2U 



GERMANY. 



the vessels of Ratisbon held the same rank on the Danube as did those of Genoa 

 and Venice on the Mediterranean. Commerce enriched the town, whose 

 merchants frequented every fair of Europe, and established factories in Asia 

 Minor. The prosperity of Ratisbon aroused the jealousy of Vienna, and of 

 other towns below, and when the Turks closed the mouth of the Danube and the 

 Black Sea against commerce it decayed rapidly. Ratisbon had to sufPer, moreover, 

 from military events which took place in its neighbourhood, and more especially 

 during the Austrian retreat after the battle of Eggmiihl, or Eckmiihl, in 1809. 

 But it is surprising, notwithstanding, that a city which for a century and a half 

 was the seat of the Diet of the empire, and which occupies so favourable a 



Fig. 141. — Pass AU. 

 Scale 1 : 70,000. 



1 Mile. 



geographical position, should not be more populous. Had Ratisbon been chosen 

 the capital of Bavaria, it would no doubt have grown into a large town. Don Juan 

 of Austria, the hero of Lepanto, was born at Ratisbon, and Kepler died there. 



Whether seen from one of the islands of the Danube or from the suburb of 

 Sfadtumhof, Ratisbon must be admitted to be one of the most picturesque towns of 

 Europe. Its gable-roofed houses, watch-towers, and Myalls are quite medîœval in 

 their aspect. The Doni, begun in 1275 and completed in 1634, is perhaps the 

 finest edifice of that kind in all Germany. On a hill to the west of the town rises 

 the famous Wallidlla, a sumptuous imitation of the Parthenon, built by King 

 Ludwig of Bavaria as a temple of glory of Germany's great men. 



Ambcrg (13,380 inhabitants), the old capital of the Upper Palatinate (Obtr- 



