Several establishments have been formed of late years in Austria for the education of officers. The principal is the Military Academy of Wienerisch, Neustadt, in the neighbourhood of Vienna, where the teachers are generally Engineer officers, dis abled by wounds or otherwise from service. The pupils consist of young officers, or of youths of gen teel families, preparing for the service. There are two other military seminaries in the capital, and some smaller establishments in the provincial towns.
As to travelling for the purpose of information, the Austrians have in general men less inclination than the English, or their German brethren in the north. Some examples, however, there are of men of science repairing to distant regions, such as M. Jacquin and Mobs who went to America in quest of plants unknown in Europe. Schultes, Gebhast, Mebzer, and Bremer, have also found means to ren der their travels instrumental to the diffusion of knowledge.
In mechanical inventions the Austrians have made that progress which may naturally be expected from a people, who, with a deal of patience and perseve rance, are not in possession of the advantages of im proved machinery. The result of their discoveries is, therefore, rather the gratification of a fancy, than that practical application to a productive purpose, which tends so greatly to cheapen labour in Britain. One German artist frames a machine to perform the functions of a chess player ; another makes a head capable of an imitation of the human voice, while a third combines in a panharmonicon the most varied sounds of music. That instrument may, in fact, be called a concert in itself, a number of instruments bein* made to play simultaneously with the greatest precision.
The fine arts, with the exception of music, have hitherto made little progress in Austria. To find an eminent painter or sculptor there would be a matter of no small difficulty. But when we come to think of music, who can forget that Haydn and rt Mozart were formed at Vienna ? If they are inferior in grace and melody to Italian composers, they are not to be surpassed in the grander powers of music. A foreigner cannot receive a higher gratification at Vienna, than by being present at the Oratorio in commemoration of Haydn. Architecture is still in
its infancy in Austria. An Architectural Society has been lately instituted at Vienna, but most of the pub _ lie buildings have been planned by foreign artists. Engraving, demanding rather patience than exertion, has been cultivated there with considerable success.
In Austria, as in Britain, females enjoy a great er degree of freedom before marriage, than it is thought expedient to allow them in France. In do mestic life, they act a modest and attentive part ; fixing the predilection of their husbands, not, indeed, by the attractions of conversation, but by a mild and steady fulfilment of the duties of a wife and mother. They are thus probably more happy than the fair sex in France, although possessed of much less in fluence, and occupying a less conspicuous part in society. The lower orders are distinguished by si milar virtues. In some districts we may visit village after village, without hearing of a single instance of domestic disquietude. The care of children, the habit of labour, and attendance on Divine worship, occupy all their thoughts. In Vienna, females form the chief attraction of society to a foreigner. Most of them speak French with fluency, and prefer it to the Austrian dialect of German, which is particular ly unpleasant, having a slowness of accent and a hiss ing tone, extremely ungracious, particularly in the mouths of the common people.