MISS PARDOE'S HUNGARY.

merely giving the individuals an opportunity !.

nions. without iffiluenug tfl, moasttres of Ile .

IC Tonsible for his vote, %■.l,:elt is regulated by the . . : t.., , represent, lit the Diet. " An instance of this popular privilege occurred ins which I attended. The grit before this while the Royal ropsition was the key ot som MISS PARDOE has a high character among the "light reading" part of the public for various agreeable productions, of gossamer texture, descriptive of foreign countries ; and she would obtain a wider and more enduring reputation if she exercised a severer judgment in the choice of her subjects, and kept a greater restraint over herself. Gifted with fluency and a lively imagination, she frequently gives to trifles the same prominence as to important things, trusting to her power of adorning them with words; which, if it does not always induce listlessness in the reader, at least detracts from the value of the writing. In telling a story, whether traditional or historical—and sometimes, we suspect, in describing the actual— she cannot rest satisfied without improring what she finds, and adding a variety of little touches to nature. By this means, she often not only gives an unreal appearance to what she does, but mars the cherished effect after which she is striving, by stripping the subject of much of its own character and giving it a Pardoetsla air. The title of the work before us will illustrate our meaning, though in a trifle. " The City of' the Magner" no more conveys an idea of the contents of the book than would " The Modern Babylon" of a visit to the two British capitals, excursions to the various attractive points of the country, and a compendious account of the inhabitants, legislature, commerce, and capabilities of Eng- land. But " The City of the Magyar" had a sound. and even the comprehensiveness of the titlepage must be sacrificed. These ill qualities of Miss PARLOR are less conspicuous in the volumes before us than in her previous publications; or rather, there is in the present work a greater quantity of interesting infor- mation and solid matter. Miss PARDOE was at Presburg during the sitting of the Diet ; and she gives an account of the nature and re- gulations of both the Hungarian Houses of Legislation, several sketches of the most eminent speakers, and a description of the appearance of the Hungarian Senate. She was also present at a Hungarian election; which, bating some differences in costume and forms, might pass as a counterpart to one of ours before the Reform both occasions by persons the best qualified to give her informa- tion: She also visited the prisons and the mines, accompanied 1-1,,111,).aot..-ixi. je,d7o:enns. tion : and, such is the effect of a power or supposed power of influ- encing the public mind of England, that, as ME-me:se ii played the agreeable to Mrs. TROLLOPE, so the Archduke Jessen, the Prince civilities have been repaid in kind. The ESTERI1AZYS were equally attentive ; the Prince despatching a cortge to accompany her party to his different mansions and estates. Palatine of Hungary, invited Miss Psanon to his palace; and his PAnimE met friends who furnished her with more useful it' not such stylish topics. The chapter on the commerce of Hungary has been drawn up, she admits, by a merchant : in her remarks upon wine, vitwyards, and agriculture, a practical kilo%‘1,11ge and a closer style than Miss Psanor.'s are apparent. She must have been in- debte:d to similar assistance, we imagine, in her exposition of the laws of serfilom, debtor and creditor, &c., and in her account of many other matters.

stitution of Hungary bears some general resemblance to that of England. and was granted much about the thne that ours assumed the definite shape of King, Lords, and Commcns. In the Hunga- rian Lower House. there are various peculiarities, which, though odd-seeming, enough, have, like most national customs, their national uses. The deptItiOS of time Cities, which are close corporations de- pendent upon the Crown, have no vote : a county member must vote, not es he pleases, but according, to instructions: anA this seems to produce a singular etk.ct.

gards their representation, no Deputy 1,,Ii•j -- feeling of his eonstitueney. I allude. of c.'1'7,-. 1:1

But, besides the civilities of imperial and princely races, Miss

" In one rrsi,:et the Mngation people 1;:lve ill,' t• , t•: t As was observed in our notice of Mr. Pserr's volumes. the con- , I! , against the - :tion. only to the membas for counties_ whose vot, 5 1.:::, ,.i.

• ,i..ii opi.- tlIttl'et .: tim tIrst meet- ( ',ant Hiday,

1.11 parl■ \Nov structed by the county which I represent, to vote with the Opposition ; and my vote must be registered accordingly.'

" It was curious to evilness the effect of' this transition. The acclamations of the Liberal party were deafening; and as the orator was the representative of one of the largest and most densely populated counties in Hungary, the loss to the Government interest was considerable."

From the sketches of Hungarian senators—the materials for which, beyond their personal appearance, must have been furnished to Miss PARDOE—we select the man whose patriotic efforts in many things, especially in the steam-navigation of the Danube, have given him an English renown.

"But I must no longer delay mention of Count Stephen Szeclikyi, who has won an European reputation which has made his name a watchword with the high-minded ; mid whose appearance greatly tends to deepen the feeling of admiration which his extraordinary career must naturally command. Ile has a dark, keen, engle eye, softening, however, at intervals almost into sadness ; heavy eyebrows, finely arched, and in perpetual motion, giving a character of .extraordinary energy to his countenance ; and one of those full, deep-toned, sonorous voices, to which you cannot choose but Beim In common conversa- tion, he is fluent and demonstrative rather than logical; with a play of fancy and a choice of words which rivet the attention of his hearers. Being an Hungarian, it were needless to add that he is an accomplished linguist ; hut the tact with which he avails himself of the forcible expressions or appropriate idioms of the different European languages, in order the mare readily to work out his subject, is not the least charm of his conversation.

" In the House, he is earnest, rapid, and impassioned; and very graceful in his attitudes and movements; while such is the attention with which he is heard, that the accidental clanging of a sabre against the floor actually makes ytou start, even in the midst of a dense crowd. Murmurs of applause univer- sally drown his first words and form an echo to his last ; and it is not his least triumph that no member of the Chamber ever ventures to reply to one of his speeches, save the Judex Curiae and the Palatine himself:"

Of the natural riches of Hungary Miss PARDOE speaks in the same terms as other writers, who know any thing of the soil and its productions beyond what they can sec from the deck of a steamer. She fears, however, that the circumstances of the country, with the debts and consequent entanglements of the nobility, and their aris- tocratic aversion to commerce, will long retard it. National cha- racter, a paucity of population, and bad roads, are no doubt great difficulties, and not to be conquered at once ; but prejudices yield quickest to goods and gold; and, with an arterial highway like the Danube, there is already a road through the kingdom, from which sufficient bra dies will soon be made to ramify,—if what is mis- called "policy" do not interfere with the natural course of trade. What a branch of commerce, for example, Hungary possesses in her wines—if they have sufficient quality to win their way into our market, despite the duty, which not being ad valorem, presses heavily upon all but first-class articles.

WINES or HUNGARY.

The vineyards are generally cultivated by the native Magy-ars ; but a small proportion of Germans have also devoted themselves to this favourite avocation. Despite the laxity of the exterior trade, of which I have made mention above, several very valuable descriptions of wine are still produced in the country, and that too in quautities so enormous that beffire the fact was fully proved to me I had great difficulty in believing it to be possible. If, therefore, such be the case in the present languid and depressed state of the market, what might not be the result to Hungary if she found a ready sale for her produce ? The ne- cessary impetus once given, the vintagers would put forth their strength; and not only the amount, but even the quality of the wines, would be increased by the additional care bestowed upon their production.

The superior qualities of wine grown in the country are Tokayer, Macs, Rust, Erlau, Villaner, SomI6, Badacson, Sexard, Nesmil, and Dioszeg. The best descriptions of ()fuer follow, and of these there is also a great variety : those known as Alderberg and "Turks Blood," which are grown on the heights behind the city, are in much favour with the natives. Many of these wines are admirably calculated for the English maiket, being what is technically termed sound and full-bodied, as well as table to bear trans- port among these the Tokayer requires no comment. Old Mimes, which is rich in quality and of particularly fine and delicate flavour, may be purchased for from fifty to eighty silver florins the eimer.* Erlau is well suited to the English palate as a dinner-wine, being both fruity and strong : its price (when a ,

the best quality) is from twelve to ffiteen florins the eimer. Villaner, of the first class, commands from eight to fifteen; and the best Ofner fourteen florins for the same quantity. The most recherche wines of Hungary are the white; And the neighbourhood of Tokay produces not only the celebrated growth which bears its name, but also Tallya, Tarszah Mada, and others, many of which are of superior quality ; but a great portion of the produce is very poor, and only consumed by peasantry.

The process of making the different sorts of Tokayer is this: the grapes are suffered to dry upon the vines, and are then piled lightly in casks which are filled IT with a dry white wine ; there they remain until they have absorbed it, when an aperture is made in the barrel, through which the bloated fruit drips until it has discharged its juice—this is the essence of Tokayer, which ?Minot

bear transport, and is only used in the country ten height1.11 the flavour of other wines: next the grapes are pressed, and the liquor which they yield is the Tohayer Austruch, or liqueur Tokayer, the finest description of wine known by that name : the common or second class Tokayer is produced by a second infusion of the same grapes in a dry white wine, where after a time they are once more pressed ; and thus the fruit is made available over and over again, until eventually the result is a poor, thin, acid drink, as contemptible in qua- lity as any other of the common wines of the country. hicluding this inferior vintage, the quantity Froth need annually in the neigh- bourhood of Tokay averages from two ti three thousand timers; and all which are worthy of transport require bunting. &mitt is another wine of great richness and flavour, and when old and of a good vintage, is second to none on the Continent : it twinge sixteen florins the eimer. Dioszeg, which is very cheap, is 011C of the most agreeable of the class of sweet wines; it averages only twelve florins an eimer.

The present prices fur export from the depiits of Peeth is, by land to Trieste, guaranteed under three silver florine the Omer. The trade here are of opinion that it might, however, be exported by means of the Danube and the Save for about half that surn, should a steam-boat be established on the last-named river.

The year le134 was no fertile in wine, that in many districts large quantities of grapes were left lingathered fbr want of proper vessels to contain the juice; and no cheap was it, that fur a halfpenny a bottle of very tolerable quality might be purchased.

In 1838, the city of Pesth was half destroyed by an inundation of

• An eimor filia ubout seventy Bordeaux buntes.

ice and water ; a calamity which, however, like the fire of London, was of future advantage to the beauty and solidity of the town. The scene of terror, distress, arid charitable exertion, is well told. bating the drawbacks to Miss PARDOR'S style already mentioned. We select from it a singular case of

HUMAN ENDURANCE.

In the Schiffinanns•Gasse a frightful example of human endurance occurred. The wife of a small tradesman, who had become the mother of a child only a few hours previously, aud whose husband chanced at the moment to be absent, heard the rush of the water into the street, and leapt out of her bed, anxious to save as much as she could collect together of her little property : she suns alone in the house, and the night was rapidly advancing She toiled until her solitary candle was burnt out—she heard around her the crash and the uproar of ruin—and amid the darkness she was nimble to form nn estimate of her actual position. On either hand, the houses were falling one after the other, as the water undermined their foundations; and, anxious to ascertain as nearly as possible her actual situation she ran into the yard attached to her

which rising on the side of a fieight was yet dry • and, unfortunately for her, the spot appeared in conseqeenee so safe that she neglected while there was yet time either to escape from the premises or to summon help.

When it was too late, she perceived the misery of her self-delusion: the water rose above her tutees, and as she struggled, becalm° breast -high. But there is no strength like that of desperation, amid shewaded back towards the entrance of her house until she was immersed to her chiu ; where she secured a frenzied hold of the half-broken door, to which she clung with the tenacity of madness until the dawn ; _Whell some humane individuate, who bad not durino the night been able to approach the scene of wretchedness, took her off in a'boat, exactly twenty-eight hours after the birth of her child, and deposited her among a thousand other unfortunates in the Protestant church. The infant was dead in her arms.

There she paced up and down the damp and chilling edifice, screaming for her husband, her dead baby, and her property.; and beseeching every one she met to assist in saving from the wreck of her possession enough—only enough to save her from dying a beggar : and thus she spent four-and-twenty hours in constant movement and excitation, without changing her clothes, which were dropping with water, and without taking the slightest nourishment. Ott the following day she sank down exhausted, slept for six hours, and only com- plained when she awoke of excessive debility : she had no sensation or either hunger or thirst, and when urged by the (limitable care of those around her to partake of their food, the quantity which slit compelled herself to swallow was so small that it scarcely seemed sufficient to sustain life. By the 2d of April, although still weak and languid, she had recovered her health, and a week afterwards she resumed her household duties. Physically, she had sus- tained no permanent injury, but clue bas never smiled since.

A labouring man in the same suburb was alone in a house, which gave way suddenly from roof to base; and by great exertion succeeded in clambering on a beam which had been only part'fally.displaced. In this perilous position he remained for fifty hours without nourishment, and without daring to yield to the desire to sleep, whicii, even Imnging as he was above destruction, stole over bins from the intensity of the cold. At the termination of that period, some persons who were eseeping on rafts rescued him from his miserable situation, and supplied him with a broken door on which to escape : but his weight proved too much for the frail machine, and he was several times upset ; and thrice so exhausted by his exertions, that bed it not been for the efforts of others he must have perished by drowning. For three days and nights its suffered acute pain, and long resisted food ; but he ultimately recovered, amid now enjoys as perfect health as before the event took place.

An infant of eighteen months old, which had only begun to walk a few days previously, was by some accident forgotten in the confusion, in a house in the Schiffmanns-Gasse ; and it was Seen by some neighbours clinging to its little bed, and crying with terror, the water having already risen to its chest. With great difficulty it was rescued; and it did not suffer the slightest illness from the exposure. Another infant was found lying in its cot uncovered and without nourishment of any kind, and was at first believed to be dead; but, although it had been there for two days and a night, as the wretched mother afterwards declared, it was ultimately restored, and still lives.

We have drawn our extracts from the more solid parts of Miss PARDOE'S volumes. There are, for those readers who prefer lighter topics, several tales, ninny descriptions, and some pleasant sketches of manners, and of incidents illustrative of manners, Amongst the latter we may specify the reception of L1STZ at Pesth. The celebrated pianist is a Hungarian born, though long domiciled in Paris ; he is also a Liberal ; and in both characters he excited the enthusiasm of his enthusiastic countrymen. But the sensation was at its height when the skilful (waste appeared at his grand display at the theatre, in the national costume : nor was he, after various out- bursts and a gratuitous finale, let off' without a speech ; in which he proved himself a clever orator, and improved the occasion to national purposes.