272 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



now and then a small char-a-banCj where alone, and drawn 

 by a diminutive pony, sat a petty farmer or villager of the 

 higher class, whom the Hungarians designate as " Dominus 

 respectabilis," and files of poor peasants, with naked feet and 

 heavy baskets on their heads, on their way to the market of 

 Presburg. We crossed a fertile plain, intersected by vine- 

 yards, until we arrived at the foot of the Krapac, or Carpa- 

 thian mountains. 



The habitation of the Prince was situated in a charming 

 valley consecrated to the Yirgin (Marienthal). It was an 

 ancient convent, one of those suppressed by Joseph II., that 

 mad philosopher, who, for this cause alone, deserved the 

 bronze statue erected to his memory, with its inscription, 

 " Felicitate publicse non diu sed totus." There remained of 

 the ancient monastery a very handsome church, and seven 

 chapels or stations, beneath the lofty trees of the valley, 

 where pilgrimages were still made on the occasion of the 

 fetes of the Yirgin. A vast and magnificent amphitheatre 

 of mountains, crowned with noble forests, arose above these 

 towers and minarets. From the heights the view was pro- 

 digious. On turning towards the extreme angle of the Car- 

 pathians, the eye embraced on the right the whole of the 

 Austrian dominions, as far as the Styrian mountains, 

 crowned by the frozen and lofty peak of the Schneeberg. 

 To the left, Hungary, to the hills of Buda, which, two centu- 

 ries ago, were the frontiers of Turkey; and amidst this 

 splendid landscape the Danube meandered and sparkled like 

 a silver thread. 



The interior of the convent, metamorphosed into a chateau, 

 was not less curious than the environs. The original form 

 and internal distribution were preserved. Long vaulted gal- 

 leries, with Gothic cells, still remained, only it was easy to 

 perceive that it was no longer inhabited by lazy monks. In 

 the entrance-hall were suspended flags, warlike trophies, and 



