JANUARY.

Now sprightly sack my Muse inspire,
To raise my strains two stories higher,
Than heretofore, that all may know it,
How I am an inspired poet !

Avant! small beer, whose very drinking
Makes verses bad, past all men's thinking.
Beer sads the heart, and ale* is muddy,
Which doth quite spoil a poet's study;
But give me sack, and then my lines
Run high and lofty as the times.
Nepenthes' self-the God's own drink;
Steponey, nor Westphalia skink
Do not come near it, nor yet dare
With the brave juice of sack compare.
Then fill me up a full brimm'd glass, &c.
MARCH.

Most part of this same month is Lent,
When store of fish used to be spent,
Which did preserve our cattles' breed,
And seamen bred for time of need.
But men are so much given to flesh,
Fish scarce will sell, or salt or fresh.
Of fishmongers, six halls in London
Was once, though now they're almost
undone.

For since that Sectaries abounded,
The selling fish has been confounded.
For they regard nor low nor high day,
At Christmas fast,-feast on Good Friday.
Yet some fish will be in request,
Shall lack small cost of being drest.
Women at meals take't a disgrace,
If for a dish they have not place,
Yet so the matter bring about,
Their husbands feed on carp and powt
Ill-pies instead of ell pies, crabs,
Codshead and gudgeon by drabs.

Young men the taste of maids shall like,
And souldiers have their fill of pike.
But all such fish as these are spent
At other times as well as Lent.
And he who hath nought else to eat,
He may be starved for want of meat.
SEPTEMBER.

Now the fishes called oysters,
Are in their operative moistures;
For now the month hath yet an R in't,
Astrologers do see so far in't, &c.
That they affirm, and that most truly,
They're better than in June and July,
Now orchards apples do bestow,
Fruits in every hedge do grow,
Which the boys do set and shale
In each woody, pleasant vale.
Chandlers trade now begets praise,
Who can make weeks, but not days.
What to others death doth give;
By melting of their grease, they live.
Now do tenants take great care
How their money they may spare
For their landlord's rent to pay,
Due upon St. Michael's day.
Which landlords have no sooner got,
But about the same doth trot.
Coach-makers', tailors' bills to pay,
That in short time all's fled away.
Thus doth money ebb and flow;
Only with poets it runs low.

They are not troubled with much losses,
For they bear about no crosses.

All the wealth which they desire

Is good sack how to acquire.

Or good claret; having both,

It is to them, meat, drink, and cloth.

Poor Robin. 1685.

The City of the Magyar; or, Hungary, and her Institutions. By Miss Pardoe. 3 vols.

THERE is much research, and much interesting information, in the present volumes; Miss Pardoe has been an industrious and inquisitive traveller, and has successfully studied the institutions of the country, and the customs and character of the people with whom she dwelt. The book partakes of the nature both of a history and of a book of travel: one portion of it pleases us by its graphic details and its amusing anecdotes ; another interests us by its researches into the political and statistical state of Hungary. Little that is important is overlooked, and much will be new, not only to those who have never resided in that singularly interesting part of Europe, but even to many persons who have visited it. It is, indeed, a book of sterling merit, and we are sorry that we can only present as extracts a few of the lighter anecdotes and descriptions, instead of an analysis of the weightier and more important subjects. We shall first extract an account of the Zigeuner* or Hungarian Gipsies, especially as they seem to differ considerably from the same singular people in our country.

"Nothing can be more wretched than their appearance. The men scantily covered with a single garment of woollen cloth, the women veiled rather than clad in rags and patches, and the children without a cover of any kind. Like the gipsies of England, the Zigeuners wander over the face of the land, voluntary outcasts. We had heard much of them, but as this was the only occasion in which we came upon one of the tribes during the whole of our journey, we had no oppor

tunity of observing in what particular they differed from those of our own country save physically, and here there was assuredly a marked difference; for the Zigeuners of Hungary are a much darker race, being little removed from black; they are also remarkably low in stature, thin, but well built, with sharp restless black eyes, teeth like ivory, and an outline of face inclining rather to that of the Jews. The young women are slight and graceful, but their exposure to every variation of climate, and the extremity of filth in which they live, wither them very soon, and in old age they are hideous and disgusting.

They exist in a sort of social commonwealth, not recognising marriage either as a sacrament or as a ceremony; the women and children being considered as the wives and offspring of the tribe generally. Their children wear no clothes until the age of ten or twelve years, and resemble imps rather than human beings, with their long matted hair flying in the wind, and their black limbs shining in the light. It has been ascertained that in 1417 upwards of 60,000 of these vagabonds infested Hungary and Transylvania, and the census taken by command of the Emperor Joseph in 1783, gave a return of 40,000 for Hungary only. This sovereign, as well as Maria Theresa, endeavoured to settle the wanderers both in Transylvania and the Banat, and appropriated lands to their use, but the mass preferred to continue their restless and vagabond lives. Instances have been known of a colony of Zigeuners building their miserable huts near a village, and even remaining for several years, but they have always eventually disappeared suddenly, without giving the slightest warning of their intention, leaving nothing behind but their miserable hovels, and the earthen vessels in which they had cooked their food. Leading a life of misrule among themselves, they were not very scrupulous regarding others, but their vices rarely grew into They neither rob nor murder,

crime.

GENT. MAG. VOL. XV.

4 I

"Before I quit the subject of the Nanság (an extraordinary marsh near Sopron), I must not omit to mention a very curious fact connected with it. About the middle of the last century a fisherman succeeded in capturing in one of its marshy forests (which is between 13 and 14,000 acres in extent), hidden among a tuft of canes, a wild boy of nine or ten years of age. He was perfectly naked, the nails of his fingers had grown into such a shape and size that they had become very formidable weapons, and his unkempt and matted hair was twisted about his head like a natural turban. He ran, swam, and leapt, with the greatest speed and dexterity, and dived and fished, and pursued toads and frogs, which were his favourite food, with all the skill of a water bird.

He was secured with great difficulty, and carried to Kapuvár, where he was baptised by the popular Hungarian name of Stephen. Many efforts were made to instruct him, but he appeared to be human only in appearance, and to be utterly incapable of every mental exertion. At speech he could not be brought to make the slightest effort, and continued to the last to express his wishes or feelings by a succession of shrill hissing sounds, bearing no affinity whatever to the intonations of the human voice. A constant watch was kept over him, but he, nevertheless, ultimately succeeded in evading the vigilance of the keeper, by springing from the window of the castle of Kapuvár, in which he was confined, into the lake beneath it, where he was soon lost to sight, and although a strict search was immediately instituted, he was irrecoverably lost. Nor was he ever again seen, save on one occasion, when he crossed the path of a sportsman who was crouching among the reeds on the watch for wild fowl; but who only obtained a transient glimpse of him as he dived beneath the water. This well-attested fact is inserted in the archives of Kapuvár, and no rational doubt can be entertained of its authority. Among the curiosities in the

Palace of Esterhazy, is a frightful wooden figure of this monster boy, in the act of devouring a frog, which was made during the period of his capture, and was shewn to us by the house-steward."

Miss Pardoe did not quit Hungary without visiting the princely palaces and estates of Prince Esterhazy. The lordly domains of Esterhazy and Eisen. stadt, and the feudal castle of Forchenstein, are all situated near the frontier, and are the most magnificent of the prince's numerous possessions. At Eisenstadt the conservatories are very magnificent. Miss Pardoe says

"We walked from one serre to another for upwards of an hour, amid an acre of flowers of every clime and color. We counted the varieties of camelias by scores, and of roses and geraniums by hundreds. Oranges and lemons bud, blossom, and fruit formed a mimic forest; while the lordly and graceful Palm towered in oriental pride above them, and the sweet violet and the cape jessamine carpeted which shed their cold clear spray on all many a spot beside the marble fountains, within the reach of their dancing waters. The heaths and ferns were one mass of variegated beauty, and in short there can be no doubt that the conservatories of Eisenstadt are a world's wonder."'*

Esterhazy is the principal seat of the prince. The whole establishment is described as regal, and the palace colossal in its proportions; while Forchenstein is the very beau ideal of a feudal fortress, the very embodiment of one's early and romantic dreams. In this castle the armoury would suffice to equip three or four regiments without any additional outlay, while the men at arms could as easily be found as the weapons. Prince Esterhazy is the only individual in the nation who has the jus gladii, the power of life and death, though the present possessor of the title has never exercised that privilege. The great lion of Forchenstein is the Schatz-Kamner. This vaulted gallery contains the immense family treasures, of which the costly diamonds worn in England by the princes form a part. The long gallery

is lined on either hand by glass cases, and within these are heaped gold and silver plates, jewelled vessels of every form and material; rich stuffs embroidered with pearls and gems; masses of opals, amethysts, and topaz, in the matrix; weapons, armour, and horse-gear, literally blazing with precious stones: and in short every variety of treasure which the imagination of man could collect. The collection of jewelled weapons, shields, and war-trappings was most amazing: We handled the ruby-hilted sword wielded by the unfortunate Louis at Mohaìs, the pocket knife of the Emperor Sigismund, the celebrated pearl

bridal vest of the Palatine Paul Esterhazy, upon whose ground of rose coloured damask is wrought a pattern of seed pearls, the centre of every flower being formed by long links of the precious beads, which hang loose, and are strung so closely as almost to conceal the material of the garment; the richly studded saddle cloth of the Vizier Mustapha, made captive by an Esterhazy on a hard-fought field; the coral rosary of Stephen Bathon ; gold brocaded vest of Mathias Corvinus, and that of John Sobiesky: also a rich brocade, a beautiful specimen of the needle-work of the seventeenth century.

the

"Much curiosity (says Miss Pardoe) exists in England with regard to the actual amount of the revenue of the Prince Esterhazy, whose very name suffices to excite interest; and, as far as my information goes, it may be relied on. Prince Esterhazy possesses in addition to his three palaces at Vienna, and his domain in Bohemia, one thirteenth part of the whole kingdom of Hungary. He has thirty-six estates, each containing from ten to twenty-four villages, which, together with an hundred square miles of forests, make collectively near 1,200 square miles, and Hungary covering a surface of 17,000, proves the position. Nor is this gigantic and overwhelming landed property his only source of revenue.

The number of his peasants

(here called subjects) amounting to 360,000, with all their habitations, a constant capital of 220,000 sheep, producing yearly 4000 cwt. of wool, of superior quality, remaining to be superadded; and yet, nevertheless, this colossal heritage, exceeding in extent the Grand Duchy of Modena, as well as several of the petty German states, does not carry his actual revenue higher than 150,000l. thus making the annual proceeds of the land average only sixpence an acre."

Miss Pardoe mentions the debt of the In some other parts of the work, Esterhazy family as amounting to two millions sterling. Now, supposing this to stand at only three per cent.

interest, that would be 60,000l. a year

to deduct, so that this enormous terri

torial mountain produces only a mouse

of annual worth to its Owner of

90,000l. a year, far inferior to the income of many of our nobility and commonalty. Miss P. says, that the possessions of this family increased to so gigantic an amount, that they excited the jealousy of the reigning dynasty, and it is affirmed that the Austrian government were by no means displeased, when the father of the present prince, by expending yearly millions in foreign countries, exhausted, in no mean degree, both his funds and his power.*

There is a good story (at p. 147, vol. 3,) of the old woman, Vas Fogu Baba, or the Iron Toothed, and her successful conflict with the Emperor Matthias Corvinus, which is, however, too long to give, and we therefore turn to another a little further on, illustrative of the clearness of intellect of the Hungarian priests.

"A friend was travelling through Hungary, and visited one of the fine chateaux of Prince Grassalkovitch, in which there is a museum of antiquities. The house steward chanced to be ill, and the librarian absent, and the priest of the village offered himself to the stranger, as cicerone, a courtesy of which he was naturally happy to take the advantage. The good Padre ac