THE MAGYARS.* Mr. Parreesox is a friendly but a conscientious

critic, a careful observer, and, on the whole, an interesting writer. We give him this last title with some abatement, for a good deal of his work is unnecessarily dry, and his style is not always clear or lively. But much of the material he has collected is of such a kind as to make up for these failings, and the stories that he has heard or read, the light he throws on popular habits, the incidents which he has wit- nessed or which have been related to him, relieve the more solid bulk of information and discussion. His book is not exactly the one to be recommended to those who know nothing about Hun- gary and want to know all about it, for they will find him too abstruse in his allusions, and too fond of arguing questions to think of explaining them. But readers who are already familiar with books on the subject will find Mr. Patterson's work emi- nently useful. He corrects many false impressions, and combats the prejudices both of the friends and enemies of Hungary, and sup- plies several new details which are of much significance. It is very possible that he may not content the Hungarians, among whom he expects to find "many readers and more critics." Yet if impar- tiality be not a fault, they will have nothing serious to complain of, and unless they resent advice, they may learn something to their profit.

The relations of Hungary to Austria, the questions of dualism and autonomy, are necessarily amongst the prominent topics dealt with in these volumes. But the point of view from which Mr. Patterson treats these subjects divests them of tediousness as well as of animosity. The grievances felt by the Hungarians are fully stated, yet the fitness of the country for self-government and independence is considered doubtful. Some of the facts brought forward in support of that view may also be taken as illustrative of Hungarian manners and customs. Mr. Patterson regards the inability of the Hungarians to provide themselves with magistrates whose characters should command respect and be above suspicion, as a singular commentary on much of the self- praise expressed by the nation. The broad line of demarcation between nobles and non-nobles which existed before 1843 has been formally effaced, but vestiges of it still remain. "In the villages," says Mr. Patterson, "proclamations are stuck up forbidding smoking in the streets, for fear of the straw-thatched cottages catching fire. Yet the gentlemen may be seen lighting their pipes there, explaining to the stranger as they do so that the laws are made for the peasants." Other symptoms of disorganization may be found in the state of some of the towns visited by Mr. Patterson, as well as in the rooted objections felt by the Hun- garians to almost every Austrian innovation. Thus we are told that Joseph II. excited great disaffection by taking the census of Hungary and having the land surveyed ; he was no sooner dead than his maps and registers were burnt by the county authorities. "I myself," says Mr. Patterson, "once asked a Calvinist pro. fessor how many volumes the library of his collegittm contained.

• The Magyars: their Country and Institution.. By Arthur J. Patterson. 2 vols. London: Smith and Bider. 1865.

He answered that they had stated the number to be so-and-so many when the Government of Bach held its census. 'At the same time,' addei he, I do not attach much importance to the answer ; in fact we detested the whole business so much that we merely sent in an answer which we thought approximately true, so as to get rid of them.'" Such a spirit of rooted opposition to everything that came from Vienna may have savoured strongly of independence, but was fatal to the very idea of government.

Commenting on this antagonism, Mr. Patterson cites one fact that is highly characteristic :-

"It is commonly asserted by the Hungarians that an Austrian State paper of tho seventeenth century lays down the following princi- ple of policy: — Oportet .facere Ilungariam catholicam, get-inn:1nm, et aniserant,'—' We must make Hungary Catholic, German, and poor.' Commenting on this sentence, the Hungarians say, They have never succeeded in making us Germans, they have achieved but partial success in making us Catholics, but in making us poor they have been but too successful.' What progress was to be expected from a nation placed in such a position and subject to such rules?"

It is not clear from this extract how far Mr. Patterson shares that opinion. In other parts of his book he certainly attributes the backwardness of many Hungarian institutions to more tangible causes than the neglect or oppression of Government. Thus the state of agriculture in some places is affected by the want of sur- face drainage, and by other accidents of physical geography. Roads, too, could hardly be made where the materials were so deficient that, according to a Hungarian proverb, "a pebble could not be bought for money as a remedy against the toothache." Of the state of the streets in some towns we hear that long thin planks of wood were laid along the sides of the streets to serve for footpaths. If a peasant met a gentleman on this path, he would obligingly step off into the mud, sinking over the tops of his high boots in the half-liquid mass. It is even said that in the market-place of one town a cow disappeared bodily, being swallowed up in a slough. But Mr. Patterson did not see this take place, he does not seem to believe that it did, and he admits that there has been considerable progress since the time to which

the story is assigned. It speaks much for the present rate of advance that, at a picnic in Hungary, Mr. Patterson found the con- versation engrossed with the advantages of planting trees BO as to keep the shifting sands in their place and increase the rainfall.

While this talk went on, a gentleman of the old school, who formed one of the company, was in despair lest the English stranger should regard the Hungarians as a practical nation, and think that they had entirely forgotten the art of singing, dancing, and making merry. If there was some fear of the loss of this ancient reputation, the Hungarians certainly manage in other respects to remain true to their traditions. Their pride in their

language and nationality appears to be undiminished. Mr. Patterson was told that Hungarian was the only language fit for a gentleman, all the cabdrivers in the streets, all the waiters in the

hotels spoke German, while English and French were not within The reach of Mr.Patterson's acquaintances. As an excuse for ignorance

of other languages than their own, and the one forced upon them by the necessity of their political position, this avowal of the Hungarians is sufficiently ingenious. But their dislike of the German tongue is illustrated by another very amusing story. Two porters who were moving some luggage jostled one another. 4‘ Have a care, German !" exclaimed one of them in Hungarian, speaking with a strong Teutonic accent. "German yourself !" retorted the other indignantly in the same language, and with the same faulty pronunciation. As an instance of the confusion of

tongues in many parts of Hungary, Mr. Patterson says that he once dined in a company where general conversation was hives- -sible. He himself and the friend who introduced him spoke only Hungarian and German ; the master of the house spoke Hungarian and Servian ; one guest at the table spoke only Wallachian, and another Wallachian, Servian, and German. Thus, with all these languages, there was no common denominator ; there was only one man at the table who could enter into conversation with all the rest, and he had to talk with them separately. We may pass from this part of Mr. Patterson's book with his account of the custom 'which prevails in some parts of Hungary of giving the name of Greek to every tradesman, the reason being that the orthodox Greek Church owned the great bulk of the tradesmen. The result of this was that a peasant being asked about a man seated

in his cart, replied, "I am taking a Jew to be the Greek in such

and such a village."

A couple of anecdotes, showing the way in which theft is carried on and crimes have been discovered afford favourable instances of official acuteness :— " A story told me by a country attorney in the south of Hungary of

1 an incident of the year 1811 illustrates a state of things which is but little improved at the present day. An Italian was passing through the country with a gigantic ox, which ho exhibited for money at the markets and fairs. Coming to Lugos, the chief town of the county of Krass('), he excited the attention and cupidity of three Routnan peasants, who waylaid and murdered him on his way to Transylvania. Travellers coming to Lugos reported that they had found the carcase of the ox, whose hide had been removed, lying in the road. The szolgabird gave orders to all the tanners of the place to give information of any persons bringing any largo hide to sell. In a few days the three peasants appeared with the hide, wore arrested, and, on examination, confessed the murder. They were disappointed at finding that their victim had only a few florins and a roasted fowl in his possession. On being asked what they did with the plunder, they said that they had divided the money equally amongst them, and the roasted fowl they had given to the dog; as it was Friday they had not eaten it themsolvea, being afraid of committing a sin."

"One of the 'captains' at Szeged told me that one day he saw a man riding on a horse that seemed too good for him. He immediately had them seized on suspicion. The peasant produced a passport, duly signed by the captain of a neighbouring town, as they count neighbourhoods on the Alfold, that is to say, rather less than more than fifty miles off. In- quiries made at the latter place proved the passport to be genuine, but my friend's suspicions were not therefore disarmed. He made inquiries in another municipality as to the genuineness of the 'Minters previous passport ; and again his suspicions did not receive the expected con-

firmation. Still not satisfied, he pushed his researches into the past history of the horse, and at last found a passport forged in the name of the judge of a distant village, with a fictitious name as that of the alleged vendor. There were three thieves concerned in the transaction, each living in a different district. Having first forged a passport to account for its being in the possession of one of them, they passed him on from one to the other, at each transfer obtraiuing a passport com- pletely en r'eyle, until tho captain's persevering suspicions detected the whole triad of offenders."

In spite of what has been said of the reluctance of the Hungarians to act in concert with the Government, there aro symptoms of their possessing the instinct of order, and there ought to be materials from which constitutionalisna might be developed. What Mr. Patterson tells us of the regard paid to the officials of each county might seem hopeful. " When there is a row in the village pothouse," he says, "the village judge goes in, armed only with his stick, and, as he shakes it over the heads of the rioters, he cries, 'I should only like to see the boldest of you dare to take this stick out of my hand ; it is the stick of the worshipful and noble county.'" Perhaps this incident is too small in itself to be accepted as the germ of future self-government, and we notice that Mr. Patterson, who would be glad to give all due importance to any signs of growth, is not over-sanguine. But, as we have implied already, he does not impress us with a sense of the strength and decision of his views ; he appears as if he were content to aid us to form a judgment by providing us with correct data, and though we feel that he attempts to influence us, he never consciously or unconsciously carries us away.