KOHL'S AUSTRIA.

THIS subject of this work embraces a good deal more than many May understand by its title ; treating, in fact, of the different pro- vinces or states that make up the Austro-Germanic empire. M. Boat's tour commences at Dresden; whence he traversed Bohemia, making a stay at its capital Prague, and crossing the mountain- range to Linz on the Danube, which he descended to Vienna. After exhausting the capital, lie continued his course down the river through Hungary, till he reached the frontier at Orsova ; where he made several excursions, and examined what is called the military frontier,—a peculiar state of society, that snore nearly resembles the feudal system titan any other by which the population is armed and trained for war. From this position he made a circuitous journey across Hungary, by routes rarely traversed, at least by tourists, through Temesvar, Szegedin, and the Platten Lake, into Styria ; passing thence to Munich, where his journey terminated. Moravia and the Austro-Polish provinces of Gallicia and Bukovina belonged to M. KOHL'S work on Russia ; being the last districts he passed through in his return from that country to Germany : but they have been added to Austria by the publishers of this edition, for the purpose of completing the work. 141 treatment and general character M. lionifs Austria resembles his St. Petersburg, so far as the respective character of the sub- jects permits. His travels from place to place are narrated in the usual manner ; but he lingers over any particular town or any retnarkable district, and exhausts its striking features much in the same way as he did those of St. Petersburg, though not at so great a length. Thus, Linz, where manufactures are engrafted on a religious population and a curious feudal district, and Vienna for its general attractions, are more minutely treated than Prague ; as the singular state of society in Hungary and Gallicia involves a fuller examination than that of Bohemia or Austria proper. In speaking of the literary merit of the book, regard must be had to the fact of its having been condensed in the translation ; which in getting rid of its minuteness has perhaps deprived it of some of its race. Allowing for this, we think the work is scarcely so crisply graphic as the St. Petersburg, where every thing was brought out as sharply clear as well-cut carving : but the more substantial qualities of M. KOHL are all preserved. His well- trained habits of investigation—his industry, which carries him untiringly about where there is any thing to be learned—the foreign frankness with which he presents himself to persons and places under circumstances where an Englishman would hesitate as having no right—and the literary skill with which he exhibits the results of his microscopic observations without impairing their general effect—are all the same as in his former work. Some fur- ther qualities of a literary kind are also developed in the wider and more varied field of Austria,—skill in using historical knowledge without overdoing it ; a ready tact in turning current reading to account ; together with a power, not literary though it tells upon the literature, of submitting to hardships, privations, and contact with any company. It must, however, be allowed, that Austria, if not a laborious work, produces a laboured effect in perusal. But this is probably not chargeable upon Mr. KOHL. His work was originally published in five volumes of moderate size, and each, we guess, em- bracing a different subject—Bohemia, Upper Austria, Lower Aus- tria, Hungary, Styria. By the condensing process, and the use of a closely-packed type, these five volumes, with Moravia and Gal- licia in addition, are presented in two parts of the " Foreign Li- brary," each part containing a good deal more matter than a common volume; so that what the author designed to form five meals is given in one. Something of this feeling of slowness, may originate in the novelty of the book arising less from the subject than the author's mode of treatment and his peculiar style. Many writers, of vary- ing tastes and abilities, have written about Bohemia and Austria, so that we have had both kingdoms presented in various phases ; the Danube has been descended by more than one litterateur ; and Mr. GLEIG has given a view of the military frontier. The most valuable parts of KOHL'S Austria, for matter, are his sketches of the interior of Hungary and of the Polish provinces, though they may not always be the most readable. But the remarks on Hungary must be received with some caution. M. Korn. is a lover of " order," and always appears to admire the soulless regularity which a despostism enforces, more than the outbreaks or irregula- rities of chaotic freedom. This is the cool diplomatic way in which he speaks of the Italian political offenders imprisoned at Szegedin in Hungary ; many of them for no known offence, and even without any accusation.

TREATMENT OF ITALIANS AT SZEGEDIN.

Szedegin is known to contain no less than five hundred and sixty political Italian captives; a fact which occasioned a great deal of discussion in the last Hungarian Diet, when the celebrated orator, Gabriel Klause!, Deputy for the Tshongrad Comitat, in which Szegedin is situated, proposed a petition to Go- vernment for their liberation. The motion was adopted unanimously by the Chamber of Representatives. Many dreadful stories are circulated in Hungary of the miserable situation and of the ill-treatment which these prisoners have to endure. I shall here simply record the result of my own observatione, which I think will suffice to prove the falsehood of some of these calumnious reports. We passed through the old Turkish gate, and entered a court-yard full of Austrian soldiers, which was divided from an inner court-yard by a wooden grating. At this grating sat women with baskets of fruit, needles, cotton, and other trifles; the inner court-yard was filled with the Italian prisoners them- selves. They looked neat and clean, and were dressed in strong gray linen, with caps of the same material on their beads. I had heard that their aspect would excite compassion and pity, on account of the harsh treatment it in- dicated. Compassion and pity their aspect certainly did excite, for these men were exiles from their country, and deprived of their liberty ; but there was no sign whatever of their having suffered from close confinement, bad air, and scanty food. They all seemed in good health, and moved about in the large court-yard—I will not say with gayety, for that would have been strange in- deed—bat at least with animation and activity. They have plenty of time allotted them for exercise in this court-yard ; during which time they can buy any trifles they want, of the women at the grating, and at the same time sell the products of their own labour. They manufacture many little articles of horn, wood, and paper, such as needle-cases, saints' effigies, folding-sticks, little baskets and boxes, little rings of plaited horse-hair, &c. They were all stand- ing about the grating; and as anon as ever any one appeared in the outer yard, they stretched their arms and hands out as far as possible, holding out t heir various merchandise, and screaming with much animation, in a strange jumble of Italian, German, and Hungarian, "Nubile! kaufend Nubile! gigi! gigi l" (gigi is an Italianixed corruption of a Hungarian word for rings ;) or "Nubile! Itaufen ! .Napoleone ! Napoleoae!" The countenance of the great Cursican is repeated upon almost all their little wares, and most of them had their hands full of Napoleons.

Surely it is a great infliction, putting aside imprisonment, to re- duce men of education and honour, or as we should say, gentle- men, to the condition of mendicants : and their touching devices and their compulsory labour seem also a harder fate than to justify the philosophic calmness of M. limn.

"I presented myself to one of the authorities, and easily obtained permis- sion to view the interior.

"Round various inner-courts were ranged the separate habitations of the prisoners, which were formerly the casemates of the soldiers. They were all above ground, very spacious and airy, and at regular distances from one another. The bedsteads were clean and good ; and indeed, I have seen many barracks, in our best German cities, where the soldiers were not so well lodged as were these prisoners. Over each bedstead was inscribed the name and birthplace of the prisoner to whom it belonged : for instance, Giovanni N. N. of Rodrigo ; ' 'Martino N. N. of Verona; "Ludovico N. N. of Venice,' &c. The national jealousies of these people are continued even here,' said one of the Austrian officers to me : 'the Milanese and Venetians here, for instauce, are sworn foes to each other.'

"The casemates are lighted from the inner-courts, but some of them have also strongly grated windows on the outer side. Many prisoners had hung up little stores of grapes on their window-bars, and others had little winging-birds in cages in their cells. I did not see their food, but their appearance proved that they did not suffer from hunger ; and I have no reason to doubt the assurance of the Austrian officer, that they not only had abundance of meat and bread, but also a small portion of wine every day. They also procure themselves many little comforts, partly by the merchandise that they sell, and partly by the money sent them by their Italian friends and relatives. It is said that these five hundred and sixty prisoners annually receive no less than 40,000 florins from Italy. If one could but learn the history of the various little savings which make up this important sum, what proofs of tender constancy, generous self-denial, and yearning affection, might they not disclose! " The workshops of the prisoners were separate from their sleeping-rooms. Their work is sot voluntary but compulsory. Each is obliged to follow the profession or trade that he practised at home, or else to choose for himself another. This compulsion is truly a benevolent one ; for nothing is more likely to render captivity endurable than regular eccepation, particularly when, as is here the case, it is neither excessively laborious nor continued for an undue length of time. Some work as carpenters, others as turners, and others again manufacture articles in papier mach& &c. They are divided into various workshops, according to their occupations; and over the door of each workshop

_....--t&e-uMes of the trades carried on there are inscribed in Italian. In one of the turning-rooms I found a great many little busts of Napoleon in different stages of progression; in each of which, the characteristic features, indelibly impressed on the retentive memories of the prisoners, were accurately repeated from recollection alone. ' They often, sing, jest, and gossip over their work,' said the officer; and sometimes they dance.' Thank God, thought I, that their light volatile dispositions enable them so far to forget their unhappy fate and their dreary situation!"

THE CATTLE-TRADE OF THE STEPPES.

We met large herds of oxen on the road to Lanznt, a castle and village be- longing to the Potockis, [in Galicia] where a cattle-market was about to be held. The cattle consisted chiefly of the gray oxen of the Steppes. Thousands of these patient animals have wandered through the Carpathians every year for centuries, to nourish with their flesh Vienna and the countries through which they pass. We traced them the whole way from Bukovina to the capi- tal, in the regular and peculiar furrows which they have drawn across every road, by their uniform tread, each stepping in the footsteps of his predecessor. They are taken to the great cattle-markets of Moravia; where the butchers of Vienna and Prague purchase them for the consumption of those luxurious cities. Many are also brought straight to Vienna, by Rusnisks, Wallachians, and Poles. Formerly some of them were even taken to Munich and Dresden, by the cattle-drivers of the Carpathians. The Bukovinian and Galician markets are visited by the way, where the weaker animals are disposed of; and in this way they feed all the countries through which they pass. The Germans call them Polish cattle, because they receive them from Poland ; the Galicians Moldavian, because it is through Moldavia that they reach Galicia. At War- saw they are called Podolian, because it is from Podolia that they are brought to Warsaw. The Steppes of Podolia and the Ukraine, to the shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of Asoph, are the vast magazines from which all Aus- tria is supplied with meat. Another great road traversed by these animated embryos of roast beef runs through Kharkov to Moscow and St. Petersburg, ending in the Baltic pro- vinces. Small herds are also collected together in Bessarabia and Wallachia, and in the neighbourhood of Odessa, and are driven across the Danube and the Balkans to Constantinople.

TRAVELLING IN WALLACHIA.

The equipage which I hired for this journey was no other than a common peasant's cart ; the boards of which, patched very neatly in various places, and covered with bay, formed a very comfortable seat. It was drawn by three stout little Makanus, harnessed together with ropes and thongs and strings of all kinds ; whilst my own costume was not much more elegant ; for, having found it rather too light for the cold of these mountain regions, I had supplied its deficiencies with various handkerchiefs and wrappers, and a large sheep-skin which the Commandant of Mehadia had kindly bestowed upon me. It seemed to me as if I ought to be ashamed of such an equipage when I entered on the fine smooth road that might have befitted a very different kind of carriage. Since, however, no one here knew me, and no one could meet me the next day, and say, " My dear Mr. —, what a pretty figure you cut yesterday," I ma- naged to console myself, especially as the subaltern officers of the Prafeeti Daciarum always travel in the same style ; and I kept up my courage, even though I met several travellers differently equipped, who undoubtedly looked down upon me as a orson of very little consequence. I met, fur instance, the family of a great Wallachian boyard, returning from where I know not, to their own country. They bad several large Vienna travelling-carriages, one behind another, each drawn by a dozen horses, and each crammed full of va- rious members of their family, with their waiting-maids, valets, cooks, footmen, &e. Behind came a waggon-load of hay, sacks of oats, kettles, pots, and pans, and all kinds of cooking-utensils, on the top of which other attendants were perched. This is the usual manner of travelling for the great in this country ; and lama honestly say I preferred my farmer's cart.

THE SAND-PLAINS OF HUNGARY.

Immediately after crossing the Theiss, the traveller perceives that he has entered a new kind of country. At Szegedin, the first sand-plain begins, and the ground is no longer as perfectly flat as I have described it in the Banat. The plain is broken by little sand-hillocks ; agriculture more and more gives way to g-azing. The population consists either entirely of Magyars, or, at least, is thoroughly Magysrized. The sand of this district is very fine, and is mixed with fragments of shells. It extends so deep, that nowhere have the in- habitants yet succeeded in boring through it and reaching its clayey founda- tion. Large tracts are entirely desolate, without any trace of vegetation. In such places the sand is often raised by the wind into the air, as in the sand- storm of the Sahara. This sand-wind is much dreaded by the Hungarians, for in its course it often destroys the most fertile fields.

Among the remarkable attributes of these deserts, is the total absence of water. In the two hundred German square miles between Pesth and Szegedin, there is no trace of running water, no single brook, river, or stream, and not even a solitary well, with the exception of one little bu'ibling spring which rises in a marsh near Ketskemet. Another peculiarity of these deserts is the total absence of trees. Every thing is bare, desolate, aad naked; nowhere rises a cooling grove, or even a solitary bush or tree. Sand plains with sand-wind, green patches with wild birds, marshes with cranes and storks, soda-bogs covered with white powder, and occasionally meadows with fine cattle; such are the only varieties seen when travelling on a Poste. Occasionally a lonely Sallash or Tsharde, or a solitary herdsman's hut, gives token of human habitation; now and then a far-off pump rears and sways its long arm before us; and sometimes too, though more rarely, we behold the unfailing token of our approach to a town or village,—namely, a handsome, well-kept, large, white—gallows!

PLACARD-PRINTING AT VIENNA.

There is a printing-office in Vienna, the sole employment of which is the announcement of these fetes, plays, and concerts; nothing else being printed there but placards. The proprietor of this establishment, Mr. Hirshfeld, has many people in his service, who thoroughly understand the most striking way of announcing such matters to the street public, by the judicious arrange- ment of the alluring words " Bal Brillant," " Magic Illumination," " Rose- tinted Garments of Pleasure," &c. I visited this printing-office ; where the readers were employed in correcting the style and orthography of waiters, &c., and preparing their eloquent productions for the press. The monster types are all of wood : the effect of the great black letters upon men's eyes and fancies is always speculated on ; and the pictorial announcements of estates for sale by lottery, when all the letters are composed of pictures of castles and rural views, and where every million is represented entwined with the elegant flowery wreaths of hope, are really masterpieces in a psychological as to a xylographic point of view. The unusual words, or those that do not frequently occur, are composed, As occasion may require, from single letters; but the celebrated names, Strauss, Lanner, im Sperl, Elysium, Prater, Golden Pear, &c., are cut nut of single blocks, and many duplicates are always kept ready for use at Hirshfeld's. It is the same with the standing phrases, such as "Splendid Illuminations," "Dancing Soirée," &c. Whoever has arrived at the honours of stereotype in Birshfeld's printing-office, may deem himself a celebrated man within the walls of Vienna.

It is somewhat remarkable, although natural enough, that even these kind of announcements and posting-bills, on which the most innocent things in the world are made known to the public, are subject to the censorship, in fact to a double censorship,—firstly, to the supreme censorial authorities, who bestow the "imprimatur "; and secondly, to the subordinate police authorities, who make any emendations held necessary according to circumstances and localities. "They play them a trick for all that, sometimes," said my bill-sticker, whom I encountered in the night as before mentioned. " Lately there was a ball at Sperl, where they danced till six o'clock in the morning, although they an- nounced on their bill that it was to end after midnight ; and when they were called to account by the police, they said that six o'clock in the morning was after midnight."

TRADES AT VIENNA.

Among the articles made in large quantities in Vienna are theatrical decora- tions, wherewith it furnishes all the stationary and locomotive theatres of the Austrian empire. Many shops confine themselves to the sale of frippery of this kind, particularly diadems, and jewelled finery for the queens and princesses of the mimic scene. Great numbers of these diadems are made by the goldsmiths of Vienna. They make use of a peculiar composition of lead, tin, and bismuth, called " stage composition." It has so good an effect that at a little distance the deception is complete. The small cut sides of the metal are not raised, but put together in a concave form : when the light plays on them, they have all the appearance of precious stones. It is a remarkable fact, that the people of Hamburg have learnt only within the last fifteen years how to bind a ledger. Before that time the great folios were generally sent for from England. The people of Vienna have not yet mastered this apparently simple art ; for Girardet, the moat considerable book- binder in the city, who employs thirty-sixjourneymen, maintains among them three Englishmen for all the solid and difficult work, and nine Frenchmen for that requiring delicate handling and taste. These people understand their work thoroughly, and what they do is admirably well done. They work apart from the German workmen, in order to preserve the mystery of their craft. There are many kinds of leather used for this purpose which are not to be had in Germany, so that the stuff as well as the tools and the workmen must be bad from France and England. Nothing can exceed the beauty, elegance, and solidity of Girardet's bindings, and their variety is quite as admirable. Every two months there is a general clearance of old forms and patterns, to make way for new ones.