id="Page_18" class="x-ebookmaker-pageno" title="[Pg 18]"/> amuse himself as he pleases. In these societies, you observe numbers of ribbons of all colours, and chamberlains’ keys at all pockets; these distinctions are so common that a person who has none is almost a singularity. What renders these companies rather irksome is the practice which prevails of not calling any one by his name but only by his title. Thus you hear the persons about you greeted by the appellations of baron, director, inspector, captain, duke, or general; and remain ignorant of their real names unless some friend takes the trouble to tell you who they are.

The ladies, on these occasions, are almost always ranged in a circle, chatting together or engaged in various works of embroidery, frequently to the number of thirty or forty. The young men of Vienna never make their appearance at these parties: hence their manners have not the polish which the habit of keeping good company imparts, nor do they pay those attentions which are due to the sex. In these companies you only meet with a few young Austrian or foreign princes, who but too frequently imagine that their rank exempts them from that delicate politeness which virtuous women inspire and can duly appreciate.

It is not to the want of accomplishments in the Austrian ladies, that the indifference of the young men in regard to them must be attributed, but to the unsociable habits of the latter. Their education having been in general neglected, riding and hunting occupy all the leisure which they do not pass at the coffee-houses, in smoking and play. The rest of their time is devoted to the pleasures of the table. With such a way of life and such habits, how is it possible to keep up that tone of decency which it is necessary to maintain in a select company? Nothing seems to them so difficult and so irksome, and to avoid this unpleasant restraint, they keep away from such societies altogether.

Being thus left to themselves, the ladies of Vienna can do no other than seek the company of the foreigners whom they find possessed of amiable manners and information. Flattered by their attentions, and tired of the society of men, which is generally monotonous enough in Austria, the stranger exerts himself still more to please. He feels a deeper interest in studying their character; the better he becomes acquainted with it, the more he esteems them; and he is astonished that females so gentle, so lovely, and so fascinating, should be forsaken by those whom they are so well qualified to delight.

The young men of rank at Vienna, having in general no occupation, and as we have seen shunning company, are but too apt to yield to the seductions of the gaming-table. Numerous instances of the fatal effects of this baneful passion might be related; but circumstances of this nature are too common in most other civilized countries to appear extraordinary.

The picture of the manners and amusements of the higher classes at Vienna, drawn by Dr. Bright, is interesting.

Morning calls, says that traveller, are not considered of the same importance in Vienna as in London. When a stranger has been properly introduced into a family, he usually receives a general invitation, of which he is expected to avail himself. Accordingly he calls in the evening; and if the lady of the house or any of the family be at home, he is admitted, and then, as it happens, meets others, or is the only visitor. Easy conversation or cards, music and tea, chess or enigmas, fill up the evening; or if the party be numerous, dances and refreshments, the rehearsal of poetry, or other exercises of mind or body, enliven the visit and dispel the unpleasant restraints of society.

The evening amusements in Germany are very various, and sometimes almost fall under the denomination of puerile. Not content with requesting young ladies to recite verses, they will sometimes invert the natural order of things and compel children to act plays, while grown people will play cross-questions and crooked answers; or standing in a circle, and holding a cord in their hands, pass a ring from one to the other, while some one of the party is required to discover in whose possession it is to be found.

Acting riddles is a favourite game, and one which is well calculated to amuse those who are wisely resolved to be amused when they can. A certain portion of the company retire into an adjoining room, where they concert together how best to represent by action the different syllables which compose a word, and the meaning of the whole word. They presently return, and carrying on their preconcerted action, require the company to resolve the riddle. Thus, for instance, on one occasion the word determined upon was Jumeaux. Some of the actors, coming from their retirement, began to squeeze a lemon into a glass, calling the attention of the company very particularly to it by their action, thus representing Ju. Others came forward imitating the various maladies and misfortunes of life, thus acting the syllable of meaux. Then finally tottered into the circle an Italian duke and a Prussian general, neither less than six feet in height, dressed in sheets and leading-strings, a fine bouncing emblem of Jumeaux.

Dinner-parties, though not the regular every day amusements of life in Vienna, are not uncommon. There is much similarity in the style of dinners throughout Germany, and it has some points of peculiar excellence. The table is generally round or oval; so that each guest has means of intercourse with the whole party, even when it is large. It is covered for the greater part with a tasteful display of sweets or fruits; two places only being left near the middle for the substantial dishes. Each person is provided with a black bottle of light wine, and every cover, even at a table d’hote, is furnished with a napkin and silver forks. The first dishes which occupy the vacant spaces are always soups; they are quickly removed to the side-tables and distributed by the servants. In the mean time, the next dish is placed upon the table, taken off, carved, and carried round to the guests in precisely the same manner; and so on till every thing has been served. The plates are carefully changed, but the knives and forks very generally remain throughout the greater part of the dinner, or, at best, are only wiped and returned. The dishes are so numerous and the variety so great, that, as every body eats a little of every thing, they seldom take twice of the same.

The succession of luxuries is not exactly as with us. An Englishman is somewhat surprised to see a joint of meat followed by a fish, or a savoury dish usurp the place of one that was sweet. To conclude the ceremony, each servant takes one of the sweetmeat ornaments off the table, and carries it, as he has done with the other dishes, to all the guests.

During all this time the conversation is general and lively, and beyond a doubt much more interesting than that which is heard on similar occasions and in similar society in England, where its current is perpetually interrupted by the attention which every one is bound to pay to the wants and wishes of persons at the most distant part of the table. While the sweetmeats are served, a few glasses of some superior kinds of wine, which have likewise been distributed at intervals during the dinner, are carried round; and then the company, both ladies and gentlemen, rise at the same time by a kind of mutual consent, which, as the rooms are seldom carpeted, occasions no inconsiderable noise. To this succeeds a general bowing and compliment from every one to each of the company individually, each hoping that the other has eaten a good dinner. This peculiar phrase is precisely the counterpart of another always employed on the parting of friends about mid-day, each expressing a sincere hope that the other