pearance. I saw there an entertainment called Palmyra,"-a splendid kind of opera, in which there was much show and pageantry. It dif fered very little from what we call in England a pantomime.

At the National Theatre and at the Kanador Theatre, the nobility, the ministers, and the corps diplomatique, have usually boxes by the year. Of course the company is highly respec

table.

I promised to divide my account of Vienna into three parts. I now conclude the first division; and remain, &c.

LETTER XXXVI.

Hospitality of the Austrians-Division of ranks among the nobility The first class entirely separated from the secondNecessity of foreigners being presented at court-The empe ror receives every body who chooses to see him, once a week→→ Anecdote relating to that custom-Ceremony of presentation to the emperor · Gracious manner and conversation of his imperial majesty-The emperor stays in his cabinet from six in the morning till night every Wednesday, occupied in seeing in their turn petitioners of all ranks-Anecdote of a countryman thus admitted to a conference with his sovereign-Ceremony of a lady's presentation to the emperor-Presentation to the empress-Conversation with the empress-Introduction to the minister-Dinner at the house of count Cobenzel, the prime minister Dinners of the Austrians · Hours at ViennaDinner at the house of count Charles Zechy, minister of finance- -His country-house-Ball at the same—) -Ball at princess Esterhazy's-Mr. Paget (our minister): his manner of living-Dinner given by him on the king's birth-day-The corps diplomatique---Count Rasowmoski, the Russian ambassador---Count Schonfeld, minister from the elector of Saxony ---Civilities received from the latter---Evening parties of the first class of nobility---Visits necessary to be paid in return for dinners---Second class of nobility equally magnificent in their entertainments---Merchants excluded from the society of the latter ---Dinner at M. de Puthon's, a banker --- Polish society the most dissipated at Vienna---Tyranny of the Polish chiefs over their vassals---Anecdote of the same---Ceremony of Fête-Dieu---Reflexions on this procession, and on a similar one seen by the author thirteen years before at Paris.

My dear sir,

Vienna, June 20, 1803.

IF Vienna deserves notice for its beautiful walks and many interesting public establishments, it is doubly interesting when considered with a view to men and manners. Perhaps there is no place in Europe where a stranger of character is so hospitably received by the inhabitants; no one in which more splendid entertainments are given; nor any in which liberal and polished conversation is more amply enjoyed. Possibly indeed the peculiar advantages which I have derived from the friendship of an amiable family resident here, and from the civilities of the English minister, may have made me see every thing with a favorable eye: yet while I acknowledge with gratitude that to these individuals I owe my happiest hours spent at Vienna, I must add, in justice to the court and the higher nobility, that such arrangements are formed for the reception of foreigners, and so general is the inclination to show them attention, that no traveler of taste can fail to be pleased with the society of this capital.

I must begin with mentioning, that the divi sions of rank are here observed with peculiar severity. No person can be received into the first circles of this place, who has not been pre

sented at court; and no one can be presented. at court who cannot give authentic proofs of his sixteen untarnished quarters, both on the side of his father and on that of his mother. A single mis-alliance, or marriage with a plebeian, destroys the rights of him who is in other respects unobjectionable. The military are alone exempt from the effects of this general regulation: an officer, as such, may be presented, though his birth be ever so obscure: but this professional privilege does not extend itself to his wife, or to his descendants; who remain incapable of basking in the sunshine of royalty, till the required number of unalloyed generations has purified their blood, and given them the allotted number of heraldic quarters.

In consequence of this strange species of pride, many persons honored with titles of nobility, but not possessed of the necessary pedigrees, are excluded from the court of their sovereign, and consequently from the first circles of society. Even females whose birth is spotless, may by an inferior marriage lose their rank, and sink into the class of their husbands.

Since I have been here, I have heard related a curious instance of the rigidity with which this rule is enforced.-A lady of the first nobility married an officer of the second, and by so doing was degraded, and rendered incapable of going either to court or to the society of her

equals; while the husband, for whom she suf fered this disgrace, was in his professional character admitted to both.

Neither the liberal sentiments of Joseph the. Second, nor the example of his successors, who have on all occasions endeavoured to destroy so strange a distinction among the members of the same privileged body, have produced the slightest change in this deeply-rooted prejudice. Nor can the power or influence of a minister assist the most amiable individual, who, without the required qualifications, should presume to aspire at moving in the first circles.— As a proof of this, I have been told the following anecdote. Count Cobenzel, the prime minister and favorite of the emperor, had a niece, a beautiful and accomplished young woman, who was educated in his house, and who at the proper age was presented at court. A few days afterwards it was whispered that this lovely girl had not a pedigree sufficiently pure to justify the honor which she had received; and, at the next general assembly given by the premier, she no sooner appeared than all the ladies of the court left the room.

Such, indeed, is the pride of the first families, that though in the country, or in private, they will associate familiarly with persons of inferior birth, they cannot at Vienna, without subjecting themselves to degradation, appear in public