Tracks of a Rolling Stone [40]
would show me as good sport as had ever seen in Norfolk. He invited Mr. Magenis - the Secretary of Legation - to accompany me.
The following week we two hired a BRITZCKA, and posted to Eisenstadt. The lordly grandeur of this last of the feudal princes manifested itself soon after we crossed the Hungarian frontier. The first sign of it was the livery and badge worn by the postillions. Posting houses, horses and roads, were all the property of His Transparency.
Eisenstadt itself, though not his principal seat, is a large palace - three sides of a triangle. One wing is the residence, that opposite the barrack, (he had his own troops,) and the connecting base part museum and part concert-hall. This last was sanctified by the spirit of Joseph Haydn, for so many years Kapellmeister to the Esterhazy family. The conductor's stand and his spinet remained intact. Even the stools and desks in the orchestra (so the Prince assured me) were ancient. The very dust was sacred. Sitting alone in the dim space, one could fancy the great little man still there, in his snuff-coloured coat and ruffles, half buried (as on state occasions) in his 'ALLONGE PERUCKE.' A tap of his magic wand starts into life his quaint old-fashioned band, and the powder flies from their wigs. Soft, distant, ghostly harmonies of the Surprise Symphony float among the rafters; and now, as in a dream, we are listening to - nay, beholding - the glorious process of Creation; till suddenly the mighty chord is struck, and we are startled from our trance by the burst of myriad voices echoing the command and its fulfilment, 'Let there be light: and there was light.'
Only a family party was assembled in the house. A Baron something, and a Graf something - both relations, - and the son, afterwards Ambassador at St. Petersburg during the Crimean War. The latter was married to Lady Sarah Villiers, who was also there. It is amusing to think that the beautiful daughter of the proud Lady Jersey should be looked upon by the Austrians as somewhat of a MESALLIANCE for one of the chiefs of their nobility. Certain it is that the young Princess was received by them, till they knew her, with more condescension than enthusiasm.
An air of feudal magnificence pervaded the palace: spacious reception-rooms hung with armour and trophies of the chase; numbers of domestics in epauletted and belaced, but ill- fitting, liveries; the prodigal supply and nationality of the comestibles - wild boar with marmalade, venison and game of all sorts with excellent 'Eingemachtes' and 'Mehlspeisen' galore - a feast for a Gamache or a Gargantua. But then, all save three, remember, were Germans - and Germans! Noteworthy was the delicious Chateau Y'quem, of which the Prince declared he had a monopoly - meaning the best, I presume. After dinner the son, his brother-in-law, and I, smoked our meerschaums and played pools of ECARTE in the young Prince's room. Magenis, who was much our senior, had his rubber downstairs with the elders.
The life was pleasant enough, but there was one little medieval peculiarity which almost made one look for retainers in goat-skins and rushes on the floor, - there was not a bath (except the Princess's) in the palace! It was with difficulty that my English servant foraged a tub from the kitchen or the laundry. As to other sanitary arrangements, they were what they doubtless had been in the days of Almos and his son, the mighty Arped. In keeping with these venerable customs, I had a sentry at the door of my apartments; to protect me, belike, from the ghosts of predatory barons and marauders.
During the week we had two days' shooting; one in the coverts, quite equal to anything of the kind in England, the other at wild boar. For the latter, a tract of the Carpathian Mountains had been driven for some days before into a wood of about a hundred acres. At certain points there were sheltered stands, raised four or five feet from the ground, so that the sportsmen had a commanding view
The following week we two hired a BRITZCKA, and posted to Eisenstadt. The lordly grandeur of this last of the feudal princes manifested itself soon after we crossed the Hungarian frontier. The first sign of it was the livery and badge worn by the postillions. Posting houses, horses and roads, were all the property of His Transparency.
Eisenstadt itself, though not his principal seat, is a large palace - three sides of a triangle. One wing is the residence, that opposite the barrack, (he had his own troops,) and the connecting base part museum and part concert-hall. This last was sanctified by the spirit of Joseph Haydn, for so many years Kapellmeister to the Esterhazy family. The conductor's stand and his spinet remained intact. Even the stools and desks in the orchestra (so the Prince assured me) were ancient. The very dust was sacred. Sitting alone in the dim space, one could fancy the great little man still there, in his snuff-coloured coat and ruffles, half buried (as on state occasions) in his 'ALLONGE PERUCKE.' A tap of his magic wand starts into life his quaint old-fashioned band, and the powder flies from their wigs. Soft, distant, ghostly harmonies of the Surprise Symphony float among the rafters; and now, as in a dream, we are listening to - nay, beholding - the glorious process of Creation; till suddenly the mighty chord is struck, and we are startled from our trance by the burst of myriad voices echoing the command and its fulfilment, 'Let there be light: and there was light.'
Only a family party was assembled in the house. A Baron something, and a Graf something - both relations, - and the son, afterwards Ambassador at St. Petersburg during the Crimean War. The latter was married to Lady Sarah Villiers, who was also there. It is amusing to think that the beautiful daughter of the proud Lady Jersey should be looked upon by the Austrians as somewhat of a MESALLIANCE for one of the chiefs of their nobility. Certain it is that the young Princess was received by them, till they knew her, with more condescension than enthusiasm.
An air of feudal magnificence pervaded the palace: spacious reception-rooms hung with armour and trophies of the chase; numbers of domestics in epauletted and belaced, but ill- fitting, liveries; the prodigal supply and nationality of the comestibles - wild boar with marmalade, venison and game of all sorts with excellent 'Eingemachtes' and 'Mehlspeisen' galore - a feast for a Gamache or a Gargantua. But then, all save three, remember, were Germans - and Germans! Noteworthy was the delicious Chateau Y'quem, of which the Prince declared he had a monopoly - meaning the best, I presume. After dinner the son, his brother-in-law, and I, smoked our meerschaums and played pools of ECARTE in the young Prince's room. Magenis, who was much our senior, had his rubber downstairs with the elders.
The life was pleasant enough, but there was one little medieval peculiarity which almost made one look for retainers in goat-skins and rushes on the floor, - there was not a bath (except the Princess's) in the palace! It was with difficulty that my English servant foraged a tub from the kitchen or the laundry. As to other sanitary arrangements, they were what they doubtless had been in the days of Almos and his son, the mighty Arped. In keeping with these venerable customs, I had a sentry at the door of my apartments; to protect me, belike, from the ghosts of predatory barons and marauders.
During the week we had two days' shooting; one in the coverts, quite equal to anything of the kind in England, the other at wild boar. For the latter, a tract of the Carpathian Mountains had been driven for some days before into a wood of about a hundred acres. At certain points there were sheltered stands, raised four or five feet from the ground, so that the sportsmen had a commanding view