lf generally presentable, having requested some
simple means of making his toilet, was, after considerable delay,
presented with water in a pint mug, and a soiled neckcloth as a towel.
This was too much for the Austrian's proud stomach; a storm of abuse in
the richest Viennese dialect was poured forth upon the landlady, her
maid, and the whole establishment, which being liberally responded to,
there resulted an uproar of foul language, such as was seldom heard, even
in those regions. The hostess threatened us with the vengeance of the
police, should we attempt to leave our authorised herberge, to which we
replied by tossing the beer into the kennel, buckling on our knapsacks,
and stalking into the street. We soon found a decent hotel, with the
accommodation of a large room containing five beds, and at so reasonable
a price that my whole expenses of entertainment during the two days and
three nights of our stay in Prague, amounted only to one florin and forty
kreutzers (schein), or one shilling and sixpence. We heard no more of
our Bohemian herberge and its landlady. I may mention as a further proof
of the different treatment which awaits the holder of the workman's
wander-book, as compared with the bearer of a passport, that on attending
at the police office, Alcibiade and myself were at once called into the
bureau, and our duly _vised_ passports handed to us with great
politeness, while our companions were left to cool their heels in a stone
paved hall, till the officials could find time to attend to them. We
soon left Prague, and were assisted on our journey towards Brunn by a
lift in a country cart, which brought us fifty English miles forward on
our road. We did not sleep in a bed during four consecutive nights; not,
indeed, till we reached the village of Goldentraum, on the Moravian
frontier. This was not the result of any wish of our own, but from an
apparent deficiency of beds in that part of the country. On one occasion
a heap of hay was delicately covered with a clean white cloth, lest the
stubbly ends should trouble our slumbers--a woman's attention you may be
sure--while on another, we slept on the bare boards, with no other
pillows than our knapsacks, in a room, the air of which was at fever heat
from recent bread-baking, and where the fierce flies made circular sweeps
at our ears, and droned about our nostrils. But we did sleep in spite of
that, for we had tramped more than thirty miles during the day