shall conclude rather abruptly this summary of my Italian tour. I beg you to forgive the details into which I have thought it necessary to enter. My object has been to convey to you some portion of the high gratification that my journey has afforded me, a journey which I had long meditated, and which, achieved, will leave indelible marks on my memory. Could I hope that in this attempt I have, in however trifling a degree, contributed to your amusement, I shall be amply repaid for the trouble I have taken. My imperfect sketches may at any rate excite in you a wish to view those scenes, which it is indeed impossible to describe. Should I, no matter by what means, induce you to follow my example, I am convinced that on your return you would say, as I now do, that to visit Italy is to lay in a store of thought and agreeable reflexion for the rest of one's life.

I am, &c.

LETTER XXXIV.

Journey from Venice to Vienna---Mestre---Conegliano---The pas sage of the Tagliamento---Pontieba---Entrance into Germany --Change of character---German postboy---Willack---Klakenfurt---Palace, garden, and conversation of the prince-bishop of Salm---Newmarkt---Knuttelfeld---Marhoffen---Schoeffwein ---German beds---German apathy---German landlords---Necessity of making previous arrangements in Germany, as well as in Italy and France---Proof of that necessity --- Arrival at Vienna---Examination at the gates.

My dear sir,

Vienna, May 10, 1803.

AFTER a fatiguing journey of ten days we reached Vienna last night. I proceed to give you the particulars of our journey.

On the 30th of April we left Venice in a gondola, and landing at Mestre, where we had left our carriage, proceeded thence with posthorses.

The straightest and best road from Venice to Vienna is through the provinces of Carniola, Carinthia, and Stiria, passing through the towns of Pontieba and Klakenfurt, and was that which Bonaparte took when he threatened the imperial capital. It is considerably shorter than the route by the Tyrol; for which reason I determined to give it the preference.

The first day's journey brought us to Conegliano. Having slept at that town, we set out again at an early hour, and in the course of the morning crossed the Tagliamento,-a wide, rapid, but shallow river, which was passed, as you may remember, by the French army, when they marched into the Austrian territories. The current is so exceedingly rapid, that no bridge can withstand its force. Our carriage was drawn through the water by four oxen; and with no little difficulty, and some danger, we reached the opposite bank.

Our journey led us through a good but narrow road, just wide enough to receive the wheels of the carriage. This road gradually winds round a ridge of steep and mighty mountains, covered with snow, and forming a continuation of the Alps. We arrived at St. Daniel, a little town situated in a most romantic situation, about seven o'clock in the evening.

We set out again the following morning, and, continuing to travel on a road and in a country similar to that which we had traversed on the preceding day, found ourselves in the afternoon at Pontieba. This place, which is considered as a frontier town, is divided into two parts by a river and a bridge. We stopped on the Italian side, at an inn of decent appearance; but were under the necessity of

sending our luggage to the custom-house, which stands on the opposite bank, belonging to Germany. Our trunks here underwent a very strict examination. It is, indeed, rather singu lar, that, though the former Venetian territory belongs to his imperial majesty, it is treated in every respect as a distinct and separate country. Coming thence into the Austrian territories, a traveler is called upon to produce his passport, and to submit his equipage to inspection, with all the forms which were observed while Venice was an independent state. The same distinction is observed in every thing relating to the two countries. From Mestre to Pontieba we had been driven by Italian postboys, who spoke the language of their country, rode little wretched horses, and were paid the amount of their demands in the base coin which (as I mentioned before) the emperor has put into circulation for the use of his new subjects. At Pontieba the whole system was changed: we here purchased, at a profit of twenty per cent., the bank paper of Vienna, with which all expenses are defrayed in the imperial dominions; and setting out the fol lowing morning, saw four heavy fat horses (much resembling those which are used in English dray-carts) fixed to our carriage. The postillion, whose whole appearance was truly ridiculous, sat on one of the wheel-horses, and

drove the remaining three in hand. He wore a yellow jacket to which a black velvet cape was affixed, and a large flapped low-crowned hat laced with silver. On his sleeve an imperial eagle was worked; by his side hung a French horn; in his right hand he carried a long whip, and in his mouth a lighted pipe.

Thus conducted, we proceeded on our journey, crossed the little bridge which divides the town, and, bidding adieu to Italy (I fear for ever!), entered the empire of Germany.

We soon perceived a striking change of character, both in the country and in the inhabitants. The two preceding days we had traveled without seeing any thing but mountains, rocks, and precipices: we now beheld a succession of well-cultivated fields, neatly-built farmhouses, and some gentlemen's countryseats scattered about at no considerable distance the one from the other on the adjoining hills. Accustomed also to the lean appearance and diminutiveness of the cattle in Italy, and to the rags and squalid looks of the peasants, we were agreeably surprised at seeing well-fed and boney oxen, stout horses, and athletic men; while the healthy faces and decent apparel of the latter recaled to our memory the happy state of the same class of persons in our native country. But if we were pleased with these symptoms of comfort and affluence, we could not equally com