constitutional sedative. It was then that
Count Rechberg, the imperial chancellor,
sought an interview with the recluse of
Dobling; who submitted to his excellency
the detailed project of a complete policy
for the constitutional government of Hungary,
in harmony with the rights and
interests of the Austrian crown. "Count
Stephen Szechenyi," said Count Rechberg,
when he returned from this interview,
"has done well to select a lunatic asylum
for his place of residence. His ideas are
purely chimerical." The fortunes of Austria
as well as Hungary, divorced from each
other, grew rapidly worse and worse; and
not long afterwards Count Stephen
Szechenyi perished by his own hand. Had he
lived but a very few years longer, he would
have had the satisfaction of contemplating
the complete realisation of those ideas which
were considered so chimerical in 1862.

The works of Count Stephen Szechenyi
are now eagerly read; and a literature,
consisting of notices and biographies of the
Great Magyar, has sprung into existence. A
detailed journal of the daily life of the recluse
of Döbling has been preserved, and lately
published by an intelligent witness of its
sufferings and its hopes.* Still more
recently, one of the most accomplished men of
letters in France, M. Saint-René Taillandier,
has devoted to the character and
career of Count Stephen Szechenyi a
considerable portion of his interesting work on
Bohemia and Hungary. By the aid of these
ample materials, and of others derived from
private sources, we now propose to
reconstruct the image of the Great Magyar.

* Graf Stephan Szechenji's staatsmanishe Laufbahn
seine letzten Lebensjahre in der Doblenger
Irrenanstalt. und sein Tod. By Aurel von Kecskemethy.
Pesth. 1866.

Stephen Szechenyi was born at Vienna,
September 21, 1792. He was therefore
only seventeen years of age when, in 1809,
he fought, in the Austrian army, against
the French. In 1815 he was one of the
gayest, idlest, and most popular, of those
young officers who helped the fine ladies of
Vienna to amuse themselves while the
great Congress was remaking the map of
Europe. Shortly afterwards he started on
the grand tour which was, at that time, an
important part of every young nobleman's
education. After travelling over the East,
and passing years in Greece, he visited Italy,
France, aud England. He ever afterwards
spoke of this country with the most
affectionate and reverent admiration; and,
throughout the whole of his political career,
nothing is more constantly evident, than the
powerful impression made upon his mind
by the industrial activity and good sense
of the English people. The death of his
father, Count Franz Szechenyi, recalled
him in 1820 to his own country, and
placed him, at the age of twenty-eight,
in possession of estates which have since
become very valuable and the representation
of an illustrious family. At that time
the chief rivalry between the great nobles
of Hungary and those of Austria was a
rivalry in pleasure, frivolity, and fashion.
The prizes for which they contended were
those of the boudoir, the salon, and the
coulisses. The wealth of the magnates of
Hungary was lavished on the amusements
of Vienna. Pesth was a miserable
provincial town. The Hungarian language
was despised by the Hungarian nobility.
None of them spoke it, and it is doubtful
if many of them knew it. Latin was the
language for state papers and serious
affairs; German and French were the
languages for polite society; Hungarian
was the language for the stables and the
pothouse. One day (it was in the year
1825) the Diet of Presburg was engaged
in discussing the question of founding
an academy for the cultivation of the
national language. "It is impossible,"
said one of the speakers,* "except by
immense pecuniary sacrifices on the part of
the great proprietors. For the establishment
of such an institution three things
are indispensable. The first is money, the
second is money, the third is money." As
the speaker resumed his seat, a man standing
among the spectators in the place
reserved for the public, rose and said;
"Gentlemen, I have no vote in this
assembly, nor am I one of the great
proprietors. But I possess estates, and, if an
institution can be established for the revival
of the Hungarian language, and for
providing for the children of our race a national
education, I will at once devote to that
institution one year of my whole income."
The gift was sixty thousand florins (about
six thousand pounds). "Who is it?" was
the cry from all parts of the house. It
was Count Stephen Szechenyi, only known
as one of the best dancers and boldest
riders at Vienna. So instantaneous and
so great was the enthusiasm, that in less
tihan a quarter of an hour the academy
was founded.

* It was Mr. Paul Nagy.

Stephen Szechenyi was still in the
military service of Austria; and Latin was
still the only language spoken in the