cupy them. At present the different Ministries are
housed in ancient palaces dotted about the city. Foreign Affairs are
controlled (and very ably too) from the Hrad[vs]any, as is only right,
and here are also the offices of the Presidency and the President's
official residence. The Ministry of Commerce inhabits Waldstein's
Palace, that of Finance the Palace of Clam-Galas, which is well worth
seeing on account of its portico. But I fancy it will be some time
before all the grand plans for reconstruction and bringing Prague up to
the requirements of a capital city have been carried out, and the silver
river will be quite content to reflect the glorious monuments of the
past for some little time longer. The river, no doubt, could tell us a
deal about the chances and changes of the mortals that lived on its
banks; we have seen it reflect so many events, joyous, tragic, even
comic. On the whole it wears a thoroughly contented look on its shining
countenance--the look of one who knows he is thoroughly appreciated. And
knowing this, the river has put up with all manner of trammels which men
call "regulation"; there are weirs and locks and all manner of
improvements which not even Charles IV had thought of constructing for
the good of his people. But then there are the islands left, and the
Vltava's friends, the Pragers, come down to those islands of an evening
and make music, which must reconcile the river to changed conditions.
One island, that of Kampa, has already been pointed out to you; there
are others. Of these, two count for our purpose, namely, of getting the
best we can out of glorious old Prague. Of these two islands, one is
named [vZ]ofin, which is derived from Sophie, possibly the wife of Good
King Wenceslaus. Mind you, I am not at all certain about this; there is
a large bathing establishment on this island, which not only recalls the
cheery memory of Wenceslaus, but also that of Susanna; therefore to
bring in the name of long-suffering Queen Sophie does not seem to me
quite nice: what do you think? The next island is a larger one, almost
in midstream, whereas [vZ]ofin keeps the right bank and has just enough
space for a very pretty flower-garden, and a well-kept restaurant where
you may enjoy good food and good music under the shade of the spreading
chestnut-trees. The larger island is called St[vr]elesky Ostrov, which
means that it has something to do with shooting. Indeed, in years of
long ago, in the days of bo