Only the English Go There Travel Accounts of 19th-Century Hungary Budapest 2019 Banská Stiavnica Banská Stiavnica Only the English Go There Only the English Go There Travel Accounts of 19th-Century Hungary Edited by Mihály Hoppál Béla Mázi Gábor Tóth 2019 Library and Information Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences & International Association for Hungarian Studies Budapest Revised version of the theme issue 19th-Century Hungary in the Western Eye, Contents ed. Béla Mázi and Gábor Tóth, published as vol. 9 (2008) of Hungarian Heritage, ed. Eszter Csonka-Takács and Mihály Hoppál (HU ISSN 1585–9924) A joint publication of the István Monok: Self-Awareness through Outsider Reflection ................... vii Library and Information Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Preface ........................................................................................................ xiii Note to the Reader ....................................................................................... xv and the Robert Townson: A Solitary Nymph ............................................................ 19 International Association for Hungarian Studies William Hunter: Wood and Rock, Vineyards and Cornfields ....................... 23 Richard Bright: Hospitality and Abundance ................................................. 30 Robert Walsh: A Certain Wildness in Their Looks ....................................... 33 Michael J. Quin: A Large and Merry Party ................................................... 40 Introduction by Edmund Spencer: The Chateau of the Magnate, the Hut of the Peasant ...... 43 István Monok Nathanael Burton: Handsome Streets, Fine Churches .................................. 48 Preface by Ch. B. Elliott: A Hungarian is Almost Necessarily an Accomplished Linguist .... 52 MIhály hoppál G. R. Gleig: Sobri, Our Hungarian Robin Hood ......................................... 54 Translated by Julia Pardoe: The Horrors of the 15th .......................................................... 58 orsolya Frank J. G. Kohl: The Clangour of Musicians ........................................................ 62 Gábor tóth William Beattie: The Capital of an Empire ................................................... 71 Translations revised by John Palgrave Simpson: Hospitality in the Hungarian .................................. 79 thoMas Cooper A. A. Paton: Magyarism without the German Dress ..................................... 83 Maps by Ch. L. Brace: A People of Nature ................................................................. 87 ZsuZsa DraskovIts R. B. Mansfield: A Paradise for Philologists .................................................. 93 Gazetteer by John Paget: They Seem a Good Deal to Resemble the Scotch ...................... 97 áDáM Molnár D. T. Ansted: Buda and Pest, Westminster and Lambeth ........................... 105 Photos by James Creagh: Into the Backwoods of Europe ............................................ 123 klára lánG N. E. Mazuchelli: The Most Picturesque Features of the Scenery ............... 125 Design and layout by János pusZtaI © 2019 Library and Information Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Index of Names .......................................................................................... 132 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval Index of Places ........................................................................................... 134 system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Gazetteer .................................................................................................... 137 recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the copyright holder. HU ISBN 978-963-7451-53-9 Self-Awareness through Outsider Reflection The past is always relevant. Even if momentarily, at the beginning of the 21st century, the prevailing thought is that humanity needs no other knowledge but what is directly applicable. Various communities of differ- ent cultures carry diverging understandings of what they mean by tradi- tion. Some concentrate on one memory, a singular part of their heritage, and then with one great leap in time try to apply this to finding solutions to contemporary problems. Others will review their entire cultural her- itage with regard to every question that needs to be asked in order to solve contemporary challenges. They want to understand what kind of answers other people in other ages and under different circumstances had provided to the same or similar questions. I personally believe that from the perspective of self-awareness, as well as from the point of view of cherishing the innovative force that a community can provide, the latter is the preferable route for Western Christianity, that is for European people. Self-awareness is particularly important for the peoples of Central- Europe, which have gained their independence a mere three decades ago, many of whom had never been independent for such a “long” period, while others had suffered half a millennium of oppression since losing their independence. These nations were not afforded centuries to formu- late who they were, how they were similar to others and in what respects they differed from them. This is one reason why the present state of non-understanding had emerged between the Western and the Eastern parts of their common marketplace (since Europe as such does not exist). Near the Eastern end of this market a new kind of intelligentsia is being born today, one that is reminiscent of the era when the authors of the English texts of the present volume visited the Kingdom of Hungary and Transylvania. Some groups within this community, rather anach- ronistically, seek their ancestral home in Paradise, claim that Adam and Eve spoke their language and gave rise to all cultures and civilisations. Theories like this were not uncommon during the era of ‘national awak- ening’ in the 19th century and continue to exist to this day. Another important source of self-awareness is how others see us. What do they think about us? During the aforementioned era, in 1802, Count Ferenc Széchényi was granted permission by Francis II (Holy Roman vii Self-awareness through outsider reflection Self-awareness through outsider reflection Emperor and King of Hungary) to establish the Bibliotheca Regnicolaris. which are incomprehensible, shocking and devastating to Hungarians. This is the name the founder chose to give to the collection he intend- Péter Rákos also declared his belief in the existence of interdependence. ed to create, rather than Bibliotheca Nationalis or Bibliotheca Nationalis Professionals in educational and research facilities both nearby and far Hungariae and certainly not Bibliotheca Hungarica Nationalis. His objec- away need to be acquainted with the results of Hungarian scholarship, to tive, in his own words, was to gather all Hungarica, that is, all documents gain an understanding of these, but they also need the challenge of having regarding Hungaria and the Hungarians, in one accessible collection. to weigh their own academic performance. A century later when Hungaria collapsed and Hungary was born (which The English have never really been very interested in the European is completely different from Hungaria), the event was a shock to the Continent, and especially not in the Kingdom of Hungary, Transylvania entire nation. Róbert Gragger (1887–1926) began his activity as head of or Hungary. Nevertheless, one of the best summaries of our history is The the Hungarian Seminar (Ungarisches Seminar) of the University of Berlin Will to Survive: A History of Hungary2 by Sir Bryan Cartledge. There has on August 19, 1916. He coined the term hungarológia (Hungarologie, been quite a distance between the time when Sir Bryan was ambassador Hungarian Studies) which was to develop into a discipline in its own right to Hungary and the publication of the present volume, for which I am over the decades to follow. What did he mean by Hungarian Studies? The writing this preface. If we go back to the beginning of the 19th century aim of the seminar was to teach Hungarian language and literature. In the we find an interesting opinion about the Hungarians which will be dis- work-plan published in 1921 in the first edition of the annual Ungarische cussed later on. Although not malicious, it is clearly sarcastic and certainly Jarbücher Gragger elaborated on his objective. He wrote: “On the door- enlightening. It may be particularly illuminating for those who, in our step of a new world [i.e., following the terrors of the First World War and day and age, still dream of the ancient ‘Hungarians’ who galloped around the peace dictates of Trianon] ... it is the obligation of any responsible per- freely on the great plains and carried within them a primeval force of an son to endeavour to gain an objective understanding of nations. ... The ancient civilisation. This example also leads us on to the genre of travel Ungarische Jahrbücher aims to create an academic platform for presenting literature. Indeed, the travelogue is nor par excellence historical writing, the Hungarian language, history and culture ... Besides scholarly ques- nor would it qualify as ethnography. It is the record of various nations, tions in the narrow sense we need to consider as all manner of economic, peoples, cities, customs and cultures written by people of various levels of social, political and artistic problems, since for us