St. Charles' Church.

The Augusta Bridge And Rudolph Barracks.

It is an interesting fact that near the field of Austerlitz - where Napoleon, in 1805, gained over Austria and Russia one of his most brilliant victories - a monument has been erected to commemorate an event of a very different nature from that of the great conflict. Thirty-six years before that battle Joseph II., while riding through the country, saw an aged peasant leaning exhausted on his plow, unable to complete his work. Touched by the sight, the Emperor immediately dismounted and, putting his hands to the plow, finished the old man's task for him. The monument, which serves as a memorial of this imperial act, is surmounted by the Austrian eagle, and on the pedestal is depicted, in relief, the figure of Joseph II. holding the plow, while his astonished servant stands waiting near by, with the Emperor's horse.

Saint Stephen' s Cathedral occupies so central a position in Vienna that streets are numbered from it in all directions, much as distances were reckoned from the Golden Milestone in the Roman Forum. Its graceful spire, four hundred and fifty feet in height, is the dominating feature of the landscape at a considerable distance from the city; while, upon close approach, it still remains an object of great beauty -tapering gradually from base to summit, and covered all the way with artistic stone-carving and Gothic ornamentation. So straight does it appear that I could scarcely believe the statement that its apex leans toward the North, with a deviation from the perpendicular of more than three feet. On several occasions, its lofty belfry has served as a place of anxious observation, when the fate of the Austrian capital seemed trembling in the balance. Here, for example, two hundred years ago the Viennese officials stood to watch the movements of the Turks, who, two hundred thousand strong, had invested the city in the form of a crescent; and, while offering peace and protection to those who would surrender, swore by the beard of the Prophet that, if obliged to take the capital by force, they would spare no one, but would kill every man and carry into captivity all the women and children. Here, also, on the sixtieth day of the siege, those eager watchers discerned with joy the banners of the approaching Polish army, which, led by Sobieski, was hastening to their rescue. The principal bell in the church tower commemorates this victory of the Cross over the Crescent, since it was cast from the bronze of one hundred and eighty cannon taken on that occasion from the Moslems. Here, too, is the enormous crescent which the Viennese authorities fastened to the spire, in order to induce the Turks to spare the sacred edifice through fear of injuring the emblem of their faith. From this tower one can look out upon the roof and see there, outlined by a multitude of colored tiles, a monster eagle with extended pinions, probably the largest figure of a bird in the world. At all events, the distance from the tip of one wing to the extremity of the other is one hundred and eighty feet, and each eye is composed of four large gilded tiles.

St. Stephens Cathedral.

One Of The Old Ramparts.

Saint Stephen's is, unquestionably, one of the grandest temples ever reared for Christian worship, and few cathedrals in the world have left upon my mind such ineffaceable impressions of sublimity. I love to stand by one of its huge pillars in the twilight and silently absorb its solemn grandeur. At such a time the distant roof is lost in darkness, and the majestic columns rise into the gloom, like stately palms or tropic plants whose leaves and flowers are the delicately chiseled canopies, pinnacles, and statues that cling to the colossal shafts with countless filaments of stone.

Interior Of St. Stephen's.

The Academy Of The Fine Arts.