Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. Vol. 1. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 24)

George Cushing: Eger - British connections

humour, investing all their sayings and doings with an enviable air of freshness and joyousness. Whether they hasten at early dawn with their implements slung across their shoulders, prepared for a hard day's work, or at nightfall bend their steps homeward in picturesque groups, or in their recreations on Sunday afternoons, they are ever to be heard singing their own lays set to pretty melodies also composed by themselves; for the Hungarians are at home with the Muses, and need not seek their inspiration on Mount Parnassus.'

1

4 The author then inserts a tale about the guerrilla leader known as Lelkem and his exploits against the Turks in Gyöngyös and Hatvan, and continues his description of the grape-harvest and the vintage festival. Like Townson, he deplores the bishop's monopoly of wine, and notes that during 1848 this was broken for an all too brief time, to be replaced by Austrian taxes on the wine produced. But his picture of Eger in the middle of the 19th century is an attractive one and shows the affection he had for the town. These then are some of the connections between Britain and Eger since the famous siege. But to this account too there is a postscript. A few years ago I was looking for new music in a London shop and suddenly caught sight of a picture I recognised: it was the organ in the cathedral at Eger. The piece was entitled Missa Ungarica pro Organo, by the British composer Bryan Hesford, and it is dedicated 'to my dear friend Father Sándor Simon, Organist of Eger Cathedral, Hungary'. Written in 1981, it includes well-known melodies like Mennyből az angyal and Pásztorok, pásztorok, which make it splendid music for Christmas. 58