without once cracking the shell; there are
the pens of some authors. Centre of attraction,
there are the clothes of the third hero
of the shrine, Louis the First of Hungary,
himself; and there is the bridal dress worn
by his wife five hundred years ago.

The quaintest thing in Mary-Cell is the
Vanity Fair round about the church. Rings
of shops are established for the sale of wax-
lights, rosaries, prayer-books, and a great
number of little things that are sold very
cheaply, and are bought by the pilgrims
either as offerings to use upon the spot, or as
pious tokens to take home. The shopkeepers
call wares of this description "prayer-goods,"
and themselves "dealers in prayer-goods,"
or "dealers in spiritual wares." One shop
is an "establishment for Christian goods
of every description." Occasionally the shops
have signs, and such signs are all taken
with startling coolness, sometimes from scripture.
One is called "The All-seeing Eye.
Establishment for Prayer and Spiritual Goods,
by J. Hotzel." On the sign-board there is
painted an eye within a triangle. Notices
are to be seen in windows, labelling "Relics
at reduced prices." One inscription over
a door states that there are "Spiritual and
pilgrims' goods sold here, and all kinds of
fancy ware." Gigantic rosaries hang over
the doors of rosary venders, who supply
those articles in every material, in glass or
alabaster, in all kinds of wood or stone or
metal.

The books at the bookbinders' shops are
chiefly variations upon Litanies to the Queen
of Heaven, in the Magyar, German, Croatian
and Czechic languages. The silliest are among
those written in German; priests who write
in the other languages belong commonly
to the more learned class. Many of the
German books are produced by a literary
class analogous to that by which bon-bon
mottoes are produced. One of the books
is called, for example, "The Heavenly Key
to the little Garden of Paradise of Mary-
Cell."

The most interesting branch of trade that
has been fostered near the shrine, is that in
wax articles. There is a factory upon the
spot, of which the works are divided into two
sections: one old-fashioned, in which arms,
legs, and bodies are manufactured in the
traditional way; the other new-fashioned,
in which tapers, little baskets, flowers, and
many pretty things are made. The old-
fashioned wares are offerings, and consist of
hollow models of stout legs, arms, eyes and
other portions of the body, cast in the old
wooden moulds, and made as thin as possible
in order that they may be sold cheaply.
These maintain the form that they have had
for centuries, and belong to the traditions of
the shrine. According to the diseases of
which they have been cured, are the wax
offerings presented by pilgrims in the church,
an eye for an eye, and so forth. A man
recovered of a broken leg presents a wax leg,
and when the collection of such church offerings
becomes very great they are melted
down by the priests for hallowed tapers. In
thankfulness for the preservation of persons
saved from peril of death entire figures of
men, women, and children are also bestowed
upon the shrine. There are also waxen hogs,
having an emblematic signification, frequently
offered, more especially by the Hungarians
and Slavonians. Mermaids of wax are given
by women on recovery from sickness; and
when a house or cottage has been saved
from peril, a little wax house is the proper
offering.

The modern wax department is pretty well
level with the last improvements of the day;
even in glass-blowing, wood-carving, and
other branches of the pilgrim trade at Mary-
Cell innovations and improvements on the
ancient practices have for the last twenty
years been suffered or encouraged. In this
respect the contrast is great with the custom
of the Greek church, which continues to
produce amulets and pictures after the manner
in use centuries ago.

We close this account of Mary-Cell with
an innkeeper's view of it, as laid before
M. Kohl. That gentleman, in his last book
of travels—not yet introduced to English
readers—has given a detailed notice of Mary-
Cell and its Pilgrimages; and it is upon his
store that we have been drawing. M. Kohl
observed to the innkeeper, that there was a
great majority of women among the
frequenters of the shrine. "Yes," said mine
host ,"mercy upon us, such a heap of singing
women as there is parading about. It's
wretched, sir. They don't eat anything, and
they bring to the innkeepers of Mary-Cell
nothing but trouble and grief. They are all
very well for the prayer-dealers. They buy
mountains of wax-lights, offerings, and amulets.
But the men eat and drink. The right men
for me are your Austrians. I like your people
from Vienna. But the Croats, and most of
the Czechs, too—mercy upon us—there's a
wretched lot! They sleep on straw, and pay
a penny cash for the accommodation. And
they pay no more for their dinner. They come
straight into our kitchens, buy their soup and
bit of vegetable, and must pay for it on the
dresser. Then they take it out into the
streets and fields, and sit about munching
by hundreds. Sometimes there are four or
five hundred such folks crowding and worrying
at once about the house. It's hard
times, sir, that they make for us poor inn-
keepers!"

It is a fine sight to watch a Croat
procession of patriarchal men in grey beards
and white woollen cloaks, with their women
also dressed in white, gravely departing
homewards to their distant villages, after they
have fulfilled what they consider a religious
duty. The simplicity and uniformity of their
costume causes these people to form much