HUNGARY. 485 



Population Before the Turks obtained possession of Constanti- 

 nople, Hungary was one of the most populous and flourishing kingdoms 

 in Europe; and if the house of Austria should give the proper encou- 

 ragement to the inhabitants to repair their works, and clear their fens, 

 it might become so again. The population of Hungary, exclusive of 

 Transylvania, Sclavonia, and Dalmatia, was estimated, in 1776, by the 

 celebrated Busching, to be 3,170,000; and Mr. Windish, an Hunga- 

 rian, in his Geography of Hungary, published in 1780, says, " the pop- 

 ulation, according to a new accurate examination, is 3,170,000, exclu- 

 ding Transvlvania, Sclavonia, and Dalmatia." But the committee ap- 

 pointed by the diet of 179 1 , to inquire into things of this nature, " some 

 of whose notes," says Dr. Townson," I have had in my hands, estimate 

 the population of Hungary in its greatest extent, but always excluding 

 Transylvania, at about 8,000,000, which, they add, is 1777 souls pet- 

 square mile. In No. 61, of Mr. Slotzer's Staats Anzeigen, there is a 

 detailed account, which makes the total population 7,417,415." Hoeck 

 states the population of Hungary and Illyria at 7,350,000 ; whence the 

 number of inhabitants for Hungary alone may, perhaps, be justly taken 

 at about 6,300,000. 



National character, manners, and customs The Hunga- 

 rians are a brave, generous, and hardy race of men ; their manners are. 

 peculiar to themselves ; and they pique themselves on being descend- 

 ed from those heroes who formed the bulwark of Christendom against 

 the infidels. In their persons they are well made. Their fur caps; 

 their close-bodied coats, girded by a sash, and their cloke or mantle, 

 which is so contrived as to buckle under the arm, so that the right hand 

 may be always at liberty ; give them an air of military dignity. The 

 men shave their beards, but preserve their whiskers on their upper 

 lips. Their usual arms are the broad-sword, and a kind of pole-axe, 

 besides their fire-arms. The ladies are reckoned handsomer than 

 those of Austria; and their sable dress, with sleeves straight to their 

 arms, and their stays fastened before with little gold, pearl, or diamond 

 buttons, are well known to the French and English ladies. Both men 

 and women, in what they call the mine towns, wear fur and even sheep- 

 skin dresses. The inns upon the roads are most miserable hovels, and 

 even those seldom to be met with. The hogs, which yield the chief 

 animal food for the peasants, and the poultry, live in the same apart- 

 ment with their owners. The gout and fever, owing to the unwhole- 

 someness of the air, are the predominant diseases in Hungary. The 

 natives in general are indolent, and leave trade and manufactures to 

 the Greeks and other strangers settled in their country, the flatness of 

 which renders travelling commodious, either by land or water. The 

 diversions of the inhabitants are of the warlike and athletic kind. They 

 are in general a brave and magnanimous people. Their ancestors, 

 even since the beginning of the present century, were so jealous of 

 their liberties, that, rather than be tyrannized over by the house of Au- 

 stria, they often put themselves under the protection of the Ottoman 

 court ; but their fidelity to the late empress-queen, notwithstanding 

 the provocations they received from her house, will be always remem- 

 bered to their honour. 



The inhabitants of Temeswar are computed at 450,000. There are 

 in this country many faraons, zigeuners, or gypsies, supposed to be 

 real descendants of the ancient Egyptians. They are said to resemble 

 the ancient Egyptians in their features, in their propensity to melan- 

 choly, and in many of their manners and customs j and it has been as- 



