A great many Boyards have now thrown
aside the old kaftan and adopted our inelegant
costume. A Bucharest dandy is
wretched if not well supplied with patent
leather boots and fine kid gloves. He has
also an exaggerated fondness for eye-glasses
and spectacles; watch-chains, rings, and everything
in fact that he supposes to be the outward
sign of civilisation. As in the case of
the Levantines who ape European manners,
the young Wallachians sometimes fall into
the mistake of supposing that there cannot be
too much of a good thing, so that their
toilette is often overdone. In fact a great
portion of their faculties are expended in
bringing their appearance into agreement
with some ideal pattern of elegance, that
is to say, some French exquisite fresh from
the Boulevards des Italiens, who has passed
that way in search of emotions. The satirical
say that it became the fashion in Bucharest
to yawn, because a certain dandy
Count, attached to the French consulate,
was addicted to that habit. However, we
must hasten to remind the reader that it
is not necessary to go to the banks of the
Dimbowitza for empty-headed dandies; and
to add that there exists in Wallachia, a
nucleus of intelligent, well-educated, and
high-spirited young men, who will probably
at some future time exercise a great and
decisive influence on the fortunes of their
country. Let them not be offended at our
good-humoured notice of the absurdities of
some amongst them — for, in common with
thousands of Englishmen, we have felt for the
sufferings of their country, and earnestly wish
them better times.

We have already noticed the recent introduction
of European ideas. There was
much to reform. Within this century there
have been committed acts in that country
which rival all the horrors that have been
related of more eastern parallel. The princes
were cruel to the Boyards, the Boyards to
the peasants. In eighteen hundred and two
a man's feet were cut off for irreligion; and
in eighteen hundred and twenty-one unmentionable
horrors were perpetrated. Frequently,
up to a very recent period, the
Boyards used to exercise, with arbitrary
ferocity, the right of life and death over their
serfs and slaves. The punishments in use,
both amongst them and the agents of authority,
were strange and barbarous. One of
the principal was the deprivation of sleep,
which is now often applied in other countries
of the East, especially Egypt. The patient is
forced to remain upright by blows, and sometimes
by wounds, until he drops from sheer
exhaustion.

These are disagreeable subjects. Let us
run away from them into the country. There
is a place called Baniassa, about a league
from Bucharest, where ladies and gentlemen
go in fine weather to breathe the fresh
air and enjoy the verdure of the fields, the
perfume of the shrubs and flowers, and the
pleasant shade of the trees. The wood is
a succession of arcades, in which you sometimes
meet a peasant dressed in his sheep-skin
tunic; sometimes a pretty woman dangling
her parasol in her hand and listening
to the soft things which a dandy in plaid
pantaloons is whispering into her ear. The
only objection to this otherwise charming
spot is that it is too artificial. It is the
Richmond or the St. Cloud of Bucharest, and
contrasts curiously with the vast larch-woods
beyond. There in reality can be admired
the beauties of nature; and we would advise
all those who are a little disappointed with
the well-regulated beauties of Baniassa to
push on over the semi-cultivated plain
towards the confines of the hill-covered
forests.

Besides, they may meet with a little adventure
like that which once occurred to a gentleman,
who was going in the country, but
who learned more in one night about its
manners than, if unfavoured by accident, he
might have done in a month. He had
proceeded about a couple of miles from Baniassa,
when suddenly there came a burst of
mingled screams and laughter from a grove
near at hand; and, whilst he was considering
what this might import, there rushed forth a
crowd of youths and maidens pursued by another
crowd, some armed with thongs, others
with rods, both of which were used with good
effect. Our traveller checked his horse and
looked on in amazement, fancying himself
suddenly transported back into the times of
the Monades and Bacchanti. The girls had
their black hair floating wildly over their
shoulders, and were dressed simply in a sort
of polka bordered with fur that reached only
to their knees. They wore leather sandals,
and as they ran the strings of beads and ornaments
of metal on their necks, arms, and
ankles jingled loudly. At first the spectator
imagined that this was mere sport;
but a maiden who passed right before his
horse's head received such a lash from a
vigorous pursuer that she turned round with
tears in her eyes and an imprecation on her
lips.

The traveller thought his path had been
crossed by the inmates of a madhouse; and
when the last of the group had disappeared
in the distance, proceeded on his visit to the
forest. A little way on he came up with a
man walking briskly along; he recognised in
him the servant of one of his friends, and
remembered that he could speak French. He
asked for an explanation of what he had
seen.

"That," said the man, "is the marriage of
my cousin. They have begun the ceremony
rather early, so that I miss my share."

Mr. Smith (the wayfarer) was puzzled.
He had travelled in many countries, but had
never seen the nuptial benediction administered
at the end of a thong. Being of a