DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0103
Ch. I.
THROUGH ITALY.
75
perpendicularly to a considerable elevation, is
crowned with tall and spreading· elms, and
forms a natural rampart equally strong’ and
beautiful. Through this mass of stone a passage
has been opened, three hundred feet in length,
thirty in height, and twenty-four in breadth.
The inscription, in honor of the bishop who
executed this noble work, is neat and appro-
priate— Te saxa loquuntur. This grotto opens
on a little square, the principal ornament of
which is an equestrian statue of St. Sigismund,
in dress, attitude, and form, extremely elegant.
The situation of this city is, however, its
principal beauty and advantage; in a valley
watered by the Salza, open only to the north,
and enclosed on the other sides by hills and
mountains of various forms and magnitude,
Upon one of these hills immediately contiguous
to the town, stands the citadel, an edifice large
and roomy, but ill supplied, ill furnished, and
ill supported. The bishops of Saltzburg indeed,
like all the petty princes of Germany, rely more
upon the watchfulness and jealousy of the greater
powers, than upon their own strength, for de-
fence and independence. But however neg-
lected the citadel may be, its situation is very bold
and commanding. Behind it, on the eminence,
is a beautiful walk; and from an oak near this
THROUGH ITALY.
75
perpendicularly to a considerable elevation, is
crowned with tall and spreading· elms, and
forms a natural rampart equally strong’ and
beautiful. Through this mass of stone a passage
has been opened, three hundred feet in length,
thirty in height, and twenty-four in breadth.
The inscription, in honor of the bishop who
executed this noble work, is neat and appro-
priate— Te saxa loquuntur. This grotto opens
on a little square, the principal ornament of
which is an equestrian statue of St. Sigismund,
in dress, attitude, and form, extremely elegant.
The situation of this city is, however, its
principal beauty and advantage; in a valley
watered by the Salza, open only to the north,
and enclosed on the other sides by hills and
mountains of various forms and magnitude,
Upon one of these hills immediately contiguous
to the town, stands the citadel, an edifice large
and roomy, but ill supplied, ill furnished, and
ill supported. The bishops of Saltzburg indeed,
like all the petty princes of Germany, rely more
upon the watchfulness and jealousy of the greater
powers, than upon their own strength, for de-
fence and independence. But however neg-
lected the citadel may be, its situation is very bold
and commanding. Behind it, on the eminence,
is a beautiful walk; and from an oak near this