Countess Stuart D'Albany

“ Much has always been said of the difficulty met with by strangers in getting into society in any part of the Austrian dominions; but in no part of Europe have we ever heard of unknown persons dropping into society as if they fell from the clouds. In Bohemia, as in most other countries, letters of introduction are necessary, but even one high recommendation will open the doors of the élite of Prague,—that “crême de la crême” of which a popular authoress makes so much mention. It is true, if foreigners wish for sociability amongst the Bohemians, they will seek for it in vain ”

“ The customs of foreign countries always appear singular to strangers visiting them; and we shall not easily forget our own amazement—our first evening in the beau monde of Prague—at seeing ourselves surrounded by dowagers and ladies of a certain age only, not one young face visible. No young ladies sit in the same room with their elders in society, but immediately on arriving, and having made their curtsies to their hostess, they assemble in “the young ladies’ room,” never rejoining their chaperones till it is time to return home. ”

“ The absence of every human sound, and the deep silence which sleeps upon the valley, gives an imposing sense of awful repose, the mysterious influence of which is heightened by the magical effect of a wonderful echo, which, as it spreads round the Lake, rises by degrees until it dies away in a prolonged cadence, almost an octave higher than its original tone. ”

“ After the opinion commonly received in Great Britain of the great musical tastes of the Bohemians, the stranger on entering society at Prague feels infinite astonishment at the absence of all music from their entertainments except as an accompaniment to dancing, and a piano is nowhere to be found in the houses of the great but in the young ladies’ own boudoirs; from the apartments devoted to society, and the rooms of the elder ladies of families, all music is chasséed as an infliction. ”

“ In a magnificent salle in the centre of the house are sometimes held the prettiest and most tastefully arranged flower-shows the writer has ever seen—turf and moss so artistically laid down in beds over flower-pots that they are entirely concealed from view, producing the effect of all the wonders and beauties of nature springing from and growing out of the ground itself—a deception which might advantageously be copied in our own country. ”

“ The love of amusement amongst all classes is very great. The theatres, of which there are two, are always full; for a Bohemian would as little like to lose his play as his dinner. It is the old story—“Panem et Circenses.” In one of the theatres the performance is entirely in the Bohemian language, in the other in German. The latter is par excellence the theatre of the beau monde. ”

“ On arriving at the house, we found our host waiting to receive us in a “Lusthaus,” or pavilion, in front of the dwelling, and perched on the edge of the steep green slope which descended to the valley on the east: here we found prepared a sumptuous collation, the table groaning with venison, capons, turkeys, hams, tongues, and salamy, [2] garnished with a profusion of every description of fruit, besides whole hampers of grapes, and “grey-beards” of wine, each containing three to four bottles, all the production of the property of our “old man of the mountain.” ”

“ These ladies mix in the beau monde, as do the gayest of our own dames of fashion, dancing with a vigour rarely equalled by a London belle, or are to be seen nightly at the theatre in the box provided for them in the rules of their order, as laid down by their kind foundress: they never need a chaperone, as, whatever their age, once chanoinesses they cease to be mademoiselles, and if but seventeen they are styled “madame,” and considered fit to be a garde-dame to any unmarried lady, however much their senior. ”

“ The great spring fête day at Prague is the 16th of May, the fête of St. John Nepomuc, the patron-saint of Bohemia, who was thrown over the old bridge into the Moldau by order of a pagan king, for twice refusing to reveal the confession of his queen, who had become a convert to Christianity. Her husband had determined to become acquainted with the facts, and summoned her father-confessor to detail them to him, which his conception of duty would not permit him to do, though he was threatened with death if he persisted in refusing. ”

“ The early history of the Château of Ehrenhausen, like that of many others, is lost in antiquity. In 1400, however, we find that the Countess Tugga repaired the outer defences of the castle; at a later period it came into the possession of the princely family of Eggenberg, which played a conspicuous part in the glories of their country, two of the last princes, one Wolfgang, a general, and the other Rupricht, Ban of Croatia, and an admiral, are buried in a beautiful mausoleum on the west-side of the castle-hill, as shown in the sketch. ”

“ Across the road is the newest row of houses in Prague, built in the English style, with small street-doors instead of the porte cochère, which is universal in the other parts of the city. The streets in the Neu Stadt are wider, more airy, and far better paved than those of the old town. Here are the principal residences of the nobility; mansions which may well be termed palaces for their magnificence. ”

“ Even the point of view from which the above sketch was taken, is far above the ordinary haunts of man, at nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea, upon an eminence from which the deep valleys lie hid, far beneath the prospect of the eye, and are only caught here and there, when a turn in the railway opens the bright green line of their narrow gorges. ”

“ The lower classes are very hardy, as may be judged from a habit of the country-girls when over-heated with dancing, of rushing into the court and plunging their heads into a bucket of water, or under a pump, to cool themselves, and before they are well dry, returning to their partners,—a hardihood all the more remarkable from the enervating manner of their rearing as infants.
When the season is sufficiently advanced to render bathing agreeable, the bathing-house and swimming-school are refixed in the Moldau, and both ladies and gentlemen re-commence their lessons. ”

“ The Semmering divides the plain which extends from Vienna towards the south, from that of Gratz, in the centre of which is situated the town of the same name, the capital of Upper Styria. The railway which traverses this chain of mountains, is of a magnitude worthy of old Rome in its best days; the hills which it ascends are more than 5000 feet above the level of the sea ”

“ On descending the hill through the principal street the attention is often painfully drawn to the clanking of chains, and we find it proceeds from miserable beings who are employed in cutting wood for firing at the different houses—wood being the sole article of fuel consumed in Bohemia, where all rooms are heated by large china or iron stoves. ”

“ The inhabitants of these luxuriant hills are animated with the most genuine spirit of hospitality and kindness: a great part of them are proprietors, possessing a considerable extent of forest and vineyards, and agricultural lands in the valleys: they possess too that genuine character of frankness and independence, hospitality and liveliness, which is the type of the aboriginal race of a mountain land. ”

“ When the family of Eggenberg became extinct, Ehrenhausen passed into the family of Leslie, by a marriage of a co-heiress of the last prince with Anton, Count Leslie. The family of Leslie, which had become very powerful and illustrious in Austria, is descended from the noble family of Leslie—Barons of Balquhain, in Scotland—and had risen by their military talents, and other services, to the highest ranks of command in the Austrian service, and were created counts of the empire. ”

“ The poor people start in parties from their own villages with a bundle of food, and their holiday attire, daily performing so many miles of their pilgrimage, always in the greatest order, and often singing hymns on their way. ”

“ The only music having any charms for them are polkas and waltzes, and they are little worthy of having possessed amongst them for so many years of his life the great Mozart, who on one occasion was a victim to their dancing mania. ”

“ The climate being very severe in winter, all the houses are fitted up with double windows, with cushions laid between them, which in spring give place to plants and flowers; when summer sets in the outer frames are removed and jalousies are fixed in their stead. ”

“ The family of Attems is descended from, and connected with, some of the first princely houses, and noble families in the empire—namely, Eggenberg, Dittrichstein, Liechtenstein, Stabenberg and Trautmansdorf; and, through the Leslies, with a great number of the first nobility in Scotland, some of whom are descended by marriage from the royal family of Stuart. Trees of these descents drawn out for the Counts Leslie by the Lyon Office, in Scotland, are now in the possession of Count William Attems of Spielfeld, the head of this branch of the family of Attems. ”

“ The interior of this building forms an interesting little chapel, in the Italian style, of the 17th century; on each side of the altar on the walls of the chapel are two very good full-length portraits of the above named princes in the costume of their several periods. The entrance to the mausoleum is guarded by two colossal figures in armour, each cut out of a single block of stone eighteen feet in height, raised upon pedestals, upon which are sculptured bas reliefs in white marble, representing the principal actions—by land and sea—of the two princes. ”

“ The instructor of the female sex is, or was, a retired sergeant; the younger portion of the female community wear a peculiar bathing-dress, consisting of tunic and full trowsers fastened at the ankles, in which costume the old sergeant draws them through the water by a rope fastened under their arms and round their waist, while he walks on a platform beside them. ”

“ In descending this range of mountains, towards the south, the beautiful valley which stretches before us leads to the town of Bruck, where the river Mur turns at right angles towards the south, and receives the combined waters of the Schwarzau and Mütz, which have already met below the Semmering, and formed the stream which we had been hitherto following. We now accompany the river Mur down the rich and beautiful valley which leads to the plain of Gratz ”

“ Living was, before the insurrection of 1848, one-fourth cheaper than since that period, and the same may be said of servants’ wages. In Bohemia, as in most of the Germanic countries, servants are hired and paid by the month. ”

“ Elizabeth are vowed to the care of the sick, and the ground floor of their immense establishment is an entire hospital, none ever being known to be turned from their doors who stand in need of their aid. ”

“ The Ursuline nuns educate and feed hundreds of poor children, who but for their care would neither be able to read or write, and most probably be idle beggars at best, if not prowling thieves about the streets. Les Dames Anglaises, so called because their foundress was an English lady, is another educational establishment, and the best female servants in Prague are those brought up from their earliest youth under the eyes of these ladies ”

“ Servants and equipages are at their disposal; they receive a trifling pension, and are free to marry if they please, but of course then cease to be chanoinesses. All that is required of these fortunate ladies is to attend chapel every morning; on certain occasions to appear before their Abbess in a particular costume, consisting of a black mantle and a Marie Stuart hat with long white lace veils pendant from the sides, most graceful and becoming to the young and fair ”

“ A huge half-spherical iron cradle is suspended at the extremity of a rod of the same metal projecting from the wall, and furnished with several joints which allow of its being drawn in, or extended at pleasure to the distance of eight or ten feet over the court, and is placed on a level with the corridor of the second story which surrounds the court, and which is supported on pillars of Saxon style remarkable for their solidity and simplicity. ”

“ Though the chancel alone is in a finished state, it is amply large enough for every service of an archiepiscopal cathedral to a city of upwards of 180,000 inhabitants. There is a covered gallery communicating between the cathedral and the palace, to enable its inhabitants to attend Divine service without passing through the great court. ”