{3} A florin is worth about 2s. 1d.; sixty kreutzers go to a
florin.
{4} At Kuttenberg the first silver groschens were coined, in the
year 1300. The silver mines are now exhausted, though other mines,
of copper, zinc, &c. are wrought in the neighbourhood. The
population is only half of what it once was. - ED.
{5} The expression of Madame Pfeiffer's about Frederick "paying his
score to the Austrians," is somewhat vague. The facts are these.
In 1757 Frederick the Great of Prussia invaded Bohemia, and laid
siege to Prague. Before this city an Austrian army lay, who were
attacked with great impetuosity by Frederick, and completely
defeated. But the town was defended with great valour; and during
the time thus gained the Austrian general Daun raised fresh troops,
with which he took the field at Collin. Here he was attacked by
Frederick, who was routed, and all his baggage and cannon captured.
This loss was "paying his score;" and the defeat was so complete,
that the great monarch sat down by the side of a fountain, and
tracing figures in the sand, was lost for a long time in meditation
on the means to be adopted to retrieve his fortune. - ED.
{6} I mention this little incident to warn the traveller against
parting with his effects.
{7} The true version of this affair is as follows. John of Nepomuk
was a priest serving under the Archbishop of Prague. The king,
Wenceslaus, was a hasty, cruel tyrant, who was detested by all his
subjects, and hated by the rest of Germany. Two priests were guilty
of some crime, and one of the court chamberlains, acting under royal
orders, caused the priests to be put to death. The archbishop,
indignant at this, placed the chamberlain under an interdict. This
so roused the king that he attempted to seize the archbishop, who
took refuge in flight. John of Nepomuk, however, and another
priest, were seized and put to the torture to confess what were the
designs of the archbishop. The king seems to have suspected that
the queen was in some way connected with the line of conduct pursued
by the archbishop. John of Nepomuk, however, refused, even though
the King with his own hand burned him with a torch. Irritated by
his obstinate silence, the king caused the poor monk to be cast over
the bridge into the Moldau. This monk was afterwards canonised, and
made the patron saint of bridges. - ED.
{8} Albert von Wallenstein (or Waldstein), the famous Duke of
Friedland, is celebrated as one of the ablest commanders of the
imperial forces during the protracted religious contest known in
German history as the "Thirty Years' War." During its earlier
period Wallenstein greatly distinguished himself, and was created by
the Emperor Ferdinand Duke of Friedland and generalissimo of the
imperial forces. In the course of a few months Wallenstein raised
an army of forty thousand men in the Emperor's service.
