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We travelled by water from Ratisbon, a journey perfectly
agreeable, down the Danube, in one of those little vessels, that
they very properly call wooden houses, having in them all the
conveniences of a palace, Stoves in the Chambers, kitchens, etc.
They are rowed by twelve men each, and with such incredible
swiftness, that in the same day you have the pleasure of a vast
variety of prospects, and within the Space of a few hours you
have the pleasure of seeing a populous city adorned with magni-
ficent palaces, and the most charming solitudes, which appear
distant from the commerce of mankind; the banks of the Danube
being charmingly diversified with woods, rocks, mountains, covered
with vines, fields of com, large cities, and ruins of ancient Castles.
I saw the great towns of Passau and Lintz, famous for the retreat
of the imperial court when Vienna was besieged. This town
which has the honour of being the emperor's residence, did not
at all answer my expectation, nor my ideas of it, being much
less than I expected to find it; the streets are so narrow, one
can. not observe the fine fronts of the palaces, though many of
them very well deserve Observation, being truly magnificent. They
are all built of fine white stone, and are excessively high. For
as the town is too little for the number of the people that desire
to live in it, the builders seem to have projected to repair that
misfortune, by clapping one town on the top of another, most of
the houses being of five, and some of them of six stories. You
may easily imagine that, the streets being so narrow, the rooms
are extremely dark, and what is an inconveniency much more
intolerable in my opinion, there is no house that has so few as
five or six families in it. The apartments of the greatest -ladies
or even of the ministers of State, are divided, but by a partition,
from that of a tailor or shoemaker; and I know nobody that has
above two floors in a house one for their own use and one for
their servants. Those that have houses of their own let out the
rest of them to whoever will take them, and thus the great stairs
(which are all of stone) are as dirty as the street. 'Tis true,
when you have once travelled through them, nothing can be more
surprisingly magnificent than the apartments. They are commonly
a suit of eight or ten large rooms, and the furniture is such as
is seldom seen in the palaces of sovereigns in other countries.
The apartment are adorned with hangings of the finest tapestry
of Brüssels, large looking-glasses in silver frames, fine japan tables,
