Nothing could be more unlovely than these
once glorious forests. In parts we had to pass through a mere morass,
into which my horse kept sinking.
At last we got back to Toplicza. The forester and the Wallack thought
themselves amply compensated by a few paper florins. I daresay they kept
off the rheumatism by extra potations of _slivovitz_. As for myself,
having been dipped, yea, having even undergone total immersion in the
morass, I felt like those extinct animals who have left their
interesting bones nice and dry in the blue lias, but who in daily life
must have been "mud all over." I presented such a spectacle on my
return, that I consider it was an instance of the greatest
kindness--indeed it must have been a severe strain on the hospitality
of my friends to give me house-room.
As my garments had not the durability of those of the Israelites in the
wilderness, it became a very desirable object to effect a junction with
my portmanteau, which was sitting all this time at Maros Vasarhely. The
weather, too, had calmed my ardour for the mountains, and I resolved to
strike into the interior of Transylvania, and see something of the
towns.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Visits at Transylvanian chateaux--Society--Dogs--Amusements at
Klausenburg--Magyar poets--Count Istvan Szechenyi--Baron
Eoetvos--'The Village Notary'--Hungarian self-criticism--Literary
taste.
I must now drop the itinerary of my journey and speak more in
generalities; for after leaving the wilder districts of the Szeklerland,
I took the opportunity of presenting some of the letters of introduction
that I brought with me from England.
Pages:
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254