les to compare with it for magnificence. The situation--about
three and a half miles from Eisenstadt--was anything but suitable for an
erection of the kind, being in an unhealthy marsh and "quite out of the
world." But Prince Nicolaus had set his heart upon the scheme, as Scott
set his heart upon Abbotsford; and just as "Clarty Hole" came in time to
be "parked about and gated grandly," so Esterhaz, after something
like 11,000,000 gulden had been spent upon it, emerged a veritable
Versailles, with groves and grottoes, hermitages and temples,
summer-houses and hot-houses, and deer parks and flower gardens.
There were two theatres in the grounds: one for operas and dramatic
performances generally; the other "brilliantly ornamented and furnished
with large artistic marionettes, excellent scenery and appliances."

A Puppet Theatre

It is upon the entertainments connected with the latter house that the
French traveller just mentioned chiefly dwells. "The prince," he says,
"has a puppet theatre which is certainly unique in character. Here the
grandest operas are produced. One knows not whether to be amazed or to
laugh at seeing 'Alceste,' 'Alcides,' etc., put on the stage with all
due solemnity, and played by puppets. His orchestra is one of the best
I ever heard, and the great Haydn is his court and theatre composer.
He employs a poet for his singular theatre, whose humour and skill
in suiting the grandest subjects for the stage, and in parodying the
gravest effects, are often exceedingly happy. He often engages a troupe
of wandering players for a month at a time, and he himself and his
retinue form the entire audience. They are allowed to come on the stage
uncombed, drunk, their parts not half learned, and half-dressed. The
prince is not for the serious and tragic, and he enjoys it when the
players, like Sancho Panza, give loose reins to their humour."

Prince Nicolaus became so much attached to this superb creation of his
own, that he seldom cared to leave it. A small portion of the Capelle
remained at Eisenstadt to carry on the church service there, but the
prince seldom went to Eisenstadt, and more seldom still to Vienna. Most
of the Hungarian grandees liked nothing better than to display their
wealth in the Imperial city during the winter season; but to Haydn's
employer there was literally "no place like home." When he did go to
Vienna, he would often cut short his visits in the most abrupt manner,
to the great confusi