Page:ONCE A WEEK JUL TO DEC 1860.pdf/672

664 our London fashionables) always till five, and frequently till seven o’clock in the morning, keeping up their strength and spirits on tea, sugarplums, oranges, compotes, and every variety of cakes and ices; the quantity of bonbons consumed by hale, hearty men, on these occasions, is such as would make our substantial supper-loving countrymen open their eyes with amazement.

The public balls are all held at the Sophien Insel, an island in the Moldau opposite to the Neu Stadt, to which it is joined by a small wooden bridge. The balls of the élite at this place are conducted on the most exclusive system; the ladies of the highest rank in the town act by turns as lady patronesses, and send round a book by a confidential person who is furnished with a list of the families to whom alone “vouchers” may be given. The dancing-room is a very fine salle. Once, when Princess was the lady patroness, a very handsome supper was provided, to which ample justice was done by both ladies and gentlemen, in spite of the lack of refinement attached to the idea of hot dishes at a ball by the Bohemian superlatives!

But alas, for Prague! its beaux jours are over. We fear its sun is set; for such have been the changes in its society since the insurrection of 1848, though the ex-Emperor and Empress have their winter abode in the palace of the Hradschin, they live as in a city of the plague, while all that was gay is dead and gone!

We have already adverted to the severity of the climate of Bohemia: the Moldau usually freezes in December, and the ice breaks up in the middle or end of February, and one year an ox was roasted whole on the river on Easter Monday, which happened to fall in March. Formerly the Moldau presented a very gay scene during those months, being not only frequented by skaters, but by vast numbers of the inhabitants in sledges; the traineaux of the wealthy were very gay and elegant in shape, the horses’ heads decorated with plumes of feathers of various hues, of which sky-blue was the favourite; but this custom has been abandoned since the Archduchess Hermione died of consumption brought on by a cold taken while driven en traineau by her brother Stephen. If, however, the weather in winter is severe, the heat of summer is proportionable, and accompanied with the most terrific storms we ever witnessed in any country.

The lower classes are very hardy, as may be judged from a habit of the country-girls when over-heated with dancing, of rushing into the court and plunging their heads into a bucket of water, or under a pump, to cool themselves, and before they are well dry, returning to their partners,—a hardihood all the more remarkable from the enervating manner of their rearing as infants.

When the season is sufficiently advanced to render bathing agreeable, the bathing-house and swimming-school are refixed in the Moldau, and both ladies and gentlemen re-commence their lessons. The instructor of the female sex is, or was, a retired sergeant; the younger portion of the female community wear a peculiar bathing-dress, consisting of tunic and full trowsers fastened at the ankles, in which costume the old sergeant draws them through the water by a rope fastened under their arms and round their waist, while he walks on a platform beside them.

The great spring fête day at Prague is the 16th of May, the fête of St. John Nepomuc, the patron-saint of Bohemia, who was thrown over the old bridge into the Moldau by order of a pagan king, for twice refusing to reveal the confession of his queen, who had become a convert to Christianity. Her husband had determined to become acquainted with the facts, and summoned her father-confessor to detail them to him, which his conception of duty would not permit him to do, though he was threatened with death if he persisted in refusing. Continuing firm in his resolution, he was seized by order of the monarch, his tongue was cut out, and he was thrown into the river.

Tradition says that, where the body fell, five stars shone in a half-circle above the head; and hence, on the evening of the 15th, when it becomes dusk, a boat glides up and down, close to the bridge, with five lights, in imitation of those planets which hovered over St. John Nepomuc in his dying moments. To the celebration of this fête thousands of persons come not only from all parts of Bohemia, but even out of far Hungary, so great is the veneration in which the memory of St. John is still held; so crowded is the bridge on which a chapel is temporarily erected for the occasion and service performed, that for twenty-four hours the police forbid all vehicles and horses from crossing to prevent accidents which must otherwise infallibly happen, and during that period all carriages must pass by the suspension-bridge above. The poor people start in parties from their own villages with a bundle of food, and their holiday attire, daily performing so many miles of their pilgrimage, always in the greatest order, and often singing hymns on their way. When assembled the city presents a most picturesque aspect, from the immense variety of costume of both males and females, of which Hungary furnishes the greatest number; from these come those Elizabethan ruffs and bolster-sleeves; also that other group with beautifully embroidered aprons and bodices, and hair tied with coloured ribbons; but the men in leather shorts, blue and red waistcoats, and large hats, are Bohemians from a very distant part; while the people in pointed hats, tight boots to the ankles, worsted stockings and jackets, are from the Tyrol. But to describe all the various costumes would be impossible, as every country has a different one, and even each county of that country varies. In the cathedral their wearers may be seen in extraordinary combinations, or, when church is over, sitting outside in rows, on cloths spread for themselves and their dinner, and which have been their beds on the stones all the preceding night. Their food is a cucumber and bread, often spread with their favourite lard, some varying it with curds in the form of cheeses; their drink, milk or water. How happy they appear with their simple fare, and as contented as any labourer in our land with his