language and ignore that of his neighbour.

It happened to me once that I entered an inn in a Hungarian town, and
addressing the waiter, I gave my orders in German, whereupon an elderly
gentleman turned sharply upon me, saying--also in German, observe--"It
is the custom to speak Hungarian here."

"I am not acquainted with the language, sir," I replied. "German is not
to be spoken here--Hungarian or nothing," he retorted. I simply turned
on my heel with a gesture of impatience. It was rather too much for any
old fellow, however venerable and patriotic, to condemn me to silence
and starvation because I could not speak the national lingo, so in the
irritation of the moment I rapped out an English expletive, meant as an
aside. Enough! No sooner did the testy old gentleman hear the familiar
sound, invariably associated with the travelling Britisher in old days,
than he turned to me with the utmost urbanity, saying in French, "Pardon
a thousand times, I thought you were a German from the fluency of your
speech; I had no idea you were an Englishman. Why did you not tell me at
once? What orders shall I give for you? How can I help you?" It ended in
our dining together and becoming the best friends; in fact he invited me
to spend a week with him at his chateau in the neighbourhood. In the
course of conversation I could not help asking him why, as he spoke
German himself and the people in the inn also understood it--in fact I
am not sure but what it was their mother-tongue--why he would not allow
the language to be spoken?

"We are Hungarians here," he replied, going off into testiness again,
"and we do not want that cursed German spoken on all sides. I, for one,
will move heaven and earth to get my own language used in my own
country. Ha, ha! the Austrians wanted us to have their officials
everywhere on the railway. We have put a stop to that; now every
man-jack of them must speak Hungarian. It gave an immensity of trouble,
and they did not like it at all, I can tell you."

I did not attempt to argue with the old gentleman, for his views were
inextricably mixed up with feelings and patriotism.

As a matter of fact, in the early part of this century the Magyar
language was hardly spoken by the upper classes except in communicating
with their inferiors; but when the patriotic Count Stephen Szechenyi
first roused his fellow-countrymen to nobler impulses and more
enlightened views, he held forth the restoration of the national