the great Mozart, who on one occasion was a victim to their dancing mania. Staying at a house to give lessons to some of the family, the daughters besought him to write them some new waltzes, which, being much engaged in more serious music at the time, he was obliged to decline doing from want of sufficient leisure. No entreaties of theirs could prevail, and after a little lapse they desisted from their requests, appearing to have forgotten their wish in various occupations. Soon they invited him to walk into another room to look at some object of interest, which he did. No sooner there than the young ladies disappeared and locked the door upon him, assuring him from the outside he would not cease to be a prisoner till he had given them the waltzes they had asked for. In vain he rang the bell, which his fair tormentors took care should remain unanswered, and to all his entreaties for freedom returned the same reply. He then saw sheets of music-paper, pens, and ink had been already prepared, and, feeling convinced nothing was to be done, sat down to commence the task imposed upon him, which he soon entered into heart and soul, and in the end produced some of his most beautiful waltzes, for which the world at large is indebted to these exacting fair ones.
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Sophien Insel, Prague.
As the old stone bridge is the communicating point between the Kleine Seite and the Alt Stadt, so a quarter of a mile higher up the Moldau is the suspension-bridge, the communicating point between the Kleine Seite and the Neu Stadt; between these two bridges runs the quay, which has not been completed many years, and forms in the spring the fashionable promenade. In the centre, surrounded by flower-beds, stands a statue of the Emperor Francis. Across the road is the newest row of houses in Prague, built in the English style, with small street-doors instead of the porte cochère, which is universal in the other parts of the city. The streets in the Neu Stadt are wider, more airy, and far better paved than those of the old town. Here are the principal residences of the nobility; mansions which may well be termed palaces for their magnificence.
Much has always been said of the difficulty met with by strangers in getting into society in any part of the Austrian dominions; but in no part of Europe have we ever heard of unknown persons dropping into society as if they fell from the clouds. In Bohemia, as in most other countries, letters of introduction are necessary, but even one high recommendation will open the doors of the élite of Prague,—that “crême de la crême” of which a popular authoress makes so much mention. It is true, if foreigners wish for sociability amongst the Bohemians, they will seek for it in vain; for, though charmed to welcome you when their pride and vanity are gratified by the display of their splendour and magnificence, they equally shrink from meeting the eyes of strangers in their robes de chambre and undecorated apartments in daily use.
The customs of foreign countries always appear singular to strangers visiting them; and we shall not easily forget our own amazement—our first evening in the beau monde of Prague—at seeing ourselves surrounded by dowagers and ladies of a certain age only, not one young face visible. No young ladies sit in the same room with their elders in society, but immediately on arriving, and having made their curtsies to their hostess, they assemble in “the young ladies’ room,” never rejoining their chaperones till it is time to return home. This custom is the more extraordinary, as the danseurs are admitted to this sanctuary with their partners, through the gardes dames must not show their faces there.
Suppers at these fêtes are the exception, the general rule being that people dance with indefatigable zeal from nine o’clock in the evening (for the beau monde do not assemble there as late as