Felberg is a fine old mansion, about forty miles from Vienna. The apartments are large, convenient, and furnished in the magnificent style which prevails in the noblemen's houses of this country. The company consisted of the prince and princess, the count Degenfeldt and his lady, a very accomplised woman; the duke of Hamilton, Mr. Milnes an English officer, another English gentleman, and myself. Our entertainment was in every respect splendid, particularly in the article of attendants. Some of the Austrian nobility carry this point of magnificence to a height, which could scarcely be supported by the best estates in England, where one footman is more expensive than four in this country.

The day after our arrival, breakfast was served to the company separately in their own apartments, as is the custom here. We afterwards set out for another villa belonging to this prince, at six miles distance, where he intended to give the duke the amusement of hunting. The princess, the countess Degenfeldt, the duke, and Captain Milnes, were in one coach; the prince, the count, and I, in another; the two young princes, with their governor and the young English gentleman, in a third, with a great retinue on horseback.

As the day was well advanced when we arrived, I imagined the hunting would begin immediately:---But every thing is done with method and good order in this country, and it was judged proper to dine in the first place. This in due time being concluded, I thought the men would have proceeded directly to the scene of action, leaving the ladies till their return.-But here I found myself again mistaken:-The ladies were to assist in the whole of this expedition. But as there was a necessity to traverse a large wood, into which coaches could not enter, vehicles of a more commodious construction were prepared. I forget what name is given to these carriages. They are of the form of benches, with stuffed seats, upon which six or eight people may place themselves one behind the other. They are drawn by four horses, and slide over

the ground like a sledge, passing along paths and trackless ways, over which no wheel-carriage could be drawn.

After being conveyed in this manner across the wood, and a considerable way beyond it, we came to a very large open field, in which there were several little circular inclosures of trees and underwood at wide intervals from each other. This hunting had hitherto been attended with very little fatigue; for we had been carried the whole way in coaches, or in the sledges, which are still easier than any coach. In short, we had been perfectly passive since breakfast, except during the time of dinner.

But when we arrived at this large plain, I was informed, that the hunting would commence within a very short time. I then expected we should have some violent exercise after so much inactivity, and began to fear that the ladies might be over-fatigued, when, lo! the prince's servants began to arrange some portable chairs at a small distance from one of the thickets above mentioned. The princess, countess, and the rest of the company took their places; and when every body was seated, they assured me that the hunting was just going to begin.

I own, my curiosity was now excited in a very uncommon degree; and I was filled with impatience to see the issue of a hunting, which had been conducted in a style so different from any idea I had of that diversion. While I sat lost in conjecture, I perceived, at a great distance, a long line of people moving towards the little wood, near which the company was seated. As they walked along, they gradually formed the segment of a circle, whose centre was this wood. I understood that these were peasants, with their wives and children, who, walking forward in this manner, rouse the game, which naturally take shelter in the thicket of trees and bushes. As soon as this happened, the peasants rushed in at the side opposite to that where our company had taken post, beat out the game, and then the massacre began.

Each person was provided with a fusil, and many more were at hand loaded for immediate use. The servants

were employed in charging as fast as the pieces were fired off: So that an uninterrupted shooting was kept up, as long as the game continued flying or running out of the wood. The prince hardly ever missed. He himself killed above thirty partridges, a few pheasants, and three hares.

At the beginning of this scene, I was a good deal surprised to see a servant hand a fusil to the princess, who with great coolness, and without rising from her seat, took aim at a partridge, which immediately fell to the ground. With the same ease, she killed ten or twelve partridges and pheasants, at about double the number of shots. The execution done by the rest of the company was by no means considerable.

Though I had not heard of it before, I now understood, that shooting is not an uncommon amusement with the German ladies: and it is probable, their attention to the delicacy of the fair sex, has induced the hardy Ger mans to render this diversion so little fatiguing.

The company afterwards walked to other little inclosures of planting, where some game was driven out, and killed as before. The following day, the prince conducted us to another of his seats, where there is a very fine open wood, full of deer of every kind, some of them the largest I ever saw. There is also a great number of wild boars, one of which, by the prince's permission, the duke of Hamilton killed,

Nothing could surpass the politeness and magnificence with which the company were entertained during the whole of their stay. The princess is a woman of an ami, able character, and a good understanding; educates her children, and manages her affairs, with the utmost prudence and propriety.

This family, and many of the nobility, who have hitherto been at their country-seats, are now about to return to Vienna. The family of Monsieur and Madame de Pergen have been here for some time. This lady is an intimate friend of the countess Thune; and nearly the same com

pany, who form her society, now assemble twice a week at the house of Madame de Pergen, who rivals the countess in good sense and many accomplishments; and, without raising jealousy or ill-will, divides with her the esteem of the best company of this place. The agreeable footing on which society is established here, and the number of respectable people with whom we are acquainted, fills me with regret at the thoughts of leaving Vienna; but the duke of Hamilton inclines to pass the winter in Italy. Indeed, if he did not, he would be obliged to delay the journey a whole year, or submit to the inconveniences of travelling in the summer months, which, in so hot a climate, is rather to be avoided.

LETTER XCIII.

Vienna.

I HAVE not said any thing of the Austrian army, having some suspicion that I rather over-dosed you with military details from Berlin, where the subject of my letters was continually before my eyes. But the emperor has very few of his troops in garrison at Vienna. They make a fine appearance, and the army in general are more judiciously clothed, than any other I have seen.

Instead of coats with long skirts, their uniform is a short jacket of white cloth, with waistcoat and breeches of the same; and each soldier has a surtout of coarse grey cloth, which he wears in cold or rainy weather. This he rolls up in a very small bulk when the weather is good, and it is little or no encumbrance on a march. They have short boots for shoes; and, in place of hats, they wear caps of very stout leather, with a brass front, which usually stands up, but which may be let down upon occasion, to prevent their eyes from being incommoded by the sun.

Except a very few Hungarians who do duty within the palace, there are no troops in the Austrian service with increased pay, and exclusive privileges, under the denomination of body-guards; the marching regiments on the

ordinary establishment, form the garrison of Vienna, and perform the duty of guards by rotation.

The insolence of the Prætorian bands at Rome, so often terrible to their masters; the frequent insurrections of the Janissaries at Constantinople, and the revolutions effected by the Russian guards at Petersburg, sufficiently point out the danger of such an institution. These examples may have influenced the Austrian government to renounce a system which seems to render certain regiments less useful, and more dangerous, than the rest of the army.

The Austrian army is calculated at considerably above two hundred thousand; and it is imagined that there never was a greater number of excellent officers in the service than at present: so that, in case of a war with Prussia, the two powers will be more equally matched than ever. It would be unfortunate for this court if it should break out at present; for there are some commotions among the peasants in Bohemia, which occasion a general disquiet, and by which some individuals have sustained great losses One nobleman of the first rank has had his house, and all the furniture, burnt to the ground, together with some large out-houses near his castle.

These excesses, according to some, proceed from mere wantonness, and love of mischief, in the people. Others assert, that they are excited by the tyranny of the lords, which has driven those poor men to despair. Whichsoever of these accounts is true, it seems evident to me, that it would be much better for the lords, as well as the peasants, that the latter, instead of being bondmen, were in a state of freedom. At present, they pay their rent by working a certain number of days in the week for their masters, and maintain themselves and families by labouring the other days on their own account. You will readily believe, that more real business will be done in one day when they work for themselves, than in two days labour for their lords. This occasions ill-humour and blows on the part of the master, and hatred and revolt on that of the peasants.