A TRAVELLER AT BERLIN". j 



here are likewife four antique ftatues which have been 

 reftored by Cavaceppi ; and, in fhort, the whole room 

 infpires one with fentiments of elegance and grandeur, 

 might appear with credit in any part of Italy, and ap- 

 pealed my choler, that had arifen at the light of the 

 exterior. It is no wonder, thought I, if the wifefl 

 people fometimes act as though they were void of all 

 reflection, fo that one can by no means reconcile their 

 ways with their principles, hnce this architect, who was 

 capable of defigning fuch a beautiful and noble vefti- 

 bule, could yet give the building fuch a tawdry facade. 

 — From this antechamber we proceed to the grotto- 

 hall, which is finiihed in a different flyle of beauty. 

 The cieling is low and vaulted; on two of the fides is 

 a feparate entrance, between large four-cornered pillars. 

 Thefe and the feveral fountains that are introduced, 

 which however are only make-believe fountains, as they 

 have not a drop of water belonging to them, give it 

 fomethins; of the refemblance of a grotto : but its 

 regular difpofition excludes all idea of nature^ and 

 therefore its appellation, the grotto-hall, is the moil 

 fuitable that could have been found for it. On the 

 pillars, the walls, and the cieling, are various compart- 

 ments, artificially adorned with different devices in 

 fhells. The beauty and variety of the defigns, the 

 multitudes of the feveral forts of fhells, which together 

 form a very considerable cabinet ; and the ingenious 

 arrangement of a large affortment of fhells of one clafs, 

 excite an agreeable aftonifhment. You know how much 

 I admired the beautiful grotto in the gardens of Ma- 

 dame von Cyderfeldt, near Utrecht, which was con* 

 .Itructed by a certain Herr vo,n Moll, who had th$ 

 vol, ii. l efUts 



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