hat
Francis is held in honour solely because of the countenance which he
gave to the works of peace. The articles produced here are thread,
cloths, linen, and glass; and there is a manufactory of porcelain at a
village about a mile distant.

It was market-day when we reached the town, and as the windows of our
apartment commanded an excellent view of one of the chief streets, the
scene which they opened out to us proved at once novel and interesting.
Crowds of country people were congregated beneath, in all manner of
grotesque costumes; while stalls of every description--some supporting
clothes, some laden with fruit, some set out with china, or glass, or
articles of cutlery, or shoes,--choked up the thoroughfare, to the
manifest inconvenience of the few vehicles which made occasional
efforts to pass. The dresses of the women, too, whose business it
seemed to be to superintend the sale of the fruit, were strikingly
national. They wore, each of them, a sort of jacket-fashioned boddice,
made tight to the shape, a petticoat of yellow serge, which reached
barely to the mid-calf, bright scarlet stockings, shoes that came up to
the ankles, a handkerchief, which, passing over the head, was tied
beneath the chin, white buckles, and hips enormously padded. Yet were
they, upon the whole, a handsome race, with clear brunette complexions,
and dark hazel eyes; and their good nature, as, one after another, they
made inroads into our apartment, and pressed upon us their cherries,
was something quite unusual. They perfectly succeeded in their object;
for we ate many more black-hearts than did either of us any good, and
bought a still greater quantity than we dreamed of consuming, simply
because we were unable to resist entreaties that were pressed upon us
so good humouredly.

Having amused ourselves thus for a while, and laid in a tolerable
breakfast, we sallied forth, under the guidance of a valet-du-place, to
perambulate the town. We found it surrounded by fortifications; yet
exceedingly clean and neat, and its public gardens, beyond the Prague
gate, at once extensive and well-arranged. There is a cemetery in the
middle of the new town, which is likewise worth visiting, were it only
because of its enormous dimensions. And the barrack, with its seven
capacious courts, is of prodigious extent. Of the churches, on the
contrary, with the exception of the cathedral, much cannot be said in
praise; and even the cathedral is more curious t