The journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland (1791-1811) Volume 1 (of 2)Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady
History
The journal of Elizabeth Lady Holland (1791-1811) Volume 1 (of 2)
Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady
Holland, Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady, 1770-1845 -- Diaries
The entrance is through a narrow gorge, apparently opened by an
earthquake, and probably widened by the deep and rapid course of the
Adige. The mts. are not very high till Mt. Baldo, which does not exceed
a 1000 ft. Between Ala and Roveredo we passed among rocks that have
suffered some great convulsion; at a distance they resemble the ruins
of a demolished city. A calcareous mountain stood where the road now
passes; probably in one tremendous night when all the elements were
waging war, the loud rolling thunder and the forked lightning darting
upon this ill-fated spot, the earth trembled with the shock and the
side of the mountain was split and broken into a thousand pieces. The
falling of the mt., tho’ no history records the event, does not appear
to have happened at an early period. The fragments are still sharp and
angular. Owing to a fair at Trent we were forced to remain at Roveredo.
Since the league of Cambray Roveredo is no longer in the possession of
the Venetians.
[Sidenote: 1792 INNSPRUCK]
_27th._--The road from thence is through a tolerably well
cultivated country of vines and mulberries, thro’ which the Adige moves
along irregularly, sometimes slowly, at other times rapidly. The road
in many places is very narrow with a precipice to the river undefended
by a parapet. Monr. de Calonne was overturned into the river, and but
for the assistance of Messrs. Wallace and Ellis, in the year ’91, must
have been drowned.
After passing Neumarck, the travellers arrived at Brixen on
the 28th.
Brixen is prettily situated in a very fertile vale; vines and corn
appear in abundance. The hills are cultivated and a more genial soil
is the consequence. The churches and castles built on the tops of
craggy rocks along this valley are singularly romantic. The valley
is extremely populous, and the younger part of the inhabitants have
extremely pretty faces.
At Innspruck we were compelled to remain two nights, as we had not
the plea of being Aulic Counsellors or Ambassadors. It is a paltry
restriction on travellers that they must consent, unless privileged, to
remain eight and forty hours in Austrian territory--a sort of tax that
one must spend money in their dominions. In the principal church there
is a magnificent tomb erected to the memory of the Emperor Maximilian,
grandfather to Charles V. He was a complying, weak Prince, of whom
Abbé Raynal says in his _Mémoires Historiques_ ‘Il n’inspirait
point de reconnaissance, quoiqu’il accordat presque tout qu’on lui
demandait: on sentait qu’il ne cherchait pas à obliger, mais qu’il ne
savait pas refuser.’ Near the town is a castle, the residence of the
Archduchess, Governor of the Tyrol; the arsenal contains a curious
collection of different suits of armour, which belonged to some of the
most celebrated of warriors. I went to a German play, the pantomime of
which, tho’ a deep tragedy, diverted me much, tho’ I did not comprehend
a word of the dialogue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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