Vienna.
On arriving at Vienna, the postillions drive directly to the
Custom-house, where the baggage undergoes a very severe scrutiny, which
neither fair words nor money can mitigate. As nothing contraband was
found among our baggage, it was all carried directly to our lodgings,
except our books, which were retained to be examined at leisure, and were
not restored to us till some time after. The Empress has given strict
orders, that no books of impiety, lewdness, or immorality, shall be
allowed to enter her dominions, or be circulated among her subject; and
Mahomet himself dares as soon appear publicly at Vienna as any one of
them.
Unfortunately for us, Sir Robert Keith is lately gone to England, and
is not expected back for several months. We have reason to regret the
absence of so agreeable and so worthy a man; but every advantage we could
have received from him as a minister, has been supplied by his secretary,
Mr. Ernest, who has introduced us to the Count Degenfelt, ambassador from
the States-General. This gentleman furnished us with a list of the visits
proper to be made, and had the politeness to attend the D—— of H—— on
this grand tour.
The first day we waited on Prince Kaunitz, we were invited to dine, and
found a very numerous company at his house, many of whom, as I afterwards
understood, had been prepossessed in our favour, by the polite and
obliging letters which the Baron de Swieten had written from Berlin.
Some of the principal families are at their seats in the country, which
we should have more reason to regret, were it not for the politeness
and hospitality of the Count and Countess Thune, at whose house, or that
of their sister the Countess Walstein, there is an agreeable party every
evening; among whom is the Viscount de Laval, brother to the Marquis,
whom I had the honour of knowing at Berlin. The Viscount has been as far
north as Petersburg, and intends to make the tour of Italy before he
returns to France.
The city of Vienna, properly so called, is not of very great extent;
nor can it be enlarged, being limited by a strong fortification. This
town is very populous: It is thought to contain above seventy thousand
inhabitants. The streets in general are narrow, and the houses built
high. Some of the public buildings and palaces are magnificent; but they
appear externally to no great advantage, on account of the narrowness of
the streets. The chief are the Imperial Palace, the Library and Museum,
the palaces of the Princes Lichtenstein, Eugene, and some others, which I
know you will excuse me from enumerating or describing.
There is no great danger that Vienna will ever again be subjected to
the inconveniencies of a siege. Yet, in case the thing should happen, a
measure has been taken, which will prevent the necessity of destroying
the suburbs: No houses without the walls are allowed to be built nearer
to the glacis than six hundred yards; so that there is a circular field
of six hundred paces broad all around the town, which, exclusive of the
advantage above mentioned, has a very beautiful and salutary effect.
Beyond the plain, the suburbs are built.—They form a very extensive and
magnificent town of an irregularly circular form, containing within its
bosom a spacious field, which has for its centre the original town of
Vienna.
These magnificent suburbs, and the town together, are said to contain
above three hundred thousand inhabitants; yet the former are not near
so populous, in proportion to their size, as the town; because many
houses of the suburbs have extensive gardens belonging to them, and many
families, who live during the winter within the fortifications, pass the
summer months in the suburbs.
Monsieur de Breteuil, the French ambassador, lives there at present.
The Duke and I dined at his house a few days ago. This gentleman was
attached to the Duc de Choiseul, and had been appointed ambassador to
this court, in which character he was about to set out from Paris, when
that minister was dismissed by the late King of France; upon which M.
de Breteuil, instead of Vienna, was sent to Naples. But since the new
King’s accession, he has been established at the court for which he was
originally intended. He is a man of talents, and not calculated for a
situation in which talents have little or no room for exertion.
About a week after our arrival at Vienna, we had the honour of being
presented to the Emperor. The Count Degenfeldt accompanied us to the
palace between nine and ten in the morning. After walking a few minutes
in an adjoining room, we were conducted into that where the Emperor was
alone. His manner is affable, easy, and gracefully plain.
The same forenoon we drove to Schonbrun, a palace about a league from
Vienna, where the Empress resides at present. I had no small curiosity to
see the celebrated Maria Theresa, whose fortunes have interested Europe
for so many years. Her magnanimity in supporting the calamities to which
the early part of her life was exposed, and the moderation with which
she has borne prosperity, have secured to her universal approbation. She
also was alone when we were presented. She conversed for some time with
the D—— of H—— in an easy and cheerful manner, and behaved to all with an
affable dignity. She now possesses but small remains of that beauty for
which she was distinguished in her youth; but her countenance indicates
benevolence and good-humour. I had often heard of the scrupulous
etiquette of the Imperial court, but have found every thing directly
opposite to that account.
Prince Kaunitz having seen a young English gentleman scarcely fourteen
years of age, whom the D—— of H—— patronizes, and who has accompanied us
on this tour, the Prince desired that he also might be presented to the
Emperor and Empress, which was accordingly done, and they both received
him in the most gracious manner. I mention this circumstance as a strong
proof how far they are superior at this court to trifling punctilios,
and how greatly they have relaxed in ceremony since the accession of the
Lorrain family.
Two or three days after this, we were presented, at a full court, to the
two unmarried Arch-Duchesses, their sister the Princess Albert of Saxony,
and the Princess of Modena, who is married to the Emperor’s brother. The
last couple are lately arrived from Milan on a visit to the Empress.
The Imperial family are uncommonly well-looking, and have a very strong
resemblance to each other. They are all of a fair complexion, with
large blue eyes, and some of them, particularly the Arch-duke, are
distinguished by the thick lip so long remarked in the Austrian family.
The beautiful Queen of France is the handsomest of this family, only
because she is the youngest; some people think that her sister the
Princess Albert has still the advantage.
One of the unmarried Arch-duchesses, who formerly was thought the most
beautiful, has suffered considerably by the small-pox.—A lady of the
court told me, that, as soon as this princess understood what her disease
was, she called for a looking-glass, and with unaffected pleasantry
took leave of those features she had often heard praised, and which she
believed would be greatly changed before she should see them again. The
diminution which the small-pox has made in the beauty of this Princess,
has not in the smallest degree impaired her good-humour, or the essential
part of her character, which by every account is perfectly amiable.
When the King of Prussia saw his army defeated at Cunersdorf, after
he had written to the Queen that he was sure of victory; or when any
of those monarchs, of whom history gives examples, were dashed from
their thrones to a state of dependence or captivity, unquestionably it
required great strength of mind to bear such cruel reverses of fortune;
but perhaps it requires more in a woman, whose beauty is admired by one
half of the human race, and envied by the other, to support its loss with
equanimity in all the pride of youth.—If those veteran beauties, who
never had any thing but their faces to give them importance, whom we see
still withering on the stalk, and repining that they cannot retain the
bloom of May in the frost of December, had met with such an accident, it
would probably have killed them at once, and saved them many years of
despised existence.