134 AUSTEIA-HUNGARY. 



Luther, raised tlie standard of the Eeforraation. Austria has vainly sought to 

 eradicate the national language by prohibiting its use in schools. The Germans 

 may predominate politically, thanks in a large measure to a cleverly contrived 

 electoral law, but the Chechian national spirit manifests itself in a hundred 

 different ways. The ancient history of the country is being studied, national 

 sono-s are beinff collected, and the educated classes share in the scientific and 

 literary work of the age. Many of the Austrian journalists and a still larger 

 number of the Government functionaries are Chechians. Education makes rapid 

 progress. The Chechians exhibit a peculiar aptitude for mathematics ; they are 

 also good musicians, though none of their composers can aspire to be placed in the 

 first rank. 



Both Chechians and Germans have discontinued to wear a national costume, for 

 the dress in which the students of Prague occasionally parade the streets is a 

 fancy one. The peasant women around Domazlice, however, continue to wear red 

 bodices and kerchiefs, short petticoats and red stockings. In Moravia, too, and 

 amongst the Slovaks, the old national costume is not yet extinct. The Hanaks, 

 who cultivate the fertile valley of the Hana, wear yellow leather pantaloons, an 

 embroidered belt, a cloth jacket richly ornamented, and a multitude of small metal 

 buttons on the chest. A white over-coat or a blue cloak, with several collars one 

 above the other, and a black hat with red or yellow ribbons, complete this 

 costume. Women as well as men wear heavy boots, which render their walk 

 very clumsy. But though the peasant women of Bohemia now almost universally 

 imitate the dress of their German neighbours, they still exhibit a decided 

 preference for red. 



The towns of Bohemia and Moravia do not differ, in outward appearance, from 

 the towns of Germany ; but in the more remote villages we are still able to imagine 

 ourselves in the Middle Ages. They consist of dwellings placed around an open 

 oval or circus. The houses are of wood, with a door and two windows looking 

 upon this open space. The overhanging straw roof is supported by columns. 

 Barns, stables, and dunghills form an outer circle. There are few trees or flower 

 gardens, and the only ornament of these dreary-looking villages consists of a 

 statue of St. John of Nepomuk, the patron saint of Bohemia. Dances, however, 

 frequently interrupt the monotony of daily life, for the Chechians are passionately 

 fond of that exercise, and we are indebted to them for some of our favourite 

 '' steps," including the Polka, erroneously supposed to be of Polish origin. 



Agriculture, Mixing, and Industry. 



Bohemia and Moravia are countries of larare estates. More than a third of 

 Bohemia belongs to noblemen, and one of the Princes of Schwarzenberg owns estates 

 covering many square miles. The Emperor and the Church are amongst the largest 

 landholders. These extensive estates, as elsewhere, have led to the impoverishment 

 and the demoralisation of the great mass of the people. Every one of these feudal 

 families has its staff of bailiffs and other hangers-on, but the people around the 



