George Ticknor, Life, letters and journals of George Ticknor
George Hillard, Ed.

[29] vase, about two feet and a half long [sunk in the table], with two graceful dolphins rising in the middle of it, who spouted water into the vase, where some goldfish seemed to make themselves very happy. It was the prettiest centre-ornament to a table that I ever saw, and it occupied not a little of our attention, for the monks liked to have it noticed.

An abundance of pure, delicious water is one of the luxuries and beauties of this grand monastery, in different parts of which they have forty fountains, running to waste. When supper was over . . . . we left the hall with ceremonies similar to those by which we entered it. I finished the evening by enjoying the sunset and twilight views of the valley and the mountains, in a long walk with Professor Heinrich, on the hill overlooking the monastery. . . . . Everybody who has once seen them knows how beautiful are such mountains in the receding twilight, reflecting it back with ever-varying tints from the purple rocks and glittering snows, while the rich valleys below are already grown dim or become entirely lost in the gray darkness.

July 6.—We are so comfortably off and so kindly treated that we have determined to stay till to-morrow . . . . Two young monks, one of them a rather smart, jaunty young man of twenty-seven, were deputed by the prior to show me whatever I desired to see. I went with them, therefore, to the library, which contains about thirty thousand volumes, but has a very antiquated and monastic look; there are also fifteen hundred manuscripts, incunabula, etc. In the farming establishment I saw forty cows, who are never allowed to leave their stalls, eating grass out of marble mangers; . . . . a neat, dark dairy, with running water; . . . . another large reservoir full of a sort of large salmon and fresh-water lobsters; in short, whatever should belong to the luxury or comfort of such an establishment, when arranged on the grandest scale. We dined with the Prelate, and after dinner were carried through a long series of rooms—covered with pictures, generally poor, and engravings, some of which, by Albert Durer, were very curious—to his saloon, where we had coffee.

. . . . When this was over, we were carried to the observatory, a heavy, imposing building, erected on the solid rock, nine stories, and nearly two hundred feet high; . . . . the upper part is filled with astronomical instruments, some of which, by Frauenhofer, are probably good . . . . The rest of the afternoon I passed in talking with the monks, and in visiting that part of the establishment devoted to education, which seemed very well managed, and has its refectory, kitchens, church, etc., apart. I supped with the Prelate, and went to