_Vienna_ receiv’d a great deal of Damage at this Siege; Part of the Imperial Palace being reduc’d to Ashes, as well as several other grand Structures. The Emperor immediately set about repairing those Losses, and the Palace was rebuilt as it was before; and several of the Nobility also caus’d such magnificent Palaces to be erected, that in a short time the Town recover’d its former Splendor. The Imperial Palace is large, but has nothing else scarce to boast of, for the Apartments are low, dark, and without Ornaments, and the Furniture is very ancient, tho’ scarce any Princes have a finer Treasure in Tapistry; and why ’tis not us’d, I can’t imagine: The Apartments of the Empress Dowager were the only ones fit to lodge in; for that Princess took Care to have them not only rais’d higher, but inlaid and wainscotted, which has given them a certain Air of Majesty they had not before. This Princess’s Apartment is hung with black Velvet, it being the Custom of the Imperial Court, for the Empress Dowagers never to quit their Mourning. The Bedchamber and the Closet call’d _la Retirade_ or the Withdrawing-Room, are the only Two Pieces that are not hung with black, the whole Furniture thereof being grey. For the rest, were a Stranger to see the Palace of _Vienna_, and to have no Notion of what it is before-hand, he would scarce imagine it to be the Residence of the first Prince of _Europe_. The Palace of _la Favorita_ in the Suburb of _Vienna_, where the Emperor spends the Summer, is even inferior to that in the City. ’Tis a very large House, built upon the Highway, without any Court before it, without Symmetry or Architecture, and which, as to the Outside, looks more like a Convent, than a Royal Palace. The Inside perfectly answers the Outside. There’s an Ascent to the Apartments by a great Stair-case, all of Timber, that leads to a Guard Chamber, which is a Room of no great Extent, and without any manner of Ornament; and from thence there’s an Entrance into other Apartments but half furnish’d, and very low, which in short is the Fault of all the Apartments. The Gardens of the Palace are as inconsiderable as the Building; they being full of large Fruit-trees, but in very bad Order, and I saw nothing there that can be call’d a fine Prospect.