think that the height of the chambers (from which we enjoyed this view)
to the level ground of the adjacent meadows could be scarcely less than
three hundred feet. In these chambers there is a little world of
curiosity for the antiquary; and yet it was but too palpable that very
many of its more precious treasures had been transported to Munich. In
the time of Maximilian II., when Nuremberg may be supposed to have been
in the very height of its glory, this Citadel must have been worth a
pilgrimage of many score miles to have visited. The ornaments which
remain are chiefly pictures; of which several are exceedingly
precious....

In these curious old chambers, it was to be expected that I should see
some Wohlegemuths--as usual, with backgrounds in a blaze of gold, and
figures with tortuous limbs, pinched-in waists, and caricatured
countenances. In a room, pretty plentifully encumbered with rubbish, I
saw a charming Snyders; being a dead stag, suspended from a pole. There
is here a portrait of Albert Dürer, by himself; but said to be a copy.
If so, it is a very fine copy. The original is supposed to be at Munich.
There was nothing else that my visit enabled me to see particularly
deserving of being recorded; but, when I was told that it was in this
Citadel that the ancient Emperors of Germany used oftentimes to reside,
and make carousal, and when I saw, now, scarcely anything but dark
passages, unfurnished galleries, naked halls, and untenanted
chambers--I own that I could hardly refrain from uttering a sigh over
the mutability of earthly fashions, and the transitoriness of worldly
grandeur. With a rock for its base, and walls almost of adamant for its
support--situated also upon an eminence which may be said to look
frowningly down over a vast sweep of country--the Citadel of Nuremberg
should seem to have bid defiance, in former times, to every assault of
the most desperate and enterprising foe. It is now visited only by the