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26 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
ever, that the prefent rage is only a temporary paroxyfm of the ftage fever, which will
in time give way to better tafte and founder judgment. Farewell.
LETTER IX.
Munich.
YOU require too much of me; though I very well conceive that you muft natu-
rally with to have a particular knowledge of this court and country; for, independent-
ly of our former conneétion with Bavaria, the Palatinate is the moft powerful ftate in
Germany, next to Auftria and Brandenburg, or at leaft from its internal refources
fhould be fo; and befides, the geographical fituation of the country will always make
its mafter of confequence’to whatever fide he joins, in cafe of a rupture between France
and the Emperor. I will therefore do what I can; but I fhall ftay here too fhort a
time to give you entire fatisfaction. The defcription of Munich by Profeffor Welten-
rieden, though not void of faults, is one of the few works of this kind calculated to
give fatisfaction. Every traveller fhould have it. The beft hiftory of Munich is that
by Mr. Bergman, in one volume folio. here is alfo an Italian tract on the fubjec,
by Bianconi; but it does not contain much.
This court is at prefent fo enveloped in a thick and motley-coloured crowd of mi-
nifters, counfellors, intendants, and commanders, that one cannot well get at, nor
even fee it; nor have I yet been able to make any particular acquaintance with our
minifter here, who undoubtedly knows how things are. I fhall therefore defcribe the
court to you, partly from the information of fome cf its dependants, and partly from
a few of my own obfervations, which have hitherto been made from a diftance.—As
far as the court is connected with the country, its chara¢ter is to be judged of by the
laws and regulations iffued from time to time.
The elector is one of the beft tempered men in the world. He is of a mild, focial,
lively difpofition, not at all diftruftful or fufpicious, and fo little inclined to feverity,
that, upon a reformation having become neceffary in his court at Munich, he appoint.
ed the Count Goldftein, his prime minifter at Duffeldorf, to carry on the requifite mea-
fures with vigour, and went himfelf to Italy, that the reform might not be retarded by
the prayers and {folicitations of thofe difcharged from office, which he was diffident of
being able to withftand. A difagreeable marriage, contracted in his youth, led him
into irregularities. The children he has had in confequence, he has raifed, at a very
heavy expence, to be counts of the empire. In his more advanced life, the gentlenefs
of his fpirit, and the recollection of his former errors, have opened the way for piety
into his heart ; which of itfelf would be a bleffing to the country, were it not, that it
gives the priefthood more influence than it fhould have.
As to his learning, he is reported able in feveral fciences, particularly in mathema-
tics, and fpeaks French, Italian, and Englifh. But the fine arts are his forte, and he
has facrificed liberally to them. | His orcheftra and opera are the beft in Europe, next
to thofe of Naples and Turin; and his magnificent collection of prints, antiques, and
other things, are perpetual monuments of his friendfhip for the mufes.
I have heard that an Englifh gentleman at Manheim paid him the compliment to fay,
that ¢ He deferved to be a private gentleman.’ Certainly this is the moft favourable
thing which can be faid of this prince, who is entirely deftitute of that ftrength of
charaéter and refolution, which are indifpenfibly neceflary to govern fo ferocious a
people as the Bavarians. As he is wanting in knowledge of mankind, he thinks
favourably of all thofe who are about him, and this fubjeéts him to conftant deception.
3 When
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