524 Biograpliical Sketch of 



desired than the stupid wonder with whicli other nations have been wont to 

 regard us, and the profuse scattering:; of onr ingots ? 



" I fear, my dear father, that I must have tired you with this long digression, 

 i. e., supposing that you have had patience enough to wade through it. But, I 

 assure you, I am guiltless of premeditating such an infliction. The Hungarian 

 institutions are so closely connected with the English, that they drew me into a 

 train of thought which, with pen in hand, I could not avoid committing to 

 paper, 



" To return to Hungary, and the days of gentlemen here. You see at every 

 step the consequences of such a wretched system. No bridges, no roads, no 

 great public works can be undertaken while the only classes able to pay are 

 exempt from the payment of tolls and rates, by which alone the expenses could 

 be defrayed. The wretched boors are in a state of the most deplorable igno- 

 rance, and consequent immorality. They tell you to your face that they steal 

 when they can, and even in an hotel you are obliged to lock your door and 

 ■carry the key in your pocket. For a gentleman stranger who can shut his 

 -eyes to such a pernicious state of things it is a most delightful country. 



" Farquhar gave us letters of introduction, and we have been most hospitably 

 received. The nobles themselves are highly polished, extremely hospitable, and 

 very fond of the English. If I were not on my way to Constantinople, I should 

 like excessively to sjoend a few months here, having promise of stag and wild 

 boar shooting. 



" Of the magnificence of some of the great nobles you can hardly form an 

 adequate idea, A short time ago (unfortunately about four days before we 

 arrived at Vienna) Prince Esterhazy was installed as premier Count of the 

 Emjoire, and gave, at one of his chateaux, a magnificent fete on the occasion. 

 The Emperor was present with all his Court, and his guests were as follow : — 

 Two hundred of the elite sat down to a table set out with gold plate alone, six 

 hundred at other tables with silver plate, fifteen hundred ate off the finest 

 china, and in all eight thousand Hungarian nobles dined that day at the 

 prince's castle. The whole of bis plate was bis own. The rest of the de- 

 tails of the fete, which lasted three days, were equally astonishing, but 

 would be tedious. Pray tell Mr. Pick, tVom me, that I have seen a Hun- 

 garian nobleman (the same Esterhazy) who has two hundred and forty thou- 

 sand sheep. He kills a thousand stags and five hundred boars every year at 

 the grand battues in his park (the park containing 84 square miles, and all 

 walled in). I have just heard that the river has risen several inches, and that 

 there is little doubt of our being able to start in a day or two. If not, I 

 shall write again in the course of a week ; but I expect that my next date 

 will be Constantinople. I hope that is sufficient excuse for my having crossed 

 two pages.* 



" Believe me, 

 " My dear father's most afiectionate and dutiful son, 



" H. S. Thompson." 



To resume the duly appreciated Home life, for the purpose of 

 tindertaking important Home duties, and the better to under- 

 stand them, it is desirable, perhaps, to take a rapid historical 

 glance at the causes which, during many years, led up to the 

 nearly simultaneous formation of two great English Agricultural 

 Societies. 



* He never reached Constantinople, owing to the illness of his travelling com- 

 5)aniou. 



