DONATION OF Charlotte and Mary Thayer, TO THE Borc8ci5tcr ^ntiqxiavian antr J^intotital V. 7f w 4 / Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/travelsthroughge21ries TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. I N A SERIES OF LETTERS^ WRITTEN IN GERMAN BT THE BARON RIESBECK, AND TRANSLATED BY 1' H E REV. MR. MATY, LATE SECRETARY TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY, AND UNDER LIBRARIAN TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM. IN TWO VOLUMES. V O L. IL DUBLIN: Printed for Me/T. White, Byrne, and Whitestonb, M.DCC.LXXXYIJ, CONTE NTS Q F THE SECOND VOLUME, LETTER L p. i. Ertzgiberge peak — Drefden — Fortifica- tions — Account of the eledor's impolitic con- dud, and the capture of his army — ^The Greea Vault, or private treafury. LETTER IL p. ii. Drefden manufadures — People commended for blending intelledlual pleafures with fenfual — Defcription of the theatres — Army. LETTER in. p. %i. Limited power of the eleftor' — Bavaria aad Saxony compared — Religion— Italian Walfties, their frugality and induftry- — Remarkable anec- dote of the eleftor — Variety of religions in Ger«- many. as LET- CONTE NTS. L E T T E R IV. p. 33. Saxon induftry — Mines — Commendable qua- lities of the Saxons — Population — Granaries wanted here — Pitiable fituation of the farmers — Fifhing- — Women defcribed— Leipiick — Inha- bitants, their way of living, and amufements — Poets. LETTER V. p. 45. Commerce and manufadlures of Leipfick — Fair inconfiderable — Books — Seeds of litera- ture and tafte firft fown in Germany — Language — Genius and arts. LETTER VL p. 53. Weimar and Gotha, fome account of them — Chara6ler of the duke — Wieland, a celebrated German writer — Gothe, the duke's favourite, ac- count of him — Inhabitants of Gotha, their dif- polition and manners — Export — Income — Inha- bitants. LETTER VII. p. 67. Origin of the Reformation — JEneas Sylvius —Mayer — Italy and France, their indifpofednefs to a reformation — Depraved manners of the German clergy tended to produce a change — Luther — Erafmus — Catholics no lefs enlightened than proteftants — Wherein the merit of refor- mers confifts — Lutherans. L E T- CONTENTS. LETTER VIII. p. 88. Wittemberg — Berlin defcribed — Caufes of dearnefs of provifions in Saxony — Government in general, here, not myfterious. L E T T E R IX. p. 97. Potfdani' — King of Priiflia, remarks concern- ing him — Pruffian government — State of Englifh and Pruffian farmers compared — Agriculture — Pruffian taxes — Anecdote of Brenkenhofi^ — Sheep •—Silk — Traits of the king of Pruffia's charader. LETTER X. p. 123. True principles of the excife and monopoly yet in Pruffia — Influence of high taxes on the necelfaries of life — Treafury — Pruffian ftate the richeft in Europe— 'Wifdom and happy effedts of the Pruffian government. LETTER XL p. 139. King of Pruffia's true chara6ler delineated— Anecdote concerning him — His condu6l to- wards the emperor — Mifreprefented refpeding the part he took in the partition of Poland — Moderation in the laft Bavarian war — 'Laudable ends of his military regiments — Number and ex- pence of his army — Military difcipline— Inte- rior government and tadlics of the Pruffian army. LETTER XIL p. 161. Number of Pruffian fubjecls — Dominions—- Income — Silelia celebrated for its trade — Flou- rilhing G O N T E N T rilhing ftate of the fciences and literature in Ber- lin — German genius accounted dull — Caufes of its flow progrefs — The moft diftinguifhed literati — Poetefles. LETTER XIII. p. 185. Amufements at Berlin — Opera — Adors con- temptible — Account of the prince of PrufTia — Incomes of the Pruffian princes and princeffes— Anecdote of the late king. LETTER XIV. p. 203. Mecklenberg — Inhabitants, and prince's re- venues — Farmers — 'Nobieffe — Women -Defcrip- tion of Hamburg— Epicurifm and Luxury of the Hamburghers — Lake of Alfterilufs — Altona city and its inhabitants. L E TT E R XV. p. 2x3. Trade of Hamburg — Danifh government ini- mical to the Hamburghers — Fluctuating ftate of fortunes here — Poor burgher's funds — ¥/eIl re- gulated government — Legiflative alTembly — Council — Income of the ftate — Taxes — Gofs, the orthodox pricll of Hamburg, humorous par- ticulars concerning Mm. L E T T E R XVI. p. 233. Charadterillics. of the Danes — Vilit to a .Danifh prieft, and hum.orous circumftances attend- ing it-— Government of Denmark — St. Germain's treatment at Copenhagen— Piinciples of govern- ment CONTENTS. V ment recommended by Straenfee — Militia and army — Political plan recommended to Denmark — Lubeck fuperior to Hamburgh in population, riches, and trade. LETTER XVIL p. 249- Defcription of Hanover — Inundations of the Wefer— Difpofitions of the people — Farmers- Bremen, its trade and inhabitants — Embden : people lazy and ftupid — Trade — Oldenburg and Delmenhorfl: : people and revenue — Farther defcription of Hanover and the inhabitants — Biihop of Ofnaburg, his revenue — Hanover the moft miferable part of Germany — Government — Brunfwick — Freemafons. LETTER XVIIL p. 258. Ideal beauty not difcoverable in Germany — National pride of the Germans ill founded, and cenfured — Comparifon between them and the inliabitants of the fouthern nations, and the lat- ter preferred — ^ProfelTor Schloffer's partial fpirit expofed — Defcription of Gottingen — Its univer- fit) — Introduiiiory method of education objeded to — Inhabitants of Caffel, and their manners defcdbed — -Landgrave's fabjeds — Military flate — -Taxes. LETTER XIX. p. 279. Yv'urtzburg — Face of the country — People and prince of Fulda— Defcription of the city and people of Wurtzburg. — Tolerant fpirit of the vl CONTENTS. the priefthood.- — Witches Agriculture and nunneries. — Franconia. — Bamberg and the inha- bitants defcribed. — Ordeal proof of chaftity. — Anecdote of a fpirit. — Mendicant friars. — Be- nefices. — Nuremberg and the inhabitants defcrib- ed. — Manufadlures. — Territory and population. LETTER XX. p. 295. Francfort. — SpeiTart foreft. — Afchaffenburg. ' — Curious memorial. — Defcription of Francfort. — Trade. — -Government. Literati. Jews, their various tra flick, and impertinence. — Col- leges — City government. — -Vexatious law-fuits. LETTER XXL p. 307. Mentz. — Hochft city. — Hiflory of Bolongaro. — Condud of the regencies of Francfort and Mentz towards him, cenfured. — China manu- fa£lure. — Villages, farms, and inhabitants. — Wickeard. — Wine of Hockeim, its excellent quality. — Delightful road to Mentz. — Darm/ladt; place, people, and prince defcribed. — Terri- tory and peafants. — PvCgiments excellent troops. — Hanau. — Manufadures.' — Refpedable charac- ter of its prince. — Frederickfdorf. — -Amiable princefs. — Odonwalde, and SpeCTart mountain. — Donnerfberg mountain. LETTER XXn. p. 331. Northern parts of the city of Meatz defcrib- ed. — Cathedral. — Laws compelling feducers of women to marry them, proved to be of bad con- fequence. — Clergy. — Excellent regulations in re- ligion. CONTENTS. vii ligion.— Anecdote of a Swifs officer. — ^Trade. — Nobility. — Peafants. LETTER XXIII. p. 347. St. Boniface, ftyled the apoftle of the Ger- mans, fome account of him.— Great power and influence of the archbifhops of Mentz. — Taxes, and their produce. — The beautiful village of the Rhinegau. — Rudefheim. — Grape-feftival there. —Wines produced in this village. — Count of Oftein's magnificent palace, and the romantic profpecl from it. — City of Bingen, with its in- habitants, and their traffick. — Defcription of the people of the Rhinegau ; and a comparifon of the modern and ancient Germans. — Lordly monks of Erbach ; their pilgrimage to a wood near Geyfenheim, and their fcandalous miracles. LETTER XXIV. p. 367. Military eftabiifhment of Mentz. — Fortifica- tions. — Court of Manheim, its abfurd magni- ficence and diflipation. — Extreme fruitfulnefs of the Palatinate. — Enormous impofls and cuftoms. — Corrupt adminiftration. — Oppreffion of the inhabitants. — Manufadures. — Particular defcrip- tion of Manheim and its inhabitants. Inferior to Munich. — Government arbitrary. LETTER XXV. p. 381. Voyage from Mentz to Cologne. — Romantic and pidurefque appearance of the country near the Rliine. — Bacharach and Kaub defcribed. — Whirl- ^iii CONTENTS. Whirpool of St. Goar's bank. — Coblentz rec- koned a dead town, and contains about i ^,000 inhabitants. — Strong attachment of its prince to the papal fyftem. — Country between Coblentz and Cologne fine and well peopled. — Defcrip- tion of tlie city and port of Cologne. — Monks, their mercenary difpofitions. LETTER XXVI. p. 390. Cologne. — Combination of beggars. — Ac- count of the eccleliaftic there. — Unlimited free- dom and wantonnefs of the nuns. — Story of St. Urfula, v/ith her i i,oco virgins — St. Gereon, with his i2,oco foldiers. — -Hiftory of the two v/hite wooden horfes. — Wretched fermons of the monks* LETTER XXVn. p. 404. Army, commerce, and manufa6lures of Co- logne — Number of inhabitants— Intolerance and bigotry of the people. — Dutch trading fliips here, curious particulars concerning them. — Nume- rous cuftom-houfe duties, and tolls paid by vef- fels failing on the Rhine.^ — P.evolution expeded here, under the archduke Maximilian. — ^Go- vernment of Cologne and Munfler- — Income. LETTER XXVIIL p. 414. View of the countries from Cologne to Am- flerdam, their cities, people, trade, manufadures, religion, &c. — Weftphalia lefs cultivated and produdive than the countries nearer the Rhine. —Hoi- CONTENTS. ' — Holland. — Dutch penurioufnefs and avarice difplayed. — Extraordinary government and po- lice of Amfterdam. LETTER XXIX. p. ^%%. Opinions concerning the ancient formation of the countries near Amfterdam. — Dreadful incroachments of the fea on Zealand, &c. — Nimeguen and Arnheim likely to be fubdued by the Rhine. ^Dykes and canals. Internal ftrength of the Republic deficient. — ^Trade. — Independent States of Holland. — States Gene- ral defcribed. — Caufes of the univerfal anarchy prevalent here. — The reformed and Memnonites the real inftruraents which opprefs the Stadt- holder. — ^Their odious charadler. — Poverty and nakednefs of the Dutch expofed by the late war, LETTER XXX. p. 439- Oftend. — Entrance into its haven dangerous. — ^Mouth of the Scheld locked up by the Dutch, whereby they have almoft ruined the trade of Antwerp. — Famous for infurance, and extreme- ly opulent. — Gharaderiftics of the Antwerpers. —Numerous convents and monks in the Auilri- an Netherlands. — Extreme bigotry and intole- rance of the inhabitants. — ^Nobility. — City of Brulfels defcribed.-^Glubs, refpedlable ones here. ■ — Duke of Saxe-Tofchen, the governor, and the archdutchefs, account of them. — Revolu- tion of Holland broke out in the Auftrian Ne- therlands. LET- X CONTENTS. LETTER XXXI. p. 446. General Review of Germany. — Countries near the Rhine, their produce. — Square miles in, and population of the chief provinces — King of Pruffia's eftimate of the whole number of people. — Partition of the country into vari- ous ftates advantageous to cultivation. — -Peculiar turn of the Germans. — Their charadler, indull try, reditude. — Peafants and inferior inhabitants not fo corrupt as thofe of France and other countries — National characleriftics of preteftants and catholics. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMAN Y. LETTER I. Drefden," Dear Brother, I HAVE at once got into an entirely new world. As foon as you have paffed the confines of Bohemia, which are diftinguifhed by a paint- ed brick poft ten feet high, with the arms of the country on it ; you meet with an entirely differ- ent agriculture, a different people, and a differ- ent language. I now, for the firfl time, heard the common people fpeak intelligible German, for throughout Bavaria, Suabia, and Auflria, they fpeak a jargon, which a man, who has learned the language of a language-mafter, has the utmoft difficulty to underiland. I am now, for the firlt time, really in Germany; only a very fmall part of the country I have hitherto travelled through, to Vol. IL B wit, 2 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. wit, the fmall ftrip of land which is betwixt the Danube and the Rhine in Suabia, made part of that old Germany, the inhabitants of which were fo formidable to the Romans ; the remainder is all conquered country, which at that time was called Vindelicia, Rhaetia, and Pannonia. In the times of Pepin and Charlemagne the limits of Germany were confined even on this fide ; for as the Sclavonians had before driven the Burgun- dians, Suabians, and other German nations over the Elbe, thefe now poffeffed themfelves of their habitations, and drove the inhabitants of Ger- many, M^ho lived in the diftrids of Mentz and Rheims, mto Gaul. The nations were like a row of balls, the moft eaftern of which was llruck and drove the others forward in fucceffion. In modem times, that is, ever fmce Luther, Saxony has been looked on as one of the firft provinces of Germany, in every fenfe of the word. In re- gard to literature particularly, the Saxons were to the reft of the Germans, what the Florentines were fome centuries ago to the othet people of — — — .' But I am going too faft, you fhall know all this in due time ; I muft firft tell you how I got here, and what was the face of the country through which I came. The part of Bohemia, through which our way from Prague hither lay, feems infinitely richer and more beautiful than that betwixt Prague TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 3 Prague and Auftria. The agriculture, like the country itfelf, is more varied, the people live clofer together, and feem to be happier. Hills, woods, plains, and vales, form an agreeable contrail with each other ; and the vine, which is not to be feen elfewhere on this fide Prague, here covers the fides of the hills. We faw the well wooded peak of the Ertzgi- berge, the higheft fummit of which parts Saxony and Bohemia. Thefe hills are but of a very mo- derate height, and if they make a refpe6lable ap- pearance here, it is only becaufe, from hence to the mouth of the Elbe and the eaftern fea, there is no other remarkable hill to be feen. The peo- ple who come up here from the low lands, and for the firft time of their lives fee a hill which de- ferves the name, make a great fhout, and think they have feen the pedeftal of heaven ; juft fo in Bohemia, the Riefengeberge is indebted for its re- putation to the fmall notion which thofe who have brought it into repute have of hills ; and thus it may formerly have been with Atlas, Olympus, Athos, Parnalfus, and the other hills fo noted in hiftory. ^ Moore, who travelled this road before me, af- ferts that there is a great diflference in point of natural fertility, betwixt the borders of Saxony and the borders of Bohemia, to the advantage of the former ; I have found the dire6l contrary. B 2. It 4 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. It is certain, that the foil of Bohemia is by na- ture much richer than any part of Saxony, which it fupplies with great part of its provifions. The circle of Leutmerilfer in particular^hrough which the common road paffes, is uncommonly produdive, nor is there any part of Saxony that can bear a comparifon with it ; but then, on the other hand, the improved fiate of agriculture is "vifible, as foon as you fet } our feet on Saxon ground. One need only look round to be con- vinced that the conllitution of Saxony is infinitely more favourable to induftry and agiiculture than that of Bohemia. The Saxon farmer (hews more underftanding and reflexion in the manage- ment of his land than the Bohemian one does, and every thing about him attefis that he is no flave. Drefden has a proud appearance, and offers on all fides a magnificent objecl ; it is beyond all comparifon the fined city which I have yet feen in Germany. The houfes are built in a much better tafte than thofe of Vienna, and the eye i$,., quite dazzled with the long and magnificeut ap- pearance of the bridge over the Elbe. Ttis ri- ver, which at fome diftance from thement that the for- tifications about this town were firfl: built, but it is more unfortunate ftill, that inftead of pullmg them entirely down, thofe who are concerned are at this inftant employed in repairing them. Commanded as this city is, from every fide, and with no reafonable expedlations, in its prcfent fituation, of ever being able to preferve a neu- trality on the breaking out of any war betwixt the king of Pruffia and the Auftrians, it is more than any other in danger of being plundered and laid walle. Indeed one would have imagined that the deyallations of the years 1758 and 1760, were ftill frefh enough in every man's memory to hav.e been a warning to the regency. 6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. The town does not feem to be peopled in pro- portion to the quantity of ground it flands on. The number of inhabitants is generally eftimated at fifty thoufand, which many think too high. The fa6l is, that it has loll a third of its inhabi- tants lince the breaking out of the laft Silefian war, and the death of king Augaftus. The ftrangers who knew this city before this sera, cannot fay enough of the difference there now is, a difference not fo much arifing from the misfortune of war, as from the oeconomy of the court, which has followed clofe on the diffi- pation of other times. In the late eleclor's time, this court was perhaps the moil brilliant in Eu- rope. The court band of mufic, the opera, and the dancers alone, were fuppofed to coft the Ele6lor annually 300,000 Saxon guilders, or up- wards of 780,000 French livres. His table, his Hables, and his hunters, were all in the fame Ityle of expence. Strangers ufed to flock hither from all countries, to be partakers in this magni- ficence, and Drefden was the rendezvous of the north for tafte and refined living. Tlie numerous followers of the court, and the great number of ftrangers, occafioned a very extenfive circula- tion of money, and made all the arts alive. In the midft of this profufion debts were contraded, but they gave the Eledor little concern, as is evi- dent from the following anecdote. One night at the opera, having a fire-work, which was part of th^ TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 7 the decoration of a temple, and ufed to cofl fe- verai hundred thalers, he called for his chamber- lain, and defired to know the reafon of the omif- fion ; the chamberlain told him, that the heathen gods and goddelTes muft for this night be con- tented with a fire of twenty or thirty guilders, as there was no money left in the treafury to pay for any thing more fplendid. The Eledor was compelled to acquiefce for the moment, as it was too late for him to dootherwife, but he gave ftridl orders, that in the next reprefentation, and in every fucceeding one, the whole fum of thalers fhould be burnt out. A court which is mounted on this ton is feldom poffelTed of a firm and found government. The minifters were dazzled, like the Eledlor, with outfide fhew and fplendourj they wanted to give themfelves airs of confequence, and em- barked in enterprizes to which the impoverifhed ftateof the country was not equal ; the refult was, that they got into a confufion which prevented them from knowing either their own ftrength, or that of the other powers they had to contend with. Univerfal diflipation produced falfehood, treachery, and every other vice; the moft im- portant pofts w^ere fold, or given to flattery and intrigue ; one w^as made a privy counfellor, be- caufe he danced well, and another a general, be- caufe he could blow the flute. I need not add, that S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. that wom^n are ultimately the grand movers of the polities of fuch a court. It is generally agreed on, that the Eledor him- felf loved fliew and expence more than he did women; but the fcandalous chronicle of his court goes beyond all that has ever been heard of the kind, and his love of fhew encouraged, at leaft, if it did not produce, the dilTolutenefs of. his fubjefe. Amidft the intoxication of prof- perity, the minifter adopted a plan of operations it W2LS impoffible he Ihould fee the end of, and which left him at the difcretion of the more powerful monarch, with whom he entered into a league againft a dangerous neighbour. This was probably one of the moil impolitic treaties which hiflory has to recount. T he Saxons en- tered into an alliance with Ruffia, which was fo formidable to Poland; they attached themfelves to Auftria, which without them was ftronger than, the king of Pruflia ; and they endeavour- ed to weaken the power of this la ft named monarch, who was able to maintain the balance of power in Germany. In all thefe three things they broke through the firft maxim of a nation, whkh is in the midft of others, never to take the part of the ftrongeft, but always that of the weakeft. A minifter whofe preparatives were fo weak, could not be expelled to do much when came to action. The king of Pruflia fell upon the TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 9 the country as Charles XII. had fallen upoa Poland, under Auguftus the Second. The army, which was feventeen thoufand men ftrong, and which was expeded to do fuch mighty things, furrendered without ftriking a ftroke, and no wonder, for fome of the colonels were eu- nuchs. This total rout by degrees waked the genius of -Saxony from his flumbers ; all the gentry of the country, excepting only the creatures of the miniftry, were in a flame ; and now there was a chorus of creditors and complainants of all or- ders, who made a horrid dilfonance with the Bacchanalian revels of former days. All the world gave the country over for loft, nor could it have been faved but for the free courfe given to the extraordinary fpirit of fru?* gality and induftry, which marks the people ; and for a minifter, who was as active and patri- otic as the other had been dilTolute and cow^ ardly. In one of my future letters I will give you an exa6l account of the prefent Hate of the country. One • of the wonders which makes the moft noife here, is the celebrated green vault, or pri- vate treafury, in the eledtoral palace. You would naturally imagine they would be fhy of Ihewing it to ftrangers, till what was carried to Holland and fold there during the laft Silelian war 10 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. war was replaced ; no fuch thing, they made no difficulties whatever, but the man who fhewed it me, and two Ruffian noblemen in my com- pany, alTured me, that things were exadly in Jiatii quo. The colleclion, after all, is flill admi- rable ; I am, however, of opinion, that the trea- fures of Vienna and Munich are but little infe- rior ; and I am much deceived, if thofe of fome cathedrals I have feen are not fully equal. The picture gallery, the colle6lion of antiques, the prints, and the colledion of natural hiftory, are much greater obje6ls of curiofity, in my eyes, than the green vault. The pi6lure gallery is the moft remarkable in Europe ; belides the pidures in water-colours, it contains twelve hundred pie- ces of the beft m afters. Amongft them is the famous birth of Ghrift, commonly called The Nativity, by Corregio, which paffes for the beft work of that mafter ; it coft above half a million of livres. Some perfons, however, J)refer The St. George, likewife by Corregio ; this ought pro- perly to be called The Virgin, for fhe is the prin- cipal figure in the piece, and the St. George, with other faints, is ftanding about her.- The gallery contains feveral pieces by Carrachi, amongft which is his beft work ; it is a St. Roch, giving alms ; this picture is known in Italy by the name of Opera deW Elemojtna. I^ETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. L E T T E R IL Drefden. T H E longer I ftay here, my deareft brother, , the more I think myfelf at home ; the manners, way of living, amufements, converfation, and, in fhort, all that belongs to the inhabitants of this .place, make me think myfelf at Paris. I only wifh that our ladies, both married and un- married, were as frefh and as handfome as the ladies of this place are. I recoiled that an Au- ftrian lady made the following anfwer to a gen- tlem^an who was extolling the Saxon women ia *her company. ^ Give us only,' faid fhe, as ' handfome and ftrong-built m.en, as the Saxons ' are, and we will take care of the reft.' Eating drinking do not go forwards here, quite fo brifkly as in the fouthern parts of Ger- many ; in this refped^, indeed the difference be- twixt the Saxons and Germans I have hitherto lived with is total. The broth here is fo thin, the cookery fome times fo cold, and always fo flender, that I do not believe an inhabitant of Vienna could make Ihift to live a month with a family in the middling ranks of life here. In- deed I have had occafion to obferve, even in the very IS TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. very beft houfes, an attention to the cellar and kitchen, which in Auftria and Bavaria would pafs for poverty. This rigid ceconomy extends to every article of houfekeeping. The only appearance of ex- pence is in the article of drefs ; this, indeed, is carried farther here, than it is in the fouth of Germany. Every perfon in the middling rank of life, I might add in the lower ones too, men, as well as women, drefs according to the fafhi- ©n; whereas at Vienna, Munich, and other places I have vifited, there is a kind of national, drefs, which perfons even of a better kind conform to. I lodge at a watchmaker's, whofe two daugh- ters have their regular toilettes ^ and have their hair dreifed every day ; on the other hand, they con- sent themfelves with a flice of bread and butter, • or bread and cheefe for fupper, which I often partake of w^ith them. There are hardly three noblemen's houfes here which have ftables with twenty horfes in them ; and porters, valets dc chamhresy &c. which make fo great an objedi at Vienna, are very fcarce. It is true, they call a footman here valet de chambrey as they do at Pa- ris^ but the wages of a Vienna valet dc chambrc are twice as high as thofe of a Drefden one, though living at Vienna is as cheap again. — ^ Here the women are not afharned to go into their kitchens, tell out their candles and bits of can- dles. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 13 dies, and calculate how long they will burn. In a word, excepting only the article of drefs, every thing is in a ftyle of the ftridell .ceco- nomy. There are very few rich people here ; hardly any of the nobility have more than 30,000 fiojins a year, and moll of the beft houfes have only from 1 5 to !^o,ooo. As to the common people, they a*re always crying out on the want of mo- ney, the dearnefs of provifions, and the little that is to be got here by indullry ; and, if they compare things as they are now, with what they were under the late Ele6lor, they have certainly Ibme reafon for their complaints ; but I know no city in Germany, where there is fuch a general appearance of eafe and plenty as there is here; extreme poverty is. as rare as overgrown fortunes. The money in circulation is for the xnoit part thrown into motion by the indufiry of the peo- ple, a thing which, more than any thing elfe, diftinginihes this place from Vienna and Mu- nich, which fubfift only by the expences of the court, and the vices of the nobility. This fingle town contains more manufadhir- ers and ufeful artifls than all Eavaria. They make a large quantity of ferges, woollen, and fiik cloths, &c. with which they carry on a great trade all through Germany, As the money is got 14 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. got by fuch hard labour, it is not matter of wonder that they fhould be fparing of it. The circumftances which the country was in during the reign of the late Eledor, are by no means the moft favourable to political profpe- rity. They remind one of a body which takes too much food and too little exercife, for the fluids to be equally diftributed through the feve- ral canals. Some of the inhabitants of the^lace, with whom I have talked on the fubjed, have been forced to allow, that even during the time in which the court was in its greatefl: fplendour, there was much more poverty amongft the low- er clalfes than there is at prefent. The prodiga- lity of the higher orders had tainted their inferi- ors, and the eafe with which it was to be got leffened the value of money in the eyes of the pofTeiTors. The greateft part of it went to fo- reigners, without firft circulating, as it Ihould have done, amongft the natives. Flatterers, pimps, whores, projedlors, dancers, fingers, and the like, divided the booty of the court amongft them, and carried the greateft part of it out of the country ; only thofe who v/ere near the court partook in any conliderable degree of the fpoils ; the remainder was loft in fo many narrow chan- nels, that the greateft part of the people never got a ftiare of it. Indeed, Munich is a vifible inftance, in our own day, how little even the moft TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 15 moft unlimited paffion of a court for pleafure and expence can contribute to the well-being and true happinefs of the inhabitants of a great city. I am ready, however, to allow, that there is lefs mirth here than there was formerly; at leaft it is certain, that the natural good-humour and joviality, which nature has given to thefe people, is often clouded over with a certain me-, lancholy; this may be occafioned, as at Paris, by the recolledion of their great debts, but I ra^ ther think it is owing to their uncommon and extraordinary ceconomy, and the reftraint this throws on the freedom of their minds. It is, however, certainly in confequence of this provi- dent call, that there is more tine pleafure to be met with here than in any town of Germany I have hitherto vifited. The people of Vienna and Munich know no other delight than to fill their paunches, divert themfelves with the non- lenfe of a harlequin, and play at nine pins. All the gardens of the inns of Vienna are laid out in bowling greens ; I reckoned twenty of them ia one garden. Here they know how to mix intel- le6lual pleafures with fenfual ones. They, like us, are in the habit of making fmall country parties, and have a tafte for the various beau- ties of nature : even amongfl: the middling ranks, there is a tafte for the fine arts, and reading is al- mofl univerfal; nor is the latter, as in the fouth- era i6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. cm parts of Germany, confined within the nar- row bounds of plays and romances, but it ex- tends to good books of hiftory, morality, and other important fubje6ls. The fociety of nobles have a reader with a title and appointments. I think Mr. Pilati s obfervation of the difference there is betwixt the Proteftant and Catholic parts of Germany in this refpedl a very juft one ; he fays, that the yoang men of tw^enty in the former know moi^e than many old literati by profeffion do in the latter. The difference (truck me ' fo much, that I felt as if I had juft come out of Spain into France. All that they are endeavour- ing with fo much clatter to introduce into the fchools of Vienna, feems to have been done here fome generations ago. A few days fince, I vifited a fchool in a village at a little diftance from the town, and found more order and real inftru(5lion in it, than in the beft fchools at Vi- enna. The mofl ordinary pec^le here difplay in every thing a nice acquaintance with what- ever regards good manners, and the conduct of focial life. In the fouthern parts of the coun- try, excepting only a fmall ftrip of Suabia, a common citizen is a ftranger in his own circle, and thinks of nothing in the courfe of the week, but how to guttle on the Sunday, The contrail betwixt the women of the two countries is equally ftriking. Thofe of the fouth- ern TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 17 em parts of Germany have notliing but their beauty, but tbefe have beauty and animation too. They appear, however, Toon to fade, and I faw few women paft thirty, in whom the marks of old age were not apparent. Poffibly this may be owing in fome degree to their ex- treme vivacity ; but I fhould rather think it owing to the flender nourifhment, joined to their great labour, and the weight of their domeftic cares. The Bavarian women perhaps excel thofe of Drefden in complexion, but the latter are much better made, and their countenances are much more interefting. The theatres here are in the fame flate as all other public amulements which require expence. T he inhabitants are too oeconomical to pay for an entertainment, which the court formerly gave them for r.cthing, and the lofs of which is ealily made up for by the charms of their private fo- cieties. A few years ago, there was one of the beft company of comedians in all Germany here; the manager, Mr. Seiler, had no fettled abode, but ufed to vifit the fair of Leiplick, and the other neighbouring cities, where he got toge- ther all the adors he could pick up from dif- ferent parts of the world, fo that his company was at one time feventy-feven perfons ftrong; He gave uncommon falaries for the mafter of a ftrollim* company to give. Madam Helmett, : Vox- II. C one I a TI^AVELS THROUGH GERMANY. one of the bed fingers of Germany, and now fivft linger to the court of Mcntz, had 2000 thalers, near 200L a year from liiin ; at that time, how- ever, he could eafily afford to do thefe things, as no people in Germany were more attached to theatrical amufements, than the people of Leip- fick and thofe of Drefden. — But thefe times are gone by, and their being fo, convinces me that the people of this place have founder heads than thofe of Vienna, Munich, and other places. — Mr. Seiler has latterly met with lb little encou- ragement here, that after having contraded debt upon debt, and tried his fortune on the Rhincy in the end he is become a bankrupt. At prefent the court has a national theatre on the fame plan with that of Vienna ; that is, it pays the ex- pences and takes the receipts ; thefe lafl, how- ever, are not very confidera,ble, owing to the frugality of the people, fo that it is probable this theatre will ceafe as the court theatre did at the beginning of the Bavarian war. Private theatres, efpecially thofe where children are the adors, iiouriOi much more here than the nation- al one does. One of the moft honourable ^^nd beautiful charaderiftics which diflinguifhes .the Saxons from the inhabitants of the fouth.Of Germany, is their warm attachment for ^hdf n^^tive coun- try, and the int^reft they talie iji^^^ry thing that , . relates TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 19 relates to it ; even far down in the middling ranks, every body here feems acquainted v^ith the circumftances of both court and country : it was here that I heard, for the firft time, the vt^ords my (mmiry pronounced with energy, and a kind of intelligent and honourable pride. The ladies of the place u.fe their gallantry as ours do, as a fpur to make the men do their duty ; they bear a ftiarc in converfation on war, treaties, and every bufinefs of Hate ; they love their officers and foldiers, and fpeak v.ith pleafure of the ac- tions in which they have diflinguifhed thenl- felves. The younger officers recommend them- felves to them by alfaming a military air, v/hich, in my opinion, is unbecoming. Whenever they happen to mention the minifiers who betrayed their coiintiy, it is always with contempt and abhorrence.' — Though the king of Pruffia has not done much to gain their affeciions, they fpeak with wonder of his great adlions, and think, with all m.ankind, that it would have been bet- ter for all parties if they had attached them- felves to him, infread of uniting with the Au- ftrians, towards whom, the perfon of the prefeiit Emperor alone excepted, every body fhew^s great animolity, notwithftanding ajl that the country has fuffered from the king of Pruffia- In a word, brother, it is as if I was at home, where a paitk Ipation in tKe common interetts of C 2 the 20 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. the country animates every Ibciety, and is tire Ufe and foul of all company. The Saxon troops ha\e a very martial ap- pearance ; they are not, hovv'ever, fo well dif- ciplined as the Auftrian or Pruflian ones, nor yet fo ftiff ; they are like the Englifh, who are m\y foldiers when they are in adion, and do not trou- ble thcmfelves much about the bufinefs at other times. They are as brave as any thing you can call brave, but at this time of day, bravery alone is not fufficient. They tell you a fiory of them, which would appear ridiculous, perhaps, in the eyes of a Pruflian or Auftrian commander, but which muft recommend them to a friend of human nature, and a citizen of the world. The officers of a Saxon regiment of dragoons, which made part of the army that fought againft Prince Henry of Pruflia in Bohemia, took an oath fubdio, that they would pit to death any of their number w^ho fhould run away in adion. Of late there is a projed fet on foot to put the army, which confiils of twenty-five thoufand men, upon the fame footing as the Pruflian one, but hitherto the reform has not gone very deep ; and, for my own part, I believe it to be as mad a fcheme, as it would be to attempt making an >/nglij[h army adopt Priiiiian tadics. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ii LETTER III. Drefden. It is owing to the conftitution of the country^ that the Saxons are poffeffed of a quite different fpirit fr however, were not elapfed, before it became vr- fible that the country had fufficient refources, and the paper rofe to its original value. Moft of the fpeculators gained from 50 to 60 per cent. The wonderful alteration ftruck the merchants of Hamburg, Lubeck, Bremen, and Holland, •and the Rates proceeded to pay the remainder of tlie debts, which by this manoeuvre had been already in a great degree difcharged by their 4iibje<51s. The revenue of the country amounts to about 6,aoo,ooo thalers, or about 620,000 pounds. The taxes are ail appropriated by the ftates to fpecific purpofes ; nor can the Eledor make any alteration in the deflination of them without their confent. He has his own privy purfe, to the fupply of which particular revenues are alfo appropriated. The ftates have agreed, that -'the army ftiall be increafed in the fame proportion as the debts leuen. Each prince of the blood has a revenue of 50,000 thalers, or about 5000I. which, as the prefent family is ex- ceeding 24 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ceeding numerous, is a confiderable article. — ^ The Imperial court confidered it as a great a6l of condefcenfion, to fuSer a Saxon prince of this court to marry the archdutchefs Chriuina ; but the Saxons tell you, that great as the honour was, it would have been flill greater, if the mag- nificence of the Imperial cocrt had enabled the duke of Saxe Tefchen to do without this allow- ance. There are few countries in Germany, which, in proportion to the fize of it, produce as good a revenue as Saxony. It is true, that the taxes are very high, but there are few other countries that have ftrength enough to bear fucli ; and as the exchequer is in the hands of true patriots, and effectually fecured againfl any attempts of the court, what is paid is fure to be employed to the beft advantage of the country. There is nothing more ilriking in the political world, than the difference betwixt Eavaria and Saxony. Both countries are of an equal fize, and enjoy an equal number of natural advan- tages. Both have alfo a conllitution, only the Bavarians have of late years fold, and even paid away their privileges ; both are parts of a. circle, and yet the firfl contains eighteen large, and two hundred and fix fmall towns; whereas the latter has only forty in all, amongfl which there is not one, Munich only excepted, that is to b^ com- pared^ TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 25 pared, I do not fay in riches, but in population, with the fmalleft of the eighteen Saxon towns ; and there are at leaft fifty out of the two hun- dred and fix fmall Saxon towns, which are rich- er than the richeft of the Bavarian ones. Sax- ony has one million nine hundred thoufand ; Bavaria, one million one hundred and eighty thoufand inhabitants. The firft raifes above eleven millions of guilders ; the latter not more than fix millions. Saxony has a much greater debt, but the debt is in the way to be paid, and the country was able to raife twenty thoufand men to join the PrulTian army, in refcuing Ba- varia from the Houfe of Auflria ; whillt Bava- ria could only raife fix thoufand men, in order to have the appearance of entering a protella- tlon againll the Auflrian pietenfions, and its debts remain impaid. It is not uncommon in Germany to afcribe thefe political differences to the difierence of re- ligion ; but why then does not the fame religion produce the fame effeds in France, Tufcany, Genoa, Venice, the Imperial Netherlands, and Auftria, all which are flourifliing countries, not- withftanding that the inhabitants are not Pro- teftants ? Shall we fay, that the cathclicifm of Bavaiia is of abetter kind for the purpofes of theology, and of a worfe for thofe of politics ? or that the fault lies chiefly in the government, which 26 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. winch has the fame influeuce on religion as the 3ar has on the barometer ? Religious enthuhafm is not of itleif hurtful to indullry and focial "virtues, as is evident by the example of the iEng^ iifh independents and Quakers, who are a61ive and alert enough, notwithftanding their religious creed* No religion neceffarily requires a cor- ruption of manners, wantonncfs or lazinefs. When, therefore a religion proves hurtful to ■die ftate^ it aiifes from the mode of education, the manners, the government, and other local circumflances. Under a weak adminiftration, re- ligion breaks out into ab^fe, from the interefted views of its miniflers, and the folly and ilupi- dity of the people ; but every other human in* ftitution does the fame ; fo that I believe eveiy religion, like CA^ery government, to be good, when it is well adminiflered- A wife and effi*. cicnt regency is omnipotent ; and the example of Peter the Great has fhewn clearly enough, that z wife man may make every religion contribute to render a ftate fiourifhing. V/ith refped to opi- nions, the religion of the multitude is nearly alike in all places. It almoll univerfally con- lifts in a blind fuhmifTion to the authority of the prieft. I have feen enough to convince me of this, in fome Proteftant countries, which pafs for the moft enlightened in religious matters. The great difference betwdxt mankind, that by which TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. %i which fome are made good and others bad citi- zens, depends upon the morals, which are a confe- quence of the education, and with which religious 4>pnions, have little to do. I lhall make you un- derhand my fentiments on this fubjecl better in my next letter, in which I mean to fay fome- thing of the reformation, but, in the mean time, I cannot help communicating fome remarks I have made upon the fubjed in my journey through Germany, as they ferve to illuftrate my pofition. In almofl all the Catholic frates I have tra- i^elled through, I have met with Italians who were moft of them in affluence. All thefe came beggars into Germany, and have made their for- tunes in a foreign country, without any domeftic affiftance whatfoever. It is not more than thirty or forty years ago, that almofl: all the rich mer- chants in the middling and lelfer flates of Ger- many vi^ere Italians. I think this fufficient to prove, that the induftry and frugality by which thefe people have made their fortunes, are no attributes of a particular mode of religion, but arife from circumftances in the local charader, which moftly takes its -colour from education. The frugal, deep-thinking, and induftrious Waljhes have capital fufficient in their chara6ler, cafily to gain an advantage in the management of worldly matters, over the lazy, diffipated, . and -8 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. and flupid German Roman Carbolics, though the religion of both be the fame. I have fpoken with fome of thefe Italian parvenus, who com- plained bitterly, that it was much more difficult to make a fortune in Germany now than it had formerly been. No doubt, but tbisls owing to a much better mode of education having been introduced by the government am.ongfl: the peo- ple with whom they have to do. Is there any man, who is not ailoniflied at the different de- grees of indaftry, which prevail among the Ita- lians themfelves-? and yet they all have the fame religion. — There is, perhaps, lefs fuperftition at Rome, than ia any part of the Roman Catholic •world ; but are the Romans, therefore, morein- duflrious than the Genoefe, who are the grolTeft bigots known ? Mind, I am not fpeaking of the difcipline of the church, nor of the riches of the cloyllers, nor ytto^ Junaies, Pal Hums y difpenfa- tions, and other popifh tributes, nor even of the ufurpation of the fpiritual power and the like, all of which may be very hurtful to a llate, but do not belong to the effence of religion. The difpute is only on the influence which fpeculative opinions have on the induftry of men. In my opinion they have none. It is an obfervation every day made, that a man may be tlie moft fuperftitious of mortals in fome things, and yet the fharpell ajad mofl elear-fighted of mankind in TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 29 ia others ; nor are the Saxons, according to my way of thinking, indebted to their more philofo- phical religion, for the greater degree of happi- nefs they enjoy as citizens. T he religion of the court of this place is not well calculated 10 lelTen the prejudices of the Saxon public againft Catholicifm. It is formed upon the Jefuit plan, and I have already told you, that the German Jefuits are of all monks the greatell. I was told an anecdote, which is certainly true, and dees the court eccleliallics no gieat honour. At the beginning of the pre- fent reign, the Jefuits were afraid that the fo- vereign might change the national religion ; for, be fides that he was at that time very young, he loved his people, and had had overtures made him on the fubjed. The Eledlrefs too, a very penetrating, and, in every refped, amiable wo- man, was much diffatisfied with the Jefuits. To prevent innovations, a fpe6lre appeared to the duke, and after having threatened him with all the torments of hell-fire, if he ventured to make the purpofed change, forbad him to fay any thing of what had happened, and promifed to return again at a certain period. The duke was very penlive for fome time, at length his wife, who loved him as he deferved, wrung the fecret from him, and told it to the Prince of who wai- ted for the fpirit on the appointed night, and put bim 30 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. him to death with his Spanifh toledo. The fol- lowing day he came into company and faid, * I have faved myfelf the payment of 500 thalers, * by accidentally killing my confeffor.' Notwithftanding his little tinge of German jefuitifm, the Eledor is a moil amiable prince ; he knows none of the vices, which princes who are obliged to truft the greateft part of their bull- nefs to their minifters, generally addidl themfelves to. He has alio underllanding and adivity fuf- ficient to form a right judgment of important aflairs, which he often carries through entirely, either by his perfonal exertions, or the orders he gives for the purpofe. All his minifters likewife are men who deferve his confidence. They are well informed and induftrious patriots, who, both with regard to foreign affairs and internal adminiftration, follov/ a uniform fyftem, a thing, amongft many others, by which they diftinguifh themfelves from the Bavarian minifters. Their entering into the Bavarian war, as they did fome years ago, was a certain proof of their not being wanting in fpirit, though their hands were fome- what cramped by the internal circamftanccs, of the country. When once the money, which now goes towards difcharging the intereft and principal of the debts, can be applied to the augmentation of the army, and the court is en- abled to make ufe of its whole ftrength, no doubt TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 3^ doubt the minifter will take other ground than that he liow ftands upon. The country will then be in a ftate to keep up an army of forty or fifty thoufand men, without any uncommojob exertion, and of courfe will be always able to- main tain a neutrality. As things are now cir- cumftaneed, it muft necelfarily take a fide, and attach itfelf either to Pruflia or A\illria. As long as the peace lafts, it gives equal hopes to both fides ; but in cafe of a breach, it will, in my opinion, incline ratheT to the Pruflian than the Aullrian party, not merely on account of the attempts which the Auftrians are daily making to enflave the empire, and the weight which their enormous powet gives to thofe attemptSj^^ but becaufe the Saxons, on their part, have many private reafons for being diflatislied with the condu6l of the Imperial court towards them. The difference there is betwixt the religion of the prince and that of the people, has no effect on the national bulinefs. It is not therefore pro- bable that this court will ever facrifice its reli- gion to its temporal interefts, as Auguftus did when he afcended the throne of Poland, if they Ihould come into competition. In Germany religion is naturally various. The houfe of Wirtemberg has every fed of Chriftendom. la it. The fairii I7 of Prince Frede- rick 2% TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. rick Eugene is Lutheran ; the great dutchefs has embraced the Greek religion, and the bride of the hereditary prince of Tufcany will, no doubt, turn Catholic. As there are likewife princeffes of Brandenburg in this houfe, it has alfo a mix- ture of Calvinifm in it. Certainly this is the fureft way to fpread toleration throughout Eu- rope, and the friends of mankind are much in- debted to the princes of Germany for it. With refped to the Saxons, if the reigning monarch were a prince of lefs fenfe than he is, they are perfedly fafe from the fear of all religious perfe- cutions. The flates have io limited his power in this refped, as to oblige him to have only two Catholic privy counfellors. This is the reafon why, notwithftanding the animofity of the Sax- ons againll the Catholics, which is much greater than moft people imagine, they have a great af- feftion for their prince. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 33 LETTER IV. Saxony is a princely country, brother. I have taken a confiderable tour, and have come hi- ther through the Ertzgeherg, over Freyberg, Ma- rienberg, Annaberg, and then over Swickau, and Altenburg. One would imagine that the num- ber of hills which border Bohemia muft be en- tirely undermined. There are pits upon pits dug in them, and all the valleys refound with ham- mers. A more induftrious people than the Sax- ons I have not yet feen. The whole chain of mountains is filled with men, who force their nourifhment from the naked woods* They not only work ftones and minerals in every poffible way you can conceive, but every tovm has be- fides fome manufa6lure of linen, lace, ribbands, cotton, handkerchiefs, flannel, or fomething elfe, which takes up an innumerable quantity of hands. When fafhion, or the caprice of their neighbours, ruin one manufactory, they have al- ways ten others to fet up to make up foi' the lofs. Freyberg contains upwards of twenty-five thoufand, and Swickau upwards of fifteen thou^ Vol. IL D fand 34 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. fand inhabitants. The other cities I faw are like the market towns, uncommonly populous and animated. — The fame induftry and eafy circumftances are met with on the other fide of the Elbe, throughout the Lauhts, whither I made an excurfion from Drefden. Bauffen, Gorlifs, and Zittaw, are flately cities^, full of trade and bufinefs. What a contrail with the fouthern parts of Germany! an knmenfe trad, throughout the whole of which I did not fee a fingle place, excepting the refidence of the court, and fome Imperial cities, which could bear a comparifon with, any of thefc Saxon towns. — ^You would imagine that the Ertzgeberg and foreft of Thu- ringia, had been fet by Providence as the limits betwixt light and darknefs, induftry and lazinefs, freedom and flavery, riches and poverty. Pofii- bly you cannot find in the whole world fo ftrong a contraft betwixt two people, who are ib near each other, as there is between the Saxons and Bohemians ; and yet nature has done infinitely more for the laft than fhe has for the firft. The mines are an inexhauftible fource of riches to this, country ; they almoft all belong to com- panies of private men. The w^orks are divided into certain portions, part of which the company works free of cofts for the court, which receives what is got from them. The revenue of the court, from all the mines of the country, is eftimated at 400, TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 35 400,000 guilders, which is hardly a fifth part of what they produce. A ilill much more conlider- able fum is gained by manufacluring the produce, as very little of it is exported raw. The Saxons prepare fteel and copper, and have a gieat num- ber of' 2:old and filver manufa6^ories. The Sax- on arms are known all over the world. The Saxons have diftinguifhed themfelves by their fkill in mining all over Europe. It is fpo- ken of even by Spanifh and Neapolitan writers. Their ftrong bodies, their indefatigable induftry, and their good underftanding, particularly quali- fy them for this kind of employment, v/hich is undoubtedly the moft complicated and laborious tDf all human occupations, and which ' requires the greateft variety of knowledge to bring to perfedion. In my opinion, mining is one of the ftrong chara6leriftics which diftinguifhes the Ger- mans, particularly the Saxons from our country- men. The Frenchman, though much quicker, is ealily conquered b^ difficulties, is difpirited when the firft heat does not get the better of the oppo- fition, is fond of changing the obje6l of his pur- fuit, is delirous of getting a great deal at once, in a word, is only adapted to enterprizes, which require a quick comprehenfive genius and rea- dinefs ; he is confequently much lefs fit for this work, than the cold, penfive, inquifitive, pene- tratzngj perfevering, and indefatigable German, D 2 who 36 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. who can employ himfelf in the moft unthankful offices without being weary. !No doubt, there are many valuable mines in the French domi- nions. Every body knows the projeds of Col- bert and his fucceflbrs. They have been taken up again in our own time by M. Turgot; but the genius of the nation has hitherto countera6led every effort of the kind that has been made. The inhabitants of the fmalleft villages in the Saxon mountains, though often fhut out from the world by hills on each fide, are more polifhed, better bred, and more alive, than thofe of the iargeft towns in the Ibuth of Germany. Reading is almofl univerfal in this country ; fo- ciability and hofpitality accompany and encou- rage the hardeft labour ; even the focieties of the inferior ranks are diftinguifhed by the liberality, knowledge oi the world, wit, and jollity to be met with in them. The women are throughout remarkabk for the beauty of their fliapes, the ani- mation of their looks, and their infinite fpirit, eafe, and vivacity, and yet they are quite good- natured, and admirable houle-wifes. The men have of late, indeed, began to complain a little, that, for fome time pall, their beautiful partners have been too much addicted to vanity ; but their clamours would foon ceale, if the women Avere to tmite and make a law, that every eighth or tenth man ihould take an Auilrian or Bavarian wife, for TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 37 for the edification of the whole community. For my own part, the article of drefs alone except- ed, I have not been able to difcover a fmgle ex- crefcence which wants pruning; whereas the Bavarian and Auftrian women, befides being full as fond of drefs, break out a little both at bed and board, and do not concern themfelves at all with domeftic matters. The uncommonly large population of this country expofes the inhabitants to no fmall dif- trefs in times of fcarcity. The land does not produce a tenth part of the grain. necelTary for the confumption of the people, who are obliged to fupply their wants from Bohemia. The uni- verfal fcarcity which prevailed in Europe nine or ten years ago, was no where more feverely felt than here. Many thoufands died, a part through abfolute want, and a part from being obliged to eat bad provifions. Great numbers were indebted for their lives to the freemafons lodges at Drefden, Leipfick, Fridburg, and other places, the members of which did an incredible deal for the relief of the neceffities of their bre- thren. If any country ftands in need of grana- ries, it is this. As foon as the fmalleft fcarcity is perceived, the exportation from the neighbour- ing countries is flopped up, and the Saxon plains are too much peopled eafily to bear the lofs of their harveft. Government has made fome regu- lations; 33 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. lations ; but in the prefent ft ate of the finances of the country, it is impoffible that it fhouid do as much as would be requifite to fecure the inhabi- tants of the mountains againft every event. Confpicuous as the induftry and commerce of this people is, the fttuation of the farmer amongfh them is in all refpeds pitiable. The fault, how- ever, is in the conftitution of the country, not in the inhabitants, who are a frank, diligent, and intelligent people. No doubt, but the diftrefs is owing to the quantity of land in the hands of great farmers. Along the foot of the Ertzgeberg mountain, and in the plain, you can hardly count the lleeples, which you fee on all fides of yoii. The number of villages in the Ele6loral territory, taking in the Latifits, is near fix thou- fand. i faw feverai farmers who ploughed with one ox and one cow. Many of them have only GReicQW, which furnifhes them with milk, and likewife: ferves them to plough with. It is true, indbed, that the fine and light foil of this part of the world requires, in general, no uncommon exertion ; but it is impoflibk that a farmer fhouid do well with fo little cattle. You eafily difcover iii their houfekeeping, that they are obliged to cut very ciofe. Great part of them live upon potatoes., cabbage, and turnips, and you very feldom' fee meat at their tables. Their attach- ment to coHee is extremely great; it is the only nourifti- TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 39 nourifhment of fome of them ; and the profufe ufe they make of it, is a ftrong contraft with their penurioufnefs in other refpeds. It is made in large pots, but is fo weak as to have hardly the colour of the berry. Moft likely they con- lider it as the cheapeft and moil ftrengthening of liquors. Their cleanlinefs in the midft of their poverty is remarkable. — The Suabian far- mers are lords, in comparifon with thofe of Sax- ony, and, on the whole, the happieft I have yet feen. Throughout the whole level country, even the common people fpeak good German, and fo, ex- cepting in the mountains, do all the farmers. There is no province in France of a like extent, in which .the people throughout fpeak French as well as the Saxons do German. Some miles from Leipiick I vifited a gentleman, for whom I had letters from Drefden, on his eftate. I thought myfelf come to a fchool of paftoral felicit}^, and I fhall ever look upon the few days I fpent with him as fome of the liappieft of my life. The eltates of thefe gentlemen are fmall, as the Sax- on nobility in general are as poor as they are numerous ; but it is to this very poverty that they owe their happinefs. They underiland how to unite the beautiful with the ufeful, taile with limplicity, osconomy with various amufements, and nature with art, in fuch a manner as to make 40 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. make that bulinefs, which other men look upon as a punilhment, a fource of endlefs uninter- rupted felicity. They relifh pleafure as epicu- reans do rich wines, which they keep a long while on the palate, in order to relifh the flavour. They underftand how to mix the amufements and the occupations of the country fo as to make them follow each other in agreeable fucceffion fo well, that it is worth while to come amongft them to read Virgil's Georgics, which I am per- fuaded cannot be read any where elfe with fo much pleafure. Fifhing is a very weighty and moft important bufmefs with them, and the art has been no where brought to fo great a perfec- tion as it is here. They have feparate ponds in which the fifh are kept, according to their ages and with different intentions. Thefe ponds are in fallow lands, which are at certain times broke up and ploughed again ; fo that the eftate reaps a double advantage by this method. The ma- nagement of woods and of fheep is alfo brought to a great degree of perfedion here. They not only cut down their trees with great judgment, but Hudy the art of planting, and what trees are fit for each foil with Angular felicity. I am per- fuaded, that we Frenchmen might learn much of the Saxons on this head, as well as on every other part of rural oeconomy. The TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 41 The Saxon wool is famous for being the beft in Europe, after the Spanifh and Englifh : fome- times it is ufed raw, fometimes it is manufadlured into clothes, ftockings, and gloves, but moll generally it is coloured and exported as a manu- fadure. The inimitable blue wools, which have their name from the country, are brought into France. To thefe various pra6lical and theoretical im- provements of their lands, the nobility add fmall walks, vilits to their friends in town and country, colledlions of nature and art, attention to im- prove the fchools of their diftri6ls, poetry, and muiick. The rich, amongft whom I reckon thofe who have from 8 to 10,000 guilders a year, (molt of them have only from 3 to 6, and feve- ral from 800 to 2000 guilders,) com.e to town ^OY only one or two months in the year. Their daughters are the lovelieft and clevereft creatures in the world. Their natural fenfibility generally contrads a romantic turn in the llillnefs of the country, which appears in their converfation and actions, and leads them" to take unguarded fteps in the firft years of life. Unequal marri- ages and elopements are extremely frequent here. In Suabia, Bavaria, and Aultria, I met with Saxon girls of good family, who in the lall Silefian war had enlifted with officers of the imperial and circular armies, and who all made excellent 42 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. excellent wives and mothers. At Prague I met with a Saxon girl of a good family, who partly from a conliderable fhare of fenfibility, as fhe confelfed herfelf, with tears in her eyes, and partly from want of knowledge of the world, was a common woman. Lefling's comedy, Minna 'Von Barnbeimy which doubtlefs you have read, ex- iibits fome of the romantic part of this charac- ter, but in general it is more a pi6lure of the town ladies. The country girls have not in ge- neral the coquetry and livelinefs of Minna: they are more penlive and more tender, but all of them are as handfome as angels. The kind of reading in fafhion in Germany, which is moftly novels and romances, is no proper nou- rifhment for the ladies of Saxony, who are by nature of fuch inflammable conftitutions. Leiplick is a very fmall, but very handfomje, and in fome places, fplendid city. The num- ber of its inhabitants, reckoning the fuburbs, amounts to near thirty thoufand ; it was greater formerly. The way of living is totally different from any I have hitherto fecn in the other Saxon towns. Much more luxury and profulion reigns here than at Drefden. They play in all com- panies, and often extremely high. The ladies of this place are far behind hand with their countrywomen of the other towns in domeflic ceconomy, but agree with them in the articles of TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 43 of drefs and coquetr}'. Amongft the literati, who fwarm here, there are too many boafters, petit maitres, ignoramuffes, and fools of all forts; fo that I fometimes thought myfelf got to Vienna again, where the frifeurs and literati meet in the fame companies, and are almoft equally numerous. But the infinite number of men of merit, whofe condud and manners do honour to their native countiy, foon made me find out the difference. You meet here with men in all fciences, who, from the extent, as well as the depth of their learning, but particu- larly from their knowledge of the world, are entirely different from the Vienna literati, for whom all is dead that is out of their own line. I paid a vifit to Mr. Weiffe, whofe excellent work called the Childreris Friend^ Mr. Berquin propofes partly to imitate, and partly to trans- late. The author is not only one of the beft German poets, but an extraordinary learned man, in the mofi: extenfive fignification of the word. He is elegance itfelf ; and the income of a good place, which he poifelfes, enables him to give up his latter days to philofophical repofe, benevolence, and the mufes. He is one of the determined enemies of thofe literary Calmucks, I nTentioned to you in my letter on the theatre of Munich, who like the troops of Gengifkan, fome years fmce made an inroad upon Par- naffus. 44 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. Daflus, drove out the mufes, deftroyed the flower-beds of the old German poets, mangled the language, hacked the words with Tartar fury, .jfead would probably in their rage have begot- ten children like the fathers, if their difcipline had anfwered the violence of their attack, and fuch enlightened men as Mr. Weiffe had not difcomiited them after the ardour of their firfl: onfet. They have been compelled to retreat behind the hedges, whence they fometimes fire upon palTengers, but they will not be able to keep even this poll long. LET. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 4S LETTER V. Leipflck. The commerce and manufadures of this place are very confiderable. It is the centre of the book trade of all Germany, and of the wool trade of all Saxony, and there are few cities in Germany which furpafs it in commerce and ex-* change. Here they make velvets, woven filks, fhags, linen cloths, rattines, carpets, and a great variety of other things. This city fupplies the greateft part of Saxony with drugs and apotheca- ries wares, and has a confiderable lhare of the trade which is carried on betwixt the fouth of Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the North. There are feveral wealthy houfes here. The fair, which ended a week before my arri- val, according to the report of both natives and foreign merchants, is no more than a lhadow of what it was thirty years ago. The moft remark- able part of the prefent trade, is the exchange of books carried on by the German bookfellers. This they fometimes execute by commiffion, but for the moft part they appear in their own high ftrfons. Their number is about three hundred, and 46 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. and the value of the books they exchange amounts to 500,000 rix-dollars, or about 1,751,000 livres. Leipfick maintains itfelf in- the poffeffion of this trade, not fo much from its having once taken that channel, as from the great quantity of books publifhed in tha city itfelf, and its cen- trical lituation in the midft of a country where all the ajts flourifh, and reading and writing are moil univerfaL Thefe are the caufes, which, in my opinion, have rendered all the attempts to deprive the city of this trade abortive* The Auftrian bookfellers have hitherto been^ the only ones who have, not appeared reg^ularly and in greai numbers at this mart of literature. The reftraint they lay under from the Hcence office, and the refiraints they are lain under by the heavy wit of their writers, have difabled them from bringing any paper to market, good enough to procure an exchange from the other dealers. LeipfixJc is indebted for this trade, which, in my opinion, is the only one of the kind in all Europe, entirely to the merit of the inhabitants of this place, and other parts of Saxony. Saxony Vvas the cradle of literature and talte in Germa- ny, The Swifs had indeed contributed fome- thing by theories towards raifnig the edifice of the aLTts, but theories form neither arts nor tafte, nor TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 47 nor has the German part of Switzerland pro- duced a fmgle literary production of merit, Gef- ner's works excepted. Thofe of Haller are written in a barbarous dialed, and few of them are uniformly good. His beauties are fmgle ones ; they are feparate piclures, woven into phi- lofophical declamations. Nature gives the firil diredion to art, which afterwards is not to be im- proved by any theories, but by the light of, and fenfibility for, the moft ftriking and moft beau- tiful objeds of nature. Thefe it is, which form the original artift. And it is the reading, feeling, and comparing the works of thefe original artifts, that form the imitator. Nor is tafle itfelf a con- fequence of any theoretical knowledge ; for it is well known, that thofe who have formed the foundeft theories, have been very unfuccefsful, both in the works produced by themfelves, and the judgment they have paffed upon thofe of other people. Theories depend upon con- clulions of the underftanding, which will always be falfe when the premifes are lb ; but the quick- nefs occaiioned by the perception and compari- fon of various beautiful objeds, w^hich confti- tutes what we call tafte, will never go aftray. It is true, indeed, that this perception and quick- nefs cannot exifl without fome natural difpofi- lions towards them. The 48 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. The firft feeds of literature and tafte were fown in Germany, by perfons who were no literati by profelTion. Since the firft sera of French tafte, one or other of the princes of Germany have always been in alliance with France. The ne- gociations this has given rife to, and the abode of the French armies in Germany, in confe- qnence, have rendered the knowledge of French abfolutely necelfary to the German nobility* Hence all perfons of confequence, minifters, counfellors, officers, and fecretaries, polifhed themfelves by their intercourfe with our coun- trymen; fo that the tafte of feveral German courts was formed before there was a man of letters of confequence in the country* Prince Eugene, who had been brought up at the court of France, laboured with all his might to intro- duce the arts into Germany, but he found the Jefuits in his way at the court of Vienna, for a long time the only one in which the French lan- guage could not gain admittance. In all the ethers there were perfons of as much tafte and good fenfe as Prince Eugene, true children of the Mufes, who were more or lefs faccefsful in their attempts to extend good tafte. Much in the fame manner the arts came to us from Italy, and much in the fame manner they came to Italy from Greece. After TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 49 After this intercourfe with France, the only thing wanting to awaken the Germans to emu- lation, was a language, and in this refpedl Saxo- ny had a great advantage over the other Ger- man provinces. Ever lince the time of Luther, this country has had a manner of writing, which diftingaifhed it from the barbarous manner of the fchools that obtained over the reft of Ger- many, . The fervice of the church contributed much in thefe parts to the improvement of the language. I'he fchools for young people were very good here long before the brilliant sera of German literature. The language of fome of the Saxon writers who lived betwixt the years 1715 and 1725, a time in which the reft of Ger- many was ftill plunged in the barbarous ftyle of the Cancelleria, is remarkable for its grammatical clearnefs and accuracy. The natural wit of the Saxons, together with their peculiar and, as it were, innate love for all that is beautiful, foon made it their peculiar pride and pleafure, as it had been that of the Athenians, to diftinguifh themfelve3 by fpeaking their language corre6tly. The loweft handicraftfman here is more folici- / tous to fpeak purely and well, and is much more fortunate in his attempts for the purpofe, than feveral learned men by profefhon, with whom I have had the honor ta converfe in the fouthern parts of the country. The very women are Vol. n. E fenfible 5© TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. fenlible of grammatical errors, and take notice of theuii Befides the language, the Saxons had other advantageSj which contributed to fpread literature fooner and wider amongft them than amongft the other Germans. Philofophy and the higher parts of the helks letires, had had the dull rubbed from them in this country long before the bright sera of German literaturCi Leibnitz^ PulTendorf, Thomalius, Wolf, and others, had broken up the extenfive field of literature, had ploughed it with tafie and hmplicity, and had brought about a happy revolution in the minds of the pefople in all the north of Germany, parti- cularly- in Saxony. The celebrated journal kno^'t n by the name of ABaLrudiiorum^ was be-^ gun in 1 68 2, and was foon equal to the journals of the moil enlightened nations, fuch as the Jmrnal 'dd S^avans, the Englifh Tranfadions, dxA Giornale di LiUraUy whilft in the other flates of Germany, Berlin not excepted^ know^ ledge was confined to a few perfons about the court. The beginning of the prefent century alfo, produced fevcral editions of the ancient claifics, wdiich contributed more to the nurture of genius and true tafie, than the befi: rules' and theories. No doubt, the magnificence and peculiar tafte of the Saxon Augufius, for the fine arts, contri- bated rau^h to the early polifhing of tafle^ and the TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 51 the awakening of genius in this country. All the arts have a Merly affection for each other ; they do not not like to be long out of the fame company. Painting, fculpture, architecture, mufic, and all the arts connedled with them, flourifhed more at the court of Auguftus the third, than they did in any court of Europe. From this fchool came Mengs, the greateft paint- er of our days ; Haffe, who was able to do juftice to the poetry of a Metaftaiio ; Cluck, Hiller, and many others. The art of fpeech would na- turally join itfelf to fo brilliant a fociety. The opera made the Saxons acquainted with the Ita- lian poets, juft as the language of the court had brought them acquainted with the French ones. At length they made fome trials in their own lan- guage, and their trials were fuccefsful. Gellert, Rabbener, and many others, evidently formed themfelves upon Englifli models. Ever fince this period. Saxony has furnifhed a much larger proportion of ingenious men, than the other parts of Germany. In polite literature their numbers furpafs thofe of all the reft of Germany put to- gether. Their tranflators, reviewers, magazine- writers, almanack, and catalogue makers are innumerable. There are many perfons in this country, as well acquainted with the ancient and modern literature of England, France, and Italy, as the natives of thefe countries them- E % felves. 52 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. felves. There is always a warehoufe of Spanifh and Portuguefe literature here, and (which is almoft pe(ituliar to Germany) they fo- rage to the uttermoft bounds of the north, and explore the Danifh, Swedifh, Ruffian and Polilh Parnaffus. As far as regards the mechanical part of the bulinefs, /. e. the working up of ma- terials and making them fit for fale. Saxony will for a long time, continue fuperior to the other Germans ; but their genius feems worn out. Nothing can be more frivolous than the prefent purfuits of the men of genius here ; but other parts of Germany are in the prime of youth, and others again feem to be juft awake. I. E T T E R TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 53 LETTER VI. Leiplick, I M A D E an excurfion from hence to Wei- mar and Gotha. This part of the country is the beft cultivated, and in a political view, themoft beautiful I have hitherto feen in Germany. The villages are innumerable, and the agriculture much more varied than on the other lide of Drefden. Nature appears to have been more favourable to thefe parts. Weimar is a fmall but handfome town. The court is remarkably affable, and the reigning duke carries popularity as well as philofophy almoll too far. He puts himfelf on a level with all kinds of perfons, and takes part in private plays a^led by his fervants and the literati of his court. To a natural fondnefs for the fentimental and adventurous, he unites an excellent improved tafte for every thing that belongs to the arts. This court is made up entirely of wits, and even his general fuperintendant, (a title you are not ac- quainted with, but which anfwers to a little Pope,) is a hel efprity who has publifhed a rhapfo- dicai 54 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. dical extracl from the firft book of Mofes, under the title of the Original of Mankind. The wonderful charader of this duke, the romantic part of it only excepted, for which he has to thank Mr. Gothe, is the work of the ce- lebrated Wieland. Wieland is, without a doubt, the firft of all the German writers. No writer,. Lefhng alone excepted, unites fo much ftudy with fo much genius as he does. He has not only formed and fixed his tafte on a thorough acquaintance with the beauties of the ancient writers, but polfeffes alfo all the literature of France, Italy, and England. His works are not like the rhapfodies of the modern German poet- afters, but have the true fmack of the art. Even the moft fugitive trifles that fall from his playful and humorous pen, befpeak a workman who is thorough mafter of his buftnefs, and has a manner of his own. It has been faid of the great painters, that you may know them by the dafh of their pencils. Wieland is one of the few German writers who will go down to pofte- rity as a claftical writer, when the works of fe- veral of his co temporaries fhall ferve for dung of the fields. It is generally objedled to him, that he repeats the fame things too often, and copies himfelf ; but for my part, I have not ob- ferved much repetition. It is true, that like other great writers, he has favourite ideas, which he TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 55 he is ever turning and polifhing, in order to fet them before the reader in every point of view. I have no fault to find w ith him, but that he hides his ftudy too little, expofes his immenfe reading too much, and often forgets that his reader may not be fo enamoured with his erudition as he is himfelf. I likewife think, that before he was privy-counfellor and tutor to the prince, he wrote much more naturally than he does now. In order that no part of literature fhould be un- explored by him, but more with a view of filling his purfe, whiift his reputation was at the height, he undertook a literary journal, which he carried on wdth uncommon fpirit and adivity. None of the German writers know fo well how to pleafe the public as Wieland does. He is moll fruitful in the invention of trifles, in order to make his journal, which is as good as any other w^e have, fell. Sometimes, like a Dutch tobac- co-merchant, he will tie a pidure to his wares ; fometimes he promifes in one number a folu- tion of a riddle in a paft one, and in the next inftead of a folution of the riddle, gives you a rattle, or a trumpet for children to play with. At times he publifhes one number, in a year, at others, he will write the w^hole volume in a month. Riddles, newfpapers, anecdotes, litera- ry quarrels, every thing, in a w^ord, is crammed in that may give his wares the appearance of ' novelty, 56 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. novelty, or amufe the people. You will fay, thefe are little bookfelling tricks ; and fo they are, but they are more venial in a Gerraan than in other authors, as without them it would be difFiCult for the greateft induftry and the greateft talents to live by the profeffion. Wielandis, w^hat few poets are, a gooddomef- tic man. He lives, in fad, more for his family than for the public. He w^ould furnifh a new proof, if there wanted any, of the juftice of a favourite aphorifm with me, to wit, that the ge- nerative powers of man are in the fame propor- tion as his underftanding, and that it is good for him when he ufes the one with as much order and oeconomy as the other. Wieland has feven or eight fine children. No poet, he ob- ferves himfelf, ever had fo many; and he has written the lives of the poets, folely to affure himfelf of the truth of it. A good penfion from the court, added to what he gets by his journal, enables him to fee the approach of old age with tranquility, and gives him the profpedl of enjoy- ing the comforts of life to the end. There are fome extraordinary traits in Wie- land's charader, which feem a contraft to his writings : I will give you fome of them. In all he has written, he difcovers great know^ledge of tJbe world, and you would take him for a cour- tier out of place, yet no man knows lefs of man- kind. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 57 kind. In polite circles, and the conduct of a common atfair of life, he is entirely at a lofs. Even fmce the publication of the Agathon, which you know contains every evolution and revolu- tion of the female mind^ and, like his other works, befpeaks one of the politeft writers that ever exifted ; there have been feveral inftances of his not knowing how to converfe with a wo- man. His knowledge of the gay world con£ft» entirely in theory, and he mufi: be fome time in company, before he can make ufe of it. This is not altogether owing to continual ftudy and w^ant of intercourfe with the polite vrorld, but is in fome degree conftitutional in him. He is by nature very lively, but not very refolute, diffident of himfelf, and eafy of belief towards others ; in fine, he is one of thcfe men to whom nature has refufed every grain of that felf-fufficiency, a fmall dofe of which is of fo much ufe in the af- fairs of this life. His knowledge of the world is of the kind which Montaime obferved in a man who refembled him ; is in a place which he knows where to fnd it in, and not in himfelf. The con- fcioufnefs of this has fome times made him a cow- ard. To this caufe are to be attributed the fre- quent variations in his way of thinking ; his flat- tery tovrards thofe who can ferve him ; his fub- mifTion towards thofe who rehiL him ; his tolera- tion of thofe w^hofe opinions are oppofite to his own^ 58 TRAVELS TFIrOUGH GERMANY. own ; his love of party, and all the manoeuvres to which he has had recourfe, whenever he has thought his reputation in danger, for which repu- tation he would have had nothing to fear, if he had but known his own ftrength. Before Gothe was known, Wieland flood as he ought always to have done, at the top of the German Parnalfus. It fo happened, that, contrary to his intention, he inferted a very fevere critique of Gothe" s Play cf Gofs of Berlichingen, in his review. Gothe re- venged himfelf by a farce, written in his ftrong- eft manner. Wieland, ever ready to found a re- treat when danger is nigh, endeavoured to make his peace in a iecond number, in which he was more civil. This, however, would hardly have faved him, but fortunately for him, his pupil, the reigning duke, foon after went to Francfort, where he met with Gothe, whom he brought with him to Weimar, and of courfe introduced him to his old tutor. Would you believe it ? the ca- joled Wieland not only took fomething of Gothe s manner himfelf, but wrote apologies for fome followers of his fchool, whom in his former writ- ings he had fatyrized. Upon the whole, he is one of the greateft fophids of our days, who has always a fatire, or an apology ready, and produ- ces that which brings him the moll pence. Gothe is the duke's favourite ; they are al- ways together j he polfelfes a full portion of that which TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 59 which nature has refufed to Wieland. Formerly his felf-fufficiency led him into abfurdities, but fnice that time things have much changed. He is not only a genius, but poffeffes a great deal of learning. Many circumftances, for which he is not entirely anfwerable, were the occafion of his giving the fignal to a horde of Cal mucks, who fome years fince made an inroad on tlie German Parnalfus, and laid it wafle. In all things he is upon principle, for the natural, the extraordinary, the adventurous, the ftriking, and the bold, and has as great an averiion to the com- mon forms of government, as to the common rules of writing. His philofophy borders nearly upon that of Roulfeau. I fhall not ftop here to compare them, but only obferve, that they have both come two hundred years too late, and that the man who gives a flat contradidion to the opinions of all his co temporaries, abounds either in felf-opinion or felf-love. — ^When Gothe firfl began to feel his genius, he ufed to go about with a ihort hat, his hair about his ears, an out of the way drefs ; and, in fhort, affeded a Angularity in every thing. His looks, his gait, his fpeech, the whole of him befpoke an extraordinary man. jEven in his writings, he rather affeded graceful negligence than zxry laboured delicacy. He fhortened all his periods in the moil extraordi- nary manner, ufed common and vulgar words, and. 6o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. and, what was of no great fervice to the poor German language, already fo bare of them, cut on half of the vowels, and introduced paufes and ftrokes of admiration at every three words. His writings contain a great deal of that happy feizure of circumftance which befpeaks a know- ledge of mankind, united to a ftrong and fertile imagination, and a great vein of humour. You ^ fee in every thing he writes, that he is able to lay a plan and conne6l the parts ; this diftin- guifhes him from the whole herd of his imitators. Whenever it happens, as it fometimes does, that one part of his work does not hang well with the other, you cafily difcover that the defe6l has not arifen from ignorance, but becaufe the author did not choofe to give himfelf the trouble to weave them together. Gothe has read a great deal, is well acquainted with the beft ancient and mo- dern writers, paints, underftands mulick, is a good companion and wit, and — counfellor of lega- tion to the duke. Doubtlefs, he is by this time convinced of the injury he has done German literature. Several young perfons, encouraged by it to his example, imagined that nothing more was requiiite to be- come a genius, than' to be bold, impudent, and carelefs about language and ftyle, and to enter- tain contempt for every thing that is called order or regularity. They conceived that all itudy and atten- TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 6i attention to rule was needlefs, that every thing that was natural muft of courfe be good, that a true genius requires no education, but had all powers of creation in himfelf, and that when he became a genius, he M^as entitled to produce himfelf in his fhirt, or in puris naturalibus, in the market-place, or in the courts of princes ; that real judgment only made affes of men, and that an unreftrained imagination raifed them to the rank of divinities ; that dreams and enthufiaftic raptures in his own greatnefs, and the littlenefs of the world about him, was the proper Hate of man; that all the occupations by which bis daily bread was to be earned, degraded him, and that in the beft of all poffible worlds he muft go on all-fours and eat acorns. You muft not think that I am exaggerating when I fay this, for I can give you proofs of every thing I have afferted. Gothe has this in common with RoulTeau ; that his philofophy (whether true or falfe) overturns foundations^ and gratifies dilTolutenefs and idlenefs; for which reafon it has been adopted by thofe who have no foundation, but feek only to be happy through an implicit belief in their mafter. As Gothe was his own mafter, his excrefcences were the more eafily forgiven, becaufe of their con- fiftency with his principles and with each other, of a certain moderation he obferved in them, and of his affability towards all he converfed with ; but 62 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. but his fchool is the mofl ridiculous that can be conceived. I queflion whether many of thefe gentlemen are themfelves able to give explana- tions of the obfcure part of their v^^ritings. The flattered nonfenfe was cried up by the critics of the fed, as the quintelfence of human wit and human imagination. As to the underflanding, as I told you above, they declared open war affainft that. To have a true idea of the tafte of the public, one fhould read the produdions of thefe gentlemen, which fiill pafs for wonders with many. This herd of Calniucks gained recruits from every order of men, even out of the phy- fical tribe, who formed fyftems of the fame kind in their profcffion. They taught, that to roil in Ihovv^, to bathe in cold water, to leap like bucks about the fteepefl: precipices, to eat nothing warm, but to live entirely on the fruits of the earth, not to give the leaf}: interruption to the operations of nature, but even to drop the excrement Handing, at any time and in any place, was all that could be done by man, either for the prefervation or recovery cf his health. A well-known phyfician, who has laid many a patient in the dull, by the purfuit of this new mode of cure, grounded all the reafonings made ufe of in his publications, on the example of the firft wit in Germany. If he ordered a man a cold bath, and the patient exprelTed a fear, left k TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 63 it might poflibly occafion a fever, or a flux, the dodor would affure him, that he need not be afraid of any thing of the fort, for that the great Gothe went into the cold bath in froft and fnow. — The young painters, too, would for fome time paint nothing but llorms, lightning, tops of Apennines, or Alps; elephants, lions, and ty- gers ; Didos on the funeral-pile, Lucretias and Medeas murdering their children. All the fofter landfcapes, all the common animals, and all the ordinary fituations of common life, they entirely excluded from their canvafs. Tmth and keep- ing are nothing with them ; fuch littlenefs, they fay, a genius leaves to your day-labourers for bread, and men of ordinary underftandings. Art, according to their definition, confifts in what is out of the common courfe. The more unnatu- rally a Dido flings her arms about, the more por- tentoufly fhe rolls her favage eyes, and the great- er diforder there appears in her hair and dra- pery, the more beautiful Ihe is. In this manner artifts of all denominations mifconceive Gothe's theory. His flatterers imitate him in the moft ridiculous manner, in his drefs, in his walk, and even in his fpeech. v Gothe is in fome meafure refponfible for thefe excrefcences. Having difcovered fparks of ge- nius in fome of his friends, fuch as Lentz, Clinger^ and others, by proper encouragements he foon blew 64 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. blew the fparks into a real flame. Thus far was fit and right ; but as foon as he had coni« menced proteclor, there came people to him by no means worthy of his protection. Inflead of fending thefe back to their brethren of the foreft> the bubble of reputation led him on^ and he was not afhamed, at leafl for a time, to fet himfelf at the head of a little academy — very different in this relpe6l from RoulTeau, who nei- ther commended nor protedled any one. At prefent Gothe does not feem to difturb himfelf much about literary purfuits. He is at work on the life of the celebrated Bernard of Weimar, and enjoys life as much as it is to be enjoyed amidfl a number of little troubles. Formerly he ufed to be regularly befieged with recommenda- tions, and his difciples came from all parts to ■vifit him, in hopes to be brought forward by his patronage. He is now grown wifer, and has made it a rule to himfelf, to be very nice in his recommendations. In this he is extremely in the right, as he would be accountable for the follies of all thefe people. Neither indeed does it follow as a natural confequence, that becaufe the minifter, counfellor, and private fecretary of a prince is a wit, his cooks, and butlers, valet de chambre^ huntfmen, and ftable-boys, fhould alfp be wits. Gotha TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 65 Gotha Is a large town, richer and hand- fomer than Weimar ; the number of its inhabi- tants is eftimated at nine or ten thoufand. There are Ibme valuable manufadlures in this place. The court is as popular as that of Weimar, and equally fond of ftrangers. Some years ago the duke had one of the bell German theatres in Germany; .but he fent away the whole compa- ny on finding that the expence w^as too large, that he had fufficiently amufed himfelf, and that the players began to affiime airs of importance. The fubjeds of both thefe dukes are very happy. Their finances too are well regulated, and their adminift ration of juflice and police is perfe6l. Neither of them have the weaknefs of other German princes, who fpend a great part of their incomes in the maintenance of a regiment or two of foldiers, and make the younger part of their fubjeds do the military ex- ercife, inllead of keeping them at the plough. The income of each of them is about 600,000 RheniJfh guilders, or 54,000 French louis-d'ors. Their country is extremely produdive, and ex- traordinarily well inhabited. Erfurt is a very large, old, black, and ill in- habited town ; it is near a mile in circumfer- ence, and contains nearly eighteen thoufand men. The moft remarkable thing here is the art of gardening, which is carried to a greater Vol. IL F per- 66 TRAtTELS THROUGH GERMANY. perfedlion than in any other part of Germany I have yet bad occafion to fee. The people of the country carry on a confiderable trade in fruits and plants. The inhabitants, like thofe o£ the reft of Saxony, are a handfome, fenlible, and friendly people. The prefent vice-governor for the Elector of Mentz, to whom the city, with feventy villages which lie round it, belongs, ij a baron of D'Alberg, canon of Mentz, whom you may probably have feen at Paris. He was in the houfe of the marquis of— , and, if I miftake not, well known to the duke of Choifeul. He is a man of uncommon knowledge of the world, a man of letters in the full extent of the word, and a patriot. He underftands all the bulinefs of the higher w^orld, and all that concerns government ; poiTeffes the Belles Let- tres and the arts, and is on terms of friendfhip with the moft fenfible men of Germany. He expeds in time to be the firft ecclefiaftical prince of the German empire, and, after the Pope, the richeft and'^moft diuingiailhed prelate in the ca- tholic world* Erfuri and its territory yields an- nually about 180,000 lihenifh guilders^ It con- tains about thirty-fix thoufand men. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMAf^Y. ^-j L E T T E R VII. LelpHck. T CANNOT quit Saxony without faying fomething to you of the reformation which be- gan here. The origin of the reformation, as a queflion of learning is difficult to determine. Between the times of John Hufs and Luther, Paul of Tubingen, Brulfer, Bafil of Groningen, and fev(^ral Englifh, openly profeffed the dodrines of the reforme/i. The Valdenfes had fprea4 their opinions very confiderably long before the time of Hufs ; and between their time and the ^r^ of Hufs, Wicliff, John of Paris, Arnaud de Villeneuve, William of St. Amour, JEvrard, biftiop of Saltzburg; and many others taught the tenets of Luther and Calvin. It is certain, that from the time of the Albigeois to the break- ing out of the reformation, there was no period in which fpme remarkable man did not openly maintain the principles of the Proteftant religion. Between the time of Peter de Waldo, (who did moft towards the fpreading of the fe6^ of the Albigeois, though they do not take their name from him, as fome have thought,) and Berenger, F 2, who 68 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. who came not a hundred years after him, we meet with Pierre de Bruis, Henry de Thouloufe, and A maud Hot, who, with many others, made the doctrines held by the proteftants of the pre- fent day, known all over France. The celebrat- ed bifhop Honore of Autun, who wrote upon free will, and, in the fpirit of the Proteftants of this day, called the Pope the great beaft, and the Whore of Babylon, lived in 1115, and Berenger died in 1091 ; fo that there is hardly a generation between them. In the fame country with Berenger, Arnolph, bifhop of Orleans, diftinguifhed himfelf at the council of Rheims, by a Ipeech much more violent than any thing which Luther has written againft the power of the Pope. In a word, the opinions of Proteftants are to be met with in the earlieft ages of the church ; and an attentive reader of ecclefiaftical hiftory will foon fee, that they are connedled with the opinions of the firft: fec- taries, and that it w^as not the bare novelty of his opinions which made Luther remarkable. Whoever is a little acquainted with the hif- tory of the country before Luther, and can form to himfelf aprecife idea of the ftate of Saxony, previous to the breaking out of the reformation, will eafily fee, that other things befides theology contributed to this event, and that Luther only gave the long waited for ftgnal of revolt. Since TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ^9 Since the time of the emperor Sigifmi^nd, {who would have brought about the revolution himfelf, if his knowledge had correfponded with his thirfl: for reformation, and who for want of that knowledge fuffered himfelf to be led by the nofe by fome cardinalsy Germany had been at work on a reformation. If a Catholic at this time was to fay what was faid, not only in the fchools and in publications, but at the council of Conflance before the whole nation, at the diet of the empire, and by particular princes in their tranfaclions with each other, he would be put into prifon as a violent heretic. It is indeed wonderful, how the minds of the Catholic princes were changed by the heat of difpute after that ftep was once taken, which they them- felves had before endeavoured to produce. The well known hundred grievances (which in the end grew to much more than a hundred) of the German nation plainly fhewed, that moft of the courts of Germany wxre ready to prote6l the firft bold man who would revolt againft the court of Rome, and fupport the political grievances with theo- logical arguments. The cunning, active, and very eloquent iEneas Sylvius, who effeded the concordate betwixt the Pope and the empire by his crafty manoeuvres, awakened ftill more the jealoufy of all the thinking patriots of Germa- ny. Though he was a fubtile genius, w^ho for the 7© TR^AVELS THROUGH GEkMANY. the moment could gain the afcendancy over the cold Germans, and make them acquiefce in lilence, yet after all the declamations and fine intrigues of this Cicero of his time, the obfti- liacy natural to the cold charafler returned, and again brought fortli the old complaints. jEneas Sylvius thought his enemies weaker than they really were. In all his writings you fee that he imagined that he fhould be able to cheat the Germans ; but their genius was awake, and they faw through him, though they had neither ex- perience enough, nor union enough amongfl: themfelves, to refift the articles he played off againft therti. Mayer, chancellor of Mentz, at that time the mbft enlightened, moft refined, and moft brilliant court in Germany, and which contributed exceedingly to the fuccefs of the reformation, in his letters (to be found in feveral compilations of the times), fpeaks to the Italian in a tone that would bavd put to iilence any advocate of the court of Rome, but thfe very witty fophift ^heas Sylvius. Whoever con- fiders th^ intrigues and wths which the court of Rome muft have Wove to keep the duke of Bavaria khd th^ Palfgrave of the Rhine in good humour (fOme proofs of v^hich are to be met with in Febronius), will only wonder how the itformatioh cathe to ht put off fo late as to the time of Luther. Whilft TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 71 Whilft the politics of feveral courts of Ger- many were thus dire6led againft the court of Rome, the reputation of the latter was daily linking in confequence of the philofophy that gained ground in the fchools, and the inter- courfe of learned men "with each other. The progrefs made in printing, which became gene- ral in Germany in the laft part of the fifteenth century, contributed to the general fpread of knowledge. As early as in the beginning of the fixteenth century, the Germans began to write their own language with corre6lnefs. The way was prepared for the people to be fooii taught. This, no doubt, was the gelden age of Germa- ny. It had warm patriots, induftrious philofo- phers, and thinking princes. The awakened fpirit of improvement had manifefted itfelf ia legiflation and the improvement of the police ; peace was eftablifhed -at home, arts and tafte had begun to fpread over Germany from Italy. Bologna was the refort of all the German nobi- lity. It is true, indeed, that they brought home wdth them the barbarous mixture of the Roman, Papal, and Lombard law, but they alfo brought home good manners, a knowledge of the Italian and Latin languages, and a tafte for the fine arts andfciences. Erafmus of Rotterdam, Reachlin, Hutten, and many others, are fignal proofs how foon tafte was purified in Germany. Saxony in particular 72 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. particular had feveral good fchools. The uni- verfity of Leipiick had fucceeded to the fame of that of Prague; and that of Wirtemberg, out of which Luther was foon to give the fignal for battle, was frequented not only by Germans, but by Hungarians, Poles, Danes, and Swedes. Luther's other writings are evident proofs how much the German language itfelf was cultivated in Germany, and his tranflation of. the bible tef- tifies how well the ancient languages were un- derftood in the fchools. Indeed it is probable, that Germany would have been the firft country enlightened by Italy, and fo have arrived at the pefent brilliant asra, of literature immediately, had not religious difpute difturbed the minds of the people, and the war of thirty years, which followed, laid wafte the country. Italy^ at that time the moft flourifhing country in Europe, thought of no reformation, though it probably faw the religious abufes ftill more clearly than the Germans themfelves. The wits of Italy amufed themfelves with fatires on the pope, cardinals, and their adherents the monks and nuns. They confidered the abufes of reli- gion with as little ferioufhefs as men in the po- lite w'orld look upon adultery and gallantry, which are now grown too univerfal for the po- lice to have any hope of being able to reft rain them. Indeed the excefles in which Italian priefts TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 73 priefts and prelates indulged themfelves, were not of that low favage kind which difgraced thofe of Germany, but accorded better with the polifhed manners, the charader of the people, and focial life ; and the arts, which contributed all they could to the outward fplendour of re- ligion in this country, covered many defeds in the eyes of thinking men, juft as a coquet pro- cures admirers by a charming patch, with which flie contrives to cover a wart or ugly fpot of an- other kind. When we add to thefe confidera- tions, that the commerce with the fpiritual colo- nies brought home great liches, without the leaft hazard or expence to the nation ; that fince the time of Charlemagne thefe colonies had fpread almoft to the borders of the frozen fea, and that many Italian nobles made their fortune in the church ; it will be no wonder that this coun- try took no fhare in the reformation, albeit it was fuperior to the reft of Europe in philofophy and politics, and probably faw the corruption with a quicker eye than Luther and his alTociates. As to France, fmce the days of Fbilip le Bel, it had learned to fport with the holy fpirit of Rome. The court of Rome was no longer formidable to it. Our kings had a fecret underftanding with the popes, and knew how to make the vicar of Chrift fubfervient to their purpofes. Our man- ners too were more corred than thofe of the Germans, 74 TRAVtLS THROUGti GER^VIANY. 'Germans, and our ecclefiaftics confined them- felves more within the bounds of their order and of honour. As a proof of this, the council of Trent found nothing to alter in the French dif- ciplirie, though it made a lignal revolution in the manners of the German ecclefiaftics. Though we had not indeed fo many brilliant writers as the Germans had, knowledge in general was much more univerfally fpread ; and there are proofs fufficient that men faw the abufes of re- ligion as clearly in France, as they did any where elfe. The behaviour of our envoys at the coun- cil of Conftance one hundred years before, and '^he manner in which our dourt united with the German Proteftants, as well as many other in- ftances of this kind that might be brought, are a plain proof that religion was confidered in France as a fubordinate thing to politics. M^ny other caufes befides the knowledge of the abufes tn religibii, muft alfo have contributed to the breaking out of the reformation in Germany. 1 hefe are very various ; doubtlefs, one of the principal was the pride with which the court •of Ronle afieded to treat the Germans : it had fo often cheated and bullied this compliant and, till the fifteenth century, ilupid people, that it began to imagine it might increafe the burthen, ad infniHtmy Without any danger of meeting xvfth refifiance ; but, according to the old pro- verb. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 75 verb, oppreflion is the parent of liberty. Rome imagined that the concordate of AJchaffenburg had fecured it againft any farther attempts from the nation ; but this agreement had had quite a different effed, and had made the people fee that they were betrayed by the craft of the Popilh me- diators. Another caufe of the reform is to be fought for in the charader of the nation. A phlegmatic man, when he once fees that he is betrayed and brought under the harnefs, is the moft untrada* ble and ftubborn of men. The numberlefs fec- taries in France, previous to the reformation, palfed by like the fafhions of the country, and were forgotten. The manners of the clergy of Germany like- wife contributed to produce a change. The nun- neries were open brothels; and whenever the prelates or abbots happened to be lords of ma- nors, they exercifed the right oi prcelibation over the daughters of their tenants, in the fame man- ner as the temporal lords. Debauchery was not covered over in this country, as in Italy and Germany, by good company and good manners, but it broke out into the moft brutal and difgiift- iiig excelTes : for inftance, a little before the breaking out of the reformtion, a pri'eft of Augf- burg carried his effrontery fo far, as to have carnal knowledge of a woman in the open ftreets. 75 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. llreets. Child murder, fodomy, and all the^ua- natural vices, had their full play amongft the German ecclefiaftics. Thefe horrid a6ls niuft have ftruck that part of the German public, who had been polifhed by an acquaintance with the arts and fciences of other countries, more than they would do the ftupid inhabitants of a land whofe priefts went no farther than other people. To all thefe caufes there fiill remains to be added, the heat with which Luther carried on his attack. The Proteftants themfelves do not deny, that the paffions of the man, his pride and vindi6live fpirit, contributed much to his fuc- cefs. We Frenchmen know nothing at all of Lu- ther ; both our ecclefiaftics and hiftorians have equally miftaken his charadter. Even Voltaire, who was commonly fo fortunate in delineating featmes which had efcaped others, knew no more of Luther than, that he had called the Pope an afs. Luther's writings difplay not only a large quantity of knowledge, but an uncommon fhare of wit, and at the fame time ftrong figns of a lively imagination. As to his wonderful hu- mour, it is a kind of mean betwixt the manner of a well-fed monk, a true brother, and that of a fenlible, learned, and patriotic profeffor of the prefent day. If we judge him by oar prefent rukwS TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 77 rules of tafte, we lhall find that he often falls into coarfenefs and vulgarity ; but we muft re- colle£l, that he had to do with the populace, and that his fcholars, animated by the zeal which the lull of reformation brought upon them, pub- lifhed many things which he did not intend fhould fee the light. They began all their works with their prophet, and would not fufFer a word of his to be loft, though fpoken when he was drunk : it is thus his table converfations have come to be printed. You read in fome editions of them, that when the great man perceived that fome of the perfons prefent were writing down his jokes, he faid, ' Ye affes, how comes * it that ye pick up the excrement that I let fall But it was as much owing to this rough kind of wit as to his learning, that his writings fpread fo far as they did. Like a truly phlegmatic man, ^ he was irreconcileable and untradable when once he had been provoked. He moved hea- ven and earth againft the popes. From the cloyfters and jovial focieties, in which he had made every body merry at their expence, he hurried to the courts of princes to urge^the bat- tle, or wrote himfelf the moft bitter invedlives againft them. Though he would often put him- felf into no very decent paflions with other re- formers, on account of difterence of opinion, he took care always to keep the fovereigns he had 75 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. had to do with united ; ^ fure lign that he was a man of the world, who knew how to treat with the great, as well with the fmall ones of the earth. Befides all this, and above all, Lu-. ther was a goo!;l man ; he kept an expenfive houfe, left debts behind him, and, what does the Proteft- ' ant princes in Germany of that time no great honour, his wife and children fell into almoft ex- treme poverty. Erafmus of Rotterdam, and others, who in the beginning adhered to Luther's party, were undoubtedly more learned and experienced men than he was ; but a far diiTerent being from a mere learned man was required to : ftrike the firoke. It was necefiary that th^ man that was to take the firft fiep, fhould unite pre-eminence of learning, with boldnefs and intrepidity, quali- ties which feldom fall to the fliare of a Wn of letters. He was alfo to be a man for the peo- ple, which is feldom the cafe with a man of Erafmus's char^fler ; in a woird, he w^as to be a Luther. Some people have been wilHiig to deprive him of the honour of having ftruck the firft jf , . . . blow, btit this is very immaterial : they fay that Zwingle had preached againft the abufes of tho church in Switzerland before the year 1 507, in which Luther publilhed his thefis; it is true, th^t Zwingle had done fo, and fo had many others TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 79 others in Germany, before either Zwingle or Luther. From the time of the council of Con- fiance, there never had been wanting men to preach and write againft the injuflice of the court of Rome, and the freedom of their pens was a Angular contrail enough with the tyranny of the church government. But fermons alone could do nothing ; all the political negotiations of the moft refpedable courts could do nothing before Luther. To effedl any thing conlidera- ble, there wanted a man to fet himfelf at the head of a large party, under whom all the learned men of the times would enlift, whom one of the moft powerful princes of the times would fupport, and who fhould charge from fo refpe6lable a place as the univerfity of Wirtem- berg at that time was this man was Luther. Circumftances, tooy rnuft have concurred, the influence of which we cannot at this time calcu- late. Preaching alone would have done as little in Switzerland, as it did in Germany. It was neceffary to proceed to adion, and to fet hands to work. All the other reformations followed th& example which had been fet them in that Saxony ; and though other reformers afterwards broke with Luther, and fome of them went far- ther than he had done, they all looked up to him as their chief, and as having broke the ice for them. Without him, or rather without the cir- cumftances 8o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. cumflances which impelled him^in all probability, matters would never have come to adion. Sen- fible men would have written fatires, they would have made patriotic reprefentations, and have preached; and, in the end, the Pope would have been compelled to do in Germany, what he had done in France, from which laft king- dom the fale of mdulgences (which was the' firfl fignal of rebellion in Germany), and the ^eat abufes, have been banifhed without refor- mation. It is ufual for later WTiters to dwell much on the degree of light v/hich the reformation has fpread over the world. In my opinion, this is treating the matter in a very partial way. The fadl is, that as to Germany, the illumination or the cultivation of it was put off for two hundred years by the reformation ; during that period, France and Italy became very flourifhing and enlightened countries, and Germany w^ould un- doubtedly have vied with them in cultivation^ had not the theological difputes banifhed philo- fophy, and the country been torn up by civil w^ar. Even Italy fiourifhed in a degree which Germany will not yet arrive at for fome time. Venice, Genoa, and Tufcany w^ere fo enlight- ened, fo polifhed, and, for their fize, fo powerful, that, making allowances for the dilferent mag- nitudes of the countries, Europe has nothing at this TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 8i this time to produce that can compare with them. Venice alone was able to find employ- ment for the empire and the whole power of Germany, and raifed the jealoufy of all the prin- ces of thofe times. Naples alfo was a moft flou- rifhing ftate. As for myfelf, I confefs, that I cannot fee what pre-eminence the Proteftants have a right to claim even at this day, with re^ gard to general illumination, over the Catholics ; for inftance, the French, and part of the Ita- lians. The general enlightening of the under- ftanding does not depend upon two or three myf- teries of religion more or lefs in one country than another. I, too, fet out on my journey with the prejudice that the great body of Proteft- ants muft be more enlightened than the Catho- lics ; but I w^as foon oblfged to give it up, and fomid that many of our countrymen have much more knowing heads than can be found in the people of feveral Proteftant countries I paffed through. Even amongft the Proteftants them- felves, the knowledge of the people is in no pro- portion to the fimplicity of their different reli- gions. The Saxons, w^hofe religion is by no means fo limple, or, as fome people would call it, fo philofophical as that of fome of the re- formed, are, upon the whole, a much more en- lightened people than the reformed Swifs and Dutchmen ; the difference amongft the peafants Vol, IL G is I 82 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. is very ftriking — In Germany, after the darknefs in which war and theology had involved the country, the Catholics applied themfelves much fooner than the Proteftants to the fciences. Sturm, the firfl: improver of the Proteftant fchools, in his treatife Be Ivjiiiutione Scholamm, allows, that the Jefuits had an advantage over the Pro- teftants in the fchools, and that thefe muft exert themfelves, if they would come up with them. It has been folely owing to the indolence and ftu- pidity of the Catholic princes, that the Proteftants have not only overtaken them, but got a great way before them. Whilft the latter made ufe of the liberty which had been procured to their fchools by the change of their religion, the for- mer ftifiered the papal huntfmen to entrap them under the authority of their unthinking princes ; but this was not the cafe in France, Venice, and other Catholic countries. It may, I think, admit of fome doubt, whe- ther the abolition of the ancient church govern- ment did much more for the happinefs of the people, than it did for their underftandings ; at leaft in every Proteftaut country I pafled through, I heard the ecclefiaftics complain of the decay of their credit, the narrownefs of their circumftances, and the diforders which were the confequences of them ; amongft which, that they moft enumerated and complained moft bit- terly TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 83 terly of, was the not having a bond of union amonglt themfeLves, but every man's being al- lowed to be a pope in his own circle. No doubt but the reformers merited much by im- provements they introduced into the ecclefiafti- cal. police as conneded with the civil, I mean by their banifhment of celibacy, fails, Popifh difpenfations and indulgences ; but thefe im- provements are confiftent with the exiftence of the Catholic religion, and have been introduced more or lefs into feveral countries. The trade of indulgences is ruined almoft over the whole Catholic world. Even the Spaniards and Por- tuguefe crufades, formerly the moll produdive of all, now bring in very little to the holy father. For a long time purgatory has only produced the trifling fums which monks, religious brother- hoods, and other communities, whofe fefiivals are conneded with indulgences, pay for their bulls of foundation ; and this fource of revenue is now almoft dried up ; for in moft Catholic countries there are no eredtions of new cloyfters, nor new fraternities, nor any introdu£lion of new feftivals ; on the contrary, they are endeavouring as faft as they can to abolifh the old. Indeed it is- only to the ecclefiaftics of the Catholic countries that purgatory is at all produdive ; but I have feen the eccleliaftics of Proteftant countries ufe iartifices to extort money from their people, par- G % ticularly 84 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY: ticularly the peafants, far more dangerous than purgatory, which, after all, produced only offer- ings freely given. The great merit of the reformers confifts in the change which their reformation made in the morals of the people ; indulgences, proceflions, feftivals, fafts, and the like, might have been cut off by the civil power, without its having made any feparation in the church ; but no civil power can at once render a debauched, diffipated peo- ple induftrious and frugal. Luther, who was not the beft oeconomifl: himfelf, preached no- thing upfo much as abftinence, frugality and in- duftry. The Calvinifts went ftill farther ; they taught that the world v^^as a place of torment, and that the true life of man confifted in the mortification of the flefh. Their catechifm for- bad all enjoyments, and made a fift of laughter. A man muft read Swift's writings to fee how much farther the Calvinifts went in this point than the Lutherans. It muft be owned, at the fame time, that this command of abftinence is the caufe why the Calvinifts are every where richer than the Lutherans ; for they are neither more adlive nor more induftrious than thefe, but, on the contrary, their melancholy humour, (a confequence of their education and their manners) which amongft the common people, }n many countries, almoft borders on ftupidity, renders TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 85 renders them heavy at every thing; indeed this is the reafon that they have not done fo much in the arts as either the Lutherans or Catholics. I remember to have read in an Englifn Review^ an eftimate of the proportion between the artifts and ingenious men produced by the Puritans or Calvinifts, and thofe of the eflablilhed church ; according to this account, the former flood to the latter as one to fix, and yet the dilfenters make two fifths of the inhabitants of England. — The Dutchman lives more car kingly in the midH: of his money, than the Catholics and Lutherans of middling incomes in other places ; he knows no pleafure in the whole w^orld, except that of fitting over his difh of tea in winter, to converfe about war or peace, and in fummer vifiting his garden once a week ; he is tedious, and in a cer- tain degree torpid about his bufmefs, and it is to his indefatigable attention to the main chance, but ftill more to his niggardlinefs, that he is in- debted for his riches. This is the chara6ler of the Calvinift every where ; and the fpirit, which is a confequence of this melancholy humour, al- lows fome of them frauds in the daily trade and intercourfe of life, which a Catholic or Luthe- ran would confider as a manifeft cheating. They have a text of fcripture ready for all occalions, but give the preference to this, be ye wife as ferpents. — ^The Memnonites and Quakers are ftill more S6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. more niggardly than the Calvinifts, and in con- feqiience much richer, but likewife ftill duller; thefe, as far as I can perceive, have no genius whatever for the arts. It was natural enough to exped, that the re- formation fhould here and there lead to abfur- dities, and that men would go from one extreme to the other ; but as only a part of the Proteft- ants have carried thefe tenets to this excels, tlley are as profitable to the whole ftate, as they are probably pernicious to the happinefs of the in- dividual. Though the immenfe riches of the Dutch contribute little to render them happier than poorer people, they enable them, not only to fupport the greateft wars for themfelves, but to funiiHi friends and foes with confiderable funis. As for the Lutherans, they poll'efs part of the humoUr of their founder, and to a high degree of induftry and frugality unite a great love of plea- fure and jollity, which makes the enjoyment of fo- , ciety. The unnatural hatred to pleafure does not damp their wit and good humour, and they have nothing of the /avage flovenlinefs, the dark hypocrify, and the ill breeding, which diftin- guifhes the majority of other feds. By thefe regulations in the manners, we fee how powerful religion is on the hearts of men. Prior to this miracle, for it really was one, Ger- many TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 87 many was in a conftant frenzy ; drinking, dan- cing, and intriguing, kept priefts and laity in a perpetual dream, and fenfelefs fpedacles of every kind contributed their lhare to the perverfion of the underftanding ; when lo ! in an inftant, the people ran from the alehoufes and brothels to church, opened their eyes, believed, and became induftrious, frugal, ard adive. To bring about fuch a change as this was, re- quired a degree of refolutibn, which is only to be met with among a barbarous people, fuch as the Germans of that time were. When pleafure has once enervated a nation, nothing of the kind is more to be expedled. In the fouthern parts of Germany, particularly in Bavaria, the object wonld be as difficult to compafs as it is delirable. LETTER 88 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. LETTER VIII. Berlin: My way hither lay through Wittemberg, a good looking town, but which Hill preferves the marks of the frequent change of mailers it un- derwent in the lafl Silefian v/ar, and which it has not yet entirely recovered. It fhould be properly the capital of the eledlorate, but muft yield the firft place to Leipfick. Indeed in point of riches and population, it is inferior to many other towns in Saxony. As far as the Elbe, the country is as well cul- tivated as Upper Saxony, and feems to have the fame foil ; but you are hardly got a poll beyond Wittemberg, before you difcover a great altera- tion ; inftead of the rich black foil of Saxony, you meet with nothing but fand ; there is alfo a tedious uniformity in the profpe6l ; there are large moraffes near the rivers, and the number of thick black woods give the whole an unplealing ap- pearance. Of all the German provinces I have hitherto paffed through, nature feems to have treat- ed Brandenburgh the moft like a ftep-mother. The TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 89 The inhabitants endeavour to remedy the nig- gardlinefs of nature by their induftry. Where- ever the foil has allowed of any kind of agri- culture, they have made the belt of it. The ap- pearance of the villages and farms, as well as of their inhabitants, bef peaks profperity. My own experience confirms what feveral other travellers have obferved before me. The cuftom-houfe officers in Pruffia are neither fo tedious, nor fo diflreffing and vexatious to a tra- veller, as thofe of Auftria ; they are for the moft part intelligible, fenfible men, and by no means fo defpotic and boorifh as the Auftrian gentle- men of the fame profeffion. Berlin is a remarkably beautiful and magni- ficent city, and may certainly be looked upon as one of the fineft in Europe. It has nothing of the uniformity, which in the long run makes the appearance of moft of the new and regular built towns tirefome. The architedure, the diftribu- tion of the buildings, the appearance of the fquares, the plantations of trees both in thefe and the ftreets ; every thing, in a word, befpeaks tafte and variety. * I have been for fome days reconnoitring the town according to my common cuftom. Ber- lin is not fo large as either Paris or Vienna ; it is about four miles and a half long from the Miih- knthor^ which is fouth-eaft, to the Oranicnburger^ tkor 90 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. thor north- well, and about three miles broad from the Bernavertho}' to the north-eaft, to the Totjda- merthor to the fouth-weft ; but within this ex- tenfive enclofure there are many gardens, and in fome parts even fields taken in : there are not jiiore than fix thoufand houfes in this town, whereas in Paris there are near thirty thoufand. The emptinefs of many places is a lingular con- trail: to the magnificence of the buildings. Nor is the contrail of this magnificence with the circumflances of the people lefs firiking. Sometimes while you are Handing gazing at the beauty of a building in the Ionic Ityle, finely ftuccoed, with a magnificent front, and all the outward appearance of the habitation of a far- mer general, or at leaft a duke ; on a fudden a window opens in the lower ftory, and a cobler brings out a pair of boots and hangs them under your nofe, in order to dry the leather. As you are loft in wonder at this phaenomenon, the fecond ftory opens, and a breeches-maker treats you with a pair of new wafhed breeches ; a little while after another window opens in the fame ftory, and a taylor hangs out a waiftcoat before you, or fome woman empties a difh of potatoe parings on your head : well, you go on a few Heps farther, and come to a palace of the Corin- thian order, which looks like a houfe belonging to a millrefs of the king, or of one of the princes of TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 91 of the blood. Scarce have your wandering eyes reached the top, but you are faluted by a Jew from the attic ftory, who afks you whether you have any thing to fwop ; you caft your eyes a ftory lower, and behold fhirts hanging out to dry, which belong to an officer who is (having him- felf, and whom you would hardly conceive to have two fhirts belonging to him. You march, on through two or three ftreets of the fame kind, and in all of them fee inhabitants of the fame* fort ; at laft you arrive at the houfe of a general officer, as you eafily difcover by the guard be- fore the door; but you fee neither porter, nor running footmen, nor any thing of the train of attendants of the nobility at Vienna. I have now been three days in the houfe of a privy-counfellor, and am fortunate enough to have a lord of the war-office for my fellow te- nant. It was impoffible for me to remain at the inn. The hoft made bows upon bows, and was fo very civil, that I had my fufpicions of him the very firft moment ; nor was I miftaken, for upon my ftaying dinner the next day at a gentleman's houfe, for whom I had letters of recommenda- tion from Drefden, at my return he made his re- marks upon it ; and the day after took it in fe- rious dudgeon, that I would not leave a fine gar- den and good company, I had ftrolled to, and walk three miles home to a4d another item to his reckoij- 92 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. reconing. We were, however, reconciled ; but as he perceived I was one of thofe who do not hold long converfations with inn-keepers, he came into my room*, and would read me the Ber- lin newfpapers, which for lies and nonfenfe are not behind hand with the French ones. As he w^as going on with the Aveighty and important intelligence, that a Prufllan general had died of the gout ; that his royal highnefs Prince Henry w^as gone a journey to Rhinfberg; that a perfon in the Nezamark, who vvas a man of letters, was afflided with the cholic; and that the wife of a general officer in Silefia was fafely delivered of a daughter, I fnatched the paper out of his hands. He took this affront fo civilly, that I was on the point of forgiving the infolence of the night be- fore, when he gave me to underfland, that he could provide me with a companion to fleep with, as well as with my board, if I chofe it; upon this I immediately went out to look for a pri- vate houfe, it being a maxim with me, that every inn-keeper who is a bawd, is of courfe a cheat. In general, the inn-keepers of this place feem to be a peculiar kind of people ; they are all outra- geoufly civil at firft, but extremely furly when they meet with any one who does not choofe to be impofed on by them ; there is likewife no end of their impertinent queftions, and when they have no girls in the houfe, they make it no fe- cret, that this is an article which they un- dertake TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 93 dertake to provide Grangers with. They have lifis in which the ladies of the neighbour- hood are forted according to their prices, and a fervant is always ready to fetch the wares which the ftranger bargains for. My landlord, the privy counfellor, alTured me, that there vras hardly one landlord in twenty who did not deal in this trade. A traveller who comes out of Bohemia into Saxony, is apt to be ftruck with the dearnefs of provilions in the latter, but it is nothing to what he meets with when he comes from Saxony hi- ther. Several caufes contribute 10 this, among which may be enumerated the natural poverty of the country in feveral commodities, the high cuftoms, and many monopolies. To give you a fmall idea of the latter, the meafure of wood, which you know coils a trifle at Paiis, here comes to a guinea and a half, notwithilanding that Brandenburg is full of w^oods of all forts. Indeed the fmall quantity of money in circula- tion, and the price of every neceffary of life, forms a ftrong contrail betwixt this place and Vienna. At Vienna you are amazed that, with fuch a circulation of money, every thing can be fo cheap, and here can hardly conceive how, with fo fmall a proportion of cafh, everything can be fo dear. Conceive that you pay fix or feven Jivres here for a bottle of Burgundy w^hich has jiothing but the name of Burgundy ; our common wines 94 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. wines of Orleanois, Ifle de France, Guyenne, &c. fell for three or four livres a bottle. Indeed, the king is a little too hard upon the drinkers of wine. In all the private houfes I have hitherto feen, there prevails a rigid oeconomy in the kitchen, cellar, and indeed in every part : the only article: of expence is drefs ; but you fee that the belly has been pinched for the fake of powder and ruf- fles. The ladies drefs in the fafhion, and I faw fome ornaments in very great tafte, and very rich. There is no town in Europe, except Conftan- tinople, which has fo numerous a garrifon as • Berlin has: itconlifts of twenty-fix thoufand men. For a little money you may have every thing done for you by a foldier ; they clean your fhoes, w^afh, mend, pimp, and, in fhoit, do all that is done elfewhere by Savoyards and old women. They are alfo in the cuftom of begging of ftran- gers, not abfolutely charity, but fomething to drink, with which, however, they commonly purchafe fomething to eat, as the Sprey has wa- ter enough to quench their thirft. They are not fo furly as the Imperial troops, and you meet with feveral fenfible men amongft them. As far as I can hitherto fee of the people of this place, they are better provided, as to the upper region or head, than the inhabitants of Vienna, , but cannot vie with them in the middle regions, th^ TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 95 the belly, and the pockets. The vacuum in thofe, particularly the purfe, may eafily be difcovered by an attentive obferver, and it Ihikes a ftranger forcibly. They have indeed fo little refped for the eyes and ears of the public, that officers and counfellors will drive a bargain for guilders with Jews in a public coffee-houfe, a thing I faw with my own eyes the day after I arrived here. The merchants, manufacturers, and that part of the nobility w^hich have places, deal fo myfterioufly in all matters of money, that you find it very difficult to diflinguifh them from thofe who have net any. On the other hand, you obferve here fuch an information with regard to the tafte of the country, fuch a freedom in difcourling on the meafures of government, fuch a national piide, fuch a participation in every public occurrence ; and in the military and civil officers, fuch an ac- tivity for the ftate^ and (notwithftanding their fmall falaries) fuch a jealoufy of doing their duty, that in all thefe refpecls you would think your- felf in London. This is an evident fign, that the fpirit of a people does not depend upon the form, but on the adminiftration of a government, and that patriotifm is not the exclufive privilege of republics. They talk here about the king s regu- lations as well as about his omijjions and commif- Jions, with a degree of freedom, that yo^ w^ould only expecl to find in an Englifhman. Though $5 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. Though I have been here but a fhort time, I think I can take upon me to contradid an opi- nion, which has pretty generally gone abroad, upon the authority of fome gentlemen who have travelled poll through the country, about the myjlerioufnefs of this government. It is faid, that there is a cloud round the king's opera- tions, and that all is fupported by his power ; for my own part, I have not feen a more open or more popular government than this is, that of England itfelf not excepted. The whole plan of adminiftration appears to me fo" plain, and at all times fo open to every man's infpedion, that I cannot conceive how fo falfe an eftimate can have been made. Some Englifhmen, who think that the elfence of liberty conlifts in bab- bling, and giving vent in parliament to every fpecies of ill-humour ; and, who from their im- pudence and felf-fufficiency, are the worft ob- fervers that travel, have moft probably fpread this opinion. It is not, however, neceffary to be long in the country to difcover that the king is no fonder of clandeftine meafures than he is of his power. The department of foreign affairs, and poffibly fome things which relate to the difcipline of the army, are the only things which are kept in fome obfcurity ; and furely no man will exped that the king will fuffer his corre- fpon^ TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 97 fpondence with his minifterS;, and the fecret of his treaties, to be printed and fold in the Ihops : but I will talk to you more at length about this aiK)ther time. LETTER IX. Berlin. Forgive me, brother, for having made you v/ait fome time for a letter, but I have made feveral excurfions through the country, and will now lit down to give you an account of my preregrinations, I was three days at Potfdam. This city has ftill finer houfes in it than thofe at Berlin ; but, like thefe, they are inhabited only by perfons of the lower and middling ranks. The fituation of the town was much extolled to me, and for a coun- try with fo much famenefs in it as Brandenburg has, it may pafs for a fine one : Neither, how- ever, the buildings nor the fituation were the chief objeds of my vifit here ; w^hat I came for was to fee the king, who has for fo many years been the god of the Parifian idolatry, the won- der of all Europe, the mafier and terror of his foes, and, in fhort, who throughout ail the neighbouring ftates is called The King par ex- Vol. IL H cellence. 98 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. cellence. I was told that I might very eafily be prefented to him, but I have always thought it a great piece of impertinence to think fo lightly of the leifure of a mighty monarch, as to intro- duce yourfelf to him without the fmalleft pre- tenfion. I had the good fortune to fee him twice on horfeback on the parade, where, how- ever, he is not fo regular an attendant as for^ merly. All the prints I have hitherto feen of him are only half lengths ; but there are many copies of a very good pi6lure, in which he is drawn at full length. You may fee one of thefe at Madam S — 's, at Paris, and they are fo common here, that you meet with them in fe veral inns. The original was painted by an Italian, who having been extremely fortunate in hitting off the likenefs, the king fuffered copies of the pidure to be taken by many good mafters here, and made prefents of them to feveral German princes, and thus the copies have become common. Heavily as the hand of age now feems to lye on this im- mortal man, the very ftrong likenefs of the face Hill remains. The king of Pruflia is hardly of the middling fize, but ftrong built and thick fet. His body is now much bent, and his head ihakes, but his eyes are fiill piercing, and roll about when he is obferving. Peace, order, re- folution, and earneftnefs are marked upon his face. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 99 fece. There is likewife that particular look about him, which is common to all great per- fonages, and which I fhould call indifference to all that furrounds him, were it not that you fee evidently, that he takes an uncommon in- tereft in the things which he conceives fpecially to belong to his province. The editor of Voyages en differents Pays de PEurope, Mr. Pilati, fays, that every thing at Berlin and Potfdam is carr ried on in filence, and that nothing can be known Cfither of the king's private life, or of iiis public affairs. Thera is an univerfal opinion of the kind gone out about this court : If you will believe fome Englifhmen, efpecially Mr. Wraxall, the genius which animates the Pruflian monarchy, is a man-hating, light-fhunning genius, who in imperceptible darknefs ftrikes conftantly at the eftates of the fubjeds and lays fnares for them. It is impoffible to form a falfer judgment of the king. Mr. Pilati, who contradids himfelf in more places than one, fays in another part of bis letters, .that the king's hours are fo regularly diftributed, that at any 'time you may know what he is then doing. Indeed the true caufe w^hy lb little is to be faid of the king's private life, is the great fimpliciry and regularity of it. Here is no minifter to enter into intrigues with, to ruin a man of honour who ftands in his way; jao miftr^fs whofe humour a man muft ftudy to yi% get loo TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. get the favourable minute to obtain a right, or have juftice done him for an injury, or of whofe adventures he mull keep a regifter, to revenge himfelf on her by bon-mots, epigrams, and anecdotes ; no queen to puzzle and perplex the court every morning with the very great problem, whether fhe has flept with her huf- band or not, whether fhe is breeding or not, and whether the fafhion will not undergo fome revolution, commanded by her Majefty, in the courfe of the enfuing week. The princes and princeffes of the blood have neither difputes for precedency to fettle, nor cabals to contrive, nor large play debts to difcharge, jior any of the mighty bulineifes which are the daily occupa- tions of other courts to difpatch ; the king nei- ther hunts nor goes to balls or theatres (a few operas only excepted) ; he has no occafion to advife with a minifter of finance, how, or from what fund the millrefs's new drefs, or her new houfe, or her new garden, or her journey to — fhall be paid ; — nothing is undertaken here for which the money is not ready. The king of Prufiia has neither favourite, nor confeifor, nor court fool (who, tnuiafis mutandis, is flill in good credit in the other courts of Germany, and whofe part the confefTor moftly plays). Under thefe circumflances the court anec- dotes of the day mull necelTarily be veiy few; bu^ TRAVELS THROUGH GERMAl^Y* ict but yet the king gives himfelf fo little trouble to be concealed, that as the Englifhman, MoorCj obferves, it is no difficult matter to arrive at his bed-chamber unperceived t he is furrounded nei- ther by a guard or a fwarm of footmen and vnkts de chamhre ; he often walks alone in the gardens of Sans-Soucy, and wherever he is, except at a review, no man is kept at a diftance. It is owing to the fame fnnplicity and order which obtains in his private life, that the opera- tions of the king of Pruffia's government make fo little noife. Whoever confiders his admini-^ ftration as myfterious, or his dealings as eftablifh- ed in intrigue, falls into the error fo common to all us mortals, of thinking there is intrigue where- cver there is iimplicity ; hence it is, that we do not fee the truth that is under our nofes. Some- times, however, a man's over zeal works out fomewhat bitter ffom his own gall, and this I conceive to have been Mr. Wraxall's cafe. It is true, that the king neither holds ftated councils, nor yet a Lit de Jtijiice ; he has no par- liament whofe members are promoted for their flatteries, and baiiifhed for their oppolition. The princes of the blood have no opportunity of com- pelling him by reprefentations or protejiations againft his meafures, either to forbid them ap- pearing at court on certain days, or to pay their debts; men of honour are not banilhed from him 102 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. him by Leitres de Cachet^ nor can the minifterS cabal againft them ; neither is this king compeU led to appeal to the love and patriotifm of his ful> jeds, as often as the invention of the minifter of finance is exhaufted, and the poor man has no artifice, fave flattery, left to wring the lafl penny from their purfes ; he knows nothing, of ftate lotteries, nor of annuities, nor of loans, nor of new vinoticmes, nor of augmenting the capita- tion ; he has no dons ^raiuits to expe<5l from his clergy, nor is he obliged to threaten them with reformation in religion, if they will not make him the pieients required ; he has no bifhops nor forbonne^ who imprifon feniible men, and take away their charader in the public eftimation, in order to preferve their own places : his minifters can neither make parties amongfl themfelves, nor play at the blind ccnv with him. — All this muft in truth render the government very \ini- form, and aflbrds very little fubjedl for news, I fpent many days in confidering in what part of this adminiftration it would be poflible to introduce myllery, without being able to make a probable conjedure. There is, indeed, a my, ftery incidental to foreign affairs, from the very nature of them, which even the Englifh minif- try contrive religioully to conceal from the eyes of parliament ; but as to home occafions, nei^ ther the religion, the nobility, nor any part of the TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 103 • the ftate is ever at variance with the whole. Far from endeavouring to undermine the rights of the nobility, the king takes all poflible pains to maintain them in the full poffeffion of them. He has affifted the Silelian nobility, who are the moft powerful of his country, by lending them large fums of money, at one and a half per cent. The fame thing has been done for the nobility of other countries wlio have wanted his alTiftance. No community, city, or religious order, is in the leaft danger of having their privileges in- truded upon, as long as they are not detrimental to the advantage of the whole. The rich cloy- fters in Silefia and the Weftern ^ruflia, have not the leaft thing to apprehend. The Pruflian government is generally conli- dered in other countries as the moft defpotic that exifts, though, in fad, nothing can be lefs fo. T he maxim which is the foundation of the Britifti conftitution, Lex in regno fuo fuperiores habet Deum etRegem, is no where fo well obferved as it is here. People will not furely call a rigid obfervation of the laws w^hich promote the good of the ftate defpotifm ; and what inftances are there of the king's ever having allowed himfelf any thing that befpoke arbitrary fenti- ments ? In no country are the rights of reafon, the rights of nature, the cuftoms, and particu- lar ftatutes which do not militate againft the hap- pinefs 104 TRAVIXS THROUGH GERMANY. pinefs of the wliole, better obferved and guard- ed, than they are in the Priiffian dominions. No where does government dired all its fteps fo ex- actly according to the rule of right as it does here. The ftrongeft proof that can be given of this aiTertion, is the confideration of the admi- xiiftration of finances. Taxes are the only mark of univerfal defpotifm, all other ads of power affeding only particular perfons, and chiefly thofe who for their own intereft fubjedt them- felves to them; but taxes are levied equally upon all the people. Let us therefore fee how it is with taxes in the Pruffian dominions. Exclulive»of • the crown lands, mines, rnanu- fadures, and other revenues of royalty, the finance fyllem of the king of Pruflia refts upon the two plaineft grounds that can be, the taxes and cuftoms. The taxes fall upon the moft nu- merous and moft ufeful clafs of the people, to wit, the farmers and holders of land; and they are as moderate when compared with the value of things, as thofe of any other country in Eu- rope. The farmers in the Pruflian dominions, as the Englifhman Moore himfelf acknowledges^ are as well off as thofe of any other country whatever: they compofe at leaft three-fourths of the king's fubjecls; and the good circum- ftances of fo large a part of the nation, is a good compenfation in the eyes of humanity for the TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 105 the nobility not being fo rich as in England and France. In both thefe countries the farmers, though they conftitute what is properly called the nation, or people, are the laft thought of by the government. It is worth while to compare the flate of the Englifh farmers with that of the PrulTian ones ; as it is by fuch comparifons alone that we can form to ourfelves diftindl notions of liberty and defpotifm, as well as of the little depend ance that is to be placed on the accounts of things gi- ven by Englifh travellers, who are wont to treat as flaves all nations who have no nabobs, nor lords, nor corrupt brawlers in parliament, nor yet a king whom every rafcal is at liberty to throw dirt at under the mafl<: of patriotifm. The fubftantial Englifh farmers cannot be ta- ken into comparifon, on account of the fmallnefs of their numbers; for, according to the accounts the Englifh writers themfelves give, they hardly make the fixtieth part of the whole, and are ex- adlly what the polfeffors of fmall eftates and the farmers of the crown lands are here; or rather, the number of thefe is much greater in Pruffia than that of the fubftantial farmers in England. The number of yeomen, freeholders, and co- pyholders, who have the right of chufing mem- bers of parliament, is alfo very fmall, and it is well known that their right of eledion is a vain xo6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. vain title. The nobility, whofe tenants they are in a great meafure, or who can bring them under their dominion in various ways, rob them of their votes either by open power or fecret bribery. In the prefent ftate of things in England, the farmer has evidently no fhare in the legiflation ; he is, in the ftrongeft fenfe of the word, a flave of aTuperior order. He is compelled to go as a foldier or.failor to America, or the EafI: or Weft Indies, and the higheft and lefs numerous clafs of the people enjoy the fruits of his labours. The quantity of gold which he brings back to Eng- land at the expence of his blood, raifes the price of things, fo that he is not able to export the produce of his lands ; and a part of the beft land in Europe muft have remained uncultivated, had net parliament granted fuch large bounties on exportation, as enabled the holders of it to fup- port the competition of other nations : nor can even this precarious ftate of the corn trade laft longer than till fuch times as the navy of RulTia and the other ftates, which border on Poland, fhall improve. As foon as R^uffia and Pruffia fhall have a fufficient navy, and the agriculture of Poland is become what it is capable of being brought to, the Englifh corn trade will of courfe be deftroyed. That fyftem of conveni- ence, which Great Britain has taken up, for fo many TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 107 many years paft in defiance of juftice and the law of nations, is as oppreffive to the farmer, as it is advantageous to the nobility and trading part of the comitry. It is the former who muft fight out the wars which this fyftem introduces ; they are principally affedled by the ftagnation and fall of national credit, the immenfe debt of the country, and the exchange of coin for paper- money. The increafe of taxes, in the cafe of a war, all fall ultimately upon them, as. this event at once takes a great number of hands from the plough, and the internal confumption is lelfened by the abfence of fo many thoufand men from their native country. The dangers of the fea, and the political ftate in which Great Britain has been for thefe fourfcorc years paft, almoft confine their corn trade to the countries from which the largeft quantities are exported in time of peace. A long war neceffarily occafions a great increafe of ftreet robbers and thieves, who are all of the clafs of farmers, and are a new plague to the country-people. The wars Eng- land has been engaged in during the laft centu- ry, which taken altogether occupy half that pe- riod, have diminifhed the population, to the great detriment of agriculture. Whatever is faid of the population of England, it does not bear any proportion to thofe of France, Italy, and Germa- ny, the fize of the refpcdtive countries being taken into 108 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. into the account. In thefe countries there arc two thoufand five hundred men to every fquare mile, and in England hardly one thoufand nine hundred ; and yet it has a greater proportion of the necelTaries of life than any country. Blinded by a falfe appearance of freedom, the Englifh farmer thinks that he is fighting for the good of his country, whilft in fa6l he is fight- ing to fupport the vices of the great. This is the true caufe why fome Englifh waiters have thought, that inftruding farmers prejudiced the ftate, and have contended for keeping them in a ftate of favagc barbarity, as a thing elfential to the happinefs of the whole. The true mean- ing of this is, that the nation would have fol- diers and failors to fight through ftorms and batteries for a freedom which hardly a twentieth part of the nation polfelfes. Dr. Moore thinks that the king of Pruffia's reafon for contributing fo much to the profpe- rity of his farmers is, that they may fupply him with foldiers. None but an Englifhman, who is ufed to diftort every thing to 'the opinion which beft fuits his prejudices, could have had fuch an idea. Hardly two-fifths of the Pruf- lian army confift of farmers fon; above half are foreigners, and the other half is made up equally from town and country. Pilaty flatly contradidls Moore in this particular. He in- forms TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 109 forms us, that the Pruffian armies are made up of pien which ancient Rome would not have ac- cepted of for her defenders, to wit, manufadlu- rers. I fhall not take up your time nor my own in writing down any more of thefe conceits, which only make a fenfible man laugh. The king of PrufTia, as the reafon of things direds, and far difterently from the Englifh legiflature, confiders the peafants as the mofl: ufeful mem- bers of the community. He does not trouble himfelf with foreign colonies, which deprive the land of the hands neceffary to till it, and which the peafant is obliged to defend for the advantage of the diffipated part of the nation- His fyftem of politics refts neither on being maf- ter of the fea, nor on the vanity of interfering in all the concerns of the European powers, for the fake of having the doubtful name of the ^naintainer of the balance and freedom of Eu- rope, which has embroiled the Englifh in fo ma- ny wars, whatever i;nay have been falfely faid to the contrary. His peafants, as I will fhew you in a future letter, are in no danger of being the victims of ambition, as thofe of England confiantly are. It is impoffible for the Prulfians ever to be put to the difficulty of not being able to part w ith what their land produces. In Eng- land, according to the account of the beft po- Jkicians, large trafls of the beft land are unculti- vated. no TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. vated. In Pruflia, even the dry fands are ploughed. In England, a man of fortune has it in his power to put a forced price upon the corn in the market to his own profit, and to the great detriment of the neighbouring farmers. Here the country is not only free from all fuch a6ls of power of the nobility, but the king, by wife regu- lations, and by magazines, contrives to keep the corn at a conftant high price : this he effeds by V! ife regulations, and laying out large fums to keep liis granaries always full. The bounty granted by the Englifh parliament for the exportation of corn, bears no proportion to the fums fpent by the king of Pruffia on the improvement of agri- culture. He not only gives thofe who are in- clined to improve the wafte lands, wood for building, cattle, and flock of all kinds, but lays out large fums of money amongft the poor far- mers. For fever al years paft he has given the inhabitants of the Middlemark alone 10,000 tha- lers a year, and, according to a computation made, he gives every year about 700,000 guild- ers, i. e. 2,500,000 French livres amongft the poor farmer. The yearly outgoings for colo- nies, caufeways, canals, &c. all which have the advancement of agriculture in view, coft him no lefs. The great advantage which the Pruffian farmer has over the Englifh, that which renders him, without a doubt, the freeft and happieft farmer upon earth, is, that his land-tax is never increafed ; TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ni increafed ; this circumftance alone would be fuf- ficient to filence all the clamours raifed about Pruffian defpotifm, were the perfons who raife them capable of any fhame, or did they take any trouble to fee more of the country than it is pollible they fhould fee by riding poll through it. The taxes in the king of Pruffia's dominions are fubjed to no alteration. In the very prelfure of theSilefian war, when all Europe thought that the Pruffian country muft be drained to the ut- termoft farthing, they were not raifed a fixpence ; and had the war been longer and ftill more vio- lent, they w^ould not have been raifed. This is due to the perfed knowledge which the king has of the flate of the country, and his averfion to defpotifm and arbitrar)' power. He knew that taxes are doubly diftreffing to the farmers amidft the de- folations and diftrelfes of war, and that any in- creafe of them mult be extremely pernicious, at a time when from the abfencc of the troops the confumption of the produce is lelfened, the country plundered by incuriions of the enemy, and many ufeful hands taken from the plough. Mr. Pilati, who does juftice to the king's at- tention to the improvement of agriculture, con- cludes what he fays on this fubjed with this re^ mark : Notwithftanding all that the king has done to promote it, agriculture will not flour ifh in the Pruffian dominions, on account of the fmallne fs 112 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. fmallnefs of the circulation. I could obferve no diftrefs aiifmg from any circumftance of this kind ; on the contrary, what I faw of the drefs, the furniture of their houfes, and the way of life, befpoke a degree of eafe, which approached very nearly to luxury; indeed, it appears a priori, that the inhabitants of the country cannot be expofed to that want of money which is felt in the great towns ; they are the great canals, or, if I may be allowed the exprelTion, the great refervoirs of the gold, which comes to them through the fmall canals of the ftate, and returns from them through fmall canals to the body. The whole machine of government is calculated for their benefit : they feel the excife and monopolies lefs than any perfons, and may free themfelves entirely from their burthens, if, according to the king's paternal requifition, they will abftain from luxury. It is the manufadurers, artifts, petty tradefmen, and above all, the lower and middling inhabitants of the great cities, who are compelled to confume the produdions of the country, and the farmer has all tile benefit of it ; indeed, the whole Pruffian fyftem of cuftoms is adapted for the peculiar advantage of the lat- t-er ; for inftance, the obje6l in the extravagant duties on foreign wines, is to compel the peo- ple to drink the beer of the country, in the ma- king of which tKe farmer employs his barley and TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 113 and his hops. The foldier gives every thing to the farmer; his clothing, his eating, his drinking, all contribute to the profpericy of the inhabi- tant of the country. An evident reafon why the Pruflian farmers muft be the very people who can know no want of money, is, that the produdions of the country are much dearer than they are in any of the neighbouring countries, though the fale is much greater. I have read in a German review the account of a work, the author of which attempts to prove, that the advantages enjoyed by the Pruffian far- mers over the other orders of the ftate, will fome time or other prove dangerous to the conftitu- tion ; but is it not natural, is it not republican, is it not confonant to the dignity of man to conceive, that the moft ufeful, and mofl numerous part of a community Ihould have the greateft au- thority in it ? Shall a parcel of lords poffefs all the advantages of that freedom which the farmer Is obliged to give his blood to defend ? Mr. Pilati, who often contra dids what he has proved, and often proves what he has con- tradided, makes a remark in his account of Sicily, which, though it does not agree w^ith what he himfelf had faid before of the ftate of agriculture in Pruflia, does great honour to the Pruflian adminift ration. After having con- trafted the profufe bleflings of nature in this Vol. II. I ifland. 114 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ifland, with her flepmother treatment of th^ countries under the Pruflian dominions, he tells us, that notwithftanding this, the Pruflian far- mers are happier than thofe of Sicily. What a god-like adminiftration mull that be, which makes the inhabitants of a fandy wafte happier than the polTelTors of a country, which both ancient and modern writers extol as a miracle of fruitfulnefs and wealth ! The land in Sicily produces a hundred fold, and in Pruffia it is a miracle when the Mays yields feven or eight times, and the corn twelve or fifteen times, what has been fown.. The Sicilians, befides the corn trade, have oil, lilk^ wine, citrons, oranges, fu- gar, and feveral other mofl valuable articles* The Pruffians have only a few turneps, crab-ap- ples, and nuts; and yet the latter are richer than the former : and is it not far more honour- able to the adminidration of Prullia, that not- withftanding the niggardlinefs of nature, the greateft part of the inhabitants are happier, than if it poffelfed a dozen lords Clive, Cavendifh, and Baltimore, and three fcore dukes Pignatelli, Monteleone, and Matalone ? If one confiders^ as it is juft to do, the very unfavourable foil that was to be worked upon, it will appear that the king has done wonders in agriculture. I faw fe- veral trads of cultivated land, which fourteen or ifteen years ago were barren fands. The num- ber TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 115 ber of villages and houfes in his feveral domini- ons, whicli he has either made, or fo improved, that they are not to be known again, amounts to feveral hundreds. As the moralTes contain fome of the beft land here, he fpends immenfe fums in drying them; upon the whole, you fee thataggri- culture here, is what nature prefcribes it fhall be, the groundwork of every political operation of the country .~The minifters and privy-coun- fellors dedicate to the improvement of it thofe private hours, which in other countries they give to pleafure, play, or caballing for each other's places. The prime-minifter Hertjberg, who, in every fenfe of the word, is one of the greateft men of the prefent century, has an eflate fome miles from hence, in the improvement of which be fpends his hours of relaxation from the cares of ft ate. In almoft every village you meet with a nobleman, whofe principal occupation is agri- culture, and who polfelfes the art of making his amufement and bufmefs coincide. In order to find out to what produce the foil of Pruffia IS beft adapted, they not only import feeds from Poland, Ruflia, England, Sicily, and the other countries of Europe, but have made feveral fine experiments with corn from Barbary and Eg}^pt. The moft brilliant asra of the king's government, in his own eyes, is that which is diftinguifhed by fome ufeful improvement in agriculture. I was I % told 1 16 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. told an anecdote which does him more honoui than the emperor of China derives from opening the ground with a golden plough. There is a privy counfellor here of the name of Brenken- hoff, a man who, born without a penny, had made himfelf worth millions by his induftry. This gentleman, fome years lince, diftinguifhed himfelf by his improvements in agriculture. Amongfl other things, he fent for rye from Arch- angel, which fucceeded fo well, that by degrees they begged his feeds all through Pomerania, Silefia, Brandenburgh, and Pruflia ; and the coun- try gained confiderable fums, which before ufed to be paid to the Poles and Ruffians for this com- modity. In confequence of this, whenever Mr. Brenkenhoff has any thing to afk of the king for himfelf or the province, he always couches his requeft in the following manner : ' Had not I ' brought rye from Archangel, your majefty and * your fubjecls would have been without fo many * thoufands you now polTefs ; it is therefore fit ' and proper that you likewife grant me my re- * queft,' The king not only makes it a rule ne- ver to deny him any thing he afks, but has often faid, ' Brenkenhoff is the moft extraordinary man ' born in this country under my ad minift ration, ' and I am proud of him.' Mr. Brenkenhoff has imported large quantities of camels and buf- faloes from Afia, for the improvement of agri- culture. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 117 txalture. The race of the latter thrive very well under the Pruflian Iky. I have likewife feen fome of them at Saltzburg, vi^here, notwithftand- ing the fouthern fituaticn, the climate is not war- mer thai it is in Pruflia ; but the lazinefs of this animal renders all his other advantages of DO account. The experiment with camels was attended with no fuccefs. The rearing of Iheep, and cultivation of tobacco are, after the corn trade, the great refources of this country. They alio make a large quantity of coarfe filk, but this is rather the jentertainment of fpeculative farmers, than a regular produce of the coun- try. The nobility, clergy, and polfeffors of gireat eftates, are the only ones who attend to it. It is, however, very remarkable, that there are twelve thoufand pounds of filk w^ove every year in Pruflia ; whilft Hungary, whofe climate is un- doubtedly as favourable to this produce as any country in Europe, cannot raife above feven or eight thoufand pounds worth, notwithflanding all the pains taken by government for the im- provement of this branch of commerce. — Once again, brother, I muft repeat it, the Pruflian land- holders, who are fecured againft every arbitrary impofition, and in every poflible way fupport- ed and prote6ted, are a greater fymptom rJ na- tional liberty, than a dozen fat lords, or a corrupt par- 1 18 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. parliament. In my next letter I will fpeak to you of the people who really feel the prelTure of excife and monopolies, and amongft whom there is of courfe extreme poverty. I cannot fend away this letter without obferv- ing, that the very way in which the king exerci- fes the fundlions of his government, is a plain proof of his not having any fecret or myflerious views with refpedl to any of his fubjedls. A def- pot, who is not to be confined by any regard to reditude and juftice, who is always diftinguifhing betwixt his own advantage and the utility of the whole, and who wants to cheat his people withr out their obferving it, mull have either fools for his minifters, whom he may cheat as he does the people, or he muft have a favourite, whom he can make ufe of for his myfterious purpofes. Nei- ther of thefe is the cafe with the king of Pruflia. His minifters and counfellors are all of them the moil enlightened patriots ; and many of them would make a figure as men of letters, if they had time, or would give themfelves the trouble of writing. With regard to a favourite, the very name is unknown in this country. Voltaire, the Marquis D'Argens, Algarotti, Quintus Icilius, and Baftiani, were only the companions of idle hours, and knew lefs of the government than any body, as Voltaire has often proved by his hou mots. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. mis. Thefe beaux efprits were obliged to keep within their proper fphere, and never could bring the king to be familiar with them, how little fo- ever he made them feel the difference of rank in the ordinary affairs of life. The king pofleffes the rare and great talent of ktting himfelf down to every man, without for- getting himfelf in the leaft. His reader and fe- cretary dare not bring him either complaint or petition. The king appears exceedingly miftruft- ful of himfelf, and to fear left his daily conver- fation and familiarity with all forts of people Ihould lead him into error. His fecretary, who paffes fo many hours of every day with him in private, muft lay all the bufmcfs to be done before him in form. His minifters are the only perfons he refers to ; they are the executors of bis wilL It has been frequently -obferved, that no king upon the face of the earth is fo well ferved as the king of Pruffia, though there is none who pays his fervants fo ill. But thefe good fervants are not to be procured by mere fe verity ; they muft have obferved, that the king far excek them in underftanding, and that he himfelf ftrid^ly adheres to the rules of juftice and equity, which he lays down for the condud of others. Had •they difco\'ered a weak fide, either in the bead, •OX' J 20 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. or heart of the monarch, there would have been an end of their good fervices. It is only to his extreme impartiality, his juftice, and his fuperior underftanding, that we muft afcribe the adlivity and order in the Prufiian courts of juftice. No prince of the blood has the flighteft advantage over a farmer in a law-fuit. When a difpute happens with a fubje6l upon any part of the do- main or crown lands, there is no judge who dares have a leaning towards the king's lide ; on the contrary, in this cafe they are ordered to have a leaning againft him. The fame averfion to defpotifm leads him to make it no fecret, that he does not think the kings of the earth placed here as gods of it, and vicegerents of the Al- mighty. He looks upon the royal dignity as a ftation, which, like that of a general, and many others, has been eftablifhed through human dif- politions, and to which, in confequence of thefe difpofitions, birth alone gives a title. He makes as little ufe of religion as he does of politics, to blind his people, or keep up his authority by faith and opinion. The confcioufnefs that he is capable of no injuftice or ad of power, can alone fet him above this Machiavelian policy. To conclude my thefis, that the king is nothing lefs than a defpot, I muft obferve, that he has no over-bearing paffion ; fame is by no means his purfuit j he defpifes all the applaufe of men froni TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 121 his heart. The great phyfiognomift, Lavater, muft have obferved in his countenance, that he defpifes man himfelf ; at leaft I think I can affirm, "witL a degree of fufficient confidence, that the king appears lefs in no man's eyes than he does in his own. Flatterers have very little to ex- pe6l from him; and thofe who have written againft him with the greateft bitternefs, may be affured that he has no gall againft them. The Abbe Raynal, who is at prefent here, is a fure proof of this. There is no place in the w^orld in which there is lefs noife made about the king'^s adions than there is at Berlin. None of the newfpapers of the country fay a word about them ; and there would not have been a word faid about them at all, if fome patriots of other countries had not taken it into their heads, of late, to blow the trumpet of fame, whenever their governors did any thing that was not pal- pably abfurd or impertinent. Thefe fulfomc pa- negyrifts ftirred up fome Prullian patriots, who love their king, to fhew the world, that Frede- ric, who is fo unknown to moft ftrangers, does more in iilence than half a dozen other demi gods of the earth put together. The world was aftonifhed when it learned, that for years paft, the king had diflributed feveral millions ^^mongft his fubjecls, and the writers of newf- papers 122 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY- papers took it very ill that he had done this without their knowledge. It was not till within thefe few years, that we knew that the land-tax in the Pruflian dominions, is never altered, though this fyflem is as old as the time of the king's coming to the crown. Long before the philofophers of the laft twenty-five years (for, till within thefe laft five and tvi'enty years, there has been no philofophy) began to declaim againft capital punilhments, the torture, and the duration of law-fuits, all thefe things had been banifhed out of the Pruflian dominions, without any fcribbler taking the trouble to fmg a *Te Deum about it (Beccaria himfelf makes this obfervation.) Avarice is as little the king's weak fide as the love of fame. Nobody gives more willingly than he does, when he fees that the money is likely to be made good ufe of. He has money in his head, and not in his heart ; and oeconomy is one of the firft virtues of a gover- nor. — But I fhall fay more of this in my next. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 123 LETTER X. Berlin. ThR OXJGH all Germany, and particularly through all Saxony, it paffes for an eftabliftied truth, that the king of Pruflia knows nothing of the true principles of trade. In the Dutch cof- fee-houfes, thofe eternal fountains of political nonfenfe, he is treated as an ignorant dabbler. That foreign merchants Ihould think this, or fay fo, does not at all furprife me : When they blame the king, they only fpeak like the great Roman orator, fro domo fua ; it is impoflible that they fhould be pleafed with thofe principles which preclude them from the power of robbing the king's fubjeds of their money; — but we hear the fame complaints here, and in the other countries fubjedl to the king. There are men here, who are always crying out on excife, cuftoms, and monopolies, and extolling univerfal liberty as the firft principle of trade. It is very true, that the excife makes the manufadlures fo expenlive, that feveral of the PrulTian, whofe produdlions are extremely good, cannot fupport a competi- tion with thofe of other countries. It is very true, that the many monopolies to be met with here, 124 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY, here, are a great reftraint upon national induftry; ftill, however, in my opinion, the king of Pruffia may be defended. The fadl is this ; every thing here is conneded, but the true principles on which the excife and monopoly fyftems in Pruffia are grounded are not feen, becaufe, like many other things in the Pruffian dominions, they are too near the eyes — let us fee if we can explain thefe matters a little. Neither commerce, nor manufa6^ures, nor the encouragement of private induftry, w^hich tend to produce a great inequality in national riches, and render part of the people affluent at the expence of the reft; neither all thefe, nor any part of thefe, are the corner-ftone of the Pruffian edifice of ftate ; it refts on agricul- ture only : and if v;e confider the king of Pruf- lia's politics in this point of view, w^e fhall find an exadl fymmetry of parts in them. It is on this principle, that that part of the fabjeds which is the moft numerous, has the leaft bufmefs, and is moft inclined to live at the expence of the working inhabitant of the country, is obliged to contribute moft to the expences of the ftate. Whoever will take the trouble of comparing the feveral articles of the Pruffian excife with each other, will foon find that they bear the exadeft proportion polTible to luxury, and are^ as they ought to be, always the TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 125 the higher, the more the article of confumption on which they are laid is remote from the firlt neceffaries of life, which the farmer fupplies. For this reafon the excife always varies, and muft do fo. The king has an exa6l account laid before him of all the articles of luxury im- ported from abroad. When he fees that the confumption of any article rifes immoderately, he immediately lelTens it, by railing the excife on that article ; he has done fo lately by coffee, which, according to his account, had taken many millions out of his country for fome years paft. The meaning of this manoeuvre was to recommend to his fubjedls warm beer, which is the produce of the country, is a more w^hole- fome, and more palatable food than coffee, and from the ufe of which he himfelf had found great benefit w^hen he was young. Another time he obferved, that 12,000 florins worth of eggs were every year brought to Berlin out of Sax- ony. In order to fave his fubjeds this expence, he immediately laid a confiderable tax on the Saxon eggs, and thus encouraged his own far- mers to breed chickens. This principle is .one of the plaineft in legiflation ; it is that which prevails in all enlightened countries, only not with the fame good fenfe and equity as in Pruf- fia. Indeed the Englifh cuftoms and excife are much more hoflile to eating and dripking thaii the 126 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. the Pruffian ; and it is a proverb in Holland, that of every difh of fifh he eats, a man pays five parts to the ftate, and one to the fifhmon- ger. The complaints which have the moft founda- tion of truth in them, are thofe which are made with refpedl to the price of the abfolute necef- faries of life. Thefe, it is faid, are fo high, that it raifes the price of work too much, and by fo doing tend to ruin, not only the Pruffian ma- nufadures, but the monopoly itfelf. But thele taxes only afied the inhabitants of the towns, the artifts, manufadurers, labourers, merchants, and all w ho live by the fervice of the ftate. In order to form a juft notion of the influ- ence which high taxes have upon the neceffaries of life, one fhould confider the conneclion which the induftry of the citizen has with the produc- tions of the country, before one allows one felf to think of its cffe<51s on foreign trade. The king of Pruffia, who in every thing follows the order of nature, has not been fo folicitous to procure money from foreigners, as to ftop the channels through which his own money went out of the country. Confider things in this light, and you wdll find, that the imports on the necef- faries of life have not been any reftraint on pri- vate induftry ; for the price of work has kept on a level with the price of the necelfaries of life, and TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 127 and the excife has only been a new and larger canal to aflift the circulation of money. The king, who regularly purfued his plan of making the country independant of foreign induftry, took care that the money paid by the fubjedi: Ihould flow back from the exchequer by the fur- eft channels. Thus all that was fpent by the foldier, and all that the inhabitants of great tovms fpent for the comforts of life, flowed back again to the farmer, and encouraged internal agriculture and induftry. In order that this might be fo, the duties on foreign goods, fuch as cloths, linens, and the like, were always fo high, that only the higheft degree of luxury could prefer them to the fame commodities made at home ; and it was proper that thofe who had this degree of luxury fhould be punifhed for it. As to the exportation of Pruflian manufactures, which of courfe would be affeded by the excife ; all that is to be faid, is, that the leffer evil is to be preferred to a greater. Luxury is the ruia of a ftate. Immoderate enjoyment is the great-^ eft political fin. An unequal participation of national riches is the caufe why half a people are tyrants, and the other half fiaves. Thus cry out our philofophers here, and they are in the right. Still more, you find it obferved in almoft every parliamentary debate in England, that Britilh freedom will be rumed by the difpropor- tionate 128 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. tionate riches of part of its members, and the facility there is of acquiring them. They fay that pleafure, corruption, ambition, and ex- treme poverty, have enervated the nation ; but how is it poffible to fet bounds to luxury and immenfe riches, except by the Pruflian excife ? The more a man fpends, and the richer he is, the more he pays to the ftate, which divides this overflow of the richer clafs amongft the poorer, and by this means reftores the balance as much as it is poflible to do it. Once grant that the real ftrength of a people confifts in frugality, induf- try, and an equal divilion of property, and you muft be content to put yourfelf above the trifling inconveniencies, which a fmall part of the whole muft unavoidably be expofed to, from an atten- tion to thefe maxims. Is there any country that has wafted its ftrength on merchandize, that has been able to fupport itfelf long ? The immenfe quantity of riches, the inevitable confequences of the free- dom of trade, have always drawn along with them luxury, extravagance, effeminacy, tyran- ny, and the confequent ruin of the country. Mr. Wraxall himfelf, who has echoed the out- cry of the merchant on the Pruflian fyftem of finance, but who might have convinced himfelf, in the houfes of the Pruflian farmers, that the king's fubje£ls are not at all in arms againft him, as TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 129 xs he fays they are ; Mr. Wraxall himfelf is the warmeft declaimer againft the pride and tyranny which great riches have introduced in England ; but let him Ihew me another dam to thefe ra- vages, belides that which lias been oppofed to them by the king of Pruffia. It is a ftrange perveiting of political reafon- ing, when one hears the fame man cry in Eng- land, that the great wealth of the nobility hath undermined the wealth of the ftate, and finds him in Pruffia joining the Pruflian nobility, in faying, that the profperity of the farmers is hurtful to the interefts of Pruffia. Hiflory can fliew no example of the profperity of the farmers having excited convulfions in a ftate j whereas it abounds in inftances of ftates overturned bj^ the power of the nobles and the freedom of trade. The farmer feldom has too much ; but if he does happen to be rich, his income is more equally divided than that of the inhabitant of the city ; he has befides more children to pro- vide for out of it ; befides this, as the farmer's fubftance is procured by hard labour, he is more frugal in the management of it, and on that ac- count likewife lefs hurtful to the ftate. The Pruffian fyftem of excife does not in the leaft affed the real profperity of the fubjed ; it aflfe6l6 only the confumption and the diforderly foreign trade. The only obje<5l of it is to make Vol, IL K the 130 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. the fubjeds frugal ; and frugality is the mother of indullry. There is no fcience in which fo much fophiftry has been ufed as in that of Hate oeconomy. It is generally thought that trade alone will make a country rich, whereas nothing is fo falfe. Cadiz, Naples, Lifbon, Smyrna, Aleppo, and many other flourilhing trading towns I could mention, flourifh at the expence of the countries to which they belong. When they cry out in PrufTia, that trade has fallen off, it only means that the confumption has de- creafed ; no doubt it is a falling off to the deal- ers in coffee, that they cannot fell as much cof- fee as they were ufed to do ; but thefe people, who are the perfons that have raifed the outcry againfi: the king, ought to conlider, that a coun- try of Jews (I fpeak of modern Jews) is the moft wretched of all countries, and that a governor is in the right to concern himfelf very little about what may be for their advantage. If foreign trade has decreafed in the Pruflian dominions, on the other hand induftry has in- creafed. There is a vifible proof of this in the ailonifhiug increafe of towns and of population. No country in Europe of the fame fize has dou- bled its population, as the Pruflian dominions have done (in thefe I do not comprife the con- quered countries) within the fpace of fifty years. This fingle fad contradids all the outcry about Pruflian TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 131 Pruflian defpotifm. Effe6ls muft always corref- pond with their caufes, and no adminiftration hoflile to humanity, could produce fuch an afto- nifhing increafe of men. Even the monopolies make part of the king's fyftem of univerfal benevolence. I ihall not enter into an exad difquifition of every fingle ar- ticle, but only coniider that which raifes the greateft outcry, namely the monopoly of wood. The company who is in poffeffion of this large film of money, pays the king, or what is the fame thing, the ftate, for the king has neither flables, of lix thoufand horfes, nor coach-houfes with coaches in them worth 50,000 li vres, nor a table of fifty covers, nor miftrefles, nor hunts, nor journies which coft fevcral millions. This company is not allowed to fet an arbitrary price on its commodity, but the wood is taxed, and it is obliged to furnifh the beft fort. Though the price of the wood be high, it keeps pace with the wages of the manufadurers ; fo no man feels it but thofe who live upon their own ef- lates without doing any thing, or thofe who re- ceive ftipends from the court. If the former of thefe would work like the other parts of the in- duftrious public, they would reckon the articles of fire-wood in their account ; as they do not, they are very properly punifhed for their lazi- nefs. As to the latter, to be fure they do not get K % much. 132 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. much, but what they get is fufficient for the de- cent purpofes of life, and the king's maxim is, that every man fhall have enough, but no man lhail have too much. To the farmer the mon- opoly is of fervice, for the company is obliged to fell him the wood as cheap as if there was no monopoly, and befides, he is himfelf allowed to carry a certain portion of it to market, where the regulations enable him to fell it to better advantage than he would do otherwife. The monopoly alfo ferves to preferve the forefts, which all Europe has long lamented the dimi- nution of The fcarcity of wood makes people more cautious how they grub up and burn. Nor does the monopoly affed any but the inha- bitants of Berlin and Potfdam, who have great advantages over the reft 6f the country, from the refidence of many officers of ftate in them, and the facility with which money circulates. Stran- gers, indeed, who reafon from the flate of their own purfes, and fee that the materials for fire are as dear at Berlin and Potfdam as Brafil and Cam- peachy wood, form no prejudices in favour of the Pruffian monopolies, and thus far they are in the right ; but when they build upon fuch grounds to call the king of PrulTia a tyrant, as Mr. Wraxall does, it is going a little too far. The other monopolies are like thofe we meet with in other countries, to wit, on tobacco, fait, cards, and the like. The king encourages every TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 13. every kind of niauufadluie and trade which does not militate wk>i the whole fyltem of his admi- niftration, but he endeavours chiefly to promote the exportatiofi of fuch articles as are of real advantage to the country, and leall: likely to be afieded by a competition with other pow- ers, or the variation of faftiion. Of this kind are the woollen fluffs of this place, the Silefian linens and cloths, tobacco, and various other articles ; the prime materials of which grow in the country, and find an eafy admittance every where. Befides thefe primary articles, the m.a- nufaclurers of iilk, wrought iron, and fteel, look- ing-glaffes, china, fugar, and above all, the trade in wood, bring great fums of foreign gold into the country. The Poles pay a large tribute to Pruflian induftry ; and, indeed, every where the balance is in favour of the PrufTian merchant, in confequence of that frugality and abfli- nence, which follows from the king's fyflem of excife. The king's treafury, into which fo much mo- ney flows every year, is commonly looked upon as one of the greateft obflacles to the trade of the ' country. This may be true >vith regard to the common Jewifh fort of trade, which, though fa- vourable to lazinefs and avarice, is, in fad, as hurtful to the flate as the fale of mountebank and quack medicines ; but, in my opinion, the king's treafjry is one of his wifeft rnflitutionso He 134 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. He yearly lays by in it a fum of money, whicb bears a fixed proportion to that which the ba- lance of trade in his favour briqgs him in from the llranger. It is generally thought that the fum thus fet by amounts to ioo,oool. or as much as the new buildings, the payment of the troops, and the improvements made in the country re- fpedively cofl;; but if we confider that the whole income of the ftate is appropriated to par- titular and fpecific purpofes, according to a fet- tled and permanent order, never interi*upted by any menus plaijirs ; and that, according to the highefl: calculation, the balance in favour of the Pruffian trade produces only two hundred and fifty thoufand pounds, it will appear that the king does not lay by half of what comes from foreign trade. It is one of the nonfenfical maxims of the pre- fent age, which, like a great many others of the fame kind, have crept into our modern political theories and romances, that all the money of a country muft be employed in the circulation, and none of it be laid by for cafes of neceffity ; but it was owing to the royal treafure that no taxes were raifed in the laft war, and it is for this very purpofe that it was intended ; for in the Ameri- can war, the increafe of taxes fell heavier on the French and Englifh than all the other preffures of the ftate put together. Schroeder, who is one of the oldeft and moft acute of the German po- litical TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 13$ litical writers, has long fhewn the falfity of this maxim. Befides, that, taxes fall more heavily on the fubjedly and, are more difficult to raife in time of war, than in time of peace, they cannot be fo foon colleded ; and if in confequence of this you are compelled to add new ones, the re- fult will be what we have feen happen in France, many provinces will be fo exliai^fted in three or four years as not to recover for a whole century. In thefe emergencies minifters have recourfe to ftate lotteries, loans, &c. which finally produce the fine fyftem of debt, which annually confumes half the revenue of Great Britain. If the king of Pruflia had had no treafure, it "Would have been impoffible, after the terrible war which lafted from 1756 to 1763, for his lands not only to recover, but to be in a more flourifhing fituation than they were before. There is alfo a local confide ration, which makes the king of Pruffia's treafure of peculiar confe- quence to that country, which is, that as feveral parts of it lie open to the enemy, were it not for this refource, it would be poffible at the break-' ing out of a war, to cut oflf a great part of the revenue, by feizing upon a principal town. In- deed, it is to the referved fupplies which have enabled him to parry every evil of this kind^ that the king owes the fuccefs of thofe operations which have rendered bis aiame immortal. Nor is 136 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. is the treafury entirely inadive at any pe- riod. At different times the king has lent very confiderable fums at a very inconliderable inter- cfl to the ftates of feveral of his provinces ; thefe fums are in circulation, and all that the king re- quires, is, the exadl reimburfement at the time fixed. 1 he PrufTian ftate, coniidered as a ftate, is the richeft in Europe ; and it is abfolutely impoflible that it ever fhould be expofed to feel any incon- venience from the want of money ; for its fyf- teni of finance is eftablifhed upon fuch folid foundations, that if any of the king's fucceffors ^ere to think of introducing a change, it would overturn the whole building. You would hardly think it, but I can affure you, that the bank bills of this place are bought up with avidity. No- body has any opinion that they will ever lofe their credit. The Dutch are very happy when this bank will take their money, as notwithftand- ing all the outcry about Pruffian defpotifm, they are convinced it cannot be more fecure any where than it is here. Upon the whole, it is eafy to fee, that moll of our wife declaimers a- gainft the government of Pruffia, draw their to- pics from the difference they obferve between it and the c:>ther European governments; whereas if they would give themfelves the trouble to lift up their eyes mid give matters a little clofer and TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 137 and nearer infpedion, they would foon give up their prejudices, unlefs, indeed, their felf-love made them incapable of all judgment. I have known none of thefe gentlemen but what have praifed, in fome part or other of their works, the very principles on which the Pruffian govern- ment is built, though they overlooked them and could not fee them when they w^ere writing pro- feffedly about it. This arifes from the amazing difference that there is betwixt theory and prac- tice, and that in all philofophical declamations people commonly only coniider the end, with- out thinking of the means by which it is to be brought about ; nay, they often overlook the only means by which it can be brought about at all. Hence it has appeared, that thofe who have written the moft ftrongly againft luxury, have not been favourable to the Pruffian fyftem of excife, though it is the only fure dam whereby all exceffes may be reftrained. All the political principles with refpedl to the happinefs of na- tions, which r Abbe Raynal gives us in that famous Hijioire Poliiique et Phiiofophique of his, in which he is fo violent againft the king of Pruffia, without know^ing any thing about him, had been adopted in Pruffia, and perhaps no where elfe in the wide world before the Abbe put pen to paper. Another 138 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. Another part of thefe declairaers find fault only for the fake of appearing fmgular, Mr* Guibert, and foine others of our countrymen, are amongft this clafs. I'hefe gentlemen took it into their heads to exhibit the king to a people^ the god of whofe idolatry he has long been, through a kind of magic lanthorn, with his head where his heels Ihould be. Doubtlefs, the in- difference with which the king is accuftomed to behold all fuch buffooneries, mufl have made them vaftly pleafed with their wife work. The king of Pruflia, and his father, have folved the three moft difficult problems of ftate that exifl, and hiflory affords no example of their having been folved fo quickly, fo happily, and fo univerfally, as they have been by thefe princes. They have made a lazy, prodigal, and ftupid people induftrious, adive, and alert; they have given to a country, which had been entirely negleded by nature, a value which many of the moft highly favoured countries have not, and they have placed a fmall nation in a fituation not only to vanquifti in a favourable moment all the combined forces of the mightieft monarchies of Europe united, but to be able at my time to meafure fwords with cither of them fingly. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 139 LETTER XL Berlin. Wh EN you hear the king of Pruffia men- tioned in the fouthern parts of Germany, you think they are fpeaking of an angel of death, whofe employment and amufement it is to kill the people by hundreds and thoufands, to burn cities and villages, and to be the firft general of his day. This opinion commonly refts upon the fame ground as another, which was very gene- rally received by the common people during the laft Silelian war, of the king of Pruffia's having taken up arms againft France and Auftria for the extirpation of the Roman-catholic reli- gion. Auftria had often recourfe to fuch little artifices ; Ihe was wont to appeal to the religi- ous and paflionate feelings of the people, when- ever her troops were beaten, and probably found fome confolation in it, not that only which arifes from exciting compaffion, but the more fubftan- tial one of the fupport derived from the riches and forces of fome catholic princes of Germany. Such prejudices in the populace are ealily pro- duced ^ but when you read iu the writings of fome I40 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY; fome of the moft famous Auftrian ftatefmen and literati, that the king of Pruflia's whole fyftem is contrived for the purpofe of making himfelf ter- rible to his neighbours, of plundering them, and of living by robbery, you do not know whether to laugh moft at their ignorance, or be moft afhamed at their impudence. Out of Germany, they look upon the king of Pruffia as a great general, but are not therefore blind to his other virtues. Our countrymen, whofe impartiality and juftice in judging of the merits of great men no body can contravert, read his civil ordinances, his hon mots, and the anecdotes of what paffes in his family, with as much pleafure as they do the account of his ex- peditions. Even they however, impartial as they are, form quite a falfe opinion of the king, when they confider his military condu6l as the greateft of his exertions, and think his principal merit coniifts in his being the greateft general of his day. It is natural enough for the love of fplendid adions to make us more attentive to the buftle which has attended his fervices in the field, than to his flill and benevolent occupations* But we fhould not therefore afcribe to him a love of this buftle, and a delight in the occupa- tions of war, which no king upon earth likes iefs tha^ he does. Nourifh' TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 141 Nourifhed in the arms of the mufes, and atten- tive only to the progrefs of philofophy, fcarce had he afcended the throne, when one of the moft extraordinary events of this century hap- pened, an event v^hich mull naturally call his attention very Itrongly to it. He w^as one of the many princes who had pretenfions to the fucceffion of Charles VI. What he claimed w^as fome Marquifates in Silefia. The point was how effedually to fecure thefe rights. Moil probably he would have taken the part of ivlaria Therefa, attacked as fhe was on all fides, had a proper attention been paid to his requifitions, but the Auftrian miniftry, ever blinded by its own confequence, only anfwcred his manifeftoes with infolence and contempt. The confequence was, that after having defeated the imperial troops in the field, he made free with all Silefia, which gave great ofience. Then however he difcovered the moderation of his nature, for it would have been eafily for him, by fupporting Charles VH. to have funk a houfe, which was the moft dangerous to him in all Europe. Eut his politics did not allow him to commit an in- juftice. It was neither the king of Pruflia's love of plunder, nor any thing indeed, except the pride of the Auftrian miniftry, and the little know- ledge it had of the ftrength of the Pruflian do- mini- J42 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. minions, that was the true caufe of the lofs of Silefia. The Auitrians defpifed a court which had no princes and dukes in its pay, but only merchants and Knights a quaranto Ecus^ for mini- flers and generals. They faw no further than the outlide of the court of the prefent king's father, who, under the malk of a ridiculous An- gularity, had laid the foundation of the Pruffian greatnefs ; they laughed at his unpowdered hair, his dirty boots, his turnep dinners, and his tall men. People knew not that thefe tall men, whom they looked upon only as his particular amufement, were under the beft of difcipline; they knew not that his unbetitled and - unbef- fringed minifters were the moft enlightened pa- triots ; that the moft exacl oeconomy had made the fmall country of Pruflia richer than the proud and mighty Auftria. In fine, they knew not that Spartan oeconomy, and Spartan fubor- dination, which this ridiculous king was making the charaderiltic of the nation, muft get the bet- ter of indolence, effeminacy, and profufion, even though the tribe of gentlemen had not been fo numerous in Auftria, as it was. This ignorance was the true thing which fome perfons have aftecled to call the good fortune of the king of Pruflia. The ^ Knights worth fifty crowns. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 143 The invafion of Bohemia which took place feme time after the conqueft of Silefia, was im- dertaken in confequence of the moft prefTmg and repeated inftances of the emperor, the head of the German empire, of which the king was a member. I have converfed with an old and refpeclable Dutch officer, who accompanied count Secken- dorff, as adjutant, to Berlin, when he went to defire the king to help the emperor out of the diftrefs which- he muft otherwife have funk un- der. The king was for a long time deaf to all reprcfentations and entreaties. As count Seck- endorff was preffing him one day upon the pa- rade, he Ihewed him a regiment which had fuf- fered conliderably in the firft Silefian war. * Behold/ fays he, ' what war cofts me ; this re- ^ giment has loft above half its men, and fhall ' I expofe my people to the danger of being fo * roughly handled again ?' — This is the king, whom people cry out upon as a robber and tyrant ! — Seckendorff, who was a greater ftatef- man than he was a general, in vain tried all his rhetoric to carry nis point, nor would any thing have induced the king again to become the ene- my of Auftria, but the being informed in what an unmanly manner the Auftrians had behaved in Bavaria, how they had plundered the ar- chives, robbed the nobility, laid wafte the coun- try. 144 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. try, and carried the peafants into captivity ; that in Ihort, their known pride, their fpirit of re- venge, and their cruelty, gave caufe to appre- hend every thing for the houfe of Bavaria. The king undertook to free the emperor from his diftrefs, without hurting Auftria much, and he compalfed it with a moderation, which the unprejudiced part of the world ftill admires. He obliged prince Charles to give the emperor breathing room, by forcing him to haften with his army from the Rhine to Bohemia. When he had done this he was quiet, and afking no- thing for himfelf, was contented w^ith having done what equity and the fhare he took in the emperor's calamity required of him. It is well known what little fhare his love of robbery and conquefl had in the breaking out of that war in which he eclipfed all that had been done by an- cient or modern heroes. In the very heat of this war, in w^hich he himfelf gathered fo many laurels, he wrote a letter to Voltaire, filled with wifhes for philofophical quiet, and full of la- mentations on the cruelties of war. Very far from being intoxicated wdth Eis fame, and un- tainted with any degree of the pride which filled the breafi: of that Roman governor, who return- ing from the government of a diflant province, thought that all Italy muft incePiantly be filled with the praife of his adminift ration ; he afked Gellert, TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 14^ Gellert, who fued to him for peace in the mid- dle of the theatre of war, whether he had not heard or feen that there were three powers in arms againft him ; and whether he thought it de- pended upon him to make Germany a prefent of peace ! So free w^as he from being elated with the eclat of his wonderful arms, and fo far from think- ing of higher things than how to defend himfelf. In this wonderful letter to Voltaire, he pro- mifes, when he fhall once be quiet, to cut oflf the moll diftant pretences for war, nor to take any concern in the politics of Europe ; but to give up all his time to the improvement of his own country, amidft the bleffings of peace. This promife he has hitherto moft religioufly adhered to. You think, perhaps, that he did not, in the affair of the divifion of Poland ; but he took the leaft part poffible in that affair. The world wall be aftonifhed, when the particulars of this buiinefs come to be known, as none has ever been fo mifreprefented and diftorted by political motives. I colle6led at Vienna, fome very ex- traordinary documents relative to this matter, which I will communicate to you when we meet. Thus far is notorious to all mankind, that in this famous partition, the king had not a third of what fell to Ruffia, nor a quarter of what Au- ftria had. A ftrouger proof of the king's mo- deration, and of his pacific difpofition, it is im- VoL. IL L poffible 146 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY, poflibie to give. Poflibly the divifion would have been a little more equal if ever the parties had come to blows. In the laft Bavarian war, he again obferved the fame wonderful moderation. T'he caufe of his taking up arms was, to reftore the houfe of Wittellbach to its inheritance, and to maintain the conftitution of the empire; which, as a member of that body, he was bound to piotedl. He afKed nothing for himfelf, and did not go a ftep farther than he was forced to, by the Urongeft neceflity. No monarch ever went into the field with greater magnanimity, and greater difintereftednefs, than the king of Pniflia did on this occafion. — Since the twenty years he has given himfelf to philofophy, he has let feveral other occafions go by, which would not have been miffed by another monarch who had had the fame powers of war in hand as he had, and the warlike difpofition commonly attributed to him. No prince can manifeil more regard for man- kind, than what is fhewn by the king of Pruffia every day. Pie interefts himfelf as much in the welfare of a common farmer, as in the flourilh- ing of the greateft houfe of trade in his domini- ons. It is his greateft pride, and his greatell pleafure, to read in the yearly lifts, that the po- pulation of his country has increafed. He ha.s not TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. i/^i not been feen fo cheerful for many years, as he was upon finding, by the lifl given in lall year, that the number of the new-born children within the year far furpaffed the number of the dead. A king who has this way of thinking, is a war- rior only when necefiity compels him to it; Hi:i Lacedemonian armies only ferve the purpofc of enabling him to cultivate his country in peace, and to bring his law-fuits with his neighbours to a fpeedy. conclufion. They are evidently not the end of liis government, but the means ; and it is only thofe who are contented with viewing the outfide of things, and do not look into the fprings of tlie Pruflian government, who think them the great objed. Some of the Auflrian writers think the king could not keep up his armies, if he did not, .at certain periods, take a fhare in the difturbances of his neighbours, and raife out of them a fjfii- cient revenue for the fervice of fom.e years ; but this is one of thofe affertions which .it is impof-* fible to hear without laughing. More than half the army, as I have already told you, are foreign troops. They fubfift,on the produce of the country, the confum^ption of which is immediately connedred with the pro- grefs of agriculture. Their clothes and linen are made of materials w^hich grow in the coun- try, fo that they promote indullry both by con-- L 2 tributing 143 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. tributing to the raifmg the firft materials, and by the working of them. Their pay likewife is ilfued from the treafury, infuch a way as greatly to affifl: the general circulation. After their time of fervice has expired, many hundreds of the foreign troops continue in the country, and fo promote the purpofes of agriculture and com- merce ; but the greatefh part of the natives are always upon furlow, and work at home. Upon the whole, both induftry and agriculture rather gain than lofe by the army. Indeed you can call only the foreigners a Handing army ; for the na- tives are, in time of peace, as Moore has ob- ferved, a regular, well-behaved, and eafily rait- ed militia. All the military regulations have thefe two ends in view ; that of preventing the improve- ment of agriculture from fuffering by the num- ber of troops ; and that of making them fubfer- vient tQ the circulation of money. For thefe purpofes the annual reviews always take place at the time of year when few^eft hands are wanted for the purpofes of agriculture, &c. The troops are. quartered in the feveral provinces in the exadt proportion of the revenue of thefe pro- vinces, fo that no money can go this way from one province to another. Every thing is pre- cifely upon a par. Silefia has juft as many troops more at Brandenburgh, as it has more revenue ; TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 149 revenue ; and the other provinces in the fame proportion. As the army raifes near two-thirds of the revenue of the ftate, there remains by this means more gold in the provinces than there is in any other country in Europe, where common- ly the gold fiows to the middle, and the capital grov/s rich at the expence of the country. Each regiment has a peculiar part of the countiy af- figned it for recruiting, and in this, or near it, are commonly its ftanding quarters. By this means the troops are not only eafily got together when they are wanted, but the father has always his fon in the neighbourhood, to help him to improve his land, and at the annual review time, the latter has not far to go to join his re- giment. It is inconceivable how, after this, fuch clamours can be raifed againfl; the king of Pruf- £a, on account of his army, and how it can be reprefented as hurtful to the country. Thofe of the foldiers who are natives, do not fpend a long- er time with the army than their fellows in the Englifh or Swifs militia's. Indeed the maritime fervice in one of thefe countries, and the cuftom of letting out troops for hire, which prevails in the other, tend to deprive them of hands to till the foil, whereas the Pruffian army increafes the number of cultivators. The Pruffian army confifts of about 190,000 men, and coils the king yearly about 20 niil- lions j^o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. lions of florins, or 52 millions of our livres*. Thefe men are, indeed, difciplined into a ftate of mere mechanics, nor can it be denied, that the hardfhip of the fate of the common men will make one of our modern philofophers fhudder ; and yet, without thefe hardfhips the army would not be what it is, fo that the king muft be con- tent to bear with it as aneceffary evil, in order to fecure the tranquility of the country. What would thofe who feel fo much for the PrufTian foldiers have faid, if they had leen the troops of Alexander, or Csefar, which m a 11 probability, and from all we can gather from hiftory, had not a milder fate than the PrulTians ? — what do I fay a milder fate ? Some intelligent men are of opinion, that both the difcipline of Catfar s troops, and the labour required of them, was greater than thofe the Pruflian foldier is expofed to. Be this as it may, there is a diflin6tion to be made between the Pruilian troops. The late of the native foldiers, is not fo hard as is generally thought by a ftranger travelling pofl; ; nor are they, as I have already obferved, more than a well-regulated militia. Another obfervation I have made on thefe men is, that they are not by any means fo infen- fible and fulky as they have been commonly thought * AbcuL 216,6661. ' TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 151 brought to be. Oh the contrary, I have obferv- cd amongft them, a great deal of good-will, and a great deal of affedion both for their king and their country. As during their furlows they have other occupations befides arms, and keep company with other people befides their corpo- rals and companions, they are civiller and freer in their intercourfe than the foreigners. — Thefe laft are enlifted in confequence of a voluntary contrad, (for it will be unjuft to lay to the king's charge the decoys of profeljed enlifters) the con- ditions of which are exa6tly adhered to. No fovereign pays more pun6lually or more fparingly than the king of Pruffia ; nor is any man obliged to ferve beyond the time for which he is enlifted, as has been falfely pretended. It is true, indeed, that the olEcers employ all their powers of perfuafion to retain a good foldier ; but a lliff and llubborn denial puts an end to their entreaties. The neceffaries of life are dealt out very fparingly to thefe people, and you may read, upon many of their meagre faces, the extremes of poverty, added to the extreme of labour. But the Tailors, who ferve other Hates in time of peace for the purpofes of trade, have hardly a milder fate ; nor is it lefs ridiculous to reproach the king of Pruffia, on account of the hardfliips to w^hich bis foldiers are expofed, than it would be ^52 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. be to compel thefe nations to relinquifh their navy on account of the lofs of men they are fubjecfl to by ftorms, fait provifions, change of climate, fcurvy, and the other accidents of a fea-faring life. Without frugality and labour, the king of Pruffia s foldiers could not be fu- perior to thofe of other powers ; but as he is furrounded by enterprising and jealous neigh- bours, he muji endeavour to procure himfelf, by art, what others enjoy in confequence of their natural flrength. The fufferings of a fmall number is no evil, but a good, when the ftate cannot be benefitted without it and thofe who blame this extraordinary difcipline, muft alfo with Mr. Linguet, find fault with agriculture, as it falls nearly as hard on the greatefl; part of the fubjeds of every European Hate, as the military fervice does on the Pruffian foldier. T he hardfhips too of the fituation, have been much exaggerated by travellers. — Even blows, about which fo much has been faid, are only ufed when the man fhews incorrigible ftupidity, awkv/ardnefs, negligence, or wickednefs. In no armies whatever are recruits treated with more gentlenefs than they are in the Pruffian. Their corporals teach them the exercife, and how to march with all pomble care and attention ; nor (do they grudge to repeat the way of doing the thing a thoufand times, when the man's fcull is bard TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 153 hard of penetration. But when once he under- Hands the thing, his teacher takes the ftick, and tells him, that this for the future will be his teacher j if he does not do what he is now able to do. In the courfe of my travels, I have often had occafion to make a very interefting obfervation. In all the countries belonging to bifhops, and in many of the free llates, I met with foldiers who had ferved the king of Pruffia, and who had moll of them deferted from him. As you know that it is my way to be more obfervant of men of the lower orders of fociety, than of tliofe who have ftars and firings; I talked with about twenty of thefe deferters, and did not meet with one amongfl them who did not wifh him- felf back again with the king of Pruffia. I have fometimes purpofely contradicled them, and have endeavoured to fhew them what far more pleafant days they enjoyed under their bifhop or magiftrate, and how impoffible I thought it, from all the accounts I had of the Pruffian army, that they Ihould be difpleafed with their change of lituation. This did not fa- tisfy them. They all fpoke of the king's great achievements with a degree of enthufiafm, which often llruck me not a little, and the con- cliifion of what they faid was always this : ' It ^ is very true that foldiers are rather roughly ' treated 154 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY, ^ treated by the king of Pniflia, but the pay ' comes regularly the day it is due, and there is ' no inftance of any man having ever been ' ftarved to death by him.' When a man does Jiis duty, the officer s eye is upon him, and every one know^s in what rank he may clafs himfelf ; in other places men are only half foldiers, and derive no credit from it. Notwithftanding they have the utmoft liberty under thefe petty prin- ces, and are oftener in the ale-houfe than under arms whilft they continue with them, many of them, who are young enough, defert back again to the king of PrufTia. It is remarkable enough, too, that in all thefe places they con- fider themfelvcs as a kind of veterans. In one of the epifcopal refidencies, I heard an officer fwear at a foldier. The fellow anfwered him with a degree of cold pride not to be defcribed. Sir officer, I have ferved the king of Pruffia.* And the officer was filent. The frequent defertions are the capital objec- tions which men make to the Pruffian military eltablifhment. It is very true, that upon march- ing into an enemy's country, a twelfth or fif- teenth of the king's army leaves him ; but they come back with interefl after a fortunate adion, and though, after unfortunate adions, fo many of the foreign troops defert, his own lubje£ls de- fert lefs than any foldiers upoij, earth. A new TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 155 A new inftance of the king's wifdom and goodnefs in not being willing to expofe the country to any diftrefs, is Ihewn in his willing- nefs rather to bear with thefe inconveniencies, than have more of his fubjeds under arms. After the battle of Collin, half the army defert- ed ; and at Rolbach his army was made up al- moft entirely of his own troops ; but mark — he beat our armies, and the armies of the empire, and the laft ferved him to compleat his regi- ments which had fuffered. Thus it always goes. The Germans who inhabit near the Rhine, Maine, and countries about the upper parts of the Danube, always join the vidorious army. When the emperor is fortunate, they leave the king for him ; and when the chances turn, they turn with them. In the mean time they muft of courfe always fland one adlion in the place where they are. With regard to the interior government and ladies of the Pruflian army, all I can tell you about them is, that no foreigners know any thing of the matter. Mr. Guibert, the celebrated French writer on the fjbjed, is looked upon here as the moft miferable driveller in the world ; and they pointed out feveral things to m.e, which he had entirely miftaken. I will give only one fpecimen, which I happen to recoiled. He fays that the cylindrical rammer of the Prui- fiaaS;, 156 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. lians, depreffes the gun too much when they prefent. This is not only falfe in fad, but Mr. Guibert overlooked fomething here, which the PrufTians confider as a remarkable advantage. They always lower the gun a little when they prefent, becaufe they have obferved that it is al- ways raifed a little by the natural fhaking of the foldier, efpecially when he fees himfelf within the enemies fire. They fay' we loft I know not what battle in Flanders, by our men always fir- ing too high, whereas the Englifh took fuch care to make their people fire lower, that fome of the officers even lowered the guns of the foldiers with their arms and ftic^. In my opinion, the fame thing is to be ob- ferved in this, as in every other part of the Pruf- fian government. It is not fo much the myftery which obtains, as the fimplicity of things, which people overlook, and judge falfely about. They feek for artifice where there really is none, and fet up myftery becaufe things are too near their nofes to be feen. I was affured by feveral officers, that in marches (which they confider as one of the moft important parts of the art of War, though they do not make a whole regiment ft and for fome minutes on one leg, in order to teach them how to preferve the equilibrium of the body,) there are certain little things, which people do not obferve, on which the whole de- pends. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 157 pends. The king fuffers no pcrfon to be prefent at the grand manauvres^ without particular permif- on J but this is probably done more to prevent the troops being difturbed by a fwarm of fpec- tators, than to make a myflery of any thing. It requires indeed a very nice and well-accuflomed eye, as wxll as a very favourable Htuation in the field, to fee and underftand a Pruffian manauvre ; fo that amongft twenty profeilional men, who are fpedlators, there lhall hardly be one that can compafs it. This is the true caufe why the Pruffian officers themfelves can give fo little ac- count of their own art. Every man has too much to do upon his own fpot, to be able to at- tend to what is paffing round him. As wonderful as the Pruffian infantry is, it is ftill infinitely furpaifed by the cavalry, accord- ing to the teftim.ony of all the officers I have fpo- ken with. Even Engliffi travellers, who are not apt to give any favourable accounts of what they meet with in other countries, and who are fo proud of their own cavalry, confefs that this part of the Pruffian army goes beyond all that can be conceived of it. The king himfelf fays of them, that they always ftand to advan- tage between him and the enemy he expedls. He fpends immenfe fums upon them, and fends for horfes as far as Tartary. The Pruffian offi- cers, though not given to boafting, affert, that in T58 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. in all the hiilory of the art of war, there is not an inftance of the cavalry's ever having beea brought to the point of perfection it is now brought to in Pruflia. They ride always full gallop ; but their evolutions are as exa6l as any of thofe of the infantry. They look upon the attack of the cavalry as not to be ilood by the infantry. The king's ca- valry is above 80,000 ftrong, and he every year ufes 5000 frelh horfes. The emperor takes all pofiible pains to rival the king in this refpe6l ; but he is ftill at a great diftance from him, though his cavalry is beyond comparifon the bell in Europe, after the Pruffian. A great advantage poffefied by the Pruffian army is the uniform difcipline that obtains all through. There are particular mafters of exer- cife for every divifion of the army. Thefe, the colonels themfelves muft not control, when they are exercifing their regiments, though they are often only majors. This occalions an attention to a great number of little things, which in other armies, particularly our own, depend only on the will of the colonel, and are therefore of- ten negleded. By this means the whole muft harmonize better, for when rules are the fame, the alacrity or negligence of the colonels or majors in the execution, make a wonderful dif- ference in regiments. Another TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 159 Another caufe, whicli, in my opinion, greatly contributes to the excellence of the army, is the high birth of the officers. They are moft of them of the firfl nobility of the country, and you hardly meet with one foreigner in twenty. They muft all have been educated at the cadet's fchool, and have ferved as cadets : I have fome very refpedable acquaintance amongft them. They are in every refped well-educated people, and upon the whole very fenfible men. The fmall pay of the fubal terns obliges them to be oscono- mical, which is of great advantage to the fervice. They have all a martial appearance, and that alacrity in every thing, which befpeaks men always ready to cut a knot with their fwords. I believe that the Pruflian army has an advan- tage over the Auftrian, from the Pruffian nobi- lity not being fo powerful as the Auftrian. You cannot expert from counts and princes with large incomes, that exad fubordination and fim- plicity, which is the foul of the Pruflian army. Our experienced officers make a great outcry about the irregularities in fervice, w^hich are perpetually ariling from the intrigues of private families; and it is well known that the En- glifh army is as ill circumftanced in this re- fpea. The Auftrians are by nature a far ftouter race of fojdiers than the Pruffians, but this does not avail i6o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. avail them ; for, after all that has been faid of the advantage of art over uncultivated nature, no ftronger inftance can be Ihewn of it, than bringing up a miferable artificial being, with all bis art about him, to face a natural man, "who is without it. The natural man, who were they both unarmed, would be able to tear to pieces a dozen fuch creatures, lies llret;ched out at the feet of the wretched man of art, as foon as the latter gives fire. The fame truth holds good with regard to ar- mies that are more or lefs difciplined, nor are the natural qualities of the foldier able to ftand againft thofe which axe acquired by art. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. iCt LETTER Xn. Berlin. EN we reacl in Lingiiefs Annals that the king of Pruffia had more foldiers than peafants, during the laft Silefian war, we are naturally apt to take it for a bon mot ; but I am apt to think it rank ignorance. The man who could advife the European powers to help the houfe of Auftria to a part of Germany, in order to enable it to oppofe the Turk on all fides, is very capable of making fuch a blunder. He eftimated the Pruffian territories by the map, where, on account of their broken appearance, they make but a for- ty figure, and fo naturally fell into the opinion of its being impoffible for more than 200,000 men to inhabit fo narrow a flip of land. What confirms me in this opinion, is the ig- norance people are in with regard to the real ftrength of Pruffia, which yet they ought to be better acquainted with, partly by the informa- tion of their eyes, and partly from German docu- ments, which are open to every man. Vol. n: M Mr. 1 62 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. Mr. Pilati, one of the few foreigners who underftand German, and derive their knowledge from the fountain head,* relates, that the king of PrufTia had not more than 120,000 men, when he made his firft conqueft. When the king came to the crown, his own territories contained at leaft 2,200,000 inhabi- tants ; Brandenburg had 600,000 ; Pruffia 6o,coo ; Pomerania 300,000 ; Magdeburgh and Halberftadt 300,000 ; and his own Weftphalian dominions at leaft 400,000. His income confift- ed of at leaft 1 2 millions of florins, and he had inherited a wonderful treafure of ready money from his father. It is likewife a very generally received preju- dice, that PrulTia is not ftrong enough to main- tain itfelf hereafter in the ftate of fplendour to which the prefent king has raifed it. It is very true, that with regard to interior ftrength, there are but few of the European powers which do not furpafs the Pruffian ; but, as long as the fyf- tem of government {tiM laft which has been efta- blifhed by the king, it wall always be able to meafure fwords with any power in Europe. In fad, the true ftrength of a ftate does not confift JO much in the quantity of its politive force, as in the ufe made of it ; but there is no power in Eu- rope which is able to ftretch every nerve and •every fibre, as the Pruffian certainly can. Be- fides TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 163 fides this, if population continues to encreafe as it has done during the time of the prefent ad- minill ration, the pofitive force itfelf will encreafe fafter than that of any other country. The Pruffian dominions, of which no perfon can have an idea in the map, contain 3650 German fquare miles, which is as much as the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, and Portugal, put to- gether. The population is about fix millions. The kingdoms of Sw^eden, Denmark, and Por- tugal, put together, do not contain fo many in- habitants ; nor does England alone contain as many. As the Pruflian population does not yet bear any proportion to the iize of the coun- try, and as that is not yet all cultivated, the Pruffian population is fufceptible of a great en- creafe. With regard to goodnefs of territory^ the country in general may be counted amongft the middling fort. The foil of Brandenburgh indeed, is remarkably bad ; but that of Magde- burg, Halberftadt, Cleves, the marquifate of La Mark, and fome parts of Silefia, Pomerania^ and Pruffia, is remarkably good. When, in procefs of time, they have acquired the degree of culture of which they are capable, they will be able to fupport eight millions *of perfons. Befides thefe, this court has much to expedl; from an accefiion of the marquifate, of Anfpach and Eareith ; and it is ten to one that it will M 2 come 1(54 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. come in for a fhare, when the courts of Vienna and Peteriburgh fhall execute the plan againft the Porte, which they have been engaged in ever iince the emperor's journey to Peterf- burgh. This plan has been fpoken of here for fome time with a great degree of confidence, and as it is impoffible that whenever it takes place, this court fhould fit idle, I will lay before you the political opinions of thofe perfons who deferve the molt credit. They fay the two imperial courts hardly need the third part of their troops to be a match for the Turk. The king's fitua- tion is therefore critical, for he is placed be- tween -two courts, each of which equals him in llrength, even after they have fent out one hun- dred and eighty, or two hundred thoufand men againft the eaftern enemy. — This is true ; but if the king choofes to oppofe their meafures, France, who is more interefted in this affair than the Praflian court, on account of the Levant trade, which is an objed of eight millions a year, mull naturally feek for a ccnneclion with him. France, however, has had the folly, at a time w^hen the well: and north were occupied by the two moft fwmidable powers that hiftory know^s of, to walle her power at fea ; and the two im- perial courts fuftered her to fpend herfelf in the American war, in which fhe had no manner of concern. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 165 concern, till ftie was intirely exhaufted. By this means fhe has loaded herfelf with debt, and will not be able to maintain the balance in the Eaft. By the bye, brother, it is very humbling to a Frenchman to obferve how they fpeak of the power of France in this country. They af- fcdl to think our armies might make a tolerable Hand againft Dutch, Piedmontefe, or fuch troops, or at moft againft the army of the ftates of the empire ; but that they w^ould make no refiftance at all if oppofed to the Ruffian or Auftrian armies. But to return — ^The king of Pruffia, whofe age and love of philofophical quiet incline him to peaceful councils, w^ould let himfelf be perfua- ded to peace by a flice of Poland. Something he muft have — for fhould it pleafe him to put his old weather-beaten head out, he would find many methods, by his great treafure, of pro- curing fuch affiftanoe from Sweden, Denmark, and other German courts, as w^ould enable him to make head againft both the imperial courts ; efpecially if France w^as to do for the Porte, what its fleets enable it to do, or was to force the emperor to make a diverfion in the Netherlands and in Italy, where fhe might be aflifted by the kings of Naples and Sardinia. Difficult as it may be, to make fo powerful a head, and unlikely that all circumftances fhould concur, we may venture to fay that it is ten to one the courts 166 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. courts of Vienna and Peterlburgh will rather choofe to make the king quiet in his own way, than drive him to the utmoft. Only fhew him that it is worth his while, and probably he will contribute his fhare in driving the Turks out, or at leaft guarantee the imperial courts againft the attempts which may be made by any other powers of Chriftendom, to impede their ope- rations. If the courts of Peterfburgh and Vienna fhall, as' they have the power, proceed to the execu- tion of this plan ; the lofs of our profitable trade to the Levant, muft be the inevitable confe- quence of the ruinous American war, the end of which we cannot yet fee, and which we cannot get as much by as we are fure to lofe by this means. Our Vvine trade to the north muftlikewife fuffer from thiscaufe, as the Poles have been long at work on a canal, which, by means of the many rivers which pafs through their country, is to unite the Atlantic and Black Seas, and to bring wine for the fupply of all the north, from the provinces which now conflitute Turkey in Eu- rope;' Not to fay that Europe will have two more ^powers at fea,^ which will be hollile to us on the Mediterranean. All this gives us good reafon to blame the fleets built at the expence of dur land forces. We have only one hope left, which TR'AVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 167 which is, that Ruflia and Auftria cannot long continue friends, when they are fo near one ano- ther. The Pruflian monarchy has alfo great im- provements of another kind to expect. If it was once compact and clofe together, it w^ould be a confiderable deal ftronger than it now is. T'hey often talk of an exchange of the Pruffian territories in Weftphalia, and the duchies of Ba- reith and Anfpach for Mecklenburg, Anhalt and Lauffits. This would be very advantageous for the king, but it is extremely difficult to bring about. The king's income is about thirty-four mil- lions of Saxon florins, or eighty-nine millions of livres"^. His civil lift is incredibly and un- commonly fmall. His firft minifters appoint- ments are 15,000 florins. I know fome privy counfellors in Vienna who have more. The ftate of his ambaifadors, at the greateft courts, does not amount to more than 15,000 florins. The public of Vienna laughed at the Baron Riedefel, the editor of the Journey to Greece, for not having from thirty to forty thoufand flo- rins, like the imperial minifter ; but he knew very well, that the qualities of a good minifter • About 370,833/. are 1 68 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY, are not to be found in his pocket. Accordingly a long time did not pafs before he gave the ton in the bell focieties, and his jealoufy for the ho- nour of his niafter, made feveral of the emperor's minifters afhamed, who were much better paid than he was. Silefia is the province of mofl confequence after the kingdom of Pruffia. It is only half as big as this, but has nearly the fame number of inhabitants, and yields very near as much. The Silefia linens are famous all over the world ; and the king has jufi: opened a trade with Spain for them, which was formerly in the hands of the Hamburghers, They have likewife a large trade for handkerchiefs. The Sileiian forefts alfo afr ford a great deal of wood for fhip-building. The Ville de Paris, which was taken the 1 2th of April this year, was enthely built of Silefian wood. Having made feveral cxcurfions into different parts of the Prulhan dominions, I have obferved that there is no where fo much poverty as in the two towns of Berlin and Potfdam. This pro- bably it is, which has contributed to bring the country into difcredit with foreigners. The high price of the uecefTaries of life in thefe two cities, the great number of idle people, the fmall pay of many civil and military fervants, the pinching way in which many of the fmaller no- bility, TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 169 bility, who muft have their fervants (and often their debts; live, and the great luxury of drefs, may be the caufes of this. Upon the whole, the country appears to me, though not rich, yet in a ftate fufficiently profperous. The equal dif- tribution of the coin amongft many people, makes the fum not fo ftriking as it is in other places, in which a nobleman covers the poverty of an hundred poor countrymen by his diflipa- tion. This is not the cafe here ; there are no perfons in the Pruffian dominions, fome of the large feudal nobles in Silefia only excepted, w^ho poifefs above thirty thouiand guilders income in landed eftates. Indeed you cannot find more than three houfes which have twenty thoufand florins ; but flill the inhabitants are uppn the whole as remote from extreme poverty as from exceffive riches, and you meet with as few beg- gars here as in any other country in Europe. There is no ground for the alTertion of fome tra- vellers, that manufactures do not thrive in this country,, for I did not fee one city, though ever fo fraall, in which there were not fom.e flourifh- ing manufaflures. It has indeed been objeded tO:$>he king, that his fyftem of finance has ruined the. fair of Francfort on the Oder ; but the trade carried on there were a kind of Jewifh bu- fmefs, which might perhaps be proiitable to the mcichants of the place, but was rather hurtful » than 170 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY, than ufeful to the reft of the country. The fame objedion, upon the fame narrow grounds, is made to the emperor, with regard to the fair of BilTen, in the T yrol. With regard to the fciences, and literature of all kinds, Berlin is, without a doubt, one of the firft cities in the world. It is obliged to the king for this pre-eminence. His father was as ortho- dox and ftiff as the late emperor of Germany ; and the Mufes, who v/ithout liberty do not live at their eafe, fled from himof courfe. This filly prince banifhed the celebrated Wolfe, who cer- tainly was no infidel ; but the king had no libe- ral ideas ; he confidered every ftudy, except thofe of divinity and finance, as nonfenfe and delufions of the devil, and his Treafurer was a greater man in his eyes, than W^olfe, Leibnitz, or Newton. The prefcnt king, who is a true friend of the arts and fciences, has eftablifhed a freedom of thinking in his country, which is not to be met with any where out of England. Nei- ther orthodoxy nor politics reft rain philofophy in this country ; but whilft every profeflbr at Vien- na is teaching that land and people are the pri- vate property of the monarch, they pub! ifti here, without the leaft fear of danger, that the king is nothing more than a Jiadt-holckr^ or the firft. a- mongft his fellows. As to religion, the Jews openly declare that the Mefliah is not yet come ; the TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 171 the Catholics, that they eat him every day, and that the pope is the head of all princes ; the pro- teftants, that the pope is the wild beaft in the Apocalypfe, and the whore of Babylon ; the Greeks, that there is no Trinity ; the Turks, that Mahomet was a greater prophet than either Je- fus or Mofes ; and the whole race of infidels, that there never has been any prophet at all. All thefe things are conlidered as bare fpecula- tions of the clolet by the police ; and any prieft, ' labbi, or cadi, defiring to make an aiito-de-fc^ would be the firft to occupy a place on his own faggots. The king has an academy, which is not cora- pofed of the beft wits to be met with here. T^hefe are, hov/ever, fome men of true merit amongft this generally very indifferent fet. But Tredefick, as has been obferved by feveral of his enemies, has a prejudice in favour of foreigners, and had rather take one of our journalijls^ to £11 up his academy, than any of the German literati. Mr: Pilati has obferved, that feveral of the Ger- man men of letters Vv-ould make a better figure in this academy, than nioft of the foreigners who are in it. The king does not think fo ; but it then muft be confeflfed, that he has given the Germans • Reviewers. full 172 TRAVELS THROUGH ;GERM ANY. full revenge on this fubjed, by the publication of his elTay fur la Literature AUemande, which makes it very evident that he knows nothing at all of their literature or their language. The reafon of this is alfo obvious. When he began his courfe, German literature was ftill in its in- fancy, and there prevailed at Berlin efpecially, a barbarity which muft have vexed him forely. His tafte was confequently formed on the French and Italian models ; and the company he kept in his hours of recreation, coniifted only of perfons of thefe nations. In procefs of time, light ad- vanced in Germany, but he did not perceive the blaze it made in its progrefs. He himfelf wrote and fpoke only in French; and the jcfts of the foreign wits \y]\o furrounded him, and knew no German, increafed his prejudices, both againft a language which he could neither fpeaknor write, and againft a nation which he knevv only by its dark melancholy humours, and ftiff cut of the clothes for which the inhabitants of Berlin were remarkable in his fathers time, and which they have not yet entirely thrown ofi'. When the fame of German literature increafed, and incon- telfible proofs of its eminence were offered to be laid before him, it was impoiTible for him to enter into tiie beauties cf a language which he had al- Avays treated as barbarous, and of which he could only write and fpeak the molt miferable jargon. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 173 jargon. In order to difcover the beauties in any tongue whatever, it is neceffary to be acquainted with its peculiar idiom ; for it is in this cafe as it is with an adlor which fucceeds one that had been the favourite of the public. The new ador may polfefs all that art and nature can bertow upon him, ftill he will not do enough for general expe61ation on his firfl: appearance ; the fpeda- tors mull have time to grow familiar with his pieculiar pronunciation, his carriage, and a number of trifling circumftances, which only hurt him from the comparifon with his predeceffor, in whom many things of the fame kind did not make unfavourable imprefiions, on account of the habit which people were under of feeing them- The king, w^ho never had time to fpare from the cares of his ftate, to make himfelf tho- rough mailer of the beauties of the language, and to wear away the prejudice he had formed againfl; it, was rather confirmed in his prejudices than fhaken in them, by the proofs that were laid befpre him, of the contrary opinion. It is pofli- ble too that his inftrudors might not be happy in the choice of the works they took to convince him. After all, if we conlider that ever fince his acceffion to the throne he has only ufed lite- rature for a recreation and amufement, we fhall not be very angry with him for his averfion to German literati. The ion of the polite world is feldom 174 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY: feldom found united to their learning, and theit wits arc moftly flunted by the feverer lludies of their refpedtive profeffions. Whilft in other nations tlie literati often facrifice their under- ftanding to their genius, ^thefe always offer up the former at the fhrine of the latter. Hunger and want of knowledge of the world render them boorifh and untradable in fecial life, though at the fame time they form the imaginary worlds of which they write, after quite a different fyflem from what they pradtife, and know how to give their WTitings a polifh which they want them- felves. The profeflional countenances of the Dutch literati, and the ftudies of the beaux efprits, which came to the king's notice, could not re- commend German literature much to him : doubtlefs the genius of the nation contributed Ibmething to the preference he gave the French and Italians. The German genius is dull, and though many of their pieces do not abfolutely ftifik of the lamp, yet you may eafily obferve that they have come with difficulty from the authors. In confequence of this, they feldom recommend themfelves as fine writers, even w^hen they are moft entertaining ; for they have not the livelinefs which enables the French and Italians to mark the remarkable parts of a thing in a minute, and to give a neatnefs to obfervations often pal- try enough iu themfelves. Religion is alio in fome TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. J75 foine meafure the caufe of this. The proteftants are accuftomed to give too great a preference to the ufeful over the agreeable, and as the catho- lics, whofe religion gives the fineft fcope to the powers of wit and imagination, are in Germany, all plunged in the deepeft barbarity, it is not to be wondered at that the king choofes, for his hours of recreation, Italian Abbes rather than German pallors, who are often much fuperior to them in real knowledge, but who have the air of their cathedrals, and are apt to fall into the preaching tone, with which it is impoflible that the king fhould be pleafed. The fame thing obtains with refpe6l to the writers of German politics and hiftory. In point of truth, and the knowledge of bare fa6ls, they far fur- pafs the hiilorians and politicians of all other countries, but they do not know how to make their heroes fpeak, nor how to give them a beau- tiful drefs. It is certainly better to be true and dry, than falfe and witty ; but truth alfo allows itfelf to be joined with wit, which makes it flip down more glibly. The complaints which the king makes on this head, in his elfay againft his countrymen, fur la Literature Allemande^ are cer- tainly well grounded; but his remarks on the fchools, as well as his proofs of the want of ge- nius of feveral Dutch writers, are certainly not well chofen. The Jhooting of darts as thick as the arms 176 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ar7n, and the ring on the fnger of Time, have been univerfally exploded in Germany for the lall twenty years. As to the fchools, in no coun- try in Europe are they fo flourifhing as in the king's own dominions. The Germans proceed intirely by rule, and even in things in which they are not calculated to improve themfelves, they are able to give the beft dire6lions to others. No nation furpafles them in eftimating the pro- du6tions of genius. They have given the beft rules how a hiftory is to be written ; which, how- ever, like all the rules in the univerfe, have not yet produced a fmgle genius. In the mean time, rules and criticifm of authors, is all that hitherto goes forward in the fchools. Nothing fo much prevents the progrefs of German genius, as the indifference of the princes of Germany to German literature; but on this ac- count, in my opinion, they deferve no reproach ; for if they go on as they have begun for fome time, to encourage agriculture, to make the arts alive, to improve legillation and manners, and to pay their debts ; thefe manly, thefe imperial purfuits, will, as the king well obferves in his Elfay on German Literature, contribute more to the happinefs and glory of the nation, than if their poets and hiftorians eclipfed all thofe of old and modern times. This, however, is my own private opinion. But w^hen one of the firft princes TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 177 princes of Germany reproaches his countrymen, as the king of Pruffia has clone, for not having produced a Virgil, a Horace, a Tully, a Cor- neille, a Moliere, a Voltaire, and a TalTo, one would think that they ought to contribute to the progrefs of tafte and language, and to the deve- lopement of genius: whereas I met with no court in Germany, in which a foreign dialedl did not prevail. In all places but Saxony, the immediate followers of the court generally fpoke their mother-tongue wretchedly, nor was their French and Italian jargon lefs miferable. No man can make his way at either of thefe courts without the French language. In moft it is ac- counted vulgar and unbecoming to fpeak your own language ; and yet the court is the only place where language can acquire the rounding and the lightnefs which is to diftinguifh it from the brogue of Barbarians. In France and Italy the court contributes moft to the polifh of the language ; for it is not the writer who makes the language, but words and expreffions muft have acquired the right of deni- zenfhip in good company, before any author can ufe them without offence. The jealoufy of fpeak- ing their own language well and with tafte, is an obje6l of the fame pride and pleafure to the great folks, who always affume the tone of the court) as the being difunguifhed in their drefs, their hair, and their demeanour. Even Vol. 11. N in 178 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. in Greece and Rome, good company, and the bulinefs of the ftate, contributed much more to the forming their languages than the writers, who did not appear till after thofe nations had already acquired a very confiderable degree of polifh. But upon what models are the German WTiters to form themfelves? On the pulpit? Few people in high life pay any attention to what paffes there. On the courts of juftice ? by the nonfenfical law jargon, and the cold and te- dious form of fuits ? No, no, this cannot be : there muft be Roman tribunals, and a Roman adminiftration of juftice, before a Cicero can poflibly be expeded. As to tranfadions with foreigners, which were formerly a wide field for German eloquence, they are moftly carried on in the French language. There are feveral princes who have their very proclamations writ- ten in French, and tranflated out of it before they publifti them to their fubjeds. The diet of Ratifbon, the only place where the fcattered nations of the empire form an aggregate, and can conlider themfelves as a whole, and where the love of their country, ambition, and even national pride, ought to make Demofthenes', Ciceros, Burkes, and Foxes; this celebrated diet is the temple of fieep, infenfibility, filent corruption, the darkeft nonfenfe and treachery. All the tranfadlions with foreign minifters, and moft TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 179 moft of thofe with the minifters of the German courts themfclves, are carried on in French, and in the affembly of the ftates itfelf, every thing is carried on by a fmgle yea \ you feldom hear a nay, and commonly all is foon brought to a de- cifion. As to the emperor's court at Vienna, there is a jargon there, which not one man of leters in ten can underftand; nor is that of Wefslar one jot behind it in unintelligiblenefs. The German nation is no w^here brought toge- ther in a point, nor is it accuftomed to confider itfelf as one and the fame nation; hence the language can be as little fixed as the charader is. But if thefe impediments w^ere once to be removed, ftill the German genius w^ould always be kept back by want of encouragement. The fmall court of V^eimar is the only one I have yet met with in Germany, vrhere the na- tional genius is not left to llarve ; but in order to feed it, the duke is forced, by the fcantinefs of his income, to make his wits counfellors, fe- cretaries, and lord high treafarers. Klopftock is perhaps the only poet alive, who fhew^s any thing like a well underftood patronage in any of the German princes. In a word, the moft mife- rable of our journalifts will make his fortune fooner at a German court, than the greateft wri- ter of the country. There is a vifible proof of this in the ftate of the academy of this country. N % Amongft i8o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. Amongft the numerous tribe of literati of this country, qui m font rien pafs meme academkknSy I was made moft happy in the acquaintance of the Jew Mofes Mendelfohn, Meffrs. Buf- ching, Teller, Spalding, Nicolai, and Madam Karfchin. The firf}; of thefe is one of the moft remark- able writers in Germany. His works are ele- gant, and his ftyle has a neatnefs, richnefs and precifion, which muft in time make him claf- lical. He is at the head of a houfe of trade, and brings out his philofophy as he can. He amufes himfelf at his fpare hours with the pub- lication of fragments of his fcattered opinions. He has all the elegance in his manner which dif- tinguifhes his writings, and it helps him to carry off a corpulent unwieldy body. Bufching, Teller, and Spalding, are members of the confiftorial court. The firft is the greateft known geographer in Europe, His defcription of Europe far furpalTes, in point of accuracy and fullnefs, every thing that has gone before. Geography is a fcience which, from the various changes which take place every hour, muft.of courfe have many de- feds ; but I doubt whether it be poflible to do more than has been uone by Bufching. Not only his immenfe induftry, which is abfolutely necef- fary in a work of this kind, but his wonderful acute- TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. i8i acutenefs in the choice of his help-mates, is molt admirable. His hiftorical and geographical magazine contains the moft ample materials for modern liiftory, particularly that of RulTia. He himfelf is an inexhauftible fund of anecdotes of the European courts; nor is there a fingle one amongft them all, with whofe circumftances he is not- well acquainted, as if he kept a fervant fee'd in each of them. As he poffelfes a great variety of living languages, none of the geogra- phical, political, or hiftorical produdions of the age efcape him ; the whole world lies ever be- fore him, juft as a part of Switzerland does be- fore General Pfiifer of Lucern, w^ho you know has contrived to delineate not only the natural and phyfical ftate of each country, but alfo the motions of the men in them. I talked to Buf- ching of finifliing his valuable geography, but he alledged his numerous occupations, which prevent his undertaking the tafk he affeded to be delighted with. I could difcover, however, amidft all this, that he is deterred by the difficvil- ties of it ; and indeed Afia, Africa, and America, are not fo eafy to be defcribed as Europe was. I find, however, that he has done a great deal tow^ards thefe. Teller and Spalding are the moft unprieftlike priefts that I know. No foul upon God's earth is in danger of being damned by them for his fpecula« i82 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. fpeculative opinions. Their religion is theore- tical and pra6lical philofophy. Both of them are wonderful preachers, elegant writers, and deans of churches. Contrary to the generality of proteftant teachers, they have comfortable in- comes, to which it is probable they owe much of the Ibftnefs and gentlenefs of their manners, as it is often hunger that makes divines ill-manner- ed, rough, and untradable. Ramler is one of the moft amiable poets in all Germany, and none has carried the polifh of his verfe fo high as he. He has fomewhat of the fharp and lliort points of Horace, as well as of his nervous and crowded periods. His language is claffical. He is profelfor at the cadet fchooLs, but not in very good circumftances. Mr. Nicolai is a prodigy as an original writer, but pofTibly ftill greater as a compiler. His Se- baldiis Nothanker, is one of the belt German no- vels ; it is quite original, and abounds in ftriking chara6ters and interelling fituations. As he is a bookfeller, no body can find fault with him for regulating his authorfhip according to the pounds and fhillings it brings in. There is no German writer, except only Wieland, (who, not- withftanding his own notorious Jew practices in this branch, has dared to blame him for it,) who knows how to drefs his commodities fo v/ell ac- cording to the public talle, and to fend them out at TRAVELS THROUHG GERMANY. 183 at a proper time. His own intereft, however, often coincides with that of the public, and they run together. Germany is obUged to him for a Literary Journal, which in point of Iblidity and real merit, has not its equal in Europe. As he is only the compiler, there is no being angry with him if a partial review of a book now and then flips in ; but there are very few of thefe ; whereas all the Reviews of other nations are, generally fpeaking, plots upon the credulity and ignorance of mankind. His converfation is lin- gularly interefting, as he is poffelfed of a fimd of anecdotes of German writers, which, if they were publifhed, would furpafs every chronicle that has hitherto been called fcandalous*. He knows all their clubs, and the fecrets of their private houfes. Madam Karfchin is an amiable poetefs. Her tales breathe innocence, foft fenlibility and peace of mind. She is likewife very good company, and the more admirable for having made herfelf what fhe is. You meet with many women this place who are well acquainted with the polite arts and bel- les lettres. Madame Rechlan, amongfl many others I could mention, is an excellent German poetefs p • Mr. Nicolai, greatly to^hls honour, has declared that they never Ihall. 184 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. poetefs. I was m feveral focieties where all the young women took a part in literary con- verfations. There is no country in which you meet with niinifters fo enlightened as you do here. All the minifters and eftedive counfellors are chofen men, amongft whom there is hardly one but would be a wonderful writer in his own line. The prefent Attorney General has done more in clearing up the fubjed of criminal legiflation, in a fhort pamphlet on the fubjedj than all the folios and quartos in the Beccaria tafte put to- gether. The minifter Hertfberg, to whom the king's Elfay on German Literature is addrefled, and who takes the part of his countrymen with great warmth, has been diftinguifhed by the writing of many, and the publication of ftill more excellent Rate-papers. He is an excel- lent minifter, and m^ufl: be known to you by his condu6l of the difpute on the Bavarian inheri- tance, and the peace of Trefchen. The Chief Juftice Zedlilz, has publifhed fome very excellent remarks on education, and many of the king's counfellors are good writers. If, according to the old proverb, a man is. known by his fer- vants, every one muft think highly of the king of Pruffia. What principally diflinguifhes the literati of the northern parts of Germany, is their acquain- tance TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 185 tance with the literature of the more cuhivated Euro|.^ean iiation. I did not meet, either here or in Saxony, with a iingle charadlerof eminence, who was not well acquainted with the beft French, Englifh, and Italian writers. They are true cofmopolites in literature, and totally void of prejudice, either in favour of the productions of their own country, or againft thofe of a fo- reign growth. I have no w^here met with fuch univerfal and impartial knowledge of the world as there is here. This is an advantage which neither the Englifh, French, or Italians can dif- pute with them. LETTER Xni. Berlin, Of all the amufements of this town, that which delights me moft at this feafon, is the walk in the park on the fouth hde of the Sprey. I have never feen a finer public walk. The va- ried beauties of the woods, alleys, groves, and wildernefs, beggar all imagination. It is above three miles round, and has w^ater fufficient to give it more life than there is in the walks of much 186 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. much larger cities. A part of it commands the Sprey. It is a pity that they have not carried it over the parade and the royal ^^ ood market as far as the river, from both banks of which you have very beautiful profpe6^s. In this park on a Sunday you fee Berlin in all its glory. It is to the people of this place what the Thuilleries are to Paris, only the mixture of the company is much more Itriking, as you find all the populace and all the fine world here. You ride or walk through without any molefta- tion. In fome parts of the park you likewife fee rows of ladies magnificently drelfed, fitting to- gether as in the Thuilleries, and have the fame freedom of fi:aring them full in the face, and comparing them to one another. You alfo meet with mofi: of the literati of the place at ftated times. There are refrefhments of every kind provided, nor is there, as at Vienna, a police to prevent any amufement ladies and gentlemen may choofe to fall into. I had no opportunity of feeing the Royal Opera, which is looked upon as one of the beft in Europe, but is feldom open except in winter; nor is there. any theatre here except a very indif- ferent German one, which is not to be compared with thofe of Vienna and Munich. The mana- ger, Mr. Dobbelin, has fome very fingular opi- nions. He places the ftrength of his company in TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 187 in the number of his adlors, and feems to diftri- bute the parts amongft them by lot. I have often obferved that he who- plays the fervant is much better qualified to play the mafter, who again, was nature attended to, would play the fervant. Among fifty adors there are hardly four that would be reckoned tolerable at Vienna. The wardrobe is of a piece with the reft. I faw two pieces in which modern manners were re- prefented, played in Spanifh dreffes no longer worn. Amidft drelTes of the fifteen centuries, you often behold a modern one, efpecially amongft the women. The women feldom change their head drefs, though the fcene ihould happen to be in India, and yet Mr. Dobbelin makes a great outcry about his wardrobe, and the proprie- ty of the cojiume. This theatre is fo fmall, that many of the fpedators are obliged to take care left the clouds of heaven over them fhould be entangled in their hair. I faw trees which were hardly big enough for walking fticks. Some of this great king's troops are carrion, whom hunger has robbed of all their flefh ; and many are hard- ly able to move their legs and arms, for which want of action, the adreffes are accountable, as you may eafily difcover by the found of their voices. Mr. Dobbelin's wages, which are from fix to eight guilders a week ; are indeed not cal- culated to give his people a great deal of ftrength. Their 188 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. Their ^or/^ confequently confifts in fainting away, in which art two or three of his w^omen furpafs every thing that I have ever feen of the kind. In this they are only excelled by themfelvcs when they die. Dying is the principal bufmefs of every German ador, and when he knows how to give life to his death, like fome great adlors I have feen, whofe convullions began in the feet and ran through the whole body, he is fure of the applaufe of a German pit. The tragedy talle, which obtains throughout Germany, from the Mediteranean to the Eaftern fea, would lead a foreigner to imagine that the country was made up of ravifhers, houfe-breakers, &c. efpe- cially as the fame cannibal guflo is difcoverable throughout moft of their modern romances. Though the inhabitants of Berlin, including the garrifon, amount to one hundred and forty two thoufand men, yet it is not able to keep up a good company of players. It is entirely ow- ing to want of encouragement that Mr. Dobbe- lin fuffers half his company to ftarve, and plays in a building, w^hich in any other city would be looked upon as a barn. In this refpedl the city is unique. You would imagine that the officers alone, who are conftantly from eight to nine hundred in number, w^ould be fufficient to keep up a good theatre ; but it is not fo. In truth this is one of the moft eminent marks of the poverty TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 189 poverty and parfimony of the people of this place. A man would not wonder to find the public of all the great cities of the Pruffian monarchy difaffeded to plays. The great induftry which they are remarkable for muft have this effed ; but the capital is the rendezvous of all the idlers of the country, and though the number of them does not amount to that of any other capital, it Ihould, one would think, be fufficient not to let a couple of dozen of players flarve. Thefe par- ticularities are to be folved by confidering that the idle, fuppofing them to have their incomes neat and free from incumbrance, are ftill very poor people. This is the natural confequence of the wife fyftem of finance eftablilhed by the king. The induftrious part of the public does not feel the dearnefs of the necelTaries of life, which is the confequence of the excife and mo- nopoly, becaufe the wages of work are raifed in proportion to them. But thofe who live on their rents feel their whole weight. If therefore they choofe to live conliftently, and in fome de- gree anfwerable to their efiates, the expence of the theatre becomes too weighty an item for their purfes. In a word, the labouring part of the public do not go to the play here, becaufe labour makes them fparing ; and the idle do not go becaufe they are too poor. I know 190 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. I know no ftronger mark of diftinclion be- twixt the Pruffian and Auftrian chara6^er than what relates to the theatre. The Pruffian mo narchy contains feveral other fine cities. In Koniglberg there are upwards of fixty thoufand fouls ; in Breflaw, forty thoufand ; Stettin, Mag- deburg and Potfdam contain thirty thoufand inha- bitants and above ; Francfort on the Order, We- fel, Embden, and other cities, have from eighteen to twenty-five thoufand inhabitants. A great many have from ten to fifteen thoufand fouls. In all thefe, two companies of players can hard- ly get enough to keep out hunger. On the other hand, throughout Auftria you meet with a thea- tre in every fmall town. I found one at Lintz, at Neuftadt, at St. Polnair, and even at Chreps. The larger cities, as Prague, Prefburg, Grafs, Brun, &c. have all Handing theatres. This difference is not owing to the difference of for- tunes, for Vienna excepted, which is fattened not only with the marrow of the whole mo- narchy, but with part of that of Germany; there is much more money in the Pruffian, than there is in the Auftrian dominions, though no fingle houfe in the former has an income of fif- ty, one hundred, or even two hundred thoufand guilders. There is an appearance of care amidft the middle claffes of the inhabitants of the Pruf- fian towns, of which you can have no idea in the Auftrian monarchy, the Netherlands and Lorn- TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 191 Lombardy only excepted. The only difference confifts in the greater induftry of the Pruflians, and the frugality infeparable from it. The Auftri- an cities are full of idlers and fpendthrifts, who are, on the contrary, the fcarceft commodities in the Pruffian ilates. Befides this, the knowledge and manners to be found amidft the inhabitants of the greater part of the Pruffian provinces, put them in poffeffion of better pleafures than are to be met with in the theatre, the danc- ing booth, the cellar, kc. In the fmalleft Pruf- fian villages you meet with more happinefs, than in many large ftates in Aultria ; and there is much more good done by private perfons in the former, than in any of the latter. You have long been defirous I fhould fay fomething to you of the heir of the Pruffian monarchy. The common accounts of him are as contradictory as they are ridiculous. There is a German journalift who has been fhamelefs enough to declare that the king has purpofely negleded the prince's education, in order that the ihades of his future government may make his own adminiftration more glorious. It is impoffible to revile either the king or prince with lefs femblance of truth. The prince of Pruffia is not only particularly well educated, but the king feeks every opportunity in his pow- er to attach him to his fyftem of government. The warmth of his temperament betrayed him into 192 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. into fome amorous exceffes in his youth ; but he is now much more ftaid aixd fober. According to the teftimony of the king himfelf, who praifes no man upon flight grounds, he is a great gene- ral ; and all the people here, who know him at all, affure me that he is is like wife a great ftatef- man. He loves the arts and fciences, and what ought to recommend him to the notice of the German reviewers, thinks much more favourably of German literature than his great uncle. He has been reproached with being referved, and not knowing any thing of friendlhip. This was a confequence of his former exceifes, which na- turally rendered him diffident whom he trufted or admitted to be witnefs of his irregularities; but it is alfo a proof that the king had always a watchful eye over his education. Ail this, how- ever, is much changed within the courfe of a few- years, and his charader has opened itfelf fo much to his advantage, as to render him worthy of ranking amongft the great princes, who, by a kind of miracle, of which hiftory affords no other example, have within a century raifed the Pruffian kingdom from almoft nothing to be one of the moft terrible ftates in Europe. The only thing which makes the Pruflian pa- triots at all apprehenfive of a change, is a little love for magnificence, and rather too unlimitted a generofity. It is true that thefe are mofi; for- midable TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 193 midable failings in a monarchy, which, like the Pruflian, is built only upon fimplicity and fru- gality, and has no other flrength but that which arifes from the exadeil oeconomy. But the king, who is better acquainted with this than any body elfe, and has ever been a more careful father, both of prince and country, than jour- nalifts think, has frequently made him feel, by experience, the bad confequences of the w^ant of proper frugality; and though the prince fhould not, during his uncle's life-time adopt his fyftem of oeconomy, he will not fit half a year upon the throne after his death without being con- vinced that he muft adopt it. The PruiEan ftate is a piece of clock-work, which Hands ftill as foon as one wheel is impaired ; and the prince has wifdom, alacrity, and honour fufficient to give ear to the preffing voice of neceffity, and not to let his country link through his indolence. The incomes of the Pruffian princes and prin- ceffes are by no means fo fcanty as people are generally taught to believe. Every prince has fifty thoufand rubles per annum fettled on him as foon as he comes of age, and the king's bro- ther, as well as the hereditary prince, have be- fides, incomes arifing from eftates and places. Prince Henry has nearly four hundred thoufand, and the hereditary prince at leafl three hundred and fifty thoufand livres annually to depend Vol. n. O upon. ip4 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. upon. Neither of them are able to make the year meet on their incomes. But in cafe of neceffity the king is as free of his afliftance, as of his brotherly and paternal advice. He has a fpecial art in mixing advice and admonition with the money he at any time beftows. At the f:ime time there is not a better pay-mafter in the world, nor is there an inftance of his having cheated any individual of a penny in his accounts with them. I cannot conclude this fubje(5l without giving you fome more anecdotes of this in general fo much miftaken monarch. I fhall not repeat any of the ftories which are publicly known of him, and do him as much honour as a private man, as his exploits do as a monarch. What I have to communicate to you relates to his treatment of petfons with whom he had reafon to be diifa- tisfied, which will fhew you at once both how little of the defpot he really has in him, and how well he imderflands the art of infinuating him- feif into the cabinets of the feveral European princes, and making uimfelf mafier of their molt important fecrets. I am acquainted with two perfons who have long been employed by the king in matters of the greatell importance. They are both of them adventurers of the firft clafs. I'he one poflelfes fome talents^ which however are mere fliining than TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 195 than fubftantial, as his knowledge is too much confined to his own affairs, and he does not know the connexion of them with political circum- fiances. The other had not hands fufficiently clean, but his corruption has arifen more from diffipation, than nature or culpable habit. Both having been deteded in impofmg upon the king, there came to them fecret advice from a" third hand, and they difappeared from Berlin at dif- ferent times. The affair at that time m.ade no further noife. It happened that both had it af- terwards in their power to ferve the king, the one at the Eaftern Sea, and the other at the Lower Rhine. All thofe who have at any time been in clofe connexion with the king, even when they quarrel with him, preferve an affec- tion for his fervice in their breafts, which Ihews more than any thing elfe, that the king is not the tyrant he is reprefented to be. The abundant love for his fervice, which w^as more a confequence of true regard and friend- fhip than of felf-intereft, induced the fugitives to write the king word that there were things on the fpots where they were, in which they could be of fervice to him. This happened at different times, and the circumftances had nothing to do with each other. The king ac- cepted their offers, rewarded them according to their fervices, and though he fent them many O t, letters. 106 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. letters, fome of which I have feen, let fall ne- ver a word of their former mifdeeds.. So far from it, there were marks in feveral of the letters, that he wifhed to baniHi the remembrance of them from his memory as fafl: as poffible. A ftill more extraordinary thing is, that one of the men has been returned thefe three years, and has often had occafion to converfe with the king, without having heard a fyllable from him that could lead, even in the molt round-about way, to the old ftory. Some anecdotes which I have been told here, and do not recoiled to have feen in print, Ihew that this treatment of the two adventurers did not arife from any regard to felf-intereft, but was the refult of the opinions which the king entertains of hum.an nature. The prefent mini- fler , was a major in the laft Sileliau w^ar. As he had confeffedly great military talents, the king made him adjutant to General Hilfer, who was as brave as his own fword, but was no deep thinker. This was done in confequence of the ufual cuftom ; for when a dangerous expe- dition is in hand, Frederick always employs per- fons with iron bodies, who are ufed to run with- out fearing againil any wall he fends them ; but then he always places an adjutant behind them, to give them the direclion. The major did his duty, and the king was Wfell pleafed with him, and TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 197 and exprefied himfelf fo. The next thing you would imagine would have been preferment ; but this did not follow ; for the gentleman had too meeh fak in his compofition, and had hap- pened to ma;ke fome obfeFvations rather too warm on the king's operations. Thefe came to his ears, and made fuch an impreflion on him, that he found an opportunity of letting the gentleman know that his adions were more pleafmg than his criticifms. The major now thought that all hopes of his promotion were at an end for ever, he therefore retired to a provincial town, and gave himfelf up to philofophical purfuits, like a man who had nothing more to hope from the court. After a certain time had elapfed, the king bethought himfelf of enquiring for him. He was told that he was ftudying politics and finance for his amufement. On this the king let him wait a little while longer, and then promoted him to a confpicuous poft in the pro- vince, " wh^re having had occalion to dillinguifh himfelf, he was finally called to the miniftry, nor has there ever been the leaft hint given of what had paffed between him and the king. Quintus Icilius had once been treated very roughly in tonfequence of one of his publica- tions, Ky .^a gentleman who was difpleafed, and took the ' liberty of writing with great freedom againfi^ llXm. A little wiiile after, having occa- f.on 193 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. fion to publifh again, he afked the king's per- miffion to do it. ' 1 have nothing to fay to thefe ' matters/ replied the monarch, * you muft afk < Mr. your reviewer's leave.' This net- tled Quintus Icilius, whofe weak fide was the pride of authorfhip ; and he fhewed his refent- ment by abfenting himfelf for a few nights from the king's fuppers. When the king imagined his author s pride was a little cooled, he fent him word that he had heard with pleafure that he was well again, and hoped to fee him at the ufual feafon. Quintus accordingly at- tended, and not a look or queftion paffed which could put him in the leaft diftrefs. On the con- trary, the king converfed with him with a fami- liarity and good-humoured pleafantry that would have done honour to a private man, and could come only from one who w^as a man of the world, and loved mankind as well as he under- ftood them. There are many other trahs of the fame kind, which fhew how different the king of Pruflia is in every thing from a fultan. Whilll the PruiTian adminiflration is thus ge- nerally mifunderftood ; whilft the very courts who endeavour the mofl: exadly to imitate the operations of Frederick, cannot enter at all into the fpirit of his adminiftration, and commonly either take that for an end whkh is only a means ; or for want of thought make thofe parts of their government myfterious, which he ren- ders TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 199 ders the mofi: open to every man's infpe6lion vAio choofes to look upon them ; whilft, in fne^ moft of the other powers of Europe have nc: fenfe enough to think of learning his fyftem government ; he is perfc611y acquainted with the conftitution, adminiftration, and the external cir- cumflances of every power in Europe, the fmall- eft and moft apparently infignificant not except- ed. He knows France better than our whole miniftry put together. I have been affured from good authority, that for many years paft four perfons have travelled at his expence throughout our feveral provinces, in order to give him accurate information of the popula- tion, the agriculture, the exports, and particu- larly the manufadlures of the country. I know for a certainty that by this means he knows the Auftrian provinces better than they are known at Vienna itfelf. The anecdote mentioned in the Difcours preliminaire, of the book entitled Grande Ta8iqueet Manauvres des Gtterres fuivant lesprmcipes de fur Majeji'e PruJJiane, of the Pruflian ambalTador at Paris, Lord Marfhall, having in vain endeavoured to open the eyes of our mini- fter for foreign affairs with regard to the affairs of Ruflia, is founded on a lad. Nor is this the only opportunity our minifters have loff: by their prefumption of being taught by the king what might have been advantageous to the country they pretended to govern^ It cannot indeed be denied 26Q TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. denied that the emiffafies which he employs to come at the fecrets of. foreign courts, often make ufe of ways and means by which honour comes fliort home. When, for inftance, the partition of Poland was in agitation, the papers of a pri- vate fecretary of a certain cabinet were procured in a manner which much hurt the bonds of pri- vate friendfhip ; not only fo, but there was an audacity ufed which far furpalTes all idea. With- out attempting to apologize for fuch things, I can only fay, that as they are artifices which all the courts of Europe allow themfelves, none is fb fiiccefsful in them as the king of Pruffia, as there is. no monarch who has fiich trufly and acute fervants as he has. The a6livity, fidelity, and fecrecy with which all his liiatters are ma- naged, are the caufes why the Pruflian ambaf- fadoirs in all Courts make fuch fhort procelTes, and commonly arrive at their conclufions when other minifters firft begin to reafon, to conje6^ure, and to cotnbine. That cabinet which thinks to car- ry on any important thing in which the king of Pruffia is concerned, without his coming at the knowledge bf it, is much millaken. In the piefent tranfafiions of the courts of Peterlburgh and Vienna with regard to the Porte, the king of Pruffia has fprung fome mines which have 6J)enfed him the dooi's of the two cabinets. He told the Jefuits of their fall, two yeats before it happened; but they believed not in him, and imagined TRAVELS THROUGH GERxMANY. 201 imagined themfelves to be much greater pro- phets. Upon the whole, the ftrengtb of the king of Pruffia confifts partly in the knowledge of his own ftrength, and partly in that he has of the ftrength of his rivals. There is a double ad- vantage in this, arifmg from the underllandings of the latter being as unfteady and variable as thofe of the king and his minilters are plain and precife. Want of underllanding is the mo- ther of pride, which leads us to the greateft po- litical errors, and makes us defpife our enemies, to our great lofs. This blindnefs it was which, as the king well obferved, earned Auftria into Sileiia, and Great Britain into America. He himfelf is fure never to fall into fuch a faare, as his felf-love never blinds him. As a proof of this, obferve the remarkable "difference there is between Auftrian and PrufTian ftate-papers. In the former the writers always endeavour by all means, and often in the midit of vifible marks that they themfelves know better things, to trum- pet-forth the power of Auftria, and lelfen that of Pruffia. The latter, on the contrary, even when they are at war with Auftria, fpeak in the high- eft terms of its greatiiefs ; nor is there an inftance of ia Pruffian's having given himfelf the trouble in a public writing, to make the greatnefs of his country more than it is. T'hey ufe plain fads and 202 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. and arguments, without the leaft exaggeration. A very flrong diftindive chara6ter this of the two countries. In the midft of the Bavarian war, whilft Auftrian writers ufed to fet forth that the king of Pruflia wa^ obliged to enter into fome war to pay his army, whom he could other- wife neither clothe nor feed ; the Pruffian minif- ters only obferved in their ftate-papers, how in- conceivable it was that fo high and mighty a power as the houfe of Auftria, a power fo juflly formidable to all the neighbours round, fliould feek to make itfelf ftill greater by the depreffion of an old monarch from whom it had fo little danger to the apprehend. In a word, the Pruf- fian kingdom is governed by rule, and the great- eft part of the reft of the world by opinion. X H E body, my deareft brother, feels itfelf as much worfe in all the parts of North Germany, that it is in the foUthern ones, as the mind feels itfelf better. On this fide the Erts-mountain, the irms, roads, poft-waggons, and all that relates LETTER XIV. Hamburgh. to TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 203 to travelling, are the very befl poflible ; on the other the inns are not a jot better than the Span- ifh ones. The roads are like the Hungarian, and inftead of polt-chaifes, they have a kind of large farmer's vi'aggon, w ithout cover or win- dow, in which the palfengers lie along the ftraw like fwine, and are expofed to all the inclemen- cies of the weather. On the other hand, here you meet with the beft company e very where ; there is hardly a village fo fmall but what has njanufadures, colledions of the arts, and libra- ries; befides which, every parifh-prieft in the country has more knowledge of mankind, than many a courtier in the fouth of Germany. Nature has likewife made a great difference with refped to the phyfical appearance of the two parts of Germany. Saxony, which is the befl northern province for natural fruitfulnefs of country, ftill bears no comparifon with Bohemia, Auftria, Bavaria, and Suabia, and the hills of Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg, are nearly of tlie fame value as thofe of the fame iize in the foulh. The dutchy of Mecklenburg is as large as the duchy of Wirtemberg. The latter has five hundred and fixty thoufand inhabitants, and its prince enjoys a revenue of two millions of rix dollars; the former hardly two hundred and twenty thoufand men, and a revenue of not more -04 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. more than four hundred thoufand rix dollars, of which the Schwerin line enjoys three and that of Strelitz one part. Notwithftanding this much larger population, the dutchy of Wirtemberg could noarifh all the inhabitants of Meck- lenburg with its fuperfiuity. On a calcula- tion, we fhould find that the dutchy of Wir- temberg has five or fix times the natural riches of that of Mecklenburg, notwithfianding the more advantageous fituation of the latter on the fea. With regard to pidurefque appearance of country, there is much more beauty and variety in the dutchy of Mecklenburg than in the mark of Brandenburg ; though you meet with no hills properly fo called in either, for the things which they dignify with the name of hills, throughout this whole country, are no other than mole hills when compared to true hills. There are however in Mecklenburg, ieveral very pretty landfcapes, where foft hills beautified with great varities of woods ; mea- dows covered with corn, and little cottages, fiirrounding fmall lakes, make a very fine pic- ture. The Mecklenburg farmers are a very firong and healthy race of men. Their curling white hair reminds the traveller of the old Germans, who heretofore contributed to the Roman lux- ury TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. zo^ my that aurea ccsfaries which, on the head of a thin boned, fallow-faced, and coughing young fenator, mull have been the greateft fatire on the corruption of Rome, in the eyes of thinking men. Almoft all the farmers in Mecklenburg are flaves ; but their fates are not fo hard as they feem, as the nobility are humane, enlight-* ened and good-natured. They, as well as the burgeifes of certain cities, enjoy a freedom here which has long been loll in the Upper Germany, The Duke of Mecklenburg and the eledors of Saxony are the molt limited princes of the em- pire ; nor have any decrees of the imperial court, which they have brought forward in their feveral contentions with their ftates, yet been able to humble their nobility, whofe jealoufy of the power of their governors fometimes amount to an almoft ridiculous excefs. The dukes obtained at the treaty of Tefchen, in return for having given up their claims on the marquifate of Leuchtenberg, the famous 'Jus de non appellando^ in confequence of which no law fuits can be carried on out of their own courts to the tribunal of the empire. They thought by this to have gained a prodigious ad- vantage over their ftates j but thefe protefted againll this privilege, as being inimical to their liberties, and the affair is not yet determined. Probably the dukes wdll maintain themfelves in the to6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. the poflefiion of a privilege poffeffed by few ex- cept the eleclors, and by this means obtain real dommion in their countries. When I tell you men of the great world, that there is very good company to be met with on the banks of the Lokenifs, the Stor, the Rekenifs, the Warne, and feveral other rivers, which though you have never heard them mentioned in your lives, are not only as true rivers as the Somme, the Scheld, the Sambre, but in many parts of them navigable rivers too ; you will think that my tafte muft needs have fuffered great corrup- tion from the grofs air of Germany. I can af- fure you hovrever, that if by a ftroke of a magic wand you could be taken out of your perfumed beds, and without breathing a drachm of Ger- man air, be tranfported into a circle of Meck- lenburg noblelTe, you would find the fociety very agreeable. It is true you meet there no academi- cians, no abbes, no virtuoii, no journalifts, no players, nor any of the charaders which contri- bute fo much to enliven your fociety. But on the other hand, natural found underftandings and good hearts give the converfation a ftronger and more fubftantial relifh than all your anec- dotes and bijlorkttes de coui\_ your comedies, bro- chures and all the other artificial ragouts — with which you mix fo much alTafoetida. I have TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 207 I have feen no nobleffe happier, or more hofpitable than that of Mecklenburg, efpecially that in and about Guftron. Nor are they fo un- acquainted with the refinements of life, and the great world as you may imagine. Tlie tables are wonderfully well covered, and you may vifit many perfons who are well acquainted with the life of courts. Literature is found among all ranks w^ho are above the populace. The wo- men know nothing of w^hat is commonly called Ion, They have none of that boldnefs and im- perioufnefs, nor yet any thing of the deiiie of conqueft of our count ryw^omen ; they are gentle and attentive to their children, ftill and balhful ; but all that they fay is fo naif and hearty, that the wit of our moft famous country-women appears Icathfome and flat to me when compared to it. I was not at all furprifed to find the prefent war the fubjedl of convex fation throughout the whole of my tour. The nation take a natural concern in it, both on account of the troops they let out, and from their having been for feveral centuries very warlike themfelves. No wonder that under fuch circumftances more than a hundred news papers fhould not be fufficient to fatisfy their hunger after news. But what I cannot fo readi- ly explain, is, the amazing partiality of the Ger. mans for the Englifh. You hardly meet with one German out of an hundred who is on our fide. 5^08 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. fide. The Mecklenburghers efpecially have a fondnels and veneration for our enemies which approaches to fuperftition. I was in many places where they gave little fetes whenever the God with two trumpets, one before and the other behmd, fpread reports favourable to the Englifh. It is true indeed that there is fomething great in the heroic deeds and charader of the Englifh, which naturally leads the opinion of mankind towards them. But it is not only in what re- lates to war that the Germans are hoflile to us. They look upon our government as the excefs of defpotifm, and confider us as a tricking and trea- cherous people. You know that this is the dired oppofite of the character we give ourfelves, and indeed of that which is given us by fome other nations whom we have made our friends by our franknefs and honefty ; but it is the projectors and adventurers, who being call out by France, have attempted to make their fortunes in Germar ny, that have raifed this prejudice againft us ; for which reafon I could not forgive the Germans their judging fo unfavourably of us from fuch fpeciniens, if I did not know that we are equally unjuft towards them, and are apt to confider the baron, who often makes a ridi- culous figure in Paris, with his embroidered coat, and embroidered vefi:, as a model of the German nobilitj. Upon the whole, differ- ent TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 209 ent nations muft forgive each other their preju- dices, and it is eafy to forgive them when, as it is in Germany and France, they do no hurt to individuals, however they may affed national pride. In England, Holland, and fome other countries, they are often attended with fatal con- fequences to individuals, and are therefore not to be forgiven. The firft appearance of the free imperial city of Hamburg is very difgufting and ugly. Moft of the ftreets are narrow, clofe, and black, and the populace in them is fierce, wild, and gene- rally fpeaking, not very clean. As foon, how- ever, as a man has made his way into the princi- pal houfes, he begins to conceive a more favour- able opinion of the town. In the houfes of the rich merchants you fee tafte, cleanlinefs, magnifi- cence, and at times even profufion. The Ham- burghers are the firft proteftants I have feen, who have continued good catholics in the mate- rial points of eating and drinking. Their tables are even better than thofe of the people of Vien- na, Gratz, Prague, and Munich, whom here- tofore I have defcribed to you as fuch commend- able proficients in the art of the Apicii ; nor is there a place in the world where they have fo many refinemements on the fenfual pleafures as in this. ■ Though in few parts of Germany, gard- ening is in as fiouriftiing ayftate as it is here. Vol. n, P yet 2IO TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. yet they are not contented with the wonderful ve- getables which their own country affords, but import many fpecies of them from England, Holland, and various parts of Germany. This is owing to fafhion, which has affixed a prefer- ence to the vegetables which come from thefc countries. They get together from Eaft, Weft, North and South, what every country produces peculiar to itfelf and coftly for the table. But it would far exceed your belief was I to lay be- fore you an exacl pidlure of the w^ay of living here. You may however form to yourfelf fome idea of it, when I tell you that it is the cuftom in great houfes, to give a particular wine with every difh. According to the eftablifhed courfes of good houfc-keeping, Burgundy, Champaigne, Malaga, Port and Mofelle, have each their differ- ent difh to which they belong ; fo that when the meat is ferved up for which nature, according to the opinion of the Hamburghers, has deftined each particular wine, there are always frefhglaffes fet on. With young green beans, w^hich is a dilb of fojne ducats, and new herrings, a difh which cofts a guilder, the Hamburghers com- monly drink nothing but Malaga wine ; and Burgundy is the ftanding vehiculum of green peafe. Oyfters muft of neceffity fwim in Cham- paigne ; and the coftly fait meats admit of np Other convoy than Port and Madeira. You muft not TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 211 not think that this takes place only on feftivals ; by no means ; it is the daily food of the rich ; and their way of living is adapted in every thing to this. I am foon to make fome vifits in the country houfes near tov^n, which are out of all number. Equipages, furniture, play tables, every thing, in a word, is anfwerable to tlie expence of the table. Few affemblies of Parifian people of fa- fhion, are more brilliant than the parties who meet in villas here, and they hardly play as high. Thofe who can afford to fpend nd more than twenty or thirty thoufand livres a year, rank among the middling clafs, and though they are all obliged to fupport themfelves by their own in- duftry, and that there is fcarce any nobility with a ftated revenue to be with, there are many fami- lies who fpend from forty to fifty or fixty thoufand livres a year in their houfekeeping. Notwithftanding all this love of good eating, the mind is not oppreifed and borne down by the body here as it is in the fouthern parts of Germany. The Hamburghers of the higher clafs are ftill more jovial, more happy, more converfible, and mote witty than the Saxons, You meet here with many literati pf the iirfl clafs. Natural hiftory particularly fiourifhes much, and is held in high eftimation. It was a Hamburgher w^ho gave Linnaeus the fundamental P 2 ideas 212 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ideas of his Syjfema Natum. As moft of the young people are fent abroad to form trading connexions in the feveral ports of London, Pe- terlburgh, Calais, Bourdeaux, &:c. in all which the Hamburghers have houfes, a ftranger is fure to meet with fome people who are acquainted with his native country. The Hamburghers upon the whole are great travellers, which ren- ders the fociety of this place particularly lively and animated. The women of this place are handfome, gen- teel, and freer in their manners than they gene- rally are in proteftant countries ; particularly there obtains a vivacity which a man is not ufed to look for in the north, and is a ftrong contrail to the aldermanic gufto of Holland. Doubtlefs the good eating occafions this. One of the great pleafures of this city arifes from the Alfterflufs. It comes from the north, almoft through the middle of the city, and forms a lake in it, nearly eight hundred paces in circum- ference. In a fummer evening this lake is almoft covered over with gondolas, which have not fuch a melancholy afpe6t as the Venetian ones. Thefe are filled with family or other parties, and often have boats in attendance upon them with mulic. The whole has an aflonifliing good effed, which is ftill greater from there being a much-frequented public walk by the lake ; the livelinefs TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 213 livelinefs of which correfponds very plealingly with that of the people on the water. Near the city there are fome villages on the Elbe called the Four LandSy which are alfo in fummer a notable rendezvous of pleafure. The farmers who live in thefe villages are in very good cir- cumftances, and take a prodigious fum of mo- ney from the town, for their excellent vegeta- bles, particularly for their green peafe. Every day during the fummer you meet here with par- ties from the city, who are as confpicuous for their genteel appearance, as for their excelfes in eating and drinking. The farmers daughters are very pretty, and their drefs the handibmeft I have yet feen amongft this clafs of beings. They allure the young men of the city to their cots ; and many quarter themfelves here under the pretence of a milk diet, but in fa6l to be near their fweethearts. Thefe above mentioned four villages fupply the town with vegetables, butter, milk, hay, and many other things of the kind — alfo with moft of the ^vomen of pleafure, and moft of the fpinners. The city of Altona, which lies at no great diftance from this town, alfo affords this people many opportunities of amufing themfelves. The king of Denmark, who from a jealoufy of Ham- burg, endeavours by every means in his power to 214 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. to make this place flourifhing, appears to have it in his head to hurt the brothels and inns of the city, as well as the trade. Through his care Altona has, in a Ihort fpace of time, from a fmall | village, become a town of thirty-five thoufand inhabitants, amongft whom, however, to fpeak freely, there are far too many rafcals. * The country round about Hamburg, though a fiat, is extremely pleafant ; the various and flourifhing agriculture gives it a very gay ap- pearance; the water, however, contributes much to the beauty. The river conduces ex- tremely to the advantage of this city, which by taking the laft toll, has almoft an unlimited con- mand over it. It is a mile and three quarters broad at Hamburg, and forms feveral iflands, on which they make parties of pleafure. The afpe6l of this mighty river, always well filled with fhips, and in feveral parts containing very rich iflands, has a great deal of majefly in it. 'Tis a pity that you enjoy this magnificent prof- pe6i only from a fev/ houfes in the city. Notwithftanding the quantity of water, and low fituation, the air of the place is extremely good ; this is owing to the cleanfing it receives from the flrong wind which blows upon it from all quarters. The north wind is very dange- rous to the city, it impedes the courfe of the ftre^m, and occafions many inundations which frequently TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 215 frequently fill the lower parts of the houfes with water, aiid do a great deal of mifchief to the country around. LETTER XV. Hamburg. H A M B U R G is without comparifon the moft flourifhing commercial city in all Germany. Except tx)ndon and Amlterdam, there is hardly a port in which you fee conftantly fo many fhips as you do here. The prefent bufinefs confilts in great part of commillion and carrying ; but the proper and folid trade of the inhabitants is like- wife very confiderable. Their principal trade is driven with Spain and France ; and they gain conliderably by the exchange with the former. Hamburg has hitherto fupplied Spain w^ith moft of its linens ; it alfo fupplies it with large quan- tities of iron, copper, and other articles which the north produces. The Prufiians, Danes, Swedes, and Ruffians give themfelves a great deal of trouble to be the carriers of their own commodities to Spain ; but it is extremely dif- ficult to turn trade out of an old channel, and many 2i6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. many of the merchants of the north find the carrying trade of Hamburg too convenient, and in part alfo too profitable to them, for the pre- fent proprietors to be in any great danger of loling this channel of trade. The funis advanc- ed ftay too long at Gales, and when a country cannot pay itfelf in the commodities of that it trades with, the trade with Spain is very trouble- fome. At prefent Hamburg is always in debt to Spain, for except in time of war, (when ma- terials for fhip building, ammunition, &c. make fome difference) it carries more things out of the country than it furnifhes. Another reafon why that part of the northern exports will always go through the hands of the Hamburghers is, that they can pay for them quickly and regular- ly ; whereas the waiting for the fhips from the Havannah, without the return of which the Spanifh trade cannot go on, often puts the northern merchant to inconveniencies. Sugar cane is the great article which goes from Spain to Hamburg, by which the latter gains large fums. No nation has hitherto been able to vie with the Hamburghers in boiling and refining fugars. The trade for thefe articles ex- tends through all Germany, Poland, and a great part of the north. Other important articles which Hamburg takes from Spain, and with which it drives a very confiderable trade in the north. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 217 north, are wine, fait, fruit and the like. Be- fides all theie, manufa61ures of handkerchiefs, ri4:teens, and ribbons, apothecaries drugs, and thefifhery, form a very confiderable part of the trade of the country. There is no place in the world which contains finer and more cunning fpeculators than this does ; no circumftances or moment tjvourable to a fmgle article efcape them. The prefenl war has brought them in aftonifhing fun^. The enlightcLed and patriotic governors of t^^lace omit nothing which can contribute to the extenfion of tiade. Some years ago the profpeft of advantage to their fellow citizens made them attempt to open a trade for them on the coaft of Barbary ; the Dutch were immedi- ately jealous of this, and m^de the king of Spain believe that the Hamburghers, furnilhed the Sa- racens with implements of w^ir : the king, in confequence, made feveral orders, which have flopped the channels to the prefeni merchants, whom however he cannot prevent from a much more profitable commerce with his own fubje^is. This flate is furrounded on all fides by migh- ty rivals, of whom however, the induftry, cunning, and liberty of the inhabitants ever get the better. The Danifh government omits no- thing that can hurt the country ; nay it often feeks to hurt it without any profped of advan- tage 21 8 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. tagc to itfelf. One of the favourite proje6ls of the Danifh minifters is to unite the Eaft Sea to the German Ocean, by a canal joined to tlje Eyder. This would give a death ftroke to che commerce of Lubeck and Hamburg ; bvt the government and the intelligent part of the coun- try are as eafy about this, as they wculd be if his Danilb majefty was to order a c^nal to be dug in Greenland. On the other We, the king of PruiTia had, by his terrible taxes., cut olf the communication of this coi^try with Saxo- ny by the Elbe, which was ^ fevere ftroke to both countries. What did tht wife government here do ? It entered into a treaty of commerce with Hanover and Brun/wick, and laid the plan of a road between Saiony and this place. This foon convinced the iing of Prufiia that his toll on the Elbe wou]4 be rumed fooner than the trade between Hamburg and Saxony, and forc- ed him to lower it accordingly. Still how^ever it is too higli for the Saxons and Hamburghers, but muft continue for fome time within tolerable bounds. Notwithftanding all the impediments caft in the way of it, the trade of this country has been continually gaining ground during this century. No doubt, the immediate caufes have been the improvements in agriculture, the increafe of po- pulation, and the greater approaches towards luxury. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 219 luxury, made by the inhabitants of the north. Liberty alone would however in time have been fuflbcient to have removed many of the hin- drances which hoftile neighbours fought to put in the way of the trade. Whilft the neighbour- ing powers were increafing their excife and cuf- tom-houfe duties, and by fo doing Hopping up fo many channels of commerce to their fubjeds, here they were opening every door both of ex- ports and imports; and inftead of feeking to raife, were inventing every poflible method to di- minifh the taxes. This unlimited freedom of trade is of a piece with the fpirit of the conflitu- tion and of the city, and was the only means which the wife governors of it could hit upon to raife the fl:ate. But if the Hate had not been a lingle independent city, as the luxury which fupports a free trade could not have been kept up but at the expence of the country, the unlimit- ed freedom would have been very difadvantage- ous to the country belonging to it. The politi- cians of this place are in the right when they maintain that unlimited liberty of trade is the foundation of the well-being of their country ; but they are in the wrong for blaming, as they all do, the Pruffian fyflem of excife, as a mad fyftem, equally dellrudlive to the country and people. There is a great difference between a iingle independent city and a great ftate. That com- 221 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. commerce which enriches the Hamburghers, makes feveral of the Holfteiners and Mecklen- burgers poor, by taking fo much money from them for coffee, fugar, wine, &c. and it would foon ruin the king of PrulTia's belt provinces, juft as the flourifhing trade of Dantzick has too much contributed to the impoverifhing of the wide extended kingdom of Poland. If Ham- burg had a large extent of country, it would foon find the bad confequences of an unlimited freedom of trade, efpecially, if like the leaders of other republics, its governors would not prefer the inhabitants of the country to thofe of the city. In the mean time, the bafe clamour of foreign and domeltic merchants, by neither of whom the king of Pruffia would fuffer his fub- jeds to be plundered, has made him be reputed a tyrant by Mr. Wraxall, and writers of his Ham p. The fortunes of the inhabitants of this coun- try are in a conftant ftate of fiuduation. The expenfivenefs of living is the reafon that there are very few rich houfes ; you can hardly find any that has been fifty years in the fame ftyle of fplendour. The immenfe profits of this grand commercial country are fo well divided, that you cannot meet with above five perfons who polfefs a million ; but the number cf houfes which have from three to fix hundied thoufand guilders, is extremely TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 221 extremely great. But then as foon as a mer- chant makes one hundred thoufand guilders, he mull: have his coach and country houfe. His expences keep pace Avith his income, fo that the leaft blow brings him back to poverty ; from which, however, the flighteft labour will extri- cate him again. Hamburg is truly fmgular as a commercial city, in this refped, for you meet in it with perfons who have been bankrupts three or four times, and yet have returned to riches. The man who has an income of from two to three hundred thoufand florins, and makes more fhew with it, both in his trade and houfe-keep- ing, than many Amfterdamers who have many millions, lofes in a moment his country houfe, his houfe in town, his palace, his w^are-houfe, his- coach and gardens, and begins again as a bro- ker ; but hardly are his old eftate and country houfe fold off, than he has another eilate, buys another country houfe, is able to drive through the town with two prancing Holfteiners before him, and has his garden, his coach, his gambling box, — till, heigh prefto ! he is a broker again. The inexplicable facility of making ufe of one's money, renders the Hamburgher here too bold ; fo that he does more buiinels with fifty thoufand florins, than a Dutchman will do with two hun- dred thoufand ; but then lie is more expofed to rev^rfe of fortune than the Dutchman is. How- ever, 222 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ever, the fecurity heis under of not being obliged to beg in his old age, renders him quite carelefs. There are, indeed, no where fo good retreats for bankrupts as there are here. If broken mer- chants do not choofe to turn brokers and try their luck afrefli, they have employments given them on which they may live very comfortably. Eeiides thefe, there are funds for the iupport of poor hurgherSy words which mean here bankrupts. There is no place, indeed, where the eitablilh- ments for the poor are on fo fplendid a footing as they are here. Look where you will you fee that bankrupts have had a fhare in the legiflation, and that they have fought to make themfelves and their pofterity fecure againft all events. . The great and frequent revolutions in the commercial houfes of this place, give the mer- chant an alacrity which he has no w^here elfe in the world. The genius of trade does no wdiere fo many wonders as it does here. The Ham- burghers far outdo th^ Dutch in happy calcula- tions, fpeculation, and fortunate hits ; and you meet with more true theory of trade amongft the brokers of this place, than there is to be found in many thick books written exprefsly on the fubjecl. Only you muft not exped to fee the fubjecl treated with a view to finance, as they have no reliia for cuftoms, excife, and all the mo- dern TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 225 dern Jewifh inventions to fpunge the fubftance of the people. The quicknefs and vivacity vsdth which trade is carried on here, employs a larger capital than is put into it by the Dutch, who are more expert at faving money than at getting it. The Ham- burgher works himfelf up again wdth the fame eafe with which he falls ; whereas the Dutchman could not make his fortune without exceflive parhmony, and commonly fpeaking, is indebted only to his induflry and faving for what he gets. Rich inheritances are very fcarce here, in com- parifon to the fum of money there is in the place, as this is divided amongft too many, and the ebbs and flows are too frequent. The great capital of every inhabitant is his induftry and underftanding. The unlimited credit of the bank of this place, is a certain fign both of the riches of the ftate, and of the right notions which prevail here with refpe6l to every thing which has a relation to trade. The foundations on which this bank refts, are the iimpleft that can be imagined. There is neither paper nor any kind of coined money, but only a large quantity of liiver, which is meafured out by the pound. It is, however, the moft refpecled, and I muft think the mofl fecure of all the eftablifhments of the kind in the world. The 224 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. The government of Hamburg is wonderful. I am acquainted with no commonwealth that has fo nicely hit ofi' the jufi; mean betwixt ariflo- cracy and democracy, and fecured itfelf fo w^ell againft the inconveniencies of both, as this has done. The legiflative power is in the hands of the alfembled burgelTes. Thefe are chofen from the five parifhes of the city. The firft college, or firft deputation of them, connfts of the alder- men, three of w^hom are chofen by the inhabi- tants of each parifh. Every parifh alfo fends nine perfons to the fecond, which, with the for- mer one, make a college of fixty. Finally, each parifh contributes twenty-four to the third, making, when joined to the two former, a num- ber of one hundred and eighty. The ordinary bufmefs is regularly brought by the council be- fore this afiembly; but when there is a new law to be made, or a new^ tax to be raifed, after hav- ing palfed this court, it muft farther be laid be- fore a general alTembly of the burghers. The one hundred and eighty, together with fix af- feffors added to them from each parilh, muft ap- pear before this alfembly, in which every man who poiielTes a houfe of his own, or an eftate that is out of debt, or a certain fum in fpecie above the value for which the houfe or eftate is mortgaged, may appear and give his vote. T^he TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 225 The miferable corporation fyftem, which, in other republics approaching towards democracy, often leans to ridiculous, and often to very feri- ous and fatal excelTes, has no influence here upon the ftate. No manufadlurer can tyran- nize over the people, as is the cafe in many other republican governments; nor does the happinefs of the whole depend upon the will or caprice of a company of fkinners or barber furgcons. Due proviflon has alfo been made that the wdll of the mob, which often overturns the wifeft ordinances, and the moft ufeful projects, in the countries approaching fo nearly to the de- mocratic form as Hamburg does, fhould not ealily do mifchief here. Before a law comes be- fore a general alTembly of the people, it has been tried and approved by the wifer part of them, which renders it not difficult to gain over the reft to the good fide, as of courfe they will have confidence in legiflators originally nomi- nated by themfelves. This legiflative affembly is likewife fo numerous as to render it very diffi- cult for a part to get the maftery over the whole, by the ufual democratic artifices. As thefe colleges are eftablifhed for a long time, and are not eafily changed, the members of them are well enough acquainted with the true circumftances of the commonwealth, to be able to lay before both their refpedive commu- VoL. 11, nities. \%6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. nities, and the burghers in general alfembly, an accurate and juft account of the fenfe of ev€ry law, proclamation, or tax. The divifion of the burgher focieties, according to parifhes, has like- wile this farther advantage attending it, that family connexions do not fo eafily acquire a pre- judicial influence as they do in republics divided into corporations or private focieties. If you will take the trouble to compare this conftitution with that of other commonw^ealths, many more advantages will immediately ftrike yoii* T'he council in whofe hands the executive power is lodged, confifls of thirty-fix perfons, to wit, four burgomafters, four fyndics, twenty- four counfeilors, and four fecretaries. O^ly the burgomafters and counfeilors have votes. It ele6i:s its own members by lot. The power being direded only towards the proper execution of the laws in being, is unlimited, the natural confequence of which is, that both the courts of juftice and the police have a ftrength here which they have in few republics that are fo democratic. Nor is government taken in hand here as in other countries, by perfons who have no proper vocation to it. Three of the burgo- mafters, the counfeilors, and all the fyndics and fecretaries, mufl: be graduated literati, who have given proofs of their learning. One burgomaf- t-erand ten counfeilors niuft, confiflently with the TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 227 the -nature cf the commonwealth, be merchants. The pay of the counfellors is fufficient to reftrain the fpirit of innovation. Honour, virtue and ability, are the moft likely foundations to fucceed in being eleded. When a counfellor abufes his power, he is obliged to leave the city. The number of counfellors is too fmall for the pow- er of private families to be able to put a reftraint on the adminiftration of juftice and police. In a word, the legiflative power is as gentle and^po- pular as it can be ; and the executive is, as it muft be, monarchically flrong. Hamburg is in truth, the model of a well-regulated common- wealth. A mifapplication or wafte of the pub- lic treafure happens very feldom, and is almoft impoffible, as the perfons who are charged with the adminiftration of it, are no members of the council, but on the contrary are watched over with the greateft attention by them and the ge- neral affembly, and are obliged to the greateft pun6luality. They confift of ten perfons felecled from the general affembly, and are chofen out of each parifh, one by vote and the other by lot. Every fix years each of the three deputies lays his office down, and his pariili fends another in his ftead. The reafon of the change is not as in other republics, that all may have a fhare of the cake, but to free the deputies from a troublefome and laborious office. Qj, The 228 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. The income of the ftate is very large. It is made up par tly from ftanding fources of income, and partly from occalional taxes granted by the community. Some taxes are voluntary, and the burghers have the right to put what they think their quota into the purfe which is fhut, and the deputies dare not open in their prefence. Upon the whole the taxes are confiderable. In order not to let the mouth of the Elbe, on which the exiftence of the country depends, be choked up with fand, and for the maintenance of the feveral harbours in it, they have been obliged to raile fome taxes, which in appearance are beyond their means. The aggregate of them together makes about three millions of marks, or four millions of livres, and is hardly fufficient for the purpofes required of them. The quick and conflant revolutions in the for- tunes of every citizen fecure this common- wealth ftill more than its conftitution from the mifchiefs of oligarchy and family plots. They know nothing here of domineering or dangerous houfes, from which none of the republics of the prefent day are free. One fign of the good go- vernment and wonderful adminiftration of this commonwealth is, that it is almoft the only im- perial city that carries none of the fuits between its own members before the tribunal of the em- pire. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. Z2g pire. At Vienna they mentioned to me feveral free imperial towns who had rendered themfelves dependant on the emperor, by carrying their private grievances before the emperor's court. In the beginning of this century, Hamburg it- felf was expofed to fome danger of this kind, but in 1708 it was fupprelTed by the benevolent offi- ces of the imperial court, and the zeal of feveral patriots of the place, and fnice that time the tran- quility of the country has met with no interrup- tion. The bands of fociety are too faft bound for there to be any caafe of uneaiinefs about fu- ture events. The only real caufe of apprehenfion which this city has expeiienced of late years, has arifen from a mifunderllood religious zeal ; but in our time religious zeal, if it light any fire, can only light up a fire of ftraw, which is very eafily put out again. In the inttance before us, the impe- rial miniilers, (whom the burgeffes have more than one caufe to refped) and the wifdom of the council united, took joint care that the fparks fhould be fmothered before they could break out into a flame. The tafe was this : Hamburg was blelfed with an orthodox priell, who let it want for nothing that could flir up a fiame. This, by conflant blowing, he had at length fo well fed, that the people were for proceeding to adlion to prevent the catholics from ferving God in the chapel 230 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. chapel belonging to the imperial niinifter ; but the police took care to prevent the mifchief, which has never fince broke out to any extent. There is indeed at the head of the prefent cler- gy, a man who would do our prefent phiiofo- phical age very litilc credit, were it not that eve- ry body knows the government only fuffers him, becaufe they are fecure that his inquifitorial fpi- rit only hurts himfelf, and cannot have the leaft bad e&hS. upon others. This gentleman, who is called Gofs, fome time fince gave fire in his pul- pit againft the pope and all his adherents; but this produced no other e&8: than his being com- pelled to make an apology to the imperial minif- ter. The cafe it feems was this: When this gentleman firft afcended his paper tribunal, the cuftom ftill prevailed at Hamburg of curfnig the pope and all his adherents publicly in the prayer before the fermon. The government wifely perceiving that this gave great fcandal in fuch times as thefe, ordered the court priefi: to omit this cerem.ony in future. The love, how- ever, of curfing-had taken fuch firm poffeffion of the man, that he not only gave in a formal proteftation again ft this inroad of the fpi ritual upon the temporal power ; but the next Sun- day, without waiting to fee what anfwev his fu- periors would make, fired a double volley. Upon this, the council took the beft way of teaching TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 231 teaching the ill-mannered brute a better beha- viour, by punifhing him with the lofs of his fat benefice. Mynheer high paftor had foon philo- fophy enough to fee that it was better for him not to curfe than to flarve, and fo the pope and his ftate had juftice done them in the ilate and high church of Hamburg. But though this man has been many times publicly and univerfally hilTed iince this event, which took place twelve or fifteen years ago, and though he has been the jeft of all the proteftant part of Germany, and^ even of his own brethren at Hamburg, yet is not his holy head in the leaft cooled. He raves as publicly againft the race of monks, as he does againft the pope. He is the declared enemy of all public amufements. The theatres are a par- ticular eye-fore to him. This, as the better part of the public do nothing but amufe themfelves with him, gave rife to a very humorous adven- ture. An Englifhman who happened to be at the play, was fo pleafed with a piece which he faw exhibited, that he afked the gentleman, who fat next to him the name of the author. T h^ gen- tleman, whofe name is Dreyer, happening to be a wit, alfured the Englifhman that this very excel- lent and interefting drama was writt-en by Mr. Gofs, firft preacher in Hamburg. The En- glifhman, full of impatience to be acquainted with fuch an extraordinary good poet, went the next day 232 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. day to make his bow to the reverend author, who, contrary to his expedation, received the compliment upon the fruit of his brain fo ill, that he fairly fhewed him the outlide of his door. Dreyer, who had fent the Briton on the errand, foon after met him in the ftreet, where, the Eng- lifhman, without entering into the leaft explana- tion, gave him fuch a box on the ear, as very nearly brought him to the ground. Notwith- flanding which, Mr. Dreyer has lince that time played the antitheatrical priefl: feveral other tricks. I have talked to you thus long of this priefl, in order to convince you that the proteftant cler- gy are not as tolerant throughout Germany as they are in Pruffia and Saxony. Notwdthiland- ing this, the religion of the more fafhionable people who inhabit the lower parts of the Elbe, is by no means fo auflere as thofe who dwell higher up. The miffcaken zeal againfl public amufements is attended with this bad confe- quence here, that every other kind of pernicious cxcefs reigns micontrouled. Thuswhilil no the- atre can fupport itfelf in a city which has ninety thoufand inhabitants,, many thoufand guilders are every day loft at. play during the hours in which it is ufual in. other places to go to the play. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 233 LETTER XVL Hamburg- Since my laft letter, my deareft brother, I have made an excurlion into the territories of Denmark. As foon as I came into Holftein, which is ftill a part of Germany, I was ftruck with the difierence of living and manners, as well as the diverfity of agriculture ; but when I had got fome polls beyond the Eyder, which is the natural boundary between Germany and Denmark, I foimd a difference betwixt Germa- ny and this country, which was as ftriking as any betwixt Bavaria and Saxony. When peo- ple praife proteftants for their good fenfe, and freedom from prejudices deftrudive of happi- nefs, they ought to make fome limitations ; as fhould proteftants alfo when they pafs indifcri- minate cenfures on the catholics, for their ftupi- dity, lazinefs and debauchery. The Danes are at leaft a century behind moft of the proteftant ftates of Germany, and in no refpecls better than the Bavarians or Portugueze. They are the moft melancholy, moft untra6l- able, and moft clownifh people I have hitherto feen. 234 TRAVELS THROUGH GERrvIANY. feen. Their debauchery, bigotry and brutality diftinguifh them fo much from the greater part of the Germans, that it is only necelfary to be among them to be convinced of the inefficacy of religion alone to make men better, when other favourable circumflances do not concur. There are, it is true, enlightened men amongfl; the priefls of this country, but in general they are as proud, as intolerant, and as ignorant as the Spanifh priefts. I faw fome of them who were iikewife very like the Spanifh priefts in their external appearance. They wore their fpeclacles over the nofe, held up their heads, drev7 back the body, fpoke through the nofe and throat, and fautted jull: like the prieils at Barcelona or Saragofia. When they lit down to preach, they do it as if they were in labour with the falvation of mankind. I vifited one of them„ who palTes for a great botanift, though he knows nothing more than the m.edicinal plants of his own country. He was ftudying his fermcn for the next Sunday. It w^as long a matter of doubt whether or no he would give me an audience. After having converfed for about half an hour upon thewdnd and weather, with bis two daughters, the fillieft and moft un- formed creatures I had ever feen, w'ho, out of real or affected modefty, never trufted themi- felves to look in my face, out came their bulky and TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 235 and yellow-coloured mother from the ftudy of her lord and hufband, to affure me that he was e:xtremel7 bufy about his Sunday's difcourfe, which would however only take up ano- ther hour, after which I fhould have the honour of fmoking a pipe of tobacco with him. I Avas for fome minutes in doubt whether I Ihould accept of this honour or not. It rather hurt my felf-love to think that I was deflined to ferve a clownifh prieft for the vehiculum to his fmoking, and I would have gone away, but that I recollected that had I been amongfl the Hottentots, I fhould have been obliged to pay rei'peft to the cuftoms of the country. After waiting therefore fome time the penetrale was opened, and I beheld my hero, a fhort fquare fat figure, the Trulliber of fcience, enthroned amidft a labyrinth of books, and encompaifed with clouds of fmoke which fcarce allowed me to view his vifage. In four or five minutes our converfation v/as at an end. I tried him every w^ay, but no tone I could take would bring a w^ord out in return. At length, after having obferved himfelf that fmoking rather fpoiled the converfation, he took his fermon in hand, and read me a period or two by way of enlivening it. Of this I did not hear a word, as the fmoke of the tobacco puffed under my nofe, took away my refpiration, and obliged me to attend to 236 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY, to felf-prefeivation; but he was determined I fhould not get off thus, and fo propofed to open what he called bis treafure. This was a cheft which contained all the fermons he had ever written, making in all eight or ten thick folio volumes. When he took out the firlt a cold fweat ran down my Ibould^rs, which making him apprchenlive that he might kill his patient, he affured me he would read only the texts of the fermons from the tables of contents. I bore it for one table with great refignation ; but as he was taking down the fecond folio, took my hat and flick and hurried to the door. In no pro- t^ftant country which I have yet feen, Holland itielf not excepted, are the priells held in fuch profound reverence by the people as they are in Denmark. Pride and infolence in the minifters of a humble religion, is ever a fare mark of lit- tle knowledge, and a bad government in the places w^here it is found. The temporal and fpiritual powers are by nature fo jealous of each other, that there muft always be indolence in the governors when the priefthood comes to have a certain degree of authonty. Every body knows what an influence the Danifh priefts had jn the fate of Stnienfee. You obferve indeed, -in every part of Denmark, notv.ithfranding ma- ny foreigners are fettled there, many marks of the overgrovvn power of the priefls. In feveral places TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 237 places I found prejudices conceived againft me^ on account of my being a catholic, by people from whom one ftiould have expe6led better things. At HorfenSj a young lady of one of the beft houfes, could not be perfuaded that the catholics were chriftians. They look upou us in the fame light as Jews and heathens. I do not believe that the king of Denmark, as ab- folute as his power is, in other things, could make as great advances to toleration, as has been done at Vienna. The government of Denmark is the moft defpotic in the univerfe. This form of govern- ment has its advantages and difad vantages ; the fma:llnefs of the country renders it eafy to govern thus ; and on the other hand, this very circumftance makes the people feel more fc- verely the weaknefs and opprelfion of its gover- nors. Denmark is in truth the fmalleft of all the European powers. It contains hardly 1,800,000 inhabitants, Lapland, Greenland, and Iceland included ; and the Holfteiners, who live in a part of Germany, hardly make the number tw^o millions in all. The king of Den- mark's income does not amount to above nine millions of Rhenilh florins, or twenty millions of livres, * even with what arifes from the paf- fage * About jr83333. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. fage of the Sound, which the fea-faring nations willingly pay. He cannot cope with the elec- tor of Saxony, and the eledlor of Bavaria is upon a footing with him. Without fubfidies, the king of Denmark is unable to maintain an army of forty thoufand men and a fleet of fhips of the line only for a few years. The taxes are very high, and fome of them are of a fort which are met with in very few countries. Here a man mufl: pay for a licenfe to marry. Our govern- ment you know formerly raifed a tax on bache- lors ; but the Danifh and French principles of government are very different. The emptinefs of the treafury is the reafon why more projeds are entered into in Denmark than in any other country in the world ; but moft of them are only air bubbles, which are in general blown away by the firft wind. The private intereft of the proje6lor is commonly at the bottom of them all, and the court wants not only the power, but the good v;ill to encourage the projeds of good patriots. The king, who is the only king in modern hiitory who has diftin- guifhed himfelf by a public trial of his wife, is obliged to leave a great part of the govern- ment to his miniiler. His ftep-mother, it is true, poifelTes a great deal of court-craft ; but ftill the minifters and counfellors have the moft influence. Amon^ft them, there are conftantly cabals, intri- gues. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 239 gues, and revolutions, as you may learn from the hillory of Struenfee, particularly his apology, which will make every man who reads it ex- claim — Beaius ilk qui procuL Another firft mi- nifter has been lately difmilTed. St. Germain was very ill treated in Copenha- gen. The late king called him to his court witli a view of having his troops better difci- plined, at a time when it was his intention to take part in the affairs of the north, or at leaft to make himfelf formidable. St. Germain was told, that he would have the command of fifty or fixty thoufand men ; but when he came, he found hardly any foldiers except the guards. The reft conlifted partly of a wild undifciplined militia, and partly of a number of hungry inva- lids. There was no cavalry at all. The good king, who had only feen his troops upon paper, and probably, as he was not born for a num- berer of troops, had not fufficiently confidered them even there, could not eafily conceive how his great army fhould have mouldered away by St. Germain's arrival. Some of the miniftry, who governed the paper troops, entertained hopes that St. Germain would play part of the game with them ; but he was not the man for their purpofe, for as foon as he found out that part of the fums deftined for the payment of the forces went into the purfes of the miniftry, com.- mifta- i4o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. miffaries, and officers, he fet himfelf with his ufual determined fpirit to bring about a refor- niation. He, however, foon found out, that even if the abufes could be corre6led, the hopes of having any army able to take part in the af- fairs of the north, muft continue a vain expec- tation. Being fatisfied, therefore, that where there is nothing, there can be nothing to re-^ form, he told the king, with his ufual freedom, that he faw nothing in which he could be of any ufe to his majefty i on the contrary, he was only a burthen, and in his opinion, it would be moft advifeable to fend him away again. The miniflers were extremely happy to get rid of fo troublefome an ii;ifpe6lor, and the more, becaufe they could not eafily have got rid of him by court intrigue, becaufe the king loved him ; for court intrigues can do but little againll extraordinary talents, united with a true know- ledge of human nature and courts, where efpe- cially, as the cafe was here, the fovereign is on the fide of juftice as often as he underllands it. After fome trifling, and a great many under- hand tricks, the miniflry propofed to St. Ger- main to accept of a certain fum of money paid once for all, iuftead of the promifed penlion. Nothing could be more agreeable to him than this, as he knew the unfteadinefs of the Danifh court. But he was unfortunate in the end, for having TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 441 having never paid any attention to his own pri- vate money matters, he thoughtlefly contented himfelf with a letter of credit of fifty or fixty thoufand thalers, * on a merchant at Hamburgh, whom, on his arrival at that city, he found had become a bankrupt, and was run away from the German ftates and territory. St. Germam thought, to his laft hour, that the minifler was an accomplice in the robbery. It is well know^n that he was maintained for a long time after by a colledion made for him by the officers of our German troops, out of their own allowance, A beautiful trait in the hiftory of the Danifh minifters. Struenfee, and every other man who had a grain of penetration, thought that the beft prin- ciples of government which the court of Den- mark could adopt, would be to make retrench- ments of the fums expended on foreign aflfairs^ not to meddle with the difputes fubfifting be- tween the other German powers ; to limit its own eftabliftiment to what would fuffice for the maintenance of the internal tranquility and the police, and to employ all its ilrengih in the cul- tivation of the wafte lands, and the promotion of induftry. This is indeed all thaj experience and patriotifm united can recommend ; for in Vol.. 11. R the -42 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. the prefent circumftances of the two countries, Denmark has nothmg to apprehend from Swe- den, or if it had, a word from Ruffia or Pruffia would fet every thing to rights there. But on the other" fide of the country, the firft eledor of Germany who fhall fet himfelf to oppofe an ex- tenfion of the Danifh power, would reduce the country to great difficulties. The lofs of a lin- gle magazine or treafury would put an end to their whole war apparatus : Nay, even if mofl: of their operations did not depend upon foreign fubfidies, they would not be able to keep the field long againft a middling German army. The militia of the country, in which the ftrength of the army principally confifts, is raw and un- formed, and the German forces. Which have been-raifed at a great expcnce, would defert the inftant-they fet foot out of the country ; for they all deteft a climate in which, by reafon of the unwholfomenefs of the air, the bad and unufual food, and the little attention fhewn to their health, they are expofed to perifh like fo many- fleas. Whenever I had occalion to converfe with Germans in the Danifh fervice, the tears ufed to run down their cheeks, when they re- counted ho\Y they liad been decoyed away by the crimps, and defcribedthemiferies of their pre- lent ftate. Indeed the inftances of the extraor- dinary means they have made ufe of to get out of TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 243 of the detefled country are almofl: incredible. Befides all this, there is a want of cavalry, which in the prefent times is fo ferviceable, and confti- tutes a fourth part of the German armies. In- numerable fubfidies indeed would be required to put that of this country upon a refpedable footing. It cannot -be raifed out of nothing in a minute, on the breaking out of a war ; and the maintenance of it in time of peace demands an expence which the refources of the ftate, with all the fubfidies they can procure, are not equal to. The times are paft, in which wonders could be done with a handful of undifciplined and dif- obedient troops, who were maintained at the coft of the enemy. The mode of war now in ufe re- quires preparation, and a provifion for fuch and fo many wants as would make the Danifh minif- ter's hair ftand an end, if an account of them were to be fet before'him. Suppoiing the Danifh court to receive a fubfidy of even a million of thalers* per annum, which is more than the French or Englifh courts have ever giv^n to the courts of Stockholm or Copenhagen, this w^ould hardly be fufficient to enable it to keep the field one campaign with an army of 40,000 men, and it would be completely ruined by the lofs of a • £.1,400,000. linglc a44 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. lingle battle. The fhort campaign in the Bava- rian war fome years ago, though no extraordi- nary ilroke was Uruck in it, coft the court of Vienna feventy-two millions of Rhenifh guild- ers, exclufive of the fums expended on previous preparations, which are always neceflary. The army w^as at lead three hundred thoufand men ftrong. Calculate w^hat the proportion will be for forty thoufand men — but w^hat would forty thoufand men do, if, w^hat however is impoflible, the court of Denmark alone was to carry on any operations for a length of time out of its own territories ? T'he king of Pruffia would fwallow up this army in a moment, let him have ever fo much occupation ; for it is a maxim, that when a man is once engaged with great enemies, he will do well to add leffer ones to them, as a fingle ftroke may get from thefe all that is loft on the other fide. What became of the Swe- difh army, whom French fubiidies led into Pomerania, in the laft Silelian war ? And yet the king of Pruffia had at that time to cope with moft of the principal powers in Eu- rope. What became of the poor Saxons ? of the poor army of the empire ? and yet the Saxon and Imperial troops were better kept, and at leaft as well fed, as the Danifti are likely to be. Denmark TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 245 Denmark cannot, like Sweden, be compelled in any cafe to break the neutrality, nor is it ne- ceffary for it, on that account, always to main- tain itfelf in a refpe6lable fituation. For more reafons than one, it has nothing to apprehend from Sweden, and its pofition fecures it on eve- ry other fide. Indeed, could it render its power ever fo refpedlable, it has nothing to expedl at any time by taking part in an ofienlive war, but a great deal to lofe ; whereas the advantages it ■would derive from bellowing the fums walled in military preparations on the improvement of the country, are conliderable. I have been thus par- ticular on this point, in order to convince you and your friends, that our court added a new folly to the many it has lately been guilty of, when for certain privy purpofes it gave fubiidies to the Danifh court. The money was in every refped: thrown away. Half of it ftuck to the fingers of the Danifh minifters and commiffaries, and the other half was very ill fpent. Strong as all thefe reafons are againft the keeping up a great land army in Denmark, every day produ-t ces frefh projedts to encourage it. The vain minifter, whom Struenfee has fo well depidled in his apology, v/ill not let the world forget that Denmark is a monarchy. He gives himfelf airs of aftonifhing confequence. A few external marks of refped from the great courts, make him believe 246 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. belicA^e that he is refpeded, whereas he is in fadl the jeft of them all. A fmgle word from the Ruf- fian- minifter brings the whole country to the Emprefs's feet ; and fhe has at leaft twenty times more weight at Copenhagen, than either at Vien- na or at Berlin. It will certainly be much more politic in Denmark to aim only at being a mari* time power, which is more confiftent with the nature of the country, and the fituation of the people. By purfuing this plan the Danes might wdth fome affiilance, make themfelves formida- ble, or at leaft prote6l their merchants in time of war. But the Danifh minifter choofes to fhine both by fea and land. The navy accordingly confifts of fifty Ihips, including tliofe of fifty guns ; however, not above fix of thefe are in a condition to put to fea under fix or eight weeks, though fince the armed neutrality they have been making all fort of preparation to put to fea. Many fhips have been repaired within thefe fix pr eight years, and others are no longer in a re- parable ftate. T he facility with which adventures of the firil clafs contrive to make their way into the Danifh councils, and even into the miniftry, is no very favourable fymptom of the w^ifdom of this court. There is a proverb at Hamburgh, that when a man is fit for nothing elfe, he is fit for a Danifh privy counfellor, and may make his fortune by projedts TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 247 projeds at Copenhagen. Under fuch circum- ftances much patnctifm is not to be expedled. Upon the whole, the Danifh government is a vifible proof, that defpotifm, notwithilanding all its great apparent force, is the weakeft of all go- vernments, when the head is not very found, and ftrong. The minifters ride on the counfellors, the counfellors on the fecretaries, the fecretaries on their clerks, and the wives of all thefe on their lovers. It fometimes happens too that the minifter is governed by the counfellor, the coun- fellor by the clerk, and fo on ; all this produces an abfolute anarchy, and the quiet and happi- nefs of the country depends upon the throwing the handkerchief to this or that woman. It is no wonder, that in a court like this many cataf- trophes happen fimilar to that which took place ten years ago. Prince Frederick, the king's bro- ther-in-law, promifes the country feme hopes of better days> He feems to be more difpofed to do what is right, than to govern . by fa6lion or in- trigue. His influence is however hitherto very limited. On my return out of Lapland, I came, hither by Lubeck. That place, which formerly playecl fo great a part in the league of the Hantz cities, has fcarce half the importance of Hamburgh, in point either of population, riches, or trade. The Panifh minifler fets his whole force againfl this place^ fe48 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. place, as he has only Hamburgh and it to fear. At Lubeckj however, his principal operations are confined for the prefent, for though he makes the poor town feel what he could do by every petty injury in his power, he dares not hitherto come to open hoftilities, as it is prote6led by the emperor and the ftates of the empire. He is therefore obliged to change his fiege into a kind of blockade. The bond of union betwixt the German imperial towns operates much more for- cibly with regard to foreign powers, than is com- monly imagined ; and the article in the empe- ror's coronation oath, not to allow of any dimi- nution of the empire, is maintained in its full force under Jofeph the Second. It is indeed this article which compels our court to treat the fmall princes, its neighbours, who border on Germany with much more attention and refpedl than it fhews towards the other fovereign ftates in its neighbourhood. It would not dare, for iur llance, to a6l towards the imperial Hate of Spires, as it has lately done towards Geneva, where it interpofed with fuch great effedl, after having for- mally renounced the mediation, and having hardly any bond of union with the city. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 24^ LETTER XVII, Hanover. Al L the country, dear brother, which lies to the north and north-weft of this, and is watered by the Elbe and the Embs, is partly fand, and partly mud and morafs. Indeed the mud which is thrown up by the fea and rivers, is looked upon here as a paradifaical earth, as it affords the in- habitants bread and hay, whilft the higher coun- tries are nothing but fand. Here, my de^ar bro- ther, a man perceii^s, for the firft time, ijie blef- fings of a mountainous country. Through the whole road, from Hamburgh^Tor-^mbden, and from thence through a great part of Weftphalia to this place, I did not fee a fingle hill, a fmgle laughing landfcape, fhady foreft, beautiful wood, or, in brief, any of the things which can give a fillip to life. In Weftphalia, I faw large heaths which were ftill more barren than thofe of Jut- land. The whole country has been fubjed to revolutions. It is a bottom of fand, which the rivers from the higher parts of Ger- piany have formed, and to which they are conftantly 250 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. eonftantly adding. In fome parts the fea adds a quantity of mud, and in others entirely demo- lifhes the barriers oppofed to it, fo that the inha- bitants have conftantly to contend with the wa- ter and frogs. The rivers overflov/ every year, and lay the country for many miles under water. The inundations of the Vv^efer are particularly terrible. When they happen, the cities and vil- lages are as it were in the midft of a fea, and feeni to form fo many illands. The confequences of this are agues, colds, and fevers, which would commit vaft ravages amongft the poor people, were it not that cultom renders them hardy, and that they are in the habit of warming their infides well with brandy. To a Granger, howe- ver, the country muft be extremely unwholfome in winter and fpring,. The inhabitants are all through of the fnail order, yellow fkinned, foft fiefhed, and full of wrinkles. Their fmall round figures are very ftriking, when you compare them to the tall long Germans of the fouthern parts. You hardly ever fee rofy cheeks among the men of the country, and but very feldom among the w^omen. They live here as in Denmark, failor- like,upon fhell-filh, (which they render very pa- latable) fifh, fruits, and brandy, of v/hich laft the wives of the common people take large bum- pers. Of the fine fruits and excellent vegetables which the other Germans, particularly the Sua- bians TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 251 bians and inhabitants about the Rhine, are fo fond of, they know nothing. The people are flupid, naturally melancholy, and generally fpeaking dirty ; they are not, however, particu- larly in the Hanoverian country, fo ferocious and ill-natured as the Danes. Many of the far- mers h.ere are very rich. The facility with which they difpofe of their crops, the great fertility of their marfhes,'^ their fifheries, the great extent of land tney poliefs amongft the heaths, (which may always be ufed for paftures) and the government, which is ever very gentle, fecure them advanta- ges which the inhabitants of many countries in which nature has poured out all her abundance, do not enjoy. In many parts of Weflphalia I faw no fmall villages, but the whole country be- longed to fome great landlords, whofe eftates reached many miles in circumference. There are, however, likewife fome fmall farmers. Thofe particularly who dwell on this fide the Wefer, about Bremen and Delmenhorft, appear in gene- ral not to be in very good circumftances. In many places they have their cattle in their hou- fes ; and I have been twice forced to reft upon a ftraw bed among the cows, which is indeed an accident that is fure to happen to a knight errant of my complexion, as foon as he goes a ftep out of the great roads. In the fmall villages there are no inns, and a man is forced to put up with the t52 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. the fmall farmers, who have nothing to fet before him but brandy and potatoes, or fome falted ba- con, and brown bread made of bran. I cannot conceive how our troops did to exift in this coun- try during the laft Silefian war. Bremen is a very rich city, containing about five and twenty thoufand inhabitants. It drives a very large trade for iron, flax, hemp, and linen, with France, England, Spain, and Portugal, and in return takes back other provifions, with which it fupplies Weftphalia and the countries about Hanover. It alfo gets a great deal by its fifh- eries ; the trade for blubber with the fouth of Germany is very confiderable. StiS' and fullen as the inhabitants of the country are in general, you meet with fome very fociable and converf- able people amongft them. Embden is by no means fo fine a place as Bre- men. The king of PrufTia has taken an ever- lafting diflike to the inhabitants of this city, who, lo fay the truth, when taken in the lump, are not a very amiable people. They are very re- markable for their lazinefs and infenfibility. It was a great while before the good endeavours of the king to turn this people to commerce and iliip-building were attended with any fuccefs. The Eaft India Company, which he had efta- blilhed at a great expence in this city, was ruin- ed v*^ithin a few years of its eredion, and cer- tain TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 253 tain republican prejudices, which the burghers of this city affeded, rendered all the king's other efforts for a time ineffedual. At length the activity and wifdom of the government, attend- ed with fome fortunate circumftances, got the better of the impediments to that extenfion of commerce for which, the city is particularly well fituated. The herring fifhery, which the king took every ftep in his power to encourage, brings in large fums of money every year. The Ame- rican war aflilled the king's deligns very much, and the trade of the place now begins to be very flourifhing. Embden imports many Weftpha- lian linens to the fouth countries, and provides a part of Weftphalia with fpices and wines. They have alfo a confiderable trade in cheeie. Their harbour is extremely good. The duchies of Oldenburgh and Delmenhorft, which the king of Denmark, at the delire of the Ruffian court, exchanged for a part of Holftein, with a prince of Gottoip, now make a very good principality, which contains feventy-five thoufand people, and yields every year about four hundred thoufand Rhenifh guilders*. It is from all thefe countries, but particularly from Friefland, that they procure the ftrong fine coach- horfes who trot fo proudly over the pavement of * Forty thoufand pounds. 154 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. of many Italian cities, and are fometimes, though feidomer, met wiih in France. The court of Peterfburgh buys up feveral of thefe horfes to mount its heavy cavalry, who look very formidable on this terrible cattle. The Dutch cuiraffiers are fupplied from Kolftein, and in truth the horfes of that country are preferable to thofe of Friefland and Oldenburgh for this fervice, as with the fame ibength they conned more alacrity and life. Hanover, conlider it in what light you will, is a very fine city. The number of its inhabitants is about twenty thoufand. There are very good focieties here, to which the officers contribute not a little. The nobility is as polifhed and re- fined in its manner as that of any other German city. The country, which hereabouts begins to be more elevated, is not quite fo ugly as the deeper country round the Wefer. Prince Frede- rick, the king's fecond fon, refidcs here at pre- fent, and makes a particular circle of the inha- bitants very happy. He is bifhop of Ofnaburg, which principality produces him, yearly, a re- venue of one hundred and eighty thoufand Rhe- nifh florins. Having come to this ver}' early in life, and his indulgent father having given up to him, wlien he comes of age, all the province of tlie bifhoprick, without any dedudlion what- ever, he will have an income of three millions of TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 255 of florins, or three hundred thoufand pounds. They wilTi and hope here, that in procefs of time he will be declared governor of his father's polfeflions in this country, and refide conftantly. His great income will make this a confiderable advantage to the city in point of interefl, and his wonderful education gives the whole country hopes of a wife and gentle adminiil ration. Though fome parts of the eledorate of Han- over are very fertile, yet, upon the whole, it is the moft miferable part of all Germany. It is about feven hundred German miles in circumfer- ence, but hardly contains feven hundred thou- fand inhabitants ; nay, fome think this is going too far, for though they have numbered one hundred thoufand houfes, our commiifaries in the laft war, who numbered the people, could not make more of them than five hundred thou- fand fouls in all the Hanoverian dominions. But put them at feven hundred thoufand, flill you will find no other country of the like extent in all Germany, which does not contain more than one thoufand fouls for every fquare mile. The difference 'betwixt Hanover and Suabia, Sax- ony, Auilria, Bohemia, and the other parts of Germany, is ftill more confiderable; for each of thefe flatcs has two thoufand five hundred fouls for every mile, and fome of them much more. The caufe of the flender population is almoft 256 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. almoft iuiirely omng to nature. The country abounds in fand-heaths, which it is almoft im- polTible to cultivate. Almoft the whole country between Hamburgh and this place is a deep fand. The difference in point of riches is ftill raore confiderable. The whole revenues of Hanover amount only to four hundred and eighty thou- fand guilders ; of which the mines in the Harts alone contribute one hundred thoufand. The country belonging to the ele61or of Saxony, which is very little larger, bring in nearly as much again. The government of this country is gentle. The great offices of ftate are held by adive and enlightened patriots. Nothing is known here of extorting money from the poor. Little of the money of this country goes to London ; but almoft the whole is fpent in the improvement of the country. The army, which confumes the greateft part of it, is large, and confifts of twenty thoufand men. They are the beft fed of all the German troops, and there is a fpirit of liberty throughout, which is a ftrong contraft to what you meet with in other parts of the country. I had hardly been three days here when I made an excurfion to Brunfwick. Germany has few princes of whom it has fo much right to be proud, as of this. It was with a kind of enthuiiafm that I looked upon one of the TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 257 the firft heroes of Germany, though he had become fuch at our expence. The reigning dukes is one of the firft general of the Pruffian army. He is a confummate ftatefman, and the favourite of the king of Pruffia- I need only mention prince Ferdinand to you, to convince you how glad I muft have been to fee him. He is only knov^^n to you as a terrible enemy ; but his good heart, his extended underllanding, his adive zeal for the intercft of mankind as far as his fphere reaches, and his affability towards every man; w^ould loon make you forget that he was your enemy, if you knew him better. Brunfwick is the rendezvous of the German free-mafons, at the head of whom the prince is. Moll of the proteftant princes in Germany are members of this numerous order. It is not long fmce the fyftem of the German lodges has been fixed, and that they have acquired a kind of coniiftency. Germany in general is much indebted to this order, as it is certainly owing to mafonry that many of its princes have be- come much more affable and gentle in their man- ners than they were before. Four princes of this illuftrious houfe fought in the laft Silefian war, for the honour and free- dom of Germany. The youngeft of them, only feventeen years of age, died covered with wounds, under a heap of Huffars, who had Vol. n. S been 258 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. been the witneffes of his valour, and whom he comforted to his lateft breath. Probably you may not know that this is the elder branch of the ho of Brunfwick, and that the king of Great Britain defcends from a younger fon. Brunf- wick is a very handfome city. It carries on a yery thriving trade, and has a great number of manufadures. The number of inhabitants, amongft whom you meet with exceeding good company, confifts of at leaft twenty-four thou- fand. The whole income of the prefent duke is eftimated at one million three hundred thoufand Rhenifh florins, or one hundred and thirty thou- fand pounds. LETTER XVIIL CaiTcI. That ideal beauty, my deareft brother, which dances before the eyes of our artifts, though it fo often vanifhes under their pencils, was certainly never taken from Germany. All the human figures you meet with between this •place and the Northern and Eaftern Seas, are fo TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 259 fo far from polTeffing it, that there are no lines of it to be difcovered amongft them. You would in vain look for a girl's body re- fembling the Grecian model. There are, it is true, faces enough with very foft ftrokes in them, but they all want the Greek profile and fpirits. Nor has the fine white flefh the firmnefs infepara- ble from a truly fine form. In the lower parts of the Elbe and Wefer, you lee indeed fome fnow bofoms, and feme lily and rofy cheeks, but they foon vanifh when the girls have once palTed their bloom, and the , whole is fo flat and lifelefs, that you cannot give it the name of a fine form. Even amongft the Saxons, the faireft creatures under the fun who are not Grecians, you feldom meet with a face which has any appearance of ideal beauty ; and vet thefe are in the north, what the women of Florence are in the fouth, and far exceed all their country w^omen in life and fpirit. The men of the north are equally deftitute of ideal beauty. Winckelman, himfelf thinks that better models for the Hudy of male beauty are to be met with in Naples and Sicily, than amongft his countrymen the Saxons, though they are, without any comparifon, the liand- fomeft of the northern nations. It is well known that no Germans will attempt to vie with the inhabitants of the fouthern S % countries 26o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. countries in point of beauty; but when you tell a German that the inhabitants of the fouth are ftronger and more clurably built than thofe of the north, they look upon this as a great para- dox — and yet ilrengtli is the principal point of manly beauty. Have you ever feen a Sicilian wreftle with an Hanoverian or Weftphalian ? I confider wreftling as the greatefl; proof of ftrength. I alfo believe that you would not find in all the north a porter like the Genoefe , or Neapolitan carrier, that is, a man able to carry four hundred pounds weight for a conli- derable wa}^ Nor do I think that if both were put into the fame circumftances, as much could be done with German troops as with Spanifh ones. We are not now to confider that in the prefent days the latter are fo much excelled in clifcipline; for in Charles the Fifth's time they were both alike. But the German troops in Spain and Italy fcrved only once ; and' few of the armies which the emperors carried into Italy with them ever came home. On the con- trary, the Spaniards under Charles the Fifth fought many battles with great reputation on the Rhine, as well as in Holland, the climate of which is fo ditferent from their own ; they fhewed more valour, and bore more fatigues than the inhabitants themfelves, who muft have been fubdued had it not been that they were .. . affifted TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 261 affifted by external circumftances, and that the prince of Orange's fpirit did more than all the Mynheers put together. The national pride of the Germans had led them to give themfelves a pre-eminence over the fouthern nations, which hiftory, nature and ap- pearances, equally give the lye to. They ima- gine that underftanding, courage, a6^ivity, llrength, and liberty, are the natural appendages of their thick and foggy air ; and that the foutb is the natural habitation of ftupidity, indolence, mwardice, and tyranny. On the contrary, con- fider what is depofed by hiftory, appearances, and nature. Hijiory teaches us that light is come into the world from the fouth; appearances teach us that the Spaniards and Italians are much more frugal in eating and drinking, and probably too in the enjoyments of love than the G/srm^ns, amongft w^hom w^e include the Danes, the Swedes, the Ruffians, and the Poles: and nature teaches us that bodily and mental beauty are commonly to be found where the great creator of the \30dies of men has appointed the finell: forms, and the greatell ftrength. Let us examine this pofuion a little more fully : Compare the underftan dings of men, as they are more and more removed from the happy air of Greece, Aha Minor, and Italy, till you come to the North Pole, and you will find that nature does not Mer the inhabi- tants 25z TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. tants of the coaft of Barbary, the Arabs, the people of the coaft of Guinea, and the Abyf- fmians, to link into the fame degree of indolence and cowardice as the Greenlanders, the Samoye- des, and the Laplanders. What aftonifhing proofs do the negroes give ns of bodily ftrength, courage, and coolnefs of intrepidity; a fure fign that the warm and genial air of the fouth, raifes human nature, and that the bitter and cold blafts of the north deprefs it. But perhaps you will tell me that at prefent the inhabitants of the north, excel thofe of the fouth. I allow it ; but it proves nothing more than that religion, manners, and governm.ent, have more influence over men than climate. But thefe very manners, cuftoms, and arts of govern- ment, which in the prefent century give . the north fuch an advantage over the fouth, came originally from the fouth. What are our repub- lics more than copies of the Greek and Roman ? Crippled as our legiflation is, in comiparifon of thofe of Carthage, Egypt, R.ome, and Athens, it is only what we have been able to gather out of the ruins of thofe ftates. Have the Pruffian tadics any thing better in them than the Mace- donian phalanx was ? Can any one be furprifed that the people who dw^elt near the Elbe and W^efer, fhould have overcome Varus, when we fee that the North Americans, by nature the moft TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 263 moft cowardly, and at the breaking out of the war the moft undifciplined people upon earth, are able, by the advantages of their woods, ri- verSj ppols, and the extent of their uncultivated country, to oppofe all the force Great Britain can bring againft them ? And yet the climate of North America is not fo adverfe to the Englifh, as that of the fouth of Germany muft have been to the Romans ; nor was Germany at that time nearly fo well cultivated as North America now is. Let a man conceive Varus's army on the river St. Lawrence, lake Superior, the lake of the Illinois, and the upper regions of the Mifii- ffippi, and ftill he will have no true idea of their fituation in Germany. They v^^re far from pof- fefling the facilities of providing for the exigen- cies of war^ which they would have had in North America. Germany was at that time an uninterrupted wood ; its rivers were not con- fined within a ftanding bed, but in feverai places formed immenfe moralfes, too many and too vi- fible marks of which ftill remain. The inhabitants of Germany, who afterwards fubdued the fouth, were no doubt indebted for this advantage to the wars which the Romans had before waged againft them, juft as the Turks and North Americans have become good foldiers by their wars with the Ruftians and Britons. What think you if any body had told the Sci- pios 264 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. pios that fome time or other the conquerors of Rome fhould come out of the Hercinian forefts ? would they have attributed any thing to the cli- mate ? No, they would have anfwered that the manners, conftitution, and armies of Rome muft firfl: be changed ; and that was the cafe. ' But what became of thefe northern conquer- ors when the luxury of the inhabitants of the fouth had fubdued their natures, and made them valTals to them ? Were they not like the over- flowings of their own rivers, which thaw after a long froft, and lay wafte the fields far and near with ice and land ? All the conquerors of the fouth, enlightened and ere&ed ; whereas all the conquerors of the north darkened "mA fulled dmim f This was the cafe both before and after the Ro- man 2£ra. The Babylonians and Egyptians, fuppofmg the accounts of the expeditions of the latter to be true, v/ere benevolent conquerors, like the Greeks and Macedonians. But what were the Scythians ? The Arabs fpread arts, fcicnces, and humanity, wherever they extended their power. But what darknefs enfued when the northern Turks had extended the bounds of their empire ? It is a ftriking inftance of the bo- dily weaknefs of the northern nations, that they always become enervated as foon as they have been fome time in the fouth, which they never ^ould cope with long ; Avhereas no hiftory in- forms TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 265 forms us of the climate of the north ever having been fatal to the ftrengthand adivity of the Ro- mans. How did Ckfar's troops hold out in Gaul, Britany, and Holland? How did the Romans behave unaer the emperors of the Rhine, the Danube, and the neighbourhood of the Elbe and Wefer ? You tell us it is the climate w^hich pre- vents the northern people from being hardy in the fouth. But v\^ere the Romans effeminate when their forefathers eat oatmeal pap ? Were the Spartans or Macedonians effeminate ? The v generality of the Spaniards and Italians of this day, are by no means a weak people. It is not therefore the climate alone, which makes the dif- ference. It is rather the Vv/eak nervous fyflem of the northern naticns-which renders them una- ble to bear the contrail: of the hot days and cold nights, which braces up the ilrong built natives ; nor can they fupport the change made in their way of life. The great bodies of the Dutch, Danes, and Poles, are bare lumps of fiefh and bones, the former of v/hich is difguflingly flabby. On the other hand, the lighter Italians, as well as the darker Spaniards, arc more iinewy, and more mufcular, which is the true characler of bodily ftrength. Nor are the minds of the northern nations lefs weak than their bodies. A proof of it is, their never having been able to .eifabliih lafting empires in their Ibuthern con- quells. 266 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. quefts. Their kingdoms were abare accident of for- tune, and they never had felicity of genius enough to form plans or knit the focial band. How differently did the nations of the fouth, particu- larly the Romans, manage 4:heir conquefts ? juft as if they were fiill a frefh people, and had known noihing of fciences or arts ! In general, nature difplays far different vigour, a far more magnificent fpirit of creation in 4:he Ibuth, than what ftie does in the northern pro'- vinces. What riches, and variety, and ftrength, is in the vegetable kingdoms of the fouth ? The Ihrub wliich furnifhes the balfam of Mecca, and the plants from Ceylon and the Molucca illands, fhame the unfruitfulnefs of the earth near the poles ; and the vigour of nature feems evidently to decreafe in proportion as we recede from the equator. Our favoury -fruits have all come to us from the fouth ; and the better tafted and more fpirited they are the lefs able are they to bear the north. The nobler fruits, juft like the generous wines, which gladden and m.ake ftrong the heart of man, cannot take root in the north. In the fame nlanner in the mineral kingdom, nature fhews heffelf more venerable in the fouth, than Ihe does in the north. — And in the animal world i How very different are the beafts of the fouth to thofe of the north ! Why then fhould not nature, which TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ^6^ which weaves every thing elfe more ftrongly in a warm climate, alfo weave man more ftrongly there? It is true, indeed, that under- llandixig and morals are no excluhve property of any ftrip of land. They depend on laws, puftoms, education, and government; which jnay, and often do render the artificial man fuperior to the natural one. But the natural uiiderftanding awakes fooner from its fleep in a warm country, than it does in a cold one. Under a warm fun abftradl ideas are m.uch quicker formed. The fenfes are much clear- er here; and the underftanding depends on the quicknefs of the fenfes. Imagination, which is fo connecled with all the operations of the fun, has more force in Sicily than in Iceland. The firft force of the imprelTions made by the fenfes, give the powers of the mind an alacrity in the fouthern countries, which is the true cha- rader cf genius, and which the inhabitants of the north cannot reach by any cold abftradions which they may arrive at, from their manners, cuftoms, or government. Nor are the fine mo- ral feelings fo independent of the fine fenfuai ones, as fome philofophers, who know little of human nature, are willing to imagine. The Germans, who charge the French, Italians, and jail the fouthern nations, with indolence, flavery, ,and debafement of mind, forget that the Sibe- rians 26$ TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. rlans and Kamtfchatdales, amidft their almoft eternal ices and fnows, are, according to the accounts of all travellers, the moft cowardly, moft fenfual, moft debafed, and moll enflaved people upon earth. Nor can the glow of liberty- be fo thoroughly ftifled in Italy as it is in feveral northern countries, which appear the feat of defpotifm ; nay, the governments of France and Spain themfelves, are not fo defpotick as many Germans pleafe themfelves in believing them to be. The clear and dry air of the foutb, elevates the foul juft as it gives tone to the nerves. All the perfons who have breathed a fine w^eftern air in the mountains, fpeak of feelings which they knew not in the plains. So the air of the fouth of Europe is as different from that of the north, as the air of the Swifs Alps is difterent from that of the plains. As a proof of thi^>, the he6lic Englifh go to Nifmes, Nice, Pifa, and Naples, to repair their fhattered conftitu^ tions. But it is true, after all, that the inhabitants of the Elbe and Wefer, though thus abandoned by nature, exceed the Sicilians and Neapolitans as much in ftrengtb of mind, as they are outdone by them in bodily ftrength and beauty. It i-s true ; and what then ? The liberal citizen of the world admires the omnipotence of govern- mentj which is able to raife men fo far above their TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 2^9 their natural lituation, or to fmk them fo deep below it ; but he does not therefore allow him- felf to contrad illiberal prejudices againft any nation. He congratulates the northern nations upon their having made themfelves what they arc, and rejoices that they are every day be- coming greater and greater ; but he does not forget that the people of the fouth were fooner great, and that the arts of cultivation, and light of all kinds came from them. You will eafily perceive, from the nature of thefe fpeculations, that they were made in the poft w^aggon. My company confifted of a fwine of an Oldenburgh dealer in horfes, a clodpole Bremen broker, and a pretty female piece of fle(h, mere dead flefh, lying before me on the ft raw. There was not a word fpoke all the way from Gottingen here ; fo that if the dulcis et alia qiiies had not been now and then interrupted by coughing, fneezing, belching, and the like, I fhould not have known that I had company with me. At Gottingen I vifited feveral profelfors, to whom I cannot refufe my utmoft veneration, but who wxre all fo convinced of the cultivation of Germany, and fo fore fet againft us South- landers, that I did not know how to reconcile it with their knowledge of mankind. All thefe gentlemen fpoke to me of the politic?,! and lite- rary fituation of their own country wath a ve- neration 270 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. iieration which often bordered on the ridiculous. This arifes partly from national pride, partly from partiality to their own country, and partly from true rank Charlatanijm. Thefe gentlemen look upon our government as the quinteffence of defpotifm, our academies as hofpitals for fools, our foldiers as women, and our writers, to whom however, as appears from their writings, they are fo much indebted, as petit maitres. In a word, they confider the fouth as the kingdom of darknefs and tyranny, and allow more fenfe and knowledge of things, to the Danes, Swedes, and Ruffians, than to the mofi: refpedable people in the fouth. It was this abfurdity which gave rife to my fpeculations in the poft w^aggon, which were however much interrupted by llrong jolts. Amongft other perfons I vifited here was profelfor Schlolfer, whom I found un- juft towards us, out of mere party motives. Poffibly there are few hiftorians in the world who know fo many hiftorical fa6ls as this gentleman does. I found a moft unexpe6led and extraordi- nary fund of knowledge of modern hiftory about him. He polfelTes an infinite number of living languages. His humour, which is fomewhat too ftiarp and fatyrical, does not always make him amiable as a private man, but often produces very good effeds as a w^riter. What he is moft diftinguifhed by is his journal. It is publifhed under TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 271 under the name of Political Letters, and is one of the molt generally fpread about in Germany, and other neighbouring countries, though Mr. Linguet has thought proper to call it peu connu. It is not like the Englifh, Dutch, and French journals, which confift moftly of declamation, and reflexions, which are commonly founded on falfe fads and falfe reafoning. SchloITer's journal contains for the moft part only records, to which he fometimes adds fhort notes, always interefting, and fometimes very fevere, but for the colledticn of which future hiftorians will be obliged to him. Falfe fa6ts fometimes ^llip in, but thefe are generally redlified in the courfe of time ; and upon the whole, there is no work from which a man may gather the prefent ftate of politics, particularly thofe of one part of Germany, fo well as from this. It contains nu- merous lifts of the population and income of many German ftates, and alfo of their agricul- ture and induftry. As Mr. SchlolTer is particu- larly bent on hunting down the follies and ful- tanifm of German piinces, together with abfur- dities, barbarity, and monkifm, he is not want- ing in interefting anecdotes, which often give occaficn to ftill more interefting explanations. This journal may indeed be confidered as one of the fureft bars againft the tyranny of the lefTer prinqes of Germany : And it is certainly known that 272 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. that it has produced great effects in feveral courts. Perfons of the firft rank, and often princes themfelves, fend the author papers. The plan of this journal is as advantageous to the edi- tor as it is to the public. It fupports itfelf by the contributions of ftrangers, and is not odious by any felfifli or party remarks of the editors; all works of knowledge are acceffible to the author, and the leffer princes who have any fhame left are compelled to Hand in fear of the itrong cenfor who publickly expofes their fhame. Mr. Schlof- fer makes ufe of all the freedom which the place of his refidence allows him ; and he often gives very interefting accounts of other countries be- fides Germany in his journal. The reputation of the work encreafes every day more and more, and he mav be allured that he will foon be univerfal- ly read in his native country. In my own opmi- on, a fingle number of this work has more merit than all Linguet's Annals put together, at leaft it contains more truth. This journal marks the learned charadler of the Germans extremely well. In the German hiftorians and politicians there appear no marks of the acute obfervation, the piercing conjedure, and the elegant portrai- tures of men and manners, which diftinguifh the Englifh hiftorians and politicians. Every thing with them is made up of dry matter of fa6t, which TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 273 which they endeavour to eftablifh fo as to fet it above the power of attack. The genuine lover of truth, who loves it for itfelf, and does not defire a particle of wit to be fpent in its fupport, had rather read a dry lift of popula- tion in Schloffer's letters, than all the pompous declamations of the Englilh travellers and poli- ticians, who are often brought to fhame by a few^ cyphers they read in this book. In every part of literature the Germans diftinguifh them- felves from other nations in the iame w^ay. Gottingen is a pretty little city, containing about eighty thoufand fouls, the territory about it is pleafanter, and produces more than that of any other part of Hanover I have feen. It fub- lifts entirely by the univeriity, which is one of the beft I have feen. There are Ruffian, Da- nifh, Swedifh, and Englilh, ^ as well as Ger- man ftudents in it. T'he ftudents here are about eight hundred, and the profeifors, including the dancing and fencing mafters, are about fixty. The king of Great Britain fpares no expence to bring thefe higher fort of fchools into repute. The library, which is kept up at his expence, VoL.TI. T and * The Englifli have, I am informed, been lately almoft banifhed J at leaft the profeffors do not defire the company of young men fo totally loft to what ought to be the glo- ^7 of young men as they for the moft part are. 274 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. and is always encreafmg, is as numerous as it is well difpofed. The phyfical apparatus, aftro- nomical inftruments, the colledion of natural hiftory, the chirurgical inftruments, the botani- cal garden, every thing, in a word, befpeaks royal care. The way, in the Proteftant univerlities, of go- ing through all the fciences .in half-yearly cour- fes, which difpleafed Mr. Pilati fo much, has my full approbation. T hough it may be calculated for the advantage of the pockets of the profef- fors, the fcholars lofe nothing by it. No fcien- ces are thoroughly learned at any univerfity. All that can be done and is done, is to give the ftu- dent the elements of them, to let him have a no- tion of the parts of the building, and Ihew him the eaiieft way of coming at it. It depends upon him afterwards to travel the whole of the road. If the young man lays his foundation right, the half year's courfe is as profitable to him as it is to the mafter. It fpares his time and money. When a young man comes here they commonly lay a Frogramma before him, in which all the arts are difpofed according to their connexion with each other. In confequence of this it happens not unfrequently that a Undent attends fix or feven courfes in a day. What tiien ? you will tell me he will only be confined by the variety of knowledge. I believe not. The TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 275 The generality of young men will not be at the pains of digging deep for themfelves. Leclures make a deeper impreffion on the mind than the lilent meditation of a clofet. We muft likewife coniider that the profelfors are able to give the marrow and refult of the v/hole. I do not approve of the leclures being paid for by the ftudents. It is true, that it tends to keep up the fpirit and emulation of the profelfors ; but their independence of the ftudents, were it other- wife, would in my opinion be attended with much more beneficial confequences. All that can lelfen the reverence of the fcholar towards the mailer ought to be avoided with the greateft caution. The ftudents are, it is true, for the moft part, well educated young men ; but flill they are too young to know how to efteem a man of merit according to his real abilities. Too much reverence for him that teaches feldom does any harm to him that is to be taught. In fhort, cabals, confpiracies, with a number of inferior artifices, to which good men fometimes conde. fcend, for the fake of a few guilders, but which lelfen them in the eyes of a few ftudents, are the confequence of this part of the plan. When Mr. Pilati fays that the Germans treat all the fciences only in a compendious way, he fhews himfelf quite ignorant of the m.ethod adopted by the public profeffors, at leaft by T % thofe 2^6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. thofe of this place. Almoft every profelTor compofes a plan of his ledliires, which ferves his hearers for a fyllabus of what they are to be taught. You cannot properly call this a com- pend of fcience, in the fenfe you affix to this name, when you give it to Boifuet's Introduc- tion to Univerfal Hiftory. It is neither more nor lefs than an account of the method which every man for himfelf purpofes to ufe in teaching his fcholars a fcience. Another objed, with thofe who make the moll of their induftry, is to lend or fell this manufcript for a few louis d'ors. It is true indeed, that fome have taken fo much pains with thefe fyllabufes, that they may pafs for compendia; but it does not follow from thence that the literati of Germany, who are not, it muft be remembered, all proteftants, treat all the fciences compendioufly. Some of thefe fyllabules, which have gone beyond their ori- ginal defign, and are become compendia, are mafter-pieces of more value than feveral works in folio ; and, taken in general, are an evident fign that the Univerlity of Gottingen polfeffes feveral moft valuable men. Upon the whole, the thorough freedom of opinion which is eftab- lifhed here, the abfence of the notions and abfurd fyftems which keep other univeriities in bondage, together with an enlightened and gentle admini- ftration^ TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 277 ftration, fecure advantages to thefe fchools which are hardly to be found in any other. CalTel is not only a very handfome, but in fome refpeds a magnificent city. It contains about thirty-two thoufand inhabitants. This is one of the cities of Germany which, as well as feveral others, the Huguenots have caufed to flourifh at our expence. They have eftablifhed feveral con- fiderable manufadures in it, one amongft others of hats, which are not at all inferior to thofe made at Lyons, in finenefs and ftrength, and are held in equal eftimation. The number of the fubjedls of the landgrave, I have been alTured is three hundred and thirty thoufand. His income amounts to two millions two hundred and twenty thoufand Rhenifh fio- rins (about two hundred and twenty thoufand pounds). Add to this, the country of Hanau, which contains one hundred thoufand men, and brings in fomething above five hundred thoufand florins, or fifty thoufand pounds ; ftill the pof- feffions of this houfe are not fo good as thofe of a Dutchy of Wirtemberg. This country is the moft military of all Ger- many. The peafants are not only always difci- plined, but always ready to march any where through the wide world. The fending the Hef- fian troops to North America, cannot be confi- dered as a hardlhip in itfelf, confidering the in- timate 2^8 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. timate connexion of this country with Great Britain ; but the connedion itfelf is a very un- profitable one for this country. The Englifh fubfidies can never make amends for the lofs which the treaty has hitherto brought on both prince and people. The country was ftripped of all its young men, after the laft Silefian war, and fcarcely had it begun to bloom again when they were fent to America. At leaf! twenty thoufand HeiTians, of whom one half will never come home, are gone to that part of the world. The country has therefore loft a fixth of its moft lifeful inhabitants, by the tea-burning bufmefs at Bofton. The taxes are very confiderable, as you wall fee if you compare the population and taxes of this country with thofe of the duchy of Wir- temberg, w^hom nature has put in polfeiTion of far greater advantages than fhe has done the Heflians. Though the landgrave has remitted his fubjeds a part of the taxes for as long a time as the war fhall laft, they defert in great num- bers, and go into Hungary, Poland, and Turkey. The military conftitution of this country, has, on feveral occaftons, been as ufeful to the German empire in general, as it has been pre- judicial to the people themfelves. So early as the reformation, the Heflians contributed exceed- ingly towards maintaining the freedom of the empire ; TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. £79 empire; and the Silefian war would not have ended nearly fo well for England, or the king of PrufTia, if fixteen or eighteen thoafand brave Hefr fians had not flood the brunt of our troops. LETTER XIX. Wurtzburg. TJ will fee, if you take up a map of Ger- many, that I have been true to my promife ; and that I have gone through the holy Roman em- pire crofs-ways and lengthways, through wood and through thicket, by dale and by vale — in a word, like a true knight-errant. The Heflians, my dear brother, take them in general, are deformed to a degree. The wo- men are the uglieft creatures I have ever feen. Their drefs is horrid. Molt of them are clad in black, and wear their petticoats fo high, that you can fee no fhape— only the ugly thick leg as high as the knee, is moll confpicuous. The men in fome degree make up in ftrength what is wanting in beauty. Upon the whole, though not a large, they are a flout flrong-built people. Here and there you fee a giant-like figure ; but they 28o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. they all have large bodies and feet. Moft of them are white ; and their hair is crifp. Their -way of living is favage. Their beft food is po- tatoes and brandy ; which laft they give even to their children. The people are much the fame in the Fuldefe. The whole tra6l of country from Callel to the borders of Franconia, is rough and wild. The people are like the country, which abounds in woods and hills. The prefent prince of Fulda is a man of tafte ; who lives well, and loves expence. He is ex- tremely tolerant,^ and no friend to the popifli hie- rarchy. He calls the pope his brother. He is, without doubt, the richeft abbot in the catholic world. The number of his fubje6ls, whom he governs with great gentlenefs, and extremely well, amounts to' feven hundred thoufand ; and he has an income of three hundred thoufand Rhenifh guilders*. He has founded feveral ufe- ful eftablifhments for education, and allows his eccleliaftics a freedom in fpeaking and writing, which diftinguifhes them from thofe of the other parts of Germany. During my abode at Vien- na, it was there looked upon as a very heroic degree of courage in fome profane literati, to declare that the council was above the pope. At Fulda I »ead thefe, and much more bold things, in * Thirty thoufand pounds. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 281 in works which are at leaft of twelve years ftand- ing. The palace of Fulda is a^ very pretty building ; and I met with much better company here than I expeded. Wurtzburg is upon the whole a very fine city. It is fituated in a large plain very fruitful in vines and watered by the Maine. The prince's palace is one of the fineft buildings I have hitherto feen in Germany. There obtains amongft the inhabi- tants, who are fixteen thoufand in number, an alacrity, a love for the pleafures of the fenfes, and a freedom of intercourfe between the two fexes, which you do not find in any proteftant city of the fame fize, and which befpeaks the great affluence and eafe of the country very ftrongly. I was ftruck here, as in Fulda, with the tole- rant fpirit and knowledge of the priefthood, who are far beyond their brethren of Auftria and Bavaria. As thefe qualities are commonly united to good manners and good converfation^ the ton of fever al literati, into whofe fociety I fell on my firft arrival here, did not furprife me. I faw, in fhort, that fome favourable exceptions to the general charader, are to be met with in the catholic parts of Germany, as well as unfa- vourable ones in the protedant parts. It muft be owned that the former are far iefs; common than the other. — 'Not that you are to think the fun 282 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. fun in his meridian even here. I was fpeaking yeflerday to a prieft about the execution of the witches, W'ith which this government has been fo often and fo juftly reproached. At firll he appeared as if he did not underftand me. At length he told me, with a confidential air, that the moft intelligent perfons were not fatisfied with the grounds of trial, as feveral learned di- vines had determined, that the w^oman who had been burned for a witch, might have been ohfejfa as well as circumfejjci, by the devil. I dp not know whether you enter into the fenfe of this nice diftindion. It is as mucK as to fay, that the devil was not abfolutely in the circumfer- ence of her body ; but that Satan, in order to play her into the hands of juflice, made the miracles feem to come from her belly, and blind- ed the fpedators at her coll. I was allonifhed at hearing this exprelTion from a man who pof- felfes fo much knowledge in his own fcience ; but he was not one of the great wits of the place : and after all, if this theological diftinc- tion fhould in future fave a witch from the ftake, on the ground, that it is impolTible to diftinguifh whetlier fhe be ohfeffa or circumfejja, the nonfenfe Vv ill have had its ufe. The prefent governor is a very intelligent man. He underflands both men and things, and is one of the few German bifhops who have onlv TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 283 only their own merit to thank for their good fortune and promotion. He is of an old but not very rich family, of the name of Van Erthal, and is brother to the eledlor of Mentz. His knowledge and adivity recommended him to the imperial court, who gave him the confpicuous place of imperial commilfary at the diet of Ra- tilbon ; there he diftinguifhed himfelf fo much, that the imperial court gave him this bifhoprick in commendam. Wurtzburg alone is one of the richeft bifhop- ricks in the country ; the diocefe contains about one hundred and ninety thoufand inhabitants, and the revenue is eight hundred thoufand Rhe- nifh florins, or eighty thoufand pounds ; but be- fides this, the bifhop holds the bifhoprick of Bamberg, which is one of the fatteft benefices of the empire, and brings in about feven hun- dred thoufand guilders, or feventy thoufand pounds. Both thefe countries are in fome of the beft land in Germany. They abound plenti- fully in the necelfaries of life. Wurtzburg gains a great deal by its wines, wliich are carried as far as Sweden. They praifed the Stein wine to me very much. I tailed it, but found it very fiery and burning on the tongue. It is very full of tartar, and raifes thirft. Agriculture feems to be well underflood in this country y but in their manufadures they are a great « 284 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. a great way behind, not only the northern parts of Germany, but their neighbours the Fuldans. Thefe make a great number of very fine da- malks ; with which, as well as the plainer linens, they drive a good trade. The Wurtzburghers have no employment equally profitable. Be- fides this, as in winter time the Fuldans employ themfelves in fpinning and weaving; they arc infinitely better off in their wild country, than the people of Wurtzburg in their paradife. The bifhop, indeed, of the laft place, has a fine ma- nufadure of looking-glaffes and china ; but they are the only good manufadures of the place. The prefent bifhop gives himfelf a great deal of trouble to infpire his fubjeds with a tafle for the arts In order to give this letter its proper length, previous to my fealing it, I made an excuriion into Franconia, which is the leaft of all the circles. But the game I have taken in this chafe is fo very little, as to be hardly worth the poft- age you will have to pay for it. Bamberg is a pretty large, handfome, lively city, containing near twenty thoufand inhabi- tants. What is mofl remarkable in it is, the gardening, which in no part of Germany is fo flouriHiing as it is here. Several hundred gar- deners carry on a coniiderable trade as far as Holland, with fmall pickled gherkins, a prodigi- ous TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 285 ous number of liquorice roots, onions which are looked upon as the beft in Germany, and other things. They alfo fupply the neighbour- hood round with pot-herbs, very good apples, and cauliflowers. Their good ftrong beer is likewife carried as far as the Rhine. The com- mon people here believe that there is no liquo- rice any where elfe in the world, and that this was planted here and given to this city as an ex- clufive poffeffion for ever, by the holy Cunigun- da, who lies buried in the cathedral, with her hulband Henry the Second. As I am upon the miracles of this holy pair, I cannot forbear communicating to you another anecdote con- cerning them, which I have learned here; and I do it the more willingly, becaufe holy le- gends are the only things worth mentioning from hence. PofTibly it may be known to you that Henry the Second, the founder of this bifhop- rick, was, notwithftanding his fan6lity, extreme- ly jealous of this Cunigunda ; fo that in con- formity to the cuftoms of the times, he deter- mined to have the ordeal proof of her chaftity. After Ihe had walked over the red hot plow- fhares unhurt, he of courfe embraced his fpoufe, and begged her pardon for the fufpicions he had entertained. It happened that fome time before, vying with each other in affedion towards this foundation, they had had two new bells put up in the cathedral. After the ordeal proof was over^ 286 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. over, they ufed to walk together every day in the court about the cathedral at the time of chiming the bells. Henry's confort was one day fo mortified at finding that his bell had a better tone than her s, that in order to give her a proof of hearty confidence and love, the em- peror took a golden ring from his finger, and threw it up into the air, when it clung round the bell fo as to deaden the found, which conti- nues dull to this day. This piece of gallantry is almoft too fine for the tenth and eleventh cen- turies; but the old cathedrals of Bamberg and Wurtzburg, would furnifh each of them a nu- merous, and not a very uninterefting colledion of tales of knight errantry, legends, and ftories of apparitions. The abundance of fuch tales, is a fare proof that the people are idle, and have not a fuflRcient number of ufeful employ- ments to take up their thoughts and converfa- tions. Pfalm-finging, to which the common people amongft the reformed have recourfe when- ever they are tired, has not, it is true, that co- louring of imagination which marks the amufe- nients of the catholics in Germany ; but it is more adapted to the notions of the common people, and gives them no falfe and dangerous opinions. I cannot here pafs over an anecdote of a fpirit from Wurtzburg. I was alfured, that even to this day, from eleven to twelve at night. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. zd-j night, the watch cannot be fet in a certain llreet, on account of a very dangerous man walking through it at this time, who carries his body under his right arm. Notwithftanding the excellence of the foil, the people of the bifhoprics of Wurtzburg and Bamberg are upon the whole extremely poor. This does not arife fo much from a negled of agriculture, as from a want of frugality. It is however impoflible that agriculture fhould em- ploy all the people of fo populous a country. It is no doubt owing to both education and cuf- tom, that we fee many beggars in a country where nature has fhewn herfelf fo liberal. The government of the fpiritual princes in Germany, which I have hitherto feen, is much more gentle than thofe of moft of the temporal princes ; and the abufe call upon them, is upon the whole very unjuft. It requires many ages to make a diffipated and luxurious people frugal and in- duftrious. The relaxed manners of the Roman catholics in Germany are in a great meafure owing to the falfe notions inculcated in them by their teachers. Schloffer tells us in his journal, that a Roman catholic priefi: w as accufed of he- refy, by one bifhop, and two univerfities, for teaching ' that felf-love was the principle of all ' human aclions • that a negledl of the earthly ' advantages which time and opportunity offer ' to 288 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ' to men, was a philofophical fin ; and that it * was unlawful to do another a kindnefs, by ' which we might confiderably fuffer ourfelves/ Thefe exceffive notions of liberality and con- tempt for temporal things, are the true reafons why the Roman catholic Germans in general are, as Mr. Pilati has obferved, better hearted than the proteftant ones. The number of beg- gars are themfelves a proof of it ; for if they did not find fo many givers, they would foon learn to work. It would, however, be much better if there were no beggars, and the people were made a little more frugal. For the fame reafon it is that you find many more charitable foundations of all forts among the catholics than amongfi; the proteftants, though the former are fo poor. The Julius Hofpital, at Wurtzburg, is richer than all the foundations of the fort in the king of PrulTia's dominions put together ; but all thefe foundations are a new encouragement to luxury. The mendicant orders of friars find their ac- count in their dodrines of free-gifts, and con- tempt of the things of this world, (which they themfelves carefully gather;) and they are alfo the principal defenders of them. Exclufive of the maffes for fouls, which, taken altogether, do not amount to a great deal, the catholic fe- cular TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 289 cular priefls do not get much by the liberality of the people. The benefices in the cathedrals of Wurtzburg and Pamberg, are looked upon as the bell: in Germany. In good years each is worth three thou- fand five hundred guilders*; but you feldom meet with a priell who has no more than one of them. Several of them have four or five pre- bends in as many cathedrals, and receive from eight to ten or twelve thoufand guilders per year. The prelates of thofe foundations receive from twenty to thirty thoufand florins a year. The whole trouble of a German canon confifts in his being obliged to refidence in his cathedral for a month in the year. No other qualification is required of him but to be able to read Latin, and prove himfelf defcended from a good family on the mother's fide. In a certain epifcopal city in Germany, there is this proverb, ' that prebends make themfelves.' In general you fee them hovering round the ladies. I am affured that every canon of Wurtzburg, at his firft entry into the chapter, receives a ftroke with a fwitch from each of his colleagues. This extraordinary inauguration is contrived with a view of preventing any prince, who of Vol. II. U courfe * About three hundred and fifty pounds. 290 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. couife cannot fubmit to fuch a ceremony, from defiring to be of the chapter. Nurenberg is an ugly town, which grows every day more deferted. At the end of the fifteenth century, this town contained above fifty thoufand male inhabitants, who were not above one fourth of the whole ; whereas the whole population now hardly amounts to a fixth part of the number. In the courfe of the laft years eleven hundred men have died every year. Many hundred houfes ftand quite empty, and the others are tenanted only by fingle families. The inhabitants are ftill a very indullrious people, and it a is a very pretty fight to fee the little children employed in making the various toys, for the manufadlure of which this place is fo diftinguifhed in Europe. I am furprifed to find fo many German wri- ters laughing at thefe produdions of the Nuren- berghers, and making a proverb of their induf- try. Is not the great exportation of thefe com- modities a fufficient juflification of the mode in which thefe people employ their time ? But thefe reproaches are the more unjull becaufe Nuren- berg has long produced artifts who vie with the beft Englifh ones, in making m.athematical and phyfical inftruments. ^You meet no where, out of England, with fuch good manufadlures in fteel, iron, and copper, as you do here. Will any TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 291 any man then fay he has a right to blame thefe people, becaufe, amidft their more important bufinefs, they find ufeful and profitable employ- ments for their wives and children ? Nurenberg is far fuperior to Augfburg in the arts. The great caufe of the ruin of this town is the ariftocracy. I could not have believed, had not refpe6lable citizens of Nurenberg told it me, the ill-treatment which they receive from twenty or thirty families, in whofe hands the govern- ment is. From time to time every citizen mull have an inventory of his effeSs taken, and I do not know for what reafon, give a third or fourth part of them to the regency. Exclufive of the evil of thefe numberlefs gifts, it is extreme- ly bad policy in a commercial ftate, to compel the merchant to inform every one of the profit of his trade. Thefe praticians have like wife a 3iumber of families in their intereft, amongft whom they divide the employments of the ftate, which are very confiderable. All this renders it not furprifing to find that the rich citizens leave the city, and endeavour to emancipate themfelves by taking refuge in the Aufi:rian or Prufifian territories. The morals of the Nurenburgers are better and purer than thofe of any other German city. The magiftrate is particularly anxious to put a flop to fornication. I do not exaggerate, but TJ % relate 292 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. relate a real fa61 when I affure you, tbat the young men of the city underwent a phyfical viiitation by fome of the members of the ma- giftracy attended by phyiicians. There is a very chara6leriftical print of the bufinefs, in which the deputies are reprefented in their bufinefs with their fpedacles upon their nofes. Nurenberg has a more confiderable territory belonging to it than any other imperial city. The number of its fubjedls in the country is eflimated at four hundred thoufand. Thefe the regency does not govern in fo arbitrary a manner, as it does the inhabitants of the city; or if it does, this does not prevent the country from being very well cultivated, though there is a great deal of fand about it. I have not be- held prettier villages any where than there are here. Every thing befpcaks a great degree of opulence in the farmers, who, as well as the town's-people, remain faithful to their old drefs. The margraviates of Anfpach and Bareith, exhibit, in point of induftry, a ftrong contrail to the induftry of the bifhopricks of Wurtzburg and Bamberg. Nature has not been nearly fo liberal to them; and yet the inhabitants of thofe countries, though loaded with much great- er taxes, are in much better circumftances than thofe of the former. T'he cities of Erlang, An- fpach, TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 293 fpach, Schwaback, and fome others, have fome very good manufadures. The prefent margrave, who is the laft branch of a houfe, which promifes no new ones, is a very clever and amiable man. The well-known Mademoifelle N— is his companion ; a proof, at leaft, of his good tafte. His income amounts to fixteen hundred thoufand Rhenifh florins, or one hundred and fixty thou- fand pounds. His peafants are fome what difcon- tented with him for having fold their children to the Englifh. There were, indeed, great difcon- tents among the troops that were to go to Ame- rica ; but the margrave was not affeded by them. He feems determined to make as much of the country as he can, upon the principle that after his death it is to fall into other hands. The remainder of Franconia, is compofed of a number of fmall principalities. The people here in general fufier very great oppreflion. Thole are particularly miferable whofe mafters refide in the greatj courts ; for, by this means, they are not only deprived of the fpending of great fums amongft them, but are fubjedled to the tyranny of defpotie fervants, who are al- ways worfe than the mafters, and choofe to have their fhare of the plunder. The locum tcnem of a well known dutchy in Franconia, hardly keeps his place more than feven or eight years, in which Ihort time he commonly favcs enough to 294 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. to be no longer a fervant. This will, no doubt, make you think of the fervants of the Englifh Eaft India company, who are called nabobs at their return ; which they, literally fpeaking, are, at the expence of the Indians. It is, thanks to flanding armies, that the people of this coun- try are as quiet as they are under their nabobs. In the famous rebellion which broke out in I5Z5, and has been fo well defcribed by Gothe, in his Gofs of Berlichingen, they treated the princes, dukes, and other great perfons, in a very flrange manner. A number of thefe rufhans having made themfelves mafters of fome caftles belong- ing to the marquilTes of Hohenloe, put collars round their necks, and cried out under their nofe, * Now are we mailers of Hohenloe, and ye are nothing ?' It was very impolitic in the impe- rial cities of Franconia, Suabia, and the circles of the Rhine, to be acceffary at that time in fub- duing the peafants. At prefent the oppreflion of the princes falls as heavily upon them as it does on their own fubjeds ; a thing they might have forefeen, as thefe princes were already fo powerful, by means of their ftanding armies, that the falvation of the cities would have been to make a common caufe with the peafants againft them, as without the afliftance then afforded by thefe cities, the infurgents would not have been fubdued ; for the now fo weak cities of Halle, Bopfmgen, TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 295 Bopfingen, Dunckclfpuhl, Nordlingen, &c. were at that time more formidable to the rebellious peafants, than the greateft princes ; but they have now no longer any fuch fortunate oppor- tunity to exped. LETTER XX. Francfort. I CAME hither through the Speflart, which is the thickeft foreft I have met with on the com- mon road. In the fpace of twenty-feven mileS;, I faw only a fmgie village and an hunting box. The reft was almoft intirely wood and hill. Not- w ithftanding all this, the road is a very wonder- ful one ; and the ele6lor of Mentz, to whom the greateft part of the country belongs, keeps it very clear from robbers. For twenty years paft there have hardly been two inftances of any perfon having been attacked in thefe frighful forefts ♦ and at prefent they are fo fecure, that you may travel through them in the night without any ap- prehenfions. At AfchafFenburg, a pretty Ger- man town, there are always thirty hulfars, who travel through the Speffart at ftated times, in or- der 296 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. der to prevent the poflibility of an accident. If all the princes of Germany were to make uf^ of their forces for thefe purpofes, there would be no caufe to complain of their military eftablifh- ments, or the tyrannical manner in which their hufbandmen are treated. The beauty and falu- brity of its fituation, encouraged me to make an excurfion as far as AfchaiTenburg. At fome dif- tance north and eaflward, you fee the Speffart, which forms a half circle round this city, and proteds it from the high winds. The country about this city is uncommonly fruitful. It is fa- mous for producing a great number of apple trees, with the fruit of which they make a cyder, which only a connoilTeur can diflinguifii from true wine. It is often exported to the north as a Rhenifh. I tailed fome of it that was feven years old ; it had a great deal of fire, but cofts twenty cieutzers the bottle, a price for which you may have very good wine. The government encourages the people to make as m^uch as poffiblc of the advantage of their fituation. They have planted mulberry- trees, and have made fome very good experi- ments on filk-worms. On the banks of the Maine, near the city, there is a fine alley, which runs through a very extended plain. You meet here w^ith a curious memorial of the fixteenth century. An old German knight, as big as the life. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 297 life, and armed at all points, is kneeling before a crucifix, at the bottom of v/hich he has depofi- ted his helmet. The whole, has the appearance of an immenfe pyramid, of which the crofs forms the head, and the knight and his appurtenances the lower parts. The work is extremely good, and altogether exhibits a very ftriking appear- ance to the beholder. Francfort is a fine large city. There is no town in Germany which has larger or more magnificent inns than thofe of this place. Except- ing Hamburgh, this is the only imperial city which keeps up all its fplendour. Whilft Nu- renberg, Augfburgh, and feveral others about it, are going to decay, it continues to thrive and to improve. The outfides of the houfes are very fplendid, and the ftile of the architedure (hews that the inhabitants know how to lay out their money with tafte. There are about thirty inha- bitants in the place who are worth a million of livres; and you may name above thirty Calvinif. tical houfes, who have thirty thoufand guilders. The number of very rich Catholics and Luthe- rans, is not lefs : fo that in all, there may be about two hundred houfes who have incomes of one hundred thoufand guilders*, and above. * Ten thoufand pounds. There 29S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. There is a high appearance of affluence through- out. The furniture of their houfes, their gardens, equipage, drefs, anfl female ornaments, every thing, ' in fhort, befpeaks a ftate above the ordi- nary citizen, and which approaches the extreme of magnificence. The trade of Francfort is extremely hurtful to Germany. According to the accounts given me by a very underftanding merchant of this place, the exports of German commodities by this channel, hardly amount to a tenth of the imports from France, Holland, Italy, and other countries. The former confift of iron and other rough or worked metals, (which are exported moftly into France and Holland) of wine, linen, and other infignificant articles. T'he latter, on the contrary, are made up of all kinds of fpi- ces, female ornaments, handkerchiefs, filks, and, in fhort, all the expenfive articles of luxury fur- nillied by Italy, France, and Holland. In a word, Francfort is the great canal by which the gold of the empire runs out. The lofs which this place brings on the countries about the up- per parts of the Rhine, Danube, and Maine, may be judged of by the value of the louis-d'ors. As all the'^paym.ents of this place to France and Holland, muft be made in this coin, they are commonly worth ' twelve creutzer more here than in the other parts of Germany, the country about TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 299 about the Lower Rhine only excepted, which drives the fame kind of unpatriotic trade. The older people of this place, as well as in Bavaria, Franconia, and Suabia, remember the times, when, after the operations of Lewis XIV. our louis and crovm pieces were the coin the moft commonly to be met with in the country. But now they are very feldom found in the ordinary courfe of trade. Very few of them were re- coined, as the mint cannot cope with the high agio given by the merchants in the courfe of exchange. They are, however, fent in heaps to Holland, and twenty creutzer for every louis-d'or is paid above the market price. There are fome woollen, carpet, and cottoi^ manufadlures here, and in the country round. Thefe belong in part to the merchants of the place, but are moft of them only rented by them, and a great part of the woollen manufac- tures of Hanau, are fold by third hands here. Upon tlie whole, the entire trade of this place is a mere Jewifh bufmefs, which employs very few hands profitably, and is in a great meafure fupported by the internal confumption. The greateft merchants of this place are not afhamed of being brokers; and a great number of tra- ders, with revenues of from forty to fifty or fixty thoufand guilders, do only commifTion bufinefs ; whereas, if they had more activity, and ,the true 300 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. true fpirit of induHry, they might make ufe of their money to more advantage in manufadlures. The fituation of the place fecures it the per- petual enjoyment of the advantages which have made it fo rich. It lies in the midii of the beft part of Germany, in a country the natural wealth of which is favourable to luxury, and which is broken into fo many fmall Hates, that there is no caufe to fear the prohibition of fo- reign wares. It has not, like Dantzick, which carries on the fame kind of trade, but is now nearly ruined by Pruffia and Poland, powerful and enlightened neighbours to cope with, who are attentive to lofe no advantages that may be procured to their own fubjeds. Francfort contains thirty-four thoufand inha- bitants, including the fir angers conflantly refi- dent. Thofe who come for the fair are general- ly eftimated at fome thoufands, Amongft thefe, there were at laJl fprlng fair fifty princes. As the way to the principal high roads of Germany lies through this place, all the perfons of confe- quence, who go to the baths and w^atering places, commonly take Francfort in their way to them. This occalions a concourfc of good company; and the apparatus of the fair, together with the liberty of living which prevails at thefe times, form together an interefting fpedacle. The German nobility come here from many caufes, * fuch TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 301 fuch as payments and fales of many kinds to make, the neighbourhood of powerful courts, and various other nations. The government, which was formerly very rigid, has now fomewhat relaxed, and endea- vours to make the ftay of ftrangers as agreeable to them as can be. During the fair, there are play-houfes, concerts^ a Vaux-hall, fine walks, public dancing-booths, and women of the towa in abundance. A village in this neighbourhood called Bornheim, is famous all over Germany for its brothels. Excepting at the time of the fair, ftranger^^ who are generally here in great numbers, are but ill-treated. As Francfort is one of the few imperial cities who have freed themfelves from the tyranny of the excife fyftem, the magiftrates, who have loll confiderably by lofing it^ endea- vour to make themfelves amends by making ftrangers feel the weight of their privileges. For inftance, the innkeepers will not allow a flranger to take up his quarters at a private houfe, even though he eats at his inn. The little jealoufy incident to fmaller ftates, but which you would not expe6l to meet with in a city Ip confpicuous as this is for its ion^ fome- times alfo plays ftrangers fcurvy tricks. A few" years fmce, two miftrelfes of a German prince, with very large revenues, fettled here, and fpent large 302 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. large fums of money. After a time they were banifhed the city by the magift rates, under pre- tence that they led diflipated and idle lives ; but the true reafon was, that the ladies of the place, who could not afford to fpend as much money as they did, grew jealous of them. The ever-increaling luxury of the Germans, particularly of thofe who inhabit the countries round thLs place, the habit the German nohkjfe are under of coming hither to make a figure, the increaling care of the magiilrate to procure Grangers every kind of pleafiire, the admirable , roads which lead hither from every part of Ger- many, and the excellent inns, are the reafons why this fair is of late years more and more frequented. It is now vifited by French and Englifh, v.^ho meet here with every article of luxury they can defire. In general the inhabitants of this place are rather ftiff in their carriage. There is, how- ever, fome excellent company to be met with amongft them. Amongft the patricians there are feveral very refpedable perfons of good nobility who have no fhare in the magiftracy. Fra.ncfort has ever fupplied, and ftill conti- nues to fupply Germany with fome of its firfl- rate literati ; and you meet here with well-in- formed men in every branch of the arts and fciences. The only thing which ftands in the way TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 303 way of liberty of thought, and refinement of manners^ and alfo afiecls trade and induftiy confiderably, is the inquifitorial ftate of the Lutheran clergy, who are here the principal church. The reformed, who, in proportion of their numbers, are without a doubt the richeft part of the inhabitants, have not yet been able, with all their pains, to obtain the liberty of worlhipping God publicly; though the catho- lics, whofe religion differs much more than theirs from that of the eflablifhed church, have more chapels than any other fe6l, and the Jews have a public and very conliderable fynagogue. The number of Jews fettled here is about fa thoufand. There are fome who are worth a million, and vie with the Chriftians in every article of expence. Their induftry is not to be conceived. They are pimps, language-maf- ters, fencing-mafters, dancing-mafters, writing and arithmetic mafters, and their daughters are at the fervice of the uncircumcifed. Thofe who go into their ftreets, are in danger of being preffed to death by them. They fall upon Gran- gers by dozens, and compel them to buy their wares. It is very difficult for a man to difen- tangle himfelf from them without the help of a good ftick ; and they call to flrangers from the diftance of tliree or four hundred paces. The houfes of their well-encompalled Greets are filled 304 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. filled to the very roofs with inhabitants. In fe- ven of them, which hardly occupied a fpace of fifty yards, and were burned down fome years fince, there were twelve hundred perfons. On the other hand, there is often only one family m the houfes belonging to the rich. This is the fign of an incredible affluence, for houfe-rent is dearer in thefe ftreets, than in any part of Lon- don, Paris, or any other great city. There is a law which forbids the Jews to live any where out of their ftreets ; but the magiftrate winks at the breaking of it, and only renews it from time to time to extort money from thofe who choofe to live elfev*rhere. The celebrated colleges here are a wonderful inilitution. Thefe confifl of aifociations of peo- ple of the fame rank, who alTemble on a certain day. There are colleges of nobility, of artifts of all kinds, of bookfellers, of dodlors of law and phyfic ; and in fhort, of all orders. It is not difficult for a flranger to be introduced to thefe, and the advantage he derives by it, of be- ing acquainted in an hour with the moil reputa- ble people of his own rank is incredible. The government of this city is of a mixed kind, and very intricate. The conteft between the arifiocracy and democracy is warmer here than in any other city in Germany. Hardly a year paifes but the burghers begin a new law-fuit with TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 305 with the council, or the council with the burgh- ers. The confequence is, that as lawfuits car- ried before the iapeiial court are of very long duration, the lawMuits of the city of Francfort, againft itfelf, already amount to fome dozens. I have it from good authority, that the ftate has laid out thirty thoufand rix-dollars, in the laft twenty years, annually, in experxes for law- fuits carried on betw ixt its own citizens. And as the fpirit of pettyfogging and litigioufnefs is no where higher than it is here, Francfort is likewife engaged in perpetual difpates with the nobles round it, much to the advantage of the lawyers of Vienna and Wefslar. The cofts of thefe, during the above-mentioned period, have amounted to twenty thoufand rix-dollars annually; fo that when we come to caft up ftate expences, we may lay this lingle article at fifty thoul'and rix-dcllars« The annual revenue of the ftate is about ftx hundred thoufand guilders, or thirty thoufand pounds, which are moftly raifed from the excife and cuftoms. The contributions of the burghers, which are a kind of tax, are ve- ry numerous. They are laid on according to the true principles of a commercial common- w^ealth. They are divided into two portions, viz. the large tax of fifty guilders, and the fmaller, of twenty-five guilders per anuum. Every burgh- VoL. II. X er 3c6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY; cr has the liberty of paying to the large or fmall fund, and confequently taxes himfelf. If I mif- take not, an income of thirty thoufand guilders fubjedls a man to pay the higher tax ; but the magiftracy of this place has not, like thofe of Nurenberg, the right, fo contrary to the true fpi- rit of trade, of taking an in\'entory of the cir- cumftances of a merchant. This leaves th^ mer- chants at liberty to value their eftate:S, oxer or ujider the line of limitation ; and it is evidently the intereft of every merchant to pafs for a man of an eilate of more than thirty thoufand guild- ers, and contribute to the large tax.— The clafs of inhabitants to which all the reformed, and likewife a large clafs of the catholics belong, have greater taxes to pay. The latter may, by favour of the magiftracy, arrive at the rights of burgeffes, but not take part in the governmeiit. The former are intirely excluded from the power of becoming burgeffes. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 307 LET T f R tXl, Mentz. E country between this place and Franc* fort, particularly that in the neighbourhood of Mentz, is one of the licheft I have hitherto feen, and the road is the beft and handfomeft I have met with in Germany. Till within three miles of Francfort, it is in a ftraight line, raifed, paved> and guarded on both fides with high Hones, which fecures the foot paffengers from waggons and horfes. The only defedl in this road is, that it is too narrow in the middle for waggons to pafs. All the roads through the domain of the city of Francfort are built in the fame magnifi- cent ftyle, fo that it is eilimated that every three miles has coft the city above fixty thoufand guil- ders, or fix thoufand pounds. The chaufjec in the one and twenty miles belonging to Mentz, is not raifed in fo expenfive a ftyle as that of Francfort, but it is broader ; it is planted with trees on both fides all the way, and very well kept. Here and there yoii m.eet with noble al- leys of walnut and other fruit-trees, the villages X % at 3o8 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. at the end of which exhibits beautiful perfpec- tives. There is hardly a road in Germany more frequented than this ; the place of poft-mafler of Haterfheim, a place midway between the two cities, is the beft of any of the territories of the imperial free cities. In the territory of Mentz, each horfe pays two-pence chaiiffte money, at every poft, and each of the three polls brings in lix thoufand guilders. At leaft feventy-two thoufand horfes pafs this road every year, befides a great number of horfes belonging to private perfons, not taken into the account. There like wife go every day between the two cities two large velfels, w^hich are conilantly filled with men and merchandize. I met with wag- gons on this road, which, at a diftance, looked like large houfes. They were drawn by fixteen or eighteen horfes, and, as the waggoners affured me, carried loads of from twelve to fifteen thoufand weight. They generally go from Francfort to Stralburgh. We came through the pretty little city of Hochft, which is fituated very pleafantly and wholefomely, on an elevation fix miles from Francfort. I fhould not have made mention of this place, but to fet right a mifiake into which Mr. Moore has fallen; in doing which I fhall have occafion to lay before you a very remarka- ble TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 309 ble inftance of the political mifmanagement of two diiferent governments.: Near this little town you fee a magnificent country houfe, the archite6lure of which is not very good. The builder is an Italian of the name of Bolongaro, who, without a penny of original fortune, has . found means to acquire, entirely by his own indullry, a capital of front a million to a million and a half of guilders. He made his fortune entirely by the fnuff w^hich bears his name, which is ftill extremely liked throughout all Germany. This man was ranked in the clafs of inhabitants ; I do not know exadlly whether he was defirous to leave the city, or whether the government of Franc- fort had occafion to tax him afrefh as an out- burgher ; be that as it may, he was called upon to lay an account of his circumftances before the regency. He offered an immenfe fum of money if they would take his word for the fum total, without defcending into particulars ; but nothing would fatisfy them but an inventory, which they infill:ed on vvith all the obftinacy and harfhnefs of a fmall flate. It fo happens that there is a compa6l fublifting between the ftates of Mentz and Francfort, by which the burgeffes of the one are allowed to migrate to the other, without let or meleftation. Bolongaro deter- mined to feize the opportunity to revenge him- felf 3IO TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. felf of a go"\ ernment who had treated him fo ill. He accordingly built at Hochft, and became a fubjed of Mentz^ which faved him from the ne- ceffity of laying an inventory of his ftate before the niagiftracy of Francfort, and enabled him to go there as often as he pleafed, without leav- ing a creutzer* behind him. Mr. Mpore fays that the immenfe palace which he has built at Hochil, ftands quite empty ; but we fhall eafily conceive how much bufmefs is carried on there, if we confider that Mr. Bolongaro now pays at leail eight thcufand guilders lefs to the cuftoms at^Fraiicfort, than he did before, when his whole bufinefs was done in that city. He has alfo. con- trived that great part of the confignments fent from Bremen, Hamburgh, and the feveral parts of Heflia and Hanover into Suabia, Alfatia, and Switzerland, fhould go through Hochft inftead of going through Francfort as they did before. The legiflature of Mentz has much facilitated this by building him a crane on the Maine, be- fore his palace. Mr. Bolongaro has'carried his revenge ftil^ far- ther. He took Mr. Beggiora, one of .the acuteft arid' moft intelligent of his countrymen, out of one of the beft houfes of Francfort, and entered into partnerfhip with him for eftablifhiug a com- merce in drugs, the moft capital branch of trade •■-v'-^:^ in *A farthing. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 31 x in Francfort, at iJorcM. Tht bare firm of Mr, Bolongaro was of unfpeakable fer\ice to this trade, and foon repaid hiiii, with intereft^ the fums he had advanced ; but befides this, th6 partner enjoyed the exemption of cuftcms which Bolongaro had obtained from the regency of Mentz, for twenty years. The conlequence was, that this new branch of trade was opened to lb much advantage, as fc6il to put one hundred and Cx*ty thoufand guilders, or fixteen thoufand pounds, into Mr. Eolongaro's pocket. All this ihew^s that the regency of Francfort committed a great offence againil the profperity of the coun- try, by the profecuiion of Mr. Eolongaro; and that Mr. Moore, who doubtlefsfaw Bolongaro's building in company with the Francfortians, and through their eyes, would not have found it fo empty if he had feen it wath his own. Thd Regency of Mentz wi^e not, howwer, guilty of a lefs fault^ in their adoption of Mr. Bolongaro, than that of Francfort in their per- fecution of him. The pofielTors of millions are not always beneficial inhabitants to a fmall ftate ; on the contrary, a couple of dozen of w^eavers looms, which fupport an induftrious man - in a creditable manner, are at all times of more vahie than ever fo many palaces of this Bo- longaro kind. The court of Mentz has paid very dearly for the honour of having this rich man 312 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. man for its fubjedl, by entering into centralis very advantageous to him, but much otherwife to the ftate. Mr. Bolongaro engaged to fpend a certain fum, I belie\e twenty thoufand guil- ders* every year, during twenty years, in build- ing at Hochft. For this the government of Mentz granted him an exemption of all cuRoms for twenty years, an unlimiied freedom of trade, as much flone as he chofe to take from the ruins of an old caftle, and four horfes free from taxes for his own ufe. The exemption of cufloms alone, and the liberty to leave Francfort^ are more than an equivalent for the promifed buildings of twenty years; but even thefe lafi: he has con- trived to turn intirely to his ow^n advantage. He had made the regency cf Mentz believe, in his boafting and magnificent manner, that in the courfe of the twenty years he would build them a fuperb new town, which he propofed to call Emmerickftadt, in honour cf the dead eledor ; but all he did w^as to build fome houfes adjoin- ing to his palace, which no doubt Mr. Moore took for the w-ings of it. It is certain that Mr. Bolongaro fcarce expended half the yearly fum he had covenanted to do ; and that for many years the whole town of Emmerickftadt, from whence he dated his letters to all the world, was occupied by his own compting-houfe only. Still, * Two thoufand pounds. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 313 Still, however, might the regency of Mentz have been excufable for laying out fo much in the acquifition of this rich citizen, had fome part of his money at lea ft been devoted to the employment of ufeful hands, or fome part of his fabftance fjpeiit for the benef t of the ftate ; but excepting a few plafieiers and carpenters, no fubjed of Mentz has fcen a penny of Mr. Bolongaro's money. Almoft all his tobacco is prepared out of the country, and even the greateil part of it exported from Francfort, where his principal warehoufes and magazines ftill are. He only removed that part of his trade to Hochft, which he could net carry on fo well at Francfort, and availed himfelf of the privileges of a citizen of Mentz, to hurt the formei, city, without being of the leail ufe to the latter : nay, it is ilill free for him or his heirs to leave Hochft whenever they pleafe, and make it up with Francfort. In the mean tiixe he has built him- felf a palace for the fummer in the cheapeft manner, and furrounded it with common houfes, the rents of which will richly pay him for the fums he has laid out upon them. This however was only a political error in the regency of Mentz ; but the univerfal liberty of trade granted to Mr. Bolongaro, is an un- pardonable offence, both againft morals and politics, This m.an, who originally was lower than 314 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. than the dirt in the llreets, became a miracle of popular infolence. There are examples of his niggardlinefs, which almoft furpafs all concep- tion, and they are the more ftrong from being a fingular contraft, to the brutal and ofieniive magnificence that is peculiar to him. The pride of doing mifchief, has led him to make his fellow-citizens feel the weight of his money ih every tranlci6iibn by which a penny is to be got. T here vrere eight or nine retail merchants in the little town of Hochfl, who contiived to live honourably, and carry on a fmall trade. Mr. Bolongaro could not reft contented with the great advantage his own commerce enjoyed from the excluiive privilege given him, but he muft mfeke ufe of it, if not to the total ruin, to the manifeft opprefiion of thefe poor people. He therefore opened a druggift's fhop for the fale of his goods in the retail way. The re- gency of Mtntz, though ading upon much better principles than any other of the eccleli- aftical ftates of Germany, had frill not fenfe enough to fee that eight middling and decent trades-people are a greater acquiiition to a country than one very rich one, even when the capital of the latter is a thoufand times greater than that of the former. Mr. Bolongaro's abjed fpirit carried him ftill farther. He vv anted a monopoly of all the moft impor- TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 315 important articles of commerce, and to obtain it, offered the regency a large funi ; but this the prefent prince would not accept. To fill up the meafure of his crimes, Bolon- garo brought a complaint againft the fifhermien of the place, for having hurt fome tree or ftatue ia his garden, and infifted on their being de- prived of the privilege of fifhing in the river Nid, which runs under the wall of his garden into the Maine. This too the regency was weak and wicked enough to grant : thus rob- bing of their bread a number of poor families, in order to ferve a wretch, whofe charadler I cannot better fum up, than by telling you be gave an old friend, who had met with misfor- tunes, and was come a great way in hopes of re- ceiving afliflance from this profperous country- inan. of his, a fingle four fous piece^, and that the worft he : could pick out of his purfe. I fhould not have detained you thus long with this trifling incident, but to fhew how fondly the. fmall Rates of Germany purchafe the power of doing each other harm ; for theie is no doubt but the defire of hurting Francfort was the true capfe that led the regency of Mentz to give this ridiculous protedion. I vifited the china manufaflure at Hochft; itj is^not hitherto in very brilliant circumftances ; it f Two-pen^. 3i6 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. it is divided into ihares, the polfelTors of which are not men calculated to do what is befi lor the whole; they are, however, hard at work upon plans to improve it. Amongft other peo- ple engaged in them, I vifited Mr. Melchior, w^ho is ctrtainly one of the greateil flatuaries now exiting, and has an unfpeakable love for his art. There are but few great works of his, though what he has done in this way is inimit- able ; but he is witliout a rival in fmall models, and it is to his labours that this porcelane nianu- faclory owes its celebrity. The villages and farms which we met with on the way to Francfort hither, would pafs for towns in Bavaria, or the north ot Germany. They all befpeak a high fiate of opulence in the inhabitants. The beggars one occafionally fees, are a confequence of the way of thinking of the German catholics, and the opinions of their governors, which I mentioned in fpeaking of Wurtzburg. A peafant is in general ex- tremely happy throughout the whole country. lie is almoft every where a freeman, and op- pfefied \i ith no hard taxes. A little moie care to provide employments for the hands that could be fpared from agriculture, with a little more attention to education, in order to infpire the people ith a greater difgufl: to begging, would i»al:e this go-'.-einment almofi: perfe6l, In the neigh- TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 317 neighbouring country of Darmftadt, which I likewife vifited from Francfort, the peafant is by no means fo rich as the inhabitant of the territory of Mentz, for nature has net been fo liberal to him, and he is loaded with more taxes ; but he is cleaner and more a6iive ; nor will you fee fo many beggars in the ftreets of Darm- ftadt. Till within fix miles of Mentz, the inhabitants live chiefly on their agriculture. The earth yields uncommon returns, and the corn of this country is imported far and wide on the Rhine. There are alfo large quantities of fruits and greens of all kinds ; excellent afparagus and cabbage are the food of the moft common peo- ple : nor is there a place in Germany w^here the people are fo fond of them, or have a greater fupply of provifions of this kind. Great fhip- loads of their cabbages, as well raw as pickled, are carried down the Lower Rhine, as far as Holland. The little city of Croneburg, lituated on an eminence fix miles off the main road, drives a trade w^ith Holland to the amount of eight tlioufand guilders a-year for apples, cyder, and chefnuts, of which laft it has large groves. All the villages of the country lie in orchards of trees, and command large fields of corn be- low. Thefe numerous orchards make the coun- .try look a little poor^ though it is as well cul- tivated 3 1 8 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. tivated as any other part of Germany. In the Urip of land which lies betwixt Francfort, Mentz, and the neareft hills to the north of Mentz, containing a fpace of about twelve miles long, and fix broad, they reckon eight little ci- ties, five large market-towns, and about eighty villages, few of which contain lefs than lixty families. At Wickeard, a place which is fix miles from Mentz, the nature of the country intirely changes ; an arm of the large mountain called Wetteraw, extends itfelf here to the banks of the Maine, and forms a couple of large hills, on the one of which, Wickeard, and on the other, Hocheim is fituated. The fouthern and weftern fides of the former produce an excellent wine. The eaflern fide of the fecond yields admirable corn ; and the . parts of it expofed to the fouth and weft, afford the mofi: delicious w^ine, with- out comparifon, of all Germany. The little village of Hocheim, from whence the Engiifh give all kinds of Rhenifh wine the name of Hock, contains about three hundred families. A prettier village I have not feen. It belongs to_ the chapter of Mentz, the dean of which en- joys the revenue of it ; in a good year he makes from twelve to fifteen thoufand guilders of his wine. He and the Auguftines of Mentz and Francfort, have the exciufive enjoyment of the befi TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 319 beft Hocheimer wine, of which, in good years, a piece, confifting of one hundred meafures, fells for from nine hundred to one thoufand guilders from the puefs. This is certainly one of the deareft wines in the wwld. Having a defire to tafte it on the fpot, we were obliged to pay a rix dollar ; it was, however, of the beft vintage in this century, to wit, that of 1766. Nor fhould we have had it, but for an advocate of Mentz, to whom the hoftefs meant to Ihew favour. This was the firft German wine I had met with which was intirely without any four tafte : it was quite a perfume to the tongue ; whereas the other wine of Hocheim, let it be as good as it may, is not quite clear of vine- gar ; though for this alfo, if it has any age, you are forced to pay a guilder and a half. The whole way from Hocheim to Mentz, was the moft beautiful of the whole journey during three miles. It lay. along the flope of the hill, covered with fine vineyards, which are fhaded from the road by beautiful fruit-trees. Ti^is defcent com- mands a beautiful profpedl, over a fmall, but uncommonly rich country, terminated by the conflux of the Rhine and Maine. The fine wine does not grow on this fide of the hill, but on the other. From hence you defcend into a vale, watered by a little rivulet, where corn- fields, meadows, and orchards, form the pret- tieft 2%o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. tieft profped imaginable. At the left, through an orchard of frrit-trees, you fee the beautiful village of Kollheim. The way then winds through the orchards and vineyards of the large village of CaHel, which appears diredly oppo- fite to Mentz, at the end of a fine alley leading to the banks of the Rhine. As foon as you arrive at the bridge of boats acrofs the Rhine, you are ft ruck with one of the moft magnificent fpe6tacles that it is poffible for human imagination to conceive. The proud ftream which has now fwallowed up the Maine, and is fourteen hundred feet broad, comes out of a plain which extends as far as the horizon ; but at Mentz large hills come athwart its courfe, and compel it, after forming fome iflands, to change the Lcrthern diredtion, which it has kept from Switzerland hither, for a weftern one. It is thefe bills, on the fiopes of which you behold feveral habitations, which form that celebrated amphitheatre called the Rhinegau, the throne of the German Bacchus. The Rhine ftill keeps the beautiful green fo much admired in Switzer- land ; and even at fome diftance below this city, the difference of its w^aters and thofe of the muddy Maine, is eafily to be difcerned. Di- rectly before your eyes you have the city of Mentz, which preients itielf with a majefty not to be defcribed. The numberlefs boats which deck TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 321 deck its banks, as well as the numerous and magnificent towers of its churches, are refleded by the clear ft ream. The length of the city to- wards the Rhine, including the fortifications, is at lead: a mile and a half Amidfl: the large and fomething dark mafs of old buildings, you fee now and then a few new ones ftrike out, w^hich form a pleafing contrail. Both the houfes to- wards the Rhine, and thofe at the two ends of the city, are here and there ornam.ented with a rich green. In a word, the fituation of Drefden, magnificent as ii is, is hardly to be compared with that of Mentz. When ' you come into the city the beauty of the profpe6l is much changed. The llreets are dark, narrow, and not very clean. — But before I fay any thing more of Mentz, I muft give you an account of fome excurfions I made from Francfort into the neighbouring cities. I took a ride to Darmftadt, which is a fmall but lovely place. At Francfort they had de- fcribed the people to me as ftiff, but I found the circle in which I lived and which confifted of fome counfellors and officers, uncommonly affable, genteel, and eafy. Indeed w^ere it in my power, I wifh for no better company to make me relifh life than that I met with at Darmfiadt; nor do I know a place where I ftiould pitch my tent fo willingly, if it depended Vol. IL ^ Y upon 322 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. upon myfelf to fix the place of my abode. Yoil are in the midft of feveial large cities, not far diftant from each other. The company is fuch as you can only meet with in large cities. The air is good ; the provifions cheap ; and you have it always in your power to unite the city and country life. Add to this, that the popti- larity of the court, the delicate Englifh garden open. to every body, the magnificent parade, the number of agreeable women, and the hunt- ing parties, which are to be made at no great expence, render it a moft deiirable habitation. The talents of the reigning prince are alto- gether of the military kind. He refides little at Darmltadt; but the hereditary prince, who is conftantly there, is one of the mofl agreeable and beft men in the world. He knows nothing of the hauteur which encompalTes fo many other German princes, and banilhes ftrangers from them. The income of this court is eftimated to amount to one million one hundred and fifty thoufand Rhenifh guilders, or about one hundred and fifteen thoufand pounds ; a great part, how- ever, of this, is appropriated to the payment of the principal or intereft of old debts. — This is the fituation of all the German courts. This part of the territory of Darmftadt, which lies betwixt the Rhine, the Maine, the Berg- ftraffe, and the Odenwald, is the moft confider- able TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. able of them in extent, but by no means the beft ; it is made up chiefly of fandy plains and thick forefts, the beft part of which is the Black Wood. Some diftricls on the BergftralTe and the Odenwald are uncommonly fruitful ; but in ge- ' neral the poffeflions of this houfe, which lie in the Wetterau, are much richer than this part of the marquifate of CalTeneln-Bogen. Notwith- ftanding this, there is a great degree of opulence amongft the peafants; their induftry, and the adlivity and wifdom of the government, making up for what nature has refufed them. The vil- lages in this country have an uncommonly neat and gay afpedl. The corn afforded by thefe fandy plains, the quantity of wood, and the large quantity of garden ftuff, together with the other produce of their agriculture, bring ccniiderable funis to the country. ^ The little hamlet of Gerau fells from four to five thoufand guilders- worth of cabbage, which is looked upon as the beft in this country, eveiy year. The afparagus of Darmftadt are famous ail over Germany for their beauty and iize ; at feveral places they iikewife make a wine, which is very tolerable. The peafants of this country are a very ftrong and handfome race of men, w^ell boned and well linewed. Better or more adive troops than the three Darmftadt regiments of infantry, are not to be feen in Germany ; the Pruflian , troops Y !^ them- 324 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. themfelves not excepted. They coniift of about 6000 men. The regiment of them quartered at Pirmafentz is viilted and admired by our offi- cers from Stratzburg, Landau, Fort Lewis, and other places. It is indeed a pattern of difcipline, oeconomy, and good behaviour. The wonderful military talents of the Prince of Darmftadt give the greateft expedations of the regiment called formerly the Royal Bavierc, which he command- ed in our army. This prince is commonly much blamed for his military turn ; but his troops are really no detriment to the country ; it is incre- dible how little they coft ; and as they have fre- quent furloughs granted, agriculture fuffers no- thing from them : they are, iu fadl, only a well- difciplined and well-regulated militia. Nor is the military education without its advantages in other refpe(^s ; one immediately fees, upon look- ing at theie peafants, that they have feen fervice ; for the natural confequences of it, a peculiar degree of order, cleanlinefs, and adivity, diftin- guifh them from their neighbours. Nor are thefe troops commodities for the market, like thofe of many other German princes. The En- glifh dealer. General Fawcet, offered a much higher piice for them than what he gave the Landgrave of Heffe ; but he met with a flat de- nial, though his money would have been of great fervice for the payment of old debts. In TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 325 In my way from AfchafFenburgh to Francfort, I came through Hanau. The country belong- ing to the prince of that name produces a great deal of corn, wood, wine, and fait, which may bring in about fifty thoufand Rhenifh guilders, or about five thoufand pounds yearly. Hanau is a very pretty and well-peopled city, in which there are feveral manufactures, particularly of woollen fluffs. The reigning prince is the moft amiable man I have yet met vrith amongft the German potentates. Every flranger who has either rank, merit, or knowledge, to diftinguifh him, is fecure of a good reception at his court. I am acquainted with no perfon of that high rank, who lets a ftranger feel his elevation fo little as this fovereign does. He can fo thoroughly di- veft himfelf of his ftation,, that I know few per- fons v/ho equal him either in the choice or en- joyment of the pleafure of fociety. His brother is as amiable as himfelf ; they are both zealous free-mafons. He is blamed, as well as the Prince of Darmftadt, on account of the number of his troops ; but as he is heir of Caiiel, the govern- ment of which is intirely military, this reproach is of little confequence. Francfort commands a moft beautiful country on all fides. The villages and liamlets of this country would pafs for towns in other places. Jn all Bavaria there is not a city, excepting Mu- nich 326 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. nich only, which can vie^ with the hamlet of Hofenbach, three miles diftant from Franc- foit, either in beauty, population, or riches. I made an excurfion, with a gentleman of Francfort, to Romberg von der Hohe, the rcli- dence of a prince of th^ houfe of Helfe, who takes his name from this little town. The ter- ritory of this prince confills only of a few fmall villages, in one of which there is a very rich colony of Hugonots. The proper name of this is Frederickfdorf, but in the whole country they call it Walfchdorf This arifes from our being called Welches in this countr}' ; a name which in Bavaria and Auftria is commonly given to the Italians. There are good manufa61ures here, particularly of various woollen ftuffs. The court is like the city, exceedingly fmall; but Grangers are made very welcome. The princefs, who is a filler to the late Grand Dutchefs of Ruffia, the Dutchefs of Weimar, and the Mar- gravine of Baden, is .of the moft refpeclable women I have ever feen. The education of thefe four princelTes does the utmoft honour to all Germany, as well as to their refpedable mo- ther, whofe magnificent grave, in the park of Parmftadt, is a lafting memorial of her uncor- Tupt tafte and noble way of thinking, The Prince of Romberg is alfo a well-educated man ; ib that this court, fmall as it is, was one of thofe TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 327 thofe I admired moft in- Germany. The whole of its income does not amount to more than one hundred thoufand rix dollars, or ten thoufand pounds. Ttie country betwixt Francfort, Romberg, Cronberg; and Rodelheim, is thick fet with vil- laiges and hamlets, which form the prettieft inland pidu re imaginable. You feldom meet with a pleafanter landfcape than from the view at Oberurfel, a large hamlet in the territory of Mentz, which lies between Cronberg and Rom- berg. The noife of fome iron and copper ham- iners has an exceeding good effed. We met with an adventure in this countr)^, which I lhall all my life long recoiled with the greateft pleafure. Behind Cronberg the moun- tain called Alikoriiger, or the old king, raifes its bare head high above the ridge of hills, which protedl the fine plain along the fide of the Maine, between Francfort and Ment?, from the rude North wind. They tell many llrange ftories of this hill, and of an old ruinous caftle which fiands on it. We afcended it with fome dif- ficulty, bat at the top met with a fpe6lacle which will never go out of my remembrance. Direclly to the fouth you overlook a plain thirty- three miles broad, which is terminated by the fumm.its of the Odmwalde and the Spejj'ari, . Here you may difcern all the villages, hamlets, and 328 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. and towns, which lie between Francfcrt and the Maine ; together with a great part of the coun- try of Darmftadt. The eaftern view is clofed by the Speffart, which is fifty-one miles diftant. The whole country of Afchaffenburgh, along the Maine, along the Necker, and as far as the Donnerfberg in the Upper Palatinate, lay like a map under our feet. Thefe extenfive pro- fpeds are common enough in many countries, but you feldom find them fo thickly fprinkled with the fmiling habitations of men. Behind you to the northward, and on both fides to the well and north-eaft, you overlook partly barren or well-wooded moimtains, and partly the moll agreeable mixture of foft hills and plains that can be conceived. Diredily againft the weft, the row of mountains forms the fineft amphi- theatre that can be conceived. The fineft i^ght, however, was that w^hich we faw the next morn- ing. There is a fpot on this mountain very fa- vourable for feeing the rifing-fun. In order to enjoy this fpedacle, we had provided ourfelves with pelliftes, to guard againft the cold, but were obliged to make a fire of v;ocd in the night, though after one of the warmeft days in Auguft. The life of the morning, however, fully overpaid us for the toils of the night. Never did I feel my own exiftence, or that of the being which animates all nature more fully than TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 329 than at the inftant in which the firft ray of the morn giided the tops of the SpeJJart and Oden- walde, both which at a diftance appeared to be iflands of fire. As far as this hill all was thick darknefs; but this eaftern view^ appeared like an illaminated ifland fwimming on the black ocean of night. The morning fpreading wider and wider fhewed us the moW beautiful landfcape in miniature that we had ever feen. We beheld villages afar off in the fnade, which one ray of the morning fun broke through and difpelled the darknefs of. By degree we faw the fepara- tion of the hills, w ith their feveral breaks and windings. Every thing looked as it does when you fee a fine and w^ell-illumined landfcape through a perfpedive-glafs. A prelfure never before experienced took poffeffion of my breaft on beholding this fcene. But the firil break of the fun himfelf farpaifed all the beauties of the day-break. The grandeur, variety, and mag- nificence of this appearance, is above all de- fcripticn. The plain, feventy five miles long, and forty-two miles broad, v/hich lies betwixt the Spejjarty the Donnerjbergy the wefiern part of the Odefiwaide, and our hills, was overfpread with large fi:reaks of light, which contrafied in the ftroDgeft manner w^ith the thicknefs of the fnades. ¥/e beheld the toD of the Bonnerlherz gilded over, v/hiift deep da: knefs brooded at his feet 330 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. feet and all over the Rhine beneath. We ouu felves were in light, but the plains and villages beneath ns were in a kind of half darknefs, only broken by the refiedion of the light from our hills. I'he elevated parts of the immenfe plains, which lav before us, broke through the darknefs with a cheerfulnefs, which brought them half as near again to us, and produced the moft agreeable deception. Now a ipire emerged from the gloom, then the fummit of a hill co- ^ered with wood, then a whole village with its trees fecmcd to fwim on the earth ; here lay a corn-field in light, by which it teemed, if I may ule the expreflion, as it w ere, parted and raifed up from the country round. The Maine, which hitherto had appeared like a dark ftiipe of the profpecl, began iikewife to be illuminated with filver ; and the Rhine was foon brought nearer to our e^ cs in the lame manner. But I feel that I am attempting to defcribe a fcene above all delcription ; and, for the defcribing of which I have no talents In brief, I have often feen the fun rife, but never lb magnificently as upon the Ah'Komg. It is indeed mofi: likely that a man may go through many countries without meeting w ith fo favourable a fpot as this is for fuch an objev^L. LET. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 331 LETTER XXII. Mentz, Tr AVELLERS, who do not care for the trouble of moving far from their head quarters, carry away no very favourable impreffion of this town with them. The befl part of it is that in which there are hardly any inns, or any thoroughfares. The inn of the Three Crowns, which is far the befl: in the place, and indeed an excellent one, is in the very worfl fituation ima- ginable. From hence you may wander over the greateft part of the town, without meeting with any thing but a heap of black houfes, ma- ny of which threaten to fall into the narrow flreets. It was owing to thefe caufes that I had heard fuch very different accounts of this town before I came into it ; fome defcribing it as a fmk, and others as one of the befl towns in Ger- many. A few days ago I met with a country - jiian of ours, an aventurier, who, finding his account in being here, like feveral other gen- tlemen of his clafs, would have perfuaded me that it was tiiC on ly handfome town in Germany. As the good gentleman had feen nothing but Cologne, Treves, and a part of Wefiphalia, the only anfw^er that I could make him was, that Germany was very large. The 33Z TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. The northern part of the cit}^, in which the archbifhop refides, is full of very regular build- ings. Here are three regular ftreets, called the Blenhen, which run parallel to each other from the banks of the Rhine to 600 yards within the city, and are cut alrnofl; regularly by very pret- ty crofs flreets. The archbifhop's palace has a molt commanding view of thefe ftreets, the Rhine, and the Rhinegau. There are alfo fome good buildings in the old part of the city. The mar- ket of beafts is extremely well worth feeing ; and you here and there meet with other agreea- ble fpots. The market in the middle of the town, though not regular, is one of the prettieft places I have met Vv^ith in Germany. The cathedral is well worthy notice. It is an immenfe large old Gothic building, the fpire of which was flruck with lightning feventeen years ago, and intirely laid in afhes. As it was made of a foreft of wood, it burned fourteen hours be- fore it was intirely confum.ed. To prevent thefe accidents for the future, the chapter had the pre- fent one built to the fame height in ftone, an un- dertaking which coR them forty thoufand guil- ders, or four thoufand pounds. It is a great pi- ty that it is overloaded with fmall ornaments, and a ftill greater, that this wonderful edifice is fo choaked up with Ihops and houfes, as to be hardly more than half vifible. As, however, houfes TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 333 houfes and fhops arc very dear in this part of town, one cannot be very angry with the chap- ter for chufmg rather to make the mod of its ground, than to fhew off the church to the belt advantage. The rent of a (hop and a fmgle room to live in is one hundred and fifty guilders, or fifteen pounds per annum in this part of the town. You will hardly find another church in Ger- many of the height and length of this cathedral. The infide of it is decorated with feveral magni- ficent monuments of princes and great perfona- ges. Amongfl the rell:, I admired the monument of a prelate belonging to this cathedral, whofe name was Dahlberg. It was made by the ftatu- ary Melchior, whom I mentioned to you in my laft letter. The prelate, as large as the life, is lying on a coffin, upon which there is a pyramid, which a Trinity is carrying into the clouds. The work is very fine, but it would have been much finer if the fculptor had been fuffered to fbUow his own ideas. There is likewife a fine piece of ftatuary in the upper choir ; it repre- fents a count of Lamberg, who commanded the imperial troops, which drove our forces out of the territory of Mentz at the beginning of this centTiry, and was killed by the fide of an eledor palatine, during the adion, by a mu&et ball — he is lifting up the top of his coffin with his right 334 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. right hand, and holds the commander's flaff with his left ; this has an exceeding good efFe6l. This church contains feveral other monuments well worth feeing. The treafary is very fuperior to that of Drefden, which has been fo much fpoken of. Belides the cathedral, the city of Mentz con- tains feveral other churches in the modern ftyle, very well worth feeing. St. Peter's, and the Je- fuit's church, though both too much loaded with ornament, are among this number. The church of the Auguftines, of which the inhabi- tants of Mentz are fo proud, is a mafter-piece of bad tafte ; but that of Ignatius, though little is faid about it, would be a model of the antique, if here likewife there had not been too much or- nament lavifhed. Upon the whole, the palaces of the nobleffe want that noble fimplicity, which alone conftitutes true beauty and magni- ficence. In another century the externals of the city will be quite changed. The late prince built a great deal, and the prefent has a tafte for the fame fort of expence. The monks and gover- nors of hofpitals alfo have been forced to rebuild their houfes ; fo that when a fev/ more ftreets are made broader and ftraighter, the whole will have no bad appearance. The inhabitants, who, together wdth the garrifon, amount to thirty thoufand; TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 335 thoufand, are a good kind of people, who, like all the catholics of Germany, make great ac- count of a good table. Their faces are interell- ing, and they are not deficient either in wit or ac- tivity. In a few generations more their minds will be as cultivated as thofe of their proteflant brethren, as the government has difiinguifned it- felf, for the fixteen or eighteen years paft, by excellent cftablifhments for education. As things now are, there is no catholic fiate in Ger- many which contains fo many deep thinking, and truly learned men as this does. Under the laft government the liberty both of thinking and writing was carried almoft as far as it could go : and though various confiderations, fuch as con- nexions with the late emprefs, apprehenfions of the priefthood, family motives, and other caufes, have ma(Je it fomewhat lefs in the prefent times ; Hill however philofophy makes its way. In the mean time convi6lion is not wanting, and the theory is as perfedl as can be defired. The archbiihop himfelf, like his brother the bifhop of Wurtzburgh, is a man whom the knowledge of men and things have raifcd to the polTeffion of many great places : they were his merits alone that engaged the emperor to recommend him upon the vacancy of this fee. You meet with very well-informed men amongfl: his counfellors and minifters, oae of whom is equal to the tafk of 336 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. of governing a much greater country than the eledorate of Mentz. It was probably out of refped for the impe- rial court, at w hich the archibifhop was fome time minifler of Mentz, that he introduced fe- veral innovations here not a little detrimental to the welfare of the Hate. He is one of the great imitators of the emprefs's eilabiifhments for the prefervation of chaility. He has aifo eftablifhed it as a maxim in his confiftory, to compel the man who has feduced a woman to marry her, in order to prevent the bad confe- quences of whoredom and fornication. Pity that the enlightened prelate does not fee the bad confequences which mull arife from fuch alTocia- tions. They fhewed me young men here, who had become hulbands in this way. A lofs of all true love and fidelity, the unfruitfulnefs of the marriage bed, adultery, and the molt fcanda- lous corruptions of every kind, muft enfue from fuch regulations. Formerly the fame laws were eftablifhed at Naples ; but experience foon taught that w ife legiflature, that they were detrimental ; and the whores were left to their fate. The em- peror has likcwife repealed them at Vienna ; nor Vvdll it be long before all the world is convinced that every phyfical interpofition in matters of bare morality muft be prejudicial. It is faid, in- deed, that laws of this kind prevent the murder of TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 337 of ballard children ; but thofe who argue thus do not confider that the coolnefs they introduce between the married pairs, and the other difor- ders they give rife to occafion murders by the dozens. It is indeed too cruel to make the whole happinefs of a young man's life depend upon the fedudlion of an hour. There are few cities in Germany, belides Vi- enna, which contain fo rich and numerous a no- bility as this does : there are fome houfes here^ which have eftates of one hundred thoufand guilders, or ten thoufand pounds a year. The Counts of Balfenheim, Schonborn, Stadion, In- gelheim, Elz, Oftein, and Walderdorf, and the Lords of Dahlberg, Breitenbach, with fome others, have incomes of from thirty to one hundred thoufand guilders. Sixteen or eighteen houfes have from fifteen to thirty thoufand guil- ders, annual revenue. The nobility of this place are fome of the oldell and moft untainted in Germany. The fat canonries, and the hopes of fome time or other producing an eledor, make them fo careful to preferve themfelves pure. How profitable it is for a family to fee one of its branches on the archiepifcopal throne, you tnay gather from hence. The late eledor, who was not the beft oeconomift in the world, and had but little Nepotifm about him, contrived to leave his family nine hundred thoufand guil- Vpi. IL Z ders. 338 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ders, of which, however, they have only the enjoyment, as it returns to the States after their death. His anceilor, a Lord of Oilein, left be- hind him four millions of Rhenilh guilders. There are, amongit the nobility of this place, many perfons of extraordinary merit, who join uncommon knowledge to all the duties of adive life. Upon the whole, they are far fuperior to the greater part of the German nobility. Their education, however, is ftill too lliff. The firft minifter of the court was refufed admittance into their aflemblies, for not being fufficiently noble ; and they think they degrade themfelves by keep- ing company with bourgeois. They all fpeak a miferable French jargon, and are afhamed of their mother-tong-ue ; fo that of courfe they know nothing of the literature of their own country, though extremely converfant in every trifle which comes from our preiTes. Their ta- bles, dreffes, and equipages, are all in the high Parifian ton ; but if the poor barons did but know what wretched figures they cut at Paris, and how poor an opinion is entertained of them there, notwithftanding the compliments they are loaded with for the fake of the louis-d'ors, they would wifh the drelTes and equipages, a la Pariji- enne^ at the Devil. Some few^ of them, indeed, as the Lord of Dahlberg, the Stadtholder of Er- furth. Baron Grofchlag, Baron van der Leyen, and TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 339 and a few more, have brought fomething home from Paris, befides the patois of our fifh- women, and the cut of our clothes ; but the number of thefe improved men is too fmall upon the whole not to make it advifeable to prevent the prefent nobility from coming into our country, where, for the moll part, they only expofe their native land, and leave their healths and fortunes behind them. I am acquainted with fome young men of fafhion, who, from being bred at home, are conftant fubjecls of derihon to the foreign edu- cated nobility, by whom they are treated as cockneys ; but they remain in polfeflion of their plump and red cheeks ; and though they may not figure in a circle, or make a good bow, or Hand upon one leg, they have good found under- ftandings, and know how to have a proper regard for the peafant and mechanic. T he apparent contrail betwixt thefe perfons and barons is a ftronger argument againft the modern education, than any other I could make ufc of. The clergy of this place are the richeft in Ger- many. A canonry brings in three thoufand five hundred Rhenifh guilders in a moderate year. The canonry of the provoft is, without compari- fon, the richeft in Germany : it brings him in forty thoufand guilders a-year. Each of the deanries is worth two thoufand fix hundred guil- ders. The income of the chapter all together Z % amounts 340 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. amounts to three hundred thoufand guilders. Though it is forbidden by the canons of the church for any one to have more than a fmgle prebend, there is not an ecclefiaflic in this place but what has three or four ; fo that there is hardly a man amongft them, who has not at leaft eight thoufand guilders a-year. The laft provoft, a count of Elts, had prebends enough to procure him an income of feventy-five thou- fand guilders. Excluiive of the cathedral, there are fever al other choirs, in which the canonries bring in from twelve to fifteen hundred guilders a-year. T'o gi\'e an idea of the riches of the monafteries of the place, I will only tell you, that at the deilru6lion of the Jefuits, their wine, which was reckoned to fell extremely cheap, produced one hundred and twenty thoufand rix dollars. A little while ago, the ele6lor abolifh- ed one Carthafian convent, and two nunneries, in the holy cellars of which there was found wine worth at leaft five hundred thoufand rix dollars. Notwithftanding this great wealth, there is not a more regular clergy in all Germany than that of this place. There is no diocefe, in which the regulations made by the council of Trent have been more ftridly adhered to, than they have here ; the archbifhops having made a par- ticular point of it, both at the time of the refor- mation, and ever fince. One thing which great- ly contributes to keep up difcipline is the not fuf. TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 341 fufFering any priefl to remain in the country, who has not fixed and flated duties, and a revenue annexed to them. Moft of the irregularities in Bavaria, Auflria, and other countries, arife from Abbes, who are obliged to fubiift by their daily induftry, and any malTes which they can pick up. Thefe creatures are entirely unknown here. The theological tenets of this court are alfo much purer than thofe of any other eccle- fiaftical Prince in Germany. I was pleafed to fee the Bible in the hands of fo many common people, efpecially in the country. I was told that the reading of it w^as not forbidden in any part of the diocefe, only perfons w^re enjoined not to read it through, without the advice of their con- feffors. For a long time fuperftition has been hunted through its utmoft recelTes ; and though it is not quite polTible to get entirely clear of pil- grimages, and wonder-working images, you will meet with no prieft bold enough to exorcife, or to preach fuch nonfenfe as we hear in the pul- pits of other German churches. Tt is fingular enough that Bellarmin's book on the Hierarchy was forbid by public proclamation, fo lon^ as eighteen years ago. The late eledor did a great deal towards the cleanfing of the Holy Sheep- cote ; but he fell under the Herculean labour ; which, however, the prefent eledor purfues, though with fomewhat a more moderate zeal. The former was terrible to the monks, but his atten- 342 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. attention to them rendered him a little too care- lefs of the fecular priefts, who under his ad- miniftration rather palfed the bounds of a de- cent liberty, and alfumed too gallant an air. What think you, for inftance, of a prieft ap- pealing in his public le6lures to Voltaire on Toleration, and other fuch books ? or of fach authors as Bayle, and Helvetias, being common in the hands of Undents in logic? and this, which made it Angularly ridiculous, at a time when the jefuits were ftill difputing with all their eagerncfs on the infallibility of the Pope, and the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary? The prefent eledor extends his fatherly care to the regulars, as well as the feculars, and has brought them to a regularity, which does him- felf, as well as them, great honour. It is impolTible to give you an idea of the ve- neration in which the late prelate is defervedly held. From the convidion that without a good education, all prcjedls of improvement and al- teration are only palliatives, which do not touch the main fore ; this archbifhop gave 30,000 guilders a year out of his own privy purfe to- wards the eredion of fchools and other foun- dations for the education of youth. The pre- fent archbiihop, who found the foundation of fchools for the common people laid to his hands, continues to build ' upon it with fome deviation froipi the old plan ; but he direcls his chief at- ten- TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 343 tention to the improvement of the education of the higher orders, and the extenfion of arts and fciences. With this view he has given the ground, on which the three monafteries, which he has pulled down ftood, to the Univerfity, •which by this means has raifed its heretofore ra- ther fmall income to 100,000 guilders. As this prelate is entirely free from any temptation to Nepotifm, he has it in his power to do more for the mufes than any other German Prince. The anecdote related in Mr. Pilati's travels of a Swifs officer, who could find no inns to receive his fervants on account of their religion, does not accord with the fpirit which at prefent, at leaft, generally obtains here. I was in feve- ral inns, the mafters of which, when once they knew that I was a proteftant, offered me meat of their own accord. It is probable that the of- ficer had not made the grand tour of all the inns ; for things are here much as they are in other places : in one ftreet they read legends, and in another, converfe with Locke and Newton. Whoever attempts to judge of Paris by the inhabitants of the Porcheron; or of Berlin, from thofe who had well nigh raifed a rebellion on account of a pfalm book ; or of Hamburgh, from the carrot women headed by Pallor Goffe ; will be fure to be miftaken. Though the trade of this place has been con- ftantly on the encreafe for thefe eighteen or twenty 344 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. twenty years pall, yet it is by no means what it ought to be, from the fituation, and other advan- tages. The perfons here, who call themfelves merchants, and who make any confiderable figure, are in fad only brokers, who procure their livelihood at the expence of the country or territory round, or who a6l for the merchants of Francfort. You will judge of the wretched itate things are in, when I alfure you, that 'tis difficult to procure a bill of exchange of thirty thoufand guilders. A few toy-fhops, five or fix druggifts, and four or five manufadurers of to- bacco, are all that can poffibly be called tra- ders. There is not a banker in the whole town ; and yet this country enjoys the ftaple privilege, and commands, by means of the Mayne, Necker, and Rhine, all the exports and imports of Alfatia, the Palatinate, Franconia, and a part of Suabia and Heffe, as far as the Netherlands. The port too is conftantly filled with fhips, but few of them contain any merchandize belonging to the inhabitants of the place. Religious prin- ciples are the true caufe of this evil. When the Huguenots were driven out of France, a great number of them were defirous of fettling here. They ofiered the Eledor to build a city jufi: a- bove Mentz, (at the conflux of the Rhine and Mayne, between CalTel and Cofiheim,) to forti- fy it at their own expence ; to keep a conftant garrifon TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 345 garrifon there, and, befides all this, to pay a large annual fum to the ftate, provided only they might be allowed the freedpm of their religion, and a participation of the rights of the citizens of Mentz. The archbifhop of that time did not chufe that herefy fhould build her neft fo near him ; but the laft has often been heard to exprefs a wifh that a fimilar offer were to be made to him ; and the prefent would mofl: joyfully comply with it. But fuch opportunities are but feldom found ; and the times in which it was cuftomary to drive out Huguenots are gone by. The pride and extravagance of the nobility are another hindrance to trade. They and the eccleliaftics are polfelfed. of the largeft capitals, which are entirely employed in the internal con- fumption. Whilft the merchant of Francfort has a place amongft the magifirates of his coun- try ; thofe of this place meet only w'ith the pro- foundefl contempt from the gentry, who wall not fuifer them to alfociate with them. Infiead of catching as they do all the little airs of the London and Parilian noblelfe, they would do much better to learn of them the art of doubling their revenues by commercial induftry. I have already told you that the faces of the inhabitants of this city and the country round it are interefiing. The peafants are belides very ftrongly built, and are diftinguifhable, by their ruddy 346 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ruddy frefh complexions, from the inhabitants of Bavaria, ariS the northern parts of Germany, who generally have very fallow complexions ; bat I w^as not pleafed with the fet of the bones any w^here along the Mayne, or even in part of Helfe. Thofe of the inhabitants of this country are particularly difpleafmg. The knees are all either bent in like a taylor's, or Hand out ftraight like a Hick. You hardly ever meet with a cle- ver well-limbed perfon. This is owing to the fenfelefs and abfard fafhion, which ftill prevails here, of fwaddling deaths. I could not but be extremely angry with the mothers, who drelfed up their children thus, like pieces of wood, and fuifered them to lie in this unnatural pollure all day long. There cannot be a doubt but this conftraint mult have its effecls on the foul, which in the firft years is fo ciofely united to the body. You muft not expecl to meet here with any of the Germans defcribed by Tacitus : black and brown hair is much more common than white. The inhabitants of the neighbouring country of Darmftadt more nearly refemble the old inha- bitants. An attentive obferver eafily difcovers by the external appearance of the inhabitants, what na- tives of Germany have had Grangers mixt a- mongft them, and what countries have been en- tirely occupied by foreign colonies. No doubt but TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 347 but that the black and brown hair of the inhabi- tants of this place is derived from the Romans, who had a Itation here. LETTER XXIIL Mcntz. A F T E R the Pope, there is no doubt but the archbifhop of this place is the moft confiderable and richeft prelate in the Chriftian world. The fee is indebted for its increafe of riches to St. Boni- face, who maybe called, with great juftice, the apoftle of the Germans. It was this man, an Englifhman by birth, who in the time of Charle- magne, baptifed Witikind, and the other brave Saxons, who had fo long refilled baptifm with their fwords, and fpread the empire of the vicar of Jefus Chrift as far as the northern and eaftern feas. He it was who introduced the Roman li- turgy into Germany, and made the favage inha- bitants abftain from eating horfe's flefh. But he raifed the papal power to a higher pitch than it had been raifed in any other country in Chriften- dom. According to the teftimony of Aventinus, feveral bifhops reproached Boniface with having diminifhed their dignity, by the new oath of homage he introduced, and with having intro- duced fuperftition and irreligion in company Mdth the fplendid ceremonies of the Romifli church. 348 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. church. But whoever confide rs the ft ate of the Saxons at that time, will fee that the enforcing the papal fupremacy was the only efficacious means that could be made ufe of for railing a laity, and a clergy if poffible ft ill more barbarous than they (as they could literally neither write nor read), from their favage flumbers. Had it been only the connedling together the German ecclefiaftics, by means of the papal Hierar- chy, and the bringing them acquainted with other European nations ; this alone would have been -1 fignal fervice done them. Be this how- ever as it may, the vicar of Chrift repaid the fervices of his apoftles with overflowing meafure. All the new-founded bifhopricks in the north of Germany were made fubjed to the fee of Mentz, w^hich Boniface had chofen for his reft den ce. The provinces, the moft conftderable in the w^hole papal dominions, * all Swabia, Franconia, Bohemia, and almoft all Saxony, with a part of Switzerland, Bavaria, and the upper Rhine, belong to this diocefe. Though the reforma- tion, and revenge of the kings of Bohemia, have leifened it one third, it ftill contains the archbifhoprick of Sprengel and eleven bifhop- ricks, moft of which are the moft conftderable in Germany, as Wurtzburg, Paderborn, Hil- defheim, AugftDurg, &c. It TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 349 It could not fail but that as the vicar of Jefus Chrift extended his jarifdidion to temporal af- fairs, his ambalfadors (for fo Boniface called himfelf, and fo the council of Trent calls all bi- fhops) fhould likewife make their fortune in the matters of this world, a thing the more likely to happen, as the eccleliallics of that time were evidently fuperior to the laity in fcience, and alfo the greateft politicians of their day. Spiri- tual and temporal affairs were indeed fo inter- woven, that the moil eminent German bifhop w^ould of courfe be the moll powerful eledor. The fame thing happened in Britain, Poland, and in other countries, in which the conftitu- ^ons were all ariftocratical. The landgraves of Heffe, the Palatines, nay even the emperor himfelf thought it no difgrace to pay allegiance to the archbifhop of Mentz. When the build- ing of the papal monarchy was completed by Gregory the VII. the archbifhops of Mentz be- came powerful enough to be at the head of the empire. In the 13th and 14th centuries, they were fo eminent, as to be able to make emperors without any foreign affiftance; and it was to one of them that the houfe of Haplburg was in- debted for its firft elevation. Since the boundaries of the two powers have been more accurately afcertained, and the tem- poral has fo mucli got the better of the fpiritual, the 350 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. the power and influence of the archbifhops of this place have of courfe been much reduced ; ftill, however, they are poffelfed of very im- portant prerogatives, which they might exert with much more efficacy than they do, were it not that various circumftances have rendered them too dependant on the emperors. They are ftill the fpeakers in the Eledoral College, have the appointments of the diets under the emperors, and may order a re-examination of the proceedings of the imperial courts. Thefe high privileges are, however, too much fubje6l to the controul of the houfe of Auftria ; nor are their fpiritual powers any longer what they once were. Their fufFragan bifhops have taken* it into their heads that all bifhops are alike as to power, and that the title of archbifhop only en- titles its polTeffors to the firft place amongft bro- thers who are equal ; it is true indeed that now and then appeals are received from the confifto- ry of fome fuffragans to that of our vicar general, but they generally end in a further appeal to Rome ; and the metropolitan dignity commonly loles as much by them as it gets. The temporals, however, which are ftill an- nexed to this chair, make him who fits in it rich amends for the diminution of his fpiritual and political fplendour. Though he does not abfo- lutely polfefs the largefl, yet he certainly has the richeft TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 351 richeft and moft peopled domain of any ecclefi- aftical potentate in Germany. Tiie country, it is true, does not contain more than 1%^ German miles fquare ; whereas the archbifhoprick of Saltz- burg contains 240; but then Saltzburg has only 250,000 inhabitants ; whereas Mentz has 320,000. The natural riches of the territory of Mentz, and its advantageous fituation, make a fubjed of Mentz much richer than one of Saltz- burg, the greatell: part of which is only inhabited by herdfmen. In the territory of Mentz there are 40 cities ; in that of Saltzburg only feven. The tax on veffels which go down the Rhine of itfelf produces 60,000 guilders, or 6000I. a year, which is nearly as much as all the mines of Saltzburg put together, excepting only the fait mine at Halle. The tax on wine, here and in the country round, produces the court above 100,000 guilders, or io,oool. a year, in which furii we do not reckon the cuftoms of the coim- tries which lye at a greater diftance. Upon the whole, the income of theprefent archbifhop may be valued at 1,700,000 guilders, or 170,0001. At leaft I know for a certainty, that in the laft years of the late archbifhop, they brought in 1,800,000 guilders ; and though the prefent elec- tor gave up to his fubjeds tv/o out of 15 or 16 poll taxes, which they were bound to pay ; thefe do not amount to above 100,000 guil- ders; 35Z TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ders ; and he has much improved feveral other fources of revenue. If the lands of the eledor lay all together, they would produce a fuflEciency of corn and all the prime necelfaries of life ; but as feveral parts of them lye wide afunder, the people are compelled to purchafe a great deal from foreigners. The capital itfelf, as well as the adjacent Rhinegau depends on the Palatinate for its corn, notwith- ftanding the great abundance of that and every other fpecies of grain in its own polTeffions in the Wetterau. The nobleft produdion of the ele6lor's territory on the Rhine is the wine, which is almofi: the only true Rhenifh. Connoilfeurs, indeed, allow the wines of Neirftein, Bacharach, and a very few other places out of this countr}?" to be true Rhenifh. But they do not give this name to the wines of the Palatinate, of Bardon, and of Alfatia. There is a great deal of wine made in the countries which lie on the fouth and weft of the Rhine, at Laubenheim, Bodenheim, Budefheim, and Bingen ; but the true Rhenifh, that which infpires fo many who are and fo many who are not poets, comes only from the Rhinegau, which lies on the northern banks of the Rhine. A few days ago, I went with a company from this place on a party of pleafure to the Rhine- gau, TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 353 gau, and was prefect at one of the prettieft vil- lage feftivities I have ever beheld. Our velfel had a much better appearance than the common fmacks you meet with in Germany, and was very like a fmall Dutch boat. As foon as we had palfed the winding which the proud Rhine makes to the weftward, about three miles below Mentz^ we had a profpe6l before us, which is fel- dom beheld in any country except Switizerland. The Rhine grows aftonifhingly wide, and forms a kind of fea, near a mile broad, in which you fee feveral well w^ooded little ifiands at your right. The Rhincgau forms an amphitheatre, the beauties of which- are beyond all defcription. At Walluf, the very high hills come nearly down to the river iide; from thence they recede ^gain mto the country, forming a kind of half circle, the other end of which is fifteen miles off at P,.udelheim on the banks of the Rhine. The banks of the river, tiie hills which form the cir- cles, and the flopes of tbe great mountain, are thick fown with villages and hamlets. The white appearance of the buildings, and the fine blue ilated roofs of the houfes playing amidft the .various green of the landfcape, have an ad- mirable effed. In the fpace of every mile as you fail down the river, you meet with a village which in any other place would pafs for a town. Many of the villages contain from three to four Vol. II. A a bun- 3^4 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. hundred families ; and there are thirty-fix of them in a fpace of fifteen miles long, and fix miles broad, which is the width of this beautiful am- phitheatre. The declivities of all the hills and mountains are planted thick with vineyards and fruit trees, and the thick wooded tops of the hills call: a gloomy horror over the otherwife chear- ful landfcape. Every now and then, a row of rugged hills run diredly down to the fhore, and domineer majeftically over the lelfer hills under them. On one of thefe great mountains, juft about the middle of the Rhinegau you meet with JdhanniS'Berg, a. village, which produces fome of the belt Rhenifh. Before this village is a pretty little rifmg, and near the banks of the river, there is a very fine old caftle, which gives unfpeakable majelly to the whole landfcape. Indeed, in every village, you meet with Ibme or other large building, which contributes very- much to the decoration of the whole. This country is indebted for its riches to this femicircular hill, which proteds it from the cold winds of the eaft and north, at the fame time that it leaves room enough for the fun to exercife his benign influences. The groves and higher flopes of the hills make excellent paftures, and produce large quantities of dung, which, in a country of this fort, is of ineftimable value. The TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. ' 355 The bank of the Rhine, oppofite to the Rhine- gau, is exceedingly barren, and heightens the beauty of the profpedl on the other fide, by the contraft it exhibits; on this fide, you hardly meet above three or four villages, and thefe are far diftant from each other. The great interval between them is occupied by heaths and mea- dows, only here and there a thick bufh affords fome fhade, and a few corn fields among the vil- lages enliven the gloomy landfcape. The back ground of this country is the moft piclurefque part of it. It is formed by a narrow gullet of moun- tains, which diminilh in perfpe6tive between Rudeiheim and Bingen. Perpendicular moun- tains and rocks hang over the Rhine in this place, and feem to make it the dominion of eternal night. At a diftance, the Rhine feems to come out of this landfcape, through a hole under ground, and it appears to run tedioufly, in order to enjoy its courfe through a pleafant country the longer. Amidft the darknefs which covers this back ground, the celebrated Moufe tower feems to fw im upon the river. In a w^ord, there is not any thing in this whole trad, that does not contribute fomething to the beauty and magnifi- cence of the whole; or if I may be permitted the expreffion, to make the paradife more wel- come. As you fail along the Rhine, between Mentz and Bingen, the banks of the river form A a 2 an 356 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. an oval amphitheatre, which makes one of the richeft and moll pi6lurefque landfcapes to befeen in Europe. The night was far advanced when we came to Geyfenheim : before we landed, we had another profped not often feen ; we could difcover al- jnoft the whole coaft of the Rhinegau, which ap- peared one continued row of cities ; the lights in the feveral villages made them look like a great illuminated city, and the reflection on the glafly Rhine was extremely beautiful. The day after our arrival we went to Rude- flieim, where we had been invited by an eccle- liaftic of Mentz. We found our hoft with a nu- merous company, fome of whom were proteft- ants. After dinner he carried us in proceffion to his great faloon, from whence we had a moft fuperb view of the here very wide Rhine, and the village of Bingen. The whole of the prepara- tions feemed to ahhoiince a fplendid feftival, the nature arid charadler of which appeared a riddle to me. On a fudden the doors of the faloon were opened, and there came forth in feftive order a band of mulicians, followed by two pret- ty girls, well drelTed, who brought in a large buiich of grapes, on a table covered with a fine cloth. The iides of the table were ornamented with flowers. They put the bunqh of grapes in the middle of the faloon, on a kind of throne which TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 357 which was raifed on a table ; and I now difco- vered that our hoft was celebrating the feftival of the fir ft ripe bunch of grapes in his vineyard ; a cuftom, it feems, moft religioufly obferved by all the rich inhabitants of this country. This feaft was the more acceptable, as it happened that the grapes had this year ripened uncommonly late. After the altar of Bacchus was ereded, our hoft made a fhort, but excellent fpeech, fui- ted to the nature of the fefti\ ity ; and then we danced round the grape. Never in my life, bro- ther, have I danced with fuch pleafure as I did here. The remembrance of thefe joyous mo- ments ftill poffelfes and tranfports me. Were I to form a commonwealth, feftivals of this fort fhould be the only ones feen in it. Can there, indeed, be a more facred or more refpe6lable ho- liday, than that in which we joyfully thank the Creator for the benefits he has beftowed upon us ? Nor was our pleafure diminifhed by this not turning out the only ripe bunch of grapes in the vineyard of our hoft ; for though on a nearer in- veftigation we found more, we contended for the honour of the grape round which we had danced and fung, with more heat than if it had been an oriental pearl of the fame fize. Rudefheim is a rich village, which contains about 2500 inhabitants. The wine of this place is looked upon as without comparifon the beft of the 558 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. the Rhinegau, and confequently of all Germany. I found it much more fiery than that of Hoch- heim ; but for pleafantnefs of tafte, there is no comparifon betwixt them. The beft Rudefheim, like the beft Hochheimer, fells upon the fpot for three guilders the bottle. You can have no to- lerable -wine here for one guilder, nor any very good for two; at leaft I fhould prefer the worft Burgundy I ever tafted to any Rudeiheimer I met with either here or at Mentz, for thefe prices. Indeed, the wine of our fpiritual hoft was far better than we could get at the inn. It ftands to reafon, that the fame vintage furnifhes grapes of very different degrees of goodnefs ; but be- fides this, it is in the Rhinegau as every where elfe. The beft wines are generally fent abroad by the poor and middling inhabitants, and the worft kept for internal confumption ; for the ex- pence of the carriage being the fame in both cafes, ftrangers had much rather pay a double price for the good than have the bad. It is only rich people, fuch as our hoft was, who can afford to keep the produce of their land for their own drinking. Upon this principle, I have eaten much better Swifs cheefes out of Switzerland than in it, and have drank much better Rhenifh in the inns of the northern parts of Germany, than in ihe country where the w ine grows. The pofitionof the country alfo contributes to render the I TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 359 the wine dearer than it would otht!:rwife be. As the beft wine grows in its more northern parts, the eafy tranfport by the Rhine to Holland, and all parts of the world, raifes its price above its real value. The place where the flower of the Rudelheim wine grows is precifely the neck of the land, formed by the winding of the Rhine to the north, after it has run to the weftward from Mentz hi- ther. This neck, which is a rock almoft per- pendicular, enjoys the firft rays of the riflng, and the laft of the fetting fun. It is divided into fmall low terraces, which are carried up to the utmoft top of the hill like fteep liairs ; thefe are guarded by fmall walls, and earthen mounds, which are often w^afhed away by the rain. The firft vine was brought hither from France, and they ftill call the beft grape the Orleanois, They plant the vine ftocks very low, fcarce ever more than four or five feet high. This way of plant- ing the vine is favourable to the produdion of a great deal of wine, but not to its goodnefs, as the phlegmatic and harfh parts of it would certainly evaporate more, if the fap was refined .tiirough higher and more numerous canals. This is un- doubtedly the reafon why every kind of Rhenilh has fomething in it that is harfh, four, and wa- tery. The harveft of the beft vineyards, which are the lower ones, in the above-mentioned neck of 36o TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. of land, is often bought before-hand, at the advanced price of fome ducats, by Dutch and other merchants. It muft be a very rich flock to yield above four, meafures of vidne. You may eafily imagine, that the cultivation of vineyards muft be very expenfive in this country, as the dung, which iii extremely dear, muft be carried up to the top of the mountains on the peafants fhoulders. In our return through Geyfenheim, I vifited the magnificent palace of a Count of Ofiein, the richeft gentleman in Mentz, who has laid out fe- veral millions he inherited from his coulin, a for- mer eledior, in life annuities in the Dutch funds. The houfc, which is in the modern tafte, pleafed me much: but what delighted me moft, was, the half French and half Englifh garden. Be • hind Geyfenheim, the Count has ftruck out fome alleys through a w^cod, in which there are alfo fome wildernefTes. The great alley leads through a winding walk to the top of that rock at the foot of which the beft Rudefheim wine grows. At the top of this rock the Count has built a ter- race, furrounded by a rail, commanding one of the fineft profpeds I have ever feen. You look down upon the vine hills cut into terraces, and fee the Rhine, which, rolling through the threat- ening hills which block it up, here begins to be encompaffed in deep night This view down to the TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 361 the river is moll terrific. The partly covered and partly naked rocks, which encompafs the ri- ver, make you think it is forcing its way through a fabterraneous cavern. The rock, on which you ftand, ftretches itfelf to the oppofite fhore, where another abrupt mountain ftands like an immenfe pillar. The meeting together of thefe tw^o great mountains occafions a fall in the Rhine, the dead noife of which has a wonderful effed in the land- fcape. On the Rudefheimer fide, and near the fhore you look dire6lly down upon from the terrace, there has been a palfage cut through the hard rocks, big enough for the largeft fhips to fail through; this is called the Bingenloch. The rock, which occalions the fall of the Pvhine, juts out w^onderfuUy above the water in the midft of the ftream, and forms an ifland partly naked and partly covered with briars, on which the cele- brated Moufe tower ftands. If you look up the Rhine, you have a view of the beft part of the fmiling Rhinegau, and the whole oppofite ftiore. Varied and beautiful as this part of the profpe6l is, it is ftill exceeded by what you fee on look- ing ftraight before you from the terrace : you have here a view into a narrow gulph, through which the river Nahe, which fills its bottom, communicates with the Rhine. On the fore ground, where the Nahe joins with the Rhine, you have, to the right, the w^ell wooded cololfal moun- 36z TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. mountain, to which the Rudefheiraer rock joins itfelf under water. On the neck of land to the left, you have the city of Bingen at the foot of another mountain, the tops of w^hich are crowned by an old caftle. The gullet itfelf, which is near two miles long, is wafte and dark ; only the red flate of a mountain in it has a fmgular effed, when oppofed to the woods, which appear every where to the right, and to the mountains on the left, which are partly naked and mean, and partly planted with vineyards. In the middle of the gullet there is a ftrong bridge over the Nahe, which ftill bears the name of Drufus's bridge, from Drufjs Germanicus, its builder, and ex- tremely raifes the pidurefque view of the vi^hole. V At the end of the gullet Hands a mill, not lefs pidurefque than the bridge. Such is the fore ground ; and the back ground is ftill more beau- tiful. The gullet, which contains the Nahe, is like a glafs, through which you look down upon the moft laughing landfcape. The clear light, the diilant blue of the hills and mountains, fome beautiful villages, foft woods, and the vine hills around all thefe, indicate, that the country be- hind this black fluice is an open one, and moft richly craamented : this is a profpedl the like to which I have never yet feen. The city of Bingen, which, together with the toll on the Pwhiae, worth about 30,000 guilders, be- TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 363 belongs to the chapter of Mentz, is extremely beautiful, and contains about 4,500 inhabitants. A great part of the corn, which is carried into the Rhinegau from the neighbouring Palatinate, comes through this place, which, on the other hand, fupplies the Palatinate with drugs, and various foreign commodities. This traffic alone would make the place very lively; but befides this, it has very fruitful vineyards. The hill, at the foot of which it lies, and one fide of w"hich is made by the gullet, through which the Nahe runs into the Rhine, forms another /leep rock behind this gullet parallel to the Rhine, and the golden Rudeftieimer mountain ; it therefore en- joys the fame fun as this does, which makes the Budefheimer wdne that grows on it little inferior to the Rudefheimer. After I had enjoyed this uncommonly beau- tiful profpe6l during a few days, I fpent a few more in the villages of the Rhinegau : here too I received ocular demonftration that the cultiva- tors of vineyards are not the happieft of men. The inhabitants of thefe regions are fome of them extremely rich, and fome extremely poor ; the happy middle ft ate is not for countries, the chief produ6^ of which is wine; for belides, that the cultivation of the vineyard is infinitely more troublefome and expenfive than agricul- ture, it is fubjeded to revolutions, which in an inftant 264 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. inftant reduce the holder of land to the condi- tion of a day labourer. It is a great misfortune for this country, that though rellrained by law, the nobility are, through connivance of the Elec- tor, allowed to purchafe as miich land as they pleafe. The peafant generally begins by run- ning in debt for his vineyard ; fo that if it does not turn out well, he is reduced to day-labour, and the rich man extends his poflefTions, to the great detriment of the country. 1 here are feve- ral peafants here, who having incomes of thirty, fifty, or a hundred thoufand guilders a year, have laid afide the peafant, and alfumed the wine merchant ; but fplendid as their fituation is, it does not compenfate, in the eyes of the humane man, for the light of fo many poor people with which the villages fwarm. In order to render a country of this kind profperous, the ftate ftiould appropriate a fund to the purpofe of maintaining the peafant in bad years, and giving him the affiftance which his neceffities, and his want of ready money, may from time to time make convenient. The inhabitants of the Rhinegau are a hand- fome and uncommonly flrong race of men. You fee at the very firft afped that their wine gives them merry hearts and found bodies. They have a great deal of natural wit, and a vivaci- ty and jocofenefs, which diRinguifhes them very much TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 365 much from their neighbours. You need only compare them with fome of thefe, to be con- vinced that the drinker of "wine excels the drink- er of beer and water, both in body and mind, and that the inhabitant of the South is much ftouter than he w^ho lives in the North ; for though the wine drinker may not have quite as much fiefh as he who drinks only beer, he has better blood, and can bear much more w^ork. Tacitus had already obferved this, in his treatife De moribus Germanorum, " The large " and corpulent bodies of the Germans (fays he) " have a great appearance, but are not made to " laft." At that time almofl all the Germans drank only water; but the mere drinking of wine has effected a revolution in feveral parts of Germany, which m.akes the prefent inhabitants of thefe countries very different from thofe de- fcribed by Tacitus. Black and brow^n hair is much commoner here than the white which made the Germans fo famous in old Rome. You will eafily imagine that the monks fare particularly w^ell in fo rich a country. We made a viiit to the prelate of Erbach. I cannot find adequate words to difcover the poverty of this cloifler. Thefe lordly monks, for fo in every re- fpe6l they are, have an excellent himt, rooms magnificently furnifhed, billiard tables, half a dozen beautiful finging women, and a ftupen- dous 366 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. dous wine cellar, the well ranged batteries of which made me fhudder. A monk, who faw my aftonifhment at the number of the calks, alTured me, that, without the benign influence which flowed from them, it would be totally impoflible for the cloifter to fubfift in fo damp a fituation. I was not fur prized at the hofpitality of thefe monks, as I had met with many fcenes of the kind before, nor do I envy thefe worldly fathers the good lot they have met with on this earth ; but lam not quite fo well fatisfied with the pains which fome of them take to keep the people in ignorance and fuperftition, I w^as particularly difpleafed with the pilgrimage to a wood near Geyfenheim, where the capuchins work miracles in abundance. The very name of the place afibxds room for fcandal and blafphemy. It is called the Need of God. According to the legend, a fmall wooden image of the Redeemer was, by the carelelfnefs or ignorance of a farmer, ftuck in the h«jllow of a tree, where it remained for a long timv^, crying out. Need of God ! Need of God ! till at laft fome peafants in die neighbour- hood came and removed the caufe of the piteous cry. Since this time it has performed number- lefs miracles, w^hich it is pofiible help the capu- chins out of iheh^ receffities. LETTER TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 3(^1 LETTER XXIV. Menu. N oTwiTHSTANDiNG the great redu£iion, made by the archbifhop of this place of his civil lift, it ftill remains by much too immoderate and ex- penfive. He has his minifters, his counfellors of ftate, and eighty or ninety privy counfellors of various denominations. The expence of this eftablifhment is very difproportionate to the re- venue of the ftate. This is owing to the large number of poor nobility, who can only accept of employments of this kind. Ignorance of the true principles of government are the caufes of this evil. The confequences are, that a great number of perfons, who might b^ ufefully em- ployed, live in idlenefs. Even the military eftablifhment of the country appears to be more calculated for the purpofe of feeding a hungry nobility^ than for real ufe. At the acceffion of the prefent ele6lor, though the whole army only coniifted of Z2oo men, there were fix generals. The regular eftablifhment paid for and liipported by the country is 8000 men ; but though there are only 2000 kept up, the money expended for their fupport, particularly that \ 368 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. that given to niimbeiiefs ufelefs officers, migbt be made ufe of more for the benefit of the coun- try. The army of the archbifhop confifis of a German guard of 50 men and 25 horfes, a Swifs guard, a fquadron of huffars of 130 men, (the moft ufeful troops, as they purge the land of rob- bers and murderers,) a corps of artillery of 104 men, three regiments of infantry of 6co men each, and fome companies belonging to the armies of Franconia and the Upper Palatinate. Of the fortifications of Mentz, we may fay much the f.'ame as of the army. Were they, in- deed, imprc:)ved and kept up as they ought to be, they would \'ie with Luxemburg, and be the moft p(Dwerful of all the barriers againft France. It .is true, that the nature of the ground does not alio w of a regular plan ; but for fingle parts, . I havts feen no place of the fam.e - capa- bilities, where greater advantages have been taken of the g round for the eredion of the feveral works. The beauty, as well as fize of them, is indeed an obje£l of great wonder ; but though the circle of the Upper Rhine, and even the empire in general, has laid out great fums on the building tbefe fortification, parts of them are not finifhed^ and parts of them are ready to fall to pieces. Their extent, indeed, would re- quire a great army to man. But this, as well as as the maintaining and keeping them up, is evi- dently TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 369 dently beyond the power of this court, or in- deed of the whole circle of the Upper Rhine uni- tedi They are, therefore, alfo to be looked upon as one of the things, which fcrve more for mag- nificence than real ufe. Whilft the greater courts of Germany are en- deavouring to limplify their feveral fyftems as much as poffible, and to introduce into their fe- veral adminiftrations, a flrong and efficacious fpirit of oeconomy; the diffipation, pomp, and love of outfide fhew of the leiTer ones, is beyond all bounds, and almoft furpalfes all belief. Thefe courts very much refemble the expenfive pup- pet-fhew theatre of Prince Efterazi, which I de- fcribed to you in a former letter ; the orcheftra is fine, the fcenes beautiful, and the poets and machinery delegable ; but the adors are only puppets, deficient in what conflitutes true great- nefs. Thefe petty princes want to make up for it, by ftiining in little things, an affedation w^hich would only deferve ridicule, if it were not for the oppreffion of the fubjed. As things are circumftanced, it is much too ferious a matter for a friend of human nature to make merry with. This reproach, however, does not fo much affedl the prefent archbilhop, who, as far as circum- Hances allow him, is perhaps the only prelate, who endeavours to render his court and ftate ex- pences more ufeful than oftentatious, as it does Vol. II. B b the 370 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. the neighbouring Paladnate through which I took a fortnight's ramble. When I was at Munich, and faw there the ufelefs heap of court attendants, eunuchs, dan- cers, fingers, gardens, and generals, I placed a great part of them to the account of the laft elec- tor, and imagined the prefent had been unwil- ling to make any alterations, not to render him- felf odious, which was the more to be avoided, as the acquintion of Bavaria had made his cir- cumftances very good ; but how fur prized was I, at my arrival at Manheim, to find the fame tafte for magnificence, pleafure, and idle ex- pence ! Would you believe, brother, that the court of Manheim, the revenue of which is not above 3,200,000 Rhenifh guilders, lays out 200,000 of them annually on its opera and mu- fic ? Would you believe, that the keeping up the Schwelhngen gardens, fcarce inferior to thofe of Verfailles, is an annual expence of 40,000? and that the cafiles of Manheim and Schwefiingen coft 60,000 guilders a year? that the hunt cofts 80,000, and the ftables 100,000 guilders? that this court has eleven regiments, with a general to each, which all together do not make above 5500 men? notwithftanding the boafts of the fervants of the court, who, at the time of the difpute between their mafi:er, the counts of Leinengen, and the city of Achin, fpoke TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 371 fpoke of 4C5C00 men to be fent againft the em- peror, who threatened them with an execution, and 15,000 more ready to march againft the city of Achin. I have ah eady told you, when fpeaking of Munich, that to make the puppet theatre complete, the two or three fhips on the Rhine have a lord high admiral to them. It is true, indeed, that the good eledlor is in a great meafure innocent of this exceflive wafte. His fervants bring him in falfe eftimates of his greatnefs, and flatter his weaknefs, in order to divide the plunder between themfelves. The Palatinate is called the paradife of Ger- many. You will judge of its fruitfulnefs, when I tell you, that, exclufive of a great deal of wheat fold in the territories of Mentz and Treves, and exported into Switzerland, it fupplies France every year with 3000 combs of grain. A comb is a meafure of 170 pounds. Beiides corn, they abound in wine and tobacco. But what gives the greateft idea of the profperity of the country, is a lift of the taxes, which was fhewed me by a colle6ior. I do not believe there is a fingle ar- ticle, the air only which the people breathe ex- cepted, which is not to be found among them. Some contributions, fuch as thofe for the canal of Frankenthorn, dams on the Rhine, &c. which ought naturally to have ceafed, when the neceffities they were meant to ferve (if indeed B b :^ fuch 374 TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. fuch a ufelefs and fuperfluous canal can be called a neceffity) have been turned into perpetual im^ polls. The moft wonderful thing of all, how- ever, for a politician, are the cuftoms of the Pa- latinate. Merely with a view of railing thefe, tfie cuftom-houfes have been fo increafed, that almoft every place in the high road has fome par- ticular cuftom payable in it, and all the goods which pafs through it are likewife taxable. Prejudicial as this eftablifhment is, even to the internal police of the country, as in confequence of it a village is often three times more remote from the dwelling place of its bailiff, than it ought to be, if nature and the good of the fub- je6ls were more confulted than the benefit of the ele6lor and his fervants ; yet is every fpark of patriotifm fo extinguiihed in this country, that there is no expectation of a change for the better ever being brought about. In many places on the road, the only mark of the cuftom-houfe is the great flick, which enforces payment. The poor people, who export the commodities of the country, are often compelled to go three miles out of the road to pay the tax. In fhort, the only difference between the pradice of the ancient German nobility, who, even fo low down as the times of the Emperor Maximili- an, ufed to rob the merchant on the road, or compel paffage-money from him ; and the pre- fent TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 373 fent fyftem of taxation in the Palatinate is, that the old nobility did that at the hazard of their heads, which the government of the Palatinate does without danger, and without confcioufnefs of doing wrong. In order to give you a ftill better idea of the oeconomy of this country, you mull know that there is a monopoly eftablifhed for the furnifhing of all the wood burnt not only in the city of Manheim, but for fome miles round. This is not fuch a monopoly as that eftablifhed at Ber- lin, which you know rather helps the peafant to fell his wood, than otherwife. Here, a natural fon of the ele6lor, raifed by him to the dignity of coimt, having entered into agreement with the proje