Rambles in Istria, Dalmatia and Montenegro

Preface

VERY" year more and more is the constantly recurring question ever put "Where shall we go to this Summer?" and every year the field for selection gets narrower and narrower.

In writing the following pages, my object has been less to make a book than to point out to those who are tired of the old beaten tracks, countries within easy reach of London, but seldom visited, and quite outside the lines affected by the typical tourist: — countries where at moderate expense and with total freedom from danger they may enjoy new vi Preface.

scenery, receive fresh impressions, acquire new information ; and if by so doing 1 shall have suggested to others one more field for exploration that shall afford them half the enjoyment which I experienced during my wanderings, I shall consider myself very amply rewarded.

Chapter I

A CONVERSATION— WHERE SHALL WE GO FOR A HOLIDAY TRIP — ATTRACTIONS OF LAPLAND — REMINISCENCES OF ITALY — THE GRAND TOUR IN FORMER DAYS — HOW TO STUDY HISTORY — DIFFICULTY OF FINDING NEW GROUND FOR TRAVEL — AN INTERESTING COUNTRY WITHIN FIVE DAYS OF TEMPLE BAR ........ 1

CHAPTER n.

MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES— VIENNA— ST. STEPHEN S CATHEDRAL — OLD CATHEDRALS— SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE — USES OF EAU DE COLOGNE — INSECT ATTACKS — THE UNI- VERSAL EXHIBITION — THE GARDENS AND ACCESSORIES — THE LADIES OF VIENNA — NEW OPERA-HOUSE— ON THE DANUBE — A WEALTHY PRELATE — WISSEGRAD —ARRIVAL AT PESTH . . , . . . .14 viii Contents.

Chapter III

PESTH— HOTEL UNGARIA— BITDA — STORY OF AN ARTIST — PROS- PERITY OF THE CITY— NEW BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE — ST. marguerite's ISLAND — ANCIENT ROMAN BATH — CON- DITION OP HUNGARY— FIELD FOR THE JUNIOR BRANCHES OF THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND — KEEPING UP APPEARANCES — THE TERMINATION OF TURKISH MISRULE — FUTURE OP THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES . . . .29

Chapter IV

STEINBRUCK — THE SOMMERING— FIRST VIEW OF THE ADRIATIC — TRIESTE — SHOCKS OP EARTHQUAKE AT BELLUNO — AUSTRIAN IRONCLAD 'LISSA' — CAPTAIN R. BURTON — FLYING VISIT TO SAN CANZIANO — SUBTERRANEAN COURSE OF A MOUNTAIN STREAM — THE KARST — WILD SCENERY — A THUNDER-STORM — CHURCH OF SAN CANZIANO— STUD FARM . . 43

Chapter V

THE "SAN carlo" AND HER PASSENGERS — A DALMATIAN'S REMARKS ON THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH IN INDIA — DALMATIAN DIGGERS FROM AUSTRALIA— COAST OP ISTRIA — PIRANO— CATHEDRAL OP PARENZO — ROVIGNO — POLA — THE AMPHITHEATRE — PICTURESQUE SIGHT — GIOVANNI AS- TONISHED — MONTENEGRIN COSTUME — ZARA — EXTREME HEAT ........ 61

Contents. ix

Chapter VI

DEPAETUKE FROM ZARA — SEBENICO — PLEASANT COMPANIONS — NOBLE HARBOUR — THE CATHEDRAL — CURIOUS ROOF — CORAL FISHERY — SPALATO — SALONA — DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE — MR. PATON'S DESCRIPTION OF IT — BEAUTIFUL SPECTACLE— THE PORTA PEEREA — QUAINT DWELLINGS — AMBROSIAL TO- BACCO . ....... 79

Chapter VII

A TYPE OF SHTLOCK — SCENE IN THE STREET — VARIED COSTUMES — MORLACCHI — TURKS FROM THE HERZEGOVINA — WOMEN OF SPALATO— INSPECTION OF THE CITY — THE PORTA AUREA — COURT OF THE VESTIBULE OF THE PALACE — INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL — ILLUSTRIOUS MEN OF SPALATO— MARK ANTONY DE DOMINIS — ST. JEROME — THE MORLACCHI . 94

Chapter VIII

ISLAND OF LISSA — NAVAL BATTLES — A BRIDAL PARTY TAKEN ON BOARD — LESINA — FORTRESS OF SAN NICOLO — THE LOGGIE — FORT SPAGNUOLO — ISLAND OF CURZOLA— LA CHROMA— BEAU- TIFUL SCENE — RICHARD CCEUR DE LION — CATHEDRAL OF RAGUSA— EARTHQUAKE OF 1667 — TERRIBLE CONFLAGRATION — PRINCE MAXIMILIAN . . . , . . 107

X Contents.

Chapter IX

THE PADRE ANSELMO— HIS LIFE AND LABOtTKS AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS — THE PIONEERS OP CIVILIZATION — AME- RICAN INDIANS AND NEGROES — PADRE ANSELMO ON PRO- TESTANT AND CATHOLIC MISSIONS — NATIVE CHRISTIANS IN

INDIA — POPE PIUS IX. ONCE A MISSIONARY— CARDINAL P .

— POET OF GRAVOSA — RAGTJSA . . . . ] 25

Chapter X

ATTRACTIONS OF DALMATIA — INTERESTING EXCURSION — ISLAND OF LACHROMA — CLIMATE — A. A. PATON, ESQ., FORMERLY CONSUL-GENERAL AT RAGUSA — AN ITALIAN DINNER — EPI- DAURUS — THE CANAL OF CATTARO— TERRITORY OF RAGUSA — TOWER OF PERASTO AND FORT OP SANTA CROCE— STRANGELY BUILT CHURCH — A PALAZZO— SAN GIORGIO AND LA MADONNA — PICTURE ATTRIBUTED TO ST. LUKE . . . 141

Chapter XI

CITY OF CATTARO— SIGNOR JACKSCHICH — STREETS AND PIAZZAS — WALKS AND FORTIFICATIONS — PUBLIC WALK — CAFE AND GARDENS — SONOROUS STONE — A MONTENEGRIN CHIEF — A HAPPY BEGGAR BOY ..... 160

Contents. xi

CHAPTER XIL

MONTENEGKIN TRADERS — LE SCALE DI CATTARO — A GOR- GEOTJSLT-ATTIRED MONK — OUR CARAVAN — MONTENEGRINS OP THE prince's body-guard — INTERESTING VIEW — ABSENCE OF TREES ON THE DALMATIAN COAST — A HOME FOR GERMAN EMIGRANTS— TURKISH MISRULE IN EUROPE — A FUTURE EM- PIRE— A MAN FIT TO RULE .... 164

CHAPTER Xni.

THE PRINCE OF MONTENEGRO — UNJUST DEPRIVATION OF TER- RITORY— ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY— A FRIEND IN NEED — VILLAGE OF NIEGOSCH — PANORAMA SEEN FROM THE TOP OF THE PASS— WILD-LOOKING HERDS AND FLOCKS — MONTENEGRIN LEGEND — ARRIVAL AT CETTIGNE — THE VLADIKA'S PALACE — THE TREE OF JUSTICE — TOWER OP CET- TIGNE ....... 177

CHAPTER XIV.

INSECT POWDER OF MONTENEGRO — DESCRIPTION OF THE MO- NASTERY—ENCAMPMENTS— FESTIVAL OF ST. PETER — A SAINT BY THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE — PICTURESQUE SCENE — BOSNIAN CAFE — THE NATIONAL INSTRUMENT — A TRAVELLED DALMATIAN — TALL MONTENEGRINS . . . 194 xii Contents.

CHAPTER XV.

A POLYGLOT JUMBLE— WAR CUSTOMS OF THE MONTENEGRINS — DEATH IN BATTLE — FORAYS FOR THE PLUNDER OF CATTLE — EQUIPAGE OF A MONTENEGRIN SOLDIER — PILLAGE — MANNER OF FIGHTING— TACTICS— SIGNAL CRIES— ON BOARD SHIP— DECAPITATION OF WOUNDED PRISONERS • . 208

CHAPTER XVI.

BATTLE BETWEEN TURKS AND MONTENEGRINS— ADDRESS OP PRINCE MIRKO — HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER — THE PROJECTS OF PRINCE DANIELO — PRINCE NICHOLAS I. — SPORT IN MONTENEGRO — INTERVIEW WITH THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS — NATIONAL COSTUME — SPLENDID ILLUMINA- TION ........ 218

CHAPTER XVn.

A WALK WITH THE PRINCE — SALUTATIONS OF THE CROWD — THE GUZLA — MONTENEGRIN DANCE — THE PRINCE'S ACCOUNT OF ITS ORIGIN — THE CAMP AT NIGHT — ADVENTURE "WITH A MONTENEGRIN — DEVOTION OF THE PEOPLE TO THEIR PRINCE ,.,.... 235

CHAPTER XVni.

FALSE IMPRESSIONS OF MONTENEGRO — AGRICULTURE ON A MINOR SCALE— FIELD-LABOURERS — MONTENEGRIN FACCHINI AT CONSTANTINOPLE — FEMALE LABOUR — PRODUCTION OF SUMACH — COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES IMPEDED — IMPOSING PAGEANT .... 248

Contents. xiii

CHAPTER XIX.

FOOT RACES — MONASTERY OF OSTROG — OTTOMAN ADMINISTRA- TION—A COURSE A LA MONTAGNE — RACING WITHOUT BETTING — BEN TROVATO — A FLAT RACE — CONVERSATION ABOUT ENGLISH LAWS AND CUSTOMS — LAW OF HABEAS CORPUS 258

CHAPTER XX.

DEPARTURE FROM CETTIGNE — RUGGED ROAD — DELIGHTFUL VIEW — USEFUL OLD HELMET — NIEGOSH — EXCESSIVE HEAT — THE SCALA DI CATTARO— THE BOCCHESI— THE RUSSIAN CONSUL — SUNSET AT CATTARO — UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE OF PERO PEJOVICH ...... 268

CHAPTER XXL

BEAUTIFUL ROAD — ATTACK OF FEVER — ARRIVAL AT BUDUA — BARON HETDEG AND SIGNOR MARCO MEDIN — A RESTAURANT — OUR HOST— DOCTOR, DENTIST AND APOTHECARY — WALK ROUND THE FORTIFICATIONS— EXPLORATION OF BUDUA — THE PARTING GLASS ..... 280

CHAPTER XXn.

TOWN OF ANTIVARI — FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF TURKEY — ORIENTAL PASSENGERS — VALUE OF A KNOWLEDGE OF ARABIC OR TURKISH — A MAHOMETAN MERCHANT AND HIS FAMILY — TURKISH TROOPS IN ALBANIA — TOWN AND FORTRESS OF CASTEL DURAZZO — RETURN TO TRIESTE— FAREWELL TO THE READER ....... 291

RAMBLES IN ISTRIA, DALMATIA,

MONTENEGRO.

Chapter I

A CONVERSATION — WHERE SHALL WE GO FOE A HOLIDAY TRIP — ATTRACTIONS OF LAPLAND — REMINISCENCES OF ITALY — THE GRAND TOUR IN FORMER DAYS— HOW TO STUDY HISTORY —DIFFICULTY OF FINDING NEW GROUND FOR TRAVEL — AN INTERESTING COUNTRY WITHIN FIVE DAYS OF TEMPLE BAR.

ET US go to Lapland !" was the exclamation which rang on my ear, as I was entering my club, one fine morning in the early part of June, 1873.

" Lapland !" said I, " what put that into your head?"

f

2 Shall we go to La-pland?

" Yes," replied my friend M , in his rich, good-humoured voice, slightly flavoured with Hibernian Doric. "I hear that somebody has written a book about it. I have been everywhere else in Europe — and it is quite the place to go to now, you know. We shall pic-nic on Cape North and then drive across to Spitzbergen in reindeer sledges on the ice, it will be awfully jolly !" and his joyous laugh echoed through the hall. " Do come, like a good fellow," said he, " there will be just the four of us, R , C , yourself, and I, and you really must not say no, for we none of us can speak a word of anything but English, while you speak every language under the sun. So agree to it at once ; let us all meet here to dinner, to-morrow at six, and then off by the mail to Calais."

At first I thought that M was chaffing ;

but having now been joined by R and

C , who at once chimed in on the same

subject, I said,

" Have you any idea about Lapland, my dear M — ■ — , do you know anything about it ? and what do you expect to see there .^"

Out of the Beaten TraoJc. 3

"Oh, dear me, yes," replied he, "it is a country in the North of Europe, surrounded on all sides either by land or by water, and inhabited by men who are four feet six high, and the darlingest little women just four feet nothing. They go to church on Sundays, riding on reindeer, and shoot Polar bears with bows and arrows ! Oh dear, yes, 1 know all about Lapland."

" Not at all a bad account," said I, " but what writes Captain Hutchinson in his book ? Is his description of Lapland very captivating .?"

" Well," answered M , " I confess I have

not read his book ; but go abroad I must, London is getting too stupid, and I have been everywhere else in Europe ; and I want to see a country out of the beaten track, something I have not yet seen."

"Now, my dear fellow," said I, "though I have not been exactly in Lapland, I have been in Finland, and that, you know, is just next door to it ; and knowing what the mosquitoes are in those swampy northern latitudes, nothing

4 What may he seen in Lai)land.

could Induce me to visit those countries again in Summer, except for very cogent reasons indeed. But come now, tell me where have you been, that you say you have seen every other country in Europe ?"

" Well," answered M . " I have been twice

to Italy, up and down, and done it as thoroughly as any man could do it. I have been — "

" Stop a wee," said I, " how have you done Italy? let me see, suppose we just begin in the middle, let us take Florence — no doubt you were there."

" Oh dear, yes, and such a jolly place, where one could live and love for ever ! oh, yes,

" ' Of all the fairest cities of the world, None is so fair as Florence !'

'"If it were not for the heat, and having been there twice already, it would beat going to see the sun at midnight, which we shall see in Lapland, old fellow. We shall see the sun going right round the horizon, neither rising nor setting — not a bit — but going just as in the old riddle we had when we were children, ' going round and round the house, and

Florence. 5

never touching the house.' So now no more * shirking and lurking,' but let's be off to Lapland, and if there are a few mosquitoes, we can take plenty of flea-powder to protect us ; there now, I'll stand the flea-powder — a whole pound's worth," and the laugh of that excellent fellow rings in my ears still.

Here R joined in the conversation ; he had

never been to Italy, and his curiosity was raised by the enthusiastic expressions of my friend M , in regard to Florence.

" Do tell us something about that place, where you could live and love for ever," said he.

"Well, what can I tell you?" replied M .

"Florence was the capital of Tuscany, and is situated on the banks of the river Arno, and it is a most delightful place. What more do you

want? There is the charming Mrs. , and

her equally charming daughter, whose house opens just as the opera closes ; and once there, one never thinks of leaving till three o'clock in the morning at soonest. Then there are the Cascine, the Cafe Doney, and the club, and my

6 Travelling on the Continent.

friend G. M y ; and then the churches and

the galleries, and the pietre dure, &c., &c., I did every one of them."

" Where did you go when you left Florence ?"

" To Rome, naturally."

" So all you know about Tuscany and Central Italy resolves itself into the Cascine, the Cafe

Doney, and our friend G. M y. Did you

not even visit Siena on your way to Rome ?"

" No, for, being fond of the sea, I went to Rome by Civita Vecchia."

"When you were at Civita Vecchia, did it not come into your head to visit the birth-place of the Tarquins — Corneto.^ only a short drive from Civita Vecchia, and one of the most interesting places in Italy."

" I never even heard of it," said M .

I was going to say ex uno disce omnes^ this is how la jeunesse dore of the present time travel on the continent — to finish their education, by the way ! but my remark would be of too sweeping a character, for there are many exceptions to be met with occasionally. Still, though travelling is multiplied a thousand-fold compared with what it used to

The ''Grand Tour." 7

be even only a century ago, it is doubtful, I think, if travelling is as fruitful of good results in our days as it used to be in the days of our grandfathers, when, under the guidance of a well qualified tutor, young men used to take the "grand tour" with a view to completing their education, the foundation and groundwork of which had been laid first in our public schools, and then in

our great universities. Now my friend M

was a charming fellow, well educated to a certain point, pleasant, agreeable, and good-tempered; he had travelled a good deal, and yet I may safely say he had seen nothing, and simply because he had not prepared himself for travelling with a view to thoroughly seeing the countries he intended visiting, and obtaining the information they could bestow. And how many are there that just travel in the same way ! -How many are there among those who yearly flood the approaches to the Eternal City who do more than lounge about the galleries, the Campo Vaccino, or the Pincian Hill ! and who, if asked about the City of Veii (for instance) will simply open their eyes and say they never heard of it, v/here is it ? Why, my good

8 Preparation for Travelling,

fellow. Veil was a great city, and its inhabitants among the most civilized and luxurious in the world, long before Rome was built. What ! before Rome was built ? he will say ; and then if some mild reminiscence of the kind comes across his memory, he miay, perhaps, recall some fleeting visions of Agamemnon and Mycenae, taking it for granted that Veii, if anterior to Rome, must have been in Greece ; but when informed that Veii was the rival of Rome, that its ruins were within twenty miles of the Eternal City, he will possibly get angry and think you are chaffing him. He, no doubt, may have heard of Etruria, but probably in his mind it was jumbled up with Minton's pottery ; if associated with Wedgewood, it will be a point in his favour. He may probably have heard of Etruscan cities and Etruscan vases, but all his information in this line is terribly hazy ; and so he dawdles through his sojourn at Rome, goes on to Naples, perhaps to Palermo and Malta, returning to England by the P. and O. steamer, imagining that he has seen, or cionCj Italy, as he terms it.

It so happened that I had made arrangements

How to study History. 9

for another tour, and was thus unable to join my three friends in their intended expedition ; but the

following Winter M and 1 went to the

continent together, we spent four months in Italy, that Italy he had so thoroughly " done" twice before ! and to his amazement, he had to confess that in his previous journeys he had simply wasted his time and his money.

We visited numberless out of the way places, having made Florence our head-quarters for Central Italy, and there under the guidance of Micali's Antichi Popoli Italiani, we dived into the history of Italy, beginning with the misty periods synchronous with the siege of Troy, illustrating them as we went along by visits to the ancient cities and cemeteries of Etruria, and thence through those glorious Middle Ages and their unparalleled works of art, which can nowhere be so well studied as in Italy ! It was a surpassing pleasure to him, no doubt, to see for the first time all those wondrous things ; but it was almost as great a delight to me to witness his raptures, his astonishment, as city after city came under our examination — Fiesole, Volterra, Chiusi, Cortona. This last.

10 The Walls of Cortona.

especially, struck him with astonishment, a city co-eval with Ilium, and still in our days a city preserving its ancient name, while of Ilium, periere ipsa ruina^ and its very existence questioned, till the researches of the indefatigable Schliemann brought monuments to light within the last few months which have clearly identified the spot, and proved to a demonstration that Ilium really had existed, and that the siege of Troy was not simply a myth, a poet's dream !

I well remember helping him to measure the immense blocks of the ancient walls of Cortona, fitted with such wonderful exactness that the blade of a penknife can even at present be scarcely pushed in between them, and which still remain in situ without mortar or other cement, though probably thirty centuries have rolled on since those walls were erected by the ancestors of their present inhabitants. How I remember the interest he took in scanning from the hill which looks over the rippling water of the Trasymene Lake, pointing out the probable spot where those false-hearted Romans had rested whilst the battle was raging below, only to be overtaken, however, on the

New Ground fur Travel. 1 1

morrow by Hannibal and his victorious legions, who made them pay so dearly for their treachery.

" This is the way I like to study history, and this is the way never to forget it," said he. " I hated the very names of Tacitus and Livy, but hovv delightful I think them now !" and so we did do Italy from Agrigentum to the Alps, and from the Adriatic to the Mediterranean, and many queer out-of-the-way places we visited, and such scores of sketches we carried away ; and a more delightful trip never was made before or since.

Captain Hutchinson, in his introduction to " Try Lapland," writes, " The difficulty of finding new ground for travel is increasing every year for those who, with but a limited time at their disposal, are yet tired of the beaten paths of Ramsgate or Scarborough, Switzerland or the Rhine, and pant after lands fresh and fair, of which they have never seen the photograph — where the gorgeous hotel with its elongated bills, and the pertinacious touter with his cringing greasy manners, are alike unknown."

12 Within Five Days of Temple Bar.

Now to a great extent that pleasant writer is correct; but the man who rushing away from the turmoil and bustle of London life, whether he be lawyer, merchant, or physician, seeking for fresh air and scenery, but as far away as possible from those hackneyed tracks infested by the typical tourist, both English and Transatlantic, and by poor Marryat's " shilling-seeking, napkinholding, up-and-downstairs son of a sea-cook" of an hotel waiter, need not go to the Arctic Circle to find all the above-named advantages, unless, indeed, he is bent on also seeing the sun at midnight, and his own body a prey to the mosquitoes.

Within five days of Temple Bar, or as we soon shall have to say, where Temple Bar once stood, there are as splendid countries to explore, as fine ruins to contemplate, as glorious scenery and as gorgeous costumes to admire, as the heart of man can wish for ; and if the reader will trust himself with me for a little while, excusing the many shortcomings he will meet with in these pages, I will lead him over a trip I took last Summer which I think will fully repay him, though he will often

A Trip Last Summer. 13

have to make great allowances and deal leniently with the Author, who for the first time in his life rushes into print, just for the same reason that the stars shine above us, because he has nothing else to do ! But if through publishing this little book he shall have opened up a new field of travel to those who yearly require to recruit their strength of body and of mind by a ramble in foreign lands, if he shall have added one more possible source of enjoyment to those within the reach of the many, he will consider himself amply repaid for whatever trouble he may have been put to in its compilation.

Chapter II

MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES— VIENNA— ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL — OLD CATHEDRALS— SANTA MARIA DEL PIORE — USES OF EAU DE COLOGNE — INSECT ATTACKS — THE UNI- VERSAL EXHIBITION — THE GARDENS AND ACCESSORIES — THE LADIES OF VIENNA — NEW OPERA-HOUSE — ON THE DANUBE— A WEALTHY PRELATE — WISSEGRAD— ARRIVAL AT PESTH.

STARTED from London for my holiday trip early in the month of June, 1873. The route I had laid out for myself on my departure was not exactly that which I eventually adopted, for nothing is truer than that man proposes, but God disposes. I had intended visiting the Crimea, and then crossing over the Straits of Kertch, I meant to have rambled over

Vienna. 15

the Caucasus, finishing my trip with a visit to the Monastery of Echmiadzin, at the foot of Mount Ararat.

But it was not to be ; I got as far as Pesth, when the cholera, which was then very active, not to say raging in Hungary, barred my further passage down the river into the Lower Provinces of the Danube, by threatening me with a quarantine of eleven days in a dirty lazzaretto, at a temperature of at least 90° in the shade. I would have risked the cholera, but I could not face the loss of eleven days in the limited time I had at my disposal, nor could I contemplate at all the horrors of an Oriental lazzaretto. All my plans were therefore upset ; still the result was eventually satisfactory, as \ think I shall be able to prove in the following pages.

After leaving London, I made straight for Vienna, by Brussels and Cologne, where I remained only a few hours, during which I visited for the twentieth time and more that exquisite specimen of ecclesiastical structure, its unrivalled Cathedral ; every time I see it I admire it more

16 .Cathedral of Cologne.

and more, I think there are none to equal it, while most certainly none surpass it.

St. Peter's at Rome is a magnificent building, astonishes one by its size and its rich adornments, but it fails to impress one from a religious point of view. It might be a church, or it might be a grand reception room, a salk des ambassadeurs, or a colossal ball -room — whereas the Cathedral of Cologne is a church, a place of worship, and nothing else. I suppose there is something in the pure Gothic architecture conducive to this impression. There is but one other church I know of in the world which has the same solemn awe-producing effect, perhaps in a greater degree even than the Cathedral of Cologne, and that is Santa Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral of Florence. I have been hundreds of times in that grand old edifice, but never without feeling an overwhelming sense of solemnity and awe. It was not only the low murmuring notes of the organ sounding the responses at eve to the plaintive litanies of the Virgin, nor the deep tones of the full accompaniment to the Miserere mei Deus in the Passion Week, which produced it, for I was

Sim])Ucit)/ of the Structure. 17

perhaps oftener there when all was silent, than during festive times, as I have always had the greatest objection to going into Catholic churches during service, gaping about and sight-seeing, to the evident annoyance and discomfort of the worshippers — a habit which, I regret to say, many of our country people too often indulge in, greatly to our detriment, especially in the less frequented places of the continent, where the people have come to regard us as heathens, and constantly to say of us, "Non sanno meglio, non sono Cristiani,"

It was something more than all this which ever filled me with a feeling of intense devotion when I entered that grand old building. The severe simplicity of the structure, with no tawdry ornamentation to obtrude itself and take off the attention, may have played an important part in giving birth to solemn thoughts, together with the height and size of the three enormous pilasters which alone support the roof — the lofty arches, the vast depth and gloom of the aisles, the intensity of the shade, the deep silence

c

18 Eau de Cologne.

made still more impressive by an occasional footfall— all would combine to proclaim this a house of prayer, and nothing else ; a Temple in the fullest and most unequivocal sense of the word, offering to the old and the broken-spirited, to the infirm and to all who sought it in prayer, an assurance of tranquillity, consolation, and peace !

Having enjoyed my oft-repeated visit, and purchased a large supply of Eau de Cologne from the Farina gegenuher dem Julichs Platz, (and don't you believe that the others make it near as good), I got in the train for Munich and for Vienna.

I think I see a smile, slightly perhaps savouring of a sneer, from some of my readers of the masculine gender, at my purchase of a large supply of Eau de Cologne ; but just let them hold hard, till they shall have endured the trials of hot winds and dusty roads in the daytime, stuffy cabins and the ordinary accompaniment of flea invasions a^id other entomological attacks in the night-time ; and then if they have the luck to have any of it with them, they will discover the use of Eau de Cologne in allaying pain and irritation.

Vienna Exhibition. 19

Travellers in all Eastern countries should have with them a supply of good Eau de Cologne, not for scenting their pocket-handkerchiefs only, but principally as a remedy. Some people suffer more, some suffer less from insect attacks ; but I have seen a man, a strong, stout, brawny Britisher, set nearly wild by flea-bites, and I shall never forget his appearance, as he stood before me one morning, after passing a restless night in a very wild region in the South of Europe, like a patient with small-pox, and scratching away at himself for bare life. I am sure he would have been in a high fever that night, had I not bathed him with a mixture of equal parts of Eau de Cologne, laurel water, and sal-volatile. So don't forget it, kind reader, if ever in your travels you are likely to be in countries infested with insect tribes ; whatever their nature may be, whether the mosquito which flieth, the flea which hoppeth, or t'other thing which crawleth, my nostrum will be found a sovereign remedy against them all. Although the Vienna Exhibition was fully open, and that numbers were flocking from all

c 2

20 Archduhe Charles^ Hotel.

parts to that most charming capital, which has so justly acquired the epithet of " le Paradis des Hommes," I was fortunate in having but one companion in the train all the way, and thus we both were enabled to extend our limbs and sleep as comfortably as in our beds. It is wonderful the amount of comfort one can obtain through life by the judicious distribution of a few cigars accompanied by a little silver !

At Vienna, I went — as I always do — to the Archduke Charles' Hotel ; a little old-fashioned, perhaps, but unquestionably the best hotel in Vienna, and where the cooking is always undeniable. During my short stay, I went every day to the Universal Exhibition — the world's fair ! but don't be afraid that I mean to weary you by dragging you with me through those confusing avenues of "all sorts," where nothing that was wanted could be found, and everything we wanted not was sure to be everlastingly obtruding itself before our eyes.