an
exquisite group in silver, and another like it in porcelain; swans are
carved upon the furniture, moulded upon the dishes, painted upon cups
and saucers, embroidered upon cushions and footstools: they serve as
ornaments to antique goblets, as covers to match-boxes, as handles to
vases. The paper-knife upon His Majesty's writing-table is carved
into the same likeness, and swans adorn the top of the pen-handle and
preside over the ink and sand bottles.

Besides the castle of Hohenschwangau, the king has a hunting-lodge
at Linderhof, which is being fitted up with great elegance in the
Renaissance style, and a palace on Lake Starnberg, where he spends
the greater part of his time, its nearness to Munich making it a
convenient residence.

As a consolation for the severities of winter and the utter lack
of beauty in the situation and surroundings of Munich, he has his
winter-garden, that mysterious enclosure at the top of the palace,
which is a perpetual irritant to the curiosity of the public, who
grudge to their ruler every token of that possession of his which
he seems to value above all the rest--his privacy. Now and then some
noted scholar or privileged acquaintance is invited to enter this
green retreat, so that its delights are not all unknown to the outside
world. The garden opens from the private apartments of the king, and
encloses a space of two hundred and thirty-four feet in length by
fifty (in one part ninety) feet in breadth, being, in fact, the upper
story of the west wing of the palace, with a raised and vaulted roof
of iron and glass. The landscape is arranged after the king's own
idea, and is entirely Oriental in vegetation and effect, the long
perspective of tropical luxuriance being closed by a distant view of
the Himalaya Mountains, so admirably executed that the illusion is
not dispelled until the beholder approaches very near to the wall upon
which it is painted. The garden is agreeably diversified by groups of
palms, plantains and other trees, by open lawns adorned with beds
of brilliant flowers, and by sheltered walks and secluded arbors. A
considerable space is occupied by a lake bordered with reeds, the home
of several swans, which float up and down in the dreamy silence: a
little way from the shore stands a small pavilion entirely hidden
in the dense shrubbery that surrounds it; and farther off a gorgeous
_kiosk_ raises its glittering cupolas and slender minarets above the
neighboring bushes