414 Notes and Jtcflections during a Tour. 



passes any thing of the kind which we have ever seen in 

 Britain. With us, if any thing of this kind is met with in 

 the pubHc roads, it is chiefly the result of accident, either in 

 the situation or circumstances of the road ; or arises from the 

 appointment of a road surveyor who happens to have at 

 once some taste, and more than ordinary facihties for dis- 

 playing it. In Bavaria, the whole is the result of design and 

 system, the entire management of the roads being in the 

 hands of the government. The same ought certainly to be 

 the case in this country ; for, otherwise, it is utterly impossible 

 to adopt one general system of improvement. 



The towns in Bavaria, and more especially those of 

 larger size, are vigilantly attended to by the commission 

 mentioned ; partly because the present king has some taste 

 for architecture and sculpture, and partly because architec- 

 tural improvement tells more immediately than any other. 

 New bridges, public buildings, churches, and palaces have 

 been erected or repaired at Munich ; and the public, when 

 we were there, were complaining loudly of the enormous 

 sums which were then being lavishly expended on two royal 

 palaces. Unlike our own, however, they were at least in 

 good taste, as may be seen by a view of one of them, which 

 we have elsewhere given.* The truth is, the revenue of the 

 country is too small for the consumption of immense sums in 

 the erection of palaces, more especially while there is so 

 much room for the employment of capital in the formation 

 of railroads and canals. The Chevalier Baader has a 

 magnificent plan for connecting Munich with the Rhine and 

 the Danube, by means of a railroad ; which would not have 

 cost more than what has been laid out by the present king in 

 erecting a gallery {Jig. 109. p. 401.) for statues and sculptures, 

 another of immense size for pictures, and two palaces ; and 

 in purchasing the statues, pictures, and furniture required 

 to complete these buildings. These galleries and palaces 

 may no doubt bring some travellers to Munich, but the rail- 

 road alluded to would have diminished the distance between 

 France and Austria by one half; would have introduced the 

 wines of Hungary to the British market, and would have 

 enriched every part of Bavaria through which it passed. 

 Such is the difference between the consumption of capital 

 and the employment of it. 



On the whole, Bavaria is, we think, the most interesting 

 country in Germany, in point of cultivation and of civilis- 



* Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture, fig. 1661. 

 p. 953. 



