VIENNA, Aug. 8th.

I am very well content with my abode at the Weisser Wolf, tho’ it is not a first-rate hotel.  They are very civil people, and I have an excellent and spacious room for two florins Wiener Whaerung per diem.  Lodgings are the only things that are dear in Vienna, every other article is, however, cheaper than in any other city I have yet been in.  All kinds of Hungarian wine may be had at the most reasonable prices.  I generally breakfast at a neighbouring Cafe in the Fleischmarkt for the sake of reading the Allgemeine Zeitung which is taken in there, and which is the only journal having a shade of liberality which is permitted in the Austrian dominions.  From the hours of twelve to three, dinners a la carte are served at the Weisser Wolf.  For two and half florins W.W., I get an excellent dinner with a bottle of Offener wine.  The wine of Offen resembles much that of Bordeaux in its quality and flavor.  The tariff however of the dinners and wines varies daily a few kreutzers, in consequence of the eternal fluctuation of the W.W., so that every morning a fresh tariff is affixed to the wainscot of the saloon where the dinners are served.  Supper, served likewise a la carte, is at its full tide between the hours of eight and ten o’clock; and as Vienna is renowned for the celebrity of its beefsteaks and cutlets, called here Rostbraten, these and a salad seem to be the favourite dish for supper.  My mornings I have hitherto passed in lounging about the Kaernthner Gasse, St Stephen’s Platz, Kohlmarkt, etc.  For an hour before dinner the fashionable promenade is on the rampart in front of the palace of Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen; in the evening on the Prater, in a carriage, on horseback, or on foot.  The Prater is of immense extent and offers a great variety of amusements and sights.  I generally return home at night pretty well fatigued from my rambles.

There is another great inconvenience at Vienna, resulting from the fluctuation of the current money, and this is that a stranger, dwelling at an inn, is sure to be disturbed five or six times in the morning, sometimes as early as five or six o’clock, by Jews who rap at his door to enquire if he wants to exchange gold and silver against currency or vice versa.  I used to lose all patience at being so disturbed in the morning, and was obliged in self-defence to put an affiche on the door of my room to this effect:  “Man kauft und verkauft hier nichts; kein Wechsler darf hereintreten.”  “Here there is no buying and selling; no money changer is allowed to come in,” and I hereby recommend to all strangers not to treat with these Jews, but on their arrival, or at any time they think fit, to go to a banking establishment in this city, where every day after eleven o’clock you can exchange your gold and silver for paper at the just rate of exchange, as published at the Bourse, paying only a very slight