all
professions, from the imperial family, down to the most humble
artisan; all gay, amiable, condescending on the one side; happy,
respectful, and free from restraint on the other. Thus the season
passes in that delicious climate, which is rendered a thousand times
more delicious by the harmony and good-feeling reigning throughout all
these mingled classes of society. In the evening, the same joyous
reunions again take place, with this exception, that after dinner
(which meal takes place generally from three to four, _very rarely_ so
late as six, and that only within the last three or four years) the
aristocracy drive round the broad shady alleys of the park till
sunset, while the lawns and paths are crowded with innumerable groups
of pedestrians, before or after taking their evening repast under the
lime-trees.

But what makes summer life so agreeable in these countries, is the
simplicity and cheapness with which every variety of necessary
refreshment and restoration is afforded, and the multiplicity of
places where such are to be found. Walk in whatever direction you may,
in the environs of any town--wherever there is shade, wherever there
is a grove, or a clump of acacias, limes, or chestnuts, the favourite
trees for such purposes, and consequently much cultivated--there you
are sure to find rest and refreshment suited to the wants and purses
of all classes--from the most simple brown bread, milk, and beer, to
the most delicate sweetmeats and wines. In the article of wine,
however, Bohemia is not so favoured; but this is a circumstance more
felt by the stranger than by the natives, who like the wines of their
own country, as they do the beer better than our ale and porter.
Still, there are some passably good wines, such as Melnik, Czerniska,
and one or two others, and all at a moderate price, varying from 8d.
to 1s. a bottle. But in Hungary we have good wines and extraordinarily
cheap, which adds much to these rural out-of-doors reunions. It is
true, that some of the most fashionable restaurateurs, both in the
town and country, have been much spoiled by the extravagance of the
higher classes, who are here the most reckless; carrying this vice in
Europe to an excess which has ruined, or greatly embarrassed, almost
all the nobility of the kingdom. Notwithstanding this passion,
however, for everything that is foreign, few countries can be at all
compared with Hungary as to its wines, many of which are scarcely
known