The same Piazza leads also to the Riding-House, which is one of the finest I ever saw. ’Tis 366 Feet in Length, and 76 in Breadth. It has 80 great Windows, and all round within there runs a fine Corridor or Gallery to hold the Spectators, when there are any Carrousels or Tournaments. This Corridor is parted by the Elector’s Box, which is big enough to contain all the Electoral Family, and adorn’d with very rich Sculptures. The Gallery of the Palace, which reaches to the grand Piazza of the Garden, leads also to the Opera Room, which is very large, and very high. The Stage is answerable to the Grandeur and Magnificence of the Room, and the Decorations are superb, and very numerous. As the Electoral Prince is very fond of Music, he prefers the Opera to any other Performance, and gives Orders himself for what may serve to render it most splendid. You will judge that no Cost is spar’d, the Decorations, Machines, Habits and every Thing being equally noble, and well contriv’d.
Upon the Days that any Feast is celebrated at Court, as Birth-days and the like, when there’s an Opera, at the Overture there descends from the Top of the Stage a Lustre of extraordinary Grandeur and Structure, which rises up again immediately after the first Act; a Custom, for which I never could yet hear of any good Reason. This Lustre surprizes the more, because it comes unexpected. The Ceiling opens to let it down, as well as to take it up again.
’Tis said, that when the Great Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, made his victorious Entry at Munich, one of that great Monarch’s Generals advis’d him to burn the Palace of the Electors, but he refus’d to do it, in which he was
Greater than the Great Alexander, who reduc’d the superb Palace of Darius to a Heap of Ashes. The only Thing that made the Swedish Monarch uneasy was, that he could not carry to Sweden the fine Chimney-piece in the great Hall, that I mention’d to you.
I will next treat of the Princes that compose the August Family of Bavaria, which is one of the most Illustrious in Europe. The Elector’s Name was Maximilian Emanuel Mary: No Man could have a grander Air, or a better Shape than this Prince had; and with those external Qualities, he had others, without which the former are of little or no Value. He was generous, affable, compassionate, and in Consequence ador’d by his Subjects: He knew how to support his Dignity with Grandeur: His Expence was great, but well-judg’d: He marry’d to his first Wife the Archduchess, Daughter of the Emperor Leopold, by whom he had a Son, who was snatch’d from him by Death, when the young Prince was become Heir to one of the chief Crowns in the World, after the Death of Charles II. King of Spain, by Right of Succession from his Grandmother, who was the Daughter of Philip IV.
After the Death of the Electoress, the Elector marry’d a Princess of Poland, viz. Theresa Cunegonda Sobieski, Daughter to King John Sobieski. This Princess lives so retir’d, that, excepting her own Family, she sees no body but Two or Three Ladies and her Confessor. She resides most commonly at Taco, a Seat given her by the Elector. When the Princess is at Munich, she employs herself in Works of Charity, one while visiting sick Women, at other Times the several Convents; and in these Visits she never fails to leave Marks of her Bounty.
The Elector has had several Children by her: The First is the Electoral Prince, whose Name is Albert Cajetan: This Prince gave Proof in the War in Hungary, and at the Siege of Belgrade, that he would be the Heir of the great Qualities of the Elector his Father, as well as of his Dominions: He acquir’d a high Reputation at Vienna, and every body was charm’d with the grand Presence and Talents of this Prince, whose Deportment to all that came to him could not be exceeded for Civility. He talk’d Latin, French and Italian with as much Ease as his native Language.
The Duke Ferdinand is the Elector’s Second Son, tho’ he was first marry’d to a Princess of Neubourg, a Niece of the Elector Palatine. This Duke is the handsomest of the Elector’s Sons; he is perfectly well-shap’d, and has the finest Head of Hair that can be seen; in short, he is a very amiable Prince: He loves Pleasure, but is not a Slave to it; his favourite Sport is Hunting, which he follows commonly with the Princes his Brothers.
Duke Clement is the Elector’s Third Son, and he who has hitherto been Fortune’s greatest Favourite. When I went to Munich, this Prince had been newly elected Bishop of Munster and Paderborn, in the Room of the Duke his Brother, who dy’d at Rome a little after his Election to the Bishoprick. Duke Clement was already Bishop of Ratisbon, when he was chose Bishop of Munster and Paderborn; but he resign’d Ratisbon to Duke Theodore, the last of the Bavarian Princes. These Four Princes, and a Princess, who turn’d Nun at the Time that I was at Munich, are the Elector’s whole Family, and the only Princes of the House of Bavaria.