Ö2
This seeming effect, however, we found to be very different from the re a lity ; for, on
conversing with persons of different ranks, we found, that thougii the beauty of the
situation, and the merits of Signor Salucci, the architect, and M. Boscli, the landscape-
gardener, were fully allowed, yet that the palace was considered altogether unnecessary
for a king Avho had already so many, and as much too costly a fabric for the ruler of so
small a kingdom.
As coinpared with an Fnglish palace, th&t o f Hosenstein has considerable defects in the windows and
in the interior finishings. T h e windows are in the French manner ; but, instead of opening from the
bottom to th e top, they have a cross mullion a t about two thirds of their height, all the glass above
which is fixed. In winter, the only mode of giving air, without filling the rooms with the external
atmosphere, is by opening single panes ; and even in summer, the rooms can never be so thoroughly
ventilated as if the windows opened from the top. T h e timber-work, and th e hinges and fastenings of
these windows, would be reckoned very clumsy in Britain, and the glass is wavy, blistered, and not clear.
In such a palace, in England, two large panes of plate-glass would have filled each window ; and th e two
sashes would have been hung, instead of opening inwards. T h e mode of heating by stoves ought not to
be objected to in Germany; nevertheless in a king’s palace, a system of flues in the floors and walls
might have been advantageously substituted for it. T h e plaster-work is so very inferior to th at of an
ordinary house in England, th a t to an Englishman it gives the idea of poverty and meanness ; but the
floors, some of which are inlaid, arc good. We say nothing of the furnishing of this palace, because that,
when we saw it, was not completed.
The gi-ounds round the palace o f Rosenstein contain between 200 and 300 acres, and the surface may be
described as that of a flattish hemispherical table-land, laid out in imitation o fth e English manner ; but
it is more formal than would have been the case in England. T h e planting is done in the manner of
Sckell, and Lenne of B e rlin ; combining forest trees with fru it trees, and shrubs with flowers ; and
always having one sort prevailing in one place. In this garden there are no Scotch pines, spruce firs,
or birches: the reason is, as we were informed, th a t the king, when in Russia, and courting his first
wife, was so disgusted with the prevalence of these trees, in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg, and
tbe absence of almost every other kind, th a t he positively forbade their introduction at Rosenstein.
345. Weil ( fg . 93.) is a small pavilion in a rich vaTey, erected from designs bv
Salucci, in 1818, as a sununer lodge. The grounds around are intended to assume the
t e i l
SAXE-WEIIDVR GARDENS. 137
character of an English fann. They are chiefly under meadovy and pasture, with little
artificial planting or ornament. The chief interest of the place is created by the river
Neckar, and by tbe surrounding h ills ; the latter are covered by vineyards on one side,
and by natural forest on the other. Some scars of rock appear in the declirities, partially
shaded by Scotch pines, which add to the interest of the natural character; but this
is powerfully counteracted, and, indeed, in point of taste, the place totally destroyed, by
the recent introduction of straight avenues of lime trees. Wlioevcr directed this, can
have had no idea of unity of character. The kitchen, and other servants’ offices, are at
some distance from the house, and may be seen to tbe right of the picture ( fg . 93.).
This would be an inconvenience in England, but in Wirtemberg it is customary to carrj
the dinners of the royal family in a close iron box over a fire of charcoal; the whole
surrounded by a wooden box, and borne along by two men like a hand-baiTow. The
house contains numerous apartments communicating with a staircase in the centre, lighted
from the ro o f; the rooms have scarcely any distinction of character, and arc neither
well finished nor well furnished. The cow-houses here ai*e as clean as those of Holland,
and might afford a useful lesson to gentlemen’s farm bailiffs in England.
346. The public gardens o f Stuttgard arc neither numerous nor extensive ; because,
as the guide-book observes, the whole surrounding country is a garden, and all the
public roads afford means of enjoying it. Besides, the royal gardens arc at all times
open to the public, and these royal pai-ks and gardens may be reckoned by dozens. A
stranger at first wonders how a people with a very limited tenitory, and without foreign
commerce, can support so many princely cstablisliments; but the wonder in some degree
ceases when he is infoi*med that most of the king’s estates are hereditary property.
347. A s a garden o f festivity, that o f Silberburg ( fg . 94.) is worthy of notice, as one of
the handsomest tea-gardens in Germany. I t is in the neighbourhood of Constadt and
Rosenstein ; and the scene of the discovery of all the remarkable organic remains by means
of which the celebrated Cuvier threw so much light on the science of geology.
348. The general cemetery o f Stuttgard is situated in the suburhs, and occupies three
or four acres. I t is not handsomely laid out, but it abounds with new and beautiful
monuments, of a few of which we had sketches taken in 1828. Though there is only
one main walk thi-ough the centre of the grounds to display these monuments, yet
numbers of them, both near and at a distance ft-om the walk, ai-e suiTounded by shrubs
and flowers enclosed in Avire fencing, A general feature on the tombstones is an extinguished
torch, surmounted by an ascending buttci-fly.
Division vii. Gardening, as an A r t o f Design and Taste, in Saxe- Weimar.
349. “ The park o f Saxe-Weimar," says Granville, “ belongs to the Grand Duke of
Weimar, and is of considerable extent. The gardens, an-anged in the English style,
are rich in partenes, &c., of floAvcrs; in numerous and large shnibberics, intersected
AAuth pleasing and shaded walks, which arc much frequented by the inhabitants ; and
in sylvan and Avoody parts, in Avhich occur, Avith pleasing variety, opening glens, rocks,
hills, and footpaths, winding through the extended scenei-y, leading to a number of
striking points, where a cascade or a statue, a mommient or a i-uin, a grotto or a hermitage,
aiTcsts the attention of the pedestrian. On the borders of the park, and placed