re-action of a few dozen years of peace shall have nearly obliterated the ravages and the remembrance of war—­when commerce and civil competition shall have entirely succeeded to exaction and tyranny from a foreign force—­(which it now holds forth so auspicious a promise of accomplishing)—­and when literature shall revert within its former fruitful channels of enlightening the ignorant, gratifying the learned, and illustrating what is obscure among the treasures of former times—­then I think Munich will be a proud and a flourishing city indeed.[46] But more of this subject on a future occasion.

Let us take a walk abroad—­in the fields, or in the immediate vicinity of the town—­for methinks we have both had sufficient in-door occupation of late.  One of the principal places of resort, in the immediate vicinity of Munich, is a garden—­laid out after the English fashion—­and of which the late Count Rumford had the principal direction.  It is really a very pleasing, and to my taste, successful effort of art—­or rather adaptation of nature.  A rapid river, or rivulet (a branch of the Iser) of which the colour is a hazy or misty blue, very peculiar—­runs under a small bridge which you pass.  The bed of the river has a considerable descent, and the water runs so rapidly, as to give you the idea that it would empty itself in a few hours.  Yet—­“Labitur et labetur in omne volubilis aevum.”  I strolled frequently in the shady walks, and across the verdant lawns, of this pleasant garden; wherein are also arbour-covered benches, and embowered retreats—­haunts of meditation—­where

  ... voices, through the void deep sounding, seize
  Th’enthusiastic ear!

But SKELL must not be deprived of his share of praise in the construction of this interesting pleasure ground.  He was the principal active superintendant; and is considered to have had a thorough knowledge of optical effect in the construction of his vistas and lawns.  A Chinese pagoda, a temple to Apollo—­and a monument to Gessner, the pastoral poet—­the two latter embosomed in a wood—­are the chief objects of attraction on the score of art.  But the whole is very beautiful, and much superior to any thing of the kind which I have seen since leaving England.

I told you, at the beginning of this letter, that it was market-day when we arrived here.  Mr. Lewis, who loses no opportunity of adding to the stores of his sketch book, soon transferred a group of MARKET PEOPLE to his paper, of which you are here favoured with a highly finished copy.  The countenances, as well as the dresses, are strongly indicative of the general character of the German women.

[Illustration]