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RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. oy
the vale foon remove the tower from the eyes of the traveller, who ftill looks eagerly for
the place where the immenfe pyramid, now vanifhed, pointed out to him the habitation
of the Cefars. Soon after, high hills covered with vineyards clofe up this vale, when to
the left there opens an immenfe plain, in which, by degrees, the traveller dilcovers a
part of the city: the right is covered with hills, partly wooded, and partly cultivated,
which come down to the river. The magnificence of this beautiful {pot is much im-
proved by the royal cloifter of Neuburg. At length you come to a ftrait rock, which
hangs almoft down upon the flood below. On the top of this there is a cloifler, and at
the bottom the beauteous village of Rufdorff, which you almoft take for one of the fub-
urbs of Vienna. When once you have pafled the rock, the capital occupies the whole
horizon. Its feveral parts commend themfelves the more to the eye, from their being
at great diftances from each other, and many of them fituated on high eminences. ‘The
number of large buildings, the noife that broke upon my ears from all fides, and the
foreft, as it were, of houfes, made my heart beat, notwithftanding all the pains I could
take to think of Horace’s Nil Admirari.
When we landed, my trunks underwent another fearch by the cuftom-houfe officers.
This paffed over without any difagreeable circumftances, as they did not take the trou-
ble to infpeé&t my pockets, which I had filled with forbidden books. ‘The journey from
Lintz hither lafted fix days, though it is commonly performed in two. ‘The reafon af-
figned by the failors was the ufual one of contrary winds; but I knew the true caufe to
be, the contraband goods they had on board. The journey from Ratifbon hither cofts
two ducats; one of which pays your paflage, and the other your provifions, which con-
fift of frefh fifth, falt meat, and fome vegetables. When the weather is fine, you may
fleep on board without inconvenience. Cheap however as this journey of fifty-fix Ger-
man miles feems to be at firft fight, I did not find my account in it; the frequent and
long ftoppages of the fhip obliging me to live much on fhore, and to fpend my time and
money at inns.
The beft way, when you are fortunate enough to meet with company at Ulm or Ra-
tifbon, is to purchafe a fmall decked veffel, which you may have for fixty or feventy
guilders, and which will hold fifteen or fixteen people. ‘The veffel may be fold again at
Vienna, often with profit, and you perform your journey in four, five, or at moft fix
days; whereas a common veflel is fourteen, and often fixteen days in going the jour-
ney. Three or four failors and a good fteerfman wil] think themfelves fufficiently paid
for their trouble, if, when you come to your journey’s end, you give them the veffel.
LETTER XIX.
YOU have no idea, dear brother, of the trouble I had to provide myfelf with a pro-
per habitation. I ran about the city three whole days with my /aquais de place, before
Icould get houfed. It is not here as at Paris, where there is an office in every part of the
city, giving an account of what houfes or lodgings cre to let, and for what price. Here
every owner of a houfe puts up a bill before his door, ftating very circumftantially what
rooms he hasempty. As the houfes confift of five or fix ftories, and each {tory has an
owner, who may have a room or an apartment vacant, you often find the doors of the
houles plaftered all over with advertifements, and may be near half an hour reading,
before you get the information you want to arrive at.
The firft room I faw was up four pair of ftairs. The looks of it did not difpleafe me;
but as foon as I heard that the owner was. a Gnadige Herr, I faid in French to my laquais,
“< Away, I will have nothing to do with a gnadige herr, who has half of his hired habi-
K 2 tation
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