le-red background, and the lights that shine up from
below in Pesth, Vienna would go down a good way in your
estimation as compared with "Buda-Pesth," as the Hungarians
call it. You see that I too can go into raptures over nature.
Now that Hildebrand has really turned up, I shall calm my
fevered blood with a cup of tea, and soon after go to bed.

JUNE 24TH: Evening.

As yet I have had no opportunity to send this off. Again the
lights are gleaming up from Pesth; on the horizon, in the
direction of the Theiss, there are flashes of lightning;
above us the sky is clear and the stars are shining. I have
been a good deal in uniform to-day; presented my credentials,
in formal audience, to the young ruler of this country, and
received a very agreeable impression. After dinner the whole
court made an excursion into the hills, to the "Fair
Shepherdess"--who, however, has long been dead; King Matthias
Corvinus loved her several hundred years ago. There is a view
from there (over wooded hills, something like those by the
Neckar) of Ofen, its hills, and the plain. A country festival
had brought together thousands of people; they pressed about
the Emperor, who had mingled with the throng, with ringing
shouts of "eljen" [_vive_]; they danced the csardas, waltzed,
sang, played music, climbed into the trees, and crowded the
court. On a grassy slope there was a supper table for some
twenty persons, with seats on one side only, while the other
was left free for the view of forest, castle, city, and
country. Above us were tall beeches, with climbing Hungarians
on the branches; behind and quite near us, a closely crowded
and crowding mass of people; further off, music from wind
instruments, alternating with song--wild gipsy melodies.
Illumination--moonlight and sunset-red, with torches
scattered through the forest. It might all be produced
without a change as grand scenic effect in a romantic opera.
Next to me sat the white-haired Archbishop of Gran, in a
black silk gown with a red hood; on the other side a very
amiable, trig cavalry general. You see the picture was rich
in contrasts. Then we drove home in the moonlight with an
escort of torches....

It is very quiet and comfortable up here now; I hear nothing
but the ticking of a clock on the