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RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. AY
out of Bavaria as quickly as poffible. For feventeen long German miles there is no
place of note but the dark Wafferburg, which ftands on one of the barren fand-hills
through which the river Inn winds. 4
When you come to the frontiers of Saltzburg things mend. The profpects are more
varied, the habitations of the peafants appear neater, and the cultivation of the country
improves. About half a mile from this town there is one of the prettieft profpeéts }
have ever met with. Conceive to yourfelf a vaft amphitheatre; the back ground of
the picture is occupied by high rocks lifting up their heads to heaven. Some of them
which are rather on the fide, are in the fhape of pyramids.- Thefe vaft maffes terminate
by degrees in wooded mountains to the back, and in beautiful and cultivated hills to the
fide of the profpect. —Precifely in the midit of this fcene ftands the town, which is
commanded by the caftle ftanding on a high rock. The river Saltz gives the mixed land-
{capes ftill more life. Here and there it fpreads itfelf out, and its banks in many places
are fhaded with deep hanging woods. ;
The country about this town forms a ftriking contraft with the barren, defolate wilds
of Munich. It is indeed very ftriking, and exhibits a matchlefs and admirable union of
nature and art. ‘The ftream divides itfelf into two unequal parts. To the weftward
where the greateft part of the town lies, there rifes on the wide plain a high, round fteep
and hard rock, which has the caftle as a crown on it.. The river winds along by the
foot of this rock, and at a fmall diftance from it, there rifes a mountain of foft {tone di-
rectly perpendicular on both fides, and about one hundred feet high. Upon this natural
wall, which is much higher than the higheft houfe of the town, there grows a thick
wood, in the midft of which are feveral plantations. Through the part of the wall
where it is only fixty feet broad, they have cut a handfome paflage, On the other fide
of the river, there is the moft romantic rock ever feen. It is a kind of naked wall]
which ftretches along the plain from the river for three miles, and is five hundred Fee
high. I cannot better defcribe the peculiarity of this fituation to you, than by bidding
you conceive the town as the centre of a femi-circle of hills, the two parts of the river as
femi-diameters, and this wall as a radius of the circle.
The town itfelf is very handfome—the houfes are high, and built all of ftone. The
roots of the houfes are in the Italian tafte, and you may walk out upon them. The ca-
thedral is the handfomeft building I have feen fince I left Paris. It is built of free{tone
and is an imitation of St. Peter’s at Rome. The portico is of marble, and the whole e.
covered with copper. Before the portico there is a large quadrangular place, with
arches and galleries, in which is the Prince’s refidence, and the abbey of St. Peter. In
the middle of this place there is a {tatue of the Virgin in Bronze; it is fine, but of an
unnatural fize. ‘There are large areas, encompaffed with handfome buildings. on both
fides of the church. In the middle of that which is to the left, there is the moft map
nificent fountain of marble I ever faw, and fome valuable figures of gigantic fize, There
is likewife a fountain in that to the right, but it is not to be compared with the former
one, and the Neptune of it makes but.a very pitiful figure. This town contains man
more excellent buildings and ftatutes, which remind you that the borders of Italy a
not far diftant.
As far as I know of the inhabitants, they appear very focial, open, and lively, and
uncommonly attached to ftrangers. Until I thall get better acquainted with thei I
mu({t give you an account of fome excurfions I made into feveral parts of Bavaria, in a
way from Munich. aT
Freyfingen, an epifcopal refidence, though not ill built, is on the whole a miferable
little place. It confiits folely of monks, {trumpets, a few melancholy {tudents, and poor
Ros wre G mechanics,
ia
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