VIENNA.

A Cosmopolitan Empire-Treaties-The House of Hapsburg-Early History of Vienna-The Modern City-Its Situation -Inundations-Climate-Streets and Houses-The Cathedral-Other Churches-The Imperial Palace-The famous Public and Private Libraries-The Belvedere-Picture Galleries-The University-Walks, Gardens, Theatres, and Public Resorts-The Suburbs-Wilden-Schönbrunn-The Villa of Haydn-A Sketch of his Life-Advance of the French, and Death of the Musician-Associations of Mozart and Beethoven with Vienna-Story of their LivesManufactories-The Wars of the City and the Empire-The Horrors of a Siege-Defeat of the Turks under Sobieski and Lorraine--Hero-Worship-Napoleon Attacks the City-Spares the Life of the Archduchess Maria Louisa.

OR a long period Vienna occupied a position of pre-eminence among the cities of the European Continent, and, consequently, of the civilised world. In more recent times, however, the centres of political interest have gradually shifted westward and northward, so that now London, Paris, and Berlin are generally considered to be the centres of political movement and action, rather than the capital of that cosmopolitan Empire which includes among its subjects Germans, Hungarians, Sclavs, Czechs, Magyars, Bosnians, Herzegovinians, and members of various other races and peoples. Politically as well as historically, Vienna is still a place of very considerable importance, and is remembered by most people as giving a name to one of the most important of European treaties of modern times-that of 1814, when, after the defeat of the Great Napoleon, the map of Europe was re-arranged so much to the satisfaction of all the parties concerned that no great war convulsed Europe for nearly fifty years. During the Crimean War, when Russia was struggling against the united Powers of England, France, Turkey, and the then little Kingdom of Sardinia, the influence of Vienna was more than once brought to bear on the combatants with a view to peace, and most important conferences were at that time held in Vienna. Nor should the Treaty of Vienna made in 1730 be forgotten, for, although its provisions are now of little moment, it caused no small stir at the time, and was brought about as a result of what is known in history as the "Quadruple Alliance."

The history of Vienna is to a very large extent identified with the history of the House of Hapsburg, a family presenting "every possible variety of character, and every species of merit or acquirement; cultivators or protectors of letters and science; the distinguished heroes and statesmen of almost every age; its ministers and warriors the patterns and admiration of their contemporaries. The period of its history comprises a space of six centuries, from the earliest dawn to the meridian of modern science; from the age of feudal barbarism to the full splendour of European civilisation."

Vienna possesses an endless variety of objects of interest. Art is munificently endowed and largely cultivated; next to the Italians, the Viennese are the most musical people in Europe. Vienna possesses many fine buildings, and has large and numerous art

galleries and libraries; it has been the home of great artists, of great musicians, of great statesmer, and of great warriors; it has basked in the sunshine of prosperity, and shivered in cold adversity.

Vienna, as a centre of population, may be traced back to before the fifth century. A collection of barbarous native tribes, known as the Winden, inhabited the region now occupied by the modern city. These peoples were subdued by the Romans, who founded on the site of Vienna a permanent military camp called Vindobona, a word implying the habitations of the Winden. From the time of Augustus to that of Vespasian, sometimes

one and sometimes two legions of soldiers were stationed here, the confluence of the rivers Wien and Danube being found very convenient for the stowage and conveyance of stores and war material.

During the fifth century, however, the Romans were unable longer to withstand the hordes of barbarians continually pouring in upon them from the North and the border provinces, and they made, therefore, a convention with the Rugii, by which the country round Vindobona was ceded to them. Under the domination of the Rugii the name of the former site of the Roman camp was changed to Faviana, or Fabiana, either from Fava, one of the kings of the Rugii, or from Fabianus, one of the Roman generals; and it would seem that the modern name of Vienna is a corruption of one or other

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THE MODERN CITY.

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of the latter names. It is certain that from the fifth century Vienna became something more than a mere military station, for we find that St. Severinus, an African monk, who died in the year 482, founded churches and convents in the neighbourhood, the Christian religion having before that time

firmly taken root among the

people.

Vienna does not again come prominently forward in history until the year 791, when it was attached with the rest of Austria to the dominions of Charlemagne ; and, indeed, until the twelfth century Vienna was relatively a place of but little importance, and of no historical interest.

The origin of the modern city is somewhat obscure, but it is generally attributed to Henry, the first Duke of Austria, who is usually believed to have founded it some time after the year 1140. There is good evidence tending to prove that Vienna was a growing centre of population in 1156, the year in which Austria was erected into an independent Duchy by the Emperor Frederic II., and conferred upon Henry "as an indivisible and inalienable fief" of the House of Bamberg, in the possession of which family it remained until the death, in 1245, of Frederick "the Warlike," the last Duke of the Bamberg line.

The above-named approxi

THE VOTIVE CHURCH.

mate date of the founding of the present city is further proved by the known fact that St. Stephen's Cathedral, which was founded before the year 1114, was at that time situated without the walls of the then existing city, and it was not until after the foundation of the present city by Henry that the cathedral, which was then rebuilt, was included within the walls, and became, and has ever since remained, the principal object in the centre of the town.

From the seventeenth century to the present day Vienna has taken a more or less important place in the history of Europe.

It is situated on the right bank of the Danube at its confluence with its tributary the Wien, from which the German name for the city (Wien) is taken. The main stream of the Danube is about two miles from the city, but a branch known as the Danube Canal passes immediately beneath the walls between the inner town and the suburbs of Leopold-Stadt and Brigittenau, and serves the city as a canal. Unlike ordinary canals, the stream of the Danube Canal is very rapid, usually flowing at the rate of eleven miles an hour, while at times, owing to floods and other causes, the current runs at a speed of twenty miles an hour.

Another small stream, known as the Wester, waters the western portions of the suburbs. Every winter, when the first ice is seen coming down the Danube Canal, that portion of the population dwelling in the low ground in its immediate neighbourhood has much cause for uneasiness on account of floods, occasioned by the ice blocking up the stream at its outlet to the river. Although much has been done of late years to lessen the danger of inundation and to mitigate the sufferings of the inhabitants, the uneasiness remains, and serious floods are of not infrequent occurrence.

In ordinary times the height of the banks above the stream makes it seem that the risk of flooding is very remote; but the volume of water constantly rushing past, together with the intricacy of the Danube branches just above and below Vienna, renders the danger of overflow, when the outlet becomes icebound, very imminent. It is then that the distance between the tops of the banks and the water diminishes with alarming rapidity, and the most that modern science has yet been able to accomplish has been somewhat to diminish the frequency and extent of the floods, which, previous to some improvements in the outlet made so recently as 1873 and 1874, necessitated on an average every third year the evacuation by the inhabitants of the low-lying districts for a lengthened period, and their accommodation during that time in the higher parts of the town. The most serious inundation within the memory of man occurred in 1830, when Vienna was flooded for a considerable extent. During that year, on the night of the 28th of February, the water was observed to rise more than six feet in less than the same number of minutes.

The city is at an altitude of between 500 and 600 feet above sea-level, and is at the foot of Mount Kahlenberg, in a great valley between a northern and southern range of mountains connected with the Carpathians. From its topographical situation it might be imagined that the city of Vienna would possess a warm and salubrious climate; but the reverse is the case. It is partially encircled by mountains, or lofty hills, on which snow and ice continue for many months during each year, and it rarely experiences powerful heat for more than a month, while during the winter the cold is very severe. The hot weather is moderated by very frequent and sharp winds, so that it has become proverbial of a Vienna summer that it is either windy or poisonous, the alternations of heat and cold being then so frequent and violent. Notwithstanding all precautions, Vienna remains one of the most unhealthy of the great cities of Europe, a fact to be attributed to its situation, and not to any lack of precaution on the part of its sanitary authorities.

Vienna.]

THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. STEPHEN.

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Its climate is fatal to delicate constitutions; colds, catarrhs, and pulmonary complaints of all sorts are very prevalent. The city is exposed to bitter easterly winds from the plains of Russia, Poland, and Hungary, and while it is also equally exposed to the cold north winds, it is shut out by the neighbouring chain of mountains from the softer and more genial breezes of the south and west. The dampness arising from the Danube and its branches, and the surrounding marshes, tends to increase the general insalubrity of the place.

The city proper of Vienna is comparatively small, but its suburbs, which are all of comparatively modern growth, are extensive, and rival in beauty those of any capital in Europe, being eclipsed only by those of Naples and Constantinople. Vienna itself, however, lays no claim to beauty, nor has it any special mark of splendour like the "Boulevards" in Paris, or the "Unter den Linden" in Berlin. There is, however, in spite of this lack of external beauty, a certain charm of its own, inseparable from an old city.

In the old city, which is about three miles only in circumference, are contained nearly all the principal objects of interest, such as the Imperial Palace-the usual residence of the Imperial Family-the offices of the Government, the mansions and residences of the aristocracy and of the wealthy classes, the chief of the public museums, libraries, galleries, and public institutions, the best shops and the majority of the good hotels. The streets are extremely narrow, and the appearance of narrowness is increased by the great height of most of the houses, which rise to four, five, and more storeys, and are let out in flats. So vast and extensive are some of these buildings, that they are capable of housing comfortably more inhabitants than are to be found in many a large village, or small provincial town. One such building contains no less than 150 different sets of apartments, and produces a rental equal to £2,000 per annum, while another still larger is inhabited by 2,000 persons, and produces to its owner £4,000 a year.

Previous to 1858 Vienna was one of the most strongly-fortified inland capitals, and was surrounded by a strong, compactly-built brick wall, rising some sixty or seventy feet above an outer ditch. It formed a splendid terrace, and served as a public promenade. But in 1858, the year in which Vienna ceased to be a fortress, and was declared an open city, the wall, or " Bastion," was blown up and levelled. Boulevards, planted with fine avenues of chestnut and acacia trees, were laid out on the space covered by the wall and the glacis without, and one of the finest recreation-grounds in Europe, known as the "Ringe," became the property of the Viennese. Previous to the demolition of the fortifications, the bastions were surrounded by the glacis, an open space, varying in width from about 1,000 feet in the narrowest parts to about 1,500 feet in the widest, and which gradually rose into eminences, upon which the suburbs are built.

In the heart of the city the most prominent building is the Cathedral Church of St. Stephen, a handsome Gothic structure, considered to be one of the finest specimens of ancient German architecture; it was built by the first Duke of Austria, about the year 1160; it was twice partially destroyed by fire during the thirteenth century, and was then rebuilt in its present form. Its extreme length is 345 feet, its greatest breadth 230 feet. The steeple, which declines towards the north about three feet from the perpendicular, is 444 feet high; it is built on a tower, and is ascended by 753 steps. There are three other towers besides the one on which the steeple stands. Flanking the western doorway are two towers,