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HORSES AND HOUNDS.

Our host was a greåt admirer of England, and had acquired many of our tastes, as his establishment sufficiently manifested; but there are so many of the present generation in Hungary who show the same inclination, that he can scarcely be regarded as an exception. In the stables we found six or seven English blood-mares, and several running-horses, under the management of a first-rate English trainer. One colt, bred in Hungary, and already a winner at Pest and Vienna, was very promising. He stood sixteen hands at least, was lengthy in the quarter, clean and strong in the bone, in fact, a racer all over.

From the stables we adjourned to the kennels, where we found eight couple of young harriers, besides a brace or two of pointers. Count S- had formerly a pack of fox-hounds; but the woods are so extensive, and a large bog so near, that the foxes almost always took refuge in the one or the other. The length of the winter, too, which commonly lasts four months, is a great impediment to hunting; but, in spite of this, two subscription packs are kept--one at Parendorf, near the north end of the Neusiedler Lake, and another at Fót, near Pest. I heard that one might almost fancy one's self in Leicestershire, when among the smart English grooms, top-boots, and scarlet coats, which are exhibited at a throw-off in the neighbourhood of Pest ; but, alas ! the large inclosures and the springy turf are wanting; and, though the sands are tolerably sound galloping ground, bogs and woods are very awkward inter

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ruptions. For the rest, Count Shas good sporting on his own estates. His woods are well stocked with pheasants, hares, and rabbits, and at certain seasons of the year with woodcocks; his corn-fields with partridge and quail ; and the bogs with hosts of duck and snipe. I think I hear an old English squire exclaim “Hem ! I do believe a man might live in Hungary.”

Count S- now took us to see what gave him more pleasure, and of which he was evidently more proud, than of house, horses, or dogs: I mean his Magyar peasants.

Like most of my countrymen, when I first entered Hungary, I had some indistinct idea of a degrading serfage on the one side, and oppressive seigneurial rights on the other, as the relative position of landlord and tenant in this country; and, as a natural consequence, I had expected to find among the peasants nothing but misery, attended by the most abject submission or stifled hate. What I had already seen had tended a good deal to shake these first opinions; and as we walked up the wide street of the village of 2-, with its row of whitewashed cottages on either side, shaded by an avenue of acacias and walnuts, it was impossible to observe the comfortable appearance of everything around us without feeling convinced that I had been in error, though to what extent I could not tell. All I had lately heard, too, of the sacrifices which a noble was obliged to make to obtain

286

ERRONEOUS OPINIONS CORRECTED.

possession of his own land, though I did not quite understand it, seemed to imply the existence of rights on the part of the peasantry which I certainly had not expected. But then, again, the very conversation I was listening to confirmed my former notions. The Count was detailing to us a host of oppressive laws and civil disadvantages under which the peasantry laboured, and the improvements which he hoped new laws and more extended rights would introduce among them ; so that when he stopped at the first door we came to, — that of a poor widow, - I was positively startled at the kindly feelings with which he was received, and the appearances of comfort which everywhere met my eye.

The widow was poor, for she had lost her husband and her sons, — all except one,

, who was a soldier; and she had none, therefore, to aid her to till her little farm. But yet nothing like want was apparent in any part of her arrangements; and her heart was glad, for the Count had succeeded in obtaining the young hussar's discharge, and the mother's gratitude was warmly and affectionately expressed. From thence we crossed the street to the house of an opposite neighbour, a stout middle-aged man, and one of the richest peasants in the village. Joy sparkled in the good man's face as he doffed his broad-brimmed hat, smoothed down his long black hair, and kissed his master's hand, in delight to see him in his cottage. Nor must the English reader imagine that kissing

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.

the hand is a servile salutation : in Hungary, even the grown-up child always uses it to a parent; and, among the old-fashioned, it is still the customary compliment from a gentleman to a lady.

A number of cottages were entered, chosen as we pleased, or as chance directed; and, except some slight variations, the same aspect of comfort and plenty was presented by all. The cottage of the Hungarian peasant is, for the most part, a long onestoried building, presenting a gable only to the street, with an enclosed yard facing the whole length of the building. The gable end is generally pierced by two small windows — or rather peep-holes, for they are very rarely more than a foot square-below which is a rustic seat overshadowed by a tree. The yard is separated from the street, sometimes by a handsome double gateway and stately wall; sometimes by a neat fence formed of reeds, or of the straw of the maize; and sometimes by a broken hedge, presenting that dilapidated state of half freedom, half restraint, in which pigs and children so much delight, where they can at once enjoy liberty and set at nought control.

Passing through the gateway of one of these cottages, we entered the first door, which led into the kitchen; on either side of which was a good-sized dwelling room. The kitchen, whitewashed like the rest of the house, was itself small, and almost entirely occupied by a hearth four feet high, on which was blazing a wood fire, with preparations for the

evening meal. The room to the left, with the two little peep-holes to the street, was evidently the best room of the cottage, for it was that into which the peasant was most anxious to show us.

In one corner was a wooden seat fixed to the wall, and before it an oaken table, so solid that it seemed fixed there too; on the opposite side stood the large earthenware stove ; while a third corner was occupied by a curious phenomenon,-a low bedstead heaped up to the ceiling with feather-beds. The use of this piece of furniture completely puz