visiting the castle of Ambras, and examining Count Eysenberg's
cabinet, enriched with the rarest productions of the mineral kingdom,
and a complete collection of the moths and flies peculiar to the
Tyrol; but, upon my arrival, the azure of the skies and the
brightness of the sunshine inspired me with an irresistible wish of
hastening to Italy. I was now too near the object of my journey, to
delay possession any longer than absolutely necessary; so, casting a
transient look on Maximilian's tomb, and the bronze statues of
Tyrolese Counts and worthies, solemnly ranged in the church of the
Franciscans, set immediately off.

We crossed a broad noble street, terminated by a triumphal arch, and
were driven along the road to the foot of a mountain waving with
fields of corn, and variegated with wood and vineyards, encircling
lawns of the finest verdure, scattered over with white houses
glistening in the sun. Upon ascending the mount, and beholding a
vast range of prospects of a similar character, I almost repented my
impatience, and looked down with regret upon the cupolas and steeples
we were leaving behind. But the rapid succession of lovely and
romantic scenes soon effaced the former from my memory.

Our road, the smoothest in the world (though hewn in the bosom of
rocks), by its sudden turns and windings, gave us, every instant,
opportunities of discovering new villages, and forests rising beyond
forests; green spots in the midst of wood, high above on the
mountains, and cottages perched on the edge of promontories. Down,
far below, in the chasm, amidst a confusion of pines and fragments of
stone, rages the torrent Inn, which fills the country far and wide
with a perpetual murmur. Sometimes we descended to its brink, and
crossed over high bridges; sometimes mounted half-way up the cliffs,