Journey from Paris to Vienna. 43 



form a sort of rural district to the city, and there, at the return 

 of fine weather, the great lords, who have erected magnificent 

 palaces with delightful gardens, spend a part of the summer. 

 There is also a considerable number of handsome public build- 

 ings, such as the school of surgery, the polytechnic school, 

 with numerous churches, among which is that of St. Charles, 

 considered as the finest in Vienna. There are several very 

 pleasing promenades, in the midst of parterres, wherein the 

 vegetation is rich and abundant, the city affording nothing of 

 the kind. 



But notwithstanding these advantages, there are also incon- 

 veniences, which no doubt will be removed hereafter, but at 

 present are disagreeable. In the suburbs, the principal streets 

 only are paved, and the rest, in winter or rainy weather, are 

 covered with mud. The boulevard, which we pass over to 

 enter into the city, is also filled with it ; add to which, that in 

 summer, in the dry weather, we are scorched by the sun, and 

 stifled with dust. 



The suburbs have all been raised since 1684; those prior to 

 that period were destroyed, in 1683, at the approach of the 

 Turkish army, during the revolt of count Tekeley, in Hungary. 



They have not always made a part of the city; several form- 

 ed distinct villages, till Joseph II. incorporated them with 

 Vienna. They have been since increasing rapidly, and an ex- 

 tensive line drawn round the city would take in about 6000 

 houses and 180,000 souls; the city alone may have 1400 

 houses, and 46,000 inhabitants. The suburbs are thirty-three 

 in number; the principal and most beautiful are Leopoldstadt, 

 Wachringergasse, Alvergasse, Josephstadt, Maria Hulf, Wie- 

 den, and Landstrasse. The Prater, the finest promenade in 

 Vienna, and perhaps in Europe, is in Leopaldstadt. It is a 

 sort of magnificent forest at the gates of the city, in a large 

 island of the Danube; it is more than a league in length, and 

 half a league wide, and contains oaks, beech, lime, and chesnut 

 trees, all of a superior description. Superb avenues, with 

 flowery meadows on each side, have been cut through it, in- 

 terrupting the monotony which the thickness of the foliage 

 would occasion, and giving animation to the scene. A multi- 

 tude of booths and little auberges are scattered in various 

 directions, forming detached hamlets, exhibiting spectacles, 

 games, horsemanship, &c. The Prater is, in summer, the 

 rendezvous of the whole town, and when enlivened by a crowd 

 of splendid equipages, by the gay assemblage of the population, 

 diversified with Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, &c. all in 

 their national costume, the traveller of sensibility will feel 

 himself highly gratified. 



