guage. That a race of beings, in the lowest degree of civilization, who, for four centuries, have been wandering about in every part of Europe, acquiring the language of every country which they frequented, and claiming no country of their own, should have lost their original language altogether, would not be a matter of astonishment. That they should have retained their peculiar language, would have been little less than miraculous; if, therefore, we can trace but a few words, common to the whole race in every country, and which have no affinity to the language of any nation inhabited by them at present, we are led irresistibly to the conclusion, that they are derived from a This fact has been established by former writers, and the result of my inquiries can only be considered as an additional evidence in its favour. According to ther own account, when they made their first appearance in Italy in the fifteenth century, they represented themselves as Egyptians, driven from their own country by the Saracens. But this assertion is now considered to have been false, and they are supposed to be of the Hindoo race, and this supposition is founded on the great similarity which is met with in their language to that of the Hindoos."

common source.

The next object of our travellers attention was the capital, Buda, the residence of the Palatine, and the seat of government. It contains upwards of thirty thousand inhabitants; while, on the opposite bank of the Danube, and connected with it by a bridge of boats, lies the city of Pesth, already of nearly equal magnitude, and rapidly increasing. Its chief ornaments are the National Museum, dedicated to the Natural History of Hungary, with an extensive library, open to the public, and an observatory, recently erected upon a hill rising from the river: great attention has been paid to procure the instruments from Munich, and to render, their supports independent of the building. The University, which has a library of fifty thousand volumes, is attended by seven hundred students; amongst them are to be found Jews, as well as Christians of all denominations, complete toleration being allowed throughout the kingdom.

The King of Hungary, who is also Emperor of Austria, has at his disposal a standing army of 60,000 men, which is maintained by the peasantry and free towns: with the consent of the Diet he can also call forth the insurrection

4

of the nobles, who on some of these occasions, have brought 40,000 men into the field. The most curious part of the military establishment is the militia, intended as a barrier against the Turks, which occupies the Croatian frontiers. Every father of a family holds a certain portion of land from the Government, for which he pays a small land-tax, furnishes his quota to the public magazines, and is bound to take the field when required. While in the field he is maintained, and the land-tax remitted in proportion to his military service. The land descends to the eldest son; and, if there are no male heirs, reverts to the crown. Sixty or more of these landholders unite into a family, under a patriarch of their own choice, to whom they yield implicit obedience. All the labour and gains of this family are in common: and no one can quit it without being punished as a deserter. Several of these families united, form a company, under the orders of a captain; and several companies constitute a regiment, commanded by a colonel. The whole economy of this extensive district is military; the agricultural labours are directed by corporals; the courts of justice are composed of commissioned officers; and the whole is subject to the Council of War at Vienna. The force which can be called out is estimated at 80,000 men; and the line which they are intended to protect, at 600 miles.

The revenue derived by Austria from Hungary is calculated at three millions sterling. Perhaps there are few countries which excite such strong feelings of indignation in the breast of an Englishman as Hungary. The absolute slavery of that class of people which in his own country enjoy in every respect, the same protection from the laws, as the first peer in the realm, renders the contrast both striking and painful.

The manner in which land is possessed in Hungary, is very singular. No man can possess lands who is not a noble of Hungary. But as all the family of a nobleman are also noble, it is supposed that, in every twenty-one individuals in the nation, one is of this class. The lands descend either entire and undivided to the eldest son, or are equally divided amongst the sons, or, in some cases, amongst the sons and daughters: so that many of the nobles become by these divisions, extremely poor, and are often obliged to discharge all the duties of the meanest peasant. If any

of

these nobles wish to sell an estate to a stranger, however high in rank, even to a noble of the Austrian empire, application must first be made to the surrounding proprietors, to learn whether they wish to purchase at the stipulated price; if they decline, the stranger may purchase it for a period of thirty years; at the end of which time, any branch of the family which sold it, however distantly related, may oblige the stranger to surrender his bargain. This goes so far, that, in many cases, though the purchaser be an Hungarian noble, the family of the former possessor can reclaim it after thirty years, on payment of the original price, together with expenses incurred in the buildings, and improvements which have been made during that period. The liti gation, ill-will, and evils of every kind to which such laws give rise, are beyond calculation.

"

The peasants on these estates were formerly bound to perform indefinite services, on account of supposed grants and privileges likewise little understood. Maria Theresa put the whole under certain regulations, which left less arbitrary power in the hands of the lord. She fixed the quantity of land upon each estate which was to remain irrevocably in the possession of the peasantry, giving to each peasant his portion, called a Session, and describing the services which should be required of him by his lord in return. The only points determined, however, were, first, the whole quantity of land assigned to the peasants; secondly, the relation between the quantity of land and the quantity of labour the lord should require for it. The individual peasants are not fixed to the soil, but may always be dismissed when the superior finds cause; nor is it of necessity that the son succeeds to his father, though usually the case. The peasant has no absolute claim to a whole session:-if the lord please, he may give but half a session, or a third; but, in this case, he cannot require more than one-half or onethird of the labour. The quantity of land allotted to a whole session is fixed for each comitatus or county. In the county of Neutra, where Urmeny is situated, it varies, according to the quality of the soil, from twenty to thirty ioch, each equal to 1.46 acres, or nearly 11⁄2 English statute acre; and of these, sixteen or twenty must be arable, the rest meadow. The services required of the father of the family for the whole session, are one hundred and four days of labour during the year, if he work without cattle; or

fifty-two days if he bring two horses or oxen, or four if necessary, with ploughs and carts. In this work he may either employ himself, or, if he prefer and can afford it, may send a servant. Besides this, he must give four fowls, and twelve eggs, and one pfund and a half of butter; and every thirty peasants must give one calf yearly. He must also pay a florin for his house; must cut and bring home a klaster of wood; must spin in his family six pfund of wool or hemp, provided by the landlord: and, among four peasants, the proprietor claims what is called a long journey, that is, they must transport twenty centners, each one hundred French pounds weight, the distance of two days' journey out and home; and, besides all this, they must pay one-tenth of all their products to the church, and one-ninth to the lord. Such are the services owed by the peasant; and happy would he be were he subject to no other claims. Unfortunately, however, the peasant of Hungary has scarcely any political rights, and is considered by the government, much more than by the landlord, in the light of a slave. By an unlimited extension of the aristocratical privilege, the noble is free from every burthen; and the whole is accumulated upon the peasant. The noble pays no tribute, and goes freely through the country, subject to neither tolls nor duties but the peasant is subject to pay tribute; and although there may be some nominal restriction to the services due from him to government, it can safely be said that there is no limit, in point of fact, to the services which he is compelled to perfom. Whatever public work is to be executed, not only when a road is to be repaired, but when new roads are to be made, or bridges built, the county meeting gives the order, and the peasant dares not refuse to execute it. All soldiers passing through the country are quartered exclusively upon the peasantry. They must provide them, without recompense, with bread, and furnish their horses with corn; and whenever called upon, by an order termed a "forespann order," they must provide the person bringing it with horses and means of conveyance. Such an order is always employed by the officers of government; and whoever can in any way plead public business as the cause of his journey, takes care to provide himself with it. In all levies of soldiers, the whole falls upon the peasant; and the choice is left to the arbitrary discretion of the lord and his servants.

In addition to these grievances, which are intolerable, the Hungarian peasant is subject to stripes and imprisonment, and the feelings of our travellers had been repeatedly shocked in approaching the castles of the nobility, at seeing peasants working in irons. The first palace they visited their ears were assailed upon entering the court-yard, with the clanking of chains, and Edward ejaculated, "I thought Sir, we were going to see a palace, this is a prison, I hear the prisoners' chains!"

"Tis the prisoners in the dungeons belonging to the castle," replied M. M. we shall see the interior, I have an order for that purpose."

Edward could see nothing but the dungeon walls, nor hear aught but the prisoners chains With a beating heart he followed the keeper, who led them through a door well barred and bolted. As they entered the dungeon, seventeen figures, all in the long Hungarian cloak, rose from the ground on which they were sitting. Beside themselves, the room, which was not above twelve feet square, presented no one object: no table, bed, or chair. It was ventilated and lighted by several small grated windows, high up in the side of the walls. The prisoners were most of them young men, some had been tried, others had not; and some had been confined seven or eight years. Their crimes were very dif ferent; but no difference was made in the mode of treating them, excepting as to the number of lashes they were to receive at stated times, or the number of years they were to be imprisoned. Such was their residence during the daytime, when they did not go out to work. Our travellers next proceeded to the dungeon in which the prisoners are confined during the night, the jailor taking the precaution to disguise unpleasant smells, by carrying a fumigating pot before them. O opening an inner door, they entered a small room in the corner of which lay two women on beds of straw. middle of the floor was an iron grate. This being opened by their guide, he descended first, by means of a ladder, with a lamp in his hand, by the light of which our travellers perceived that they were in a small antichamber, or cell, from which a door opened into the dungeon, the usual sleeping place of all the male prisoners. It was a small oblong vaulted cave, in which, the only furniture was two straw mattrasses. A few ragged articles of dress lay near the place where each prisoner was accustomed to rest upon the naked floor. In one

In the