1936 On the Continent

of Folk-lore), which is a little out of the way, in the Hungaria Boulevard. It is divided into three parts: collections relating to Hungary, to races kindred to Hungarians, and overseas races. The nucleus of the collection was formed by János Xanthus, our famous Asiatic traveller, and by Otto Hermann, who made a life study of prehistoric occupations. Do you know the names of Béla Bartok and Zoltán Kodály? They made some three thousand gramophone records to save from oblivion the folk-songs of the villages of Hungary and Transylvania.
    And now let us take a walk among the architectural marvels of Budapest. The greatest architect of Budapest was God Almighty himself, who arranged the huge masses of rocks of the Gellért Hill; the soft undulating lines of the hills of Buda; the plain-land widening towards the east; and the moody curves of the Danube—as it embraces its islands—in such a magnificent harmony that its beauty shatters and exhilarates the spectator at the same time. That is the greatest architectural miracle of Budapest. Don’t search for the refined architectural culture of the Italian, French, German or English towns in Budapest. The Hungarians, a nomadic nation which has always lived in tents—as I have told you once already—hadbeen fighting with the Barbarians during its European centuries while you were busy building your towns and cathedrals. Still, you will be surprised to find so many beautiful streets, squares and parks in Budapest. Whenever I return from New York, London, and Paris, Budapest always impresses me as being the smallest of European metropolises, and the largest watering place of the world.
    Buda—the right bank of the capital—with its old-fashioned streets and ancient houses, is a museum in itself. On the central hill, over the Danube, stands the Royal Castle. Its situation and architectural beauty makes it one of the most beautiful royal residences of the whole world. Its foundation walls were laid seven hundred years ago. The Tartars destroyed it, but later it was built up again. It met with the same fate several times in the course of history during the battles with the Turks. In its present form it was built by Ybl and Hauszmann. On the same hill there is the Coronation Church—or Mathias Church. The original part of it was built very nearly nine hundred years ago. The Fisher’s Bastion around it completes the medieval atmosphere of the church. The hill, with its slim towers and ancient houses, contrasted against the old trees in spring bloom, or full of yellow and reddish leaves in the autumn, is the most lovely jewel of Budapest. It looks something like an illustration to a tale—perhaps an Eastern one. It breathes Time and History.
    With this I have by no means exhausted all the sights of Buda; most of its houses have an interesting past and history—unknown, as a rule, to most people in Budapest.
    Will you drop me a line to tell me when you are going to arrive? I shall wait for you at the aerodrome or at the railway terminus.
No Reply
    For the second time I received no reply. A few weeks had passed, but I still did not give up hope. I began to comfort myself with the reflection that Miss Glinton had changed her travel plans and she was travelling somewhere else. In my loneliness I began to analyse myself. With whom am I in love? Miss Glinton or Budapest?I could not decide it. The following week I wrote her another letter.
My Fourth Letter to Miss Glinton
    Dear Miss Glinton,—I am led to believe that you did not receive my letters; this, however, does not discourage me from writing further to you.
    First and foremost, I should like to tell you something about Hungarian gipsies who, through the medium of the wireless, are well known all over the world. If they appear in a restaurant or in a night club abroad, they are usually pitchforked into a pillar-box red uniform and made to wear a tie with gold tassels at the ends. In Hungary, however, you will see nothing of that fancy dress. Here the gipsies wear a dinner jacket or a dark suit, and when they put down the violin they appear to be very little different in looks from their audience. Their Indian origin is only indicated by their dark colouring and their fiery eyes.
    There are few races whose origin is so uncertain, so mysterious as that of the gipsy. All that is certain is that they were a nomadic people of Indian origin, who first appeared in Europe some four or five hundred years ago. We call