VIENNA, AUSTRIA, _April 26, 1855_.
A ride of eighteen hours by rail from Prague, the Bohemian capital,
brought me to Vienna, the imperial city of Austria, passing through
Brunn, a town of some importance, leaving Austerlitz and its battle
ground on the left. A former visit to the places named, taking Iglau
and Czaslau en route to Prague, over much tedious and uninteresting
country, occupied five days; but by the aid of the iron horse the
journey is now accomplished in the time mentioned. I find the old city
quite unchanged; so unlike many of our American cities, where, on a
return visit, after a few years’ absence, one can scarcely recognise
the localities formerly familiar to the eye.
I arrived here in time for the festivals, at the close of the Holy
Week, and found the old Cathedral of St. Stephen’s filled with the
multitude as I had last seen it on the occasion of the annual departure
of the devotees or pilgrims to the mountain chapel of Maria Zell. It
seemed that only a brief interval had elapsed; but hundreds of those
whom I then saw have probably made the pilgrimage from which there is
no return, while I have been permitted, during the lapse of fourteen
years, to pass three similar annual festivals under Popes Gregory and
Pius, in Rome; another at the tomb of our Saviour, in Jerusalem; one
in Murcia, in Catholic Spain, and two in Havana. The altars here,
bedecked with natural plants and flowers, reminded me of a much greater
horticultural display on a similar occasion in Lima.
The new chapel has been erected in commemoration of the preservation
of the young Emperor from the hands of an assassin; and, on the
anniversary of his marriage, about a year since, a brilliant mass was
performed in presence of the imperial family. Notwithstanding the
attempt upon his life, he seems to have full confidence in the loyalty
of his people. I met him recently with an aide-de-camp only, walking
in the vicinity of the palace, and we saluted each other politely. I
met the mother of the emperor in the palace garden, in like manner,
with a lady of the court and a servant, and she also responded politely
to my civilities.
The empress, who is of the House of Bavaria, appears youthful, and
rather pretty. She is not yet nineteen years of age, and is much
esteemed by the public for her simplicity of manner.
On the occasion of the recent birth of a princess an amnesty was
granted to many prisoners.
The Prater, with its dense forestry, is the grand lounge, where
thousands may be seen on a fine day, and occasionally the cortege of
the Imperial family.
The trees are now in bloom, and the country wears a pretty appearance.
The police are very rigid; I found myself closely catechised at the
bureau, when I presented myself for an Aufenthalt’s Karte, or permit to
remain longer than six days.
The language of the people is corrupt German, but the educated classes
speak the language in its purity. The many tongues here spoken make it
a sort of Babel.
The Slavonians, who number sixteen millions, extending throughout
Bohemia, Illyria, and Dalmatia, and whose language is difficult, seem
to have the faculty of acquiring other languages; they are of the Czeck
race, one of the three families Mech, Lech, and Czeck, who occupy
Poland and Russia; and, although they are remote from the others, they
understand much that is said in conversation. The Hungarian or Magyar
language has not the slightest resemblance to the Slavonic or German,
being an eastern or Asiatic language, the Magyars having migrated from
Asia to Hungary about nine hundred years ago.
There is a vast deal to be seen in the capital of Austria. Its
amusements are abundant. The Strauss Band, so justly celebrated, gives
Sunday and holiday concerts in the Volks or People’s Garden.
Schönbrunn, the Imperial summer palace and grounds, is within a few
miles of the city.
The pretty neighboring village of Heitzing is overrun in summer by
denizens of the city.
The immense summer palace has one thousand and three hundred rooms.
I passed through fifty-two of the principal apartments, many newly
furnished with elegance and taste, and rich in historical and family
paintings, reminiscences of the legions of Napoleon, and of his son,
the young Duke of Reichstadt.
The park contains the largest menagerie or collection of wild animals,
and the best exhibition of rare birds I have seen in Europe, the
present emperor having a fondness for natural history. The vast
inclosures, of some acres, are of a circular form, radiating from the
centre, with walls, and barriers, and outbuildings for the winter,
heated to an African temperature, for the giraffes and other animals
that require it.
The glass summer-houses, resembling military barracks in size, contain
all the varieties of tropical vegetation.
Upon the summit of the hill, in the rear of the Park, stands the
Gloriette, a massive stone structure, three hundred feet long, and
sixty feet high, with columns; it is an Observatory, whence one gets a
good view of Vienna and the Danubian banks.
A favorite excursion is by rail to Laxenburg, the favorite summer
residence of the young Empress; she manifests, I think, good taste in
her selection, nature is so beautiful here; and shade and retirement
must be a great relief after the blaze and excitement of court life,
particularly for one who is remarkable for her quiet primitive manner,
and her fondness for fishing, so my guide informed me; her liege lord’s
passion is for the chase, which brings him out of his bed at four
o’clock in the morning.
The art of man has produced upon the level surface of the Park,
elevated mounds and islands, from the earth thrown out to form ponds
for fishing and sailing, in which ponds scores of neatly painted boats
are seen; grottoes are formed from heavy blocks of stone brought from
the mountain quarries. Upon a small island, called Franzenburg, the
miniature Ritterburg Castle is a perfect gem, with its castellated
walls and towers; it has several rooms adorned with horse and war
armor, and all the antique weapons of war artistically arranged;
coats of mail, and lances used in tournaments, etc.; the sculptured
oak-ceilings, three hundred or four hundred years old, the paintings,
furniture, decorations, marble statues and portraits of the Hapsburg
family, illuminated glass windows, cabinets of vases, relics of gold,
silver and precious stones, form quite a museum, and give a correct
idea of the grandeur and magnificence of the original.
The Viennese have their Baden, a place of summer resort for invalids,
and noted for its beautiful mountain scenery, and its valley, called
Helenenthal; but it cannot be compared favorably with the celebrated
Baden-Baden in any particular, aside from its sulphur waters, which
resemble those of Wiesbaden in smell and flavor. It lies twenty miles
from Vienna by rail, and is well worth a visit.
The great gala-day of the year is the 1st of May, when nobility and
plebeians, great and small, resort to the Prater, and is looked forward
to as the chief event of the season.
A sojourn of nearly a month will give me an opportunity of revisiting
much that I had seen formerly, and acquiring a better idea of the
peculiarities of the different races of mankind.