496 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



those heart-soothing strains floating on the breeze. 

 That melody would have tamed even old King 

 Saul when in his tantrums, which the most learned 

 of Bishops (he who resides in Bond Street) assures 

 me were occasioned by gout. 



All have equal rights on the Prater ; groups of 

 fashionably-dressed members of the heau monde are 

 interspersed with knots of sturdy artisans who live 

 by the sweat of their brow, yet all are animated by 

 the same feelings and seem equally to enjoy them- 

 selves. Thousands of families, men, women, and 

 children, come here to dine and pass the evening ; 

 yet there is no drunkenness, no quarrelling, no 

 disorder. The multitude are quiet and well-be- 

 haved, and children see nothing there likely to 

 corrupt their morals. 



Along a broad avenue of limes and chestnuts, roll 

 strings of equipages that would be remarkable for 

 elegance even in " the drive " at Hyde Park, con- 

 taining the magnates of the world of fashion, inter- 

 mingled with ordinary hired fiacres of the town, 

 filled with pleasure-seekers of the middle classes. 

 Here and there groups of young bloods and fair 



