ABSTRACT
T he Congress o f Vienna has acquired an unenviable reputation for social frivolity, personal intrigue and political obscurantism. That there was plenty o f amuse m ent then in that gay and fascinating city goes w ithout saying. The crowd o f visitors was, however, almost beyond its capacity to receive them. Those who could make any claim upon official o r private hospitality were magnificently entertained. ‘All the imperial and royal guests were lodged’, w rote an Englishman then visiting Vienna, ‘in the Bourg. Each Sovereign had a complete suite o f rooms in the lower part o f this extensive build ing, while their attendants, secretaries, physicians and other officers occupied the upper stories o f the same edifice. For all these, establishments were regularly provided by the Austrian Court. Every royal person had a separate equipage w ith six or eight horses, and equerries and a crowd o f servants.’ 1 Between tw o and three hundred imperial carriages were said to be in daily use. The cost to the Austrian State, already bank rupt, exceeded £10,000 a day. The constant enter tainments were on a truly imperial scale: receptions, boar hunts, concerts, picnics, balls and what no tespecially balls. The witty remark o f the Prince de
1 Travels from 'Vienna through Lower Hungary (Edinburgh, 1818), by Dr. R. Bright, an eminent physician who gave his name to Bright’s disease. His first-hand account of Vienna during the Congress is vivid and entertaining.
