country is entirely surrounded by mountains, he adds, that its capital, Hermanstad, is peopled with Saxons, who are distinguished from the Aborigines by their easy circumstances, the result of their industry and sobriety. Their houses, cleaner and better built, give a smiling air to the districts they inhabit. The greater part profess the Lutheran, religion. The men in general are of tall stature, their dress is a mixture of the ancient German costume with that of the Hungarians. The head-dress of the women and girls is generally a bonnet adorned with flowers, and their dress is ornamented with fur; the Saxon ladies of Hermanstad have left off their ancient dress, which so well became the style of beauty peculiar to this country, a light and elegant shape, a complexion of lilies and roses, large blue eyes, and a skin of dazzling whiteness. Here the author makes a digression upon the power of the Austrian monarchy, which appears foreign to the subject, but which nay, nevertheless, be read with interest in the work.

M. Marcel now returns again to costume, and observes that the pea sant girls round Hermanstad dress with the most remarkable taste and judgment. After having described, very much at length, their ordinary dress, he says, that on holidays they adorn themselves with necklaces and ear-rings of coral or glass. The women wear, like the men, boots with flat iron heels; they make all their own clothes, as well as those of their husbands and children.

These short observations, he says, upon only one province (Transylvania) and that province not the most known in Austria, will give an idea of the prodigious variety there is in the large possessions of this monarchy, and this appears in the general aspect of the country. We will now follow M. Marcel in his remarks on matters of far greater importance than that of costume, which, though it is apparently a digression, yet becomes the principal subject.

M. Marcel gives a picture of the power of Austria, of which we will give a sketch :

Ever since the reign of Joseph the Second, who, says our author

very judiciously, if he did not execute great things did, at least, conceive them, Government has made great efforts to direct the nati onal attention to agriculture and the arts of industry, to which the inhabitants seem naturally inclined. Manufactures have been established, and new experiments have been tried to ameliorate the soil. With the exception of the German provinces, where these ameliorations have taken place, Austria has every thing to do in the countries under its jurisdiction. A beginning ought to be made by ren dering communication between the provinces secure and easy, in order to encourage the consumption of the produce of the soil. Of what im- › portance, for example, this would be in Hungary, one of the most fertile countries in Europe, and more especially in Gallicia, on the coast, and in the provinces of the centre!

In this respect the visits of the French armies have been very useful to Austria. This empire owes to them. their excellent roads, executed in spite of nature and the steepness of the ground, and, what is still more. extraordinary, in defiance of the in-, habitants themselves, particularly the Dalmatians. They all thought that these new roads, which would render their mountains accessible, would also be a certain means of reducing them to permanent slavery.

Among modern nations, who communicate more with each other than the ancients, large roads are not sufficient for conveyance, especially of military transports; rivers and canals are become indispensable communications, and these Austria is in want of. A multitude of obstacles renders the navigation of the Danube, the principal river in Austria, as laborious as it is dangerous. The navigation of the Vistula presents fewer obstacles, but it is not extensive; this river, crossing only a small part of Gallicia. The Inn, the Traun, and the Theiss, afford a safe navigation for boats, and also for rafts, with which they sail down the Danube; whilst the Marche, the Wag, the Grand, and the Une, facilitate the communication of the southern provinces with the rest of the empire. The commerce of the northern provinces might be ren

dered easy by means of the Elbe, increased by the Moldau and Eger, also by the Vistula, to which is united the Sanar and the Bug; and, lastly, by the Dniester which empties itself into the Black Sea. All these means, the only ones open to the commerce of Austria, ought to teach the Government the importance of trying new ones, and of making canals to facilitate the conveyance of merchandize from one province to another. To attain this, M. Marcel de Serre recommends the union of the Marche with the Oder. After this, our author determines the limits of the Austrian-German monarchy, in doing which he enters into a detail too long for insertion here, but which may be profitably read in the work. We shall confine ourselves to a notice of his very interesting observations upon the general aspect of Austria, and upon the character of some of its inhabitants: Austria, taken altogether, he says, is a very mountainous country. Tyrol, Styria, and Upper Austria, remind me at every step of the boasted scenery of Switzerland. Hungary is only a vast sandy plain, formed by the earthy alluvions of the Danube and the Theiss. In Transylvania, on the contrary, the soil rises abruptly.— The name of this province needs no explanation: for it is plain that it means the situation of countries beyond the forests.

Three distinct races form the population of Transylvania. The Saxons, who are the industrious race; the Hungarians, who form the nobility of the country; and lastly, the Sicules and Wallachians, who may be considered as the most uncivilized of the European nations: without activity or industry they lead an idle life, following no other occupation than that of attending their flocks. A few of them are employed as carters and tanners, and exercise their trades in Bannat: there are but few who take the trouble to cultivate the earth, they must be forced to it by extreme want. These people are deceitful, vindictive, and cordially detest every other nation; drunkenness and the basest disposi tions are the consequences of their bad education and the examples of their parents. They let their beards

and hair grow, which have the most disgusting appearance, for they do not give themselves the trouble to tie it up, much less to comb it. Their whole dress consists of a coarse shirt, tied round the loins with a leathern girdle ornamented with buttons, to which are suspended their knives, forks, steel, &c., and they never go out without these implements; the lower part of their clothing consists in long pantaloons, small buskins, and sandals tied with strings of leather; in the winter they wear a fur bonnet, and in the summer a round bonnet of felt.

Gallicia is a sandy plain, where the soil is more irregular and unequal than in Hungary: small hills, in some places fertile enough, variegate it in a thousand different ways. That part of Silesia which borders on the east of Gallicia more resembles Bohemia, which it also adjoins, than the first of these provinces; like Bohemia it is studded with lofty hills, which form towards the west a part of the Suliote chaine of mountains, and towards the south a part of the Carpathian.

Quitting Moravia, which is less mountainous than Silesia, and, directing your course towards the south, you enter lower Anstria, where fertile plains are watered by the Danube, the finest river in the world. Here cultivation has taken advantage of the excellence of the soil, and more particularly in the neighbourhood of Vienna; but the soil of lower Austria does not every where present the same fertility. In drawing near the southern part of Higher Austria, every thing is changed: those hills where the vine joined to the elm once displayed its golden branches, those fertile pastures once covered with innumerable flocks, are converted into narrow vallies, rocks stripped of verdure, thick forests, and high mountains the abode of eternal snow; such is the aspect of this part of Upper Austria. Still farther north towards Styria and Carinthia the aspect of nature is still more savage; a dark and dreary verdure, intersected by plains of snow, covers the mountains.

The whole empire of Austria may be divided into three regions; that of the south comprehends Southern Tyrol, Istria, Frioul, Southern

Carinthia, Carniola, the borders of Italy, and a part of Croatia. The general temperature of these provinces is from nine to ten degrees. The spring and autumn are like those of Italy, and the summer is very hot when under the influence of the fatal sirocco; but in the mountainous country the temperature follows in proportion to the elevation of the sun: thus, in some mountains there, are in the middle of the hottest season constant, and, sometimes, eternal snows. The olive, peach, vine, fig, and pomegranate thrive in the open air.

The middle division consists of a great part of Hungary, all Transylvania, Arch-duchy of Austria,Styria, Carinthia, and some parts of Moravia and Bohemia. The olive does not grow here, but the vine and Turkish corn prosper well, except in the mountainous districts. The general temperature is much more variable in this region than in that of the south. In the hottest places it is never more than eight degrees, and often much lower.

In general the air is pure and serene. The winter lasts three or four months; the spring is mild, though generally very damp. The summer is hot, but variable, and often accompanied by violent storms. There are few fine days, except in the autumn. The air is never unhealthy but in the marshy lands of Hungary, which is called the tomb

of the Germans.

The third or northern division comprehends Gallicia, a part of the north of Hungary, Bohemia and Moravia, as well as Austrian Silesia. The general temperature is scarcely aver more than six degrees, rarely seven; for which reason there are no vines nor maize, even corn cannot be well cultivated, except in certain parts, and the culture of it ceases altogether in the higher parts of Bohemia, and the north of Hungary: the air is generally pure and safubrious: the winter, though very severe, seldom lasts longer than five months; the heat of summer is often insupportable in the deep vallies of Bohemia, or the deserts of the Vistula.

There is a very interesting ac count in this work of a singular people, dwelling in the midst of the

Austrian states, but of Muscovite origin, forming the palatinate of Marmoros, situated in Hungary on. the frontiers of Poland.

After having explained the division of the empire of Austria into three regions and their different climates, M. Mansel speaks of the population. The extent of this empire is 11,999 square miles, and contains about twenty-six millions of in-. habitants; the average is 2,176 individuals to one square mile. Perhaps it will be asked, says he, whether the population always answers to the extent and goodness of the soil, or whether it is solely governed by the extent of industry or cultivation. The most exact data prove, that it always keeps pace with the progress of industry or civilization, rather than with the excellence and fertility of the land : indeed the two most populous provinces of Austria are far from being the most fertile. Surrounded by high chains of mountains, Bohemia and Silesia are nevertheless the most populous. The great fertility of the soil of Hungary does not produce a population at all equal to either of these two provinces ; the difference is in the ratio of ten to seventeen. Lower Austria which has an excellent soil, and where industry is not far advanced, and which contains the capital of the empire, is not so populous as Bohemia and Silesia. In Bohemia they reckon 867 inhabitants to one square league; in Silesia 847, and in Lower Austria, only 766. The population diminishes in proportion as industry and civiliza, tion decrease, and on the military frontiers there are but 295 inhabitants to the square league.

The two extremes of population in the provinces of Austria are from three to one, or rather from six to seventeen. The average population is 793 inhabitants to the square league. If this account is compared with that of France, Austria will be found much inferior in this respect, for there is in that country, from the best authorities, about 1,094 inhabitants to a square league: the population then of the two empires is as six to eleven, so that the average population of Austria is little more than half that of France, but it is more equally distributed. Some of

the French departments have but 421 inhabitants to the square league, whilst others contain 3,869, or 2,786, or 2,274 inhabitants on the same extent. It is not so in Austria. This empire is divided on nearly the same plan as France was formerly.

Most of the provinces have a governor and a supreme council, which issue and communicate their orders to the different captains or chiefs of the circles charged with the civil administration, who have consequently less responsibility. Ever since 1812 the territories under the power of Austria have been divided into ten principal provinces. Each of these divisions is regulated by a governor, who constantly resides in the chief town.

The governor of Hungary resides at Buda, under whose jurisdiction there is a population of more than seven millions; whilst the governor of Croatia has not more than two hundred and fifty thousand, so that the administrators of the provinces exercise their authority over a very unequal number of inhabitants; and it appears, that on the distribution of the Austrian provinces, this important object was not regarded as it ought to be in all partitions. Without comparing Hungary to the other Austrian provinces, because this kingdom forms a separate state in the midst of the empire, it would seem that some governors superintend three millions of souls, whilst others have not three hundred thousand. There is no better arrangement in the sub-divisions, that is, in the circles or districts.

The population of Austria is composed of different races with manners peculiar to themselves, and some of them have even a particular language. These people have not all the same character nor the same kind of attachment to their country, which is one of the great causes of the political weakness of Austria; a weakness very obvious in the event of invasion. The different inhabitants of the empire possess neither the same interests nor the same way of thinking. The Hungarians, the Tyrolese, and the Bohemians, are very jealous of their independance, do not consider themselves of the same nation as the Austrians, whom they consider as inferiors, being in general 'endued

with less vivacity and a less decided character. They are not united together, though they are all under one power. The principal nations, spread over the vast territory of Austria, are, the Germans, the Sclavonians, and the Hungarians properly so called; there are also Walachians, Bohemians, Greeks, and a few Armenians, French and Walloons; but their different races do not form an important part of the population. The Jews are very numerous in Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, Gallicia and Transylvania; but there are only a few of them in Styria, Carinthia and Lower Austria. There are 1600 Jewish families in Transylvania, and, according to a very exact account, three hundred families in the Austrian capital only. Commerce attracts so many Jews to Austria, though the government does not grant them any particular privileges The Jews of Austria, in their property and persons,enjoy the same protection as other denizens and foreigners: excepting military service which they are jealous of, and situations under government which they could not occupy, they enjoy the same rights as the other citizens, with the free exercise of their religion; but, although they are free from a personal tax, more degrading perhaps than oppressive, severe laws have been enacted against their monopolies.

It is generally thought that the Germans form the chief part of the Austrian population, but it is far from being so; there is only Austria, properly so called, that is entirely peopled by Germans; they are very much scattered in Styria and Carinthia. The circle of Ellingen in Bohemia is said to be entirely peopled by them, but they are not numerous in Moravia, still less so in Hungary; more are seen in Transylvania, Galicia and Austrian Silesia. The Sclavonians are the most numerous race in the empire of Austria, they are divided into a great many branches, some of which inhabit Prussia and Poland,and others the Austrian dominions: among the latter are the Techecks, Slowaquians, Hannaquians, Poles, Windians, Rascians, Croatians and Russians; these last are not numerous in Austria, there being but one hundred families

of them. The Bohemian language, spoken in Bohemia and Moravia, is only a dialect of the Sclavonic; but the Sclavonians, living in a German country, have adopted an alphabet which differs very little from that used in Germany. This dialect is remarkable for its richness and the mildness of its pronunciation, as well as for the facility of its adaption to music; it undoubtedly owes these advantages to the mixture of Sclavonic; it is soft, sonorous, and agreeable to the ear, and, though spoken by people not far advanced in the sciences and the arts, it has, notwithstanding, attained a high degree of perfection; it has even all the characters of a modern language, and may hold a distinguished place amongst the languages of nations more advanced in civilization. The tones of expression which it is susceptible of, and the inflexions it has in common with the Greek and German, render it as expressive as it is energetic: rich and harmonious in varied expressions, it rivals the Italian in melody and sweetness, particularly when sung: all the inflexions are formed by the vowels, and this circumstance is favorable to the harmony of a language. If we consider that to this advantage is joined that of having a regular prosody, and of being more capable of adaptation to the ancient Greek metre than any modern language, we may hope that, if ever spoken by the learned, it would console us for the loss of the language of Homer and Pindar, so favorable is its structure, and organization. This language is more general than any other European language except the French: it extends as far as Turkey, and is in use even in Nova Zembla.

The Hungarians are, next to the Sclavonians and Germans, the most extensive race in the Austrian monarchy: probably they derive their origin from Asia, as they preserve some traces of Asiatic manners. Ignorant and little inclined to arts or commerce, they lead that indolent apathetic life which forms the happiness of the Eastern nations. Hungary then would be a very poor country if the fertility of the soil did not make up for the want of industry.

The Walachians with the Sclavonians are the most ancient inhabitants of the countries watered by the Danube. Though less in number than the Sclavonians, they are nearly as numerous as the Hungarians, and it is probable that they originated in a mixture of Dacians, Romans and Sclavonians; their language is composed of many expres sions, more or less altered, which evidently belong to these people; they are without religion and the arts, and almost without civilization. The Walachian peasants, acquainted only with the wants and pleasures of a wandering life, are in general deceitful, vindictive, and inclined to hate every other nation; and are by the Hungarian and Sclavonians treated like slaves. The Walachians, like the Sclavonians, multiply very much; perhaps it is on this account that they appear dangerous to the Hungarians, amongst whom they live.

The Czingarians, a still more wandering or rather vagabond race, are very prevalent in Bukovino, Hungary, Gallicia and Transylvania; in this last province, there are more than 60,000: and amongst 70,000 inhabitants, which formed the population of Bukovino when it was ceded in 1778 to Austria, there were more than ten thousand Czingarians. They have been erroneously called Bohemians and Egyptians, because it was supposed, though without foundation, that they were the descendants of the ancient vagabonds of Egypt, expelled at the beginning of the 7th Century by the sultan Selim when he conquered that country; but the most probable opinion is, that they are Hindoos of the much despised cast of Parias, who were driven from their country in 1408 and 1409 at the conquest of India by Timur. The period of their arrival in Transylvania is unknown. In spite of the endeavours of Maria Theresa and Joseph II. to habituate them to a settled mode of life, they could scarcely induce a part of them to settle in some of the Transylvanian districts, where they attend to the cultivation of the earth. This people speak a particular idiom amongst themselves, but with other people, they make use of the language of the country