[Footnote V-31: Bibliographical Tour, vol. iii. p. 438. Edit. 1829.] [Footnote V-32: Ibid. p. 330.] The Triumphal _Arch_ of the Emperor Maximilian, engraved on wood from Durer’s designs, consists of ninety-two separate pieces, which, when joined together, form one large composition about ten feet and a half high by nine and a half wide, exclusive of the margins and five folio sheets of explanatory matter by the projector of the design, John Stabius, who styles himself the historiographer and poet of the Emperor, and who says, at the commencement of his description, that this arch was drawn “after the manner of those erected in honour of the Roman emperors at Rome, some of which are destroyed and others still to be seen.” In the arch of Maximilian are three gates or entrances; that in the centre is named the Gate of Honour and Power; that to the left the Gate of Fame; and that to the right the Gate of Nobility.[V-33] Above the middle entrance is what Stabius calls the “grand tower,” surmounted with the imperial crown, and containing an inscription in German to the memory of Maximilian. Above and on each side of the gates or entrances, which are of very small dimensions, are portraits of the Roman emperors from the time of Julius Cæsar to that of Maximilian himself; there are also portraits of his ancestors, and of kings and princes with whom he was allied either by friendship or marriage; shields of arms illustrative of his descent or of the extent of his sovereignty; with representations of his most memorable actions, among which his adventures in the Tyrolean Alps, when hunting the chamois, are not forgotten. Underneath each subject illustrative of his own history are explanatory verses, in the German language, engraved on wood; and the names of the kings and emperors, as well as the inscriptions explanatory of other parts of the subject, are also executed in the same manner. The whole subject is, in fact, a kind of pictorial epitome of the history of the German empire; representing the succession of the Roman emperors, and the more remarkable events of Maximilian’s own reign; with illustrations of his descent, possessions, and alliances. [Footnote V-33: The two last names are, in the first edition, pasted over others which appear to have been “The Gate of Honour” and “The Gate of Relationship, Friendship, and Alliance.” The last name alludes to the emperor’s possessions as acquired by descent or marriage, and to his power as strengthened by his friendly alliances with neighbouring states.]