pression of his wife's mistake. He bade me
welcome many times over, he thanked me for the honour I did him in
offering to sleep under his humble roof, and further persisted in
calling me "Herr Lord." It was in vain that I corrected him on this
point. "I was an Englishman, therefore I must be a 'Herr Lord,' and
there was an end of it."

When Mr Boner was travelling in Szeklerland he was also, _nolens
volens_, raised to the peerage, so I suppose it is a settled conviction
of the people that we are all lords in Great Britain.

We had for supper a capital _filet d'ours_ from a bear that had been
shot only two days before. I enjoyed my supper immensely; the wine was
as good as the food. My pretty hostess laughed a good deal over the
false alarm my appearance had created. Her husband interpreted between
us, but I promised to learn Hungarian before I paid them another visit.
My host proved himself to be a very intelligent man; I had an
exceedingly interesting conversation with him after supper. He
complained bitterly of the heavy pressure of taxation, saying that
Government ought to manage things more economically, for that every year
now there was a deficit.

"Yet your country is rich in natural resources, as rich almost as
France, barring her advantages of seaboard."

"Yes, we have wealth under the soil," he replied, "and what we want is
capital to develop our resources. Herein Austria has stood in our way;
you know the old policy of Austria, as far back as Maria Theresa's time,
which was to make Hungary Catholic, to make her poor, and to turn her
people into Germans. This last they will never do; but they have
succeeded in their second project only too well. They have made us poor
enough, they have discouraged manufactures and industries of every kind.
We wish for free trade, but Austria is opposed to it. The manufactures
of Bohemia must be nursed, and accordingly we are made to suffer. We
want to be brought into contact with our customers in Western Europe; we
want, in fact, to get our trade out of the hands of the Jews."

"I wish to ask you your candid opinion about the Jews. Some people say
they are the curse of the country; others again, that Hungarian commerce
would be nowhere without them."

"I will tell you what happens," replied my friend, evading a direct
answer to my latter observation. "A wretched Jew comes into this
village, or some other place--it does not matter, it is always the same
story. He comes pr