agreeable manner with the dismal prospects we had left behind. No
storms, no frightful chasms, were here to alarm us, no ruffians or
lawless plunderers. All around was peace, security, and contentment
in their most engaging attire.

July 17th.--Though all impatience to reach that delightful classic
region which already possesses, as I have often said, the better half
of my spirit, I could not think of leaving Mannheim unexplored; and
therefore resolved to give up the day to the halls and galleries of
the electoral palace. Those, which contain the cabinet of paintings
and sculptures in ivory, form a regular suite of nine immense
apartments, about three hundred and seventy-two feet in length, well-
proportioned and uniformly floored with inlaid wood. Each room has
ample folding-doors richly gilt and varnished. When seen in
perspective these entrances have the most magnificent effect
imaginable. Nothing can give nobler ideas of space than such an
enfilade of saloons unencumbered by heavy furniture, where the eyes
range without interruption: I wandered alone from one to the other,
and was never wearied with contemplating the variety of pictures
which enliven the scene, and convey the highest idea of the
collector's taste. When my curiosity was a little satisfied, I left
this amusing series of apartments with regret, visited the library
which the present Elector Palatine has formed, upon the same great
scale that characterizes his other collections, and, after viewing
the rest of the palace, saw the opera house, which may boast of
having contained one of the first bands in Europe: from thence I
returned home in a very musical humour.

An excellent harpsichord seconded this disposition, which lasted me
till late in the evening; when growing drowsy, I yielded to the