Twenty years around the world

by John Guy Vassar

Rome, according to the published statistics, contains six hundred and thirty-five palaces, three hundred and twenty-eight churches, fifty public fountains, one hundred small fountains, thirty-four bishops, one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight priests, two thousand one hundred and eighteen monks, one thousand four hundred and seventeen young monks, one hundred and fourteen convents, thirteen obelisks, and sixteen city gates. The ancient Romans had aqueducts to convey to the city eight hundred tons of water daily. Three of them still remain, one of which supplies the Vatican and the fountains in front of St. Peter’s, and is thirty miles in length. Another is twenty-two miles long. The ancient mistress of the world, reduced as she now is in size, population, wealth, and power, still has her stately palaces, noble churches, splendid fountains, stupendous obelisks of Egyptian character, matchless amphitheatres, and almost innumerable antiquities, with their classical associations, which can never fail to attract strangers from all enlightened quarters of the globe, to say nothing of the finest modern works of art, to be found almost everywhere, and in which she is unrivalled.

XII.

Vienna, Austria, June 25, 1841.

I promised to give you some account of this beautiful city and the characteristics of the government and people. The registers kept at the police are so accurate and full that the history of a person from his birth, his changes of abode, his journeyings, in fact all his movements, are ascertained with perfect precision, so arbitrary and jealous is the government. No Austrian is allowed to leave the empire unless by making a deposit of five hundred florins, or giving security to that amount, to indemnify his return. The consequence is that we seldom see them in America. I find no Americans here at present. It is a fine country for a stranger to reside in, but he must not meddle with affairs of state—if he does so he must not be surprised if an officer hands him his passport with orders to leave the empire instantly.

The expenses of living are one third higher here than in Paris. You find no table d’hôte at the hotels, but merely take a lodging room, and then have your meals at the restaurant connected with the hotel, or where you please. The city abounds with cafés, which are resorted to by all classes. In these establishments you are almost constantly enveloped in smoke, as every one uses a pipe or cigars. There are some cafés in which smoking is not allowed.

At this season of the year, to escape the heat, a general resort is had to the different gardens, where you find innumerable tables spread in the open air under the trees, in the hearing of bands of music, and occupied by well dressed, orderly people of both sexes. The city is highly favored with shade trees.

Vienna has been pronounced by travellers the most dissolute capital in Europe. But in this I should think there was much exaggeration. There is, at all events, none of that open display of vice that disgraces Paris and London. Violations of the peace are said to be rare, and you seldom see a drunken man. No public gambling is allowed. In the public walks and gardens all seem to be alike merry and happy—feasting, dancing, and amusements being the order of the day. London is celebrated for its wealth, Paris for its beauty and gaiety, but Vienna for all these characteristics.

In a former letter I stated that I had visited the vault of a Capuchin convent, where the remains of the royal family are deposited. There are in all seventy metal coffins; the oldest is of the Emperor Matthias; the most splendid is that of Margaret of Spain, being of pure silver; the most interesting is that of young Napoleon, Duke of Reichstadt. A singular custom they have here in disposing of the remains of the royal family. The body is deposited in one place, the bowels in the cathedral, and the heart in a silver urn in the church of the Augustins. I visited the latter, and had the urn containing the young Napoleon’s heart in my hand, and also that having the heart of his grandfather, the late Emperor.

The imperial jewel office surpasses all sights of that kind I have ever witnessed. Here are riches unbounded. Among the prominent objects is the crown of Charlemagne, consisting of gold, diamonds, and precious stones, taken from his grave at Aix-la-Chapelle. It was used at the coronation of many Roman Emperors. There are also the crown worn by Napoleon at his coronation at Milan as King of Lombardy, the entire Austrian crown, necklaces, and jewels of all kinds. Six large rooms are used to display them, with many other articles, including robes, sceptres, orbs, and shelves filled with precious stones—the largest diamond in the world, weighing one hundred and thirty-three carats, gold vases, basins, the gold and silver cradle of young Napoleon, &c. Here is also preserved a variety of sacred relics, a piece of the holy cross, the spear and nails of the cross used at the coronation of the Roman Emperor, a piece of the table-cloth spread for the Lord’s Supper, three links of the chain of St. Peter, Paul, and John, and so many other objects displaying the superstitions of the people and the extravagance of the government, that a mere enumeration of them is out of the question.

The Imperial Arsenal is the finest I ever saw, far surpassing anything of the kind in London or Paris. It is an immense building, the court of which is filled with cannon of all sizes, the largest being twenty-four feet long, and carrying one hundred and twenty-four pound balls. A chain goes round the entire square where the building stands, hung in festoons of immense size; it contains eight thousand links, and was taken from the Turks, who had thrown it across the Danube.