tle valleys running through them; and such a
profusion of wood as held out the assurance that, in that direction at
least, the eye would not pine in vain for foliage. By-and-by, from
behind these knolls, the Danube made his appearance; not broader,
certainly, than he had seemed to be at Fischamend, or even above it,
but evidently deeper, I think, more rapid;--and altogether, with a
degree of majesty about him which attaches to the one object, that
gives its peculiar character to a living landscape. The Danube is,
indeed, a magnificent river; albeit the people who inhabit his banks
are only just beginning to find out that he may be turned to more
accounts than that of mere beauty.

The interval between Hainburg and Presburg is but a single post; from
Wolfsthal it is less than half that distance; yet, owing to the delay
which occurred at the Custom House, five o'clock had struck ere we
obtained our first view of this secondary capital of Hungary. Its
situation is fine, close to the Danube, at the base and along the
ascent of low hills; the crest of which is surmounted by the remains of
what was once a royal residence. This latter, the Alba Regali of the
chroniclers, is of very ancient date in its foundation. It was enlarged
in 1766 by the Empress Maria Theresa, and in 1809 burned to the ground.
The Hungarians say, that an Italian regiment in the French service set
fire to it wantonly, when evacuating the place. But, however this may
be, it gives, even in its ruins, an air of aristocracy to the town;
which, though neat and clean, and containing a population of thirty or
forty thousand souls, would otherwise present no very striking feature
to the eye of the stranger. Indeed, Presburg is a great deal too near
the frontier, and maintains a communication too frequent and too
regular with Vienna, to have retained almost any marks of its Hungarian
origin. You might, both from the structure of the buildings, and the
dress and manners of the inhabitants, easily fall into the error of
supposing that it belonged to Austria.

We approached Presburg by a good macadamized road, which follows the
course of the river, on the opposite bank from that along which the
city is built. It was very little thronged either with carriages or
horses, and gave few indications, in other respects, that a large, and,
as we had been assured, a bustling town, lay but a short way ahead of
us. This was the more surprising, that we could discover no eviden