The great gala-day of the year is the 1st of May, when nobility and plebeians, great and small, resort to the Prater, and is looked forward to as the chief event of the season.
A sojourn of nearly a month will give me an opportunity of revisiting much that I had seen formerly, and acquiring a better idea of the peculiarities of the different races of mankind.
CIX.
Pesth, Hungary, May 9, 1855.
In my last, from Vienna, I remarked that I should remain over the 1st of May jubilee, when all classes feel it incumbent on them to hail the return of springtime and flowers—and to sip their coffee, drink their beer, and enjoy themselves according to their means.
The long shady avenues of the Prater are crowded with observers, regarding the double procession, up and down, of closely hemmed carriages, with liveried footmen, filled with the beauty and wealth of the capital, following in the wake of the many gilded and brilliant court equipages containing the imperial family and ladies of honor, foreign ambassadors, &c. Within neat inclosures, in summer houses, are seen the nobility, dining sumptuously, as Royalty also dines here, on the occasion. But what is more novel, is the Wurstel Prater, on another avenue, and its novel surroundings. Here are found Punch and Judy, or Marionettes, flying horses, miniature railroads, with weighing machines, theatres, boat and revolving swings, panoramas, bands of music, and scores of recreations for the masses, mostly permanent establishments for the summer, coffee-houses, with thousands of tables under the trees; and bread and cheese, sausages, coffee, and light beer, disappear in marvellous quantities, at short notice, and, strange to say, in that vast multitude, I only saw one partially drunken man, a soldier. No fighting, no quarrelling, all harmony, all were in pursuit of rational amusement, rich and poor, men, women, and children.
The Imperial Steamship Company employ their steamers upon the Danube, the Save, the Drave, and Theiss, and terminate their line at Galatz, where the Lloyd line for Constantinople connects. The steamers are small, but much improved since I was last in this country, being constructed after American designs.
From Vienna to Presburg, the banks of the river are low, with nothing of interest, except the battle-ground of Wagram. Presburg is prettily situated, with delightful environs. A bridge of boats crosses the river here; I counted twenty-nine boats in passing over to the forest promenade, which is much resorted to, and contains a summer theatre and refreshment houses. The town has forty-two thousand inhabitants. The Cathedral, built in the year 1090, was the crowning place of the Hungarian kings; it has some remarkable statuary in metal. The festival of the recently declared dogma, by the Pope, of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, took place while I was there—which brought out the ladies in large numbers, and Hungary may boast of the beauty of her daughters. Upon the summit of the hill overlooking the town, still stand the royal castle walls, burnt in 1812, and from which a magnificent view of the city and Danube is obtained.
Descending from Presburg, the river becomes wider; at this place is the celebrated chain bridge, finished in 1849, and one of the wonders of the age; it is fifteen hundred feet across.
Komorn, en route between the two cities named, has seventeen thousand inhabitants, and possesses one of the strongest fortifications in Europe. In the revolution of 1849, the Hungarians held out for a long time, and finally gave it up voluntarily.