LUTHERAN CHURCH.

55

One of our party in the steamer was a “superintendent" of the Lutheran church. He resides at Oedenberg, a neat old town, nearly thirty-seven miles from Presburg, containing twelve thousand inhabitants, and carrying on a considerable trade in cattle and honey; and in wine for which it is celebrated. The venerable

divine informed us that the whole number of Lutherans in Hungary is about eight hundred thousand; and that of the reformed Protestants a hundred and sixty thousand. The Lutherans have nearly six hundred churches, and as many pastors, who are supported by their congregations. These churches are distributed through four districts, called Cisdanubius and Transdanubius, Cistibiscus and Transtibiscus, from their position on one or the other side of the Danube and the Theis, the ancient

The inhabitants of the Russian and Austrian empires and of France are to one another as the numbers 100, 173, and

208, respectively.

56

REFORMED CHURCH.

Tibiscus. In each district, under the superintendent, are ten or twelve individuals, chosen from among the pastors, who act as overseers of their brethren within a smaller sphere, to which is attached a layman, generally a noble, whose influence is somewhat similar to that of the elder in Scotland. When a priest is guilty of an offence, he is admonished by the superintendent, who, if he be again in fault, has power to suspend his salary for any period less than a year: but if the crime be of a more serious nature, a convocation is held under the presidency of the superintendent, at which all the ten or twelve select pastors above referred to attend, with certain deputies from the principal churches. Their decision is final, unless the delinquent think fit to appeal to the king, as chief magistrate, and, in that capacity, head of the ecclesiastical body. The reformed, or Calvinistic, church is governed in the same manner, but retains less of Roman Catholic externals than the Lutheran, whose temples are distinguished by a cross, and before whose altars crucifixes still stand and lighted tapers are kept constantly burning.

The prevalent religion of Hungary proper is Roman Catholic. The two archbishops and sixteen bishops, with all the abbots and dignita

GARDE NOBLE.-HUSSARS.

57

ries, are nominated by the king, subject to the confirmation of the pope. On the demise of an intestate prelate, the sovereign claims a third of his property; and if the see remain unoccupied, he has a right to draw the income for three years; consequently, it often proves convenient to retain a vacancy. The archbishop of Gran is said to realize annually a hundred thousand pounds, and the bishops ten thousand each.

Another of our party was a veteran who, having sought "the bubble reputation " even in" the cannon's mouth," loved now to tell of deeds of valor, and fight his battles o'er again. He talked of the emperor's guard, military etymologies, and martial law, with an animation which, communicating itself to his auditors, almost made them fancy themselves as enthusiastic as the speaker. The emperor, it seems, as king of Hungary, has a guard consisting of sixty native nobles, privates in that corps, but ranking with lieutenants in the army; he has another of Germans; each is called the garde noble; and they are on the footing on which the Scotch body-guard once stood in our own country. The Hungarian corps wear the national costume, called the Hussar dress. This name is derived from the word Huss, signifying

VOL. I.

D

58

ORIGIN OF HUNGARIANS.

twenty; the appellation of Hussar being given to those regiments which were formed by taking one man in every twenty to act as a soldier. We have adopted the word in English without regard to its original signification; but the British Hussars will not be sorry to remember that the name by which they are designated points them out to the world as picked men, or such as might be selected if each regiment chose its best man out of every twenty, to form a special corps. The Hungarian deserter, when taken, is made to run the gauntlet between files of his fellow-soldiers, all furnished with whips, who lash him severely as he passes.

Those versed in antiquarian lore suggest that the Hungarians owe their origin to Finland, because many words are found in the two languages of similar sound and signification; and that they crossed the Wolga is regarded as an undoubted fact. Others, perhaps with more probability, deduce their descent from the Huns, a theory sanctioned by the name of their country,-while some maintain that they, together with the Turks, of kindred blood, came from Turcomania, and urge the palpably oriental character of their physiognomy, and of the Hungarian tongue, whose strong affinity to the Turkish cannot escape observation. It

CONNECTION WITH TURKS.

59

is a curious coincidence that there are two neighbouring ruins of villages at the foot of mount Caucasus, called Magyar and Török ;* and that the former is the name by which the Hungarians call themselves, and the latter that by which they designate the Turks. The probability is that they are to be traced to no single source, but to the confluence of many living streams; as it is well known that the tribes inundating Pannonia were numerous, among which the names of the Avares, Huns, and Magyars are conspicuous in history. The inroads of these last were in the ninth century, from which period historical accounts are indistinct till the time of Stephen the first king of Hungary.

This country is famous for wine and fruit, as also for poultry and game. The wines, being strong and heating, require to be used with moderation and diluted with water: and, owing, as is supposed, to some peculiarity in the mode of feeding, the beef and poultry are apt to disagree with strangers.

The coins current throughout Austria pass here also; but the ducat, which is remarkably

* In the Hungarian, as in the German, the ö, with two dots over it, is pronounced like the French u: thus Török would be pronounced Turuk, a word easily converted into Turk.