Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap

Of some irriguous valley spread her store-
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
Luxuriant: Meanwhile murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake
That to the fringed bank, with myrtle crowned,
Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams;
The birds their choir apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves; while universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring,

The Fiend

Saw undelighted all delight, all kind
Of living creatures, new to sight and strange.
Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,
Godlike erect, with native honour clad
In naked majesty, seemed lords of all,
And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,
Severe, but in true filial freedom placed,
Whence true authority in men; though both
Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed;
For contemplation he, and valour formed,
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace;
He for God only, she for God in him.
His fair large front and eye sublime declared
Absolute rule: and hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
She, as a veil, down to the slender waist
Her unadorned golden tresses wore
Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved,
As the vine curls her tendrils; which implied
Subjection, but required with gentle sway.

We can only pause to notice one picture more-that concerning the greatest event in the history of our religious belief, the temptation of Eve, and consequent fall of man.

Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,
Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood
Half spied, so thick the roses blushing round
About her glowed; oft stooping to support
Each flower of tender stalk, whose head, though gay,
Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold,
Hung drooping unsustained.

[The Serpent] toward Eve
Addressed his way, not with indented wave
Prone on the ground, as since, but on his rear
Circular base of shining folds, that towered
Fold above fold a surging maze; his head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes,
With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect
Amid his circling spires, that on the grass
Floated redundant. Pleasing was his shape
And lovely never since of serpent kind
Lovelier:

Oft he bowed
Ilis turret crest and sleek enamelled neck,
Fawning, and licked the ground whereon she trod.
His gentle dumb expression turned at length
The eye of Eve to mark his play.

She follows him; the apple is tasted, and

Nature from her seat

Sighing, through all her works gave signs of woe
That all was lost!

We have not attempted to direct the spectator's eye to the peculiar beauties and sublimities of these grand paintings; for it is to this class of works that our remarks, in the commencement of this paper, on the necessity of deep, silent, and reverential investigation, most peculiarly apply. There is that in them which appeals at once to the common heart, as there should be in all great works, and as in the greatest there invariably is; but let us be well assured that no momentary or superficial examination will reveal to us the subtler delicacies of their beauty, the deeper emotions of the human interest they inspire, or the more elevating of the influences of that divine spirit which God seems to have bestowed upon some of his creatures, for the purpose of raising and purifying the rest, and which spirit, in our earthly language, is what men call genius.

THE GALETTE OR CHESTNUT CAKE. THE principal countries where the chestnut is employed as an important article of food are, the South of France and the North of Italy, where it serves, in a great measure, as a substitute for both the bread and potatoes of more northern nations. In these countries it becomes a matter of importance to preserve the chestnuts during winter, and, accordingly, great care is taken in gathering, keeping, and drying them, so as to ensure a constant supply. When the chestnuts are ripe, those that are to be preserved are collected every day from the ground on which they have fallen from the tree, and spread out in a dry, airy place, till the whole is gathered together. But as it is often a considerable time before the chestnuts are all ripe enough to fall from the tree, if the season be so far advanced as to be in danger of snow or heavy rains, after the fallen chestnuts have been collected and set on one side for drying, the tree is beaten with long poles, to knock off the remaining fruit. This operation is called gauler les châtaignes. But the fruit thus collected is only considered fit for immediate use, and the greater part of it is carried to the local market or sent to Paris. The husks of the chestnuts beaten off the trees being generally attached to the nuts, they are trodden off by peasants furnished with heavy sabots when the nuts are wanted for immediate use; but when the chestnuts are to be preserved a few months, they are generally kept in their husks in heaps in the open air, or in barrels of sand, which are actually sometimes sprinkled with water in very dry seasons, in order to preserve the full and plump appearance of the nuts. One of the modes of drying chestnuts in order to preserve them for several years is, to place those which have been collected from the ground on coarse riddles, sieves, or hurdles, in a dry, airy place, and afterwards to expose them to the sun; or to boil them for a quarter of an hour, and then dry them in an oven. In Simoasin and Périgord, where the chestnut flour is used for making the kind of cake called la galette, and the thick porridge called la polenta, which are the common food of the peasantry, the chestnuts are dried with smoke. A thin layer of nuts, which have been deprived of their outer husks, below with the husks and part of the wood of the tree, which is is laid on a kind of kiln pierced with holes, and a fire is made only permitted to smoulder, and is not suffered to burst into a flame. In a short time the chestnuts begin to sweat; that is, their superabundant moisture oozes out through their skins. The fire is then immediately extinguished, and the chestnuts are suffered to become quite cold. They are then thrown on one side, and a fresh layer is spread out and subjected to the same process. When a sufficient quantity of chestnuts is thus prepared to cover the floor of the kiln at least one foot deep, they are laid upon it, and a gentle fire is made below, which is gradually augmented during two or three days, and is then continued during nine or ten days, the chestnuts being regularly turned, like malt, till the nuts part readily from their skins; they are then put into sacks which have been previously wetted, and thrashed with sticks, or rubbed upon a large bench or table; after which they are winnowed, and are then ready for the mill. During the process of drying, the fire is watched night and day; and the under side of the floor of the kiln (or hurdles, if these have been used as a substitute for a paved floor) must be frequently swept, to clear it from the soot. The dust which escapes from the chestnuts when they are winnowed, together with the broken nuts, are carefully preserved for feeding cattle, and are called in France biscat. The most general modes of cooking chestnuts in France are, boiling them in water, either simply, with a little salt, or with leaves of celery, sage, or any herbs that may be approved of to give them a flavour; and roasting them, either in hot ashes or in a coffee-roaster. They are also occasionally roasted before the fire, or on a shovel, as in England; but when thus prepared, they are thought not so good. In whatever way the chestnuts are roasted, the French cooks always slit the skin of all except one; and when that cracks and flies off, they know that the rest are done. Chestnut flour is kept in casks, or in earthen bottles well corked: and it will remain good for years. La galette is a species of thick, flat cake, which is made without yeast, and baked on a kind of girdle or iron plate, or on a hot, flat stone. It is generally mixed with milk and a little salt, and is sometimes made richer by the addition of eggs and butter; and sometimes, when baked, it is covered with a rich custard before serving. La polenta is made by boiling the chestnut flour in water or milk, and continually stirring it, till it has become quite thick and will no longer stick to the fingers. When made with water, it is frequently eaten with milk in the manner that oatmeal porridge is in Scotland. Besides these modes of dressing

chestnuts, which are common in Italy as well as in France, many others might be mentioned, particularly a kind of bouilli called châtigna, which is made by boiling the entire chestnuts, after they have been dried and freed from their skins, in water, with a little salt, till they become soft, and then breaking and mixing them together like mashed potatoes; and a sweetmeat called marrons glacés, which is made by dipping the marrons into clarified sugar and then drying them, and which is common in the confectioners' shops in Paris.-Loudon's Arboretum.

PROVINCIAL RIVALRIES IN TRADE. THERE are not many things, we think, more edifying, more amusingly absurd, than a war of advertisements between two trading establishments. The utter indifference which one feels regarding their miserable squabbles contrasting so entertainingly with the earnestness of the disputants, who write as if the eyes of the world were on them, and as if that world took the deepest interest in their contemptible quarrels. It may be a little wicked or so, but we read these hostile tirades with great delight; and when we see one whose tone gives promise of eliciting a reply, look out for that reply with nearly as much curiosity and interest as we have looked for the appearance of a new "Waverley," in the palmy days of Scott. The amusing qualities which generally characterise these entertaining effusions are constant attempts at saying severe and cutting things, but which, in fact, are--at least in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred-the most stupid and pointless things imaginable, but more amusing still. It is clear, from the general tenor of such advertisements as those we speak of, that the writers think themselves amazingly clever fellows, and that they are planting dreadful hits on the characters of their antagonists. There is a pert, simpering confidence about the articles themselves, that leaves you in no doubt that such is the case. Another amusing point is the struggle to be concise in saying these cutting things; for there is a powerful antidote to discursiveness operating in such cases-every word has to be paid for. The great object, then, is concentration-to squeeze the galling insinuation, or biting sarcasm, into the smallest possible space; and the efforts to accomplish this are often entertainingly obvious. You see plainly that the struggle has been a desperate one, and that the writer's ingenuity has been sorely tried to pack the desiderated quantity of abuse or recrimination within the narrowest limits capable of holding it.

Belligerent advertisers, it may be observed, are greatly given to the use of italics. These are, of course, meant to give additional pungency to the severe things, but are as often employed to supply their place; the writer in such case perceiving that his words have no edge of their own, endeavours to give them one by putting them in the little sloping type. The styles adopted by hostile advertisers are of various character; sometimes it is the extremely civil and candid, accompanied by a calm, confident appeal to the public as to the justice of the advertiser's cause; sometimes it is the ironically jocular, or the delicately satirical; but the terms generally adopted are the severe and cutting, rendered more keen by the occasional use, as already hinted, of the pointed italic, which is intended to sink deep into the soul of the audacious offender. Occasionally, the advertisement recriminatory exhibits something of a classical or learned complexion. In such cases, some of the severer hits are conveyed in mysterious scraps of Latin this occurs generally where the offended and highly indignant advertiser happens to have a "learned clerk " to assist him, who furnishes the quotation, and rough-draughts the declaration of war, or indignant reply, as the case may be. The advertiser is at first a little startled at the Latin; but on its being translated to him by the learned writer, he is delighted with it, rubs his hands with great glee, and exclaims "Capital! that's a poser-they can't touch that." The "learned clerk" says nothing, but he smiles complacently, and looks uncommonly clever.

minded quote Shakspeare; we have seen the immortal bard lugged in to aid the cause of a coffee-grinder. The fierce and terrible quote Byron. In the latter case, the quotation is darkly mysterious; in the former, sublimely severe.

It is rather a curious sort of thing to mark the progress of a war of advertisements between two parties-say, a couple of highspirited grocers. At first their wipes at each other are very slight affairs, and are probably confined within half-a-dozen lines or so ; but by-and-by the ire of the belligerents waxes hotter and hotter, and with this increasing heat the angry advertisements gradually lengthen, until the combatants at last begin to hurl entire columns at each other's heads. This is what may be called heavy firingcannonading; the shorter articles with which the war commenced being musketry. The latter is usually maintained with great spirit by both sides-shot answering shot in rapid succession; the former, as might be expected, is of a less lively character, but more tremendous in its effects; it comes with solemn boom at lengthened intervals.

Sometimes it is difficult, or rather impossible, to perceive the cause of offence in the advertisement in which a war has originated; you can see nothing in it that you could suppose applicable to any particular individual; but, lo! all of a sudden up starts an indignant rival in trade, who declares that he has been hit, or at least aimed at, and forthwith concocts a rejoinder, which in due time appears. The rejoinder is, of course, replied to, and the war is commenced. There are other advertisements, again, that bear on the face of them a hostile intent-that exhibit, unequivocally, a design to demolish somebody; although you may not probably be able to make out who that somebody is.

We have elsewhere said, that we like much to meet with a promising advertisement; that is, one that has some provocatives in it, and is likely to elicit a reply from some quarter or other. Here, now, is one of this kind-one from which we should expect

some amusement :

"Turkey Figs!

"The Genuine Turkey Fig Warehouse,
"No. 119, Fig-lane.

"The advertiser, who has been long celebrated for this delicious fruit, begs to inform his friends, and the public generally, that he has just received to hand one of the most superb lots of figs that ever entered his premises. The fruit is in magnificent condition, and, having been bought under unprecedentedly advantageous circumstances, will be sold at lower rates, taking quality into The advertiser is account, than was ever known in the trade. for their fruit than he does; but let those who are gulled by this aware that there are some people in his line who name lower prices bait mark the description of goods that are put into their hands; if they do, they will hardly think that they have bought cheap. Both as regards quality and price, the advertiser bids defiance to competition.

"JOSEPH JENKINS."

We have said, that this is an advertisement from which we should expect some amusement. The italics look exceedingly promising, and we have no doubt will quickly bring out somebody -we shall have the some people on the field immediately. Let us watch the next paper. Here it is; and, lo! here is also the very thing we looked for :

"Turkey Figs!

"The True Turkey Fig Warehouse, "No. 97, Maccaroni-place. "Jolly and Jumper.

"For the erection of the new chain-bridge at Pesth, it has been found cheaper to have the iron-work cast in England, sent by water to Fiume or Trieste, and from thence by land to Pesth, than to have it manufactured either in Hungary, or in any other part of the Austrian dominions. Such is the advantage which commercial habits and scientific knowledge give over cheap labour. I have heard it stated that the iron of Hungary possesses qualities superior to that of any other part of Europe, except Sweden, for conversion into steel; yet it is so badly wrought that worse cutlery cannot exist than that of Hungary. Hungarian iron is quite unknown in the English market.

and

"Hungary," he adds, "manufactures scarcely anything; in her present position, as a country deficient in population and rich in soil, it would not be wise to attempt it, or indeed possible to accomplish it. The manufactures of Hungary at present are confined to coarse cloths, linens, leather, and the commonest articles of household use. Yet in Hungary there is not only great luxury in dress and personal ornament, but a growing taste for the comforts of convenient and elegant furniture; nor is the consumption of such articles confined to a few. It is true the peasant has little money to exchange for such matters; but that is only because there are no merchants to buy his wine and corn; while amongst the class of country gentlemen, and amongst the richer citizens, the demand is very considerable. The taste is decidedly in favour of everything English, so much so, indeed, that the Vienna manufacturers have English labels printed in England to affix to their own goods, and so deceive the purchasers. The articles from England, for which there would be the most immediate sale, it is difficult to enumerate; but all articles of cutlery, everything in iron or brass, as implements of husbandry, carriagesprings, locks, parts of furniture, &c., fine linen and cotton goods, woollen-stuffs and cloths, carpeting, saddlery, stationery, china, and fine earthenware, may be safely set down."

In return for our English goods, what has Hungary to offer? "Wool," says Mr. Paget, "is at present one of the chief articles of Hungarian commerce, chiefly because its exportation is untaxed. It is scarcely twenty years since the Merino sheep has been introduced into Hungary, and the quantity of fine wool now produced may be judged from the fact, that at the last Pesth fair there were no less than 80,000 centners offered for sale. The greater part of this wool is bought by the German merchants, and much of it is said to go ultimately to England, after having passed by land quite across Europe to Hamburg. Of late years, a few English merchants have made their appearance at the Pesth fairs, which are held four times in the year; but I have not yet heard of any wool being sent to England by the Danube and Black Sea. Besides the Merino wool, there is a considerable quantity of long coarse wool grown, which is chiefly sold for the manufacture of the thick white cloth worn by the peasants, and which might be found very serviceable for our carpet fabrics.

"A still more important article of Hungarian produce is corn, and it is one from which, it is to be hoped, England ere long, by the abolition of her corn-laws, will enable herself to derive the full benefit. At present, the quantity of grain annually produced in Hungary is reckoned at from sixty to eighty millions of Presburg metzen. This calculation, however, is of little importance, as at present scarcely any is grown for exportation; but, were a market once opened, it is beyond a doubt that the produce might be doubled or trebled without any difficulty. I have heard it stated by one well able to judge, that at the present time one quarter of the whole country is uncultivated, although the greater part of it is capable of furnishing the richest crops at a very slight cost. The wheat of Hungary is allowed to be of an excellent quality. Where the land has little or no value for other purposes, and the labour costs nothing, it is difficult to see how it can be produced anywhere at a cheaper rate than here. Nor do I think an increased demand would materially raise the price to the foreign consumer; as improvements in the art of cultivation, greater industry on the part of the cultivators, and increased facilities in the means of communication, would be sufficient to raise the profits of the grower, without increasing the cost to the

consumer.

"No corn-growing country has such means of communication prepared by nature as Hungary, and it requires only a demand for her productions to bring them into full use. The richest parts of the country are the Banat, the plains on either side the Theiss, the country north of the Maros, and the districts about the Save and Drave. Now every one of these rivers is navigable, so that it is impossible to conceive a country placed under more favourable circumstances than Hungary."

Mr. Paget speaks in high terms of the fruitfulness of the Hungarian Banat.

lying between the Theiss, Maros, and Danube, and containing the "The Banat is a district in the south-east corner of Hungary,

was.

three counties of Thorontál, Temesvár, and Krasso. It is not province: and it was not till the close of the last century that it one hundred years since the Turks were in possession of this was entirely free from Moslem incursion. Those who have visited any of the countries under the Ottoman rule will easily understand the wild and savage state in which this beautiful land then The philanthropic Joseph II. determined to render it equally populous and civilised with the rest of Hungary. From the flatness of a large portion of the surface, and from the quantity of rivers by which it is watered, immense morasses were formed, which tainted the air, and made it really then what some French writer now undeservedly calls it, 'le tombeau des étrangers.' To tempt settlers, the land was sold at exceedingly moderate prices; and Germans, Greeks, Turks, Servians, Wallacks, nay, even wilderness. The soil, a rich black loam, hitherto untouched by French and Italians, were brought over to people this luxuriant the plough, yielded the most extraordinary produce. Fortunes were rapidly made; and, at the present day, some of the wealthiest turers in the Banat. of the Hungarian gentry were, half a century ago, poor adven

"To those who have never lived in any but an old country, the soil of which is impoverished by the use of many ages, it is diffiproductive powers of a naturally good soil, deposited by swamps cult to believe what riches are hidden in untilled ground. The and rivers, when heightened by a climate more nearly tropical than temperate, are wonderful. peated year after year, on the same spots; the ground is only The same crops are here re

once turned up to receive the seed; a fallow is unknown; manure is never used, but is thrown away as injurious; and yet with the greatest care and labour in other places, I never saw such abundant produce as ill-treated unaided Nature here bestows upon her children. Except the olive and orange, there is scarcely a pronot know that I can enumerate all the kinds of crop raised; duct of Europe which does not thrive in the Banat. I do but, among others, are wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice, maize, flax, hemp, rape, sunflowers (for oil), tobacco of different kinds, wine, and silk,-nay, even cotton, tried as an experiment, is said to

have succeeded.

"All through Hungary, the state of agriculture, among the peasantry, is in a very primitive state. In the poorer parts, they allow the ground to fallow every other year, and sometimes manure it, though rarely. As for changing the crops, that is little attended to. Here they will continue year after year the same the agricultural instruments of a ruder form or more inefficiently thing, without its making any apparent difference. Nowhere are employed than in the Banat. The plough is generally a simple onehandled instrument, heavy, and ill-adapted for penetrating deeply into the soil. The fork is merely a branch of a tree, which happened to fork naturally, and which is peeled and sharpened for horses as soon as it is cut. use. The corn is rarely stacked, being commonly trodden out by In the Wallack villages, notwithstanding the capabilities of the soil, maize is almost the only crop cultivated. Barley is rarely found in any part of Hungary; and, strange to say, where so many horses are kept, horse-beans are formers, are completely neglected. The crop of hay is commonly unknown. Green crops, except among a few agricultural recut twice in a season. I do not remember ever to have seen irrigation practised, though there are few countries in which it would be productive of greater advantages.

that of Italy; but the winter, though less inclement than in the "The climate of the Banat, in summer, approaches nearly to rest of Hungary, is still too long and severe for the olive or the After the hottest day, the sun no sooner sets than a cool breeze orange. Even in summer, the nights are often intensely cold. rises, refreshing at first, but which becomes dangerous to those who are unprepared for it. The Hungarian never travels without his fur or sheep-skin coat; and the want of such a defence is often the cause of fever to the unsuspecting stranger."

We must however pass into Transylvania.

"A strange little country is this Transylvania! Very likely the reader never heard its name before, and yet some hundred years ago it was in close alliance with England; and, long before religious liberty, annual parliaments, payment of members, and the election of magistrates, were dreamed of amongst us, they were granted to Transylvania, by a solemn charter of their prince,

the Emperor of Austria. Here is this country on the very limits of European civilisation, yet possessing institutions and rights, for which the most civilised have not been thought sufficiently advanced.

"The distinctions and differences among the population of Hungary have offered us a singular spectacle enough, but the Transylvanians far outpass them in these matters, as they vary among themselves, not only in language, race, and religion, but in civil laws and political institutions. The Magyar, the Szekler, the Saxon, and the Wallack, have all their rights, but differing most materially in nature and extent from each other. The whole population of the country does not amount to more than two millions, yet they have among them four established religions,besides several others tolerated,-at least four languages, and I know not how many different national customs, prejudices, and modes of feeling."

Visiting the estate of one of the Transylvanian nobles, Mr. Paget met with a Scotchman ;-where, indeed, is there not one of our venturous northern countrymen to be found?

"On our return, we visited a small farm of about three hundred acres, which our host had laid out a year or two before, on the system of rotation crops, and which was under the management of a clever Scotch bailiff. We found the Scotchman, a giant specimen of his countrymen, hard at plough, grumbling of course, as we all do, when abroad, at everything foreign, from the very soil to the people it nourishes. He was very proud, however, to show us his barns, his stacks, his fat oxen, and his huge potatoes, one of which filled a large dish of itself; but he inveighed most bitterly against the laziness of the poor peasants. He already spoke a jumble of various languages, by means of which, and his heavy fists, he managed to make himself understood by Magyars, Wallacks, and Germans, with all of whom he had to do. A short time previously he had made rather too free a use of this latter organ; for, on some of the peasants attacking one of the baron's officers, to get at the wine he was distributing to them, the Scotchman rushed in, and made such good use of his strength, that some of them were laid up for months after. I could easily believe, when I saw him, that a blow from his arm was quite sufficient to annihilate a poor half-starved Wallack peasant.

Though the quantity of labour required by the Scotchman, and the expensive processes by which he cultivated, rendered it doubtful how far his farming would be profitable in the end, the baron confessed that the amount of produce was enormous, and that he received as much hay and corn from these three hundred acres, as he had formerly received from the fourteen thousand, of which his estate consists. Many of the oak woods through which we passed were, he said, almost useless. They furnished firewood, gall-nuts, acorns for the pigs, and as many casks as he required for his wine; but of net revenue he derived scarcely anything from them.

"About two thousand Merino sheep, which he had just purchased, as a commencement of a flock, promised something better. Beyond the first cost, the expense of shepherds, and the gathering of winter-keep, he might reckon what they brought in as clear profit, for the land they grazed on was of no other value to him. Should a corn-trade ever open with England, the case will alter; but at present the low price of wheat, and frequently the impossibility of disposing of it, render its cultivation a hazard and often a loss. With but little increase of expense, the baron reckoned he could graze ten thousand sheep, to which number he hoped shortly to increase his flock.

"As we approached the village, the baron led the way over some pretty good fences, to show us a field of clover, of which the second crop was just cut. This had been one of his earliest agricultural improvements; for in spite of the quantity of land he possesses, he was formerly often in absolute want of hay and straw for his own horses in winter. On many Transylvanian gentlemen's farms, it is no uncommon thing to hear of horses and cattle dying of starvation, if the winter is severe, or a few weeks longer than usual. This crop of clover had been looked upon, therefore, as a treasure; and conceive his disappointment to hear one morning, just as the first cutting was ready for the scythe, that the peasants had broken down the fences, turned all the cattle of the village into the field, and completely destroyed the whole crop. The starved cows devoured this novel luxury so greedily that they almost all died in consequence. Vexed as our friend was at this piece of malice, he was even more astonished the next day to hear that no less than thirty of these same peasants had commenced suits against him for having planted poisonous

herbs to kill their cattle! Ignorance is a sad enemy to improvement. "Baron W. assured us this was only one of a series of malicious injuries which he had brought on himself by his attempts to improve the state of his own property, and the condition of his peasantry. I have diminished the time of their labour,' he observed; I have lessened the amount of their payments; I have forbidden my stewards and others to have any peasant punished without a trial before the magistrates of the district, and instead of gratitude, I meet with nothing but injury from them; they look at all these attempts as so many signs of folly and weakness on my part.'

"On further inquiry we found the peasants of Transylvania in a far worse condition and much more ignorant than those of Hungary. When Maria Theresa forced the Urbarium on the nobles of Hungary, she published certain Regulations Punkte, founded on nearly the same principles, for the government of the peasants of Transylvania. Whether it was that these Punkle were not adapted to the state of the country, or whether its greater distance from the central power allowed the nobles to evade their adoption, it is certain they never obtained the same force as the Urbarium; nor have any succeeding attempts to improve their condition met with a better result. The Transylvanians say they are ready and anxious to do everything that is right and just, provided only it is done in a constitutional form, through the intervention of the Diet. In the mean time, the state of the peasantry is a crying evil, and one which, if not speedily remedied by the nobles, will be remedied without their consent, either by the government or by the people themselves; and I fear the sympathy of Europe will scarcely be in favour of those who oppose such a measure of justice."

The life of a country gentleman in Transylvania, though somewhat isolated by his distance from any large capital, and by the badness of the roads, is by no means without its pleasures. For the sportsman, a large stud of horses-few men have less than from ten to twenty,-every variety of game, from the boar and wolf to the snipe and partridge, and a boundless range for hunting over, are valuable aids for passing time. If a man likes public business, the county will readily choose him Vice Ispán, or magistrate; and the quarterly county meetings are a constant source of interest, and afford ample opportunity of exercising influence. If agriculture has any charms, some thousands of untilled acres offer abundant scope for farming, and promise a rich return for capital. If philanthropy has claims on his heart, the peasantry, who look up to him for almost everything, afford a fine scope for its effusions, and a certain reward if judiciously and continuously exercised.

"The houses of the richer nobles are large and roomy, and their establishments are conducted on a scale of some splendour. It is true that they are deficient in many things which we should consider absolute necessaries; but, on the other hand, they exhibit many luxuries which we should consider extravagant with twice their incomes. It is no uncommon thing, for instance, in a one-storied house with a thatched roof and an uncarpeted floor, to be shown into a bed-room where all the washing apparatus and toilet is of solid silver. It is an everyday occurrence in a house where tea and sugar are expensive luxuries, to sit down to a dinner of six or eight courses. Bare whitewashed walls and rich Vienna furniture; a lady decked in jewels which might dazzle a court, and a handmaid without shoes and stockings; a carriage and four splendid horses, with a coachman whose skin peeps out between his waistcoat and inexpressibles, are some of the anomalies which, thanks to restrictions on commerce, absence of communication, and a highly artificial civilisation in one part of the community, and great barbarism in the other, are still to be found in Transylvania. It is not, however, in such houses as the one in which we were visiting, that such anomalies are to be sought, but rather in those who boast themselves followers of the good old customs of the good old times.' But laugh as we young ones may at those old times,' it is not altogether without reason that the epithet of 'good' so pertinaciously clings to them. There is something so sincere and so simple in the manners of those times when an Englishman wishes to express his idea of them he calls them homely, and in that word he understands all that his heart feels to be dearest and best,-that, see them where we may, they have always something to attach and interest us.

"In some parts of Hungary, and in almost every part of Transylvania, but especially in that through which our wanderings have lately conducted us, a large quantity of gold is annually procured from the sand deposited by the rivers and brooks. There