footmen have costly liveries, and the horses are caparisoned with rich trappings, and large plumes of milk-white feathers, and the spectacle, upon the whole, is very magnificent.

I was quite charmed with my situation at Vienna; nothing could exceed the gaiety of that delightful place. I was fortunate enough to get introduced to the best society; my salary amply sup plied my wants and wishes, and the public were kind and indulgent to me when I appeared on the stage. The kind countenance of Sir Robert Keith, was not a little conducive in advancing me in the good opinion of the Directors of the theatre.

As the theatre was in the palace, the Emperor often honoured the rehearsals with his presence, and discoursed familiarly with the performers. He spoke Italian like a Tuscan, and was affable and condescending. He came almost every night to the opera, accompanied by his nephew, Francis, then a youth. He usually entered his box at the beginning of the piece, but if not there at the precise moment, the curtain was to be drawn up; he had given orders that he was never to be waited for. He was passionately fond of music, and a most excellent and accurate judge of it. His mode of living was quite methodical. He got up every morning, winter and summer, at five o'clock, wrote in his cancellina (study) until nine,

then took a cup of chocolate, and transacted business with his ministers till one. He was very partial to the jeu de paum, and a good player. He had a fine racket court, and when not in it, he usually walked or rode from one till three : punctually at a quarter after three, his dinner was served; he almost always dined on one dish-boiled bacon, which the people, from his partiality to it, called caizer flush, i. e. the Emperor's meat; sometimes he had a dish of Hungarian beef bouillie, with horse radish and vinegar, but rarely, if ever, any other his beverage at dinner was water; and after dinner one goblet of Tokay wine. During dinner, he allowed only one servant to be in the room; and was never longer at the meal than half an an hour.

At five, he usually walked in the corridor, near his dining room, and whilst there, was accessible to the complaints of the meanest of his subjects: he heard them with complaisance, and was ever ready to redress their grievances. He generally wore either a green or white uniform faced with red; nor did I ever see him that he was not continually putting chocolate drops, which he took from his waistcoat pocket, into his mouth. When he walked out, he took a number of golden sovereigns with him, and distributed them personally among the indigent. He was an enemy to pomp and parade, and avoided

them as much as possible; indeed, hardly any private gentleman requires so little attendance as he did. He had a seat for his servant behind his carriage, and when he went abroad in it (which was hardly ever the case in the day time) he made him sit there. I was one day passing through one of the corridors of the palace, and came directly in contact with him; he had his great coat hanging on his arm: he stopped me, and asked me in Italian, if I did not think it was very hot; he told me that he felt the heat so oppressive that he had taken off his great coat, preferring to carry it on his arm.

To the Princesses Lichtenstein, Schwartzenberg, Lokowitz, and the Countess Thoun, he was particularly partial, and often paid them evening visits, but always retired unattended to his carriage, which stood in the street, for he never allowed it to be driven into the court yards, where other carriages were waiting. His desire was, never to have any fuss made about him, or to give any trouble, which was all mighty amiable; but as there is, and ought to be, in all civilized countries, a marked and decisive distinction between the Sovereign and the subject, did not appear particularly wise, even if it were not particularly affected; and of all prides, that is the most contemptible, which, as Southey says, "apes humility."

I

The present Emperor Francis, at the period of which I am writing, was as thin as possible. do not think I ever saw so thin a youth; his uncle was very rigid with him, and made him enter the army, mount guard, clean his horse, and go through the duties of a common soldier, until he progressively rose to the rank of an officer.

The Emperor Joseph had a strange aversion from sitting for his portrait, although the greatest artists were anxious to have the honour of taking it. Pelegrini, the celebrated painter, solicited to be allowed the honour, but in vain.-The Emperor said to him, " There can be no occasion for taking up your time and mine by my sitting to you; if you are anxious to have a likeness of me, draw the portrait of an ill-looking man, with a wide mouth and large nose, and then you will have a facsimile." The reverse, however, was the fact, for his majesty had an intelligent countenance, a fine set of teeth, and when he laughed and showed them, was rather handsome than otherwise.

There was a wide difference between the habits of Joseph the Second, and those of his prime minister Prince Kaunitz, who was a most eccentric personage, but reckoned nevertheless a great statesman. He was said to be very proud of having made up the match between Louis XVI. and the unfortunate Maria Antoinette. For several

months in the year he kept open house for all strangers, provided they had been presented to him by their respective ambassadors; he kept a splendid table, and those who were by their introduction entitled to dine with him, had only to send their names to his porter before ten o'clock in the morning. For my own part, I have wondered how he could get any persons to be his guests, so extraordinary was his mode of receiving them. He rose very late in the day, and made a point before dinner of taking a ride in his riding-house, which he never commenced until the whole of his company were assembled for dinner: after having deliberately ridden as long as he thought fit, he proceeded, without making any excuse, to make his toilette.

Though a very old man, he was very fond of adorning his person, and remarkably particular in having his hair well dressed, and bien poudré.—In order to accomplish this object, he had four valets with powder puffs, puffing away at him until his hair was powdered to his satisfaction, while he walked about his dressing room in a mask. Another of his eccentricities was, that at all times, when he had at his table ambassadors, foreigners, and ladies of the first distinction, he would immediately after dinner, have all the apparatus for cleaning his teeth put down upon the table;