and look upon a mere
untitled Englishman as Nobody (although he may be of Ten Times better
blood than their most noble Raggednesses). A mean sort, for all their
finely furnished palaces, and wearing mighty foul Body Linen. The first
question they ask, when they Hear that a Stranger desires to be
Presented to them, is, "Is he Born?" The query having nothing to do with
the fact of his nativity, but meaning (so I have been told), "Has he
five-and-thirty Quarterings in his Coat-of-Arms?" And if he has but
four-and-thirty (though some of their greatest nobles have not above
Four or Five Hundred Pounds a year to live on), the Stranger is held to
be no more Born than if he were an embryo; and the Quality of Vienna
takes no more notice of him than of the Babe which is unborn.

Truly, it was the Dead Season, and we could not have gone to many
Dinners and Assemblies, even if the Aristocracy had been minded to show
hospitality towards us. There were Theatres and Operas, however, open,
which much delighted my Master and myself (who was privileged to attend
him), although the Reverend Mr. Hodge stayed away for conscience' sake
from such Profane amusements, comforting himself at home over a merry
Book and a Bottle of Erlauer, which is an Hungarian wine, very dark and
Rough, but as strong as a Bullock, and an excellent Stomachic. Nothing
more magnificent than the Operas then performed at the Gardens of the
Favorite, throwing the Paris and London houses utterly into the shade,
and I have heard that the Habits, Decorations, and Scene Paintings, cost
the Emperor Thirty Thousand Pound Sterling. And to think of the millions
of poor ragged wretches that must have been taxed, and starved, and
beaten, and robbed, and skinned alive, so to speak, before His Majesty's
pleasures would be paid for.[F] The Stage in this Favorite Garden was
built over a large canal, and at the beginning of the Second Act divided
(as in our own Theatre hard by Sadler's Wells) into Two Parts,
discovering the water, on which there immediately came from different
parts two little Fleets of gilded vessels, that gave the impression
(though ludicrously incorrect in their Riggings and Manoeuvres) of a
Sea-fight. The story of the Opera was, if I remember right, the
Enchantments of Alcina, an entertainment which gave opportunity for a
great Variety of Machines and changes of the Scene, which were performed
with surprising swiftness. No House could hold such large Decorations.