_.- chase a Bible. 
a, 
4, 
tw 
_nishment in 
5238 
region of the glohe: Spanish, Neapolitan, 
Ukraine, Polish, Transylvanian, Moldavi- 
Turkish, Arabian, Tripolitan, Per- 
sian, but not a single one of English 
breed. His favourites were an Arabian 
pouey, and a pie-balled horse, bred by 
Count Trautmanzdorf, in Bohemia. I 
know not if many horses have been con- 
veyed by the extra post, but the cele- 
brated Prince of Nassau once sent one 
from Warsaw by the post to Prince hau- 
nitz, at Vienna, in a carriage constructed 
for the purpose. It was a grey Persian, 
of which the Prince had boasted so much, 
that Kaunitz was desirous of having him 
as speedily as possjble. The foreign 
ministers who went ta his table, or sought 
his company to hear his sentiments on 
political affairs, often said the following 
day, with evident signs of disappoint= 
ment, to their colleague -, “The Prince 
talked of nothing but horses and pic- 
tures.” 
To this subject belongs also the fol- 
lowing characteristic anecdote: Kaunitz 
was once conversing with Stoll, his phy- 
siclan, about horses, and asked him 
what was the most ancient book in which 
horses were mentioned. Stoll replied, 
that in his opinion the book of Job.was. 
The Prince immediately rung for one of 
his attendants, and directed him to pur- 
The bookseller did not 
fail to talk of this unexpected purchase, 
which excited no small degree of asto- 
various companies. Some 
pious old ladies, who had no high opi- 
nion of the Prince’s orthodoxy, triumph- 
ed not a little over the circumstance of 
his procuring a bible, though in fact his 
only object was to seek in the book of 
Job for the earliest records relative to 
the race of horses. 
SCHIKANEDER’S THEATRE, 
The-theatre on the Wien, the newest 
of all the theatres of this city, has al- 
ready experienced several changes of 
masters and of fortune. The construc- 
tion of the edifice was begua in 1797 by 
the celebrated Emanuel Schikaneder, and 
it proceeded with such extraordinary ra~ 
pidity that it was opened in June 1800. 
The day before he emigrated to it, he 
gave a piece, entitled Thespis, WwW ich he 
performed himself, after which he and 
his whole troop ee with bag and 
baggage across the Wien to the new dra- 
matic ‘temple. Then was seen realized 
the well known ancient verse: 
*¢ Dicitur et plaustris vexisse poemata Thes- 
to3 
pis ! 
Pezzl'’s Sketches of Vienna thr 1805. 
[Nov. 1 
The theatre stands. in @ tolerably fa- 
vonrable situation, in the suburb near the 
Wien. Itis to be regretted that it was 
not placed upon the glacis, where it 
would have appeared to infinitely greater 
advantage. ‘The architect was a builder 
of this city, of the name of Jager. It 
has two grand entrances, one for hack- 
ney-coaches, and the other for the car- 
riages of the nobility and gentry. It is 
customary on the Continent to place 
over the entrances of playhouses one of 
the Muses of the Drama; but M, Schika- 
neder must have thought his own dear 
person much more deserving of the ho- 
nour than Thalia or Melpomene ; for he 
has fixed up a figure of himself in the cha- 
racter of Papageno blowing his decoys 
pipe toward the city, and near him are 
two chubby boys with their nét quite 
full of birds, His motive for this is said 
to have been because the admired Papa- 
geno, in the universally well known opera 
of die Zauberfldte, which he has per= 
formed above five hundred times, princi- 
pally contributed to set him on his legs, 
It may be so; but yet | always thought 
good Emanuel, who is six feet high, has 
a paunch like Vitellius of old, measures 
a full fathom in circumference, and 
weighs uear three hundred weight, rather 
a heavy Papageno. 
The theatre itself is spacious, rather 
broader, and considerably deeper tlian 
any other in this city. It may be opened 
backwards into a court, and as far as a 
strect, which is convenient for the repre- 
sentation of subjects which require such 
a perspective. Of this advantage the 
play-wrights avail themselves im a most 
imposing manner. Thus, for instance, 
the Countess W alltron, i in the well-known 
piece of that name, enters in a real ba- 
rouche drawn by font living horses, and 
drives round the theatre. The prince 
comes with a train of adjutants and hus- 
sars on horseback, riding at full speed: 
into the house. In another piece the 
cavalry marches in rank and file, and 
cuts down the infantry; and of such 
sights as these the public never tires. 
The height of the house is such that 
the curtain and decorations may be 
drawn up without rolling. Of the deco- 
rations a great number are very good, 
many are splendid, and the machinery is 
tolerable. The landscape and trees on 
the curtain are well executed ; the figures 
are wretched, and the whole is spoiled 
by the silly conceit of a prodigious ser- 
pent, with I know not how many heads, 
(probably representing Envy and Perse-- 
; eution 
