link of association with the mightiest and the most enduring
struggle of principle in which the Christian world ever was engaged. Go
where you will, your eye rests on something which speaks to you of a
time when Prague was indeed a capital. Here in the Alt Stadt
stands,--noble in its decay--the old palace of Koenighof, the favourite
residence of Charles IV. There is the Tyne or Thein Church, within
which Huss, himself but the successor of Milicius and Stiekna, and even
Janovius the Parisian, denounced the corruptions of Rome; here the same
town-hall, where, by the gallant burghers, the doctrines of the
Reformation were first avowed, and within which, after a long and
desperate effort to maintain them, they were abjured, not I suspect for
ever. But it is not by looking exclusively to what may be called the
great features of the city, that these and similar reminiscences are
awakened. As you traverse the streets, each edifice, be it lordly or
humble, presents to your gaze some record of prouder days. "Here an
armorial device, there a saint, with his golden circlet or burning
lamps, or a half-obliterated fresco, an arched balcony, a fortified
gateway, or an ornamented shrine[1]." I heartily agree with the writer,
from whose spirited Sketches the preceding extract has been taken, that
this old and enduring character of the city is not without its
importance. At a period when every political means is employed to
efface and subdue the national character, when every act of social
life, to be innocent must be Austrian, it is well that there is a power
and a spirit in these unshaken walls, and perennial customs, which must
needs keep the memory of their great origin and former energy fresh in
the hearts of the Bohemian people.

[1] See some admirable sketches of Prague, in the _Metropolitan
Magazine_ for 1836.

Wherever the stranger may have taken up his abode, whether in the Alt
Stadt, the Neu Stadt, the Kleinseite, or in one of the suburbs, the
first objects which he is tempted to visit will naturally be the palace
of the Hradschin, and the old cathedral. If, as is probable, he has
established himself in the Alt Stadt, it will be necessary, in order to
reach these points, that he should cross the bridge,--a magnificent
structure, which like almost all the most enduring monuments of human
skill in the city, owes its existence to Charles IV. It measures not
less than 1780 feet in length; it is supported upon twelve