There were, some half century ago, about a dozen more churches;—­but they have been since either destroyed or desecrated.  From the Churches, I must conduct you, but in a very rapid manner, to some of the public buildings; reserving, as usual, my last and more leisurely description for the PUBLIC LIBRARY.  Of these buildings, the Hotel de Ville, Theatres, and Royal Residence, are necessarily the most imposing in size, and most attractive from their objects of public utility or amusement.  The Royal Palace was built by Maximilian I.—­a name as great in the annals of Bavaria, as the same name was in those of Austria about a century before.  This palace is of about two centuries standing:  and its eastern facade measures 550 English feet in length.  It abounds, within and without, with specimens of bronze ornaments:  and two bronze lions (the work of Krummper, after the designs of Candit) which support the shields of the Electoral houses of Bavaria and Lorraine, have been considered superior to the Lion in the Place of.  St. Mark at Venice.  This immense pile of building contains three courts.  In that of “the Fountain,” to the left, under an arch, is a huge black pebble stone, weighing nearly 400 Bavarian pounds.  An old German inscription, of the date of 1489, tells you that a certain Bavarian Duke, called Christopher the Leaper, threw this same pebble stone to a considerable distance.  Near it, you observe three large nails driven into the wall.  The highest of them may be about twelve feet from the ground:—­the mark which Christopher the Leaper reached in one of his frolicksome jumps.  I find they are lovers of marvellous attainments, in Bavaria:—­witness, the supposed feat of the great Emperor Maximilian upon the parapet wall at the top of the cathedral of Ulm.[44]

To describe the fountains and bronze figures, in these three courts, would be endless; but they strike you with a powerful degree of admiration—­and a survey of every thing about you, is a convincing proof that you have entered a country where they shrink not from solidity and vastness in their architectural achievements:  while the lighter, or ornamental parts, are not less distinguished by the grace of their design and the vigour of their execution.  Will you believe it—­I have not visited, nor shall I have an opportunity of visiting, the Interior?  An interior, in which I am told that there are such gems, jewels, and varieties—­such miracles of nature and of art, as equally baffle description and set competition at defiance.  As thus:—­a chapel, of which the pavement is mosaic work, composed of amethysts, jaspers, and lapis lazuli:  of which the interior of its cupola is composed of lapis lazuli, adorned with gilt bronze:  wherein is to be seen a statue of the Virgin, in a drapery of solid gold, with a crown upon her head, composed of diamonds:—­a massive golden crucifix, adorned with precious stones—­and upon which there is an inscription cut upon an emerald an inch square:  again, small altars, supported by columns of transparent amethyst, &c.