Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-11-10
HUNGARIAN FAIRS.

Harper's Magazine, for November.l
The four annual fairs at Pesth, though
they have declined of late, are of much
importance, and supply half of Hungary
with their commodities sold or exchang-
ed for honey, hides, wool, wax, and
stibO1oitza, a species of brandy prepared
from plums, and fully as fiery as the
Russian gOdkd. On these occasions the
peasants flock in from every part of the
kingdom, and in their varied and strik-
ing costumes make fine subject for the
artists pencil. Many of them look as if
they might have stepped out of the
fourteenth or fifteenth century, for they
have anything butamOdern appearance.
atlred IN their strange garb, frequently
wearing leather jenkins and undressed
skins. They are very light-hearted and
merry, as a rule, and dance and sing,
laugh and love, tipple and quarrel after
the manner of cOntemporaneous Irish
men. They give a foreigner a far better
insight into the national character than
do those in the upper ranks of life. They
are Ignorant and, for the most part, su-
perstitious; but they are sturdy and in
dependent and exceedingly patriotic.
holding that God created Hungary, and
that it matters very little who is D
sible for the remainder of the world.
They delight to ride on horseback, being
very skillful equestrians, and scamper
over the broad PLAIN like BedOuins of the
desert. Both sexes take part in this re-
creation, and | have often seen a man
and woman dashing frantically along
on the back of one steed, who when
weary of carrying them, would kick
them OIL, and they would roll in the
dust with superintendent satisfaction.
They teach their horses all manner of
tricks, especially that of ~unseating their
rider, and this part of the equine educa-
ton is grotesquely displayed atthe fairs.
The peasants lay wagers with each other
as to their ability TO stick 10 the back of
a brilliantly performing animal in spite
ofall his efforts in the line of burlesque
and low comedy. The contest of the
man to stay on, and of the beast to put
him of, is side-eracking sport for the
yokeLs, who awake the echoes with their
shouts and bOisterOus laughter. The
hOrseman is so adr0it and supple oflimb
that even when thrown he is seldom Sc
riously hurt. He is a natural acrobat,
apparently, and thumps and falls which
would break the limbs or neck of any
German merely increase his joIlity, and
hCM ODDNILAuAAtN lOI Tie ulAUl-
.festation of his agility.
At the fairs u can seek how primi-
tive the habits of the common people
are, how limited their wants. Thev
prepare their food like gypsies, wrap
themselvesin their blankets of sheep-
coats, and sleep on the ground or
under their stalls or wagons more Sc
renely and soundly than their lords and
masters do under silken canopies ON
beds of daintiest down. The earth lit
orally serves them for a couch, and the
for a roof; the native elements are
heir best friends; their rugged constitu-
ions and hard hands their stoutest al
les and firmest supporters. Modern re-
1nements and luxuries havein nowise
illuminated them as a race; they are as
intrepid and hardy as when they fought
Soliman the Magnificent and
ell with Tokolyi.
The convocation at the fairs is diver
ified enough. In addition TO the Hun
there are Greeks, S~ervians, Jews,
Nallachians, BOhemians, Croats, Scla-
romans, Moldayians and Turks. But
wen these may be considered part Of
he native population, as the origin and
composition of the Magyars has always
'een an open and unsolved question
With ethnologists. They have been pro-
Avars, MOngolians, Tartars, ]
firms, Osmanhs, Calmucks, and OIym- !
'us knows not what !
Prominent place is claimed either as l
n ornamental Of as a standard library &
-ook by DR., Wilhelm Lubke's History i
I Scripture from the Earliest Aqes 70 the
Present Tine, translated by +. E. Bun
EFT, in two volumes, royal octave. DR.. ]
lubke is well known to European and {
american readers by his general His 4
ny 0f 1rt. That, however, from the s
xtent of the topics embraced in its plan, q
fas necessarily a sketch more or less 4
nperfeet, and yields in value to the l
resent work. It's subject, sculpture, f
'as expressly selected by the author as Il
division Of art most requiring inves- t
cation, as having been almost passed il
and neglected, owing to the greater c
rominence given to painting and d
rehitecture. English literature, in fact, b
quite destitute of any work Of the Il
md, except a few monograms on par d
branches. DR.. Lubke has done L
stice in the thorough German style to q
le wide field before him by a personal Il
lvestigati0n of the existing remains Of IL
leient art throughout Europe, and d
to their consideration all the "
necessary for their apprecia- e.
Dn. 4