  John  Chrysos- 
tom  Wolfgang  Amadeus,  was  born  in  1756  at  Salz- 
burg, where  his  father  held  the  singular  post  of 
"  valet  musician  "  to  the  Archbishop.  Of  a  number 
of  children,  Wolfgang  and  a  sister,  five  years  his 
senior,  were  the  only  ones  to  grow  up. 

In  addition  to  his  official  duties,  the  elder  Mozart 
gave  lessons  on  the  clavier  and  violin.  He  published 
a  number  of  his  own  compositions  and  a  method  for 
the  violin,  which  gained  a  high  reputation  throughout 
Europe. 

Under  his  direction  the  musical  education  of  the  two 
children  advanced  rapidly.     Maria  began  her  studies 

1  Life  of  Mozart. 


318  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

at  seven,  and  became  a  brilliant  and  widely-known 
performer  on  the  piano.  Wolfgang  imbibed  his  first 
knowledge  of  music  from  listening;  to  his  sister's  les- 
sons,  and  showed  such  aptitude  that,  when  he  was  four 
years  old,  his  father  began  to  give  him  regular  instruc- 
tion. His  progress  was  so  remarkable  that,  two  years 
later  the  family  set  out  on  a  professional  tour,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  brother  and  sister  gave  public 
performances,  and  were  overwhelmed  with  attentions 
from  all  manner  of  distinguished  personages.  Their 
fame  preceded  them,  and  soon  after  reaching  Vienna 
an  introduction  to  the  Empress  (Maria  Theresa)  was 
arranged.  The  proud  father  writes  to  a  friend  in 
Salzburg : 

"At  present  I  have  not  time  to  say  more  than  that 
we  were  so  graciously  received  by  both  their  Majes- 
ties that  my  relation  would  be  held  for  a  fable. 
Woferl  sprang  into  the  lap  of  the  Empress,  took  her 
round  the  neck  and  kissed  her  very  heartily.  We  were 
there  from  three  to  six  o'clock,  and  the  Emperor  him- 
self came  into  the  ante-chamber  to  fetch  me  in  to  hear 
the  child  play  on  the  violin.  Yesterday,  Theresa's 
day,  the  Empress  sent  us,  through  her  private  treas- 
urer, who  drove  up  in  state  before  the  door  of  our 
dwelling,  two  robes — one  for  the  boy,  the  other  for 
the  girl.  The  private  treasurer  always  fetches  them 
to  Court/' 

A  few  days  later,  however,  the  father  got  a  great 
fright. 


MOZART  AS  ORGANIST  AT  SALZBURG.       319 

"On  the  21st,  at  seven  in  the  evening,  we  were  with 
the  Empress,  on  which  occasion  Woferl  was  not  him- 
self, and  soon  after  exhibited  a  sort  of  scarlet  eruption. 
Pray  get  read  three  holy  masses  to  Loretto,  and  three 
to  the  holy  Francis  de  Paula." 

It  was  a  month  before  the  universal  fear  of  anything 
that  might  develop  into  small-pox  permitted  the  chil- 
dren again  to  appear  in  public. 

It  was  during  this  visit  that  an  incident  occurred 
that  links  the  name  of  Mozart  with  that  of  the  ill- 
fated  wife  of  Louis  XVI.  While  playing  with  two 
of  the  little  Archduchesses  in  the  Burg  one  day  the  boy 
tripped  and  fell.  Marie  Antoinette,  though  very  little 
older  than  himself,  helped  him  to  get  up,  and  was  very 
sympathetic,  while  her  sister  showed  complete  indiffer- 
ence. Mozart  thereupon  announced  to  the  great 
Empress  that  he  was  ready  to  marry  her  daughter  out 
of  gratitude  for  her  kind  heart. 

Until  he  was  twenty-five  Mozart's  home  was,  nomi- 
nally at  least,  with  his  father  at  Salzburg,  though  much 
of  his  time  was  spent  in  professional  tours ;  there  was 
also  a  somewhat  lengthy  stay  in  Paris,  where  he 
thought  of  settling. 

In  1779,  however,  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  his 
father,  he  accepted  the  appointment  of  Court  and  Cath- 
edral organist  at  Salzburg,  a  poor  position,  involving 
hard  work  and  small  pay,  and  in  the  gift  of  the  Arch- 
bishop, whom  he  already  had  reason  heartily  to  dislike. 

Two  years  later  he  was  ordered  to  Vienna  in  the 


320  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

train  of  the  Archbishop,  and  as  a  member  of  his 
household.  The  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by 
this  prelate  is  shown  by  the  following  passages  in  a 
letter,  written  to  his  father,  describing  his  first  day  in 
Vienna : 

"  Dinner  was  served  at  half-past  eleven  in  the  fore- 
noon, which  was  for  me,  unfortunately,  rather  too  early, 
and  there  sat  down  to  it  the  two  valets  in  attendance, 
the  controller,  Herr  Zetti,  the  confectioner,  two  cooks, 
Ceccarelli,  Brimetti,  and  my  littleness.  The  two  valets 
sat  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  I  had  the  honor  to  be 
placed  at  least  above  the  cooks.  .  .  .  There  is  no  table 
in  the  evening,  but  each  has  three  ducats,  with  which 
you  know  one  may  do  a  great  deal !  Our  excellent 
Archbishop  glorifies  himself  with  his  people,  receives 
their  services,  and  pays  them  nothing  in  return. 

"  Yesterday  we  had  music  at  four  o'clock,  and  there 
were  about  twenty  persons  of  the  highest  rank  present. 
Ceccarelli  has  already  had  to  sing  at  PaLf^s.  "We  go 
to  Prince  Gallitzin  to-day,  who  was  one  of  the  party  of 
yesterday.  I  shall  now  wait  to  see  if  I  get  anything; 
if  not,  I  shall  go  at  once  to  the  Archbishop,  and  tell 
him  without  reserve  that,  if  he  will  not  allow  me  to 
earn  anything,  he  must  pay  me,  for  I  cannot  live  upon 
my  own  money." 

A  few  months  later  he  left  the  service  of  the  Arch- 
bishop, and  from  thenceforth  lived  in  Vienna,  depend- 
ent for  the  most  part  upon  his  own  resources.  In  1782 
he  obtained  his  father's  consent  (which,  though  twenty- 


MOZART   MARRIES   CONSTANCE  WEBER.     321 

six  years  of  age,  he  evidently  considered  necessary)  to 
his  marriage  with  Constance  Weber.  His  bride,  to 
whom  he  was  devotedly  attached,  was  a  younger  sister 
of  Aloysia  Weber,  a  singer  of  some  fame,  with  whom 
Mozart  had  fallen  deeply  in  love  a  number  of  years 
before.  She  was  supposed  to  return  his  affection,  and 
the  two  families  expected  that  a  match  would  be 
arranged.  On  his  return  from  Paris,  however,  the 
young  lady,  who  was  only  seventeen,  had  changed 
her  mind.  Long  after  Mozart's  death  and  her  own 
unhappy  marriage,  she  declared  that  in  those  early 
days  she  had  no  conception  of  her  lover's  genius;  he 
appeared  to  her  "just  a  little  man."  Her  greatest  suc- 
cesses on  the  operatic  stage  were  won  when  singing  his 
music. 

The  young  Irishman,  whose  account  of  the  rehearsal 
of  "  Le  Nozze  di  Figaro  "  was  given  above,  describes 
his  first  meeting  with  Mozart,  about  two  years  after 
his  marriage  :  "  I  went  one  evening  to  a  concert  of  the 
celebrated  Kozeluch's,  .  .  .  and  was  there  introduced 
to  that  prodigy  of  genius,  Mozart.  .  .  .  We  sat  down- 
to  supper,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  to  be  placed  between 
him  and  his  wife,  Madame  Constance  Weber,  a  Ger- 
man lady  of  whom  he  was  passionately  fond.  .  .  . 
He  was  a  remarkably  small  man,  very  thin  and  pale, 
with  a  profusion  of  fine,  fair  hair,  of  which  he  was 
rather  vain." 

The  history  of  Mozart's  short  life — he  was  not  thirty- 
six  when  he  died — is  a  record  of  struggles  and  disap- 
21 


322  VIENNA  AND   THE  VIENNESE. 

pointnients.  The  demands  of  a  growing  family  and  a 
delicate  wife,  who,  moreover,  was  a  remarkably  poor 
manager,  kept  him  constantly  in  debt,  and  the  ungrate- 
ful Court  and  Viennese  public  cared  not  the  least  how 
near  starvation  he  came,  so  long  as  lie  continued  to 
luce  his  marvelous  works,  and  to  shed  a  glory 
d  their  capital  by  his  presence.  All  his  life  long 
he  was  expecting  a  Court  appointment  that  might  at 
least  insure  him  a  living.  Offers  came  from  other 
countries  and  were  refused  for  this  will-o'-the-wisp. 

T  yards  the  end  of  the  year  1787  the  Emperor 
Joseph,  disturbed  by  rumors  that  Mozart  might  be 
driven  to  abandon  Vienna,  gave  him  an  appointment 
— Chamber  Composer  to  the  Court — with  a  salary  of 
something  under  four  hundred  dollars  a  year.  There 
were,  however,  glittering  intimations  of  great,  though 
ssibilities  for  the  uiture. 

Two  years  later  the  King  of  Prnssi  1  Mozart 

a  p  siti  d  at  Berlin,  with  a  _  I  salary.  Mozart 
hesitated. 

••  I  am  fond  of  Vienna,"  said  he.  "  I  care  little  for 
mon  ■-•;.-."' 

Finally,  however,  the  desperate  state  of  his  affairs 
decided  him  to  accept,  and  he  went  to  the  Ernperor  to 
give  in  his  resignation  and  to  say  farewell.  Joseph 
was  piqued  and  irritated. 

"  My  dear  Mozart."  he   exclaimed,  ''will  you  leave 

Mozart,  much  moved  by  this  touching  proof  of  the 


MOZART'S  LAST  WORKS— THE  "REQUIEM."     323 

esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  at  once  reversed  his  de- 
cision, and  left  the  Burg,  full  of  gratitude  and  affec- 
tion for  his  good  Emperor. 

"At  least,"  said  one  of  his  friends,  to  whom  he 
described  the  interview,  "  you  stipulated  for  a  position 
that  would  enable  you  to  live." 

Mozart  was  deeply  annoyed. 

"Satan  himself,"  said  he,  "would  hardly  have 
thought  of  bargaining  at  such  a  moment." 

The  year  1791,  the  closing  year  of  Mozart's  life, 
Avas  one  of  extraordinary  productiveness.  The  "  Zau- 
bernote,"  the  "Clemenza  di  Tito,"  a  quantity  of  minor 
pieces — minuets,  waltzes  and  others — and  the  "Re- 
quiem," which  so  strangely  affected  his  last  days,  were 
all  written  at  that  period.  In  Xovember  his  illness, 
which  had  been  rapidly  increasing,  obliged  him  to 
take  to  his  bed,  where,  however,  he  still  continued  to 
work  on  the  "  Requiem."  On  the  afternoon  of  De- 
cember 5th  several  of  his  friends  came  to  see  him, 
and  at  his  request  they  stood  around  his  bed,  singing 
the  "Requiem,"  Mozart  himself  taking  the  alto;  but' 
at  the  first  bar  of  the  Lacrymosa  he  broke  down  and 
began  to  weep.  His  visitors  left,  and  the  same  night 
he  died. 

His  funeral  was  of  the  simplest  description.  Xo 
stone  or  tablet  marked  his  grave  in  the  Marxer  Sinie 
Cemetery,  and  in  a  few  years  the  very  site  was  lost. 

The  harassed  and  troubled  life  of  Mozart,  con- 
stantly hampered  by  debts,  which  his  enormous  and 


324  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

unremitting  labor  could  never  avail  to  throw  off,  sur- 
rounded by  enmities  and  jealousies,  and  with  the 
ever-recurring  bitterness  of  deferred  hopes  and  frus- 
trated dreams,  contrasts  strikingly  with  the  calm 
seclusion  of  the  existence  which  Haydn  was  at  the 
same  time  pursuing,  under  the  sheltering  patronage 
of  Prince  Esterhazy. 

Between  the  two  men  there  existed  a  strong  friend- 
ship, founded  on  a  generous  mutual  appreciation. 
"Papa  Haydn"  and  "My  Mozart"  they  affection- 
ately termed  one  another. 

"  Oh,  papa,"  cries  Mozart,  anxiously,  when  Haydn 
was  preparing  to  accompany  Solomons  to  England  in 
1790,  "you  are  not  educated  for  the  wide  world,  and 
you  do  not  know  any  foreign  language-  !" 

"  My  language,"  says  Haydn,  with  his  gentle  smile, 
"is  understood  all  over  the  world." 

Three  years  before  this  Haydn  iiad  written  :  "  I 
only  wish  I  could  impress  on  every  friend  of  music, 
and  on  great  men  in  particular,  the  same  deep  mu- 
sical sympathy  and  profound  appreciation  which  I 
myself  feel  for  Mozart's  inimitable  music.  Then 
nations  would  vie  with  each  other  to  possess  such  a 
jewel  within  their  frontiers.  It  enrages  me  to  think 
that  the  unparalleled  Mozart  is  not  yet  engaged  at 
any  Imperial  Court !  Forgive  my  excitement ;  I  love 
the  man  so  dearly." 

Sixteen  years  after  Mozart's  death  Haydn  could 
still  not  hear  him  spoken  of  without  emotion.     "  For- 


HAYDN-BIRTH  AND  EARLY  TRAINING.    325 

give  me/'  he  cries,  one  day,  when  the  mention  of  his 
friend's  name  had  upset  his  self-control;  "I  must 
ever,  ever  weep  at  the  name  of  my  Mozart !" 

"Papa  Haydn"  was  born  in  1732,  in  the  village  of 
Pohrau,  about  thirty  miles  from  Vienna,  and  close  to 
the  Hungarian  border.  His  parents  were  in  humble 
circumstances,  and  gladly  accepted  the  offer  of  a  rela- 
tive named  Franck  to  take  the  boy,  then  six  years 
old,  and  instruct  him  in  music,  for  which  he  had 
already  shown  an  aptitude. 

About  three  years  later  he  was  carried  off  to  Vienna 
by  the  Capettmeister  of  St.  Stephan's  Cathedral,  and 
established  there  as  a  chorister.  This  position  he 
lost  when  his  voice  changed,  and  for  a  time  he  had  a 
hard  struggle  to  live.  The  Italian  musician  Porpora 
was  in  Vienna,  in  the  household  of  the  Venetian 
Ambassador,  and  from  him  Haydn  received  valuable 
instruction,  in  return  for  all  manner  of  little  personal 
services ;  while  a  wig-maker  named  Keller,  who  had 
greatly  admired  his  singing  when  he  was  in  the 
Cathedral  choir,  took  him  into  his  house  and  let 
him  live  there,  free  of  charge,  until  his  circumstances 
improved  and  he  could  hire  a  lodging  for  himself. 
He  early  attracted  the  attention  of  the  director  of  the 
theatre,  who  promptly  engaged  him  to  compose  the 
music  for  a  comic  opera,  "The  Devil  on  Two  Sticks." 
Next  he  came  under  the  notice  of  that  liberal  patron 
of  music,  Prince  Anthony  Esterhazy,  who  made  him 
second  professor  of  music  in  his  orchestra. 


326  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

On  the  death  of  the  old  Prince,  Haydn  was  re- 
tained by  his  son,  Prince  Nicholas  Esterhazy,  and  for 
thirty  years  he  led  the  most  placid  of  existences  at 
Eisenstadt,  on  the  Esterhazy  estates. 

"  Haydn  rose  early,  dressed  himself  very  neatly, 
and  placed  himself  at  a  small  table  by  the  side  of  his 
pianoforte,  where  the  hour  of  dinner  usually  found 
him  still  seated.  In  the  evening  he  went  to  the 
rehearsals,  or  to  the  opera,  which  was  performed  in 
the  Prince's  palace  four  times  every  week.  Some- 
times, but  not  often,  he  devoted  a  morning  to  hunt- 
ing. The  little  time  which  he  had  to  spare  was 
divided  between  his  friends  and  Signora  Boselli "  [a 
singer  in  the  Esterhazy  Opera].  * 

His  position  was  not,  however,  a  sinecure.  Every 
morning  he  was  expected  to  present  his  patron  with  a 
new  composition,  and  the  number  of  his  works  has 
been  estimated  at  nine  hundred  and  ninety,  including 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  symphonies,  eighty-two 
quartets,  and  twenty-two  operas  and  oratorios. 

Before  he  had  entirely  settled  down  into  this 
tranquil  and  well-ordered  existence,  he  had  gone 
through  the  trying  experience  of  an  ill-assorted  mar- 
riage. The  wio-maker  Keller,  who  had  so  kindly 
taken  him  in  when  he  was  friendless  and  homeless, 
unfortunately  had  a  daughter,  to  whom  Haydn,  in  the 
thoughtlessness  of  youth,  became  engaged.     When  he 

1  Review  of  The  Lives  of  Haydn  and  Mozart,  Quarterly  Review 
for  1817. 


HAYDN'S  OLD  AGE.  327 

was  in  a  position  to  support  a  wife,  there  was  nothing 
for  it  but  to  fulfill  this  obligation,  and  for  a  time  the 
two  lived  together  in  acute  unhappiness.  Then 
Haydn  broke  away.  He  continued  to  support  his 
wife,  but  declined  absolutely  to  ruin  his  prospects  by 
living  in  the  same  house  with  her. 

It  was  after  the  death  of  Prince  Esterhazy,  in 
1790,  that  Haydn  made  his  visits  to  England — visits 
which  materially  increased  both  his  fame  and  his  for- 
tune. By  1795  we  find  him  once  more  in  Vienna, 
and  still  hard  at  work.  The  "  Creation "  and  the 
"  Seasons  "  were  written  at  this  time,  and  with  the  sale 
of  the  scores  he  bought  a  small  house  and  garden, 
where  he  settled  down  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his 
days  in  peace  and  retirement. 

"At  the  extremity  of  one  of  the  suburbs  of 
Vienna,  on  the  side  of  the  Imperial  park  of  Schon- 
brunn,  you  find  a  small,  unpaved  street,  so  little  fre- 
quented that  it  is  covered  with  grass.  About  the 
middle  rises  an  humble  dwelling,  surrounded  by  per- 
petual silence.  You  knock  at  the  door ;  it  is  opened 
to  you,  with  a  cheerful  smile,  by  a  little  old  woman, 
his  housekeeper.  You  ascend  a  short  flight  of  wooden 
stairs,  and  find,  in  the  second  chamber  of  a  very 
simple  apartment,  a  tranquil  old  man,  sitting  at  a 
desk,  absorbed  in  the  painful  sentiment  that  life  is 
escaping  from  him,  and  so  complete  a  nonentity  with 
respect  to  everything  besides,  that  he  stands  in  need 
of  visitors  to  recall  to  him  what  he  has  once  been. 


328  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

AVhen  he  sees  any  one  enter,  a  pleasing  smile  appears 
upon  his  lips,  a  tear  moistens  his  eyes,  his  counte- 
nance recovers  its  animation,  his  voice  becomes  clear, 
he  recognizes  his  guest,  and  talks  to  him  of  his  early 
years,  of  which  he  has  a  much  better  recollection  than 
of  his  latter  ones.  You  think  that  the  artist  still 
exists ;  but  soon  he  relapses  before  your  eyes  into  his 
habitual  state  of  lethargy  and  sadness.7' l 

"  The  eighteenth  century  was  closing  in,  dark  with 
storms,  and  the  wave  of  revolution  had  burst  in  all  its 
fury  over  France,  casting  its  bloody  spray  upon  the 
surrounding  nations.  From  his  little  cottage  near 
Vienna  Haydn  watched  the  course  of  events.  Like 
many  other  princes  of  art,  he  was  no  politician,  but  his 
affection  for  his  country  lay  deep,  and  his  loyalty  to 
the  Emperor  Francis  was  warm;  die  hymn,  'God 
Save  the  Emperor,'  so  exquisitely  treated  in  the 
seventy-seventh  quartet,  remained  his  favorite  melody; 
it  seemed  to  have  acquired  a  certain  sacredness  in  his 
eyes  in  an  age  when  kings  were  beheaded  and  their 
crowns  tossed  to  a  rabble.  ...  In  1802  his  two  last 
quartets  appeared.  A  third  he  was  forced  to  leave  un- 
finished ;  over  it  is  written — 

*  Hin  ist  alle  meine  Kraft. 
Alt  and  schwach  bin  Ich  '. ' 

"  He  was  now  seventv  years  old.  and  seldom  left  his 
room.     On  summer  days  he  would  linger  in  the  gar- 

1  Bombet's  Life  of  Havdn. 


DEATH   OF   HAYDN.  329 

den.  Friends  came  to  see  him,  and  found  him  often 
in  a  profound  melancholy.  He  tells  us,  however,  that 
God  frequently  revived  his  courage  ;  indeed,  his  whole 
life  is  marked  by  a  touching  and  simple  faith,  which 
did  not  forsake  him  in  his  old  age.  He  considered 
his  art  a  religious  thing,  aud  constantly  wrote  at  the 
beginning  of  his  works,  '  In  nomine  Domini/  or  '  Soli 
Deo  gloria/  and  at  the  end  'Laus  Deo/ 

"  In  1809  Vienna  was  bombarded  by  the  French. 
A  round-shot  fell  into  his  garden.  He  seemed  to  be 
in  no  alarm,  but  on  May  25  he  requested  to  be  led  to 
his  piano,  and  three  times  over  he  played  the  l  Hymn 
to  the  Emperor/  with  an  emotion  that  fairly  overcame 
both  himself  and  those  who  heard  him.  He  was  to 
play  no  more ;  and  being  helped  back  to  his  couch,  he 
lay  down  in  extreme  exhaustion  to  wait  for  the  end. 
Six  days  afterwards,  May  31,  1809,  died  Francis 
Joseph  Haydn,  aged  seventy-seven.  He  lies  buried  in 
the  cemetery  of  Gumpfendorfe,  Vienna.   .  .  . 

"  Haydn  is  valuable  in  the  history  of  art,  not  only  as 
a  brilliant,  but  also  as  a  complete  artist.  Perhaps,  with 
the  exception  of  Goethe  and  Wordsworth,  there  is  no 
equally  remarkable  instance  of  a  man  who  was  so  per- 
mitted to  work  out  all  that  was  in  him.  His  life  was 
a  rounded  whole ;  .  .  .  good  old  Haydn  came  into 
port  over  a  calm  sea,  and  after  a  prosperous  voyage. 
The  laurel  wreath  was  this  time  woven  about  silver 
locks ;  the  gathered-in  harvest  was  ripe  and  golden."  l 
lH.  R.  Haweis,  in  the  Contemporary  Beuieic,  1S68. 


330  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Twelve  years  before  this  another  of  Haydn's  great 
contemporaries  had  died  in  Vienna.  Christopher 
"Willibad  Gliick,  the  father  of  German  opera,  was  born 
in  1714.  His  father  was  a  gamekeeper  on  the  estate 
of  Prince  Lobkowitz,  and  the  boy  was  educated  in  a 
Jesuit  college.  After  spending  some  years  in  Prague, 
as  organist  and  chorister  in  the  Convent  of  St.  Agnes, 
besides  filling  any  engagements  to  play  the  violin  that 
came  in  his  way,  he  took  the  usual  step  of  going  to 
Vienna  in  search  of  means  to  carry  on  his  musical  edu- 
cation. Through  his  father's  master,  Prince  Lobko- 
witz,  he  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  an  Italian  con- 
noisseur, Prince  Melzi,  whom  he  accompanied  to  Italy. 

When  he  was  forty-eight  years  old  Gliick  fell  in 
with  Calzabigi.  He  had  by  this  time  become  disgusted 
with  the  school  of  Italian  opera,  to  which  his  work  had 
for  the  most  part  been  hitherto  confined. 

"Passing  through  Paris  [about  1748]  Gliick  heard 
for  the  first  time  the  French  operas  of  Rameau ;  he 
received  a  new  element,  aud  one  sadly  wanting  to  the 
Italian  opera — the  dramatic  declamation  of  recitative. 
This  was  the  one  element  that  France  contributed  to 
the  formation  of  the  opera  as  now  existing.  We  ob- 
serve, therefore,  three  sources  from  which  this  com- 
poser derived  the  elements  of  his  own  system.  His 
early  training  in  Italy  determined  the  importance  which 
he  ever  afterwards  attached  to  pure  melody.  His  subse- 
quent acquaintance  with  France  taught  him  the  value 
of  dramatic   declamation.     Germanv  ^ave   him  har- 


GLUCK,  "FATHER  OF  GERMAN  OPERA."     331 

mony,  a  more  careful  study  of  the  orchestra,  and  that 
philosophical  spirit  which  enabled  him  to  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  the  distinctive  German  opera."  l 

There  follows  accordingly  a  transition  period  of 
some  twelve  years,  during  which  such  works  as  "  Tele- 
maceo "  and  "  II  Ee  Pastore "  were  produced  with 
more  or  less  success.  Then  came  the  meeting  with 
Calzabigi,  and  Gliick,  with  this  masterly  librettoist  for 
collaborator,  emerged  into  his  perfected  style  in 
"  Orpheus  and  Eurydice  "  and  "  Alceste." 

In  1774  Gliick  determined  to  go  to  Paris.  The 
directors  of  the  Freneh  opera  urged  him  to  come,  and 
his  former  pupil,  Marie  Antoinette,  now  Dauphiness, 
was  ready  and  eager  to  welcome  and  applaud  him. 
Notwithstanding  the  pronounced  and  active  rivalry 
of  the  Italian  school,  the  six  years  Gliick  spent 
in  Paris  were,  on  the  whole,  successful  ones.  He 
had  some  failures  and  disappointments,  but  he  had 
likewise  many  triumphs;  and  when,  in  1780,  he  de- 
termined to  return  and  pass  the  remainder  of  his 
days  in  Vienna,  he  had  made  enough  money  to  sup- 
port him  in  comfort. 

" .  .  .  But  he  does  not  appear  to  have  been  happy 
in  his  old  age.  Nervous  maladies,  long  kept  off  by 
dint  of  sheer  excitement  and  incessant  labor,  seemed 
now  to  grow  upon  him  rapidly.  He  had  always  been 
fond  of  wine,  but  at  a  time  when  his  system  was  least 
able  to  bear  it  he  began  to  substitute  brandy.     The 

1  Gliick  and  Haydn.     II.  It.  Iliuveis. 


332  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

very  thought  of  action,  after  his  recent  failure  in  Paris 
['  Echo  and  Narcissus,5  which  fell  flat],  filled  him 
with  disgust.  He  did  nothing ;  but  his  inactivity  was 
not  repose,  and  the  fire  which  had  been  a  shiniDg 
light  for  so  many  years,  now,  in  its  smouldering  em- 
bers, seemed  to  waste  and  consume  him  inwardly. 

"  His  wife,  who  was  ever  on  the  watch,  succeeded 
in  keeping  stimulants  away  from  the  poor  old  man 
for  weeks  together.  But  one  day  a  friend  came  to 
dine.  After  dinner,  cotfee  was  handed  round  and 
liqueurs  were  placed  upon  the  table.  The  temptation 
was  too  strong.  Gliick  seized  the  bottle  of  brandy, 
and,  before  his  wife  could  stop  him,  he  had  drained 
its  contents.  That  night  he  fell  down  in  a  fit  of 
apoplexy,  and  he  died  November  25th.  1787,  aged 
seventy-three.   .   .   . 

"  M.  Felix  Clement  is  facetious  on  the  subject  of 
the  intemperance  which  marked  the  tailing  yea:  -  : 
a  man  whose  nerves  had  been  shattered  by  hard 
work  and  the  excitement  inseparable  from  his  voca- 
tion. "We  prefer  to  recall  one  who,  in  the  midst  of 
an  immoral  Court,  remained  personally  pure,  and  who, 
in  an  age  of  flippant  atheism,  retained  to  the  last  his 
trust  in  Providence  and  his  reverence  for  religion."  ' 

In  the  early  part  of  the  article  just  quoted,  a 
portrait  of  Gliick,  painted  by  Duplessis.  is  thus  de- 
scribed : 

" .  .  .  He   is   looking  straight  out  of   the  canvas, 

1  Gluck  and  Haydn.     H.  E.  Haweis. 


DUPLESSIS'S  PORTRAIT  OF  GLUCK.  333 

with  wide  and  eager  eyes  ;  his  nostril  a  little  dis- 
tended, as  of  one  eager  to  reply  ;  his  mouth  shut,  but 
evidently  on  the  point  of  hastily  opening.  The  noble 
brow  and  pronounced  temples  carry  off  the  large 
development  of  the  cheek-bone,  and  slightly  heavy, 
though  firm  and  expressive  nose.  The  attitude  is  one 
of  noble  and  expectant  repose,  but  has  in  it  all 
the  suggestion  of  resolute  and  even  fiery  action. 
'  Madame/  said  he,  drawing  himself  up  to  his  full 
height  and  addressing  Marie  Antoinette,  then  Dau- 
phiness,  who  inquired  after  his  opera  of  'Armida/ 
'  Madame,  il  est  bientot  fini,  et  vraiment  ce  sera 
superbe  ! ,  These  words  might  be  written  at  the  foot 
of  Duplessis's  picture ;  they  evidently  express  one  of 
Gluck's  most  characteristic  moods. " 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Beethoven  and  Mozart— Beethoven's  Obstinacy  as  a  Child— His 
Intercourse  with  Haydn— Princely  Patrons  and  Small  Pay — 
The  '''Immortal  Beloved  "—A  Music  Lesson  and  its  Conse- 
quences—Count Franz— Visits  to  Montauvasar— The  Countess 
von  Brunswick's  Secret — Giulietta  Guicciardi— The  "Moon- 
light Sonata"— Peter  von  Cornelius's  Recollection  of  the 
Countess— An  Awakeniug— "  Fidelio  "—A  Secret  Betrothal— 
The  Letter  to  the  "  Immortal  Beloved  "—The  Portrait— A 
Stormy  Engagement— Separation— A  Visit  from  Baron  Treinont 
— Beethoveu's  Establishment  in  Vienna— Improvisation— Beeth- 
oven's Tastes— His  Death — Immortelles — Beethoven  and  Schu- 
bert—Schubert's Struggle  for  Existence— The  Poet  Vogl— A 
Tour— The  Songs— Death— A  Link  Between  Beethoven  an.l 
Liszt— Liszt  Abandons  Vienna  for  Paris— Weimar — The  Bay- 
reuth  Festivals— Modern  Musical  Celebrities — Dr.  Johannes 
Brahms — Herr  Johann  Strauss— Musical  Career  of  his  Father 
— Banner  and  the  Elder  Strauss — Edaard  Strauss — The  Passion 
for  Waltzing  Among  the  Viennese— Balls  of  Sixty-five  Years 
Ago— The  Cab  Drivers'  Ball— Partners  for  Hire. 

In  the  winter  of  17SG-7,  when  Mozart's  fame  bad 
been  greatly  spread  abroad  by-  the  "  Xozze  di  Figaro," 
and  when  he  was  giving  a  series  of  brilliant  concerts 
in  Vienna,  there  arrived  there  a  stranger  youth,  of 
seventeen  or  thereabouts,  who  was  mightily  anxious  to 
take  lessons  from  the  great  master.  Mozart  told  him 
to  play  something,  and,  after  listening  a  few  minutes, 

334 


Beethoven  Monument 


BEETHOVEN— INTERCOURSE  WITH  HAYDN.    335 

gave  him  a  certain  motif y  with  instructions  to  impro- 
vise upon  it.  The  youth  complied,  and,  as  he  warmed 
to  his  task,  Mozart  suddenly  turned  to  those  who 
were  present,  saying,  "  Note  this  young  man  well,  for 
some  day  he  will  make  a  noise  in  the  world. " 

Although  Mozart  thus  early  recognized  the  genius 
of  Beethoven,  the  latter  was  by  no  means  the  youthful 
prodigy  that  he  himself  had  been.  Beethoven  devel- 
oped slowly  ;  he  was  excessively  obstinate,  and  it  is 
told  that  when,  as  a  child,  he  had  been  forcibly  driven 
to  the  piano,  it  was  often  impossible  to  make  him  stay 
there. 

Ludwig  von  Beethoven  was  a  native  of  Bonn, 
where  his  father  was  a  member  of  the  Elector's 
band.  He  was  born  in  December,  1770,  and  on  the 
occasion  of  his  meeting  with  Mozart  was  merely  visit- 
ing Vienna.  A  year  after  the  latter' s  death  he  came 
to  the  capital  to  live.  Haydn  was  then  conducting 
some  of  his  new  symphonies — it  was  the  interval 
between  his  two  visits  to  England — and  Beethoven 
had  some  lessons  from  him  in  counterpoint ;  but  there- 
was  little  sympathy  between  the  two  men,  and  Beeth- 
oven was  wont  to  declare  later  that  he  never  got 
anything  from  Haydn.  "  He  never  would  correct  my 
mistakes."  . 

The  leading  connoisseurs  of  Vienna  soon  recog- 
nized the  great  ability  of  the  young  stranger,  and 
with  so  distinguished  a  name  as  that  of  the  Cardinal 
Archduke  Rudolph,  brother  of  the  Emperor  Francis, 


33G  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

on  the  list  of  his  pupils,  it  was  not  difficult  for  him 
to  get  employment.  It  is  notorious,  however,  that 
Vienna,  while  immensely  proud  of  numbering  so 
many  great  musicians  among  her  residents,  has  never, 
until  quite  recently,  given  them  a  decent  support. 

Beethoven  accordingly,  though  highly  thought  of 
and  much  sought  after,  at  last  told  the  Cardinal  Arch- 
duke that  he  saw  nothing  for  it  but  to  leave  Vienna 
in  order  to  make  a  living. 

The  Archduke  was  dismayed.  Lose  their  Beetho- 
ven !  lose  his  teacher  !  the  thing  was  not  to  be  thought 
of.  So  he  bustled  about  and  got  a  number  of  Princes 
and  others  to  subscribe  to  a  fund  to  keep  Beethoven 
in  Vienna.  Beethoven  accordingly  remained  ;  but 
he  never  got  the  subscriptions,  and  was  obliged  to 
continue  to  eke  out  a  livelihood  by  teaching — w&rk 
that  to  one  of  his  exacting,  ill-governed  and  passion- 
ate nature  was  infinitely  irksome  and  uncongenial. 

His  failure  to  obtain  a  post  that  would  bring  him  in 
an  assured  and  sufficient  income  had,  moreover,  one 
result  which  until  quite  lately  was  hardly  more  than 
suspected. 

Much  has  been  written  about  Beethoven's  numer- 
ous love  affairs — how  first  one  high-born  dame  and 
then  another  attracted  his  ardent  and  impressionable 
heart.  But  of  the  one  great  passion  of  his  life  no- 
thing was  certainly  known,  and  very  little  suspected, 
until  the  appearance  of  a  pamphlet  by  Mr.  Thayer, 
author  of  the  Biography  of  Beethoven,  and  later  of 


A  MUSIC  LESSON  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES.    337 

an  article  entitled  "Beethoven's  'Immortal  Beloved'" 
by  Mariam  Tenger,  which  appeared  in  1890. 

Among  Mozart's  pupils  at  the  time  of  his  death 
was  a  certain  Countess  Theresa  von  Brunswick,  the 
daughter  of  wealthy  and  aristocratic  parents.  When 
Beethoven's  genius  began  to  be  recognized  in  Vienna, 
he  was  engaged  to  fill  Mozart's  place  as  her  teacher. 
The  little  Countess  was  fifteen,  a  shy,  sensitive,  re- 
served child,  alternating  between  a  passionate  admi- 
ration for  her  master's  genius  and  a  shrinking  terror 
of  his  brusque,  rough  ways. 

One  bitterly  cold  winter  day  she  sat  awaiting  his 
arrival.  The  moment  he  entered  she  saw  that  he  was 
in  one  of  his  gusty,  stormy  moods,  and  trembled  with 
apprehension. 

._  '• ' Practiced  the  Sonata?'  he  asked,  without  lookiug 
at  her. 

"His  hair  stood  more  on  end  than  it  was  wont  to  do; 
the  eyes — the  magnificent  eyes — were  but  half  open, 
and  the  mouth  angry — oh,  so  angry  !     With  a  failing, 
voice,  she  answered : 

"  '  I  have  practiced  it ;  but — ' 

"  '  We'll  see  !' 

"  She  took  her  place ;  he  stood  behind  her.  She 
thought,  '  If  I  could  but  please  him  by  playing 
well !'  But,  heaven  knows  how  it  happened,  the 
notes  swam  before  her  eyes  and  her  hands  trembled. 
She  began  hastily;  he  said  l Tempo'  once  or  twice, 
but  it  did  not  help  the  matter.  She  saw  that  he  be- 
22 


338  Vienna  &m  the  vtexxesk 

more  and  more  impatient,  and  she  became  more 

and  at   last    she    struck   a  false  n  te.     It 

fine  sense     :   hearing   such      in  that 

aould  have  jried     ::.      Then   I  I  what 

oed    hei    mentally  and   physically.     He     Lid  not 

strike  the  key- .       t,  i      _  .      y.  her  hands — 

rushed,  as  th   ugh  ma  ;.      ;:    :   the   sal   o   and  through 

~. all-door.  e  slammed     shind     :m. 

•••V,"  th     t  his         :      i    hat  1'  she  cried,  and  indis- 
I  ly   hurried  after  him.  while  her   mother  cd:. 
th    salon  1    see    "hat  the  nois 

"The  sal   d  was  empty  ;  the  hall-door  open.  W 
was  the  servanf        V  ss  was  fi  _ litened  :  but 

_  '..:_■■  :      :her  feelings  when  her  daugh- 

L  she  :  she  had 

«   she  ha  Her  daughter,  the 

<     ontess  Theresa  von  Brunswick,  had  run  into  the 

street  -    ian  with  his  coat,  hat  an 

To  be  sure,  she   fcu  1    _  oe   hardly  ten  feel  from  the 

1  servant  reached  her.     >    - 
:':'    st  ven,    undecided  what  t      io  in 

-  :  the  things  he  had  I  --hind  him.  He 
:  k  th  m  6  l  the  servant,  while  his  -  lar,  unno- 
ti     1,  slip]  ':  house.     Her  mother  sent 

her  to  her  room,  with  the   stern    :     rimand  to  think 
over  the  onfitn  ss     I  nduct  foi  thf  rest     i  the 

day  :    is  much  as  Theresa  m  - 

:  the  conclusion,  '  He  might  have  caught 
and    . 


COUNTESS   VOX   BRUNSWICK'S  SECEET.      339 

"The  gentle  father  put  the  blame  on  the  servant 
who  had  left  the  entrance.  He  comforted  his  wife, 
telling  her  that  Theresa  was  still  a  child,  and  had 
acted  like  one.  '  After  us,  and  her  brothers  and  sis- 
ters, her  teachers  are  the  first  in  her  affectionate 
young  heart,  and  this  excuses  her  precipitation/ 

"  It  was  not  exactly,  however,  as  the  old  Count 
had  thought.  In  Theresa's  diary,  written  in  French 
in  1794,  nearly  every  page  has  some  reference  to 
'mon  maitre,'  'mon  cher  maitre,'  and  there  was  none 
other  than  Beethoven  meant  by  these  words."  1 

Between  Beethoven  and  Count  Franz — Theresa's 
brother — a  warm  friendship  sprang  up.  Beethoven 
was  often  invited  to  Montanvasar,  the  castle  of  the 
Brunswicks  in  Hungary,  where  he  was  treated  with 
the  easy  familiarity  of  a  family  friend.  For  twelve 
years  Countess  Theresa  persevered  in  her  secret  ad- 
miration for  the  great  composer. 

"As  I  grew  up  this  feeling  grew  with  me.  It 
strengthened  and  increased,  with  the  unspeakable  pain, 
of  jealousy,  which  was  its  constant  companion.  When 
in  the  salons  they  discussed  the  conquests  of  the  great 
musician,  every  nerve  in  my  body  trembled.  Two 
daughters  of  the  Brunswick  family  shone  in  the  great 
world ;  the  third  played  the  piano,  painted,  read  and 
dreamed.  My  mother  said,  '  My  Theresa  is  a  born 
canoness,'  and  let  me  go  my  way.  What  troubled  my 
passionate  young  heart  and  what  I   suffered  no  one 

1  Beethoven1  s  "  Immortel  Beloved."     Mariam  Tenger. 


340  VIENNA   AND   THE   VIENNESE. 

suspected,  not  even  my  brother,  my  beloved  compan- 
ion and  Beethoven's  friend.  And  I  had  often  hard 
trials.  One  day  my  cousin,  the  charming  Giulietta 
Guicciardi,1  rushed  into  my  room,  threw  herself,  like 
a  stage  princess,  at  my  feet,  and  cried  out,  in  a  chok- 
ing voice,  '  Advise  me,  you  cold,  wise  one  !  I  so  long 
to  dismiss  my  betrothed  Gallenberg,  and  marry  the 
wonderfully  ugly,  beautiful  Beethoven,  if — if  I  did 
not  have  to  lower  myself  so.'  .  .  .  Heaven  protected 
Beethoven  from  Giulietta.  She  became  the  Countess 
Gallenberg  and  disappeared  from  his  life." 

At  last  came  the  day  when  Beethoven  saw  his 
friend's  sister,  his  former  pupil,  with  new  eyes.  It 
was  the  year  1806;  Beethoven  was  thirty-six.  the 
Countess  was  twenty-seven — a  tall,  noble-looking  wo- 
man. "  Her  erreat,  dark  eves  had  that  mild  look  that 
comes  only  from  a  pure  spirit.  When  she  smiled — 
aud  that  happened  seldom — a  divine  glorification  lay 
on  her  features.  Such  faces  never  grow  quite  old. 
When  one  spoke  to  her,  he  felt  elevated  and  better. 
She  spoke  inimitably,  beautifully  and  clearly." 

Thus  she  was  described  many  years  later  by  the 
painter,  Peter  von  Cornelius. 

Of  the  crowning  moment  of  her  life  we  have  the 
Countess's  own  account,  as  she  related  it  to  Mariana 
Tender.  Beethoven  had  come  to  Montanvasar,  and 
she  had  detected  a  subtle  change  in  his  attitude  to- 
wards her. 

1  To  whom  the  " Moonlight  Sonata"  was  dedicated. 


AN    AWAKENING.  341 

u  One  evening  we  sat  in  the  salon.  Beethoven  was 
at  the  piano.  There  were  no  other  guests  than  the 
curate;  who  dined  with  us  every  Sunday  and  remained 
until  evening.  The  moon  shone  into  the  room  ;  that 
was  what  he  liked  best.  Franz,  who  had  seated  him- 
self beside  me,  whispered  in  my  ear,  i  Listen  !  now  he 
will  play.'  How  I  listened  !  His  dark  face  was  trans- 
figured; he  passed  his  hands  ouce  or  twice  over  the 
keys.  "We  knew — I  mean  Franz  and  I  knew — that 
he  used  to  prelude  by  such  discordance  the  greatest 
harmony.  Then  he  struck  a  few  chords  in  the 
base,  and  then  played  slowly,  mysteriously,  solemnly 
that  song  of  Sebastian  Bach,  the  only  worldly 
song  which  that  great  master  of  church  music  has 
composed  : 

1  Willst  Du  Dein  Herz  ruir  scbenken, 

So  fang'  es  Heimlich  an, 
Dass  anser  Beider  Denken 

Niemand  errathen  kann. 
Die  Liebe  muss  bei  Beiilen, 

Allzeit  versehweigen  sein, 
D'rum  schliess'  die  groes^ten  Freuden, 

In  Deinem  Herzen  ein.' 

"  My  mother  and  the  curate  had  fallen  asleep  ;  my 
bmther  looked  earnestly  before  him.  I  was  awakened 
to  fullest  life  by  that  song,  and  by  his  look. 

"Next  morning  we  met  in  the  park. 

"'  I  am  writing  an  opera  now/  he  said.    k'I  have  the 

principal  figure  in  my  mind  before  me,  wherever  I  go 


342  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE 

or  stay.1  I  was  never  at  such  heights  before  !  All  is 
light ;  all  is  clear  and  open !  Before  this  I  was  like 
the  stupid  boy  in  the  fairy-tale  who  gathered  the  stones 
and  failed  to  see  the  beautiful  flowers  that  blossomed 
on  the  roadside. 

"  So  we  found  each  other." 

A  secret  betrothal  followed,  known  only  to  Count 
Franz,  who  made  it  the  one  condition  of  the  marriage 
that  Beethoven  should  obtain  some  post  that  would 
insure  him  a  fixed  income. 

The  Countess,  while  hating  concealment,  especially 
dreaded  to  tell  her  proud  and  aristocratic  mother  of 
the  step  she  contemplated  taking. 

Beethoven  left  Montanvasar.  The  betrothal  took 
place  in  May ;  in  July  he  wrote  from  Furen,  a  small 
watering-place  in  Hungary,  the  letter  to  the  "  Immortal 
Beloved"  that  was  found  in  an  old  chest  in  his  rooms 
after  his  death,  together  with  the  portrait  of  a  lady, 
inscribed  "  To  the  rare  genius,  the  great  artist,  the  good 
man.     From  T.  B."' 

The  letter  is  now  preserved  in  the  Imperial 
Library  in  Berlin.  The  portrait,  which  was  painted 
by  Lampi,  and  represents  the  Countess  as  she  appeared 
at  about  the  time  of  her  betrothal,  was  purchased  some 
years  ago  by  the  Beethoven  Society,  and  placed  in  the 
house  Xo.  20  Bonngasse,  Bonn,  where  Beethoven  was 
born. 

1  The  second  version  of  "  Fidelio  "  and  "Overture  Xo.  3*"  were 
brought  out  in  1£06. 


A  STORMY   ENGAGEMENT— SEPAEATIOX.     343 

The  engagement  lasted  four  years.  During  all  this 
time  Beethoven  was  striving,  without  success,  to  win 
some  position  that  would  justify  him  in  marrying. 

"  He  hoped  for  us  both ;  he  was  full  of  courage  and 
energy,  notwithstanding  his  hearing  grew  ever  worse, 
and  he  had  to  journey  repeatedly  to  a  watering-place 
to  strengthen  his  over- strained  nerves.  I,  too,  was 
blissful  in  his  love.  Only  the  secret  from  my  mother 
oppressed  me  like  a  crime,  and  like  a  calumniation 
against  my  beloved.  I  could  have  said  to  every  one, 
*■  Even  though  I  should  have  to  beg,  I  would  be  proud 
to  be  his  wife.'  '  Later  the  mood  changed  with  Beeth- 
oven. Patience  was  not  part  of  his  nature.  How 
could  he  stand  this  long  test  in  his  frame  of  mind? 
He  soon  felt  hurt  that  I  ceased  to  complain,  and  tried 
to  quiet  him.  Storms  and  sunshine  alternated  in  his 
letters  and  in  the  hours  we  spent  together.  Startled 
by  his  outbursts  of  temper,  awed  in  my  inmost  heart 
by  his  deep,  passionate  love,  I  besought  comfort  and 
help  from  God.  That  during  the  four  years  of  ouf 
engagement  his  greatest  works  were  written  and  silently 
dedicated  to  me,  was  not  until  long  afterwards  of  com- 
fort to  me.  In  those  most  terrible  days  of  my  life, 
the  eternally  long,  dreary  days  that  followed  the  hour 
when — we  parted  forever — I  was  comfortless.  .  .  . 
You  must  know  that  /did  not  say  the  word  that  parted 
us — but  he.  I  was  terribly  frightened,  grew  deathly 
pale,  trembled  violently.   .  .  ." 

The  gentle,  high-strung,  reserved  Countess  was,  in 


34A  VIENNA  AHI    7HZ   VIENNESE. 

fact,  utterly  unfitted  to  cop-  with  ha  lovers  viole»f 
nature.  This  she  recognized  years  later.  "I  bow 
d  w  that  I  was  the  shief  valise,  Tne  r~:~.  great 
courage  th^:  : ::;  Dens  all  things  was  :::-:■  r  all  wanting." 
_.;;::.  "  I  regard  it  as  a  wise  irdinance  ::  -  Lin 
Beethoven's  life  thai  we  separated.  What  would  ha  ve 
become  of  his  genius?  YTLu:.  :.:.  ::  my  -  it  I 
had  been  afru.  :  himl  As  it  was,  we  remained 
each  rther's  greatest  treasure  :  rever/3 

Beethoven  saw  this,  tot — saw  that  the 

marriage  would  on"."     ring  misery    nd  unhf:       ness  U 
his   "Immortal  Bel  ~nd  he  loved  her  en     _.    : 

=:  ii'r  _->:". 

a   Spaun,  a  friend  and  pupil  of  Be;: 
fcells  of  coming  v  -  upon  the  mas: 

Lis  :      ms  in  Y     m         H    wass     I    h    th  hi 

■or,  and        I        :  hear  hi-  . 

_       from  the  window  fell  upon  a  picture  he  held  in 
his  ]  .   -"      bog,   kissed.      H 

speaking   :       - ..:.  as     .       ften  aJ  ne.     I 

did  not  wish  to  pi:         vesdi      per  and  noise)  ss      with- 
drew as  I  :  s,     T     a  wert   :       s  I 
angel::.'     When  I  retornc                            I  :   ind  him 
at  the  piano  c  mj  :  si ng  i 

In  18        the  last   year    :  the       _   _    neni.  a  Baron 
Tremont  came  : :  Y  i  ■. .  ■. 

He  had  long  desired   :     n::^:   Be   :         :     for  whose 
genie-  _i:est  admirati  Accordingly, 

arnied  with  a  letter  of  introduction  from  j        - 


VISIT  OF  BABON  TREMOKT  TO  BEETHOVEN.    345 

of  the  composer's,  he  proceeded  to  the  hitter's  house. 
A  neighbor  volunteered  the  information  that  he  was  at 
.  "  but  at  present  he  has  no  maid  :  he  changes 
them  every  minute.  It  is  doubtful,  therefore,  if  he'll 
let  you  in/' 

After  knocking  repeatedly,  the  Baron  was  about  to 
go  away  when  the  door  was  suddenly  'Opened.  "  A  very 
ugly  man.  who  seemed  to  be  in  a  most  disagreeable 
mood,  had  opened  it,  and  now  asked  what  I  wished. 
I  said  in  French,  '  Have  I  the  honor  to  speak  to  Herr 
Beethoven  ?  ' 

"'Yes,  sir,"  he  replied  in  German:  *  but  T  must  tell 
you  at  once  that  I  do  not  understand  French  very 
well.' 

"  '  And  I  German  no  better.'  I  answered  ;  'but  my 
business  is  merely  to  bring  you  a  letter  from  M. 
Reicha,  of  Paris.' 

'*'  At  this  he  eyed  me  critically  a  moment,  took  the 
letter,  and  bade  me  enter. 

••  His  house  consisted .  I  believe,  of  but  two  rooms. 
One  of  these  was  an  enclosed  alcove,  in  which  stood  his* 
but  it  was  s<:>  small  and  dark  that  he  was  obliged 
to  dress  and  undress  in  the  second  room.  Here  un- 
tidiness and  disorder  reigned:  water-bottles  stood  on 
the  floor;  upon  an  old  piano  dust  and  music  fought 
for  supremacy ;  the  little  walnut  table  had  frequently 
received  the  entire  contents  of  the  ink-stand  on  its 
surface  ;  innumerable  pens,  thickly  encrusted  with  ink, 
lavaboiu  ;  and  ever\-where  was  music.     On  the  chair — 


346  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

mostly  of  rush  or  straw — stood  dishes  containing  rem- 
nants of  past  meals,  and  from  their  backs  hung  various 
articles  of  clothing." 

Hardly  a  home  to  which  to  take  a  delicately  reared 
bride  ! 

A  labored  conversation  followed,  carried  on 
partly  in  French,  partly  in  German,  and  rendered 
more  difficult  by  Beethoven's  deafness.  Neverthe- 
less, the  two  men  discovered  a  hearty  liking  for  one 
auother,  and  the  interview  resulted  in  a  warm  friend- 
ship. 

Baron  Tremont  became  a  frequent  visitor  at  the 
comfortless  little  house.  He  describes  the  effect  the 
master's  improvising  had  upon  him.  "  It  always 
awakened  in  me  the  liveliest  musical  enthusiasm.  .  .  . 
Everything  with  him  was  of  instant  inspiration.  He 
would  often  seat  himself  at  the  piano,  strike  a  couple 
of  chords,  and  say,  '  To-day  it  doesn't  come.  We'll 
wait  till  another  time.'  Then  we  would  talk  of  phil- 
osophy, of  religion,  politics,  and,  in  preference  to  all 
else,  of  Shakespeare,  his  idol— and  all  this  in  a  lan- 
guage that  would  have  made  a  listener  laugh  had  any 
such  been  present.'' 

Beethoven  died  in  March,  1827,  in  rooms  in  the 
Sehwarz-panierhaus,  Vienna,  at  the  moment  when  a 
terrific  >torm  burst  over  the  town.  He  was  buried  in 
the  AV-ihringer  churchyard.  Countess  Theresa  von 
Brunswick  outlived  him  for  thirty-four  years,  and  on 
the  27th  of  every  recurring  March  a  wreath  of  immor- 


SCHUBERT— HIS  POVERTY— DEATH.    347 

telles  was  laid  by  an  unknown  hand  upon  Beethoven's 
grave. 

One  of  the  torch-bearers  at  Beethoven's  funeral  wras 
Franz  Peter  Schubert,  then  thirty  years  of  age.  As 
Mozart  had  prophesied  of  Beethoven's  future  celebrity, 
so  Beethoven,  on  reading  Schubert's  songs  for  the  first 
time,  exclaimed,  "  He  has  the  divine  afflatus !  "  Beeth- 
oven was,  however,  dying  then,  and  Schubert  only 
outlived  him  by  two  years.  Although  he  was  born  in 
Vienna,  and  spent  his  life  there,  Schubert  met  with 
the  usual  treatment  accorded  by  the  Viennese  to  their 
great  men.  His  career  is  the  record  of  a  painful  and 
continued  struggle  with  poverty.  For  example,  in  the 
summer  of  1825,  he  went  on  a  tour  with  his  friend  the 
poet  Vogl.  The  latter  sung  Schubert's  seven  songs 
from  the  "Lady  of  the  Lake,"  accompanied  by  the 
composer.  They  everywhere  met  with  the  greatest 
success.  But  when  the  songs  were  offered  for  sale  on 
their  return  to  Vienna,  they  could  only  get  one  hun- 
dred dollars  for  the  whole  set,  while  a  few  years  later 
Schubert  was  obliged  to  part  with  some  of  his  most 
beautiful  songs  for  almost  nothing. 

On  his  death  Schubert  was  buried,  at  his  own  re- 
quest, close  to  Beethoven  in  the  Wanning  Cemetery. 
Later  his  remains  were  removed  to  their  present  resting- 
place  in  the  Central  Cemetery,  near  Kaiser-Ebersdorf. 

Beethoven's  memory  is  linked  by  a  charming  inci- 
dent with  the  name  of  one  of  the  great  musicians  of 
our  own  day.     Franz  Liszt  always  recalled  with  pride 


348  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

that  when  in  the  spring  of  1823,  he,  then  a  boy  of 
twelve,  played  in  a  concert  in  Vienna,  Beethoven,  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  performance,  ascended  the  stage 
and  kissed  him. 

Liszt  was  a  native  of  Hungary,  and  received  the 
early  part  of  his  musical  education  in  Vienna ;  but 
he  soon  removed  to  Paris,  and  from  thenceforward 
was  but  slightly  connected  with  the  Austrian  caj)ital, 
a  circumstance  to  which  is  probably  largely  due  his 
prosperous  and  successful  career.  Paris  appreciated 
him  to  the  full,  and  his  tours  through  the  cities  of 
Germany  were  highly  successful ;  while  at  a  later  date 
London  received  him  with  marked  enthusiasm.  The 
latter  half  of  his  life  was  spent  at  Weimar,  where,  in 
addition  to  his  duties  as  director  of  the  opera,  he 
devoted  himself  to  composition,  and  also  became  the 
most  famed  and  sought-after  piano  teacher  of  his  day. 
His  brilliant  career  closed  in  July,  1886,  at  Bayreuth, 
whither  he  had  gone  to  attend  the  musical  festival. 

Before  closing  these  chapters  on  the  famous  mu- 
sicians of  Vienna,  a  few  words  must  be  said  of  two 
of  the  most  conspicuous  figures  in  the  musical  world 
of  recent  times  —  Dr.  Johannes  Brahms  and  Herr 
Johann  Strauss. 

The  time  is  past  when  a  Beethoven  could  draw  up 
for  his  private  guidance  a  scale  of  prices  in  which  "  a 
svmphony  for  orchestra  "  figures  at  from  one  hundred 
dollars  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars,  and 
"a  sonata"  at  sixty  dollars.     The  sums  realized  by 


Statue  of  Schubert 


DR.  JOHANNES  BRAHMS.  349 

the  Paderewslds  of  our  day  from  renderings  of  the 
music  of  Mozart  and  Schubert  are  enough  to  make 
those  ill-starred  composers  rise  from  their  graves  and 
demand,  at  least  for  their  relatives,  a  share  in  these 
enormous  profits. 

Dr.  Brahms  was  a  native  of  Hamburgh,  but  for 
many  years  he  made  his  home  in  Vienna,  where  he 
occupied  a  unique  position  in  musical  circles. 

"  He  may  be  frequently  seen  on  the  street,  taking 
with  brisk  step  his  daily  constitutional,  looking  nei- 
ther right  nor  left,  his  hands  crossed  on  his  back. 
His  massive,  leonine  head,  his  thick-set  figure,  are  as 
familiar  as  household  words.  In  former  years  he 
frequently  sought  the  companionship  of  Herr  Johann 
Strauss,  but  latterly  he  has  shown  a  preference  for 
solitary  exercise.  ...  It  is  not  often  that  Dr.  Brahms 
is  seen  at  a  musical  entertainment,  unless  it  be  the 
Philharmonic  or  Gesellschafts'  Concerts  [the  two  only 
series  of  orchestral  concerts  which  are  given  during 
the  season  in  Vienna],  where  he  may  be  observed 
peering  down  from  the  directorial  box,  an  earnest  and 
attentive  listener,  yet  one  who  hardly  ever  expresses 
approval  or  disapproval.  .  .  .  Though  apart  from  his 
personal  friends,  who  are  to  be  found  mostly  among 
the  professional  musicians,  there  are  numerous  sincere 
admirers  of  his  compositions,  it  cannot  be  said  that 
the  fact  of  his  living  in  Vienna  insures  for  him  a 
special  following  there.  .  .  .  Wide-spread  popularity, 
in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  Brahms  has  not  achieved 


350  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

in  Vienna ;  but  it  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  music  that 
this  is  probably  the  very  last  reward  for  which  he 
strives."  l 

Quite  other  is  the  work — and  the  estimation  in 
which  it  is  held — of  Herr  Johann  Strauss.  This  son 
of  a  no  less  famous  father  has  been  for  more  than 
fifty  years  the  "  Waltz  King  "  of  a  country  where  in 
every  grade  of  society  the  love  of  waltzing  amounts  to 
a  passion.  When  his  Golden  Jubilee  was  celebrated 
in  1895  tributes  of  admiration  and  appreciation 
poured  in  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  The 
strains  of  the  "  Beautiful  Blue  Danube  "  had  set  the 
entire  world  in  motion. 

His  father,  also  named  Johann,  was  the  son  of  a 
Viennese  innkeeper,  and  at  a  very  early  age  was  wont 
to  attract  people  to  his  father's  inn  with  his  lively  per- 
formances on  the  violin.  ^Notwithstanding  this  signifi- 
cant fact,  his  parents  determined  to  give  him  a  trade, 
and  apprenticed  him,  when  still  a  mere  child,  to  a 
bookbinder.  From  this  uncongenial  work  Johann 
soon  escaped,  and  the  story  goes  that  a  certain  citi- 
zen of  Doebling,  who  frequented  the  Strauss  Inn 
when  visiting  Vienna,  was  much  astonished  one  day 
to  come  upon  the  small  musician,  whom  he  had  often 
seen  in  his  father's  house,  seated  by  the  roadside,  some 
miles  from  Vienna,  playing  happily  upon  his  violin, 
without  a  morsel  of  food,  or  a  penny  in  his  pocket. 
The  worthy  man,  on  hearing  his  story,  took  him  home 

1  Musical  Celebrities  of  Vienna.     W.  Von  Sachs. 


WALTZING   AMONG  THE   VIENNESE.         351 

with  him,  and  having  made  matters  right  with  the 
parents,  arranged  to  have  the  little  Strauss  take  lessons 
on  the  violin  from  Polyschansky.  He  later  got  a 
position  in  Lanner's  orchestra,  and  a  warm  friendship 
sprang  up  between  the  two.  Stranss's  waltz  music 
became  widely  popular,  especially  in  France,  where 
he  had  a  great  success.  His  sons — Johann,  Josef  and 
Eduard  —  all  inherited  in  a  marked  degree  their 
father's  musical  talent.  Josef  died,  but  Eduard  is 
highly  thought  of  in  Vienna,  where  "he  holds  the  post 
of  Hofball  musik  director. 

The  passion  of  the  Viennese  for  waltzing  is  an  old 
story.  Mrs.  Trollope  speaks  of  it,  in  1837,  as  exist- 
ing among  all  classes,  and  describes  balls  given  re- 
spectively by  Prince  Metternich,  several  of  the  foreign 
Ministers,  a  society  of  small  tradesmen,  the  Viennese 
wash-women  and  the  hackney  coachmen.  She  was 
told  that  among  the  working  classes  it  was  not  un- 
common for  single  women,  who  were  no  longer  young 
and  attractive,  to  hire  partners  for  the  evening.  The 
price  varied  according  to  the  skill  and  general  appear- 
ance of  the  swain.  Supper  was  included  in  the  charge; 
so  that  for  a  really  eligible  partner  one  had  sometimes 
to  pay  as  high  as  two  dollars,  or  even  more.  She  was 
told  of  a  middle-aged  cook  who  gave  this  necessary 
expense  as  one  reason  why  she  was  obliged  to  ask  for 
an  increase  in  her  wages. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Allgemeines  Krankenhaus —  Antiquated  Methods — Absence 
of  Trained  Nurses — The  Viennese  Nurse  of  To-day — No  Fees, 
No  Attention — The  Patient  of  Minor  Importance — Treatment 
Nothing,  Diagnosis  Everything— Dissection— No  Free  Patients 
— A  Visit  to  the  Hospital — Beer  for  the  Inmates — The  Plague 
in  1898— A  Sanitarium— Plush,  Potted  Plants  and  Fleas— 
The  Landesgericht  Interior  —  Silence  —  Administration  — The 
Prisoner's  Devices  for  Keeping  his  Money— Cells — Telegraphic 
Communication  Among  the  Inmates — Turnkeys — The  Prison- 
ers— The  Sham  Antiquities  Dealer— Work  of  the  Prisoners — 
The  Women's  Wards — The  False  Countess  Kinsky — Former 
Customs  in  the  Treatment  of  Condemned  Criminals — The 
People's  Kitchen  Association — Dr.  Kiihn's  Plan  for  Helping 
the  Poor — The  First  Kitchen — Success — Later  Associations — 
Appearance  of  a  Kitchen — Organization — Cost  of  the  Food — A 
Busy  Day— Dr.  Kiihn's  Further  Efforts — The  Imperial  Pawn 
Offices — Character  of  the  Depositors— Auction  Sales— Old  Age 
Homes  —  Their  Objects  and  Management  —  The  Eestaurant 
System — No  Uniforms — Liberty  of  the  Inmates. 

West  of  the  Yotif  Kirche,  in  the  Alsergrund  dis- 
trict, and  facing  the  Alser  Strasse,  rise  the  vast 
barrack-like  buildings  of  the  Allgemeines  Kranken- 
haus, which,  with  its  two  thousand  beds,  ranks  as  the 
largest  hospital  in  Europe. 

Vienna,  however,  whose  school  of  medicine  stands 
in  the  fore  front  of  the  medical  schools  of  the  world, 

352 


VIENNA  HOSPITALS— THE  NUKSES.  353 

yearly  attracting  throngs  of  students  of  every  nation- 
ality to  its  clinics — Vienna  is  a  full  half  century  be- 
hind the  age  in  the  matter  of  hospital  management, 
and  makes  no  provision  whatever  for  the  training  and 
equipment  of  nurses.  Unless  she  be  a  Sister  of  Charity, 
the  Viennese  nurse  is  usually  a  woman  who,  unable 
to  get  any  other  kind  of  work,  accepts  this  employ- 
ment as  a  last  resource.  At  the  Allgemeines  Krank- 
enhaus,  with  the  exception  of  those  employed  in  the 
obstetric  ward,  the  nurses  undergo  no  training  what- 
ever. They  receive  five  dollars  a  month,  their  lodg- 
ing and  one  meal  a  day,  and  they  remain  on  duty  for 
twenty-four  hours  at  a  time,  two  beiu^  assigned  to 
eacli  ward  of  twenty-eight  patients. 

They  are  permitted,  however,  to  supplement  their 
salaries  by  peddling  out  small  comforts  to  the 
patients,  such  as  hot  coffee,  which  they  sell  in  the 
morning  for  four  cents  a  cup,  and,  far  worse  than  even 
this  very  undesirable  practice,  they  are  allowed  to 
accept  fees  for  the  performance  of  their  regular  duties. 
From  this  system  it  naturally  follows  that  only  those' 
who  have  money  receive  anything  like  the  proper 
attention,  and  patients  are  generally  expected  to  ad- 
minister their  own  medicines;  if  they  neglect  to  do 
this,  there  is  no  one  to  insist. 

"  In  Vienna,  hospitals  are  looked  on  primarily  as 

medical  schools,  and  quite   incidentally  in  any  other 

light.     Under  treatment,  the  sick  may  or  may  not  be 

cured.     That  is  a  matter  of  relatively  little  import- 

23 


354  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

anoe.  As  the  students  individually  are  kind-hearted 
men.  they  are  glad,  no  doubt,  that  a  poor  devil  should 
pull  through;  but  the  main  object  in  having  him  there 
at  all  is  for  them  to  learn  as  much  about  his  disorder 
as  possible.  The  result  is  that  a  patient  with  a  rare 
or  acute  disease  is  the  object  of  general  interest.  He 
is  visited,  and  sounded,  and  punched  and  questioned, 
at  all  hours,  by  successive  bodies  of  students.  It 
happens  not  infrequently  that  patients  are  submitted 
to  examination  when  in  their  death  agony.  A  doctor 
who  visited  the  hospital  told  me  he  saw  a  party  of 
students  sounding  a  woman  who  was  dying  of  pleurisy, 
or  pneumonia,  in  order  that  they  might  each  hear  the 
crepitation  in  her  lungs  as  her  last  moments  ap- 
proached.    She  expired  before  they  left  the  ward. 

"He  said  something  about  treatment  in  another 
ca>e  t<>  the  professor  who  was  lecturing  these  young 
men.  The  reply  was.  *'  Treatment  !  treatment  !  That 
is  n-'thing.     It  is  the  diagnosis  that  we  want."   .   .   . 

••Patients,  moreover,  when  entering,  are  required 
to  sign  a  paper,  agreeing  to  submit  to  any  operation 
the  authorities  may  consider  necessary.  The  body  of 
every  one  who  dies  in  the  Allgemeines  Krankenhaus 
is  subject  to  dissection,  no  matter  who  he  may  have 
been,  or  how  strong  may  be  the  objection  of  rela- 
tives. .   .  . 

'•  All  patients  are  paying  patients.  Public  hos- 
pitals in  Austria  are  nut  maintained  by  public  sub- 
scription and  benevolent  bequests,  but    are   State-en- 


A   VISIT   TO  A   VIENNA  HOSPITAL.  355 

dowed,  receiving  grants  from  the  Minister  of  Educa- 
tion and  the  Minister  of  the  Interior.  In  addition, 
each  patient  is  expected  to  give  one  gulden  [forty-two 
cents]  a  day  for  his  maintenance,  which  does  not, 
however,  include  an  early  breakfast.  Paupers  are 
paid  for  by  their  province.  Thus  a  Tyrolean  would 
be  chargeable  on  the  public  funds  of  the  Tyrol.  .  .  . 

"  On  the  occasion  of  my  first  visit  to  the  Allge- 
meines  Krankenhaus,  the  day  was  stormy  and  bit- 
terly cold.  The  fierce  wind,  characteristic  of  Vienna, 
swept  the  streets,  blowing  the  sleet  in  swirls,  and  ren- 
dering progress  difficult.  When  we  entered  by  the 
Alserstrasse  gateway,  round  which  prospective  patients 
were  standing,  and  reassured  the  porter  as  to  our  right 
to  pass  him,  we  found  ourselves  in  a  large  square 
garden,  the  paths  laid  with  planks.  As  we  made  our 
way,  heads  down  against  the  blast,  an  elderly  peasant 
woman,  with  weather-beaten  face  and  gnarled  fingers 
passed  us.  On  her  back  she  carried  a  basket  of 
wood.  Her  short  skirt  of  yellowish-brown  cotton  stuff 
reached  her  ankles.  Over  it  was  worn  a  loo.^e  wrap- 
per, or  camisole,  to  match,  girded  in  by  apron  strings 
round  her  thick  waist.  On  her  head  was  a  little  gray 
shawl.  My  companion  indicated  her.  'That/  he 
said,  '  is  one  of  the  nurses.' 

"  We  learned  that  beer  was  supplied  to  the  patients, 
at  their  own  expense,  from  a  canteen  on  the  premises, 
and  that  those  well  enough  to  leave  their  beds  fetch 
it.     We  met  some  carrying  cans,  the  men  arrayed  in 


356  VIENNA  AXD  THE  VIENNESE. 

a  bluish-gray  cotton  dressing  gown  and  pajamas,  cov- 
ered by  a  blanket  cloak ;  the  women  in  camisoles, 
short  skirts  and  head  shawls.  ...  It  seemed  odd  to 
see  them  out  in  such  weather,  though  of  course  they 
were  not  dangerously  ill/''  l 

It  was  in  the  Allgetneines  Ivrankenkaus  that  the 
plague  broke  out  in  1898,  "  thanks  to  a  man  who  did 
not  think  it  necessary  to  wash  his  hands  before  meals/' 
while  the  attendant  in  charge  of  the  bacilli  drank. 

It  is  not  alone  the  iu mates  of  the  General  Hospital 
who  are  obliged  to  suffer  from  the  ignorance  and  in- 
efficiency of  the  nurses.  Good  nurses  are  not  obtain- 
able at  any  price  ;  they  simply  do  not  exist  in  Vienna. 
The  sisters  are  far  superior  to  the  others,  in  that  they 
are  usually  clean  and  attentive ;  but  they  have  no 
training. 

An  expensive  sanitarium,  frequented  by  the  patients 
of  the  fashionable  doctors,  while  sumptuously  fitted 
out  with  plush,  potted  plants  and  Persian  rugs,  is 
infested  with  fleas.  Breakfast  is  served  at  eight 
o'clock,  and  the  patients  can  have  nothing  before  that 
hour.  Xo  fires  can  be  lighted  before  half-past  -even. 
The  nurses  get  a  little  more  than  six  dollars  a  month, 
and  depend  on  fees  from  the  patients  for  the  rest  vf 
their  income.  They  are  terribly  over-worked,  and 
the  patients  are  given  to  understand  that  after  half- 
past  nine  they  are  not  to  expect  any  further  attention 
for  the  night.     In  short,  it  would  be  well  for  all  trav- 

1  C.  O'Couor-Eoeles,  in  The  Nineteenth  Caitury.  October.  Ifi 


THE   "LANDESGEBICHT."  357 

elers  to  make  up  their  minds,  under  no  circumstances, 
to  be  ill  in  Vienna.  At  the  first  symptom  of  illness, 
fly.  If  you  remain,  while  your  case  will  be  thor- 
oughly understood  by  the  doctors  and  diagnosed  in 
the  most  scientific  and  brilliant  manner,  you  will 
probably  die  of  neglect. 

A  little  further  to  the  west,  and  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  Alserstrasse  from  the  General  Hospital,  is  the 
"  Landesgericht,"  where  are  the  House  of  Detention 
and  the  prison  for  persons  guilty  of  minor  offences ; 
also  the  cells  for  those  condemned  to  death.  The  en- 
trance is  guarded  by  soldiers  of  the  line,  with  bayonets 
affixed  to  their  muskets,  and,  instead  of  a  porter's 
lodge,  there  is  a  guard-house. 

On  entering,  one  finds  himself  in  a  long  corridor, 
well  lighted,  absolutely  clean,  silent  and  deserted.  It 
might  be  a  Chartreux  monastery,  so  profound  is  the 
stillness  that  reigns  everywhere;  only  from  time  to 
time  a  turnkey,  reconducting  one  of  the  prisoners  to 
his  cell,  closes  to  the  door  with  a  resound  ins:  clanar, 
while  the  heavy  key  grinds  remonstrantly  as  it  turns 
in  the  lock. 

The  administration  of  the  prison  is  in  the  hands 
of  a  guardian-in-chief  and  a  swarm  of  minor  officials, 
all  wearing  military  uniform.  From  six  in  the  morning 
until  seven  at  night  a  great  clock,  which  can  be  heard 
throughout  the  entire  building,  regulates  the  routine 
of  duties  of  the  inmates.  Immediately  upon  his  ar- 
rival each  newcomer  is  subjected  to  a  rigid  inspection, 


358  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

and  is  then  dressed  in  the  uniform  of  the  establish- 
ment, this  uniform  being  of  cloth  in  winter  and  of 
linen  in  summer.  The  very  poor  are  furnished  with 
shoes  and  underwear  as  well.  Their  toilets  completed, 
each  prisoner  receives  a  large  gray  woolen  blanket, 
which  is  to  serve  for  his  bedclothes,  and  half  a  loaf 
of  bread,  and  he  is  then  conducted  to  his  cell. 

One  of  the  keenest  anxieties  of  the  newcomer  is  to 
contrive  some  means  of  secreting  any  money  he  may 
happen  to  have  ;  for  with  money  to  spend,  an  inmate 
of  an  Austrian  prison  can  get  almost  anything  that 
he  wants.  The  inexperienced  therefore  resort  to  all 
manner  of  innocent  devices,  such  as  hiding  their 
capital  in  their  stockings  or  their  shoes,  or  in  the 
linings  of  their  hats,  where  the  inspector — who  is  of 
course  entirely  familiar  with  all  these  tricks — instantly 
pounces  upon  it.  The  money  is  then  con ii seated  and 
taken  to  the  office,  where  it  is  doled  out  to  the  owner 
at  the  rate  of  forty  kreutzers  a  week — the  most  that 
any  inmate  is  allowed  to  spend.  With  this  he  is  able 
to  purchase  from  time  to  time  a  little  wine,  or  a  few 
ounces  of  tobacco. 

Bv  the  old  hands  the  most  ingenious  methods  are 
originated  for  escaping  the  vigilance  of  the  inspectors. 
One  habitue  of  the  establishment,  who  had  apparently 
come  to  submit  to  his  terms  of  imprisonment  with 
the  most  complete  resignation,  always  arrived  with 
his  savings  disposed  in  some  new  and  clever  manner 
about  his  person.     As  the  prisoners  are  permitted  to 


PRISONERS'  DEVICES  TO  CONCEAL  MONEY,    359 

keep  their  own  caps,  shirts  and  shoes,  he  on  one  occa- 
sion had  a  cap  made  to  order,  with  a  visor  of  double 
leather,  between  the  two  layers  of  which  a  quite  con- 
siderable sum  in  paper  money  was  neatly  introduced. 
In  the  large  linen-covered  buttons  of  his  shirt  more 
paper  florins  were  concealed;  while  the  heels  of  his 
shoes  were  found  to  contain  not  money  only,  but  two 
small  files,  in  case  an  opportunity  to  escape  might 
present  itself.  The  heavily-starched  wristbands  of 
his  shirts  also  yielded  up  a  rich  harvest  of  paper 
money,  when  soaked  and  carefully  cut  apart. 

The  most  common  mode  of  concealment  is  to  hold 
the  money  in  the  mouth  ;  but  this,  as  well  as  the  plan 
of  fastening  it  to  the  soles  of  the  feet  with  sticking 
plaster,  is  too  old  a  story  to  succeed. 

Visitors  have  of  course  to  be  carefully  watched, 
notwithstanding  which  they  now  and  again  succeed  in 
handing  over  money  rolled  in  a  cigar,  or  hidden  in 
some  other  innocent-appearing  gift. 

An  inmate  once  hit  upon  a  most  outrageous  device 
for  outwitting  the  officials.  Every  week  this  loving 
husband  received  a  visit  from  his  wife.  The  instant 
the  pair  set  eyes  upon  one  another,  they  flew  into  each 
other's  arms;  while  the  jailer,  obliged  by  the  stern 
behests  of  duty  to  intrude  upon  their  privacy,  could 
hardly  view  the  scene  without  emotion.  At  last,  how- 
ever, it  was  discovered  that  the  devoted  wife,  in  the 
act  of  pressing  her  lips  to  those  of  her  husband, 
always  slid  into  his  mouth  a  five-florin   note,  which 


z:  :      asi  rm  vikmsesb 

~Le __         -  . -..:     i.:-_e     nil    '  .:t::1    _rr 

±Li  t._-  ."  in  in:  :  siz-E  -  ~  _n  : :  :_e~_:  :  :  " '  e_- 
n :  : : in  _  n .  -:  -  :  z  :  ; .  "  -:  >  i  -  :  ~  :.  rlnif  Each 
•_.-  __  :  :=  :  ■■. ".- ■.  —.:_  :  -::_::::—  :  yi::_fT 
of  water  and  a  wooden  spoon.  rs  and  tab!  s 

:    :i  .     :..-■'_:::  .-;     -..-     :    .:    :-         ;. •  ..   __      ;_::■     :::« 


en    '.-.    iir    en    1  ;      -   ::    :_. .  ._:.  ._   :.    :   _-: .  _:    -    "-.-:- 


~    - 


frequent  intercourse  among  themselves.     They  have 
a  complete  system  of  signals,  a  telegraph  code  that 

7  - 

sign::   -       1  goal 

H  -  _  - 

nx:   :;-   :.    :      .      '      -.-;-..:"  :   .:      1   ~  he 

:       -  1:   :    :i    _       -       I:    .      r~:\ :   :     i:  ?   :     :       ':'.. 

1.     .'    1.-.  In      -  \ ' .  :     :       : '  '.. .-   .  ■  .    mp]    es  has         . 

I  the  qc 
"Ha*  brought  bed  per- 

[hfe  ntil 

.■       -  _  -     -  - 

-  =  :c   :  _  - 

i-    T~ririi  :     :     "  -    _ 

:  :-.  - .  _  .-.-     :    .   :.  en     ::i     i    :..-.    n     -    ~  m  :  1  ;   ;  r:n- 


-  _tZ    - ■.  Ht:_  : -.  _   -  •  ir  ::  f  - 

St"  :~t  :~    :_Lt   n:       t    :    zzzz-  i.  ji:       __t~  :_t  :  ir~ - 
-".t"     :.:■■-«  :l  ".:...  -:-.-  :::——:.      _  „      rie:         :  ::  is 

L7jL~t     -     ..  -  ■.      .       -    .        !  -     .     -       rr'z         _Z 

:t:::  :  :::  i  —  :-.::_-.  .  rfpfiii.  :z-  :■:'!-:■'.  i:-::   : 
__._-:„-:     :  - .  _  .  .  -. .     .       ■  ■_  _;::_-}>. ■  -_-  z. 
responsible  dimes.      Frequently   subjected    to    tot 
zzzt-zz   ::t.::_:i:      -  :_ .-; :.    -      -.-;".   >    :.-.--   :::_z .:    t""t^ 
:."-__:  :„■■.■_:--..      -     i  :       '  :  .-   i  -. .  -    .  -  : ..-/ "  : :-  -:: 
:-.    "i ..-.-.   :.7"t:   iz   ;z;  — .  ;■  ::  :.->-    -.  .>-:    -..  .- 

il-i:      .      .         Es::.       =   : :_-.    •  ..«   ~     ~irj 

: i:    '.- 

1z.~.  :■_:-.::  :  ::  :.  :-.__  :•;-'.  .:.:.  _  "  :  ?  "-::-  :  ~:  / 
::.:■::.:;  :---.  >i  :::::-  zY.-  ::  r:  _  _ ;.  ---c  : ..-.;" 
=:  I  —  -z:  :"_t  :".  :_>  _  ~ z:  i  z'zzzj  ~ -r-E  ::—--"  ::  is 
comparatively  easy  to  recognize  to  what  class  of  society, 
and  to  what  rationality,  trade  or  occupation,  each  be- 
longs. Most  of  them  appear  to  be  restless  and  preoc- 
•:-i:  :-.-'.  :::  z-.~  _-  -::...:  _  :  z  _;■  zzz^  :z:  : 
-    :     t"^"-  :.— e.rzz  •-.     :    :■  ■ z -.:■.:...■- 

!•  •  ";  ::  -  -  -  :•-."  ■  - :-  :  :  -.  •  ;  •  z>  it-.  :•:  :t~- 
ing  on  a  most  animated  conversation.  The  tall  man 
who  is  holding  forth  so  glibly  is  a  certain  Weininger, 
who  obtained  an  international  cele  >  effiron- 

tery  and  success  in  exploiting  sham  antiquities.    I 
museum  in  Germany  had  dealings  with  him  at  one 
:.:_-.   ::  ..:.   ::.-.- r.      :.     z.     •  '■'.:■.    x.  '.".-."*■■     :  :. .•:  -     .-.-. 


362  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

of  Modena  with  twopenny  pistols  and  armor,  which  he 
passed  off  as  antiques.  From  his  factory,  which  was 
in  Vienna,  he  shipped  two  ^xteenth  century  altars  to 
a  London  dealer  for  the  modest  sum  of  thirty  thou- 
sand pounds,  producing  papers  to  show  that  they  had 
been  purchased  in  Rome  from  a  Jesuit  monastery  for 
two  hundred  thousand  francs.  This  enterprising  indi- 
vidual had  made  an  arrangement  with  a  Hungarian 
noble  by  which  the  latter,  in  return  for  the  payment 
of  all  his  debts,  agreed  to  furnish  patents  of  nobility 
for  all  this  contraband  antiquarian  stuff. 

Many  of  the  prisoners  are  employed  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  meerschaum  pipes,  shoes,  toys,  pasteboard 
boxes ;  or  in  carpenters'  and  joiners'  shops.  Those 
who  cannot  read  and  write  are  obliged  to  spend  a  part 
of  each  day  in  the  school-room,  so  that  on  the  expira- 
tion of  their  terms  they  may  have  laid  at  least  the 
foundations  of  an  education. 

The  women's  quarters  are  in  a  separate  wing  of  the 
building. 

"Do  you  see  that  respectable-looking  young  girl, 
with  an  odd  expression,  who  is  seated  near  one  of  the 
windows  embroidering?  "  asks  the  inspector.  u  Well, 
she  persists  in  trying  to  pass  herself  off  for  an  Ameri- 
can ;  we  know  perfectly  well  that  she  is  a  Viennese,  but 
she  refuses  absolutely  to  speak  a  single  word  in  Ger- 
man." 

In  another  apartment  a  young  woman,  beuding  over 
a  loom  for  knitting  stocking-,  is  pointed  out  as  "the 


THE   FALSE  COUNTESS   KINSKY.  363 

false  Countess  Kinsky."  This  spirited  young  person 
hit  upon  a  method  for  improving  her  fortunes,  which 
promised  not  only  material  gains,  but  the  most  divert- 
ing experiences.  She  contrived,  solely  by  correspond- 
ence, completely  to  turn  the  heads  and  inflame  the 
hearts  of  a  crowd  of  artists,  clerks  and  shopkeepers, 
giving  herself  out  to  be  the  young  Countess  Kinsky ; 
and  every  man  of  them  believed  that  she  really  wanted 
to  marry  him.  One  evening  she  appointed  a  rendez- 
vous at  the  opera  with  each  and  all  of  them.  It  was 
faithfully  kept,  and  each  ardent  lover  appeared  duly 
attired  in  correct  costume,  black  coat,  white  necktie, 
camelia  in  the  button-hole.  The  real  Countess  Kinsky, 
seated  decorously  beside  her  parents  in  a  box,  little 
dreamed  that  the  parterre  was  filled  with  her  adorers. 
This  was  in  fact  a  clever  and  entirely  successful  device 
for  exciting  on  their  parts  an  answering  feeling  to  the 
love  which  the  adventuress  had  herself  been  the  first 
to  declare.  After  this  the  interchange  of  letters  be- 
came more  and  more  frequent  until  at  last  she  an- 
nounced— to  each  one — that  her  parents  had  discovered 
her  secret,  and  faithful  to  the  aristocratic  prejudices  of 
their  ancient  race,  would  not  hear  of  such  a  marriage, 
but  were  making  arrangements  to  remove  her  from 
Vienna*  For  her  own  part,  she  was  determined  to  fol- 
low the  dictates  of  her  heart,  and  to  take  advantage  of 
the  confusion  of  departure  to  fly  with  her  lover,  if  she 
could  by  any  possible  means  raise  enough  money  to 
purchase  the  connivance  and  assistance  of  her  maid, 


364  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

the  man-servant,  the  coachman,  the  porter,  etc.,  etc. 
Naturally  each  individual  lover  at  once  furnished  gen- 
erous means  to  remove  all  obstacles,  but  just  as  the 
ingenious  young  woman  was  beginning  to  reap  the 
harvest  of  all  her  toil  and  inventiveness,  something 
aroused  the  suspicions  of  the  police,  and  now,  instead 
of  the  Countess  Kinsky  traveling  in  aristocratic  luxury 
in  foreign  lands,  she  was  just  plain  Marie  Lichtner, 
considerably  out  of  pocket  for  stationery  and  postage 
stamps,  and  required  to  weave  stockings  in  the  Alser- 
strasse  prison. 

Some  curious  customs  formerly  prevailed  in  the 
treatment  of  criminals  condemned  to  death.  When 
the  prisoner  had  confessed  his  guilt — without  which 
confession  the  death  sentence  could  not  be  pronounced 
— he  was  conducted  to  a  platform  erected  in  front  of 
the  Maison  de  Police,  in  the  Holier  Markt,  and  there 
exposed  for  ten  minutes  to  the  public  gaze,  while  his 
sentence  was  read  aloud  for  the  benefit  of  the  multi- 
tude whom  morbid  curiosity  had  drawn  to  the  Platz. 
On  the  following  day  still  larger  crowds  were  admitted 
to  a  sort  of  reception  held  by  the  condemned  man  in 
the  interior  of  the  building. 

Mrs.  Trollope  has  left  an  account  of  one  of  these 
scenes,  which  occurred  while  she  was  in  Vienna.  The 
prisoner  on  this  occasion  was  a  young  man  convicted 
of  the  murder  of  his  sister's  mistress,  an  old  woman, 
whom  the  girl  declared  had  ill  treated  her. 

"At  the  extremity  of  a  small  room  sat  the  criminal, 


THE  PEOPLE'S  KITCHENS  ASSOCIATION.     365 

with  his  confessor  beside  him,  and  before  a  table 
whereon  was  placed  a  crucifix  between  two  lighted 
candles.  The  priest  had  a  book  before  him,  from 
which  he  read  some  sentences  in  a  low  voice ;  while 
the  prisoner,  whose  limbs  were  perfectly  free,  smoked  a 
long  pipe,  which  a  man,  who  appeared  to  be  one  of  his 
jailers,  replenished  for  him  when  it  was  exhausted. 
.  .  .  The  prisoner  seemed  to  take  little  heed  of  the 
scene  before  him,  excepting  that  as  every  newcomer 
threw  a  piece  of  money  to  him,  upon  a  napkin  spread 
behind  the  crucifix  on  purpose  to  receive  it,  he  slightly 
bent  his  head  to  each. 

"The  money  thus  collected  is  entirely  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  prisoner.  If  he  be  a  pious  Catholic,  he 
will  dispose  of  it  in  masses  to  be  performed  for  the 
repose  of  his  soul ;  but  he  is  permitted,  if  such  be  his 
wish,  to  expend  it  in  eating  and  drinking  whatever  he 
may  choose  to  command,  during  the  last  day  and  night 
of  his  existence,  or  he  may  bestow  it  on  any  surviving 
friend." 

Just  thirty  years  ago  there  was  inaugurated  in 
Vienna  what  has  proved  to  be  a  most  successful  bene- 
ficial enterprise,  the  People's  Kitchens  Association. 

Dr.  Josef  Kiihn,  a  resident  of  Vienna,  who  took  a 
deep  and  intelligent  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the 
working  people,  had,  after  careful  investigation,  satis- 
fied himself  of  two  things.  First,  that  large  numbers 
of  the  working  classes  were  habitually  underfed,  and 
second,  that  this  was  mainly  due  to  the  outrageous 


366  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

profits  made  by  the  keepers  of  cheap  restaurants. 
The  dwellings  of  the  very  poor  in  Vienna  are  so  ill 
provided  with  cooking  arrangements,  that  many  peo- 
ple are  forced  to  go  outside  for  their  meals ;  yet,  so 
low  was  the  scale  of  wages  at  that  time — married 
men  being  frequently  unable  to  earn  more  than  two 
dollars  a  week — that  many  laborers  could  not  afford 
to  spend  so  much  as  fourteen  cents  on  a  single  meal, 
that  being  nevertheless  the  smallest  sum  for  which  a 
dinner  could  be  had. 

It  was  Dr.  Kiihn's  conviction  that  good  and  suffi- 
cient food  could  be  furnished  for  less  than  half  this 
amount,  and  that  an  association  which  should  under- 
take to  do  this  could  be  made  at  least  to  pay  its  way. 
He  accordingly  enlisted  the  interest  of  some  of  his 
friends,  and  in  1872  the  first  "  People's  Kitchen" 
was  opened  on  the  Hechtengasse. 

At  first  dinners  only  were  served,  consisting  of 
beef  or  mutton  and  vegetables  and  costing  six  cents. 
Then  the  menu  was  extended,  and  when  the  scheme 
had  been  thoroughly  tried  and  found  to  be  not  only 
enormously  beneficial,  but,  after  the  initial  expense, 
self-supporting,  breakfasts  and  suppers  were  added. 

Associations  were  formed  in  other  parts  of  Vienna, 
and  in  the  course  of  twenty  years  no  fewer  than  thir- 
teen kitchens  had  been  established,  all  self-supporting 
and  all  doing  a  rushing  business.  Two  thousand  four 
hundred  people  are  sometimes  served  in  one  kitchen 
in  the  course  of  a  single  day.     The  Jews  have  one,  in 


APPEARANCE   OF   A   KITCHEN.  367 

which  the  food  is  dressed  and  prepared  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  the  Mosaic  law. 

The  writer  from  whose  interesting  article1  these 
facts  have  been  taken,  gives  tbe  following  description 
of  the  appearance  of  a  Kitchen,  and  the  routine  of 
work  for  each  day  : 

"  There  is  no  more  interesting  place  in  all  Vienna 
than  a  People's  Kitchen.  The  most  important  is  the 
one  in  the  Hechtengasse,  only  a  few  hundred  yards 
away  from  the  house  in  which  the  first  association 
bemin  its  work,  twentv-two  years  a<ro.  It  is  held  in 
a  fine,  handsome  building,  which  was  erected  in  com- 
memoration of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the  Em- 
peror's accession,  the  money  for  it  being  raised  by  the 
late  Princess  Auersperg.  The  Kitchen  itself  consists 
of  two  very  large,  lofty  rooms — one  on  the  right  of 
the  hall,  the  other  on  the  left.  In  each  of  them  are 
a  number  of  long  tables,  covered  with  American 
cloth,  and  having  benches  on  either  side.  The  room 
to  the  right  is  the  principal  dining-hall.  The  upper 
part  of  the  one  to  the  left  is  cut  off  from  the  rest  by 
a  counter,  beyond  which  the  public  are  not  allowed 
to  pass.  Here  is  the  huge  fireplace,  at  which  the  food 
is  cooked  and  kept  hot  until  the  time  comes  for  serving 
it.  A  marked  feature  of  the  Kitchen  is  its  scrupu- 
lous cleanliness.  Although  many  hundred  persons 
pass  through  it  every  day,  the  air  is  always  fresh  and 

1  People's  Kitchens  in    Vienna.     Edith  Sellers.     Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, 1S94. 


368  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

pare,  and  there  is  never  a  sign  of  dust  or  untidiness. 
The  white  china  plates  and  dishes  are  spotless,  the 
knives  and  forks  are  brightly  polished,  whilst,  as  for 
the  glasses,  they  literally  sparkle. 

"Attached  to  the  Kitchen  are  fourteen  paid  servants 
— a  matron,  two  assistant  matrons,  a  cook,  an  assist- 
ant cook,  two  kitchen  maids,  two  scullery  maids,  a 
washer-up,  a  general  helper,  two  men  waiters  and  a 
cashier.  They  are  all  hard  at  work  by  half-past  five 
in  the  morning,  for  by  six  o'clock  they  must  have 
breakfast  ready  for  the  men  who  call  on  their  way  to 
the  factories.  Breakfast  is  a  very  simple  meal — soup, 
tea  and  bread  being  the  only  things  provided. 

"  A  portion  of  soap  or  often  costs  three  kreazers  [a 
kreuzer  is  equal  to  something  less  than  half  a  cent]; 
a  white  roll,  two  kreuzers,  and  a  slice  of  brown  bread 
one  kreuzer.  For  eight  kreuzers,  therefore,  a  good 
breakfast  can  be  had,  and,  as  most  of  the  men  are  con- 
tent with  soup  and  brown  bread,  they  pay  only  four 
kreuzers  for  their  meal. 

"After  eight  o'clock  no  breakfasts  are  served,  for 
then  preparations  for  dinner  begin.  The  cook  and  her 
assistants,  since  six  o'clock,  have  been  chopping  and 
paring,  and  stewing  and  boiling  ;  for  a  meal  for  two 
thousand  persons  or  more  is  not  to  be  prepared  in  a 
hurry.  When  the  cooking  is  done,  the  dividing  out 
begins.  This  is  the  work  of  the  matron,  and  most 
tiresome  work  it  is  ;  for,  as  the  association  makes  it  a 
point  of   honor  that  every  portion  shall  be   exactly 


LOW   PEICE  OF  FOOD   IN  THE  KITCHENS.     369 

equal  in  size  and  quality,  each  one  of  them  has  to  be 
weighed. 

"  The  first  guests  to  arrive  are  always  the  school 
children ;  for,  as  they  are  received  on  special  terms 
and  have  a  menu  of  their  owd,  they  are  admitted  only 
from  eleven  until  a  quarter  to  twelve.   .   .  . 

"  The  menu  for  the  day  is  written  on  a  huge  slate, 
which  hangs  near  the  door.  That  menu  is  a  curi- 
osity ;  it  is  never  twice  the  same  in  one  week,  and 
the  variety  of  dishes  it  includes  in  the  course  of  a 
year  is  simply  marvelous,  considering  the  prices 
charged  for  the  dinners.  .  .  .  As  everything  is  sold 
a  la  carte,  no  one  need  spend  more  than  he  chooses  on 
his  meal.  The  average  cost  of  a  dinner  is  eighteen 
kreuzers,  though  the  prices  range  from  twenty-five 
kreuzers  to  six.  .  .  .  The  remarkably  low  price  at 
which  food  is  sold  in  the  People's  Kitchens  must  be 
ascribed  in  some  measure  to  the  gigantic  scale  on 
which  the  undertaking  is  conducted.  The  associations 
require  such  vast  quantities  of  provisions,  that  they 
are  able  to  open  out  new  markets  for  themselves,  in 
places  where  the  supply  is  great  and  the  demand 
small.  Vegetables  and  dairy  produce,  for  instance, 
are  transported  by  the  wagon- load  from  remote 
country  districts,  where  they  are  bought  at  considera- 
bly under  the  wholesale  market  prices." 

Dr.  Kiihn's  interest  and  activity  grew  and  increased 
with  the  growth  of  his  enterprise.  As  the  Kitchens 
of  the  first  association  multiplied,  he  gave  to  each  the 
24 


370  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

same  careful  personal  supervision  that  had  insured  the 
success  of  the  first  one.  The  service,  the  quality  of 
the  food,  the  tastes  of  his  patrons — no  detail  was  too 
insignificant  for  his  careful  attention.  He  likewise 
inaugurated  an  arrangement  by  which  supplies  can 
be  furnished  from  his  Kitchens  for  soldiers  stationed 
near  Vienna  in  time  of  war ;  and  at  periods  of  un- 
usual distress  among  the  working  people,  the  associa- 
tion undertakes  to  furnish  special  meals,  on  short 
notice,  for  the  unemployed. 

Another  institution  that  has  proved  of  the  greatest 
benefit  to  the  Viennese  poor  is  the  Imperial  Pawn 
Office,  an  outgrowth  of  an  enterprise  started  in  the 
besnunino;  of  the  eighteenth  centurv  to  relieve  the 
working  classes  at  a  time  of  great  distress. 

The  Poor  Law  Department  of  that  day,  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  I.,  opened  a  pawn- 
shop, where  money  was  loaned  in  large  proportion  to 
the  value  of  the  articles  pledged,  and  a  very  trifling 
interest  required.  Later  the  pawn-shop  came  under 
the  direct  management  of  the  Imperial  Government. 
It  grew  into  an  exceedingly  flourishing  institution — 
so  much  so  that  its  large  profits  became  a  snare,  and 
in  the  time  of  Joseph  II.  a  thorough  reorganization 
and  reform  in  its  methods  was  necessary.  It  was 
then  that  the  large  convent — made  vacant  by  the 
Emperor's  act  of  suppression — on  the  Dorotheergasse 
was  bought,  which  has  ever  since  remained  the  chief 
office  of  the  association.      The  low  rate   of  interest 


OLD  AGE  HOMES  IN   VIENNA.  371 

demanded  makes  it  impossible  for  any  profits  to  be 
realized  on  the  small  sums  loaned  to  the  very  poor. 
It  is  from  members  of  the  well-to-do  classes,  whom 
extravagance,  illness  or  misfortune  have  driven  to 
apply  for  temporary  help  to  the  Imperial  pawn-shops, 
and  who  deposit  articles  of  real  value  and  obtain  con- 
siderable sums  on  them,  that  the  income  is  derived. 
If  after  ten  months  an  article  has  been  neither  re- 
deemed nor  re-pledged,  it  is  sold  at  auction.  If  it 
brings  more  than  the  amount  for  which  it  was  pledged, 
the  difference  is  returned  to  the  owner. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  the  philanthropical 
establishments  of  Vienna,  a  few  words  must  be  said 
of  its  Old  Age  Homes — institutions  which,  in  their 
organization  and  workings,  present  very  different  fea- 
tures from  the  poor-houses  and  similar  institutions  of 
other  countries. 

These  Old  Age  Homes  have  existed,  in  some  form 
or  another,  for  upwards  of  six  hundred  years.  In  the 
time  of  that  indefatigable  reformer,  the  Emperor 
Joseph  II.,  the  right  of  aged  and  destitute  persons  to 
receive  support  from  the  State  was  clearly  laid  down, 
and  has  ever  since  been  recognized. 

At  the  present  day  these  Homes  are  so  managed  as 
to  offer  a  cheerful  and  comfortable  refuge  for  old 
people  who  are  no  longer  able  to  work  for  a  living, 
and  who  have  no  near  relatives  upon  whom  their  sup- 
port should  properly  devolve. 

Each  inmate  receives  the  sum  of  about  ten  cents  per 


372  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

day  with  which  to  pay  for  his  meals,  and  he  can  fre- 
quent any  restaurant  in  Vienna  that  he  prefers,  or 
patronize  the  one  on  the  premises,  which  is  run  by  a 
professional  caterer,  under  the  supervision  of  a  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  Poor  Law  Department.  This 
restaurant  is  apparently  managed  with  the  same  mar- 
velous thrift  as  the  People's  Kitchens,  for  a  study  of 
the  menu  develops  the  fact  that  the  old  people  are 
able  to  buy  good  and  sufficient  food  for  this  extremely 
modest  sum,  and  even  to  indulge  occasionally  in  a 
glass  of  the  red  or  white  wines,  or  beer,  that  figure  in 
the  bills  of  fare.  Naturally  the  mere  fact  of  being 
able  to  order  their  meals  and  pay  f«:»r  them  themselves 
tends  greatly  to  increase  the  contentment,  happiness 
and  self-res  t  >f  the  inmates:  and,  as  a  fact,  to 
reside  in  an  Old  Age  Home  in  Vienna  does  not  cast 
any  reflection  upon  one's  respectability  or  social  stand- 
in  r.  The  laboring  class — everywhere  the  most  con- 
ventional  class  oi  people — regard  these  Homes  in  the 
light  of  well-earned  haven-  for  people  who,  having- 
worked  hard  and  lived  decently  all  their  lives,  are 
now  able  to  do  so  no  more.  The  spirit  nf  independ- 
ence and  self-respect  is  further  srimulated  by  the 
absence  oi  uniforms  and  by  the  almost  entire  freedom 
allowed  to  the  inmates  in  the  disposal  of  their  time. 
1  ■•  Practically  the  inmates  may  do  just  as  they  like, 
so  long  as  they  conduct  themselves  in  an  orderly  fash- 
ion and  do  not  quarrel.  "When  once  they  have  made 
I  :    I      Hi  AuM  ..       Edith  9eUenk 


LIBERTY  OF  INMATES  IN  OLD  AGE  HOMES.    373 

their  rooms  neat,  they  may  lounge  about  in  the  sun- 
shine, or  by  the  stove,  the  whole  day  long,  if  they 
choose.  After  dinner  [served  between  eleven  and 
two]  they  may  all  go  to  bed  for  an  hour,  and  this 
many  of  them  do.  In  each  Home  there  is  a  chapel  in 
which  Mass  is  celebrated  every  day ;  but  the  old 
people  are  perfectly  free  to  go  there  or  not,  just  as  the 
fancy  takes  them.  If  they  care  to  do  so,  they  may 
leave  the  Home  every  day  at  one  o'clock,  and  need 
not  return  until  eight  in  the  evening.  Then  they 
have  the  right  to  spend  one  whole  day  with  their 
friends  every  week  j  and  if  they  wish  to  spend  two, 
the  director  rarely  or  never  refuses  them  the  permis- 
sion. Once  a  year,  too,  they  may  go  away  for  a 
whole  month,  provided  that  they  have  anywhere  to 
go.  Some  of  them  pay  quite  a  string  of  visits  during 
the  summer,  and  return  to  the  Home  all  the  better 
and  the  more  contented  for  the  change.  These  privi- 
leges, however,  are  strictly  conditional  on  good  be- 
havior. Should  any  of  the  pensioners  show  a  dispo- 
sition to  abuse  their  liberty,  it  is  at  once  curtailed." 


CHAPTER   XX. 

Schonbrunn — Its  Origin — Fischer  von  Erlach's  Plans — Maria  The- 
resa's Alterations  —  The  Gloriette  —  Napoleon  at  Schonbrunn — 
Reviews  in  the  Great  Court — The  Emperor's  Attention  to  Detail 
— Attempt  to  Assassinate  Napoleon  —  Marriage  of  Marie 
Louise  —  Her  Conduct  after  Napoleon's  Abdication  —  Attitude 
of  her  Father — Her  Return  to  Vienna— Life  at  Schonbrunn — 
Madame  de  Montesquieu  and  the  Little  King  of  Rome— Count 
Neipperg —  Queen  Caroline  of  Naples  —  Her  Advice  to  her 
Grand-daughter — The  Congress  of  Vienna — Visit  of  the  Comte 
de  la  Garde  to  Schonbrunn — His  Description  of  the  King  of 

Rome— Isabey's    Portrait— Marie    Louise   and    the   Cong     

Her  Presence  at  One  of  the  Fetes— Feeling  of  the  Public 
with  Regard  to  her  Marriage— She  Hears  of  Napoleon's  Escape 
—Appeals  to  the  Allies— Goes  to  Parma  with  Count  Neipperg— 
"L'Aigle  and  PAiglon  "  —  Death  of  Napoleon  — Death  of  the 
Duke  of  Reichstadt— Death  of  Ccuut  Neipperg— Marie  Louise 
Marries  Charles  de  Bombelles— Tragic  Death  of  a  Young  Arch- 
duchess at  Schonbrunn — Marriage  of  Crown  Prince  Rudolph — 
Forebodings  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth— The  Mystery  of  Meyer- 
ling — Tragedies  in  the  Imperial  Family— Assassination  ot'  the 
Empress  — The  Rule  of  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  — The 
Future  of  Austria. 

The  Imperial  chateau  of  Schonbrunn,  with  its 
elaborate  park  and  gardens,  occupies  a  site  to  the 
southwest  of  Vienna,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  \Vien. 

Schonbrunn  is  almost  as  rich  in  historical  associa- 
tions as  the  Hofburg  itself.     It  began  as  a  hunting- 

37-4 


— ..:     :    : ...:    -     :>'         j    :     nere-h,    Maximilian    II. 

:  Nr-1571  ^vhose  chief  pleasures  in  life  are  said  to 
have  been  the  chase  and  Hungarian  wine.  In  1696 
Leopold  I.  employed  Fischer  von  Erlaeh  to  prepare 
plans  for  a  great  chateau  to  replace  the  modest  hunting- 
IxL*--?.     These    j-:.h;    Le-"    ..1'  =    sin.  Jiser-b.  I..   "":.? 

gaged  in  «Lrrying  out  on  an  elaborate  scale  when  his 
death  occurred  in  1 71 1 .  About  forty  years  later  Maria 
Theresa  altere  ~  .icture  inl  :  ailding  of  to- 

day. 

The  Empress  was  particularly  fond  of  the  pavilion 
called  the  Gloriette,  which  stands  in  the  centre  of  the 
grout  Is.  AX  :he  close  of  her  life,  when  her  unwieldy 
bulk  and  weak  ankles  made  it  impossible  for  her  to 
walk  up  and  down  stairs,  she  had  a  sort  of  elevator 
arranged  in  the  Gloriette,  by  means  of  which  she  could 
be  hoisted  to  the  upper  balcony,  from  thence  to  enjoy 
the  charming  view  which  stretched  across  the  park  and 
Vienna  in  the  distance. 

-  first  valet  de  chambre,  g: 
description  in  his  Jfemoirs  of  the  chateau  and  grounds 
as  they  appeared  at  the  time  of  the  Emperor  s  second 
occupation  of  Vienna  (1809),  when?  as  on  the  former 

aon  in  1805,  he  established  his  headquar: 
^  ..  'z.\ ;.:.-. 

r  describing  its  situation,  and  the  bridge  across 
the  Wien,  he  tells  of  the  great  cour*.  si  enough  to 

permit  the  manoeuvring  of  seven  or  eight   thousand 
men/'  where  the  Emperor  daily  reviewed  the  troops. 


376  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

At  six  in  the  morning  the  drums  beat  the  reveille" ; 
some  hours  later  the  troops  assembled  in  the  court,  and 
on  the  stroke  of  ten  the  Emperor  could  be  seen  de- 
scending the  steps. 

Constant  says  that  in  these  reviews  no  detail  was  so 
small  as  to  be  beneath  the  Emperor's  notice.  He  ex- 
amined the  contents  of  this  one's  knapsack,  inspected 
that  one's  account  book.  "  Halt ! "  he  cried  one  day,  as 
a  long  line  of  wagons  was  seen  filing  slowly  by.  Then, 
indicating  one  of  them,  he  turned  quickly  to  the  officer 
in  charge  and  asked  what  was  in  it.  The  officer,  hav- 
ing replied  in  detail,  Xapoleon  had  the  wagon  emptied, 
its  contents  noted,  and  then,  to  make  sure  that  by  acci- 
dent or  intention  nothing  had  been  left  behind,  he 
climbed  up  and  himself  examined  the  inside.  Every- 
thing was  found  to  correspond  exactly  with  the  report, 
and  the  soldiers,  hugely  delighted,  murmured  among 
themselves,  "  Bravo  !  That  is  the  way  to  do.  That 
is  the  way  not  to  be  deceived." 

The  Viennese  used  to  stream  out  in  crowds  to  wit- 
ness these  reviews,  attracted  partly  by  a  natural  curi- 
osity to  behold  what  manner  of  man  it  was  who  had 
conquered  Europe,  and  partly  by  the  novelty  of  his 
methods. 

One  morning  in  October  Xapoleon  had  arrived  on 
horseback,  and,  after  dismounting,  was  crossing  the 
court  with  some  of  his  officers,  when  a  young  man 
pushed  through  the  crowd  and  asked  to  speak  to  the 
Emperor.     As  he  could  not  give  any  clear  account  o{ 


ATTEMPT  TO   ASSASSINATE  NAPOLEOX.     377 

himself,  he  was  refused  and  conducted  back  into  the 
crowd.  A  few  minutes  later  he  made  another  attempt 
to  reach  the  Emperor's  side,  but  was  prevented;  there 
was  a  slight  scuffle,  during  which  a  large  knife  fell  out 
of  his  pocket.  He  was,  of  course,  at  once  arrested 
and  interrogated.  He  proved  to  be  the  son  of  a  min- 
ister of  Nauinburg,  who  had  come  to  Vienna  with  the 
express  intention  of  assassinating  the  Emperor.  Napo- 
leon had  an  interview  with  him  later  in  the  day,  and 
seems  to  have  been  somewhat  astonished  at  the  frank- 
ness with  which  the  youth  told  him  of  his  intentions 
and  his  reasons.  "  I  wanted  to  kill  you,"  he  remarked, 
calmlv,  "  because  you  are  the  oppressor  of  Germany." 
"  Suppose  I  were  to  pardon  you  ?  "  said  the  Emperor. 
"You  would  make  a  mistake.  I  would  try  again." 
"He  is  mad,"  said  the  Emperor,  "he  is  decidedly  mad," 
and  he  tried  to  make  that  an  excuse  for  pardoning 
him.  But  as  no  one  else  thought  so,  and  the  youth 
gave  every  evidence  of  possessing  a  remarkably  clear 
head,  the  Emperor  at  last  handed  him  over  for  exami- 
nation by  a  military  commission,  who  promptly  con- 
demned him.  Four  days  later  he  was  executed,  the 
Emperor,  who  appears  to  have  been  fascinated  by  his 
fearlessness,  postponing  the  carrying  out  of  the  sen- 
tence till  the  last  possible  moment,  in  the  hope  that  he 
might  express  repentance,  on  which  condition  he  was 
to  be  pardoned. 

It  has  been  said  that  this  attempt  on  his  life  in- 
creased Xapoleon's  impatient  desire  for  an  heir;  at  all 


378  VIENNA  AND   THE   VIENNESE 

events,  it  was  immediately  after  his  return  to  France 
thai  the  negotiations  for  his  marriage  with  the  Areh- 

ss  Marie  Louise  were  opened. 

This  onion,  which  N  i    certainly  did  all  that 

lay  in  his  power  to  render  a  happy  one.  had  endured 

just  four  years  when,  on  the  26th  of  January,  1814, 

the  Emperor  parted  from  his  wire  and  son  for  the  last 

and  set  forth  to  attack  Blucher  at  Brienne.  The 
campaign  closed  with  the  occupation  of  Paris  by  the 
Allies  and  Napoleon's  abdicat: 

Marie  L  ise  i  w  fraud  herself  in  a  most  distress- 
ing situation.  Only  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and 
with  no  force  of  character,  the  necessity  for  coming  to 
some  decision  in  this  crisis  rilled  her  with  dismay, 
mplains  bitterly  that  no  one  will  tell  her  what 
to  do.  Napoleon  inleed  did  not  care  to  have  her 
share  his  exile,  unless  she  did  so  voluntarily,  saying 
that  he  pi  s  litude  to  the  sight  of  melancholy. 

At  last  her  father,  who,  now  that  the   necessity  for 
g  Napoleon   no   1  ngei    existed,   had   fully 
take   his  daughter'  ...in.  visited 

:  Rambouillet.  and  advised  her  :    Vienna 

.  making  any  fin:/,  lecision.      .  _    -.  early 

in  May,  1814,  Marie  L    rise,    Tith  the  little  Kii  _ 

-.  and  an  imposing  train  of  attendants  and  basr- 
g  g  -      _  ns.  arrived  at  Schdnbrunn,  which  had  been 

ready  to  receive  her.  Here,  surrounded  by  the 
affecti  -  licitude  of  her  relatives,  the  ex-Empress 

settled  down  contentedly  enough. 


mai.:z  :.:;^-..3:  :z;  :   ;  379 

r_:Z„:  ;.:;:_::.-  z  1 1  ::  ...:._.  '"_ 
:Lr—  ii:  l  :  ■_..:  :  ".:  :l  lurriizr  ~r':zz.  Siv- ;l~;-z\. 
now  exerted  every  means  to  estrange  her  from  him. 
Madame  de  Montesquieu,  the  little  Prince's  governess, 
on  the  contrary,  constantly  alluded  to  Kapoleon  in 
conversation,  and  saw  to  it  that  his  memory  was 
k  :  :  .-..  .  .  z  z  :-  .  \z  i'z-  z.z  .  :  :.. . 
whom  she  required  to  pray  for  his  iather  night  and 
el ::_:l_, 

I ■■.::„_  :„  -  ~z^z  11:..  L  v.:--?  zl:..-.  :..  ~.  : 
Aix  for  the  baths,  and  then  traveled  through  Switzer- 
land. She  was  accompanied  on  this  journey  by  Count 
Xeipperg,  a  clever  and  unscrupulous  man  of  the 
world,  whom  Metternich  had  placed  near  her,  with 
orders  to  acquire  a  complete  influence  over  her,  and 
to  finish  the  work  of  alienation  from  her  husband. 

There  was  one  person,  however,  who,  far  from 
joining  in  this  family  conspiracy,  pointed  out  the 
path  of  dutv  to  Marie  Louise  in  no  uncertain  voice. 
This  was  her  maternal  grandmother,1  who,  although 
she  had  small  reason  to  like  Xapoleon,  seeing  that 
he  had  deprived  her  of  her  kingdom,  held  very  clear 

is  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  marriage  vow.     Bh 
told   the  wavering,  comfort-loving  ex-Empress  that 
when  a  woman  marries  it  is  for  life,  and  if  she  could 
not  reach  her  husband's  side  by  any  other  nieai> 

»The  Emperor  Francis,  though  married  four  times,  left  children 


380  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

had  better  make  a  rope  of  her  bedclothes  some  night 
and  drop  out  of  the  window. 

In  November  the  great  Congress  of  Vienna  opened, 
and  Marie  Louise  found  it  very  hard  to  be  obliged  to 
live  in  retirement  at  Schonbrunn  when  all  these  gay 
doings  were  afoot.  Many  of  the  distinguished  visit- 
ors waited  upon  her,  however,  curious  to  see  the  wife 
and  child  of  the  man  whose  confinement  alone  pro- 
cured them  any  sense  of  security. 

The  Comte  de  la  Garde1  gives  an  account  of  his 
visit  to  Schonbrunn,  made  in  company  with  the  Prince 
de  Ligne : 

"As  wTe  passed  through  the  courtyards,  which  are 
exceedingly  spacious,  the  Prince  pointed  out  to  me 
the  spot  where  a  young  political  fanatic  attempted  to 
assassinate  Napoleon,  about  the  time  of  the  battle  of 
Wagram.  .  .  .  We  proceeded  to  the  apartments  of 
Madame  de  Montesquieu,  who  received  us  with  the 
most  lady-like  politeness.  As  soon  as  we  entered  the 
young  Prince  jumped  from  the  chair  in  which  he  was 
sitting,  and  ran  to  embrace  the  Prince  de  Ligne.  He 
was  certainly  the  loveliest  child  imaginable.  His 
brilliant  complexion,  his  bright,  intelligent  eyes,  his 
beautiful  fair  hair,  falling  in  lar^e  curls  over  his 
shoulders,  all  rendered  him  an  admirable  subject  for 
the  elegant  pencil  of  Isabey.  .  .  .  AVe  stepped  up  to 
Isabey,  who  had  nearly  finished  the  portrait.  The 
likeness   was  striking,  and  the  picture  possessed  all 

1  See  p.  260. 


MARIE  LOUISE  AXD  THE  CONGRESS.        381 

the  grace  which  characterized  the  works  of  that  dis- 
tinguished artist.  It  was  this  same  miniature  which 
Isabey  presented  to  Xapoleon  on  his  return  from  Elba 
in  1815."  x 

Another  day,  when  going  for  a  walk  on  the  ram- 
parts, the  Comte  de  la  Garde  was  attracted  by  a 
crowd,  which  he  found  on  inquiry  had  assembled  to 
watch  for  Marie  Louise,  who  was  calling  upon  the 
Empress  of  Russia.  He  comments  upon  the  com- 
mendable feeling  of  reserve  which,  in  the  "  peculiar 
delicacy  of  her  situation,"  prevented  her  from  taking 
part  in  any  of  the  festivities  by  which  the  potentates 
were  celebrating  the  downfall  of  her  husband.  As  a 
fact,  however,  the  ex-Empress  would  dearly  have 
loved  to  enter  into  all  the  gaieties.  Reserve  or  deli- 
cacy of  feeling  were  so  foreign  to  her  shallow  nature 
that,  prevented  by  a  bare  sense  of  decency  from 
participating  openly,  she  on  one  occasion  posted  her- 
self in  a  screened  gallery  in  the  Hof  burg,  from  whence 
she  could  observe  one  of  the  grand  fetes  given  to  the 
Congress.  The  hall  was  the  same  in  which  the  mag- 
nificent ceremony  of  her  betrothal  had  taken  place  a 
few  short  years  before,  while  among  the  guests  she 
could  distinguish  Eugene  de  Beauharnais,  Josephine's 
son. 

No  one  seemed  to  discover  any  impropriety  in  her 
behavior,  and  indeed  the  Comte  de  la  Garde,  on  the 
occasion  alluded  to  above,  heard  some  of  the  crowd 

1  Memoirs  of  the  Comte  de  la  Garde. 


382  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

murmur  disapproving  remarks  about  the  Imperial 
arms  of  France,  which  still  appeared  on  the  carriage 
and  the  liveries  of  the  ex-Empress ;  and  he  notes  that 
from  that  day  the  arms  and  livery  were  changed. 

The  universal  feeling  appears  to  have  been  that 
her  marriage  was  a  sort  of  political  alliance,  consum- 
mated wholly  for  the  good  of  the  State,  and  of  no 
force  whatever  when  its  usefulness  was  done. 

To  no  one  indeed  does  the  news  of  Xapoleon's  escape, 
in  the  following  March,  appear  to  have  brought  greater 
dismay  than  to  his  wife.  She  instantly  sat  down  and 
wrote  to  the  Congress,  assuring  them  that  she  knew 
nothing  of  it,  and  that  she  confided  herself  and  her 
son  wholly  to  the  protection  of  the  Allies ;  then,  hardly 
has  the  letter  gone  when  she  is  quite  distracted  at 
the  thought  that,  after  all,  she  may  have  ranged  her- 
self on  the  losing  side.  Napoleon  at  large,  with  all 
France  rising  to  acclaim  him,  might  yet  hold  the  best 
cards.  Fortune  favored  her,  however,  and  the  sym- 
pathetic Viennese  gave  her  a  beautiful  serenade  at 
Schonbrunn  to  celebrate  her  husband's  final  overthrow 
at  Waterloo.  Her  future  had  been  provided  for  by 
the  Congress,  which  gave  to  her  the  Duchies  of  Parma, 
Plaisance  and  Guastella  for  life,  on  the  trifling  condi- 
tion that  she  should  leave  her  son  at  Vienna.  Accord- 
ingly, accompanied  by  Count  Xeipperg,  with  whom 
she  later  contracted  a  morganatic  marriage,  she  de- 
parted very  contentedly  for  Parma. 

It  was  now  but  little  more  than  a  year  since  Napo- 


DEATHS  OF  NAPOLEON  AND  HIS  SON.      383 

leon  bad  written  to  his  brother  Joseph  that  he  had 
rather  have  his  son's  throat  cut  than  that  he  should 
be  brought  up  at  Vienna  as  an  Austrian  Prince,  add- 
ing that  he  had  so  high  an  opinion  of  the  Empress 
as  to  feel  sure  that  she  shared  these  views,  "  as  far  as 
a  woman  and  a  mother  can."  But  just  what  he  most 
feared  and  dreaded  had  already  come  to  pass. 

"  Oui,  l'aigle  un  soir  planait  aux  voutes  eternelles, 
Lorsq'un  graud  coup  de  vent  lui  cassa  les  deux  ailes; 
Sa  chute  fit  dans  1'air  un  foudroyant  sillon ; 
Tous  alors  sur  son  nid  fondirent  pleins  de  joie  ; 
Chacun  selon  ses  dents  se  partagea  la  proie  ; 
L'Angleterre  prit  l'aigle,  et  l'Autriche  l'aiglon!"1 

After  six  years  of  confinement  on  the  island  of  St. 
Helena,  Napoleon  died  there  of  cancer  May  5,  1821  ; 
while  the  Duke  of  Reichstadt  did  not  survive  his 
twenty-second  year,  dying  on  the  22d  of  Jul v,  1832, 
at  Schonbrunn,  in  the  same  room  that  his  father  had 
occupied  in  1809. 

As  for  Marie  Louise,  she  lived  happily  with  Count 
Xeipperg  until  his  death,  in  1829,  and  shortly  after 
this  event  she  married  her  father's  chamberlain, 
Charles-Rene  de  Bombelles,  a  member  of  a  French 
family  which  had  been  conspicuous  for  its  devotion  to 
the  House  of  Bourbon  and  its  detestation  of  Xapo- 
leon. 

It  was  at  Schonbrunn  that  one  of  the  many  trage- 
dies, which  during  the  nineteenth  century  have  shad- 
1 "  Napoleon  II.,"  in  Les  Chants  du  Crepuscule.     Victor  Hugo. 


384  VIENNA  AND  THE   VIENNESE. 

owed  the  Imperial  House  of  Austria,  occurred  in  the 
death  of  the  adored  daughter  of  the  Archduke  Albert, 
uncle  to  the  present  Emperor.  There  had  been  some 
indications  that  the  young  Archduchess's  lungs  were 
weak,  and  she  had  therefore  been  forbidden  to  smoke 
cigarettes,  an  indulgence  to  which  she  was  much  ad- 
dicted. One  eveniug,  however,  she  disobeyed  orders, 
and  was  leaning  out  of  her  window,  in  a  light  dinner 
dress,  enjoying  the  stolen  treat,  when  the  sudden 
appearauce  of  her  father  in  the  garden  below  caused 
her  to  hide  the  still  lighted  cigarette  behind  her.  In 
a  moment  her  dress  had  caught  fire,  and  before  aid 
could  arrive  she  was  fatally  burned.  A  few  days 
later  she  died,  after  horrible  suffering. 

Of  all  the  magnificent  fetes  which  Vienna  has  wit- 
nessed, none  probably  have  outshone  in  splendor  that 
which  celebrated  the  unhappy  marriage  of  the  late 
Crown  Prince  Rudolph  and  the  Belgian  Princess 
Stephanie. 

The  road  leading  from  Schonbrunn  to  the  Prater, 
where  a  popular  festival  was  to  be  held,  had  been 
hedged  in  by  a  dense  mass  of  human  beings  for  manv 
hours  before  the  Imperial  cortege  set  forth.  Sixty- 
two  Court  equipages  held  the  Court  and  the  royal 
guests,  and  when  the  procession  reached  the  Prater 
Stern,  the  crowd  became  so  dense,  and  the  eagerness 
of  the  people  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  bride  and 
bridegroom  so  intense,  that  the  police  were  unable  to 
keep   a    way  clear.     It    was  not   until  the   Emperor 


The  Prater  Stern 


CROWN  PRINCE  RUDOLPH'S  SUICIDE.       385 

stood  up,  and  in  a  good-humored  little  speech  implored 
the  crowds  to  be  reasonable,  that  the  procession  was 
able  to  proceed. 

According  to  one  writer,1  the  Empress  Elizabeth 
was  at  no  pains  to  conceal  the  strong  repugnance 
which  from  the  beginning  she  had  felt  for  this  mar- 
riage. Her  manner  throughout  the  festivities  was 
cold  and  lifeless,  and  her  demeanor  towards  the  King 
and  Queen  of  Belgium,  and  Princess  Stephanie,  so 
repellent  as  to  create  remark. 

During  the  wedding  ceremony  in  the  Burg  Kap- 
pelle  (May  10,  1881),  this  writer  states  that  the  Em- 
press actually  so  completely  lost  control  of  herself  as 
to  break  into  a  violent  fit  of  weeping — a  most  extra- 
ordinary lapse  for  one  schooled  in  the  severe  etiquette 
of  the  Austrian  Court. 

The  marriage  did  indeed  prove  to  be  a  most  un- 
happy one,  and  eight  years  later  (January  30,  1889) 
the  Crown  Prince  Rudolph  was  found  dead  at  his 
hunting-lodge  of  Meyerling,  beside  the  lifeless  body 
of  Baron ne  Marie  Vetsera,  the  young  and  very  beau- 
tiful daughter  of  an  Austrian  nobleman,  whom  he 
had  met  about  a  year  before,  and  with  whom  he  had 
fallen  violently  in  love.  The  mystery  enveloping  this 
double  tragedy  has  never  been  cleared  up.  It  is  sur- 
mised that  the  unfortunate  lady,  having  swallowed  a 
dose  of  poison  which  she  had  concealed  about  her 
person,  died  in  the  Crown  Prince's  arms,  and  that  he 

1  The  author  of  The  Martyrdom  of  an  Empress. 
25 


386  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

then  in  despair  shot  himself.  This  event,  coming  as 
it  did  on  top  of  a  long  series  of  griefs  and  disap- 
pointments, broke  the  Empress's  heart. 

When,  a  high-spirited  and  sensitive  girl  of  sev- 
enteen, she  came  to  Vienna  as  a  bride,  the  treatment 
she  received  at  the  hands  of  her  mother-in-law,  Arch- 
duchess Sophie,  and  later  from  her  sister-in-law,  Arch- 
duchess Carlotta  (afterwards  Empress  of  Mexico), 
so  embittered  her,  that  she  gradually  came  to  adopt 
that  attitude  of  icy  reserve  which  was  the  cause  of 
most  of  her  unpopularity. 

The  execution  of  the  Emperor's  brother,  Archduke 
Maximilian,  in  Mexico  (1867)  j1'  the  insanity  and  sui- 
cide, in  the  Stahrenberg  Lake,  of  her  cousin,  King 
Louis  of  Bavaria  (June,  1886);  the  death  of  her 
sister,  the  Duchess  d'Alencon,  at  the  Charity  Bazaar 
lire,  in  Paris,  in  1896  ;  and,  more  than  all,  the  humili- 
ating tragedy  of  her  only  son's  death,  would  have  com- 
pletely crushed  any  less  intrepid  spirit  than  that  with 
which  nature,  in  addition  to  her  other  wonderful  gifts, 
had  endowed  the  Empress  Elizabeth.  As  it  was,  she 
sought  by  change  of  scene  and  environment,  to  dull 
the  gnawing  pain  at  her  heart,  and  wandered  rest- 
lessly from  place  to  place,  until  at  last,  in  1898,  a 
stupid,  senseless  crime  brought  her  the  long-coveted 
peace. 

The  Empress  was  traveling  incognita  in  Switzer- 
land ;  with  her  attendants  she  had  occupied  a  suite  of 

1  See  p.  306. 


KULE  OF  EMPEROR  FRANCIS  JOSEPH.      387 

rooms  in  the  Hotel  Beau  Rivage,  in  Geneva,  on  the 
night  of  Friday,  September  9.  On  the  following 
morning,  as  she  was  about  to  embark  for  Montreux, 
upon  one  of  the  steamers  that  ply  up  and  down  the 
iake,  an  Italian  anarchist,  named  Luccheni,  leaped 
upon  her  and  stabbed  her  in  the  breast.  The  Empress 
almost  immediately  lost  consciousness,  and  expired  in 
a  few  hours. 

Four  years  have  elapsed  since  this  crowning  tragedy 
involved  the  "  Fated  House  of  Habsburg."  Three 
months  after  the  Empress's  death,  Francis  Joseph 
celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  accession — 
fifty  years  which  have  brought  to  pass  marvelous 
changes  in  the  policy  and  administration  of  the  Aus- 
trian government.  For  the  first  ten  years  of  his  reign 
the  young  Emperor  struggled,  as  his  grandfather's 
uncle,  Josephll.,  had  struggled  before  him,  to  establish 
a  system  of  centralization,  and  to  lay  down  in  Vienna 
hard  and  fast  rules  for  the  control  of  all  the  varying 
peoples  that  dwell  within  his  realm  ;  and  he  failed,  just 
as  Joseph  II.  had  failed.  During  the  succeeding  nine 
years  various  compromises  were  tried,  but  with  no 
success ;  and  then,  in  1867,  the  new  policy  was 
adopted.  Hungary  was  granted  something  like  inde- 
pendence ;  the  Emperor  and  Empress  were  crowned 
King  and  Queen  of  Hungary,  and,  with  the  Ans- 
gleich,1  the  Austrian  Empire  became  the  Dual  Mon- 
archy. 

1  See  p.  64. 


388  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Bohemia  next  brought  forward  her  claim  to  be 
restored  to  her  ancient  rights,  as  had  been  done  in  the 
case  of  Hungary,  and  the  Emperor  actually  issued  a 
proclamation,  in  1871,  promising  to  acknowledge 
these,  and  to  submit  to  be  crowned  at  Prague  as  King 
of  Bohemia.  So  threatening  was  the  excitement 
among  the  anti-Slavites,  however,  when  this  proclama- 
tion appeared,  that  it  was  never  carried  into  effect, 
and  the  Bohemian  question  remains  to-day  one  of  the 
most  puzzling  of  the  many  unsolved  problems  with 
which  the  successor1  of  Francis  Joseph  will  be  con- 
fronted. 

Among  these  problems,  that  of  the  very  survival 
of  the  State  is  not  the  least  conspicuous. 

Whether,  as  one  recent  writer  asserts,  the  presence 
of  an  Austrian  Empire  is  of  such  vital  necessity  to 
the  well-being  of  Europe  that,  "  did  she  not  exist  it 
would  be  necessary  to  invent  her,"  or  whether,  when 
the  overmastering  personality  of  the  present  Emperor 
is  once  removed,  she  will  fly  asunder,  to  be  devoured 
by  her  greedy  neighbors,  as  others  would  have  us 
believe,  is  a  question  to  which  no  convincing  solution 
has  as  vet  been  offered. 

1  Francis  ^born  December  IS.  1863  ,  son  of  Archduke  Charles 
Louis,  brother  to  the  Emperor,  has,  since  the  death  of  the  Crown 
Prince  Rudolph  without  male  issue,  been  heir  presumptive  to  the 
Austro-Hunsarian  throne. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

A  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL 
EVENTS  IN  AUSTRIAN  HISTORY  FROM  THE 
RISE  OF  THE  HABSBURGS  TO  THE  PRESENT 
DAY. 

Note.— In  the  following  table  the  Emperors  are  distinguished  by  Roman 
numerals;  those  Habsburg  rulers  who  bore  the  same  name,  and  were 
never  Emperor,  are  distinguished  by  Arabic  numerals. 

EUDOLPH  I.,  Count  of  Habsburg,  1273-1291. 

1273.     Elected  Emperor. 

1275-1276.     Wars  with  Otakar,  King  of  Bohemia;  siege  and  cap- 
ture of  Vienna ;  subjugation  of  Otakar. 

1278.     Fresh   outbreak  of   war;   battle  of  the   Marchfeld ;   final 
overthrow  and  death  of  Otakar. 

1291.     Death  of  Kupert. 

Kudolph  I.  married  J  Gertrude  Anne,  Countess  of  Hohen- 
berg,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and  seven  daughters ; 
2  Agnes  of  Burgundy. 

His  second  son  Hartman,  and  his  third  son  Rudolph  (2), 
Duke  of  Austria,  predeceased  him. 

ALBERT  L,  1291-1308,  eldest  son  of  Rudolph  I.  and  Gertrude 
Anne  of  Hohenberg. 

1298.     Elected  Emperor,  and  crowned  at  Aix  la  Chapelle. 
1308.     Murdered  by  his  nephew  John. 

389 


390  VIENNA  AND   THE   VIENNESE. 

Albert  I.  married  Elizabeth  of  Carinthia,  by  whom  he 
had  twenty  children,  ten  of  whom — six  sons  and  four 
daughters — survived  their  infancy. 

Rudolph  (3),  King  of  Bohemia,  the  eldest  son  of  Albert  I., 
married  Blanche,  daughter  of  Philippe  le  Bel,  King  of 
France,  and  died  in  1307. 


FREDERICK  THE  HANDSOME,  130S-1330. 

LEOPOLD  (1),  THE  GLORY  OF  KNIGHTHOOD,  1308-1326. 
Sons  of  Albert  I.  and  Elizabeth  of  Carinthia. 

1308.  Frederick  succeeds  to  the  Austrian  provinces.  Leopold 
succeeds  to  Suabia,  Alsace  and  Switzerland. 

1315.  Struggles  with  the  Emperor  Louis  of  Bavaria,  and  with 
the  Swiss  Cantons ;  decisive  victory  of  the  Swiss  at  Mor- 
garten. 

1322.  Battle  of  Muhldorf ;  total  defeat  and  capture  of  Frederick 
by  the  Emperor  Louis. 

1326.     Death  of  Leopold  at  Strasburg. 

1330.     Death  of  Frederick  at  the  Castle  of  Gullenstein. 

Frederick    married    Isabella  of    Arragon,   and    left    one 
daughter,  who  married  John,  Count  of  Goritz. 
Leopold  married  Catharine  of  Savoy,  by  whom  he  had  two 
daughters ;  Catharine,  the  eldest,  married  Enguerraud  VI. 
de  Coucy. 

ALBERT  .2   THE  WISE.  1326-1358. 

OTTO  THE  BOLD.  1327-1339. 

Sons  of  Albert  I.  and  Elizabeth  of  Carinthia. 

1339.     Death  of  Otto. 

1352.     War  with  the   Swiss  Cantons   belonging   to  the  League. 

The  Peace  of  Brandenburg. 
1358.     Death  of  Albert  at  Vienna. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  391 

Otto  married  l  Elizabeth  of  Bavaria,  by  whom  he  had 
two  sons,  both  of  whom  died  shortly  after  their  father ; 
2  Anne  of  Bohemia. 

Albert  (2)  married  Joanna  of  Ferret,  by  whom  he  had  four 
sons  and  tWo  daughters. 

RUDOLPH  (4),  THE  FOUNDER,  1358-1365,  son  of  Albert 
the  Wise  and  Joanna  of  Ferret. 

1359.     Nave  and  south  tower  of  St.  Stephan's  Church  restored. 

1364.  Acquisition  of  the  Tyrol. 

1365.  The  University  of  Vienna  endowed. 
Death  of  Rudolph  in  Italy. 

Rudolph  (4)  married  Catharine,  daughter  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  IV.,  and  died  without  issue.  He  was  the  first  to 
assume  the  title  of  Archduke,  which  was  later  secured  to 
the  House  of  Habsburg  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  III. 
(1440-1493).  He  had  scientific  and  antiquarian  tastes,  and 
greatly  increased  the  power  and  importance  of  his  house. 


ALBERT  (3),  1365-1395. 

LEOPOLD  (2),  1370-1386. 

Sons  of  Albert  the  Wise  and  Joanna  of  Ferret. 

1369.     Final  annexation  of  the  Tyrol  by  the  House  of  Austria.  ' 
1375.     Invasion  of  Alsace  and  Switzerland  by  Enguerrand  VII. 
de  Coucy,  at  the  head  of  forty  thousand  men,  six  thousand 
of  whom  were  English.     De  Coucy  had  married  a  daughter 
of  Edward  III.  of  England. 
1382.     Acquisition  of  Trieste. 

1385.  Dissatisfaction  in  Switzerland. 

1386.  Battle  of  Sempach  ;  the  Austrians  totally  defeated  by  the 
Swiss  Leaguers  of  Lucerne,  Zug,  Zurich  and  the  Three 
Forest  Cantons  (Uri,  Schweitz  and  Nidwald).  Leopold  (2) 
killed. 


392  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

1388.     Defeat  of  the  Austrians  at  Nafels  by  the  men  of  Glarus 
and  Schweitz. 

1395.     Death  of  Albert  at  Laxendorf. 

Albert  (3)  married  x  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  IV. ;  2  Beatrice  of  Nuremberg,  by  whom  he  had 
one  son,  Albert.  He  was  a  peaceable  Prince,  fond  of  the 
study  of  theology,  and  interested  in  horticulture. 
Leopold  (2)  married  *  Catharine  of  Goritz ;  2  Virida, 
daughter  of  Barnabas  Visconti,  Duke  of  Milan,  by  whom 
he  had  four  sons  and  a  daughter. 

ALBERT  (4),  1395-1404,  son   of  Albert  (3)  and    Beatrice  of 
Nuremberg. 

WILLIAM,  1390  (ctrca)-1406. 

LEOPOLD  (3),  1390  (circa)-Ull). 

Sons  of  Leopold  (2)  and  Virida  Visconti. 

1404.     Death  of  Albert  (4)  of  poison,  administered  at  an  enter- 
tainment given  by  a  Moravian  chieftain. 

1406.  Death  of  William. 

1407.  Frederick  and  Ernest,  younger  sons  of  Leopold  (2)  and 
Virida  Visconti,  demand  a  share  in  the  government. 

1411.     Death  of,  Leopold  (3). 

Albert  (4),  "the  pious  son  of  a  pious  father,"  married  Jo- 
anna, daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  by 
whom  he  had  one  son,  Albert,  and  a  daughter. 
William  married  Joanna,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Hun- 
gary; he  died  without  issue. 

Leopold  (3)  married   Catharine,   daughter  of  Philip  the 
Wise,  Duke  of  Burgundy ;  he  died  without  issue. 

ALBERT  II.,  1411-1439,  son  of  Albert  (4^  and  Joanna,  daughter 
of  the  Duke  of  Holland  and  Zealand.  He  succeeded  to  his 
father's  dominions  at  the  age  of  fifteen. 

1415.     John  Huss  burned  alive  at  the  Council  of  Constance. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  393 

1415-1435.  Struggles  between  the  Emperor  Sigismund  and  the 
Hussites  of  Bohemia;  Albert  assists  the  Emperor. 

1417.     The  Great  Schism. 

1431.     Council  of  Basle. 

1437-     Albert  acknowledged  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia. 
Death  of  the  Emperor  Sigismund. 

1438.  Albert  elected  Emperor. 

With  the  exceptions  of  Charles  VII.  and  Francis  I.  all  the  suc- 
ceeding Emperors  were  Habsburgs. 

Invasion  of  Servia  by  the  Turks  ;  Albert  goes  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Hungarians  ;  sickness  in  both  camps  ;  retreat 
of  the  Turks. 

1439.  Death  of  Albert. 

Albert  II.  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Emperor 
Sigismund,  by  whom  he  had  two  daughters  and  one  pos- 
thumous son,  Ladislaus.  Albert  was  a  Prince  of  unusual 
ability,  judgment  and  integrity.  His  reign  forms  a  bril- 
liant epoch  in  the  history  of  his  House. 

LADISLAUS  POSTHUMOUS,  1440-1457,  son  of  Albert  II.  and 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Sigismund. 

1440.  Crowned  King  of  Hungary  at  Alba  Regia,  "  on  the  bosom 
of  his  mother."  Committed  to  the  guardianship  of  Fred- 
erick, Duke  of  Styria,  a  descendant,  as  well  as  himself,  of 
Albert  (2)  the  Wise. 

The  Duke  of  Styria  elected  Emperor,  with  the  title  of 
Frederick  III. 

1451.  Frederick  III.  goes  to  Rome  to  be  crowned  by  Pope  Euge- 
nius,  taking  Ladislaus  with  him. 

^Eneas  Sylvius  becomes  the  young  King's  instructor. 

1452.  John  Hunniades,  George  Podiebrad  and  the  Count  of  Cilli 
appointed  Regents 

1453.  Constantinople  captured  by  the  Turks  under  Mahomet  II. 
Death  of  Constantine,  the  last  of  the  Emperors  of  the  East. 

1454-1455.     Turkish  invasions  of  Hungary. 


394  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

1455.     Defeat  of  the  Turks  at  Belgrade  by  Hunniades. 

Death  of  Hunniades. 
1457.     Ladislaus  Corvinus,  son  of  John  Hunniades,  treacherously 

put  to  death  at  Buda  by  Ladislaus  Posthumous. 

Death  of  Ladislaus  Posthumous  on  the  eve  of  his  marriage 

with  Magdalen,  daughter  of  Charles  VII.  of  France. 

"With  the  death  of  Ladislaus  Posthumous  the  Line  of  Albert  (3)» 
son  of  Albert  (2)  the  Wise,  became  extinct.  The  Line  of  Tyrol, 
founded  by  Frederick,  eldest  son  of  Leopold  (2),  brother  of  Albert 
(3),  terminated  with  the  death,  in  1496,  of  the  feeble  and  in- 
capable Sigismund,  Count  of  Tyrol,  under  whom  the  last  of  the 
Swiss  possessions  were  lost  to  the  House  of  Austria. 

The  Austrian  succession  was  then  reduced  to  the  Styrian  Line, 
founded  by  Ernest,  Duke  of  Styria,  Carinthia,  Carniola,  etc., 
fourth  son  of  Leopold  (2),  and  uncle  of  Sigismund. 

st  married2  Cymburga  of  Poland,  from  whom  the  "  Habs- 
burg  Lip"  is  said  to  have  been  derived. 


FREDEKICK  III.,  1440-1493. 

ALBERT  (5),  1458-1463. 

Sons  of  Ernest,  Duke  of  Styria,  and  Cymburga  of  Poland. 

SIGISMUND,  1458-1492,  son  of  Frederick  (2)  of  Tyrol  and  Anne, 
daughter  of  the  Empe*or  Frederick  II. 

1458.  Lower  Austria  assigned  to  the    Emperor  Frederick  III. 
(of  the  Styrian    Line) ;    Upper   Austria  to   his    brother 
Albert ;  and  a  part  of  Carinthia  to  Sigismund,  Count  of 
Tyrol.     Vienna  to  be  their  joint  place  of  residence. 
George  Podiebrad  chosen  King  of  Bohemia. 

1459.  Matthias  Corvinus,  son  of  John  Hunniades,  chosen  King 
of  Hungary. 

1460.  War  with  Hungary. 

1462-1463.     Civil  Wars.     The  Emperor,  with  his  wife  and  son, 

besieged  in  the  citadel  of  Vienna,  by  his  brother  Albert. 
1463.     Death  of  Albert. 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE.  395 

1464.     Death  of  Pope  Pius  II.  (^Eneas  Sylvius). 

1471.     Invasion  by  the  Turks. 

1473.     Maximilian,  son  of  the  Emperor  Frederick,  affianced  to 

Princess  Mary  of  Burgundy  at  Treves. 
1477.     Invasion    of    Lower    Austria    and    siege    of    Vienna    by 

Matthias  Corvinus. 

Marriage  of  Maximilian  and  Mary  of  Burgundy. 

1479.     Hostilities  between  Maximilian  and  Louis  XL  of  France. 

1482.     Death  of  Mary  of  Burgundy. 

1486.     Maximilian  elected  King  of  the  Romans  (1.  e.,  heir  to  the 

Imperial  dignity). 
1488.     The  Netherlander,  who,  since  the  death  of  their  Princess, 

Mary  of  Burgundy,  had  been  restless  under  the  authority 

of  Maximilian,  break  out  in  open  rebellion.     Maximilian 

seized  by  the  people  of  Bruges  and  kept  in  confinement ; 

some  of  the  Ministers  put  to  death ;  others  exiled. 

Maximilian  released  on  the  approach  of  an  army  raised 

by  the  Emperor. 

Peace  established  in  the  Netherlands. 

1490.  Death  of  Matthias  Corvinus,  King  of  Hungary. 
Ladislaus,  King  of  Bohemia,  chosen  King  of  Hungary. 

1491.  Restoration  of  the    Austrian    Territories,  conquered    by 
Matthias,  to  the  House  of  Habsburg. 

1492.  f  Withdrawal  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  from  public  affairs. 
/(/^  O  Death  of  Sigismund. 

1493.  Death  of  Frederick,  aged  seventy-eight. 

Frederick  III.  married  Eleanora  of  Portugal,  by  whom  he 
had  a  son,  Maximilian,  and  a  daughter,  Cunigunda,  who 
married  Albert,  Duke  of  Bavaria.  Frederick  reigned  as 
Emperor  fifty-three  years,  the  longest  reign  since  that  of 
Augustus.  Under  him  the  Empire  reached  its  lowest  state 
of  degradation,  while  the  House  of  Habsburg  became 
more  powerful  than  ever  before.  He  was  the  last  Emperor 
to  go  to  Rome  to  be  crowned. 


396  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

1493.     Albert  (5)  married  Matilda,  daughter  of  the  Elector  Pala- 
tine.    He  died  without  issue. 

Sigismund  married  *  Eleanora,  daughter  of  James  II. 
of  Scotland ;  2  "Catharine  of  Saxony.  He  died  without 
issue. 


MAXIMILIAN     I.,    1493-1519,    son    of    Frederick    III.   and 
Eleanora  of  Portugal. 

1494.     Marriage  of  Maximilian  to  Bianca  Maria. 

Philip  the  Handsome,  son  of  Maximilian  and  Mary  of 
Burgundy,  assumes  the  government  of  the  Low  Countries. 

1496.     Marriage  of  Philip  and  Joanna,  Infanta  of  Spain. 

1499.  Struggles  with  the  Swiss  Cantons. 

1500.  The  Swiss  Confederacy  obtains  a  treaty  acknowledging  its 
independence  of  the  Empire  and  immunity  from  Imperial 
taxation. 

1504.  Death  of  Isabella  of  Castile.  Joanna  (her  daughter)  and 
Philip  proclaimed  sovereigns  of  Castile,  with  Ferdinand, 
husband  of  Isabella,  as  Kegent. 

1506.  Death  of  Philip,  leaving  two  sons  and  three  infant  daugh- 
ters. 

1515.  Charles,  eldest  son  of  Philip,  assumes  the  government  of 
the  Low  Countries. 

Ferdinand,  second  son  of  Philip,  and  his  sister  Mary, 
betrothed  to  Anne  and  Louis,  daughter  and  son  of  Ladis- 
laus,  King  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary. 

1516..  Death  of  Ferdinand,  King  of  Arragon  and  Eegent  of  Cas- 
tile. His  grandson  Charles  assumes  the  government  of 
the  entire  Spanish  monarchy. 

1517.  Luther  affixes  his  ninety-five  propositions  to  the  door  of 
the  Wittemberg  church. 

1519.     Death  of  Maximilian,  at  Wels.  .    v 

Maximilian  married  l  Mary,  daughter  of  Philip  the 
Bold  of  Burgundy.     This  marriage  brought  the  Nether- 


CHKONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  397 

lands  to  the  House  of  Austria.  He  left  by  her  a  son, 
Philip,  who  predeceased  him,  and  a  daughter,  Margaret. 
Philip  the  Handsome,  son  of  Maximilian  I.  and  Mary  of 
Burgundy,  married  Joanna,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  of  Arragon  and  Castile.  By  her  he  left  two  sons, 
Charles  and  Ferdinand,  both  of  whom  succeeded,  and  four 
daughters :  Eleanora,  who  married  !  Emmanuel,  King  of 
Portugal,  and  2  Francis  I.  of  France ;  Isabella,  who  mar- 
ried Christian  II  the  Bad,  King  of  Denmark  ;  Mary,  who 
married  Louis  II.,  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  who 
was  killed  in  1526  (after  the  death  of  her  Aunt  Margaret, 
Mary  became  Kegent  of  the  Netherlands) ;  and  Catharine, 
who  married  John  III.,  King  of  Portugal. 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Maximilian  I.  and  Mary  of  Bur- 
gundy, married  l  John,  son  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
who  shortly  died ;  and  2  Philibert  II.  of  Savoy.  After  the 
death  of  her  second  husband  and  her  brother  Philip,  Mar- 
garet became  Eegent  of  the  Netherlands.  She  died  in 
1530.  Maximilian  married  2  Bianca  Maria,  daughter  of 
Galeas  Sforza,  Duke  of  Milan,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue. 
By  the  marriage  of  Philip  and  Joanna,  Spain  was  acquired 
by  the  House  of  Austria;  and  by  the  marriage  of  their  son 
Ferdinand  and  their  daughter  Mary  to  the  son  and  daughter 
of  Ladislaus,  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  those  two 
countries  were  added  to  the  Austrian  possessions.  Under 
Maximilian  the  Empire  was  divided  into  ten  districts,  or 
circles,  each  with  a  Diet,  a  Director  for  the  maintenance 
of  order,  and  a  Military  Governor,  or  Colonel.  Maximil- 
ian also  established  the  tribunal  which  later  went  by  the 
name  of  the  Auhc  Council.1 

^The  Aulic  Council  w3«  a  Supreme  Court,  which,  dissolving  on  the  death 
of  each  Emperor  (of  the  Old  German— Holy  Roman— Empire),  was  re-created 
by  his  successor.  With  the  abdication  of  Francis  II.  and  the  end  of  the 
Empire,  in  180R,  it  ceased  to  exist.  Since  then  the  term  has  been  applied  to  the 
Imperial  Council  of  War  of  Austria,  the  members  of  Provincial  Chanceries 
beinj;  called  Aulic  Councilors. 


398  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

CHARLES  V.,  1519-1556. 

FERDINAND  L,  1521-1564. 

Sons  of  Philip  the  Handsome  and  Joanna,  daughter  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  of  Arragon  and  Castile. 

1519.  Charles  elected  Emperor. 

1520.  Crowned  Emperor  at  Aix  la  Chapelle. 
Capture  of  Belgrade  by  the  Turks. 

Publication  of  a  Bull,  the  "  Execrable  Bull  of  Antichrist," 
by  Leo  X.,  condemning  the  teachings  of  Luther. 
The  Bull,  and  other  decrees  of  the  Pope,  publicly  burned 
by  Luther  at  Wittemberg. 

1521.  Diet  of  Worms.  Charles  summons  Luther  to  appear  and 
furnishes  a  safe  conduct. 

The  Edict  of  Worms. 

Luther  concealed  in  the  Castle  of  Wartburgh  by  Fred- 
erick, the  Elector  of  Saxony. 

Austria,  Styria,  Carniola  and  Carinthia  ceded  by  Charles 
to  his  brother  Ferdinand. 

Marriage  of  the  Archduchess  Mary  and  Louis,  King  of 
Hungary  and  Bohemia. 

1522.  Tyrol,  and  the  Suabian  and  Alsatian  Territories,  ceded  to 
Ferdinand. 

The  Spanish-German  army  defeats  the  French  near  Milan. 
Marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Anne  of  Hungary  and  Bohe- 
mia. 

1525.  Battle  of  Pavia  ;  total  defeat  of  the  French  and  capture 
of  King  Francis  I.  by  the  Spanish  and  German  forces, 
under  Colonna,  Pescara  (husband  of  Vittoria  Colonua  and 
Frundsberg,  Commander  of  the  German  Lansquenets. 

1526.  The  Turks,  under  Solyman  II.  the  Magnificent,  win  a 
great  victory  over  the  Hungarians,  at  Mohatz,  August  29. 
Death  of  Ladislaus,  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  Buda 
and  Pesth  surrendered  to  the  Turks. 

Ferdinand  elected  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  399 

1529.  A  majority  of  the  Diet  of  Spire  (Ferdinand  presiding) 
repeals  a  decree  of  religious  toleration  enacted  by  the 
former  Diet  of  Spire  (1526).  The  Lutheran  minority  pub- 
lishes a  formal  Dissent  or  Protest,  from  whence  the  name 
Protestants. 

1530.  Charles  receives  the  crowns  of  the  Empire  and  of  Lom- 
bardy  from  Pope  Clement  VII.  at  Bologna. 

Diet  of  Augsburg.  The  Protestants  present  the  Con- 
fession of  Augsburg,  composed  by  Luther  and  drawn  up 
by  Melahcthon.  The  Protestants  form  a  League  at  Smal- 
ls aide. 

153L     Ferdinand  elected  King  of  the  Romans. 

1532.  Fresh  invasion  by  the  Turks.  Gallant  resistance  of  the 
town  of  Guntz.  Solyman  forced  to  raise  the  siege,  and 
two  months  later  to  retreat. 

1543.  Philip,  only  son  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  married  * 
to  Maria,  daughter  of  John  III.  of  Portugal. 

1545  Opening  of  the  Council  of  Trent  ordered  by  a  Bull  of 
Paul  III. 

1546.     Death  of  Luther. 

War  between  the  Imperial  troops  and  the  Protestant 
League  of  Smalkalde.     The  League  crushed. 

1548.  Marriage  of  Maximilian,  son  of  Ferdinand  I.,  and  his 
cousin  Mary,  daughter  of  Charles  V. 

1552.  Insurrection,  headed  by  the  Protestant  Maurice  of  Sax- 
ony, aided  by  the  Margrave  of  Bradenburgh  and  Henry 
II.  of  France. 

Council  of  Trent  hastily^  suspended  for  two  years,  "  in  con- 
sequence of  the  perils  of  war." 
Pacification  of  Passau. 

1554.  Philip  married  2  to  Mary,  Queen  of  England. 

1555.  Diet  at  Augsburg.     Toleration  won  by  the  Protestants. 
Death  of  Joanna,  mother  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
Charles  abdicates  from  the  government  of  the  Nether- 
lands in  favor  of  his  son  Philip. 


400  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

1556.     Charles  resigns  the  crown  of  Spain  to  his  son  Philip  and 
retires  to  the  Convent  of  St.  Justus,  near  Placentia. 

1558.     Death  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  on  September  21. 

Ferdinand  I.,  as  King  of  the  Romans,  succeeds  to  the  Im- 
perial dignity,  resigned  two  years  earlier  by  his  brother 
Charles. 

1560.     Council  of  Trent  re-convoked  by  Bull  of  Pius  IV. 

1562.  Seventeenth  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent  opened  on  the 
18th  of  January. 

Maximilian,  son  of  Ferdinand  I.,  elected  King  of  the 
Romans  and  crowned  King  of  Bohemia. 

1563.  Twenty-fifth  and  last  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 

1564.  Death  of  Ferdinand. 

Charles  V.  married  (1526)  the  beautiful  Princess  Isabella 
of  Portugal.  He  was  devotedly  fond  of  her,  and  after  her 
death  (1539)  he  refused  to  marry  again.  Charles  left  by 
his  wife  Isabella  a  son  (Philip  II  of  Spain),  who  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  crowns  of  the  Two  Sicilies  and  of  Spain 
and  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands,  and  two 
daughters,  Mary  and  Joanna. 

Philip  married  l  (1543),  Maria,  daughter  of  John  III. 
of  Portugal;  2  (1554),  Mary,  Queen  of  England  ;  s  (1560), 
Isabella,  daughter  of  Henry  II.  of  France;  4  (1570), 
Anne,  daughter  of  his  first  cousin,  the  Emperor  Maximil- 
ian by  Philip's  sister  Mary. 

Don  Carlos,  son  of  Philip  and  Maria  of  Portugal,  became 
deeply  incensed  with  his  father  because  of  the  latter  twice 
supplanting  him  ;  first,  by  marrying  the  beautiful  Princess 
Isabella  of  France,  whom  Carlos  was  to  have  married  ;  and 
then  Anne  of  Austria,  who  although  but  twenty-one.  his 
cousin  and  niece,  and  the  destined  bride  of  his  son,  Philip 
took  for  his  fourth  wife.  Don  Carlos  exhibiting  leanings 
towards  the  reformed  religion,  his  father  himself  arrested 
him  in  the  middle  of  the  night  and  handed  him  over  to 
the  Inquisition.     He  was  condemned  for  heresy  and  exe- 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  401 

cuted.  By  Queen  Mary  Philip  had  no  children ;  by 
Isabella  of  France  he  had  two  daughters,  and  by  Anne  of 
Austria  he  had  Philip  (III.  of  Spain),  who  succeeded  him. 
Mary,  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  married  her 
cousin  Maximilian  (son  of  Ferdinand  I.),  afterwards  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  II.  Joanna  married  John  of 
Portugal ;  her  son,  King  Sebastian,  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Alcazar  (1578). 

Charles  V.  was  the  most  powerful  Prince  of  the  House  of 
Habsburg.  He  is  described  as  having  combined  "the 
phlegm  of  Frederick  III.,  the  address  and  intrepidity  of 
Maximilian  L,  the  vigor,  policy  and  duplicity  of  Ferdi- 
nand I.,  the  Catholic,  and  the  personal  qualifications  of  his 
father  Philip,"  this  last  being  a  reference  to  his  handsome 
face  and  figure.  He  united  under  his  sole  rule  the  Nether- 
lands, the  Spanish  monarchy  and  the  Austrian  dominions 
(the  last  he  ceded,  however,  to  his  brother  Ferdinand), 
besides  being  Emperor,  and  King  of  Lombardy.  The  last 
years  of  his  life  were  clouded  by  the  constitutional  melan- 
choly inherited  from  his  imbecile  mother,  Joanna  of  Spain, 
and  by  the  undutiful  conduct  of  his  son  Philip. 
Among  the  natural  children  of  Charles  V.  was  Don  Juan 
d' Austria,  the  famous  victor  in  the  battle  of  Lepanto  (Octo- 
ber, 1571)  against  the  Moors  of  Granada.  One  of  the  most 
romantic  schemes  of  his  short  but  adventurous  life  was  a 
plot  to  effect  the  deliverance  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
whereby  he  hoped  to  acquire  the  crown  of  Scotland,  and  ulti- 
mately that  of  England.    He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-three. 

Margaret  of  Austria,  also  a  natural  child  of  Charles  V., 
was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  accomplished  women  of 
her  time.  She  married  *  Alexander  di  Medici,  and  2 
Octavio  Farnese,  by  whom  she  had  a  son,  the  celebrated 
Alexander  Farnese.  She  was  appointed  Governor  of  the 
Netherlands  by  her  brother  Philip,  but  resigned  in  1564  in 
favor  of  the  Duke  of  Alva. 
23 


402  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

Ferdinand  I.  received  Austria,  Styria,  Carniola  and  Carin- 
thia  from  his  brother,  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  in  1521,  and 
Tyrol  and  the  Suabian  and  Alsatian  territories  in  the  fol- 
lowing year.  On  the  death  of  Ladislaus,  King  of  Hungary 
and  Bohemia  (1526),  Ferdinand  was  elected  to  succeed 
him.  He  was  elected  King  of  the  Komans  in  1531,  an 
succeeded  his  brother  Charles  as  Emperor  in  loo&r  He 
was  betrothed  in  his  boyhood  to  Anne,  daughter  of  Ladis- 
laus, King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  the  marriage  taking 
place  in  his  twenty-third  year.  By  her  he  had  fifteen 
children.  Three  sons  and  nine  daughters  grew  up.  The 
three  sons  (Maximilian,  Ferdinand  and  Charles)  founded 
respectively  the  Houses  of  Austria,  Tyrol  and  Styria. 
Maximilian  succeeded  his  father. 

Ferdinand  made  a  morganatic  marriage  with  Philippa 
Welser,  an  Augsburg  lady  of  extraordinary  beauty. 

Charles  was  proposed  by  Melville  as  a  husband  for  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots,  and  later  a  match  was  suggested  between 
him  and  Queen  Elizabeth.  Both  of  these  negotiations 
failing,  he  married  Maria,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Ba- 
varia. His  eldest  son,  Ferdinand,  eventually  succeeded  to 
the  Austrian  possessions  and  the  Imperial  Crown  as 
Ferdinand  II. 

Ferdinand  I.,  though  warmly  and  sincerely  attached  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  was  not  bigoted  or  intolerant.  He 
labored  earnestly  to  induce  a  reformation  of  the  chief 
abuses  and  scandals  in  the  Church,  and  to  reconcile  the 
Protestant  bodies.  He  especially  advocated  a  married 
clergy,  and  the  granting  of  the  chalice  to  the  laity.  On 
his  accession,  the  haughty  and  overbearing  position  taken 
by  the  Pope,  Paul  IV.,  led  to  a  revolt  from  the  Papal 
authority,  and  from  thenceforward  it  was  declared  un- 
necessary that  the  Imperial  Crown  should  be  received 
at  the  hands  of  the  Pope. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  403 

Ferdinand  was  well  educated,  kindly,  generous,  a  faithful 
and  devoted  husband,  and  a  conscientious  and  able  ruler. 


MAXIMILIAN  II.,  1564-1576,  eldest  son  of  Ferdinand  I.  and 
Anne  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia. 

1564.     Maximilian  succeeds  to  the   Austrian  dominions  on  the 

death  of  his  father. 

The  Duke  of  Alva  succeeds  Princess  Margaret  of  Austria 

as  Governor  of  the  Netherlands. 
1566.     Fresh    inyasion  of  Hungary  by  the    Turks.     The  small 

town  of  Zigeth,  with  a  garrison  of  fifteen  hundred,  holds 

out  for  thirty-one  days  against  the  entire  Ottoman  army. 

It  is  finally  taken  and  the  garrison  annihilated,  the  Turks 

losing  twenty  thousand  men  and  their  Sultan  Solyman,  who 

died  of  fatigue  and  malaria. 
15G7.     Treaty  of  peace  concluded   between  Maximilian  and  the 

Sultan  Selim. 
1572.     Rudolph,  eldest  son  of   Maximilian,   crowned    King   of 

Hungary. 

Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  August  24th. 

1575.  Rudolph  crowned  King  of  Bohemia. 
Rudolph  elected  King  of  the  Romans. 

1576.  Death  of  Maximilian. 

Maximilian  II.  had  a  strong  predilection  for  the  reformed 
faith,  but  he  never  left  the  communion  of  the  Church  of- 
Rome.  He  renewed  the  efforts  of  his  father  to  procure  a 
married  clergy  and  the  administration  of  the  communion 
in  both  kinds  to  the  people.  He  was  the  most  popular  and 
beloved  sovereign  of  the  entire  House  of  Habsburg.  He 
strongly  deprecated  the  harsh  measures  adopted  by  the 
Spanish  and  French  sovereigns  against  the  Protestants, 
and  referred  to  the  St.  Bartholomew  Massacre  as  a  "  foul 
deed  "  and  "  infamous  slaughter."  "  Let  Spain  and  France 
do  as  they  like,"  he  writes.  "They  will  have  to  answer 
for  it  to  God,  the  just  Judge." 


404  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

By  his  wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Charles  V.,  Maximilian 
had  sixteen  children,  of  whom  six  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters lived  to  maturity.  Rudolph  and  Matthias  succeeded 
in  turn  to  the  Austrian  dominions.  Anne  married  Philip 
II.  of  Spain  (her  cousin  and  uncle),  and  Elizabeth  mar- 
ried Charles  IX.  of  France. 


RUDOLPH  II.,  1576-1612,   eldest  son  of  Maximilian  II.  and 
Mary  of  Spain. 

1592-1604.     Repeated  invasions  by  the  Turks. 

Ferdinand  of  Styria,  afterwards  Ferdinand  II.,  married  l  to 
Maria  Anne  of  Bavaria. 

1603.     Hungarian  rebellion,  headed  by  Stephen  Botskai. 

1606.  "The  Family  Treaty  of  Vienna,"  an  agreement  entered 
into  by  Matthias  and  Maximilian,  brothers  of  Rudolph, 
and  their  cousins  Ferdinand  and  Maximilian,  of  the 
Styrian  Line,  to  force  Rudolph  to  abdicate  from  the 
government  of  Austria  and  Hungary,  on  the  score  of 
his  insanity. 

1609.  Rudolph  grants  the  "  Magestats-Brief,"  an  assurance  of 
religious  liberty  to  the  Protestants. 

1611.  Rudolph  forced  to  resign  the  crown  of  Bohemia  to  his 
brother  Matthias. 

Matthias   married   to   Anne,   daughter   of  Ferdinand  of 
Tyrol. 

1612.  Death  of  Rudolph  at  Prague. 

Rudolph's  peculiarities  amounted  to  insanity.  He  remained 
shut  up  in  his  palace  at  Prague  for  months  at  a  time,  re- 
fusing to  see  any  one.  He  had  a  constant  apprehension 
of  assassination,  was  moody  and  at  times  violent.  He  took 
no  interest  in  public  affairs,  but  was  an  enthusiastic  and 
discriminating  collector  of  sculpture,  paintings,  minerals, 
coins  and  objects  of  natural  history. 
Rudolph  never  married,  though  he  entered  into  negotia- 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  405 

tions  with  a  number  of  princely  houses  with  that  end  in 
view.  Marie  de  Medici,  later  wife  of  Henry  IV.  of 
France,  was  one  of  his  projected  brides. 

MATTHIAS,    1612-1619,    son    of    Maximilian  II.   and    Mary 
of  Spain. 

1612.     Matthias  elected  Emperor  and  crowned  at  Frankfort. 
1616.     Ferdinand,   Duke  of  Styria,  cousin  of  Matthias,  crowned 
King  of  Bohemia. 

1618.  Assembly  of  Protestants  at  Prague,  under  the  leadership 
of  Count  Thurn,  to  consider  the  recent  suspension  of  Pro- 
testant worship  in  Bohemia. 

The  "  Defenestratio  Pragensis." 

Arrest  of  Matthias's  chief  adviser,  Cardinal  Clesel,  by  order 

of  Ferdinand. 

Outbreak  of  the  Thirty  Years  War. 

1619.  Ferdinand  crowned  King  of  Hungary. 
Death  of  Matthias. 

Matthias,  having  supplanted  his  brother  Rudolph,  was 
himself  supplanted  in  turn  by  his  cousin  Ferdinand.  He 
died,  deserted  by  every  one.  By  his  wife  Anne,  daughter 
of  Ferdinand  of  Tyrol,  he  had  no  issue. 

FERDINAND  II.,  1619-1637,  son  of  Charles,  Duke  of  Styria, 
and  Maria  of  Bavaria. 

1619.  Vienna  besieged  by  the  Protestant  insurgents,  under 
Count  Thurn. 

Ferdinand  sends  his  family  to  the  Tyrol,  and  remains  in 
the  Hofburg. 

Count  Thurn,  obliged  to  raise  the  siege,  retires  to  Prague. 
A  Diet  at  Prague  declares  that  Ferdinand  has  forfeited  the 
crown  of  Bohemia,  and  elects  Frederick,  Elector  Palatine 
of  Bavaria,  to  succeed  him. 
Ferdinand  elected  Emperor. 


406  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

1620.     Battle  of  the  White  Mountain  (November  8).    The  Bohe- 
mian revolt  crushed. 
1622.     Ferdinand  married  2  to  Eleanora  Gonzaga  of  Mantua. 

1625.  Wallenstein  raises  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men. 
Ferdinand's  son  crowned  King  of  Hungary. 

1626.  Death  of  Mansfeld  at  Zara. 

1629.  "Edict  of  Restitution"  (6th  of  March).  A  measure  for 
the  extermination  of  all  Protestants. 

The  Emperor  induced  to  dismiss  "Wallenstein  and  order 

the  disbanding  of  his  army. 

Suspension  of  the  "  Edict  of  Restitution." 

1630.  Gustavus  Adolphus  of  Sweden  lands  in  Germany  with  a 
force  of  fifteen  thousand  men  to  aid  the  Protestants  of 
Germany. 

1631.  The  King  of  Hungary  married  l  to  Maria  Anna  of 
Spain. 

Capture  and  sack  of  Madgeburg  by  the  Imperialists,  under 
Tilly  and  Pappenheim  (20th  of  May)  ;  upwards  of 
twenty  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  massacred. 
Battle  of  Breitenfeld  (or  Leipsic) ;  complete  victory  won 
by  Gustavus  Adolphus  over  Tilly  aud  Pappenheim  (17th 
of  September). 

1632.  Death  of  Tilly. 
Wallenstein  recalled. 

Battle  of  Liitzen  (6th  of  November) ;   defeat  of  the  Im- 
perialists under  Wallenstein.     Gustavus  Adolphus  killed. 
1634.     Wallenstein  assassinated  at  Eger  (25th  of  February). 

Battle  of  Nordlingen  (6th  o(  September);  decisive  victory 
of  the  Imperialists,  under  the  Emperor's  son,  the  King  of 
Hungary,  afterwards  Ferdinand  III.,  over  the  Swedes. 

1636.  The  King  of  Hungary  elected  King  of  the  Komans. 

1637.  Death  of  Ferdinand,  February  15. 

The  entire  reign  of  Ferdinand  II.  was  distracted  by  relig- 
ious wars.  Ferdinand's  naturally  tine  qualities  were  per- 
verted by  bigotry  and  intolerance.     He  was  ruled  by  the 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  407 

Jesuits,  and  implacable  in  his  hatred  of  his  Protestant 
subjects.  "  Better  a  desert  than  a  country  full  of  here- 
tics," was  his  motto. 

Ferdinand  left  by  his  first  wife,  Maria  Anne  of  Bavaria, 
two  sons  and  two  daughters :  Ferdinand  Ernest,  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  Leopold  William,  who  entered  the  Church, 
and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  had  already  received  fifteen  rich 
benefices,  he  was  an  art  collector  and  the  patron  of  Ten- 
iers;  Mary,  married  to  Maximilian  of  Bavaria;  Cecelia, 
married  to  Ladislaus  of  Poland.  By  his  second  wife, 
Eleanora  of  Mantua,  Ferdinand  had  no  issue. 

FERDINAND  III.,  1637-1657,  son  of  Ferdinand  II.  and  Maria 
Anne  of  Bavaria. 

1612.     Second  battle  of  Leipsic;  the  Imperialists  totally  defeated 

by  the  Swedes  under  General  Torstenson  (November  2). 
1644-1648.     Negotiations  for  peace. 

1645.  Defeat  of  the  Imperial  army  at  Yankovitz  by  the  Swedes 
under  Torstenson  (March  16).     Vienna  threatened. 

1646.  Ferdinand,  eldest  son  of  the  Emperor,  made  King  of 
Bohemia. 

1647.  Ferdinand,  eldest  son  of  the  Emperor,  crowned  King  of 
Hungary. 

1648.  Surprise  of  the  Little  Town  (Prague)  by  the  Swedes. 
Siege  of  the  Old  Town  (Prague),  and  final  repulse  of  the 
Swedes  (July  26  to  October  25). 

The  Peace  of  Westphalia  signed  August  6.      End  of  the 
Thirty  Years  War. 
1033.     Ferdinand,  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  chosen  King 
of  the  Romans. 

1654.  Death  of  the  King  of  the  Romans  of  small-pox. 

1655.  Leopold,  second  son  of  the  Emperor,  chosen  King  of 
Hungary. 

1656.  Leopold  chosen  King  of  Bohemia. 

1657.  Death  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand. 


408  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

The  reign  of  Ferdinand  III.  fell  in  the  most  troubled 
period  of  the  Thirty  Years  War.  It  was  almost  a  succes- 
sion of  disasters  for  Austria.  At  his  death  the  Austrian 
dominions  had  not  yet  recovered  from  the  laying  waste, 
burning,  pillaging  and  destruction  of  the  recent  campaigns, 
while  the  flower  of  the  male  population  had  been  extermi- 
nated. 

Ferdinand  had  by  his  first  wife,  Maria  Anna  of  Spain, 
two  sons,  Ferdinand,  who  predeceased  him,  and  Leopold, 
who  succeeded  him,  and  a  daughter,  Maria,  who  married 
Philip  IV.  of  Spain  ;  by  his  second  wife,  Maria  Leopoldina, 
Ferdinand  left  a  son,  Charles  Joseph  ;  by  his  third  wife, 
Eleanora  of  Mantua  (niece  of  his  stepmother  of  the  same 
name),  he  left  two  daughters. 

LEOPOLD   L,  1657-1705,   son   of  Ferdinand    III.    and   Maria 

Anna  of  Spain. 
1658.     Leopold  elected  Emperor  and  crowned  at  Frankfort. 
1660-1664.     Invasions  by  the  Turks. 
166-4.     The  Turks,  defeated  at  Raab,  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace  for 

twenty  years. 
1666.     Leopold  married  to  Margaret,  Infanta  (by  the  renunciation 

of  her  elder  sister)  of  Spain. 
1671.     Invasion  of  the  Netherlands  by  Louis  XIV.  of  France, 

who  claimed  them  in  right  of  his  wife,  who  had  been  In- 
fanta of  Spain. l 
1673-1679.     Wars  with  France,  Austria  aiding    Spain  and   the 

Netherlands. 

Rise  of  William  of  Orange. 
167S-16S7.     Revolts  in  Hungary. 
1683.     Invasion   by  the  Turks:   Vienna   besieged:   defended   by 

Count  Starhemberg;   relieved   by  John  Sobieski  and  the 

Duke  of  Lorraine, 
i  She  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  but  on  her  marriage 
she  and  Louis  had  resigned  all  claim  to  the  Spanish  succession. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  409 

1687.     Leopold's  son  Joseph  crowned  King  of  Hungary. 
1688-1697.     Wars  with  France.     Most  of   the  European  States 

combine  against  France. 
1690.     Joseph  elected  King  of  the  Komans. 
1697.     Brilliant  victory  over  the  Turks,  under  the  Sultan,  at  Zenta, 

by  Prince  Eugene  (September  11). 

Peace  of  Carlovitz  (November  14).     Most  of  Hungary  and 

Slavonia  recovered,  and  Transylvania  acquired  from  the 

Turks. 

1699.  Joseph  married  to  Princess  Amelia  of  Hanover. 

1700.  Death  of  Charles  II.  of  Spain  without  issue. 

The  Spanish  Crown  was  now  claimed  by :  1.  The  Dauphin  of 
France,  afterwards  Louis  XV.  ;  2.  Ferdinand,  electoral  Prince  of 
Bavaria ;  3.  The  Emperor  Leopold — all  of  them  descended  from 
Philip  and  Joanna  (Infanta  of  Spain),  father  and  mother  of  the 
Emperors  Charles  V.  and  Ferdinand  I.  The  King  of  Spain,  four 
weeks  before  his  death,  had,  under  the  influence  of  the  Church, 
executed  a  will  bequeathing  the  Spanish  territories  to  the  second 
son  of  the  Dauphin,  the  Duke  of  Anjou. 

The  Duke  of  Anjou  proclaimed  King  of  Spain  with  the 
title  of  Philip  V. 

1701.  Outbreak  of  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession. 

1702.  Alliance  between  Austria,  England  and  Holland  against 
France. 

1703.  Charles,  second  son  of  Leopold  I.  (afterwards  the  Emperor 
Charles  VL),  proclaimed  King  of  Spain  at  Vienna. 
Outbreak  of    rebellion   in   Hungary,  headed   by  Francis 
Ragotsky. 

1704.  March  of  Marlborough  from  the  Netherlands  to  Bavaria. 
Decisive  victory  over  the  French  by  the  Allies  under  Marl- 
borough and  Prince  Eugene  at  Hochstiidt-Blenheim  (the 
battle  of  Blenheim),  August  15. 

1705.  Death  of  the  Emperor  Leopold  I. 

By  his  first  wife,  Margaret  Theresa,  Infanta  of  Spain  (by 
the  renunciation  of  her  elder  sister),  Leopold  had  Maria 
Antonia,  whose  son,  Ferdinand  Joseph,  was,  until  his  death 


410  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

in  1701,  a  claimant  for  the  Spanish  dominions ;  by  his 
second  wife,  Claudia  Felicitas  of  Tyrol,  Leopold  had  no 
issue ;  by  his  third  wife,  Magdalen  Theresa  of  Neuburgh, 
he  left  two  sons,  Joseph  and  Charles,  both  of  whom  suc- 
ceeded, and  three  daughters. 


JOSEPH  L,  1705-1711,  eldest  son  of  Leopold  I.  and  Magdalen 
Theresa  of  Neuburgh. 

1706.  Charles,  younger  brother  of  Joseph,  married  to  Elizabeth 
of  Brunswick. 

1707.  Defeat  of  the  Allies  by  the  French,  at  Almanza,  April  25. 
1709.     Battle  of  Malplaquet;   crushing  defeat  of  the  French  by 

the  Allies  under  Prince  Eugene  and  Marlborough,  July  9. 
1711.     Conclusion  of  the  Hungarian  rebellion,  and  exile  of  Ba- 
gotsky. 

Death  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  of  small-pox  (April  17). 
Joseph    I.   left  by   his    wife,    Amelia    of    Hanover,    two 
daughters,  who  were  obliged  by  their  uncle,  Charles  VI., 
to  renounce  all  claim  to  the  Austrian  succession. 

CHABLES   VI.,  1711-1740,  son  of   Leopold  I.  and   Magdalen 
Theresa  of  Neuburgh. 

1711.  Charles  elected  Emperor. 
Crowned  at  Frankfort,  December  22. 

1712.  Crowned  King  of  Hungary. 

Issues  an  edict  of  religious  toleration. 
1711-1715.     Peace  negotiations. 

1713.  Peace  of  Utrecht.  (By  this  treaty  Great  Britain  obtained 
Gibraltar  and  Minorca.) 

1714.  Peace  treaty  of  Bastadt. 

1715.  Treaty  of  the  Barrier  ;  end  of  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Suc- 
cession. Philip  V.  is  con  tinned  in  the  possession  of  Spain 
and  the  Indies,  with  the  stipulation  that  the  crowns  oi 
France  and  Spain  are  never  to  be  held  by  the  same  person. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  411 

1716.  Campaign  against  the  Turks. 
Prince  Eugene  victorious  at  Carlovitz. 

1717.  Splendid  victory  of  Prince  Eugene  over  the  Turks  ;  capture 
of  Belgrade. 

The  Quadruple  Alliance  between  Austria,  France,  Great 
Britain  and  the  Netherlands  acceded  to  by  Philip  of 
Spain,  and  the  treaty  signed  at  the  Hague,  February  17. 

1720.  Pragmatic  Sanction  published  securing  the  Austrian  suc- 
cession to  the  daughters  of  Charles  VI. 

1736.     Marriage  of  Maria  Theresa,  eldest  daughter  of  Charles ,VL, 
and  Francis  Stephen,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  February  12. 
Death  of  Prince  Eugene,  April  20. 

1737-1739.  Campaigns  against  the  Turks;  Austrian  reverses. 
Belgrade,  Servia  and  Wallachia  ceded  to  the  Turks,  Sep- 
tember, 1739. 

1740.  Death  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VI.,  October  20. 

Charles  was  the  fifteenth  and  last  Emperor  in  direct  male 
line  of  the  House  of  Habsburg.  By  his  wife,  Elizabeth  of 
Brunswick,  he  left  two  daughters,  Maria  Theresa,  who 
succeeded  him,  and  Maria  Amelia,  who  married  Prince 
Charles  of  Lorraine. 

MARIA  THERESA,  1740-1780,  daughter  of  Charles  VI.  and 
Elizabeth  of  Brunswick. 

1/40.  Proclaimed  Queen  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  Her  hus- 
band, Francis  Stephen  of  Lorraine,  proclaimed  co-regent 
of  Hungary. 

1741.  Coronation  of  the  Queen  at  Presburg,  June  25. 
The  Elector  of  Bavaria  crowned  King  of  Bohemia. 

1742.  The  Elector  of  Bavaria  elected  Emperor;  crowned  at 
Frankfort,  February  12,  with  the  title  of  Charles  VII. 

1743.  Bohemia  recovered  by  Austria. 

Maria  Theresa  crowned  Queen  of  Bohemia  at  Prague, 
May  12. 

1744.  France  declares  war  against  Great  Britain  and  Austria. 


412  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

1745.  Death  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VII.,  at  Munich,  January  20. 
Francis  Stephen,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  husband  of  Maria 
Theresa,  elected  Emperor  September  13 ;  crowned  at 
Frankfort,  with  the  title  of  Francis  I.,  October  4. 

1748.  Treaty  of  peace  signed  at  Aix  la  Chapelle,  by  France, 
England,  Holland,  Spain,  Austria  and  Sardinia. 

1757.  Grand  Confederacy  against  Frederick  the  Great,  King  of 
Prussia. 

Breaking  out  of  the  Seven  Years  War. 
Prague  besieged  by  the  Prussians  under  Frederick. 
Victory  of  Kolin,   won  by  the  Austrians,   under  Field- 
Marshal  Daun.     Relief  of  Prague,  May  14. 

1758.  Victory  of  Hochkirchen,  won  by  Daun  over  the  Prus- 
sians. 

1759.  Frederick  totally  defeated  by  the  Russians,  under  Solti- 
koff,  and  the  Austrians,  under  Loudon,  August  12. 

1760.  The  war  carried  into  Brandenburgh. 
Berlin  taken  by  the  Austrians  and  Russians. 
Archduke  Joseph  married  !  to  Isabella  of  Parma. 

1762.  Revolution  in  Russia.  Peter  III.  deposed  ;  his  wife, 
Catharine  II.,  placed  on  the  throne. 

1763.  Termination  of  the  Seven  Years  War. 

Treaty  of  peace  between  Austria  and  Prussia,  signed  at 
Hubertsburgh,  February  5. 

1764.  Archduke  Joseph  elected  King  of  the  Romans. 

1765.  Archduke  Joseph  married  2  to  Josepha  of  Bavaria. 
Death  of  the  Emperor  Francis  I.,  August  IS. 
Archduke  Joseph  crowned  Emperor. 

Archduke  Leopold  made  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany. 
1770.     Marriage  of  the  Archduchess   Marie  Antoinette   and  the 

Dauphin  of  France. 
1772.     The  partition  of  Poland  agreed  upon  by  Prussia.  Austria 

and  Russia.  Austria's  share  being  a  large  part  oi  southern 

Poland,  which  was  annexed  under  the  names  of  Galicia 

and  Lodomeria. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  413 

1778.     France  declares  in  favor  of  the  American  Colonies. 

The  Austrian  Court  refuses  to  receive  the  American  diplo- 
matic agents,  and  prohibits  all  commerce  between  the 
Netherlands  and  the  revolting  Colonies. 

1780.  Visit  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  to  Catharine  II.  of  Russia. 
Death  of  the  Empress  Maria  Theresa,  November  29.  Her 
forty  years'  reign  is  considered  the  most  glorious  period  in 
the  history  of  Austria.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  she  suc- 
ceeded to  dominions  divided  within  and  threatened  from 
all  sides  without ;  with  an  empty  treasury,  a  depleted 
army,  food  alarmingly  scarce,  a  ministry  devoid  of  men 
of  ability,  and  the  Imperial  sceptre  lost  to  her  house  for 
the  first  time  in  three  hundred  years.  At  her  death  she 
left  her  son  already  Emperor,  and  in  undisputed  possession 
of  a  vast,  prosperous  and  united  State.  By  her  husband, 
Francis  Stephen,  Duke  of  Lorraine — the  Emperor  Francis 
I. — she  left  four  sons  and  five  daughters.  Joseph  and  Leo- 
pold both  succeeded  ;  Ferdinand  became  Governor  of  Lom- 
bardy  and  Duke  of  Modena ;  Maximilian  was  Grand  Mas- 
ter of  the  Teutonic  Order. 

JOSEPH  II.,  1780-1790,  son  of  the  Empress  Maria  Theresa  and 
the  Emperor  Francis  I. 

1781.  Edict  of  Toleration,  securing  freedom  of  religious  belief 
to  all  denominations. 

1782.  Visit  of  Pope  Pius  VI.,  to  remonstrate  with  Joseph  regard- 
ing his  reforms. 

1786.     Death  of  Frederick  the  Great. 

1787-1790.     Revolution  in  the  Netherlands. 

Successful  campaigns  against  the  Turks.  Brilliant  vic- 
tories won  by  Marshal  Loudon. 

1789.  Outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution. 

1790.  Disturbances  in  Hungary. 

Death  of  the  Emperor  Joseph,  February  20. 

Joseph's  career  was  full  of  disappointments.     His  great 


414  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

schemes  of  reform  were  ruined  by  his  own  ill-judgment, 
obstinacy  and  precipitancy  in  carrying  them  out ;  and  one 
after  another  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  them  all.  By  his 
wives,  Isabella  of  Parma  and  Josepha  of  Bavaria,  he  left 
no  issue. 

LEOPOLD    II.,   1790-1792,  second  son  of   Maria  Theresa  and 
Francis  I. 

1790.  Leopold  crowned  Emperor,  October  9. 
Crowned  King  of  Hungary,  November  15. 

1791.  Recovery  of  the  Netherlands. 

1792.  Death  of  the  Emperor  Leopold  II.,  March  1. 
Leopold,  in  the  course  of  his  short  reign,  had  succeeded  in 
restoring  peace  to  his  distracted  dominions,  and  had  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  Prussia  against  France.  By  his  wife, 
Maria  Louisa  of  Spain,  Leopold  left  fourteen  children — ten 
sons  and  four  daughters.     Francis,  the  eldest  son,  succeeded. 

FRANCIS  II.,  1792-1S35,  son  of  Leopold  II.  and  Maria  Louisa 
of  Spain. 

1792.  France  declares  war  against  Austria,  April  20. 
Francis  crowned  Emperor  at  Frankfort.  July  14. 

The  Tuileries  captured  and  Louis  XVI.  deposed  and  im- 
prisoned, August  10. 

Royalty  abolished  and  the  Republic  proclaimed  in  France, 
September  21. 

1793.  Louis  XVI.  guillotined,  January  21. 

Grand  alliance  of  the  European  Powers  against  France. 
Marie  Antoinette  guillotined,  October  16. 
Second  partition  of  Poland. 
1791.     Kosciusko  closes  the   gates  of   Cracow   and  declares  the 
insurrection,  March  3. 

Kosciusko  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  by  the  Russians,  at 
Maccowice,  October  4. 

Battle  of  Fleurus.  The  Austrians,  under  Prince  Coburg, 
badl  v  defeated  by  the  French  under  General  Jourdan  June  26. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  415 

1795.  Death  of  Robespierre,  July  27. 

Prussia  enters  into  a  treaty  of  peace  "with  France. 

Battle  of    Loano.     Great  victory  of   the   French,  under 

Massena,  over  the  Austrians,  November  23. 

1796.  Triumphant  campaign  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  in  Italy. 
Victories  of  the  Austrians,  under  Archduke  Charles,  on 
the  Rhine. 

1797.  Peace  of  Campo  Formio  concluded  between  France  and 
Austria,  October  17. 

1799.  Second  European  alliance  against  France. 
Napoleon  proclaimed  First  Consul,  November  9. 

1800.  Napoleon  crosses  the  Alps  and  wins  the  victory  of  Marengo, 
June  14. 

Battle  of  Hohenlinden.     The  French  win  a  decisive  vic- 
tory over  the  Austrians,  December  3. 

1801.  Peace  of  Luneville  concluded  between  France  and  Aus- 
tria, February  9. 

1803.  Fresh  outbreak  of  hostilities  between  France  and  England 
in  May. 

1804.  Napoleon  proclaimed  Emperor,  May  18. 

The  Emperor  Francis  II.   assumes  the  title  of  Emperor 
of  Austria  (Francis  I.),  August  11. 

1805.  Fresh  alliance  between  the  European  Powers  against  France. 
Surrender  of  the  Austrian  forces,  under  General  Mack,  at 
L'lm,  to  Napoleon,  October  20. 

Napoleon  enters  Vienna,  November  13. 

Battle    of    Austerlitz.      The    Allies    totally    defeated    by 

Napoleon,  December  2. 

The  Peace  of   Presburg  concluded  between  Austria    and 

France,  December  26. 

1806.  The  Confederation  of  the  Rhine  (Rheinbund). 

Francis  IT.  abdicates  as  German  Emperor,  August  6.    The 
end  of  tbe  Holy  Roman  Empire. 
1808.     A  decree  published  by  the  Austrian  Government,  institut- 
ing a  landicehr,  or  militia,  by  conscription,  in  June. 


416  VIENNA  AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

1809.  Fresh  outbreak  of  hostilities  between  Austria  and  France. 
Rising  in  Tyrol  against  the  French,  headed  by  Andreas  Hofer 
Battle  of  Eckmiihl.  Archduke  Charles  completely  de- 
feated by  Napoleon,  April  20. 

Battle  of   Ratisbon.      Napoleon  again   defeats   the   Aus- 

trians,  April  23. 

Napoleon's  second  occupation  of  Vienna,  May  12. 

Battle  of  Aspern  ;    great  victory,  won  by  the  Austrians, 

under  Archduke  Charles,  over  Napoleon,  close  to  Vienna, 

May  21-22. 

Battle  of  Wagram.     The  Austrians  completely  defeated, 

July  5-6. 

Fresh  outbreak  in  Tyrol. 

Peace  of  Vienna  concluded,  October  14. 

1810.  Prince  Clement  Metternich  becomes  Chancellor  of  the 
Empire  and  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs. 

French  victories  in  Tyrol.    Andreas  Hofer  court-martialed 
and  shot,  February  20v. 

Marriage  of  Napoleon  and  the  Archduchess  Marie  Louise, 
March  17. 

1811.  Birth  of  Napoleon,  King  of  Rome. 

1812.  Treaty  of  alliance  between  Austria,  Russia,  Prussia  and 
Great  Britain,  and  declaration  of  war  against  France, 
August  11. 

Successes  of  the  Allies  at  Kulm,  Jauer  and  elsewhere. 
1814.     The  Allies  enter  Paris,  March  31. 

Abdication  of  Napoleon,  April  4. 

Napoleon  retires  to  Elba,  April  20. 

Louis  XVIII.  makes  his  public  entry  into  Paris,  May  3. 

The  Peace  of  Paris,  May  30. 

Congress  of  Vienna  opened  on  November  3. 
1S15.     Napoleon  escapes  from  Elba,  February  26. 

"The  Hundred  Days."  March  20-June  29. 

Battle  of  Waterloo,  June  18  ;  final  overthrow  of  Napoleon. 
1816.     Napoleon  consigned  to  St.  Helena,  October  16. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  417 

1816.     The   "Holy   Alliance"   formed  between   Austria,    Russia 
and  Prussia. 

1821.     Death  of  Napoleon,  May  5. 

1830.     Revolution  in  France. 

Charles  X.  abdicates  in  favor  of  his  grandson,  the  Duke 
of  Bordeaux,  August  2. 

Louis  Philippe,  Duke  of  Orleans,  proclaimed  "King  of 
the  French,"  August  9. 

1832.     Death  of  the  Duke  of  Reichstadt,  July  22. 

1835.     Death  of  the  Emperor  Francis,  March  2. 

Francis  II.  (I.  of  Austria)  married  J  Elizabeth  of  Wurtem- 
berg,  1788  ;  2  Theresa  of  Naples,  1791 ;  3  Ludovica;  *  Char- 
lotte of  Bavaria,  1816.  He  left  by  his  second  wife,  Theresa 
of  Naples,  two  sons :  Ferdinand,  who  succeeded  him,  and 
Francis  Charles,  whose  eldest  son,  Francis  Joseph,  suc- 
ceeded his  uncle  Ferdinand  ;  and  three  daughters,the  eldest 
of  whom,  Marie  Louise,  married  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

FERDINAND  I.  (of  Austria),  1835-1848,  eldest  son  of  Francis  II. 
and  Theresa  of  Naples. 

1848.     Louis  Philippe  abdicates   in   favor  of  his  grandson,  the 
Count  of  Paris,  February. 
France  proclaims  the  Republic. 
Outbreak  of  the  revolution  in  Vienna,  March  13. 
Prince  Metternich  resigns  from  office,  March  17. 
Publication  of  the  first  Constitution,  April  25. 
The  Emperor  and  Court  remove  to  Innspruck,  May  17. 
Riots  in  Prague,  June  12-17. 

Opening  of  the  Constituent  Diet  in  Vienna,  June  26. 
Return  of  the  Emperor  to  Vienna,  August  8. 
Revolution  in  Hungary.    Kossuth  made  head  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  National  Defence,  September. 
Murder  of  Count  Latour,  October  6. 
Imperial  family  leave  Vienna,  October  7. 
Vienna  captured  by  the  Imperial  troops,  October  31. 
27 


418  VIENNA   AND  THE  VIENNESE. 

1S4S.     The  Emperor  Ferdinand  abdicates,  December  2. 

FRANCIS  JOSEPH,  sue.  1848,  son  of  Archduke  Francis  Charles 
and  Princess  Sophie  of  Bavaria. 

1849.     Final  defeat  of  the  Hungarian  revolutionists  at  Temesvar, 
August  8. 

1853.  Attempt  to  assassinate  the  Emperor. 

1854.  Marriage  of  the  Emperor  to  Princess  Elizabeth  of  Ba- 
varia, April  24. 

1S59.     Outbreak  of  hostilities  with  Sardinia,  May  20. 

Battle  of  Magenta;  the  Italians,  under  Garibaldi,  defeat 
the  Austrians,  June  4. 

Battle  of    Solferino;    the   Italians  again   defeat  the  Aus- 
trians, June  25. 

Treaty  of  peace  of  Villafranca,  July  11.     Austria    loses 
all  her  Italian  possessions  but  Venice. 

1860.     Promulgation  of  the  nevr  Constitution,  October  21. 

1866.  War  with  Prussia. 

Battle   of    Custozza;    the   Italians   defeated   by   the   Aus- 
trians, under  Archduke  Albert,  June  24. 
Battle  of   Konig<:ratz,  or  Sadowa;  completely 

defeated  by  the  Prussians.  July  3. 

Treaty  of  peace   signed    at   Prague,  August   23.     Austria 
resigns  Venice  and  withdraws  from  Italy. 
Hungary  granted  home  rule. 

1867.  The  Emperor  and  Empress  crowned  King  and  Queen  of 
Hungary  at  Pesth,  June  8. 

Execution  of  Archduke  Maximilian.  Emperor  of  Mexico. 

1873.     The  Great  Exhibition  held  at  Vienna. 

1SS9.     Suicide   of   Crown   Prince   Eudolph    at    Meyerling,   Jan- 
uary 30. 

1898.     Assassination  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth  at  Geneva.   Sep- 
tember 10. 

Celebration   of  the  fiftieth  anniversary   of  the   Emperor's 
accession. 


INDEX. 


Abrahamowicz,  Ritter  von,  presi- 
dent of  the  Austrian  House  of 
Representatives,  65. 

Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  91. 

Act  of  Confederation  of  the  Rhine, 
255. 

Adeli'ge  Casino  Club,  99. 

Albert  I.,  Emperor,  assassination 
of,  219. 

Albert  II.,  Emperor,  accession  of, 
220. 
persecutes  the  Jews,  22. 

Albert,  Archduke,  wins  the  bat- 
tle of  Custozza,  199. 
master  of  the  art  of  military 
strategy,  200. 

Albert,  Duke  of  Austria,  brother 
of  Emperor  Frederick  III.,  220. 

Albert  of  Sachsen-Teschen,  Duke, 
founder  of  the  Albertina,  82. 

Albertina,  the,  82. 

All  Souls'  Day,  manner  of  observ- 
ing, 292. 

Allgemeines  Krankenhaus,  352. 

Almonte,  General,  solicits  aid  of 
European  powers  to  establish  a 
monarchy  in  Mexico,  301. 

Amalienhof,  the,  276. 

Amedeus,  Duke  of  Aosta,  at  battle 
of  Custozza,  200. 

Andrassy,  Count  of,  frequents  the 
Ring,  115. 

Apple  hucksters,  134. 

Apples,  abundance  of,  23. 

Architectural     beauties     of    the 
city,  7. 
changes  in  the  city,  3. 

Architecture,  Viennese,  Madame 
de  Stael  on,  11. 

419 


Army,  Austrian,  origin  of,  194. 
composition     of     early, 

195. 
its  defects,  195. 
reorganization  of,  197. 
law  of  recruitment,  197. 
efficiency  of  the  cavalry, 

199. 
inferiority  of  the  infantry, 
199. 
museum,  205. 
Art  History  Collections,  70. 
Aspern,  battle  of,  257,  276. 
Astrology,    Wallensteiu's    belief 

in,  211. 
Augsburg  Gazette,  120. 
Augustin,  street  musician,  98. 
Augustiner  Kirche,  295. 
Aulic  Council,  222,  397  n. 
"  Ausgleich,"  the,  64,  387. 
Austerlitz,  battle  of,  254. 
Austrian  Courts,  240. 
Austrian  Museum  of  Art  and  In- 
dustry, 102. 
Austrian  soldier,  the,  bravery  of, 
194. 
at  Kceniggrsetz,  194. 
at  Solferino,  194. 
Austria's  future,  388. 
Avars,  Finno-Hun?arian  tribe,  in 

early  history  of  Austria,  215. 
Aviano,  Marco,  180. 

Bach,  Johann  Sebastian,  musical 
composer,  341. 

Badeni,  Count,  and  the  "Aus- 
gleich," 63. 

Ballet,  manner  of  production  of, 
96. 


420 


INDEX. 


Battle  of  Aspern,  257,  276. 
of  Austerlitz,  254. 
of  Custozza,  199. 
of  Eckmiihl,  257. 
of  Fleurus,  197. 
of  Koeniggrsetz,  194. 
of  Kolin,~2!»7. 
of  Liitzen,  206,  209. 
of  Solferino,  194. 
of  Wagram,  257. 
of  Waterloo,  263. 
of  Zenta,  206,  232. 
Bauerle,  Adolf,  dramatist,  112. 
Beethoven,  Ludwig  von,  early  re- 
cognition of  his  genius  by 
Mozart,  334. 
obstinacy  of,  as  a  child,  335. 
lack  of  sympathy    between, 

and  Haydn,  335. 
early  straggles  of,  336. 
his  love  affair  with  the  Count- 
ess Theresa  von  Brunswick, 
337. 
Baron  Tremout  and,  344. 
death  of,  346. 
Beethoven's  "Immortal  Beloved," 

339. 
Belvedere  Galleries,  86. 
Black  Bear,  tavern,  105. 
"  Blessing  of  the  Wolves,"  reli- 
gious custom,  292. 
Blue  Goat,  tavern,  105. 
Bohemia,    struggle    for    freedom 

and  political  status,  187,  38S. 
Bohemian  musicians,  134. 
Bookbinding,  specimens  of,  103. 
Brahms,  Johannes,  musical  direc- 
tor, 349. 
Brunswick,    Theresa     von,    and 

Beethoven,  337. 
Brvce,  James,  222,  256,  257. 
Buffon,  Georges  Louis  Leclercde, 

French  philosopher,  242. 
11  Bunch  of  Violets,"  painting,  83. 
Burg  Kapell,  the.  276. 
Burgthor,  the.  79.  275. 
Butler,    Colonel    Walter,     takes 
part    in    the    assassination   of 
Wallenstein,  210. 
"  Butter-roll,"  14S. 

Cabmen,  strike  of,  109. 

characteristics  of,  110. 
Cabs,  furnishings  of,  109. 


Cafe  Daum,  148. 
Cafe  de  1'Europe,  148. 
Cafes  Chantants,  97. 
Cafes,  great  number  of,  140. 

popularity  of,  146. 
Campo  Fornio,  peace  of,  254. 
Canova,   Antonio,  Italian   sculp- 
tor, 296. 
Caprara,  Count  Sylvanus,  180. 
"  Captive  Hare,"  painting,  84. 
Carlotta,    wife    of    Maximilian, 

Emperor  of  Mexico,  302. 
Carriages,  state,  78. 
Cathedral  of  St.  Stephan,  13. 
Central  Telegraph  Office,  37. 
Charlemagne    'Charles    I.),  Em- 
peror,  Austria  part  of  his  do- 
minions, 215. 
Charles    II..    Kintr  of   England, 
edict  of,  closing  coffee-houses, 
141. 
Charles  IV.,  Emperor,  introduces 
grape-vines    from      Burgundy, 
155. 
Charles  V.,  Emperor,  222. 
Charles   VI.,  Emperor,  fondness 
of,  fcr  music,  93. 
artistic  and  antiquarian  tastes 

of,  231. 
enforcement  of  court  etiquette 

during  reign  of,  233. 
marriage  and  children,  336. 
Charles  VII.,  Emperor,  Elector  of 

Bavaria.  220. 
Charles,  Archduke,  at  the  battle 
of  Eckmiihl,  257. 
defeats  Napoleon  at  Aspern, 
276. 
Charles,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  178, 

298. 
Christmas    Eve    in    the    Hoher- 

Markt,  24. 
Ch Tomographic      art,    birth     of, 

US. 
Church  music,  311. 
Churches,  Aimustines.  295,  311. 
Capuchins.  226.  229.  298, 
Maria  Stiegen,  7,  36. 
Minorites,  312. 
St.  Ulric,  226. 
Votif,  42. 
Civic  Arsenal,  25. 
Claudia  of  Tyrol.  Fm press,  fond- 
ness of.  for  music.  93, 


INDEX. 


421 


Clesel,  Cardinal,  adviser  to  Em- 
peror Matthias  I.,  224. 
Coburg,  Prince  of,  197. 
Coffee,  introduction  of  use  of,  into 

Vienna,  141. 
Coffee-houses,   first,   in    London, 
140. 
in  Marseilles,  140. 
Coffins,  display  of,  in  windows, 

135. 
Collot,  Jacques,  artist,  84. 
Commissionaires,  licensed,  14. 
Congress  of  Vienna,  260,  380. 
Constitution,  newspaper,  first  ap- 
pearance of,  120. 
Cornelius,    Peter    von,     painter, 

340. 
Corpus  Christi,  Feast  of,  presence 
of   reigning    sovereign    in 
procession,  228. 
ceremonies    attending    cele- 
bration of,  281. 
Corvinus,  Matthias,  King  of  Hun- 
gary, compares  Vienna  to 
a  garden,  81. 
captures  Vienna,  221. 
Court  etiquette,  during  reign  of 
Charles  VI.,  233. 
under  Joseph  II.,  240. 
under     Maria     Theresa, 
239. 
Criminals,    condemned,    ancient 

customs  in  treatment  of,  364. 
Cucchiari,     Italian    general,    at 

battle  of  Custozza,  199. 
Custozza,  battle  of,  199. 
Czernin,    Count,  picture   gallery 
of,  86. 

"  D  mce     of    Death,"    painting, 

85. 
Daniel  of  Lodomeria,  186. 
Danube,  the,  185. 

a  military  route,  184. 
a  highway  for  commerce,  185. 
Daun,    General    Leopold   Joseph 
Maria  von,  defeats    Fred- 
erick the  Great  at  Kolin, 
297. 
gratitude   of  Maria   Theresa 

to,  297. 
tomb  of,  296. 
De  Bombelles,  Charles-Ren^,  hus- 
band of  Marie  Louise,  383. 


De  la  Garde-Chambonas,  Count, 
account  of  a    visit   of,     to 
Schonbrunn,  380. 
author    of  Souvenirs  of  the 
Congress  of  Vienna,  260. 
De  Ligne,  Prince,  248,  251,  260. 
"Dead  Crow,"  painting,  84. 
Decorations,  personal,  absence  of, 

115. 
"  Defenestratio    Pragensis ,"   the, 

223. 
Delia   Rocca,  Italian  general,  at 

battle  of  Custozza,  199. 
Deutsche- Volks  Theatre,  70. 
Die  Gegenwart,  48,  50,  59. 
"  Divine    Comedy,"    copy  of,   in 

the  Imperial  Library,  27S. 
Dogs,  fashionable  breeds  of,  115. 
Door  tax.  137. 
Drill-ground,  193. 
Durando,  Italian  general,  at  battle 

of  Custozza,  199. 
Durazzo,  Jacques,  Austrian  am- 
bassador at  Venice,  82. 
Diirer,    Albrecht,    collection    of 

productions  by,  83. 
Dwarfs,  notable* wedding  of,  36. 

Eckrauhl,  battle  of,  257. 

Eger,  scene  of  the  assassination 

of  Wallenstein,  209. 
Eleanora  of  Mantua,  a  religious 
devote,  93. 
builds  the  Loretto  chapel,  22S. 
Elizabeth,    Empress,    an    expert 
horse-woman,  76. 
assassination  of,  387. 
repugnance  to  the  marriage 
of  the  Crown  Prince,  ^Q. 
Engraving  shops,  15. 
Erl.ich,    Fisher    von,    architect, 

231. 
Esterhazy  Keller,  152. 
Esterhazy,  Prince    Nicholas,  pa- 
tron of  Haydn,  326. 
Etienne,    M."  editor-in-chief    of 

New  Freie  Presse,  123. 
Eugene,  Prince  of  Savov,  at  the 
defeat    of    the    Turks    in 
16S3,  180. 
reli><  of,  206. 

public  services  of,  during 
prevalence  of  the  plague. 
231. 


3?< 


422 


INDEX. 


Eugene,  Prince  of  Savoy,  mili- 
tary talents  of,  232. 
statue  of,  275. 
Export  Academy,  103. 
Export  trade,  efforts  to  promote, 
103. 

Fabricius,      Philip,      attempted 

murder  of,  224. 
"  Feast  of  the  Rosary,"  painting, 

83. 
Feldmann,    Siegmund,     48,    50, 

59. 
Ferdinand  I.,  Emperor  of  Aus- 
tria, accession  of,  265. 
unfitness  to  govern,  265. 
grants  a  constitution,  273. 
lees  to  Innspruck,  273. 
abdicates,  274. 
Ferdinand    II.,   Emperor,    gives 
control   of  the   University 
of  Vienna  to  the  Jesuits,  44. 
dismisses  Wallenstein,  208. 
recalls  Wallenstein   to  com- 
mand the  Imperial  army, 
209. 
religious  devotions  of,  277. 
institutes  annual  pilgrimage 
to  the  estate  of  Herrnals, 
292. 
Ferguson,  James,  43. 
Ferstel,  Heinrich  von,  architect, 

42,  45. 
Financial  panic  (1873),  40. 
Fires,  manner  of  locating,  177. 
"Fire- Watch,"  station  of,  in  St. 

Stephan's  tower,  177. 
Fleurus;  battle  of,  197. 
Food,  good,  difficult  for  foreign- 
ers to  procure,  155. 
Fortifications,  destruction  of,  5. 
Fortune-teller,      adventure       of 
Duke  of  Richelieu  and  Count 
of  Zinzendorf  with.  100. 
Francis   I.,    Holv    Roman    Em- 
peror 220,  239. 
personal  traits  of,  299. 
tomb  of,  298. 
Francis    II.,    last    Holy  Roman 
Emperor,  accession  of,  253. 
his   disinclination  for  work, 

253. 
assumes  title  of  Emperor  of 
Austria,  254. 


Francis  II.,  joins  alliance  against 
France,  254. 
abdication  of,  255. 
death  of,  263. 

his  reputation  as  a  ruler,  264. 
monument  to,  276. 
Francis    Joseph,    Emperor,     at- 
tempted   assassination    of, 
43. 
popular  veneration  for,  279. 
succeeds  his  uncle,  274. 
"Frankfurt  sausages,"  134. 
Franz      Josephs      drill  -  ground, 

104. 
Franzens  Platz,  the,  276. 
Frederick    I.,    Barbarossa,    Em- 
peror, agreement  between,  and 
Henry  "  Jasomirgott,"  21'S. 
Frederick  II.,  Emperor,  44,  216. 
Frederick  III.,  Emperor,  221. 
Frederick   Augustus,    elector  of 

Saxony,  230. 
Frederick    II.,   the  Great,  King 
of  Prussia,  on  the  infallibility 
of  the  Pope,  27. 
French  language,  prevalent  use 

of,  106. 
Fruit  shops,  comparison  of,  with 

those  of  Paris,  135. 
Fuchs,  Joseph,  bandmaster,  94. 
Furst,  mimic,  V7. 

Galicia,  vicissitudes  of,  1S6. 
Gambetta,  M.,  115. 
Game,  cheapness  of,  23. 
Garde-Chambonas.  Comte  de  la, 
Souvenirs  of  the  Congress 
of  Vienna,  260. 
visits  the  King  of  Rome  at 
Sehonbrunn,  380. 
Gardens.  80. 

"  Gerard  de   Ronssillon,"  copies 
of,  in  the  Imperial  Library.  278. 
"  Gerusalemme        Conqnistata," 
copy   ot\    in   the   Imperial   Li- 
brary, 278. 
Girardin,  Emile  de,  inventor  of 

a  printing  press,  121. 
Glacis-Gruende,  the.  4. 
Glassware,  iridescent.  103. 
Gluci  and  H<iyJ)i,  331,  332. 
Gluck,     Christopher     Willibad, 
musical  composer,  330. 
j  Gold  Peacock,  tavern,  L05. 


INDEX. 


423 


Goldsmiths'  work,  specimens  of, 

102. 
Gordon,  John,  participates  in  the 
assassination    of    Wallenstein, 
210. 
Government  Printing  Office,  old, 

118. 
Graben,  the,  14. 
Grand  Hotel,  the,  99. 
Gustavus  II.,  Adolphus,  King  of 
Sweden,  invades    Austria, 
20S. 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Liitzen, 

206. 
relies  of,  206. 

"  Habsburg  lip,"  the,  93,  394. 

Haefner,  Leopold,  editor  of  the 
Constitution,  120. 

Hansen,  Christian  Fredrik,  ar- 
chitect, 56. 

Hares,  abundance  of,  23. 

Harrach,  Count,  picture  gallery 
of,  S6. 

Hasenauer,  Freiherr  von,  archi- 

Haweis,  H.  R.,  331,  332. 
Haydn,  Joseph,  birth  and  early 
training  of,  325. 
friendship  for  Mozart,  324. 
number  of  works,  326. 
last  davs  of,  327. 
death  of,  329. 
Heinrichshof,  the,  99. 
Henry  "  Jasornirgott,"  Duke   of 

Austria,  215. 
Henry    VII.    (of     Luxemburg), 

suspicious  death  of,  220. 
Hildegarde,  Saint,  Psalter  of,  in 

the  Imperial  Library,  278. 
Historical  Museum,  51. 
History   of   Architecture,    James 

Ferguson,  43,  80. 
Hof,  the,  25. 
Hof  burg,  the,  214,  275. 
H.»f  burg  Theatre,  53. 
Hofer,  Andreas,  Tyrolese  patriot, 

51,  97,  189. 
Hofgarten,  the,  79. 
"  Hof'opern     Orchester,"     excel- 
lence of,  96. 
Hoher-Markt,  the,  23. 
Holbein,    Hans    (the    younger), 

German  painter,  85. 


Holmes,  Edward,  316. 

Holy  Roman  Empire,  end  of,  '255. 

Horticultural    Society    building, 

102. 
Hotel  Imperial,  99. 
Hotels,  notable  names  of,  105. 
House  of  Detention,  357. 
Hucksters,  vegetable,  134. 
Hugo,  Victor,  poem,  "Napoleon 

II.,"  383. 
Humbert,  Prince,  participates  in 

battle  of  Custozza,  200. 
Hungary,  an  independent  mon- 
archy, 186. 
Maximilian  I.  assumes  title 

of  king  of,  221. 
granted  home  rule,  387. 
Hunyade,  John,  186. 
Hurst,  C.  B.,  consul-general,  104. 
Huss,   John,  religious   reformer, 

187. 

"II  Porno  d'Oro,"  notable  pro- 
duction of  opera  of.  92. 

Immaculate  Conception,  monu- 
ment commemorative  of  the 
dogma  of,  228. 

Imperial  Arsenal,  201. 
Court,  222. 
Library,  227. 
pawn  office,  370. 
stables,  75. 

"Incunabula"  in  Imperial  Li- 
brary, 278. 

In  Vienna  in  the  Mad  Year,  270, 
271. 

Industrial  Art  School,  103. 

Inhabitants,  character  of,  9. 

Inner  Burtrhof,  the,  276. 

Innocent  XIII.,  Pope,  206. 

Isabey,  paints  a  portrait  of  the 
little  King  of  Rome,  380. 

Italians,  proportion  of,  in  popula- 
tion of  Austria,  10. 

Ivory  carvings,  102. 

Jerome   of   Prague,   disciple    of 

Huss,  187. 
Jewish  family,  morality  of,  21. 
houses,   squalid   interior    of, 

19. 
money-lenders,  20. 
quarter,  17. 
second-hand  dealers,  18. 


424 


INDEX. 


Jewish  shops,  18. 

Jews,  emancipation  of,  22. 

proportion  of,  in  the  profes- 
sions, 21. 
Joseph  I.,  Emperor,  accession  of, 
229. 
dies  of  small-pox,  230. 
Joseph  II.,    Emperor,    accession 
of,  240. 
story  of  portrait  of,  12. 
adventure     in    the    Hoher- 

Markt,  24. 
treatment  of  Pope  Pius  VI., 

26. 
decrees  of,  relating  to  studies 
in  the  University    of    Vi- 
enna, 45. 
decree   of,    naming  the   Ger- 
man National  Theatre,  53. 
orders  sale  of  the  "  Feast  of 

the  Rosary,"  83. 
modifies       court       etiquette, 

240. 
promotes  industrial  interests 

of  Vienna,  240. 
prevents  increase  in  the  price 

of  meat,  241. 
travels  incognito,  242. 
visits  Buffon,  242. 
visits  Duke  of  Wurtemberg, 

243. 
abolishes  serfdom,  245. 
simple  habits  of,  246. 
private  sorrows  of,  249. 
death  of.  251. 
statue  of,  277. 
Josephine,  the  Empress,   aids  to 
bring  about  marriage  of  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte  to  Marie  Louise, 
258. 
"  Josephine,"  name  of  bell  in  St. 

Stephan's  tower,  177. 
Journalists'  Society,  130. 
Juosdonowich,  General,  197. 

Kaiserlichen,  the,  197. 
Kara-Mustapha,  Grand  Vizier  of 

Turkev,   besieges   Vienna, 

141. 
relies  of,  52,  79. 
Kellers,  152. 
Kelly,  Michael,  his  account   of 

the  first  production  of  "  Le 

Nozze  di  Figaro,''  313. 


Kelly,  Michael,  his  first  meeting 

with  Mozart,  321. 
Kceniggrsetz,  battle  of,  194. 
Kolin,  battle  of,  297. 
Kollenitz,  Cardinal,  53. 
Kolonicz,  Bishop  Leopold,  181. 
Kolowratring,  the,  99. 
Kuhn,  Baron,  199. 
Kiihn,  Dr.  Josef,  originator  of  the 

People's  Kitchen  Associations, 

365. 
Kulczycki,   Georges,  founder   of 

the  first  coffee-house  in  Vienna, 

141. 
Kuranda,  Antoine,  story  of,  113. 
Kursalon,  the,  100. 

Lampi,  portrait  painter,  342. 
Landsturm,  the,  198. 
Latin  Quarter,  49. 
Latour,  Count  Theodor  von,  as- 
sassination of,  33. 
"Laufende,"  transient  visitors  at 

cafes  or  wine-shops,  150. 
Laundry  girls,  134. 
Lecher,Pr.,  twelve-hour  speech 

of,  in  Parliament,  64. 
"  Leda   with    the  Swan,"   paint- 
ing, 83. 
Legend  of  the  "  Stock  im  Eisen," 
157. 
of  the  "White  Lady,"  280. 
"  Le  Nozze  di  Figaro,"  first  pro- 
duction of,  313. 
Leopold     L,    Emperor,    musical 
tastes  of,  92. 
and  the  siege  of  Vienna.  178. 
ingratitude  of,  to  John  Sobi- 

eski.  181. 
replaees      monument      com- 
memorative of  the  dogma 
of  the  Immaculate  Coneep 
fcion,  228. 
religious  devotions  of,  277. 
Leopold  II.,  Emperor,  short  reign 

of.  253. 
Leopold  the  Just.  44. 
Leslie,    Major    Walter,     partici- 
pates in  assassination  of  Wal- 
lenstein,  210. 
Libenyi,    Joseph,    assaults    Em- 
peror Francis  Joseph.  43. 
Lihussa,     Queen     of     Bohemia, 
relies  of,  205. 


INDEX. 


425 


Liechtenstein,  Count,  picture  gal- 
lery of,  86. 

Life  of  Haydn,  328. 

Life  of  Mozart,  316. 

Ligne,  Prince  de,  at  the  deathbed 
of  the  Emperor  Joseph  11., 
248,  and  the  Congress  of 
Vienna,  260,  261. 
epitaph  on  the  Emperor 
Joseph  II.,  251. 

Lindenau,  General,  257. 

Liquor-shops,  scarcity  of,  154. 

Liszt,  Franz,  Hungarian  musi- 
cian, 348. 

Literary  heroes,  veneration  shown 
by  Germany  for,  92. 

Lobkowitz  Palace,  86. 

Lobkowitz,  Prince  Wenceslaus 
Eusebius,  86. 

Lopez,  General,  betrays  Emperor 
Maximilian  of  Mexico,  306. 

Loretto  Chapel,  295. 

Lotteries,  public,  139. 

Lottery,  superstitious  belief  in, 
293. 

Loudon,  Marshal,  hat  of,  51. 

Louis  XVL,  King  of  France, 
declares  war  against  Austria, 
253. 

Louis  of  Baden,  margrave,  180. 

Louis  of  Brandenburg,  189. 

Luccheni,  assassin  of  Empress 
Elizabeth,  387. 

Luneville,  peace  of,  254. 

Liitzen,  battle  of,  209. 
relics  of,  206. 

V 

Mack,  General,  relic  of,  205. 
Magyars,  proportion  of,  in  popu- 
lation of  Austria,  10. 
Mail,  official  tampering  with,  2. 
Marbacher,  Erhard,  character  in 
the  legend  of  the  "  Stock  im 
Eisen,"  157. 
Marcus  Aurelius  Strasse,  25. 
Margaret  of  Austria,  189. 
Maria    Christina,    Archduchess, 

82,  206. 
Maria  Stiegen,  church  of,  archi- 
tectural features  of,  36. 
marriage  of  dwarfs  at,  36. 
Maria  Theresa,  accession  of,  238. 
enlarges  the    University  of 
Vienna,  45. 


Maria  Theresa,  devotion  to  her 
husband,  299. 
difficulties   encountered    bv, 

239. 
modifies  court  etiquette,  239. 
gratitude     of,     to     General 

Daun,  297. 
institutes    Order    of    Maria 

Theresa,  298. 
death  of,  300. 
monument  to,  75. 
tomb  of,  298. 
Marie  Louise,  Empress,  her  pos- 
session of  the  "  Habsburg 
lip  "  pleases  Napoleon,  93. 
at  Schonbrunn,  378. 
connection  with  Count  Neip- 

perg,  379,  383. 
learns  of  Napoleon's  escape 

from  Elba,  382. 
marries     Charles  -  Rene     de 

Bombelles,  383. 
tomb  of,  300. 
Mark  Twain,  64,  131. 
Markt     Platz,    inscription     con- 
cerning, 25. 
Martinitz,    Councilor,    attempted 

murder  of,  223. 
Martyrdom  of  an  Empress,  280. 
Mary  of  Burgundy,  221. 
Matrimonial  advertisements,  127. 

agencies,  127. 
Matthias  I.,  Emperor,  223. 
Matthias  II.    Emperor,  tomb  of, 

298. 
Maximilian  I.,  Emperor,  221. 
Maximilian,  Emperor  of  Mexico, 
42. 
departs  for  Mexico,  304. 
receives  oath  of  office,  303. 
execution  of,  307. 
relics  of,  78. 
tomb  of,  301. 
Maximilian  Platz,  42. 
Meerschaums,  carved,  103. 
Meinhard  III.,  189. 
Memoirs    of    the     Comte    de    la 

Garde,  381. 
Menger,  Professor,  63. 
Metestasio,  musical  composer,  94. 
Metternich,  Prince  Clement  Wen- 
zel,  2. 
on  the  condition  of  Austria 
in  1807,  254. 


426 


INDEX. 


Metternich,     Prince,     negotiates  ' 
marriage   of  Napoleon    to  J 
Marie  Louise,  258. 
on  the  Congress  of  Vienna, 

261. 
ascendency  over    Ferdinand 

I.,  265. 
endeavors  to  alienate  Marie 
Louise  from  Napoleon,  379. 
resigns,  271. 
Metternich,    Princess,    interview 

of,  with  Josephine,  258. 
Michaelis  Platz,  the,  278. 
"  Milk-roll,"  148. 
Milk-wornen,  136. 
Miramon,  General,  solicits  aid  of 
European  powers  to  establish  a 
monarchy  in  Mexico,  301. 
Modern  improvements,  3. 
Montepulciano,    Bernard    di,  be- 
lieved to  have  poisoned  Henry 
VII.,  220. 
"  Moonlight      Sonata,"      Beeth- 
oven's, 340. 
Mozart,       Johann       Chrysostom 
Wolfgang  Amadeus,  birth 
and  childhood  of,  317. 
Beethoven    early   recognizes 

his  genius,  334. 
first   production   of  bis  "  Le 

Nozze  di  Figaro,"  313. 
marries     Constance     Weber, 

321. 
friendship  for  Haydn,  324. 
death  of,  323. 
Murska,  Mademoiselle,  312. 
Musical     Celebrities    of     Vienna, 

350. 
Musicians,  Bohemian,  134. 
Mux,    Greth,    character    in    the 
legend     of     the     "  Stock    im  j 
Eisen,"  158. 
Mux,   Martin,   character   in   the 
legend     of     the     "  Stock     im 
Eisen,"  159. 

Naples,  Queen  Caroline  of,  379. 
Napoleon    I.,    Emperor    of    the 
French,  93. 
attempted    assassination    of, 

377. 
makes    his    headquarters   at 

Schonbrunn,  231,  257,  375.  . 
proclaimed  Emperor,  254. 


Napoleon   I.,   in  Vienna   (1805), 
254. 

(1809),  257,  375. 
wins  battle  of  Austerlitz,254. 
defeated  at  Aspern,  257. 
marries    Marie    Louise,   259, 

378. 
Metternich  learns  of  his  es- 
cape from  Elba,  262. 
dies  at  St.  Helena,  383. 
Napoleon   II.    (Duke   of   Beich- 
stadtj,   "  King  of  Borne," 
birth  of,  259. 
dies  at  Schonbrunn,  383. 
portrait  of,  by  Isabey,  381. 
Napolecn  III.,  Emperor,  fondness 
of,  for  pheasants.  24. 
his  Mexican  policy,  301,  305. 
Native  wines,  number  of,  155. 
Natural  History  Museum,  70. 
Neumann,  Abbe,  inscription  by, 

on  statue  of  Joseph  II.,  277. 
Keue  Freie  Presse,  123. 
Neu  Description  of  Vienna,  44. 
Newspapers,   stamp    duty   upon, 

131. 
Notes,    currency,   destruction  of, 
119. 

O'Conor-Eccles,  C,  356. 
O'Donnel,  aide-ile-camp  to  Fran- 
cis Joseph,  43. 
Old  Age  Homes.  371. 
Old  Age  flumes  tti   Vienna,  372. 
Old  Rathhaus,  the,  35. 
Omnibuses,  113. 
Onion  hucksters,  134. 
Opera,  cost  of  bringing  out  a  new, 

94. 
Opera  House,  92. 

exterior  of,  94. 
interior  of,  95. 
number  of  employes  of,96 
''Opera  of  the  people,"  ^7. 
Order  of  Maria  Theresa,  institu 

tion  of.  298. 
Ostmark,  the,  215. 
Otakar   II..    King    of    Bohemia, 
fortifies  Vienna,  4. 
his   stru<rirle   with    the    Em 
peror  Rudolph.  219. 
Otho    II..    Emperor,   grants    the 
Ostmark  to  the  house  of  Babeu 
burg,  215. 


INDEX. 


427 


Outer  Burg  Platz,  275. 
Out-of-door  life,  133. 

Palace  of  Justice,  70. 
Parliament,    character   of   mem- 
bers of,  60. 
system  of  representation  in, 
62. 
Parliament  Houses,  architectural 
features  of,  56. 
arrangement  of  interior,  59. 
"  Parseval,"  copy  of,  in  the  Im- 
perial Library,  278. 
Passion  PJay,  292. 
Patin,  Dr.  Gui,  on  life  in  Vienna, 

9. 
Peace  of  Campo  Fornio,  254. 
of  Luneville,  254. 
of  Pressburg,  254. 
of  Vienna,  257. 
Pears,  abundance  of,  23. 
People's     Kitchen    Associations, 

365. 
Pezzl,  Jean,  44. 

Pfeiffer,  Madame  Ida,  MSS.  col-  | 
lected  by,  in  the  Imperial  Li- 
brary,  278. 
Pheasants,  abundance  of,  23. 
Photograph  shops,  15. 
Pius  VI.,  Pope,  visits  Vienna,  26.  ; 
Plague,  the,  231. 
Podiebrad,  George,  King  of  Bo- 

hernia,  221. 
Poles,  the,  in  Galicia,  187. 
Political  outlook  of  the  Empire, 
191. 
party  divisions,  61. 
Pork,  ommon  use  of,  134. 
Pork-merchants'    windows,   com- 
parison of,  with  those  of  Paris, 
134. 
Portier,  clever  trick  upon  a,  137. 
Portiers,  dress  of,  136. 
"  Poummerin,"  nickname  of  bell 

in  St.  Stephan's  tower,  177. 
"  Poustas,"    Hungarian    steppes, 

185. 
"  Powdered  sugar-roll,"  148. 
Prague,  siege  of,  297. 
Press  laws,  130. 

Press,    Vienna,   blackmail    prac- 
ticed bv,  125. 
censorship  of,  120,  130. 
development  of,  120. 


Press,  Vienna,  French  efforts  to 
influence,  123. 
influence  of,  124. 
Prussian    influence    on, 
124. 
Pressburg,  peace  of,  183,  254. 
P  reuse,  121. 
Prorok,  N.  E.,  191. 
Prussian  spy  system,  203. 

Races,  variety  of,  in  the  Austrian 
Empire,  190. 

"  Raisin-roll,"  148. 

Rathhaus,  the,  49. 
the  old,  35. 

Rathhaus  Park,  49. 

Reichshofrath,  the,  222. 

Reichstadt,  Duke  of.  See  Napo- 
leon II. 

Rembrandt,  Paul,  Dutch  painter, 
82. 

Restaurants,  classes  of,  155. 

Rheinbund,  the,  255. 

Richelieu,  Duke  of,  adventure  of, 
with  a  fortune-teller,  100. 

Richter,  Hans,  musical  director, 
96. 

Richter,  Joseph,  on  temperament 
of  the  Viennese,  8. 

Rieger,  Professor,  44. 

Ring,  the,  5,  113. 

Ring  Theatre,  burning  of  the,  41. 

Rittersaal,  the,  276. 

Rodich,  Baron,  199. 

Romans  in  early  history  of  Vi- 
enna, 215. 

Roumanians,  proportion  of,  in 
population  of  Austria,  10. 

Rudolph  I.,  Emperor,  founder  of 
the  house  of  Habsburg,  4. 
succeeds  Conrad  IV.,  217. 
anecdote  of,  217. 

Rudolph  II.,  Emperor,  83,  195. 

Rudolph  IV.,  Duke,  44,  176,  220. 

Rudolph,  Crown  Prince,  marries 
Princess  Stephanie,  384. 
mystery  of  his  death,  385. 

Rummel,  tutor  to  Joseph  L,  en- 
deavors to  circumvent  the 
Jesuits,  229. 

Ruthenians,  the,  186. 

Saeher-Masoch,  author  of  Golden 
Calf,  40. 


428 


INDEX. 


Sachs,  W.  von,  350. 

Saddles,  historic,  78. 

Saint  Hildegarde,  Psalter  of,  in 
the  Imperial  Library,  278. 

St.  Stephan,  cathedral  of,  13. 

St.  Stephan's   tower,  description 
of,  176. 
"  Fire- Watch  "  in,  177. 
historic  bell  in,  177. 
Count     Starhetn  berg's 
vigil   in,  during   siege 
of  Vienna,  178. 
view    oi     surrounding 
country   from   summit 
of,  183. 

Salm,  Prince  of,  180. 

Salvatorgasse,  36. 

Sandor,  Count  of,  111. 

Sausages,  1.S4. 

Schiller,     Johann      Christoph 
Friedrich  von,  poet,  92,  196. 

Schmidt,  Friedrich,  architect.  40. 

Schonborn,  Count,  picture  gallery 
of,  86. 

Sehonbrunn,  374. 

Schottenring,  the,  39. 

Schroeder,    Friedrich     Ludwig, 
theatrical  manager,  54. 

Schubert,  Franz  Peter,  composer, 
347. 

"  Schusterbub."  street  Arabs,  136. 

Schwarzenberg  Plate,  99. 

"  Schweizerhof/'  the,  276. 

Sedan-ohairs,  use  of,  113. 

Sellers,  Edith.  270,  367,  372. 

Sellier,  Joseph,  theatrical  mana- 
ger, 63. 

Seni,  Giovanni,  astrologer,  211. 

Sesti,  composer,  92. 

Shops,  odd  names  of,  105. 

Sicardsbtirgh,  architect,  04. 

Sina,  Baron,  palace  of,  25. 

Singer  Strasse,  118. 

Slavs,   proportion  of,  in  popula- 
tion of  Austria,  10. 

Slawata,     Councilor,     attempted 
murder  of,  223. 

Sleighs,  state.  78. 

Small-pox,  former  treatment  of, 
230. 

Sobieski,   James   Louis,    knight- 
hood conferred  upon,  ISO. 

Sobieski,  John  III.,  King  of  Po- 
land, 141,  178. 


Sobieski,    John,    ingratitude    of 

Leopold  I.  to,  181. 
Solferino,  battle  of,  194. 
"Spanish  Pveverence,"  the.  234. 
modified  by  Joseph  II., 

240. 
modified  bv  Maria  The- 
resa, 239. 
Spring  season  in  Vienna,  175. 
Stables,  Imperial,  75. 
Stadtpark,  99. 
Stael,     Madame,     on     Viennese 

architecture,  11. 
"  Stammgaste,"  habitues  of  cafes 

and  wine-shops,  150. 
Starhemberg,  Count  Ernest  Eii- 
di'_r'-r,  defends  Vienna  against 
the  Turks.  141,  178. 
Steinmetz,   General,   on   bravery 

of  Austrian  soldiers,  104. 
Stephana  Platz,  14. 
Steppes,  Hungarian,  185. 
Stock  Exchange,  30. 
"  Stock  im  Eisen,"  legend  of  the, 

157. 
Strauss,     Edward,     musical     di- 
rector, 351. 
Strauss,   Johann,    musical    com- 

poser, 
Street  Arahs.  136. 
cleaners,  108. 

paving,  excellence  of,  10S. 
placards,  130. 
scenes,  107. 
singers,    3. 
types,  134. 
Streets,  method  of  cleaning,  108. 
Stnben  Brucke,  99. 

Suess,  Professor. 
Siihuhaus,  the.  41. 
Sunday  in  Vienna,  300. 
Swieten,  Geraard  van,  physician, 

44. 
Symonds,  John  Addington,  "  . 

Tasso,     Torqnato,    Italian     epic 

poet,  278. 
Tegetthoff,     Admiral      Wilhelm 

von,  100,  307. 
Tenger,  Mariam.  339. 
Thausing,  M.,  director  of  the  Al- 

hertina.  S4. 
"  The  Tab-driver  Marquis."  plav 

of,  112. 


INDEX. 


429 


TJie  Holy  Roman  Empire,  James 

Bryce,  222,  256,  257. 
The  Life  of  Benvenuto  Cellini,  J. 

A.  Symonds,  73. 
The  Lives  of  Haydn  and  Mozart, 

Quarterly  Review,  326. 
The  Martyrdom  of  an  Empress, 

44. 
"  The  Theatre   that  is   near   the 

Bur?,"  54, 
Theseus,  statue  of,  79. 
Thirty    Years'    War,    origiu    of, 

225. 
Three  Rabbits,  tavern,  105. 
Thurn,  Count  Matthias,  223. 

besieges  Vienna,  226. 
Tinmen,  Slav,  134. 
Titian,  Venetian  painter,  83. 
Town  Hall,  49. 
Tremont,  Baron,  and  Beethoven, 

344. 
Trollope,  Frances,  her   estimate 
of  Francis  II.,  264. 
description  of  religious  cere- 
mony on  Maunday  Thurs- 
day, 285. 
on  passion  of  the  Viennese 

for  waltzing,  351. 
account  of  reception  held  by 
a     condemned     murderer, 
364. 
Tulips,   introduced  into   Vienna 

from  Holland,  81. 
Tyrol,  the,  189. 
Tyrolese  singers,  97. 
Tyrolese  songs,  189. 

Uchatius,  General,  career  of,  201. 
simplicity  of  living  quarters 

of,  202. 
invention  of  gun  by,  203. 
University  of  Vienna,  founding 
of,  44. 
architectural  features  of, 

45. 
dedication  of,  48. 
University  students,  characteris- 
tics of,  119. 

Van  der  Null,  architect,  94. 
Vegetable  shops,  comparison  of, 

with  those  of  Paris,  135. 
Vehese,    author    of  Austrian 

Courts,  240. 


Vienna      and      the     Austrians, 

Frances  Trollope,  264,  291. 
"  Vienna   bakeries,"    success  of, 

in  the  United  States,  63. 
"  Vienna  Chapel,"  the,  228. 
Vienna,  Congress  of,  260,  380. 
Vienna  Gazette,  120. 
Vienna,  besieged  by  Count  Mat- 
thias Thurn,  226. 
by  the  Swedes,  228. 
by  the  Turks,  178. 
in  possession  of  the  French, 

183. 
peace  of,  257. 
Vienna,  early  history  of,  215. 
trade  with  the  East,  216. 
Vienna  rolls,  147. 

varieties  of,  148. 
"Vienna  sausages,"  134. 
Viennese  men,  characteristics  of, 
117. 
women,     characteristics     of, 
117. 
"Ville,"  the  old  city,  6. 
Villemot,  137. 
Vincent,  J.  M.,  on  Austrian  press 

laws,  130. 
Violets,  festival  of  the,  81. 
Viragos,  market,  24. 
Volksgarten,  79. 
Von    Gentz,   Frederick,    on    the 

Congress  of  Vienna,  261. 
Von  Salm,  Nicholas,  223. 

Wagram,  battle  of,  257. 
Waiter,  evolution  of  the,  146. 
Wallenstein,  Albrecht  von,  Duke 
of  Friedland,   reorganizes- 
the  Imperial  army,  195. 
military  genius  of,  208. 
dismissed,  208. 
restored  to  power,  209. 
belief  of,  in  astrology,  211. 
assassinated,  211. 
War  Office,  27. 
Waring,   Colonel  George  E.,  on 

street  cleaning,  108. 
Waterloo,  battle  of,  263. 
Weber,  Aloysia,  her  love  affair 

with  Mozart,  321. 
Weber,  Constance,  her  marriage 

to  Mozart,  321. 
Wenceslaus,  King   of  Bohemia, 
187. 


430 


INDEX. 


White  Lady,  legend  of  the,  282. 
William,   Archduke,   palace    of, 

102. 
Wimpffen,  Countess  of,  38. 
Windischgratz,  Prince,  appointed 

military   governor  of    Vienna, 

272. 
Wine,  habitual  use  of,  155. 
Wine-shops,  151. 
Winter  fetes,  99. 
Wipplinger  Strasse,  35. 
"  Wirthshausbriider,"  habitues  of 

wine-shops,  150. 


Wollzeile,  the,  120. 
Wurtemburg,  Duke  of,  hospitali- 
ty ot;  to  Joseph  II.,  243. 
Wuttke,  Professor,  124. 

Zansr,  M.,  founder  of  the  Presse, 

121. 
Zeidlitz,  poet,  149. 
Zinzendorf,     Nikolaus     Ludwig, 

Count  of,  adventure  of,  100. 
Zizka,    John,     Hussite     leader, 

187. 


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