of the fire
outside drifted in; and there was evidence of a worse drift--that of the
snow, which before nightfall I daresay may have buried the cottage out
of sight.

I now gave orders for returning, and just as I stepped out of the hut,
or was in the act of leaving, one of the heavy beams from the roof fell
upon me; it caught me on the back of my head--a pretty close shave! The
ride back, with the consciousness of having failed to attain the object
I had in view, was depressing. Nothing could be more unlovely than these
once glorious forests. In parts we had to pass through a mere morass,
into which my horse kept sinking.

At last we got back to Toplicza. The forester and the Wallack thought
themselves amply compensated by a few paper florins. I daresay they kept
off the rheumatism by extra potations of _slivovitz_. As for myself,
having been dipped, yea, having even undergone total immersion in the
morass, I felt like those extinct animals who have left their
interesting bones nice and dry in the blue lias, but who in daily life
must have been "mud all over." I presented such a spectacle on my
return, that I consider it was an instance of the greatest
kindness--indeed it must have been a severe strain on the hospitality
of my friends to give me house-room.

As my garments had not the durability of those of the Israelites in the
wilderness, it became a very desirable object to effect a junction with
my portmanteau, which was sitting all this time at Maros Vasarhely. The
weather, too, had calmed my ardour for the mountains, and I resolved to
strike into the interior of Transylvania, and see something of the
towns.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Visits at Transylvanian chateaux--Society--Dogs--Amusements at
Klausenburg--Magyar poets--Count Istvan Szechenyi--Baron
Eoetvos--'The Village Notary'--Hungarian self-criticism--Literary
taste.

I must now drop the itinerary of my journey and speak more in
generalities; for after leaving the wilder districts of the Szeklerland,
I took the opportunity of presenting some of the letters of introduction
that I brought with me from England.

For the succeeding six weeks or more I spent my time most agreeably in
the chateaux of some of the well-known Transylvanian nobles. For the
time my wild rovings were over. The bivouac in the glorious forest and
robber-steak cooked by the camp fire--the pleasures of "roughing
it"--were exchanged for the charms of society.