"because I do not yet esteem myself so perfect a master of our beautiful mother-tongue as to appear blameless before the rigid tribunal of Magyar literati."

The journey is limited, as may be seen by reference to a map, to the south-western and north-western provinces of Hungary; concerning which, the traveller gives us all his own personal associations, and some statistical information, avowedly extracted from Nazy's Notitia Statisticæ Regni Hungariæ; a work published at Buda, in 1828, and, as we believe, the best and latest authority upon such matters, whence, to German readers unacquainted with Latin, these extracts may be useful, though assuredly not what we look for from travellers. Of the numerous institutions for education, our author likewise gives some account, but adds little, except the names and praises of a few professors, to the information contained in an early number of this Journal ;* and the chief matters we have gleaned from his pages are, the existence of a native painter, bearing the strangelooking name of Czanczik, whose pictures are, we are assured, master-pieces of art, "that would do honour to the first Italian gallery;" and the vast size of the Höhle, or cave, of Agtelek, before which the Derbyshire-peek-caverns must hide their diminished heads. The explorer of this extensive natural or artificial excavation (it discovers traces of quarrying) is warned, it seems, of the magnitude and the peril of his enterprize by the sight of abundance of human bones, reported to be the remains of such of his predecessors as, being inadequately supplied with lights and guides, have perished in the labyrinthine grottos, unable to grope their way out. traveller and his party were more fortunate, escaping with life; but not having provided themselves with sufficient relays of torches, they were compelled, by their fears of sharing the fate of those unlucky predecessors, to leave many subterraneous halls or temples, as some of them are called, unvisited.

Our

But the most curious part of the book before us relates to the cholera, which seems to have created alarms as violent, fantastical and contradictory in Hungary, as it did at Paris, and as it is now doing in Spain, and various portions of South America formerly belonging to Spain. The extreme inconvenience occasioned to travellers passing near a district where any cholera cases were supposed to have occurred, together with the utter inefficiency of the regulations, as enforced, to prevent the communication of contagion, it contagious the cholera be, happily illustrates the administration of arbitrary power, by deputy, in remote provinces. We shall give a short extract or two from this part of the journey.

Ludvigh was making his way to the Bartfeld baths, near the Carpathian mountains, in search of health, when he was met by a rumour that the cholera had preceded him thither. The rumour was confirmed by estafettes scouring the country with physicians' prescriptions and quarantine decrees from government; and our tourist turned back

* No. V. p. 71.

towards Pesth from Leutschau, where the provincial authorities were assembled to arrange their precautions. Here he received a passport, proclaiming him free from cholera, and innocent of having even ventured within reach of the Asiatic scourge; and visiting baronesses and counts by the way, he passed through Eperies and Caschau as comfortably as though all Hungary had been entitled like him to clean bills of health. At the latter place he learned that the direct road to Pesth was shut up, and determined to go round by Osgyan, that road being still open.

"On the borders of the county of Torna, I was met by a dictatorial Meg kell állani (the Magyar form of Halt !). The driver, a Slovak, or Slavonian, did not understand the command, and whilst I was explaining to him that he must stop, three peasants had already beleaguered the carriage; asking, rudely enough, whether I had a passport. With a yes,' I produced the document. One of the peasants understood Latin: when he read that I came from Sáros, he, as well as his companions, assumed official dignity, and ordered us back. Words ran high; till at length I said, that I only wished to present myself and my papers before the proper authorities, and would pay any one for his. trouble in conducting me to a magistrate. The hint was enough; all dread of the county of Sáros vanished; I was led, without fear of infection, to the district notary, who signed without difficulty."

"At noon we reached Fige. The landlady was gloomily execrating the cholera; she called it a lie to stir up the people to revolt; (the general notion seems to have been that it was a falsehood circulated by government to engross public attention, whilst some very despotic measure should be smuggled through unnoticed;) she complained bitterly that no guests came to her house, and that she must be utterly ruined. Here we heard the Job's-news, that the cholera was at Rima-Szombath, and none could pass that way. We were told, however, that & magistrate, whose intervention might facilitate our progress, resided near the road. This hope did not prove fallacious. Our passports were subscribed, and we obtained permission to drive, not through, but round, the town; a permission which, in common sense, supposing the object to be the prevention of contagion, not the arrest and consequent inconvenience of individuals, should be granted to all travellers provided with the necessary passports. We found the town strictly guarded by watchmen.* One of these watchmen un

dertook to carry a letter into the town for me, and we waited nearly an hour for the answer. The carriage was immediately surrounded by upwards of fifty persons from Rima-Szombath, who pressed upon us, to ask whence we came, and whether there really were a cholera elsewhere? They grumbled violently at the interdict laid upon their town, where they asserted that very few deaths had occurred, and those mostly of old people and invalids of long standing. A swarm of Jews, who were detained here, likewise crowded about us with questions and lamentations. And so-supposing the existence of contagion-this was the mode of preventing communication!!"

The consequence of having been permitted to drive round the outside of Rima-Szombath,-for of course the hour of close contact with the inhabitants did not appear upon the passport--was a ten days' quarantine at Keresztur; and the account of this quarantine shall be our last extract. The Lazaretto, the locality of which was not ill chosen, had its dimensions and other requisites been equally well adapted to the purpose, was a hut in a wood; and here our author

found five students, his fellow-travellers from the cave of Agtelek, and an engineer, already domiciliated.

"This famous apartment consisted of one room, a stable, and the hay-loft. Every thing therein was ready arranged, so that I had no care to take for my own establishment. Two benches, a stable-door, laid upon an old vinegarcask, by way of table, composed the furniture of our abode. Vastly compendious. Bedsteads there were none; in a hermitage of capacity so circumscribed they must have destroyed all symmetry! At nightfall, therefore, straw was spread upon the ground, and our cloaks officiated as bed-clothes. The table service, consisting of wooden trenchers and spoons, of rusty knives and forks, was elegantly disposed in one place.

* **

"The students got their food from the village public-house; the engineer cooked his own broth, and cultivated the parasite science as ably as though he had studied it in Lucian. I, in virtue of my letters of recommendation, obtained my victuals from the Judge of Puszta, upon reasonable terms, well dressed, and in such quantities, that I could daily give our guards a piece of meat with vegetables, (Query, a bribe?) and mend the wretched fare of my companions (the students); for when the poor-rich-young gentlemen did not shoot pigeons or other birds for themselves, they would have suffered no loss by exchanging meals with any ploughman.

"We were watched by three or four peasants, armed with pitchforks, who, day and night, kept up a Slavonico-Vestal blazing fire on the road near our hut. These guardians were, moreover, our servants, whom we might send everywhere. We ourselves durst not enter the village, and were restricted to some hundred paces in the wood, (Here follows a blank, the motive for which it is no business of ours to conjecture.)

"Our quarantine society was presently increased by the accession of two countesses, to whom an állás-coach-house-(more likely cart-shed or cowhouse) was assigned as their residence. The situation of these ladies may be conceived without further explanation, and was far more irksome than ours."

Ludvigh accordingly does not explain the ladies' situation, even so far as to tell us whether their servants (for we conclude Hungarian countesses do not travel altogether unattended) were located in the coach-house with them, or in the stable. He thinks more of himself; and we learn that fine weather materially lightened the inconveniences to which he and his male companions were subjected, by allowing them to eat and play at cards in the open air, where, moreover, many of the party slept. To this circumstance must it probably be ascribed, that such a stying of human beings together for the benefit of the general health, produced little if any illness; and that the principal adventure of the quarantine, unless something more interesting be concealed from us under the above-mentioned blank,-was an attempt at burglary by one of the peasant guards, the success of which a bad dream or nightmare of our author's prevented.

ART, XIII.-Notes et Réflexions sur la Prusse en 1833. Par le Marquis de Chambray. Paris. 1833. 8vo.

THE government of Prussia, since the present monarch ascended the throne, has been so sagely administered, and is admitted on all hands to have been productive of such beneficial consequences to the in

terests of its subjects of all classes, that it has become an object of interest and curiosity to every honest inquirer, who with unbiassed mind and disregard of prejudices, seeks to ascertain the influence which the form of a government actually exercises upon the morals, the happiness, and the prosperity of the people submitted to its sway. Looking at it in this light, we have taken steps to supply the want of information which exists in this country on the subject, and hope to be able in an early number to furnish our readers with such an account of the general system and leading outlines of the Prussian administration, from a competent source, as will afford some assistance towards the resolution of the important problem which we have just mentioned. In the meantime, the little pamphlet before us, the production of a distinguished French military writer, (the author of the best military history of Napoleon's Russian expedition,) would of itself form a very good review-article, from which, but for the reason we have mentioned, we might be tempted to transcribe rather largely. It contains the results of M. de Chambray's observations during a recent visit of six weeks to Prussia, three weeks of which were spent in Berlin, and the remainder in the journey to and from that capital. M. de Chambray had spent several years in Prussia in his military capacity during the period of the French occupation, and this was the first visit he had paid to it since. His testimony is important, therefore, as to the improvement which has taken place in the interval. The topics on which the author touches in these "Notes and Reflexions" are-Roads-Posts-Diligences-Agriculture and Manufactures-Improvement in the condition of the peasantry-Monuments -Fortified places-New system of fortification-Strategical remarksFinances-Military institutions-Religion-Literature-Science and education-Government-Administration-Municipal organization of the commons and towns-Provincial states-Right of petition-General observations on the nature of the Prussian government. In a pamphlet of 60 pages, rather loosely printed, it cannot be expected that anything very profound could be said on subjects of such importance; indeed they are rather efleurés than otherwise; but the remarks are those of a sensible and observant traveller, who can give very good reasons for the opinions which he expresses. We shall notice very briefly some of the topics.

Roads. Before the peace of 1814, there was but one great road throughout the kingdom, that between Berlin and Magdeburgh, a distance of 30 leagues; the rest were scarcely practicable, and kept in the most detestable state. There are now a number of great roads communicating between the capital and various parts of the kingdom, kept in the best order, most of them at the expense of the government, and a few defrayed by the local authorities. In the towns and villages through which these roads pass, the pavement is generally in a very bad state, the expense being paid by the municipal authorities, who are very independent, and only repair them when it suits their convenience. The Posts are well served, and cost less than in France. The Diligences travel day and night, with post-horses, and as quick as

private carriages. Travellers are not molested by police surveillance; M. de Chambray was not required to produce his passport more than once in the whole of his journey, during which he passed through five fortified places. Agriculture has been greatly improved both in its practice and results. Of Manufactures, the increase and improvement have been quite prodigious.-Elberfeld is cited as the most remarkable instance of this. In 1829 it contained 25,000 inhabitants, and its products were estimated at more than 3 millions sterling. The abolition of serfage among the peasantry (of which Mr. Russel's Tour in Germany gave so interesting an account,) has done wonders in elevating that class in society, improving their condition, and giving a great stimulus to the increase of population. Berlin has been increased prodigiously in size,-a new quarter has been recently built, not by the government as formerly, but entirely by private speculators. Monuments. A new theatre, a museum of sculpture and painting, and a bronze pyramid in commemoration of the war of independence, have been lately added to the public buildings of the capital. Army.— The number may be estimated at 300,000 men, of whom 100,000 are troops of the line, 50,000 reserve, and 150,000 landwehr.

Finances and Population.-The annual revenue raised by taxation and duties is £7,590,476; against which are the following charges,interest of public debt and sinking fund, £1,611,720,-pensions, indemnities, &c. £483,960,-military establishment, fortresses, &c. £3,374, 104,-civil list, judicial establishments, clergy, education, and all other expenses £2,120,692, out of which a reserve is annually made of £200,000. "Such," says M. de Chambray," are the miracles effected by order and economy in a country which war had overwhelmed with so many evils, and which had so many wounds to cicatrise."

The population of the eight provinces and the principality of Neufchatel, according to the last census, was 12,780,173; the density was greatest in that of the Rhine, where it was 4,585 inhabitants to a square mile, and least in that of Posen, where it was only 1098. M. de C.'s remarks on the Prussian system of fortifications and military institutions, we must pass over; with the system of education and its fruits our readers have been made acquainted in the first article of our present number; and all the other topics of his remarks on the general and municipal administrations, the provincial states, &c. will necessarily be developed in the course of the article for which we have prepared our readers. We shall therefore confine ourselves to extracting the Marquis's concluding remarks on the nature of the Prussian government, which are well calculated to correct some of the prevalent notions entertained in this country as to the absolute and despotic character of the government.

"Prussia may be termed, I think, a popular monarchy, for there only exists in it a glimmering of aristocracy. In such a state the king might make democratic concessions; but when a concession had been once made, either useful or prejudicial, the king could not revoke it, without exposing the state to disturbancest; the people would defend by violence whatever had been consecrated by law, usage, or custom. He has therefore acted wisely in not instituting a general