AUSTRIA. 



147 



Austria 



Peculiari- 

 ties in the 

 Austrian 

 character. 



animals, well fed and judiciously managed ; and their 

 country better supplied with roads, bridges, salutary 

 municipal regulations, (and these, too, pretty well 

 executed,) than any other province in Germany. 

 From a long enjoyment of those advantages, and a 

 consciousness of them, the general appearance of con- 

 tentment and happiness which occurred in this fine 

 province, as often as we visited it, in spite even of war 

 and its attendan calamities, may be in some measure 

 derived. That the national character is agreeable to 

 a stranger to contemplate it, is certain ; and therefore 

 he willingly dwells on any peculiarity which may 

 rescue his speculations from the charge of a tedious 

 and impertinent minuteness, while he describes the 

 manners of a district, which, lying nearly in the centre 

 of Europe, and having frequently made a figure in 

 our history as the point of union of a powerful mo- 

 narchy, might be supposed to be abundantly familiar 

 to us in all its aspects. 



Of the peculiarities which we remarked in the 

 character of the great body of the Austrians, espe- 

 cially when travelling through the country at a dis- 

 tance from towns, we mention three as the most con- 

 spicuous. 



1. The Austrian betrays complete indifference 

 about public affairs, whether they respect his own 

 country or Europe, and the world in general. He 

 never asks for news, or listens to any discussions upon 

 politics, or indeed any other general topics of a se- 

 rious cast, but with the most evident indifference, or 

 even aversion. In no company is there a word heard 

 concerning any public transactions or characters; and 

 if a stranger chances, out of mere lack of conversa- 

 tion, and to avoid the necessity of yawning, to make 

 any allusion to subjects which he might think inte- 

 resting to all who hear him, he is soon constrained to 

 change his topic by the mortifying apathy with which 

 his observations are received. We first imagined that 

 this disposition to reject every thing serious or va- 

 luable in public life, as the occasional ground of 

 converse, arose from timidity and the fear of giving 

 offence to the government, or to persens in power; 

 and we had frequently heard this reason assigned by 

 the northern Germans as the cause of what they are 

 pleased to call Austrian slavery and submission ; but 

 this is a mistake. The Austrian loves his sovereign, 

 perhaps more than any other European, and has in- 

 deed good reason for so doing, in as far as the mild- 

 ness of the government, and the humanity of its civil 

 polity, are concerned. But this love does not incite 

 him to any talking, or any praises. Neither do the 

 reverses experienced by his prince extort from him any 

 censure of the government, or any impatience under 

 a system which threatens the dissolution of the mo- 

 narchy. He seems to be naturally and instinctively 

 averse to any speculations upon such matters, and 

 to have received from his first entrance into the 

 world, a bias the very reverse of that which is the 

 characteristic of the British'character. What a con- 

 trast, indeed, do these two yield on a stranger's ar- 

 rival in a remote valley in Upper Austria and in trie 

 Highlands of Scotland! The Austrian landlord re- 

 ceive;; him with a good natured countenance, and 

 slowly shews him a room, and asks what he wants to 

 have for dinner, &c. : then, perhaps, enquires about 



the roads, and what he paid for his horses and car- Austria. 

 riage ; and how long he has been in Austria, &c. ; * "v 

 but never dreams of asking news, or talking of any 

 thing connected with public affairs. The Highland 

 Scot torments his guest with a torrent of questions. 

 " Whence he came to-day ? Has he seen the last news- 

 papers? What he thinks now of our ministry? How 

 are matters going on in Germany, Spain, India, Ame- 

 rica, and in all parts of the world?" with a geogra- 

 phy of which he betrays a most wonderful' acquain- 

 tance and familiarity ; and, When this war is to hare 

 an end ? What he thinks of the last taxes, of the 

 local militia, of the national debt now amounting to 

 500,000,000, and of the general state of the coun- 

 try ? 



2. A striking peculiarity in the Austrian charac- 

 ter, is the union of great physical vigour and ardent 

 love of pleasure, with the most astonishing self-com- 

 mand, forbearance, and good nature. Quarrels, even 

 among persons intoxicated with spirituous liquors, are 

 the most harmless things imaginable. They hardly 

 ever come to any height, even ih words ; blows are 

 scarcely heard of in many towns during a whole year ; 

 and maiming or murder is, on such occasions, com- 

 pletely unknown. There is probably more blood 

 shed at one country market in Ireland, or at a quar- 

 relsome drinking match in Wales, or the Highlands 

 of Scotland, in one evening, than in the whole of 

 Austria in twelve months. 



3. An amiable peculiarity in the Austrian charac- 

 ter, is the profound veneration paid to the memory of 

 their deceased friends. This if the more striking, 

 because the people are generally reckoned giddy and 

 thoughtless, and believed to be affected chiefly by 

 objects of present sensation. The proofs of it, how- 

 ever, constantly appear. Wheresoever a person has 

 perished, either by a fall from a horse, by drowning, 

 by being crushed to death by a tree or a carriage, or ' 

 in short in any way out of the common run, a board, 

 containing an inscription and paintings relative to the 

 event, is hung up on the spot, and stands for many 

 years as a monument in honour of the departed. Such 

 boards or tickets, sometimes attended with consider- 

 able expense, are particularly numerous on the banks 



of lakes, and near precipices, and the ferries or fords 

 of rivers. We have never seen any of 'them which 

 exhibited marks of wantonness in being defaced by 

 boys or passengers. The natives regard them with 

 profound veneration, take off their hats as they pass 

 by them, and mutter a prayer for the happiness of 

 their friends. There is something peculiarly affect- 

 ing in seeing this done with folded hands by young 

 boys and girls as they go to the schools. 



Consistent with this custom is the decency of their 

 funerals, and the decorous state of their church- 

 yards and tomb-stones. Nothing can exceed the 

 care with which these are preserved, and nothing but 

 sincere respect for the relation which once subsisted 

 between the deceased and those whom they have left 

 b> -hind them, could prompt the latter to give so con- 

 spicuous an evidence of it. 



The common amusements of the Austrians are Amuse- 

 shooting at a target, playing at ninepins, here, as in I " en,s ot 

 Saxony, called Kegel-sckeiben, billiards, cards, dan- ! r . ( ' a ,f' US " 

 cing, (of which they are extravagantly fond,) and 



