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RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 95
the lower ftory is tenanted entirely by Italian mafters. The beft picture is a Cupid in the
act of drawing his bow, by Corregio. It was bought for 18,000 ducats, by the Empe-
ror Charles VI. but with many other pictures had been entirely neglected and trodden
under foot, fo that part of it was entirely fpoilt, but what remains is Corregio ftill. The
upper {tory is tenanted by the Flemifh mafters, who, as in duty bound, do not keep com-
pany with theItalians. ‘The gallery is open to every body three days in the week.
About a mile and a half from the city, in a fenny hollow, you meet with Schonbrurm,
the fummer refidence of the Emprefs, but where the confined profpeét and bad air did
not allow me to ftay two days. ‘The palace is immenfe, built in’a truly great ftyle; -
the furniture, too, is truly imperial; there is one room furnifhed with tapeltry from the
Gobelins, that coft 300,000 guilders; here too is the menagerie of wild beafts, fo delight
fully fung by Metaftafio. ‘The moft remarkable I faw, wasa true elephant of the large
breed from India; it was fent as a prefent from the Stadtholder, who gave 10,0c0 guil-
ders for it. On an eminence behind the palace the Emperor has built a /a/a terrena in
the ancient f{tyle, with two rows of pillars on each fide. ‘This points out the {pot where
his mother fhould have built, if fhe had chofen to have had a fine profpeét and good
air. When the Emprefs is here, fhe fees only capuchins and old court ladies. ‘This is
likewife a place of public amufement, as the garden is always open, as is the palace alfo,
at all fuch times as the Emprefs is not there.
The Kalteberg, which lies on the Danube, about three miles from the city, pleafed me
infinitely more; the way to it is through a wonderfully well cultivated country. At
fome diftance to the left, on the lope of the hill, and under fome very old oaks, you fee
field marfhal Lacy’s elegant villa, with his Englifh garden. By degrees you gaina thick
foreft on the brow of the hill; on the top of this ftands the Camaldeuleufe convent, in
the fineft point of view youcan imagine. Under fome trees before the convent, area
table and fome benches, where the ladies, who cannot vifit the infide of the monattery,
without fpecial permiffion from the archbifhop, are entertained till their friends return.
Every monk has his own feparate hut, with a little garden belonging to it. To the outer
cell there is a terrace which looks over a perpendicular precipice into the Danube, and
commands a profpect of which a monk ef this fort is quite unworthy. You have the
whole city like a ground plot under your feet; you think you hear the conftant hum in
it, and your eye carries you over this part of Auftria, as far as to the borders of Hun-
gary and Moravia. ‘The majeftic Danube winds through an immenfe plain; at fome
diftance it confiderably widens, and, being covered with no woods or elevations, cats a
filver appearance on the land{cape. Yo your right, the wood crowned hill you are upon
gradually decreafes to the fuburbs, whilft to the left it ftretches its high neck along the
Danube, to where, at three miles diftance, you fee the golden hill of Enferfdorf, which
produces one of the beft Auftrian wines. ‘The numberlefs fine villages, the blue hills
{fwimming on the horizon, and all the various afpeéts of wood and water, diffufe a de-
light, which impreffed me to fuch a degree, that I could not help communicating my en-
thufiafm to the monk, who was near me. ‘ Happy,” fays I, ‘ muft be that brother
who inhabits the outer cell.” ‘* No,” faid he, ‘* we are not of your opinion, none of
ufe chufe to live in it, for it is too much expofed to the winds, and is as cold again as
any other.” In a moment the man brought me-out of my enthufiafm. You know I
am one of thofe, who in f{ummer never think of winter, and who hate nothing more than
to be forced to fee the ugly fide of things, be they as natural as they may, whilft I am
taken up with the beautiful ones. After having feen all that the monks had to thew,
hair fhirts and all, we gave them money to fay a mafs for us, and haftened to our ladies
under the trees. We had ient before us acold collation, and fome bottles of Shum-
VOL. Vi. fc) laver
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