MAP
of the CIRCLE of
FRANCONIA
THE
Habitable World
DESCRIBED.
Inscribed by Permission to His Royal Highness Frederick
DUKE OF YORK, &c. &c.
HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE
LONDON: Published as the Act directs, by the Author. No . 62. Wardour-Street, Soho.
1788.
THE HABITABLE WORLD DESCRIBED, OR THE PRESENT STATE OF THE PEOPLE IN ALL PARTS OF THE GLOBE, FROM NORTH TO SOUTH; SHEWING The Situation, Extent, Climate, Productions, Animals, &c. of the different Kingdoms and States; Including all the new Discoveries:
TOGETHER WITH The Genius, Manners, Customs, Trade, Religion, Forms of Government, &c. of the Inhabitants, and every thing respecting them, that can be either entertaining or informing to the Reader, collected from the earliest and latest Accounts of Historians and Travellers of all Nations;
With some that have never been published in this Kingdom;
And, nothing advanced but on the best Authorities.
WITH A great Variety of MAPS and COPPER-PLATES, engraved in a capital Stile, the Subjects of which are mostly
new,
and such as have never yet been given in any English work.
BY THE REV. DR. JOHN TRUSLER.
VOL. X.
LONDON.
Printed for the AUTHOR at the LITERARY-PRESS, No. 62, WARDOUR-STREET, SOHO; and sold by all Booksellers.
M DCC XCI.
MAP
of the CIRCLE of
BAVARIA.
LOWER RHINE.
CHAP. XIII.
Of the Circle of Bavaria.
BAVARIA not only contains the proper dominions of the dukedom of that name, but also the territories of the Archbishop of Saltzburg, and the bishoprics of Passau, Ratisbon, and Friesengen. It is divided into Upper and Lower Bavaria, bounded by Franconia, Voitland and Bohemia, on the N. by Bohemia and Austria, E. Carinthia, Brixen and Tyrol, to the S. and by Swabia on the W. extending about 200 miles from N. to S. and 120 from E. to W.
The Elector of Bavaria and the Archbishop of Saltzburg, are the joint summoning princes. Ratisbon or Wasserburg are the two places where the diet of the circle is usually held, though sometimes it is convened at Landshut or Muldorf. The Elector is hereditary commander in chief, and has the direction of all military affairs. With respect to religion, this circle is one of the mixed.
Upper Bavaria is partly mountainous and woody, and partly marshy, abounding in large and small lakes, and, having a good deal of level ground, is fitter for pasturage than tillage. Lower Bavaria is more level and more fruitful. But Bavaria in general abounds in grain, pastures, forests, and plenty of cattle, game, and wild fowl. It produces also in different parts, salt, copper, silver, lead, and marble, and here are medicinal springs and baths. The Danube, which has its scource in Swabia, waters the electorate from east to west, receiving other rivers in its course. Out of the Danube and two other rivers, a small quantity of sand is collected. There are sixteen large inland lakes, and 160 small ones, all which afford a number of fish.
In all Bavaria are reckoned thirty-five cities, and ninety-five open and enclosed market-towns, 1000 castles and seats, or estates invested with lower town jurisdiction over the vassals, and 11,704 villages, hamlets, and desarts, which last alone are computed at 4000. In the Upper Palatinate are thirteen cities and twenty-eight market-towns. The computation of vassals or families in the electorate, which estimates them at four millions, and those in Bavaria alone at near 3,400,000, exceeds the truth, as this would make the number of people 24,000,000, they do not amount to more than one million and a half, and the income of the Duke is 1,000,000l. sterling.
In Bavaria no other religious doctrine is tolerated than the Roman-catholic. The parishes in the electorate are about 1500, the vicarages and chapels near 2000, and the number of churches, it is said, amount to 28,709. The remarkable convents are eighty-six, and the collegiate foundations twelve.
Solid knowledge and good learning must be owned, to the honour of this electorate, to be on a better footing, and to receive more countenance here now than ever. The Benedictines distinguish themselves in both, and Ingoldstadt boasts a university.
Manufactures are also encouraged and improved here, particularly coarse cloths, woollen stuffs, and stockings, silk stuffs, velvets, tapestry, good clocks, watches, and other necessaries, though its chief exports consist of cattle, grain, wood, salt, and iron. At Munich, from spring to June, is brewed a kind of white beer, called ambock, very strong, and something like fine English ale, but won't keep. The monopoly of this liquor brings in yearly above a million of guilders.
Agriculture here is at a very low ebb; not more than half the country is in tenure, or occupancy, and fallows are kept open three, four, or five years to strengthen the soil, e're they sow the land for a crop.
The title of the Elector is, "By the grace of God, Duke of Upper and Lower Bavaria, as also the Upper Palatinate, Pfalsgrave of the Rhine, Arch-steward of the Holy Roman Empire, and Landgrave of Leuchtenberg." The arms are quarterly, an escutcheon of pretence; in one, a topaz in a field ruby, in another, a lion ruby, crowned topaz, and in the other two lozenges, sapphire and pearl.
There are five hereditary state-officers in this electorate; that of the master of the houshold has been vested in the Barons Hasiangs, since 1618, and they have been ambassadors at the court of London for many years. The knights of the Bavarian order of
St. George,
must produce unquestionable proofs of their nobility for eight generations back in both lines. Its ensign is a blue enamelled cross with a
St. George
in the middle, worn pendant to a broad sky blue ribband, with a black and white border, and a star on the breast. The military force of the Elector consists of regulars and militia; the former, in time of peace, amounts only to 12,000, in war to 30,000.
PLAN
of the CITY of
MUNICH.
1
Elector's Palace
2
Elector's Court Garden
3
Arsenal
4
Turnier's House
5
Th
ntiner Church
6
St . Mary's Church Yard
7
Convent upon the Stieger
8
Franciscan Convent
9
i
ick Convent
10
English Ladies
11
Gr
t
12
St . Lawrence Church and Al
Court
13
Old Stable
14
Mint
15
Brown Brew House
16
White Brew House
17
Duke Ma
is
Palace
18
Town House
19
St . Peter's Church
20
House of Correction
21
Duke Ferdinand's Chapel
22
The Fabric
23
St . Jacob's Church and Clarisson Convent
24
House for Orphans
25
Blue Duck's Tower
26
The Place
27
Handsome Tower
28
St . Mary's Church
29
Kin
s
30
New Stables
31
Elector's Opera House
32
St . Rochu's Church
33
J
Church and College
34
Holy Ghost Church
35
The Holy Trinity Church and Ladies Convent of the Carmelites
36
Carmelites Church
37
Capuchins Convent
38
S
rri
ine Convent
39
Boarding House
40
Duke's Hospital
41
Joseph's Hospital
42
St . Ann's Church and the
Convent
43
Brother House
44
The Elector's House for Orphans
45
S
's Gate
46
Ha
r Gate
47
Capuchins Convent
48
S
binger Gate
49
Kharl Gate
50
L
r Gate
51
L
r Bridge
52
Was
er Tower
Of the cities, we shall speak only of Munich, Saltsburg, Ratisbon, Passau, and Ingoldstadt. Munich is a fortified city, seated on the Iser, and the capital and residence of the Elector.
Ratisbon and Munich are the principal cities, but the latter is considered as the capital. It is pleasantly situated on the river Isar, which, divided into several channels, waters all parts of the town, so that little streams run through many of the streets, confined in stone channels, which have a most clean and agreeable effect. The streets, squares, and courts are spacious and airy, which make all the buildings appear more magnificent than those in other cities, which have been built with much more cost and expence. The streets in particular are so straight, that many of them intersect each other at right angles, and are very broad and extremely well built. The splendour and beauty of its buildings, both public and private, especially the electoral palace, may compare with any in Europe. The magnificence of the churches and convents are such, that they are equal, if not superior to any in Germany.
The electoral palace is not so noble an edifice outwardly, as its internal beauty demands. This vast structure being built at various periods by successive princes, several fancies were indulged in the taste of it; and it has many valuable paintings, and the Duke of Marlborough, after the battle of Hochstet, brought away a great many to England.
It is seated at the extremity of the town, and contains 2060 windows, twenty large halls, eleven courts, nine galleries, sixteen kitchens, and twelve cellars. It is thought to be one of the most magnificent, large, and commodious palaces in Europe, and of the four principal courts, one is adorned with several brass statues; another, the Emperor's, is so constructed, that combats of wild beasts may be exhibited in it. In the kitchen-court, which is the
argest, at the nuptials of an elector, a very magnificent tournament was held. The ascent from the Emperor's court to the hall, is a flight of wide and beautiful red marble-steps. The hall is 118 feet long, and fifty-two wide. In it stands a statue of Virtue made of one single piece of porphyry; here is also a bath, consisting of a grotto, and three rooms, a museum, a chamber of curiosities, and a noble library.
In the museum are some hundred statues and busts of the old Roman emperors, with 500 other antiques, as lamps, inscriptions, basso relievos, &c. most of which were brought from Italy. Among other things to exercise curiosity, is a small statue of brass, weighing seventy odd pounds, and yet hardly to be lifted by the strongest man, unless he places himself so as to give it a certain equilibrium, but by advancing the left foot before the statue, it is so easily managed, as to be lifted up, without any effect, by a single finger put into the hole. In the Elector's treasury, shewn by his first gentlemen of the bed-chamber, are a number of valuable articles, that have but few equals in all Europe, as, 1. A hill with a castle on it, all of oriental pearls. 2. Several vessels of green jasper. 3. A cabinet of many large pieces of chrystal work; among the rest, a ship, some spans long, the pilot, and all the tackling of the purest gold. 4. A large lagule bowl. 5. Patterns of a gold service of the finest gold, for three large tables, and in mortgage at Ausburg. 6. A ruby, as large as a walnut. 7.
St. George,
on horseback, cut from a fine piece of red agate, his armour of diamonds, set in gold. 8. A double brilliant diamond, the size of a middling nut. 9. A larger, which cost 100,000 guilders. 10. A set of buttons and loops of diamonds, with rubies set between. 11. A like set of diamonds only, the buttons of exceeding beauty, and in size not inferior to those which were worn by
Lewis
XIV. when he gave public audience to the Persian Ambassador, and of a superior lustre to the French, having been twenty years in collecting, and at an incredible expence. 12. The images of the Bavarian family, in blue chalcedony. 13. An ivory closet, of uncommon curious workmanship, containing 1144 gold Roman medals.
Near a wall in one of the palace courts, is a large black stone, with the following inscription on it, "In 1409, the illustrious Duke
Christopher,
the renowned hero of Bavaria, lifted this large stone, weighing 340 lb. and threw it to some distance." A Bavarian country girl some few years since raised this stone a hand high from the ground. Near the same place are also three iron nails driven into the wall, with this inscription: "Let every leaper behold with wonder these three nails; the first of which is twelve feet from the ground, and indicates a leap of the noble Duke
Christopher;
the second nail, which is ten feet and a half, was reached by
Zundritt;
the third, though but nine feet and a half, shews the activity of
Philip Springer.
He who can outdo these leaps, let him try."
Count
Preising,
master of the horse, has built opposite to the palace, a hotel, the four sides of which answer to so many streets, and is a great ornament to the city. The pillars of his stable are red marble, and every horse feeds out of a particular marble of twenty-five guilders value.
The cathedral church of our lady has two large towers, contains twenty-five chapels, thirty altars, and twenty-four large columns. Not far from one of the doors, is a stone, with a mark on it; and to him who stands there, the multitude of pillars takes away the sight of every window of the church, of course the church is rather dark. It has a large organ of box wood, and a stately black marble monument of the Emperor
Lewis,
of Bavaria, with six large, and several lesser statues of brass.
The palace and other electoral buildings, together with the brew-houses, 16 monasteries, churches, and other religious structures, take up near half of the city; the precinct of the Augustines alone, consists of several streets, which bring them in an annual rent of 3000 guilders.
The Elector's court is very numerous and splendid. The late elector had thirty-six lords of the bed-chamber, (I am speaking now from
Keysler,
who was there about sixty years ago). The same elector kept 1200 or 1400 horses; his successor was contented with 700, but sixty-five footmen are kept in constant pay. At the court of Bavaria, from its numerous family and alliances with the Imperial house, there are no less than thirty-three state festivals, and these are increasing; but at the festival of
Corpus Christi,
there is a procession of several thousand persons; deputies of all trades and handicrafts assist at it, with costly flags carried before them; the same is done also by the religious orders, every member of which joins the procession. All manner of religious histories are exhibited on a great number of triumphal cars, by children, richly dressed. At the head of their respective fraternities, ride St.
George
and St.
Maurice,
in Roman habits. St.
Maurice
is represented by a young lady, in the attire of a Roman vestal, leading after her a large dragon, in which two men are enclosed, to give it the necessary movements. The four mendicant orders precede the venerable host, carried under a splendid canopy. Immediately after rides the Elector in person, and his consort on his left, both holding a lighted taper. Next to the Electress comes her master of the houshold, followed by some court ladies, and after these, the whole court, dressed after the Spanish fashion. The streets are boarded, strewed with flowers and herbs, and the procession lasts an hour and a half.
The late elector was immoderately fond of hunting, and the electress was so fond of him, that she entered into the spirit of his amusement. She shot very well, and at hunting, made nothing of trampling up to her knees in a morass. Her dress was a green coat, and a little fair wig. She was extremely fond of dogs, particularly the English grey-hounds, they were always with her in her best apartment, and surrounded her in bed and at table. At their hunting seat, the electress's bed-chamber was under the elector's, had a kennel in one corner, and a much larger one in a fine closet adjoining. The complexion of the court ladies visibly suffered from their attendance on her in all weathers. There goes a story, that
Lewis
XIV. said, jesting, to Baron
Freybzerg,
the Elector's great huntsman, which is a state officer in Bavaria, concerning a bitch, which the Elector particularly valued; "I am told your bitch often loses scent of the game," to which the Baron, piqued at a reflection on the flower of his pack, warmly replied, "How!—She's as true as the gospel."
They have here a remedy for the bite of a mad dog, which the late elector himself often made use of with success for his officers, and once for one of the chief princesses of the court,
viz.
to make the patient eat the raw liver of the dog that did the mischief.
The chapel of the Virgin
Mary
is finished with every species of riches, such as gold, silver, and precious stones; nor does it want for its share of relicks, for the religious pretend to have a good part of the skirt of the mohair gown which the Virgin
Mary
wore, when
Christ
was crucified!—Be this at it may, yet it is certain, the most profound veneration is paid to this choice piece of an old garment.
In the largest market-place stands a marble pillar, with a brass statue of the Virgin
Mary
upon it, and two large fountains on each side; fronting of which is the town-house, a very elegant building, with a great number of hieroglific paintings on the front.
This city is said to contain 40,000 inhabitants, most of which are Roman-catholics; and although very polite in manners and address, yet very superstitious, and are led into many errors, by the art of the Friars, who are too numerous for the size of this place.
Of the general maxims or leading principles of the people of this court, we can say but little. Immediate self-interest is apparently the pursuit of every one; or if they do profess any principles, they are certainly the most pliant and versatile in the world. Indeed, if we may judge by the way of thinking of inferiors, many of the principal people have adopted the most execrable theory in politics; for instance, that religion serves only for the purpose of keeping the crowd of mankind slaves to them. That a courtier must put on the externals of religion, but leave the practice to the vulgar. That men are by nature wicked, seditious, turbulent, and only to be governed by being kept in perpetual servitude, and not being permitted to use their faculties. Finally, that too much knowledge is dangerous, and that the great hold their rights over their people from God, and are no ways accountable for their conduct, nor under any obligation to their subjects. Every thing here is venal.
A few years ago, a certain minister of this court would have sold half Bavaria to the house of Austria, if the Prussian and Russian courts, and the minister of the court of Deux-Ponts, had not prevented the purchase.
In every project proposed, a small part only is intended for any good purpose; the greater part has the interest of the projector in view.
Every thing here is calculated for shew▪ and as a specimen, the court keeps a great admiral for two or three vessels on the Rhine. The army consists of thirty regiments, although not above 15,000 strong, and the fourth of these are officers, amongst which are several general field-marshals.
The titles and embroidered cloaths of the inhabitants (says
Reisbec
) by no means secure a stranger from their begging from him; the following anecdote, from that author, we shall lay before our readers:—"One day (says he) I went to see the handsome jesuit church, where that I might not appear an idle spectator, I knelt down by some people in a pew; immediately a man, whom, by his dress, I supposed to be a person of consequence, moved nearer to me, and presenting me with a pinch of snuff, and prefacing his intentions, with a few remarks on the beauty of the building, then entered into a detail of his necessities and requested charity! The same thing happened to me at another church, where the beggar was a well dressed woman."
Here there are no pains taken to correct the people from their inclination to theft and robbery, by good education, improved morals, and encouragement to industry. Sumptuous places of public amusements, expensive collections of curiosities, palaces, gardens, and innumerable swarms of glittering servants, are the only fashionable errors to be acquired. Priests, and the frail sisterhood, lead the higher classes into all the slavish shackles of vice, folly, and excess. Or, in the words of
Reisbec,
"since the time that a Capuchined daemon has had sufficient influence in the direction of the Bavarian politics, to mislead the government, little else than anarchy and confusion have pervaded the political system of this state."
A picture of the Bavarian character and manners, by
Hogarth,
was he now living, would be extremely interesting. Great singularity of character is often to be met with in England; but what Bavaria offers, exceeds any thing to be seen elsewhere.
The Bavarian men in general are stout bodied, muscular and fleshy. The women extremely handsome, well shaped, and lively in conversation.
The characteristic, says
Reisbec,
of a Bavarian man, is a very thick round head, a little peaked chin, a large belly, and a pale complexion. Many of them look like caricatures of man, they have great fat bellies, short clubbed feet, narrow shoulders, and short necks. They are heavy and aukward in their carriage, and their small eyes betray a great deal of roguery. The women are some of the most beautiful creatures in the world, rather gross, but their skin surpasses all the carnation ever used by painters, the purest lily white is softly tinged with purple, as if by the hands of the graces. Some of the peasant girls have such clear complexions, as to appear quite transparent. They are well shaped, and more lively and graceful in their gestures than the men. The peasants wives, of Weild, eight leagues from Munich, wear broad felt hats or bonnets, with a small knob behind, towards the neck, no bigger than a walnut. On holidays, the maids of the principal inns and public-houses at Munich, wear about their necks, a silver chain, of three rows, and their breasts are also laced with two such other chains; a piece of finery, that costs them fifty guilders.
In the capital, they dress in the French style, or, at least, they imagine that they do so, for the men are still too fond of gold and mixed colours. The country gentry, dress without any taste at all. The chief ornament of the men, is a long, broad waistcoat, strangely embroidered, from which their breeches hang very low and loose, probably to give free play to their bellies, which is the chief part of a Bavarian. The women disguise themselves with a sort of stays in the shape of a funnel, which cover the breast and shoulders, so as to hide the whole neck. This stiff dress is covered with silver beads, and thickly overlaid with silver chains. In many places the housewife has a bunch of keys and a knife, appendant to a girdle, which reach almost to the ground.
As to the characters and manners of the Bavarians, the inhabitants of the capital naturally differ very much from the country people. The manners of the people of Munich are corrupt, as must be the case with 40,000 men, depending entirely upon a court's growing generally idle at its expence.
Among the great nobles here met with, as well as elsewhere, there are some very well-bred and polite persons, but the people in general, taking the words in their full extent, are in a high degree destitute of every sense of honour, without education, without any attachment to the constitution, or generous feeling whatever. The fortunes of this place are from 1500 to three or four thousand pounds a year, but the possessors know no other use for their money, than to spend it in sensual gratifications. Many good houses have been ruined by play. The fashionable game at court was formerly called
zwicken,
or
perich,
but since
Hambesch,
the minister of Finance, has pinched their salaries so much, they call it
hambesch.
Many of the court ladies know no other employ, than playing with their parrots, their dogs, or their cats. One of the principal ladies, whom I was acquainted with, says Baron
Reisbec,
kept a hall full of cats, and two or three maids to attend them; she conversed half the day long with them, often served them herself with coffee and sugar, and dressed them, according to her fancy, differently every day.
The little noblesse and servants of the court, have such a passion for titles, as is to be pitied. Before the present Elector came here, the place swarmed with excellencies, honourable and right honourable. The Emperor made an order to ascertain the different ranks of noblesse; all those whom it deprived of titles, and, particularly the women, sunk into despair, and, for the first time, complaints were made of tyranny, of which none before seemed to have any conception.
The remainder of the inhabitants are immersed in the most scandalous debauch; every night the streets re-echo with the noise of drunkards, issuing from the numerous taverns, where they have open revelling and dancing. Whoever is at all noble here, must keep his mistress, and the rest indulge in promiscuous love. In this respect, things are not much better in the country; so that Bavaria well deserves the character given of it, by an officer of Gascony, of being the greatest brothel in the world.
The country people are extremely dirty; a few miles distant from the capital, one would hardly take the hovels of the peasants for the habitations of men. Many of them have large puddles before their doors, and are obliged to step over planks into them. The thatched roofs of the country, in many parts of France; have a much better appearance than the wretched huts of the Bavarian peasants, the roofs of which are covered with stones, in order that the slates may not be carried away by the wind. Mean as this looks; cheap as nails are here, and often as half the roof are torn away by strong winds, yet cannot the rich farmer be persuaded to nail his shingles properly together. In short, from the court to the smallest cottage, indolence is the most predominant part of the character of the Bavarian.
As I strolled, continues the same author, through the country, I shuddered at the sight of the ravages which war had made. There is no town of any importance throughout all Bavaria, but the capital. You would never imagine what pitiful little holes Landsberg, Wasserberg, Landshut, and many other places are, which make a great figure in the map. To al appearance, neither Ingoldstadt nor Shaubingen, or any of the greater towns, except Munich, contains above 4000 people. Excepting the brewer, baker, and innkeeper, you may seek in vain for a rich tradesman. There is not a vestige of industry either in town or country, but every body seems to consider idleness and beggary as the happiest state of man.
The country people and farmers are divided into four classes; into whole, half, and quarter-farmers, and into those called
hausler.
The whole farmers plough with eight horses, and are termed
einliedler,
that is, hermits, because their farm-houses are at a distance from any cottage. Many of these farm-houses command a territory of three miles in length and breadth, and the owners employ from ten to fifteen horses in their tillage, reckoning two horses to every plough. Of such farmers, there may be about 40,000. A half-farmer ploughs with four, and a quarter-farmer, with two horses. The
hausler
are day labourers to the rest, and till their bit of property with cattle belonging to others. Having no idea of meadow land or stall-food for cattle, the farmers excuse their ignorance and inattention to it, by pleading the want of manure. In a word, both court and people seem blind to their own interest, and a slothful indolence pervades the whole nation.
This great indolence is contrasted in an extraordinary manner, with a still higher degree of bigotry, as was before observed, and a story of the facetious baron will exemplify the appellation. "I happened (says he) to stroll into a dark, filthy beer house, in the outlets of Munich, where, on my entrance, I beheld a cloud of smoke, but as soon as the vapour was a little cleared, I could discern a loud company of the lower order of the people headed by a drunken priest. His black coat was bedaubed with grease and filth, having many appertures in its fabrick, and, in either hand, emblems of his devotion, that is to say, cards in the one, and a jug of ale in the other. After the assembly were tolerably plied with strong drink, the sun-shine of conviviality gave way to the storms of inebriety, and pots, bottles, and glasses flew thick at each others heads. Presently the evening bell rang for prayers, when off went their bonnets, and down fell the company on their knees, repeating
Ave Maria, Pater noster, &c.
After prayers, they arose, with determined resolution, to end the dispute by the aid of mugs and glasses, upon which I thought it high time to decamp, as I foresaw there might be danger to be within reach of the things in motion; and perceiving the priest took a lower seat, as he thrust in his weighty carcase, under the table, for shelter, least one of the bottles should come in contact with his noddle."
The same scenes occur in the inland towns among the citizens, officers, clergymen, and students. They all salute each other with abusive language, all vie in hard drinking, and close to every church, there is regularly a brew-house and a brothel. A student of the university of Ingoldstadt, must carry a thick cudgel, and wear a neat cut hat, he must be able to drink from eight to ten quarts of beer at a sitting, and be always ready to fight, right or wrong, with the officers of the garrison. No pen, continues
Reisbec,
can describe the ridiculous mixtures of debauchery and devotion, which every day happen. The most notorious is that which took place in the church of St.
Mary Oettingen,
a few years since, when a priest actually deflowered a girl whom he had long pursued, and could only make a prize of there, before the altar of the Virgin.
The country people join to their indolence and devotion a certain ferocity of temper, which often gives rise to bloody scenes; when they mean to praise a church holiday, or some public festival, which has lately been kept, they say.—It was a charming day, there were six or eight persons killed, and many broken legs and arms. If no accident happened, they call it a fiddle-faddle business, a mere nothing. In the beginning of this century, the Bavarian troops maintained the first reputation among the German forces. At the battle of Hochstadt, they kept their ground, and conceived themselves victors, till the Elector, who
ed them, was informed that the French had given way on the other wing. Under
Tilly
and
Mercy
they did wonders, but since the time of those generals, military discipline has so far relaxed amongst them, that they are no longer soldiers. No people can shew more abhorrence to every th
that is called discipline and order, than the Bav
ians do: they might, however, still be useful as fr
e booters, where robberies and disorders are more pa
onable than those of regular troops. There are band
of robbers about, one thousand men strong, and would, undoubtedly, make good scouting parties in time of war. There have been instances of opposing the military, under bold leaders, to the very last man. But the poorest peasants consider it as a hardship to be drafted into the regular troops of his prince.
The inhabitants of the capital are very timid and subservient, but the unadulterated Bavarian peasant is gross, fat, dirty, lazy, drunken and undisciplined, economical and patriotic, yet he is brave, and such a slave to his word, that when he has once given it, it is never to be broken. The imitative zeal is singularly strong in these people, for whatever character the Elector assumes, from the highest to the lowest, they are religiously devoted to its observance.
It is the religious contagion only that unfits the natives of this circle, from those proper exercises in life, that could tend to the advancement both of their credit and fortune. Monks are the directors of temporal concerns as well as spiritual discipline. They alone are to be thanked for that wildness of manners usual among the Bavarians. Their cowls contain the essence of christianity and all morality. They preach nothing but masses, which are profitable to them, and the rosary, the scapulaire, and ridiculous mortification of the body, are the means by which many blockheads have got the name of saints.
Thus the deceived layman believes, that confession and a mass, which only costs fifteen pence, will wipe away the foulest sins, and considers the telling of his beads, as the most essential duty of this life.
The secular priests are as few in number, as the monks are many. These ought naturally to form the manners of the country; but they are held in much less veneration than the others, because their dress and appearance is not so extraordinary. In Bavaria, however, they do not deserve more respect than the monks, for though their parishes are four miles in compass, and producing from four to 600l. a year, the greater part of them differ only from the peasants, by wearing a black coat, keeping a more expensive table, and a handsomer and better dressed house-keeper: In other things they are equally lazy, unlearned and ignorant.
The air of this electorate is considered as very salubrious, for, notwithstanding the inconsiderate mode of living pursued by the generality of people here, few die of epidemical distempers; health and longevity being the distinguished characteristics of this favoured country.
Near Munich is a town called Reichen-hall, remarkable for its curious salt spring, the water of which worked by a mill, has a wheel thirty-six feet in diameter, which, by means of a chain-pump, raises the fluid into a reservoir, and thence into pipes for the distance of fifteen English miles, over a lofty mountain, to a salt-house, where fuel is convenient, and there it is boiled. On the mountains over which it passes, there are little houses, at proper distances, in order to throw the water higher; for the conveyance also of a strong fresh spring used in turning the wheels and other engines, and likewise for carrying off any superfluous salt water, there is a most astonishing and durable aqueduct of square flints, three English miles in length, and five feet broad, with an arched roof, being made upwards of 300 years, at a vast expence. It is in many places overlaid with hard rosin. After running to a depth of twelve fathoms under the town, and from thence under the gardens and fields, it at last ejects the water in a strong torrent.
This aqueduct is in general between three and four feet in depth, and runs so swiftly, that in a boat, with torches, one may sail from one end to the other in about a quarter of an hour. In order to proceed on this subterraneous voyage, there is a descent, by means of a sunk tower. There are five apertures in the form of towers, through each of which a person may speak from the ramparts of the tower with those who sail on the canal.
THE BISHOPRIC OF RATISBON
Has some territory round the city. It comprehends under two collegiate churches, twenty-eight abbeys and prelacies, and twenty nine rural deaneries, to which belong 1383 parishes, chapels of ease, and chaplaincies. It likewise extends over the Bavarian districts of Holnberg in the Upper Palatinate, as also over the Roman-catholic parishes, in the principality of Sulzbach, the Landgravate of Leuthtenberg, and the county of Hernstein. The Bishop is a prince of the empire, and Ratisbon is the capital of the bishopric.
Ratisbon is situated in forty-nine deg. N. Lat. at the confluence of the rivers Danube and Regen, about sixty miles N. of Munich, and the like distance W. of Passau. It is the only free Imperial city within the limits of the Elector's dominions; and is large, populous, and well fortified. There is here a very antique bridge of free-stone thrown over the Danube, begun in 1135, and finished in eleven years, and fabulously said to have been built by the devil. It has 15 arches supported by square pillars, and is 1091 feet in length, and 320 broad. It is commonly said of the three principal bridges in Germany, that Dresden bridge is the most elegant, that of Prague the longest, and that of Ratisbon the strongest.
The city is governed by its own magistrates, which are all Lutherans, and not subject to the Elector. Here the diet of the empire meets, the city having the rank of the first place among the Imperial towns. The council-house in which they meet is a large Gothic structure, of no particular elegance.
The Bishop, although a prince of the empire, and taking his title from the town, is only privileged by magistracy to say mass here.
The church of the abbey dedicated to St.
Emmeran,
is a very stately as well as ancient building, erected A. D. 649. This building is said to contain many adored relicks, but the most material is, that of the whole body and limbs of
Dionysius,
the Areopagite, except the middle finger of his right hand, which the palace chapel of the Virgin
Mary,
at Munich, carefully retains, rolled up in a piece of the Virgin
Mary's
mohair gown, already mentioned.
The authenticity of this relick has been confirmed by Pope
Leo
XI. but notwithstanding this, the monks of St.
Denys,
near Paris, insist that the body of this Saint is actually in their possession, and his head is shewn in the third shrine of their treasury. His head is also devoutly worshipped in the cathedral of Bamberg, and at Prague another head is kept in the church of St.
Vitus
in the castle. The monks of St.
Emmeran
say, this relick was purloined from the abbey of St.
Denys
in France.
This free Imperial city contains five different states within its circuit, namely, the cathedral of Ratisbon, the Imperial abbey of St.
Emmeran,
the Lower Minster, the Upper Minster, and the city itself. The ladies in the Upper and Lower Minster, live in a free manner, and are under little or no restraint in these two abbeys. They go abroad when they please, receive visits from gentlemen, appear at balls in the city, and generally stay till the last dance, and that no liberty may be wanting to indulge their desires, they have always the privilege of quitting the abbey by marrying. The abbesses avoid public assemblies as if they were princesses, because the envoys ladies will not allow them the honour of precedence.
There is a convent here in which Roman-catholics only are admitted, that are natives of Scotland, and those of the greatest abilities are selected from the rest, and sent as missionaries to their native country. There is also such a seminary at Wurtsburg, and another at Erfurt. In the hospital of St.
Catherine,
the protestants have a chapel, where a Lutheran minister preaches every Monday, which is not tolerated in any other part of Bavaria. The persons received into this hospital are half protestants and half Roman-catholics.
As Ratisbon is where the diet of the empire meets, one would suppose, that the number of envoys from the different princes, who constantly reside here, would give life to the place. No.—Every thing is dull and dead. If it was not for the Prince of Thurn, who is the Emperor's principal commissary, one would not believe the town to be the seat of the diet; but this gentleman, whose income is about 40,000l. a year, gives operas, comedies, wild beast bailings, balls, and fireworks. The rest of the ambassadors, on account of the smallness of their incomes, are obliged to live very economically, and many of them go about in hackney coaches. As every thing for their use comes into the city duty free, the people of the place make heavy complaints of their servants for carrying on a large contraband trade. Indeed they conceive that what they lose by this, is more than an equivalent for what they gain by the diet in other respects. The fact is, that the ambassadors, from the greatest powers, who have large incomes, and seem to be paid for holding great state, hold none; and as the other ministers regulate themselves by their example, one may be several weeks in town, without knowing that the diet is assembled.
The business of the diet is very tedious, owing to the prevalence of party on all great occasions. The diet, as has been observed, consists of three colleges, the electoral, the prince's, and the states. All assemble in a hall to receive the Emperor's propositions, thence they retire to separate apartments to discuss the business. The majority decides in each chamber, and so does the majority of the three colleges, as to the determination of the whole. When they are determined, it is laid before the Emperor, or his principal commissary. The first college has nine voices; the second one hundred; and that of the states fiftyone.
The Imperial court has great influence in all the three colleges. The three ecclesiastical electors have been almost constantly creatures of the Emperor, who spares neither gold threats nor promises to inspire the canons of Mentz, Treves, and Cologne, in the choice of a new archbishop. The Emperor has the same weight in the college of princes; almost all the ecclesiastical princes are his true sons; besides, it has always been the maxim of the Imperial court to raise the members of the hereditary dominion, who possessed the smallest fief in the empire, to the dignity of princes, in order to give them a seat in the diet. In the college of towns or states, he rules almost without controul, for as these are almost all encompassed by most powerful princes, they require the particular protection of the court of Vienna, to prevent their being totally crushed. But it being enacted, that the majority in the Imperial colleges shall not be decisive either in religion or those matters, in which the states could not be considered as one body, or where the catholics are of one, and the protestants of another opinion; in such cases the colleges divide into parties, and however small in number one party may be, its decree is held equal to the other more numerous one. Thus the Emperor is sometimes opposed by the protestants, and the Roman-catholics have found a benefit in it. Though Saxony has the apparent government of the protestant party, the King of Prussia's power is got to that pitch as to be at the head of the party, and he often protests vehemently against things in which religion is not the least concerned.
The principal Imperial commissioner who is at the head of the diet, by virtue of his office, takes place of all the emperors, ambassadors, and others, except only the envoy from the court of Rome, being here the representation of the head of the German empire. He returns no visits, nor does he give the title of
Excellence
to any of the envoys, not even to those of the electors. When an envoy from an electoral prince pays him a visit, he orders him to be received at his coach-door by four gentlemen, two pages and a harbinger, and meets him at the door of the second anti-chamber, walking back, a little before, on the right hand of the envoy. The same superiority he assumes in reconducting him. His audience chair is under a canopy, on which is the Emperor's picture. His annual income is 24,000 guilders, paid out of the Imperial treasury, and 12,000 out of the Emperor's privy purse, that is about 4200l. sterling.
The envoys of Ratisbon, as representatives of electors, &c. have very lofty ideas of their office, and assume such state, that when the widow of Duke
Frederick Henry,
of Saxe Zeitz, a princess of the House of Holstein Wiesenburg, came to pay a visit to the Cardinal
Saxe Zeitz,
her brother-in-law; her highness could appear but very seldom in public company, because the ladies of the electoral envoys claimed the precedency of her. If sovereign German princes attend the diet themselves, they sit above all the envoys of other princes, except those of Austria, Burgundy, and Saltzburg, who have maintained the precedency by prescription. It is on account of these disputes about precedency, that the Holstein envoys never attend any of the sessions.
All the envoys receive presents of wine, fish, &c. from the city on their first arrival, and the Imperial commissary, a much larger one. In the college the envoys sit with their hats on, but uncover themselves when they speak.
I have already observed, that the envoys having every article for their consumption, duty free, is a disadvantage to the city. These envoys are numerous, and they each give a great number of protections. Some will have, in general, forty or fifty persons in their retinue, none of whom either pay duty, contributions, imports, or any of the common city-taxes, though some at the same time will keep shops and carry on trade. Under this sanction, coachmen and lacqueys set up public-houses, and draw yearly some hundreds of hogsheads of beer, which, as they pretend, are all of his excellency's household. It is the same with regard to wine, which these privileged publicans import clear of all duty. So that they may easily undersell the fair trader. The quantity of provisions brought over the bridge, on the Danube, in seven days, with permits for the use of the envoys, frequently amounts to 1800 or 2000 guilders.
As the Danube directs its course from Ratisbon to Vienna, it gains this city an advantageous opportunity of sending there, wheat, wood, and several kinds of provisions. The distance between these two cities is about 200 miles, and yet the common people pay no more for their passing down the river, than a creutz or a farthing a mile, so that the whole fare, at this rate, does not exceed four or five shillings.
Keysler
says two shillings and four-pence. This cheap way of travelling induces great numbers of young artificers and handicraftsmen to go and try their fortune at Vienna; but they do not find it so easy to return home, as they generally spend what they earn by their trades, and are often obliged to enlist for soldiers.
ARCHBISHOPRIC OF SALTZBURG.
On the east, this bishopric is bounded by Austria and Stiria; by Corinthia and the Tyrol on the south; and by Bavaria on the west and on the north. Its extent from east to west is about five and twenty German miles, and from north to south, in some parts, sixteen, and in others, five and twenty.
The country is defended on all sides by mountains and narrow passes, or rather consists entirely of mountains and vallies. No manner of grain being sown here, it is supplied with all its corn from Bavaria; but every part of it produces hay of a peculiar goodness, and this proves a fund for breeds of excellent cattle. The horses in particular are esteemed for their beauty, hardiness and vigour, being able to travel full speed up the highest mountains, and that supported by no other food than hay and grass without any oats.
In this archbishopric are six cities and twenty-five towns. All the peasants are allowed the use of firearms, and are from their earliest youth trained up to shooting at a mark, and practising military exercises. The nobility were formerly very numerous, but the policy of the princes set so many springs at work to oppress and exterminate them, that at present there is not one remaining, and their estates are in the hands of the church. With respect to the few nobles at court, or belonging to the cathedral, they are all foreigners, some Austrians, some Bohemians, and others from Bavaria. Though the Roman catholic worship is the only one tolerated, yet at the time of the reformation, Lutheranism was embraced by great numbers. So late as the year 1732, permission was granted to the Lutheran Saltzburgers to leave the country, and take their property with them; accordingly above 30,000 persons accepted this indulgence, and dispersed themselves in the other protestant countries of Germany, Prussia, and even in the English colonies in America. In all which places they were received with that benevolence and encouragement which their magnanimity deserved; and ever since that time, these emigrations have continued.
His revenues are estimated by
Keysler
at 800,000 rix-dollars;
Busching
affirms they are not less than between three and four millions of guilders.
Reisbec
on the contrary says, they are not above 120,000l. which is less than
Keysler
makes them; as eight hundred thousand rix-dollars, at three shillings and six-pence each, makes above 200,000l. But according to
Busching
reckoning the guilder at two shillings and four-pence, which is the average of the German guilder, the income then would be near 400,000l.
The extent of the country is estimated at two hundred and forty German square miles. There are only seven or eight towns, says
Reisbec,
some of which are not to be compared with a Suabian village. The total number of inhabitants is computed at two hundred and fifty thousand. There is only one manufacture in the whole country, which is a small one at Hallein for cotton stockings and night-caps.
The inhabitants live chiefly by breeding cattle. In many places you may find very rich farmers, who own from sixty to fourscore head of great cattle. They export some cheese and butter, but not so much as they might do, if the inhabitants were as industrious, frugal, and disposed for trade as the Swiss. Besides horned cattle, they also breed great numbers of horses, which are very strong, and are exported to great distances for the purpose of heavy draught and burthen.
The salt-works at Hallein are without comparison the most considerable. The internal parts of the mountain which is about four miles distant from this place, consist of crystals of salt, mixed with a great deal of earth. In order to clean it, they dig large, hollow chambers within side, and fill them with water, which washes the salt, and lets the earth sink to the bottom. The water thus impregnated, is conveyed into pens and boiled off. In course of time the chambers fill, of themselves, with salt, and the treasure is inexhaustible. One of these chambers, when lighted, makes the prettiest sight in the world. Conceive to yourself a hall about a hundred feet square, the walls and ground of which are composed of crystal of every earthly colour, and which reflect the light so wonderfully, that you would think yourself in some enchanted palace. In order to carry on this work, the woods of the forests along the Saltza and other rivers is floated down them.
From the unfavourable situation of this country, it cannot use the whole of this treasure for itself, but is obliged to give the most part to foreigners. All the country round about belongs either to Austria or to Bavaria. In Austria they have salt sufficient for their own use, and have prohibited the importation of foreign salt. Bavaria, on the other hand, has so productive a salt work at Ratisbon, that it not only provides sufficient for that country, but also can afford a considerable quantity to foreigners. The archbishop of Bavaria have consequently found themselves obliged to enter into an agreement with the Dukes of Bavaria, by virtue of which these take a certain quantity of salt every year, at a very moderate price, with which they furnish Switzerland and Suabia. By this means, the salt trade of Saltzburg is properly in the hands of Bavaria, which gains full three times as much by it as the Princes of Saltzburg. The value of the salt which Bavaria stipulates to take yearly, amounts to about 20,000l. What is disposed of in the country itself, or carried clandestinely into Austria, makes in the whole about 35,000l. of which two thirds may be clear gain.
The gold and silver mines of this principality make a great figure in the geography of Germany; but compared with the salt-works, are not worth mentioning. The roads through this mountainous country are not in general very good. Notwithstanding, the passage is now and then on wooden bridges hung by chains over some dreadful abysses, the heaviest carriages have nothing to fear, except, perhaps, the being overset by a violent blast of wind, or being covered by a fall of snow in the spring.
About six miles from Saltzburg there is a long narrow valley bounded by high mountains, which stretches itself some miles southward and then westward. At the entrance of this valley is the pass of Lueg or Luhk, a word, which in English means look, or watch-tower. This pass is a deep narrow hollow between naked, and perpendicular rocks of granate, which hang over the road, on each side, to an amazing height, and between which the river Saltza runs like a torrent. Above the river a path has been cut along the side of a rock, and there is a gate with scarce room for a carriage to pass, which is protected by a battery, so that a few people here could withstand a whole army. The other approaches to this valley, which constitute the greatest part of the principality of Saltzburg, are equally well guarded and defended.
The country about Saltzburg forms a striking contrast with the barren, desolate wilds of Munich. For seventeen long miles, the distance between these two cities, there is no place of note, but the dark Wasserburg, which stands on one of the barren sand-hills, round which the river Inn winds. Near the frontiers of Saltzburg, the prospects become varied, the habitations of the peasants appear nearer, and the cultivation of the country improves.
Saltzburg is a fine city. The houses are high and built with stone. The roofs are in the Italian taste, and you may walk out upon them. Before the palace is a fountain, which passes for the finest in all Germany; the figures are all of white marble. The reservoir is an hundred and seven feet in circumference, four large horses spout the water out of their mouths and nostrils; the height of the whole work exceeds fifty feet, and is surmounted by a column of water, some inches in diameter, and eighteen feet high.
The palace is magnificent, abounding with fine pictures, tables of inlaid marble, and superb stones of all colours, and ornamented with statues: the furniture has nothing remarkable; and though the tapestries are valuable on account of the gold and silver, yet age has deprived them of the greatest part of their beauty. The meuse is in three very long and high arched divisions; the horses, whose number amounts to a hundred and fifty, eat out of white marble mangers; and twice a week a running water is turned in through both sides of the stalls, and carries away any filth which may have gathered there; the number of the Archbishop's horses in the city, and at his country palaces, are said to be two hundred and fifty. Over this stable is the fencing school, and before it a pond for watering the horses, ninety-three feet in length; within it stands a very large horse, made of one piece of marble, with water gushing out of his mouth.
The winter riding-school is very lofty, placed with seats on both sides of the walls, between the windows, for the accommodation of spectators of distinction, that the riders may not be incommoded in their exercises. The summer riding-school, which also serves for baiting wild beasts, is in the open air; it has three distinct galleries, one side of which are cut out of the rock.
In the cathedral all the altars are of beautiful marble of different kinds; under the cupola are four altars with an organ over each; the fifth and finest organ is over the chief entrance, and consists of three thousand two hundred and sixty pipes, of which the longest is thirty-three feet; to this organ belong four keys and forty-two registers, of which seventeen are of clock-work. The roof of this church is covered with copper; the gallery between the cathedral and the palace, is of white marble; and nothing of the kind can make finer music, than the chimes of this cathedral.
In St. Sebastian's church lies the famous Switzer,
Theophrastus Bompast,
surnamed
Paracelsus,
of the greatest puffers that ever lived, with the following ostentatious epitaph:
Conditur hic Philippus Theophrastus, insignis medicinae doctor, qui dira illa vulnera, lepram, podagram, hydropisin aliaque insanabilia corporis contagia mirifica arte sustulit, ac bona sua in pauperes distribuenda, collocandaque honoravit. Anno
MDXLI.
die
24
Septembris, vitam cum morte mutavit.
"Here lies interred,
Philip Theophrastus,
a celebrated doctor of physic, who, with wonderful skill, removed those dreadful plagues, the leprosy, gout, and dropsy, with every other incurable malady; his wealth he liberally distributed, and afterwards bequeathed to the poor. On the 24th September, 1741, he departed this life."
A little above the city, springs the Gastein bath, whose waters are very hot, and have a very strong taste of different minerals. They are said to be a remedy for the stone, the venereal disorder, and for the cholic, and this too only by bathing in them, without drinking them.
The city of Saltzburg is remarked for having the best accommodations for travellers of any city in Germany.
The inhabitants in general appear very social, open, and lively, and uncommonly attached to strangers. Every thing in this city breathes the air of pleasure and joy. They eat, drink, laugh, dance, sing, and gamble in the extreme, nor is there any place when you can enjoy so many pleasures for a little money. The people converse upon religion and politics, with a freedom that does honour to the place, and with respect to books, all German publications may be had without the least restraint.
The upper nobility of the place is made up chiefly of Austrian families, who distinguish themselves by their affability, their knowledge of the world, and their manners. On the other hand, the swarm of little court gentry render themselves ridiculous by their pitiful lusts after titles and their pride. You must visit about a hundred of there
Gnadige herren,
which title, in German, means Gracious Sir, who live upon three or four hundred florins a year, which they receive from court, but whom you cannot offend more than by calling them plain Sir, and their wives plain Madam. A man who lives here must accustom himself to put in
Gnadige herren
at every third word, unless he chooses to pass for being ill-bred. Most of them have neither estates nor money; the court is therefore compelled to make their appointments as slender as possible, to keep them from starving; though above two-thirds of them are superfluous servants. Many of them amuse themselves with French and German literature, particularly with all that relates to the stage. The rage for the theatre here is very great, and they look for the coming of a company of strolling players, with as much eagerness as the inhabitants of Siberia look for the return of the spring. Give this class of people their right titles, and you will find them the best kind of creatures living.
The country people are uncommonly lively and gay. The young women of these sequestered vales, fresh as roses, and lively as a roe, understand the art of coquetry as well as any Parisian lady, except that the allurements they display are more natural; they know how to employ the ornamental part of dress to the best advantage If they are disposed to make their lover happy, neither the shame of an illegitimate birth, nor the fear of being obliged to maintain it, is of any consideration. Custom sets them above the first, and the ease of maintaining a child above the latter. Murder of infants here is extremely uncommon, they all yield, without restraint or reserve, to the impulse of nature. The young girls kiss and shake hands in the open church on Sundays, with those they love. On a nightly visit, however, the lover is rather in a hard situation, for let the weather be ever so unfriendly, he is not admitted, until a certain watch-word is given, which, in general, consists of long rhimes, that in a mysterious manner express his sufferings and his smart. This custom is very old, and in many of the remote parts of the mountains, sacred and inviolable.
The inhabitants of these mountains are so contented, that they consider their country as a kind of paradise. Those who lived in Dintner valley, a frightful gap, between naked rocks, through which the river Dintner runs, have a saying, "That when any one falls from heaven, he must fall into Dintner valley." Which is as much to say, that this valley is a second heaven.
Many of the peasants still wear long beards, and go with their heads uncovered, and their breasts open, at all seasons of the year. As they are extremely hairy, and very much sun-burnt, this gives them a very formidable look, but when you come near them, their friendly air and appearance of integrity speak very strongly in their favour. They are courageous and strong, and would, no doubt, make a brave defence in their own country; but out of it they are said not to make good soldiers. Like all the inhabitants of mountains, they cannot stand a change of climate. Besides the peculiarity of their diet, and which they must renounce in the field, their not being able to bear fatigue, makes them unfit for service. Man resembles his soil, unless education and society change him. The peasant of this country bears the stamp of nature upon him. His movements are quick, like the stream in the wood; he is boisterous in his passions, like the atmosphere; he breathes strong as the oak which shades him; and is faithful, firm, and true, as the rock which bears his hut. The life and variety of the scenes which nature offers him here, render his head richer in conceptions, and his heart warmer than it would be, if he dwelt upon an uniform plain, and gave himself up to nature as he does here. His distance from populous cities, and the scattered situation of the huts, preserve his manners pure, and make him more attentive to his own concerns.
Mountainous situations have, unquestionably, in many respects, a preference over the plains. The pulse of nature beats stronger; every thing discovers more life and energy; every thing more loudly and emphatically speaks an Almighty power at work. The stream which meanders through the plain, makes through the mountains, and grows impetuous in its course; the motion of the clouds, the revolutions of the sky, and the peals of thunder, are all more strongly animated. The vallies in the fair season of the year, are filled with finer perfumes of flowers and herbs, than those of the plains, whose soil is not so fit to preserve their radical moisture, and where their exhalations are dissipated more widely in the air. Nature here is more varied, and infinitely more picturesque. Of her different shades, an inhabitant of the plain can form no conception. Here at once nature presents the peculiarities of every season, and the most distant climes. Whilst the summer lasts, in the bottom of the valley is felt the heat of Africa; the middle of the mountain has the temperature of spring, and the top reminds you of Siberia.
This country is singularly interesting to a botanist, or mineralogist; but having the misfortune to be very little known, the discovery of its treasures is reserved for futurity, till either some man of genius shall addict himself to these pursuits, or the swarm of idle travellers, who hover, like cock-chafers, about the Apennines, Alps, Aetna, and the Pyreneans, shall take their flight to these parts, and excite some foreign genius to the task. The Zillerthal is particularly rich in different sorts of variegated stones, and in many parts of the hills you meet with very scarce European plants. In fine, there is room for weaving many an hypothesis on the plants of the hills, on the work and production of the waters in them, and on the revolutions of nature that may still be expected in them.
It was with great pleasure, says
Reisbec,
I wandered over this romantic country, and sometimes standing on some immense peak, I viewed under me the clouds, towered on clouds, boundless plains, innumerable lakes, rivers and brooks, vallies of tremendous depth, and the bare summits of huge granate rocks, with sensations peculiar to their heavenly regions. Sometimes, says he, I took my abode in the deep hanging brow of a mountain, in a shepherdess's hut, who dwelt the whole summer through, with her flock in this subterestrial region, and is visited only by her lover, who clambers up two or three miles of the mountains to her, or by some wild-goat hunter, or strayed knight, like myself; there I live a day, like an ancient patriarch, on milk and cheese, count the flock which in the evening assembles round the hut, at the sound of a flute, and which, for the moment I can think my own; sleep upon a heap of hay far more tranquil than upon the most luxurious downbed, and enjoy the beauties of the rising sun, with a luxury and delight, which at operas, comedies, balls, and such like entertainments are looked for in vain.
The Saltzburg peasant clothes himself from head to foot; every family weaves a sort of coarse, dark, grey cloth, from wool which they grow and prepare themselves. They also make their own shoes and stockings. Their dress is by these means clean, simple, and graceful. The face of the peasants of this country is better than that in most others. The Saltzburger cannot content himself with cheese and potatoes like the Swiss, but must always have his meat, which, however, fat it may be, he constantly dips in hogs lard. He must likewise have bread, beer, and brandy, good of the kind, and in plenty. If this extravagance was not counterbalanced by their admirable economy in other respects, they would be the poorest people in Europe.
The military force of this archbishopric consists only of one regiment of foot, containing 1000 men. Every bailiwick has its rendezvous, to which, on signals given, by means of cannon planted on the mountains, they repair completely armed. The number of peasants who can hit a mark of an hand's-breadth, are computed at 25,000.
The university is kept up by the congregation of Benedictines, who supply it with professors. As the having studied here is a kind of requisite for ecclesiastical preferment in the circle of Suabia, it is a place of some resort for students from that quarter; but those excepted, and a few of the natives, there are no others, though the chairs of the professors are filled with very able men. The funds of the university are too small, they do not in the whole exceed 500l. per annum.
The civil and military officers of Saltzburg have a very great advantage over those of other countries, which is, that half their salaries are continued to their widows during their life, or till they change their condition.
From the top of the
Unterberge,
a mountain near Saltzburg, there is a prospect over all Bavaria. Nine lakes may be reckoned up in one view. The most charming part of this prospect, however, is the principality of Berchtolsgaden, which lies to the south of the mountain. It consists of a small narrow vale, encompassed around with vast heights of the most picturesque granate, and hardly contains 3000 inhabitants. The nature of this country being favourable neither to agriculture nor pasture, the inhabitants have given themselves to works of art, which fail mankind in no part of the earth, and are mighty and powerful enough to turn the hardest stones into bread. It is in these remote vallies that they make the greatest part of the toys with which Nuremberg and Augsburg carry on so considerable a trade. The horses with spurs, little rasps, cukows, wooden mannakins, rats and mice, and all the play-things for little children; also the crucifixes, straw quadrille boxes, powder and pomatum boxes, and all the play-things for great children, in a word, the greater part of the articles which go amongst us, under the name of German toys. It is a pretty sight to behold two or three families in a hut, and to see the great plump hands of the farmers occupied in giving a finish to the smallest articles. Here is occupation for the old as well as the young. The small price these commodities sell for, makes it impossible for them to accumulate riches; but they have enough, and are happy. These good people little think their productions are dispersed all over Europe, and that the Spaniards drive a very profitable trade with them in both Indies.
Hellbrunn is a palace of the Archbishop, near the city, the building of which has nothing in it remarkable, but the gardens are very pleasant; they are laid out in the manner of a wilderness, and abound with the finest water-works, reservoirs, ponds and basons, so clear that trouts and other fish may be seen sporting in them, and nibbling the calves and ox livers with which they are fed. By these waters all kinds of little figures of mills, scissar-grinders, &c. are thrown about the garden; and in the grotto you are sure of being sprinkled by the artificial playing of the water. Over one of the many springs in this garden, is the statue of a monster, which might be taken for a savage or wild-man, were it not for its cock's-comb and eagle's feet. Under it is this inscription. Anno 1531.
"The original of this monstrous figure, called a
forest devil,
was caught a hunting near Stavenburg; his skin was yellowish, he had all the marks of savageness, and never looked at any one, but hid himself in corners; he had the face of a man with a beard, eagle's feet with lion's claws, the tail of a dog, and on his head grew a large cock's-comb; he soon died with hunger, as no alurements nor violence could make him eat or drink."
THE BISHOPRIC OF PASSAU.
This city is situated sixty miles South-East of Ratisbon, at the confluence of the three rivers, Danube, Inn, and Iltsz. It is divided into four parts, the town of Passau, Innstadt, Iltszstadt, and the quarter in which the Bishop's palace is seated. The first three are fortified, but the last, which is only a suburb, has nothing but an old castle, in which the Bishop generally resides. It was in this city that peace was concluded between Charles V. and the protestant princes in 1552, by which the Lutherans were to enjoy the free exercise of their religion. Passau is but a very miserable, ill-built town, those parts excepted which lie near the Danube, and the prince's palace. It is well situated for trade, but its chief subsistence comes from the court, the income of which is about £.22,000 a year, and on the canons, whose benefices are the richest in Germany. A stall here being supposed to be worth about 3000 florins a year, and what with the income of other benefices, there are few of them who have not nearly double that income.
The inhabitants of these several holy cities are all much alike, as drinking and intriguing constitute their principal occupation; and the poverty and good humour which seldom forsake those who are thus addicted, render them affable, obsequious and humble. The cathedral is a fine Gothic building which merits well to be viewed. There are fine china manufactories and potteries in this country; the produce of the former is carried as far as the Rhine.
Many attempts have been made to plant vines on the Iser and Danube below Ratisbon, but hitherto they have produced grapes only for eating; this whole tract of country being too full of wood and water for the vine to ripen in. But what was Suabia in the times of
Tacitus?
Little did the Romans think the vine would grow in Germany when they doubted whether even fruit would grow there. And yet Suabia produces some noble vines now, which may rival the Falernian and Roman wines for their excellence.
The reason to be assigned is, that the air of a country changes with its cultivation. The drying up of marshes renders it warmer. The evaporation too occasioned by numbers who live together may work upon the air. The slopes of the hills on the left side of the Danube, between this place and Ratisbon, promise a good place to plant vines in, as they are well guarded from the noxious winds; and the wine made near Passau truly merits the name of wine.
This large vale of the Danube produces likewise the best kind of corn and would very easily nourish twice the number of inhabitants it does at present.
Corn is often so cheap in Bavaria as hardly to pay the farmer for the trouble of raising it: one hundred and seventy pounds of rye are frequently sold for about two slorins.
Navigation is by no means so well understood in this country as it is upon the Upper Rhine; they do not yet understand how to sail by the direction of the river. Most of the vessels which come down the Danube from Ratisbon and Ulm are without decks or masts; they are built only of fir-boards, and are sold again either at Vienna or elsewhere. The Emperor has promised great encouragement to those persons who will build their vessels like those on the Rhine; but in this, as in every thing else, it is difficult to make the mechanical part of the public tread the track, to which they have not been accustomed.
Though Bavaria is a rich, plentiful country and lies well situated for trade, from the Danube and several other navigable rivers passing through it, yet the inhabitants in general are not rich, which is supposed to proceed from the Elector's monopolizing the most considerable articles of commerce, particularly that of salt, which he prohibits his subjects either from importing or from purchasing of any person except himself. A second monopoly is that of corn, the farmer is obliged to sell all his corn to the Elector's agents who retail it out again to the people. This prince, like the Czar of Muscovy, is Premier-General for his dominions; none may brew or sell strong beer but the Elector's factors. There is only an indifferent small beer which the peasants and citizens are allowed to brew in their own houses. The Bishop of Passau, whose territories lie within this circle, likewise imitates the Elector in this tyranny. The chief subsistence of the peasants of this circle is their herds of swine, which are fed in their woods; and the wild beasts and game which they meet with there, though it is penal to meddle with the game: but in most parts of Bavaria, corn, beer, and salt are so excessive dear that a peasant can scarce afford to purchase them. After what has been remarked respecting these monopolies, it is needless to observe that the Elector is absolute in his dominions. There are some general laws in the empire that all princes and states are governed by, but they are often disobeyed where there is not a force to compel the observance of them. The Elector and the Archbishop of Saltzburg are joint directors of the circle. The Elector of Bavaria stiles himself Duke of the Upper and Lower Bavaria, and of the Upper Palatinate, Duke and Count Palatine of the Rhine; Elector and Vicar of the Empire, and Grand Master of the Houshold.
In the lower part of Bavaria there are many more nobility who reside constantly on their estates than in any parts of Germany: and to this may be attributed the advantage of their superior cultivation; for as the nobles are farmers, it is no wonder that estates are managed better under the master's eye than in his absence. Though there are not many of them who are great proficients in agriculture, yet a life passed in the midst of it, must yield a greater insight into the means of its improvement than one spent in the parade of a court. Besides, the nobles themselves will naturally treat their peasants better than the race of bailiffs, agents, &c. who oppress and squeeze them for their own emolument, and it is an indisputable fact that those landlords are richest, and their estates best cultivated, where the peasants are allowed some degree of liberty and property.
Though the peasants in this country are in a state of villenage, they are treated in a kinder manner, and have more property and better houses than in other parts of Germany; and many of them are also farmers, who, by industry and frugality, have saved many. Much of this country is enclosed, than which there cannot be any improvement of so great consequence. Sheep seems to be a principal article in their husbandry. Every farm of any size has a large sheep-house, with a roof, but open on one side to the south; in this house they fold their sheep every night the year round, and depend on it principally for manuring their lands: when they begin to fold, they spread over the floor light, virgin soil, turf, sand, or peat-earth, and fold upon it, till it is very moist and dirty, then they make a fresh layer and so go on; but to every eighteen inches of depth they litter with straw, for they remove the heap but once a year, and in extreme wet or snowy weather they do the same. This is an excellent system for raising manure, but it might be imagined that the sheep lying on a dunghill would be prejudicial to their health, this the Bavarians deny, and on the contrary assert that not only the health of the animal is the better for it, but likewise that the wool is much finer than if the sheep were exposed to the weather.
MAP
of the CIRCLE of
SWABIA
CHAP. XIV.
Of the Circle of Swabia.
SWABIA is bounded by Franconia on the north, Bavaria on the east, Switzerland on the south, and Alsace on the west. It contains the duchies of Wurtemberg, the Margravate of Baden, the principality of Hohen-Zollern, that of Oetringen, and that of Mindelheim; the bishopricks of Augsburg, Constance and Coire, with several baronies, abbies, and free towns. It derives its name from the Sueir who were so called from their long hair, which
Tacitus
mentions as a peculiarity belonging to them, by which a Swabian was known.
This country prides itself, not a little, in the source of that famous river the Danube: its course is not less than four hundred German miles; it flows by fifty large cities, and takes in twelve great rivers, besides above eighty lesser streams, so that few rivers can be brought into competition with it, not even the Nile itself. This celebrated river rises near
Don-Eschingen,
in the territories of
Fu
stemberg,
and by the conflux of several rivers soon becomes considerable.
Keysler
notices a singular circumstance which he observed at a chapel built on an eminence near Burlatingen, a hunting seat of the prince of Hohen-Zollern; its being situated so that the rain which fell on one side of the chapel went into the Danube, and that which fell on the other, into the Rhine. On the chapel is a very suitable inscription taken from the psalms.
Sit nomen domini laudabile ab oriente ad occidentem.
Blessed be the name of the Lord from the rising to the setting of the sun, or from the east to the west.
The Rhine, the principal source of which took its rise on one side of the chapel, emptying itself in the German Ocean; and the Danube, running in a quite contrary direction, and losing itself in the Black Sea.
In fertility of soil the territories of the circle of Swabia vary very much, which is a constant source of complaint to the assemblies of the circle, from districts, which imagine themselves aggrieved in their assessments. The highest parts in Swabia are the Alps and the Schwarzwald or Black Forest; the former of which are still somewhat higher than the latter. The Schwarzwald has probably been so called from the thick forests of fir with which it is covered; and, according to the description given us by
Julius Caesar
of the
Sylva Hyrcinia,
this was the beginning of it. This wood is by much the largest in Germany, being sixty days journey in length and nine in breadth. The inhabitants subsist chiefly by graziery, wood, and pitch, which they trade in for exportation. In many parts of it, there are two kinds of land, one like the common ploughed fields, and the other rendered fertile by the following method. The peasants lay billets of fir about six feet long at a proper distance, and between them vine branches covered with sods pared off the same field. One of these heaps is called a
ross
or
horse;
and the number of them is proportioned to the dimensions of the field. These they kindle, leaving them to consume slowly, and the ashes and earth are then scattered over the ground, to which they communicate an extraordinary fertility; but this lasts only for three or four years. It is then left for some years fallow, and yields good grass, till it becomes again fit to undergo the above operation.
This circle contains 720 square German miles. Under the emperor
Frederic
III. the circle of Swabia was divided into four quarters, which division still continues and on many occasions has been found to be very beneficial. The duke of Wurtemberg is head of the first, the Margrave of Baden the second, the Bishop of Constance and the Abbot of Kempten heads of the third, and the Bishop of Augusburg head of the fourth.
OF THE TERRITORIES OF THE DUKE OF WURTEMBURG.
The greatest part of this dukedom consists in an extensive valley, which is bounded on the east by a chain of hills, called the Alps; on the west by the Black Forest, on the north by a part of the mountain of Oden Wald, and an arm of the Black Forest. On the whole it inclines to the northward, and is watered in the middle by the river Neckar. Several smaller arms run off from the surrounding chain of hills towards the centre, cross each other in various directions, and form little vallies, which are watered by an infinity of rivers. The land is rendered exceedingly fruitful by these lesser hills, which shelter the vallies from the cold hills, and collect the heat of the sun between them.
The southern sides of these mountains and hills are planted with vines very high up, and above them there is excellent dyers and brush-wood; and at the bottom is a grey coloured, light mould, which yields all kind of corn, but particularly barley, in astonishing plenty. Upon the whole, this country resembles the middle part of Lorrain; but the soil is much better, and there are not so many stones in it. Excepting salt, which it is obliged to have recourse to Bavaria for, it abounds in all the necessaries of life. What corn is not consumed in the country is sent to Switzerland, and the wine goes as far as England. The whole extent of the country does not contain more than two hundred, German square miles. In this circuit there are about five hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants, that is, about two thousand eight hundred to every German square mile. Those parts of Germany excepted, which are in the neighbourhood of some capital cities, and some districts of Italy and the Netherlands, there is certainly no country in Europe so populous in proportion to its extent as this. It is however so fruitful as to be able to support as many more inhabitants.
The income of the Duke amounts to about three hundred thousand pounds a year. Some calculations make the sum smaller; but as there are few parts of Germany in which the taxes are not estimated at five florins per head, and in some they pay much more, why should it not be so in Wurtemberg, which is one of the largest territories in Germany, and in which the subject is not more spared?
After the electors, the Duke is beyond comparison the greatest Prince in Germany, though the landgrave of Hesse Cassel, who has not above two thirds of the subjects or yearly income, is of more consequence in the Empire, on account of his connection with England.
The government of this dukedom is not so simple and unmixed as that of the territory of Baden. Here are swarms of counsellors, secretaries, proctors, and advocates, of which more than half might be spared; but the nature of the government allows them to enjoy their appointments in idleness. Many of them, it is true, belong to the state, whose duty it is to limit the authority of the Prince; but notwithstanding the many reductions in the household itself, it is still much too large for the Duke's circumstances.
In all the cities, towns, and large villages in this duchy, there are certain officers, called private overseers, who inspect into the offences and misdemeanours of their fellow-citizens, and make a report of them to the magistracy of the place, in order that they may be further enquired into, if the magistrates shall think fit. These inquisitors are private, and swear to the faithful execution of their office; instead of a salary, they are generally rewarded with a counsellor's place, or some other office in the government. No one knows his accuser, as
Keysler
observes, from whom this peculiar circumstance in the police of Wurtemberg is taken, which may be an inlet to many abuses, if their information alone passes for sufficient proofs, and they are considered in any other light than as premonitions for the judge, or as incentives to greater cautions for the future. This custom is similar to the
Denuncie secrete
at Venice, but is practised in no other part of Germany.
Though the country throughout is protestant, and the Duke alone a catholic, there still prevails a great deal of superstition and bigotry. The clergy are members of the state, these have a jurisdiction of their own, and are very wealthy.
After the repeal of the edict of Nantz, the Duke of Wurtemberg might have reaped very considerable advantages by affording shelter and encouragement to the French refugees, there being among them many rich people, and those profitable manufactures would have been introduced here which enriched Brandenburgh, and other countries; but a blind zeal for orthodoxy and the clamours of the clergy, that it would be setting up altar against altar, and that even Mahometanism was preferable to Calvinism, filled the assembly of the states with such jealousies and apprehensions, that the court was disappointed in its good intentions. An after-reflection opened peoples eyes, when it was seen what a valuable opportunity they had rejected.
The Duke's army consisted formerly of fourteen thousand men, and if his debts were paid, and his other expences moderated, such an establishment might always be supported; as the population and revenues of the country appear to allow it. At the time of the change, however, they were reduced to about five thousand men, and those seem to be none of the best troops. The late Duke of Wurtemberg, some few years since, made himself the topic of conversation all over Europe for his sumptuous feasts, his magnificent balls, the splendor of his illuminations, in which immense forests were lighted up, his superb hunting parties, and his brilliant operas, where all the first-rate dancers from Paris were procured, with
Noverre
at their head, when his fame was at the highest; together with all the principal Italian singers, at a most enormous expence. The consequences were such as might naturally have been foreseen; debt, oppressive taxes, resistance on the part of the states of the country, and finally a commission of enquiry issued from the Imperial court. The debts, upon examination, were found to amount to twelve hundred thousand pounds. The evil counsellors, as it may easily be imagined, were removed; but this would have done but little, had not an alteration about this time taken place in most of the lesser courts of the Empire, the princes of which, from being oppressive and extravagant tyrants, suddenly contracted a taste for political economy, and philosophical pursuits. The Duke of Wurtemberg is now quite a philosopher, he founds schools, farms, cultivates arts and sciences, and establishes manufactures; in short, he has endeavoured, in every way possible to make up for what has been wrong. This change has taken place ever since the year 1778; the Prince took the opportunity of his birth-day to publish a manifesto, of which the following is the substance: "That being a man, and from the condition of human nature, far removed from the standard of perfection, it could not but fall out, that partly from human frailty, ever prone to err, and partly from the want of sagacity, and from other causes many events had taken place which had they not happened, things would have been very different from what they now are, or are likely to be hereafter. This I acknowledge freely, and I assure my loving subjects, that every successive year of my life, which it shall please the divine Providence to bestow, shall be dedicated to the promotion of their happiness. Henceforwards the prosperity of Wurtemberg shall be established on the joint and firm basis of the sovereign's love for his people, and of the people's confidence in the affection of their sovereign. And we trust, that every man will, for the future, live in confidence, that he has a provident and anxious father in his prince, and that the only contest that shall arise hereafter, shall be which shall do most to make his native country happy and flourishing."
The affection of the people towards their prince was very remarkable. Even when the Duke seemed to have no other care than how he should load them with new taxes, he did not forfeit their attachment. The curses of the people fell on his servants, and the crew of projectors who led him astray. But as soon as they were banished, he became the idol of his subjects; and very deservedly so.
All the princes of the House of Wurtemberg Stutgard are brave, and as it were born for military atchievements. Prince
Maximilian
especially gave the greatest hopes of himself, when scarce fourteen years of age, he entered into the service of
Charles
XII. of Sweden, and continued to attend that Prince in all his campaigns. At the surprize of the town of Pultawa in 1703, though so young, he attacked sword in hand an old Saxon trooper, who turning about in some astonishment, said to him, "Thou little son of a whore, what art thou already for cracking a stout fellow's skull?" And was going to dispatch the Prince, had not
Charles
XII. came to his assistance. And afterwards, in a dark night, the Prince riding full speed before the King, suddenly stopped at a deep pit; the King supposing it was from fear of the enemy, called out,
forward, forward,
upon which the Prince, regardless of the danger, clapped spurs to his horse, and fell into a pit; the King, being close behind, had the same fate, and, with his horse, fell upon the Prince, who was half dead. This so endeared him to
Charles,
that he set up a whole night with him. At the unfortunate battle of Pultawa, he was taken prisoner. The Czar offering him a commission, his answer was, "That whilst he had a drop of blood, it should be employed in the service of his Swedish majesty as his benefactor." This so charmed the generous Czar, that on certain conditions he gave him his liberty, and presented him with the sword he then wore. Whether from a mistaken gratitude he drank too freely at taking leave of the Russians, or whether his activity in the former, fatiguing campaign had hurt his constitution, this heroic Prince, on his return to his native country, was seized with a fever, which proved fatal to him, in the twenty-first year of his age, dying in the bloom of his youth, and in the certain hopes, that by his marriage with the King's sister
Ulrica,
he should come one day to fit on the throne of Sweden.
Stutgard, the capital of the duchy, is not a large city, but contains two well-built suburbs, and has been the residence of the dukes since 1321, the new ducal palace was built in 1746, in a delightful country, full of gardens and vineyards, in the Misenbach (which at about one league distance, runs into the Neckar), and contains about 20,000 inhabitants. They are a handsome people. The women are tall and slender, with fair and ruddy complexions. The natural riches, and the ease with which a maintenance is acquired, either in town or country, cause them to live exceedingly well. The Stutgarder is so attached to his home, that remove him but thirty miles from it, and he is seized with the
maladie du pais.
At present little notice is taken of the noble palace of Stutgard, and this is more particularly felt in the pleasure-house, where formerly the Ridottos were held. This edifice, were it only on account of its hall, which has few equals in all Europe, very well deserves notice. It is two hundred and twenty feet in length, eighty broad, and ninety high, without a single pillar; its roof, which is arched, being fastened in a masterly manner, with wooden screws. In the year 1707, Marshal
Villars,
coming into this hall, mistook it for a place of worship, and said, with some admiration,
voici un beau temple! i. e.
This is a fine church! On the roof are painted several scriptural histories, but on the sides are views of all the forests of the duchy of Wurtemberg, and some merry scenes, which happened, at different times, in the hunting parties. Near it is the orangery, which is composed of very large and high trees, but not well contrived; want of height occasioning many of the trees to bend at the top. The new building, as it is called, is of fine free-stone, with a grand stair-case of the same, and a spacious hall, whose galleries rest on twelve pillars of a great height; on these are painted the twelve months; the roof shews the most ancient transactions of the family of Wurtemberg, and the sides are filled with masquerades and public entries.
In the museum are several portraits of the ducal family, with petrifactions, mechanical and mathematical inventions, curious specimens of penmanship, gems, costly vessels, mummies, old medals, &c. Among other curiosities, you see the picture of a woman with a large beard, apparently in her twenty-fifth year, and she is again painted in her old age. This seeming contradiction of a bearded woman is accounted an error of nature, which commonly proceeds from an excess of humidity. In this case it is possible for bearded women to enjoy a lasting health, an instance of which we have in
Margaret,
formerly governess of the Low Countries, whose great beard was a very singular ornament to her robust strength. Few traits in history are more known than the bearded amazon, who served as a grenadier in all the campaigns of
Charles
XII. of Sweden, and gave more than masculine proofs of courage till she was taken prisoner in the battle of Pultawa. She was brought from Siberia to Petersburg, and introduced to the Czarina with a beard an ell and an half long. There is also the picture of a Swiss country-woman, which is drawn with a very venerable beard, to be seen in the Breflaw collection.
The ducal palace offers nothing interesting but the grand stair-case which ascends gradually without steps, so that any one may ride up and down it.
The palace of Ludwigsburg two leagues from Stutgard, was formerly but a farm-house for breeding cattle, but is now acknowledged to be one of the finest edifices in all Germany. The looking-glass and lackered closet are very curious, and so is the great stair-case for the ambassadors, with its magnificent cieling and the gallery of pictures; among these are some admirable night-pieces, and a great many pictures of horses and dogs, and likewise the picture of a black wolf, which was kept for a long time at court, he was called
Melac,
and followed the Duke wherever he went, and even slept at the foot of his bed. The chapel belonging to the palace is very elegant, but something rather too small: here is also a curious menagery of foreign fowl. The Duke's band of music may be said to equal that of any court in Europe.
The green-house is one of the finest to be met with any where. The Duke likewise employs considerable sums of money for his studs and his hunters. He has at present three sets of horses of eight in each set, which one coachman can manage without a postilion; so that, in travelling, they perform all the paces and curvettings of the manage, and sometimes the Duke himself has been the coachman.
In the beginning of this century an order of hunting was instituted in this duchy. The ensign of this knighthood is a hunting-horn. One privilege of the companions is that they are preferred in the nomination to commanderies, each of which is worth five hundred guilders. The knights of this order may be present at all the public entertainments, besides an unlimited number of princes and persons of high birth; this order has also twelve ancient Imperial counts, thirty knights and a secretary. The device of the order is a gold Maltese cross, set with rubies; four golden eagles at its four angles, and between the middle and lower point a hunting-horn; in the center is a round, green enamelled shield, on one side of which is a golden W, with a ducal coronet, and on the other three golden hunting-horns slung together. This cross is fastened to a crimson, watered ribband of a hand's breadth, and is worn over the left shoulder down to the right side. On the left breast of the coat is also a silver star, with the device of the order, together with it's motto
Amicitiae virtutisque foedus, i. e.
the band of virtue and friendship; embroidered with gold in a green circle. All the knights are obliged to wear these ensigns of the order; those only excepted who are of higher orders, and have already a star in that place; these, nevertheless are observed to wear the Wurtemberg star on their waistcoat, and a little cross of the order hanging on a narrow, red ribband round their neck. Every knight is to put the cross and collar of the order under the coat of arms of his family; this collar consists of green, enamelled little shields, on which are alternately the golden W, with the ducal coronet, and three golden hunting-horns; between each shield stands a golden eagle with its wings extended, and its talons on each shield. The festival for a general chapter of the order is held annually on St.
Hubert
's day, at whatever place the Sovereign happens to be, when there is always a great hunting match. The companions, who are prevented from making their appearance, are obliged, if it be any ways possible, and they are not disabled by sickness or prevented by affairs of very great concern, to celebrate the day in honour of the order, wherever they are, with a hunt and other entertainments. If a knight is seen in public without the cross of the order, he forfeits a handsome pair of pistols to the informer, and twenty dollars to the poor; but he who neglects to wear the order for a year and a day is degraded.
The Duke of Wurtemburg has several hunting seats, which he visits alternately in the deer or boar seasons, so that every five years he sees his principal forests. The multitude of deer in this country may be estimated by considering that above seven thousand of them perished in one single hard winter.
It is a custom over all the country of Wurtemburg to adorn chambers and galleries with large branches of deer's horns. At Waldenburg, over most of the remarkable branches is inscribed the name of the person who shot the deer; and the dexterity of a late duke has filled some rooms with them. At the hunting seat of Einsidel are two remarkable branches, which in rutting time, the deer to whom they belonged thrust into each other, and twisted together with such force, that they cannot be disengaged; and the creatures died on the spot. The like is also shewn in the royal chamber of curiosities at Copenhagen. At Einsidel is also a large hawthorn, grown from a twig, which was brought above two hundred years ago from the Holyland by
Everhardus Barbatus
on his hat, and afterwards planted here with his own hands. In
Crusius's
time this shrub had spread to a circumference of fifty-two ells, its branches were supported by forty-three pillars, and no single person could grasp its stock.
In the year 1700 were found above sixty different
frusta
of large teeth, shoulder-blades, ribs, and joints of back-bones, the most remarkable of which are still kept in the museum at Stutgard; some of them appear to have belonged to fishes of prey, others to bears, tygers, lions, horses, &c. and some, particularly the largest teeth, to elephants. Near Boll in Wurtemberg, is found an abundance of skeletons, which are petrified and changed to a perfect stone, whose spine not being tubulous, and consequently without marrow, shews them to have belonged to fishes. A specimen of these is in the hands of D.
Mauchart
of Tubingen; but a larger piece may be seen in the gallery of natural curiosities at Dresden, and for which an apothecary of Tubingen received fifty rixdollars.
Tubingen the second city in Wurtemberg, about twenty miles from Stutgard, is of such antiquity that its aera is unkown. This place was once the seat of the emperor
Caracalla,
who entertained the Germans with public games in this city, The high court of justice is held here, besides the university, which is in great repute; there is a
collegium illustre
for the education of princes and young noblemen. In the town-house is a very curious clock, which deserves the attention of travellers.
THE BATTLE OF THE STORKS.
Whoever may be inclined to read a judicious abridgment of all that has been advanced in favour of the souls and understanding of brutes, will be gratified in Mr.
Ribous's
treatise
De anima brutorum.
In addition to this story of the stork, I shall here offer to the readers consideration the adventure of D.
Gahrliep's
tame fox, as a further instance of their combination and reflection. Every evening D.
Gahrliep
had his tame fox carefully chained up, a confinement which this beast, used to liberty, could not well digest; and it was not long before he found by frequent trials, that he could slip his collar over his head. In the night he was not wanting to take advantage of such a fine opportunity, and made a terrible havock among the neighbouring fowls and geese, but always took care to be at home before day-break, and immediately slipt his neck into the collar again, imagining he should thus avoid the suspicion of being thought the author of these depredations. Amidst all the heavy complaints of the neighbours, the innocence of the fox seemed the more certain, as
Gahrliep's
poultry had enjoyed an uninterrupted repose. At last the spoiler being caught in the fact by a vigilant neighbour, the doctor was condemned in costs and damages, and he in revenge made a skeleton of the perpretator of this mischief.
There is another celebrated town in this duchy called Hailbron, or the fountain of health, from the virtues of the medicinal waters. It is a free Imperial city under the Duke's protection, situated in a plain, twelve miles south-east of Tubingen. This water at present is not used medicinally as formerly, but continues in great repute for its extraordinary clearness and salubrity. To the use of this spring, the emperor
Charles
V. attributed his recovery from a dangerous fit of sickness, in 1547.
Keysler
gives a remarkable instance of its numerous and fertile vineyards, by observing last year, (this was in 1727,) that such plenty of wine was made in this country, and further up the banks of the Neckar, that the inhabitants had not a sufficient number of casks to put it in, and such wine of the growth of 1725 as could be spared, was sold for half a
creutzer,
or a farthing a quart, when at the same time a quart of
Seltzer
mineral water cost eighteen creutzers, or thirty-six times as much.
In the district of Urach is a curiosity worth notice. In an high and steep mountain near the town of Urach is the famous wood-slider, which consists of one thick iron pipe, about three feet broad, two high, and about nine hundred long. This pipe begins at the top of the mountain and reaches almost down the valley near the town of Urach and the river Erms. Into its upper opening the wood, which has been felled on the mountain and cut into hillets is put, and being carried down the pipe, is thrown into the river Erms, which forwards it into the Neckar, and by this means furnishes Stutgard with fuel at a small expence; notwithstanding the great impetuosity with which it must naturally move in coming from an eminence above two hundred paces in the air, yet near an hundred may be told before a billet reaches the other end of this extraordinay conduit.
The description which
Reisbec
gives of the inhabitants in the Black Forest forms a very different contrast to the rest of the Duke's subjects. The men, says he, are clumsy, and the women yellow, ill shaped, and wrinkled at the age of thirty. They distinguish themselves from their neighbours by a most frightful taste in dress, and a shocking want of cleanliness. I am not able, he adds, to account for the ugliness of this people. Need, labour, and little food may contribute to it, but cannot be the only reason; for in the country of
Furstemberg,
and particularly in the Austrian parts of this great chain of hills, are very handsome people who do not seem to live better than the Wirtembergers. Possibly the ugliness of the latter may be owing to the situation and depth of the vallies, to the air and perhaps to the water. These journies, says
Reisbec,
over the mountains had particular charms for me. I fancied myself in a new world. One enchanting prospect succeeded another in variety and beauty, mountains and chains of mountains of the most extraordinary forms, cataracts, woods, small lakes in the deep hollows, precipices, in short every thing I saw, was in so grand a stile as to exceed all description. The Duke of Wirtemberg enjoys one very great privilege that there lies no appeal from his courts of judicature to the Aulic or any other foreign tribunal. He sits and votes in the college of princes by virtue of the duchy of Wirtemberg and has demanded the same privilege as duke of Teck. This is an old castle now in ruins with a town adjoining. The first duke of Teck, known with any certainty, lived towards the end of the twelfth century. The duke's title, is duke of Wirtemberg and Teck, count of Mompelgard, lord of Heydenheim and Justinjen. He is joint director of the circle of Swabia with the bishop of Constance.
His office in the empire is to carry the Imperial standard; this office of standard-bearer of the Holy Roman empire, was conferred on the Counts of Wirtemberg in 1336. The dukes of Wirtemberg are also grand huntsmen of the empire; and in allusion to this honour, Duke
Eberhard Lewis,
in 1702, founded the order of hunting, of which we have already treated, and in the year 1719, renewed and increased its statutes, the reigning duke of Wirtemberg being always grand-master.
The MARGRAVATE of BADEN.
Is about ninety miles in length, but not above twenty in breadth. It lies near the banks of the Rhine, and extends from Bale almost to Philipsburg, and from thence, through part of Alsace to the Moselle. It produces corn, hemp, flax, turnips, pease, and other vegetables; and the villages along the
Rhine
abound in hay, and breed great quantities of cattle, besides which they enjoy the conveniency of good fisheries in the
Rhine.
Venison and wild fowl are so plentiful in the forests, that it is the ordinary food of the peasants; and they have woods of chesnuts, where there are very excellent bacon-hogs. Here are also quarries of marble of all colours, and freestone, with which materials the inhabitants build magnificent houses at a trifling expence. They carry on a large trade in cattle, wood and wine, which last is extremely good in the environs of Bale. The mildness of the government secures to the people, the quiet enjoyment of the rewards of their industry. There are not indeed opportunities of making great fortunes, as the court is very economical, but the same cause prevents the pressure of extreme poverty. The felicity of exporting merchandize by the navigation on the Rhine, is a great incitement to industry. The manufactures in consequence, increase every year, and some of them, particularly that of earthen ware, at Durloch, are in high estimation. They have likewise made some successful experiments in manufacturing of silk.
The Prince, in short, endeavours by every possible means to introduce industry, and manufactories among his subjects. There are a considerable number of English tradesmen here, says
Moore,
who make Birmingham work, and instruct the inhabitants in that business. He has also engaged many watchmakers from Geneva to settle here, by granting them encouragment, and privileges of every kind, and allows no opportunity to slip, by which he can promote the comfort, and happiness of his people: a prince of such a character is certainly a public blessing, and the people are fortunate who are born under his government. But far more fortunate they, who are born under a government, which can protect them, independent of the virtues, and in spite of their Sovereign.
Baden, the capital of the marquisate, takes it name from the multitude of hot baths about it, which are said to amount to near three hundred. The town is situated in the midst of vineyards, upon a mountainous rocky ground, which renders the streets very uneven. The baths are scalding hot, and as they issue from rocks of salt, allum and brimstone, taste strongly of those minerals. One of them boils and bubbles up, as if it stood over a hot furnace. Among other distempers, these waters are famous for curing the cramp and gout, which brings a great resort of company to this place, during the summer months. The only public buildings, are the castle, built on an adjoining hill, and a palace belonging to the Margrave, which, however, is uninhabited. The residence of the court being principally at Carlsrube.
The town of Carlsrube is well built on a regular plan. It consists of one principal street of about an English mile in length. This street is at a considerable distance in front of the palace, and in a parallel direction with it. All the other streets go off at different angles from the principal one, in such a manner as, that which ever of them you enter, walking from it, the view is terminated by the front of the palace. The length of their smaller streets is ascertained, none of them being allowed to encroach on the spacious area, which is kept clear before the palace.
The principal street may be extended to any length, and as many additional streets as they please may be built from it, all of which will have, according to this plan, the palace for termination.
The houses of this town are as uniform as the streets, being all of an equal size and height; so as to give the appearance, that none of the inhabitants are in any considerable degree richer or poorer than their neighbours. There are, indeed, a few new houses more elegant than the rest, which belong to some of the officers of the court, and are built on one side of the palace; but they are not, properly speaking, in the town.
It stands in the middle of a large forest, the remnant of that, which in the time of
Tacitus,
covered all Germany. Through this forest there are thirty-two regular avenues, extending to a great distance; and the town which is built in the shape of a fan, stands upon nine of these. The first stone of the palace was laid in 1715, half of the right wing is wanting, the building having for some years been discontinued. The first object of attention here, and for which no expence has been thought too great, is the turret on the body of the building, from whence we have not only a view of all the principal streets, but also of five and twenty walks, some set with trees, and others cut through the woods, which no other princes seat can rival, and still heightened by a prospect of other variegated walks in the same woods. Some of these walks bear the names of those ministers who served his highness at the time of these improvements; and the streets in the town are called by the names of different German princes. The garden, though small, is very elegant, and contains above four thousand orange, lemon, bay, and other such kind of trees.
In some of the lower parts of the garden, are espaliers of young lemon trees; here is also an aviary for three hundred canary-birds, which in summer-time used to fly about the gardens all day, and at night repair to their habitation. Behind the palace is a decoy, where above two thousand wild fowl are daily fed. The chief defect in Carlsrube is want of water. The neighbouring country is a sandy level, which in summer makes travelling very disagreeable. All the water for the garden is conveyed by hand-pumps, but what is most singular, is, that the whole town consists entirely of wooden buildings.
A traveller who passed through it, expressing his surprize one day to the Margrave, to see a palace entirely of wood. 'True, Sir,' said the Prince,
you may think it ought, at least, to have been built of brick; but I could not have been more magnificently lodged, without laying expensive taxes on my subjects, and I wanted only a roof to lay my head under.
This court has been much reflected upon for its economy. The fact is, the debts of the family were numerous and great. Those in the hereditary dominions have arisen from frequent wars, and the necessary provision for the younger branches of the family; and in the last administration, every thing had been suffered to go to ruin, because the successor was a protestant. Under these circumstances, the Prince's mother carried her economy so far, as to cause the flowers which grew in the gardens of the palace to be sold, instead of permitting her daughters to wear them in their bosoms. For this, though without the strictest economy, the family must have been ruined, she was laughed at, perhaps in some degree, not undeservedly.
From Carlsrube, it is two stages and a quarter to Radstadt; but it is worth while to turn off a little on the left hand to the
Favorita,
built by the widow of a late margrave of
Baden-Baden,
in the newest taste of architecture. Here is a chamber of very beautiful porcelain, and a cabinet lined with looking-glass, with many curiosities of art and nature, particularly, above forty very good pictures of the said countess in different masquerade dresses, which in her juvenile years, she had at various times appeared in. Amidst the gradual alterations of the complexion and features in such a long succession of time, the same look is every where discernable. 'I know not,' says
Keysler,
a better set of portraits, they will even bear a comparison with the admirable performances of
Rubens
in the Luxemburg gallery, where queen
Mary of Medicis
is represented under a variety of changes!
The height of the lower hall reaches through all the stories, and its cupola, round which is a balustrade, leading into the different apartments, is very light, and the top beautifully painted. Some of the apartments are hung with a Chinese manufacture of paper and silk, others with lace-work, and bed curtains of the same. The cieling of one or two is enriched with gems, as agate, jasper, cornelians, amethists, &c. imitating fishes, birds and flowers. The excellent order of the kitchen, larder, hall, medicinal ware-room, wash-house, cannot but please an economist, and the countess, used to take great pleasure to shew her guests these subterraneous offices. On the left, at the end of the little orangery, is a pleasant garden, and on the right, a wild thicket, leading to the hermitage. In the centre of it stands the house, the outward walls of which are covered with large pieces of bark. The door seems to rest upon the trunks of old trees; and all that is to be seen within, are the coarse images of
Jesus, Joseph
and
Mary;
a mean bed without curtains, an altar without decorations; and at the angles of the narrow walks in the garden, stand wooden images of old hermits, as big as life, some of them in an hairy habit: the niches, like the door, are supported by old decayed trunks of trees.
A league from the Favorita, lies Radstadt, a place regularly built, with a stately palace, from the centre of which there is a view of all the streets, the middle of which terminates in a long walk.
The reigning family, and the country in general, profess Lutheranism, but with the toleration of Calvinists, Catholics, and Jews.
After the electors, and the houses of Wurtemburg, and Hesse Cassel, the Margrave of Baden is one of the greatest potentates in Germany. His revenues are about one hundred and twenty thousand pounds a year. 'I reckon,' says
Reisbec,
the few days I spent at Carlsrube among the happiest of my life. I saw a prince who truly lives only for his people, and seeks for his happiness in theirs; one whose active and enlightened mind, pervades the whole country, and by its influence, makes all those who have a share in the administration, patriots like himself. Education, police, encouragement to industry, and agriculture; every thing, in short, here, breathes a spirit of philosophy, and the warm love of mankind.
O that I could make,
says he,
many millions as happy, as the Margrave of Baden makes two hundred thousand men.
He adds, the Margrave is as amiable in private life, as he is respectable in public, and the margravine is possessed of every polite accomplishment; so that the court, to which strangers easily get admission, is the best society in Carlsrube.
The German princes are minute observers of form. The same establishment for their houshold, and the like number of officers in their palaces are to be found among them, as in the court of the most powerful monarch of Europe. The difference lies more in the salaries, than in the talents requisite for these places; one paymaster of the forces in England, has greater emoluments, than a grand marechal, a grand chamberlain, two secretaries of state, and half a dozen more of the chief officers of a German court.
The Margrave of Baden, like every other sovereign prince in Germany, has body-guards, who do duty in the palace; foot-guards, who parade before it, also horse-guards and hussars, all of whom are perfectly well equipped, and exactly disciplined; a piece of magnificence, which seems to be adopted by this prince, merely in conformity with the custom long established in this country.
He keeps on foot no other troops besides the few which are necessary for this duty at the palace, though his revenue is more considerable, and his finances are in much better order than those of some princes in Germany, who have little standing armies in constant pay. He has too just an understanding, not to perceive, that the greatest army he could possibly maintain, could be no defence to his dominions, situated as they are between the powerful states of France and Austria; and probably his principles and disposition prevent him from thinking of filling his coffers by letting out his subjects to foreign powers.
If he was so inclined, there is no doubt that he might sell the persons of his subjects as soldiers, or employ them in any other way he might think proper; for he, as well as other sovereign princes in Germany, has an unlimited power over his people. If you ask the question, in direct terms, of a German; he will answer in the negative, and will talk of certain rights which the subjects enjoy, and that they can appeal to the great council, or general diet of the empire for relief. But after all his ingenuity and distinctions, you find that the barriers which protect the peasant from the power of the prince, are so very weak, that they are hardly worth keeping up; and that the only security the peasant has for his person or property, must proceed from the moderation, good sense, and justice of his sovereign.
Happy, adds
Moore
with
Reisbec,
would it be for mankind, if this unlimited power were always placed in as equitable hands as those of the present Margrave of Baden, who employs it entirely for the good of his subjects, by whom he is adored!
Among his other establishments, a late margrave had the following singular one: and this was a notorious seminary of young women, where, by an unnatural whim of his, above thirty female creatures were maintained, some of whom were always walking by his coach in the garb of hey dukes, and others at night, keeping guard in the palace. The general provision for them on their discharge, was to be married to some petty officer of the houshold.
Self-love has ever shewn great address in reconciling licentious inclinations, with religion, and in making a compact, as it were, with God, by which favourite vices are retained, and all due homage paid to the Deity in other respects. The voluptuous comfort themselves with the numerous concubines of
David
and
Solomon,
and imagine God will not be so strict, but that a punctual observance of many external duties, will compensate for giving way to some one frailty; but this too, must be such as suits their natural disposition. If the revealed truths of our holy religion were liable to such perversions, it is visible how sensuality would prevail, under no other restraint than natural religion. We readily believe what we wish, and in such a case under the most flagitious profligacy, any weak palliatives would be embraced for quieting the clamours of conscience. What evils would not this bring upon society!
The BISHOPRIC of CONSTANCE.
The lands and estates of the bishopric of Constance lie on both sides of the lake. Meadow-grounds and ploughed-lands turn to very little account here; the soil being clayey, sandy, or marshy, and subject to inundations. In the towns and villages the only traffic carried on is in wine, but this amounts to nothing considerable. This bishopric has ever been an immediate state of the empire, and as such the Bishop votes in the Imperial Diet among the princes. He belongs particularly to the third quarter; of which in conjunction with the abbot of Kempton, he is the head. He is also a joint summoning prince of the circle, but whether he be equal to the duke of Wurtemburg or that the latter has some small preference is not decided. The jurisdiction of the cathedral extends over great parts of Switzerland. The Bishop is suffragan to the archbishop of Mentz.
The Bodensee, or lake of Constance, is in length about eighteen leagues. It is divided into two parts, that part from Bregentz to Constance, being called the upper lake, and that from Constance to Zell, the lower lake. The latter is between twenty and thirty fathoms deep, and reckons along its banks near forty cities, towns, and villages; yet the upper lake surpasses it, having no less than fifty, and the depth of it in some places is said to be three hundred and fifty fathoms; its greatest breadth, is between Buchorn and Rosback which lie at the distance of five leagues from each other. This is by much the largest lake in Germany. The
Rhine
which runs through this lake has so strong a current, that it is said it does not mix with the waters of the lake. Near Lindau and Brugentz, besides the fish usually caught in these parts, there is also a kind of salmon-trouts which being taken and pickled, when full grown are exported as a great rarity. They are generally an ell and an half or two ells long, weighing between thirty and forty pounds. As the fishermen cannot always make a market of such large fish, they tie a bit of wood to a line, which having passed through the fish's gills, or the hinder part of the head close up to the wood, they fasten the other end of the line to a stake on the shore, near their huts: thus, without any danger of losing it, they can allow the fish a range of thirty or forty paces to swim in, and keep it alive and sound, till they meet with a company of purchasers, or have an opportunity of selling it for some marriage, or other great entertainment, where a fish of that size is required.
The city of Constance is well built, populous, and finely situated, it lies on the other side of the Rhine, over which there is a large wooden bridge, and near it the river turns several mills. The fortification of the city are sufficient to defend it well. Here are two markets every week, to which the people of the towns and villages near the lake resort with their goods. The town is not very large, but it has a tolerable trade, from the convenience of water-carriage along the lake and the
Rhine.
The emperor
Sigismund
called a council here in the year 1414 for preventing a schism in the church, from three popes pretending to the holy see at the same time, but they were all deposed, and
Martin
V. elected in his room. In the eighth session of this council Dr. John
Wickliffe
of Oxford and his doctrines were condemned as heretical, and his bones ordered to be dug up and burnt forty years after his death. In the fifteenth session
Huss
was condemned and delivered over to the secular power to be burnt, though he had the emperor's letters of safe conduct. And the same sentence passed upon
Jerome
of Prague, who was likewise burnt in this city and the natives still shew the place to strangers. This council lasted few years, during which time there were in the city of Constance four patriarchs, twenty-nine cardinals, three hundred and forty-six archbishops and bishops, five hundred and sixty four abbots and doctors, ten thousand secular princes, and noblemen, four hundred and fifty common whores, and three hundred and twenty fidlers. The inhabitants are protestants. Constance was formerly a free Imperial city but the religious commotions, and the
interim
in 1551 brought it under the power of the house of Austria; so that the Bishop has little or no authority there, and accordingly resides at Merspurg on the other side of the lake of Constance. The pulpit of the cathedral is supported by a statue of
John Huss;
making a representation of him to serve as a pedestal to the pulpit, was intended as a mark of further disgrace; though it more naturally admits of a very honourable construction.
In the Dominican convent is the famous
Emanuel Chrysolara
a knight of Constantinople, descended from a noble family, among the Romans who had removed thither with the emperor
Constantine.
He died at the time of the general council of Constance, and in such reputation that all orders of men agreed in judging him worthy of the highest ecclesiastical dignity. The ingenious conclusion of a fine epitaph composed for him by
Eneas Sylviaus
deserves particular notice. My extraction is from antient Rome; to me Imperial Constantinople gave birth; my remains lie at Constance. But what imports it when we die, the fort of felicity and the place of torment being every where equally distant?
Reisbec,
makes the number of inhabitants in Constance, to be about six thousand, and the revenues of the bishop seven thousand pounds a year. The Swiss side of this lake he adds is more pleasant than the opposite or German side. The beautiful mixture of hills, planted with vines, the straggling appearance of farm houses, with orchards round them, with the small and varied patches of different kinds of agriculture make it more agreeable to the eye than the Suabian villages, the houses of which stand together as in the towns, and are often encompassed by a great corn field, or a wide meadow. Upon the whole, both sides of the lake are equally well inhabited. The Swiss soil is more stony and heavy than the German, and though the Thurzan is one of the best ports of Switzerland, it is indebted to Suabia for a part of the prime necessary of life, which it repays in wine and fruits.
It was on this stage that the celebrated
Gesner
began his career, who in a short time expelled so many millions of devils, as is pretended, and cured so many hundred bigots. An order of the bishop of Constance, having prohibited such miracles in his diocese, found him taking refuge under the prelate of Salmansweiler, who by the strength of hard gold, always purchases of the Pope, an exemption from the bishop's power. In opposition to the bishop, the prelate espoused the part of the refugee with much warmth; and his fortune was made by the persecution he underwent. The prelate's steward, supplied him with barrels of stinking oil, and other commodities, which he used for the purpose of his cures, and in the furnishing of which the other found his account.
They little think in Holland, how much they owe to the lake of Constance. As matters are at present, they can hardly guard against the sand, which being washed down from the Alps by the Aar, and other rivers, threatens to stop up the mouth of the Rhine, and already leaves room to conjecture some violent revolution by the sand-banks it has raised. And if the reservoir we speak of, did not interrupt by far the greatest quantity of sand, which the rapid stream of the Rhine washes from the high Buntmerland; Holland must have been before this time, buried under a new sand, and the course of the Rhine being altered, would have totally changed the figure of that country. It is true, these changes must necessarily happen; as however considerable the depth of this lake be, it must at last be filled up, and the sooner, because the stream, as it flows from Constance, through the upper parts of Germany, is always deepening its bed, and the lake loses exactly as much water as it gains in sand. On the other hand, if we reflect how much so great a bason as this lake may contain; and calculate its contents, as de la
Torre
did those of Vesuvius, we shall think the Dutch are secure for many generations.
Uberlingen, a city on the lake, ten miles northeast of Constance, situate on the top of a rock, and surrounded with vineyards, was thought so pleasant by the ancient dukes of Suabia, that they made it their usual residence. It has a very good trade, and is famous for its mineral waters, which cure the stone, and other distempers, and in twice or thrice washing, take away all warts. The hospital in this town, is the best endowed in all Suabia; and the people so rich, that they constitute as much to the general charges of the empire as many of the princes.
Near Zell, is the Abbey of Reichnau, particularly famous for the large emerald, presented to it by
Charles
the Great. It is about two inches thick, something larger than a common folio, and weighs twenty eight pounds, three quarters. Several jewellers have offered fifty thousand guilders a pound for it; in the church of this abbey lies the above-mentioned liberal emperor, once so powerful and glorious, but afterwards forsaken by every one, so that he died in extreme indigence in the year 888.
The convent boasts, likewise, of being possessed of the body of St.
Mark,
the Evangelist, but this is disputed with them by the Venetians.
In the cloisters of this abbey, is the picture of a nobleman, who died in 1675, in the 70th year of his age; with a beard reaching to his knees; this puts me in mind, says
Keysler,
of a Flemish painter, named
John Meyo,
whose beard was of such a length, that when he stooped, he could tread upon it, and this peculiarity occasioned him to be nick-named
Johannes Barbatus.
In this neighbourhood, is the forest of Bregentz, in the villages of which there has been hitherto, says,
Keysler,
a strange custom, that the unmarried sons, or servants of the peasants are allowed to intrigue with a girl till she proves with child, and then indeed, but not before, are obliged under severe penalties to marry her. This kind of gallantry they look upon as very innocent, and are so strongly attached to it, that when, a few years ago, government was for suppressing such a scandalous practice; it was nearly occasioning an insurrection, and the dispute is not yet terminated.
Augsburg, is a free Imperial city, lies in a delightful country between the rivers Lock and Wertach, which unite not far from this place. It is a large populous well built city, esteemed the capital of Suabia, furnished with many noble fountains, adorned with brazen statues of ancient heroes and emperors, and likewise with some valuable monuments of antiquity. The burghers are reckoned to be 6000; the council is mixed, and consists of an equal number of reformed, and papists. The professors of both religions are easily distinguishable by their dress. Augsburg, was formerly the most considerable city in all Germany for commerce, but the declension of the trade of Venice was a severe stroke to it.
The town house, is accounted the finest in all Germany, the entrance is of polished red marble, supported by two pillars of white. The chambers contain abundance of historical and political paintings, with well chosen apothegms, exhorting the judges to impartial justice, to prudence, peace, and the fear of God. The whole breadth of it is one hundred and forty seven feet; its length is one hundred and ten; and its height one hundred and seventy five feet. It was completed in 1620, after having been six years in building. Its principal ornament, is considered to be a saloon of fine pictures, in the third story, which is fifty two feet high, fifty eight broad, and one hundred and ten in length, without any pillars to it, and surrounded on both sides by the four princes rooms, as they are called, which are also exquisitely painted. Near the town house, stands the lofty tower of Perlachthurm. This tower is three hundred steps high, and the woman which stands above the weather cock is as big as life. In an area adjoining to the tower, is a very fine fountain, with the four seasons in brass, and in the centre, the emperor
Augustus,
with apposite inscriptions. The palaces of the count de
Fugger,
are very magnificent. The Fuggery, as it is called, consists of 106 small houses, erected in 1519, by the family of the Fuggers, lords of the adjacent country, for the reception of poor burgers, who have annual pensions settled on them. On the fine, and well contrived aqueducts for the conveyance of water here, from the Loch are several corn, sawing, flatting and melting mills, but the water-works in particular are remarkable here, which from five towers convey the water in such a manner, through the city, that not only five large, and beautiful fountains with other public reservoirs, but also the greatest part of the houses are supplied by means of these works, with that element in plenty. It is surrounded with very fine pasture land, beautiful and fertile plains, and with large forests full of all sorts of game. There are more Lutherans than Catholics in this city, who live together in tolerable harmony; their poor are provided for in the same hospital, and to avoid giving offence, the Lutherans stand with their hats off when the host goes by. There is no place where the citizens have their dresses so varied, which is so regulated by the magistrates, that every person of quality and religion may be known by it.
In the bishop's palace, which is otherwise an insignificant building, is the hall, in which the protestant princes presented their confession of faith to the emperor Charles V. in the diet, held here
anno.
1530, and from thence called the Augsburg Confession, which occasioned a civil war in the empire that lasted some years; but it was at last agreed, in a subsequent diet, held in the year 1555, that the protestants should enjoy the free exercise of their religion throughout the empire. The magistrates have since been composed of an equal number of protestants and catholics, their senate consists of twenty-three Roman catholics, and twenty-two Lutherans, and their common council of an hundred and fifty of each; the executive power is in the senate, and the legislative authority in both bodies.
The fortifications of this town are not very strong. The duke of Bavaria took this city in 1704, after a siege of thirteen days; and after the loss of the battle of Hochstadt, the same year, he withdrew his garrison, not thinking it any longer tenable.
On the brass door of the cathedral, among other scriptural stones, is represented the Virgin Mary, taking
Eve
out of
Adam's
hip. The revenues of this see are so considerable, that it is generally filled by the younger princes of the electoral house of Bavaria and Palatine. The canonries are worth from 1000 to 1700 guilders a year, according to the price of corn. Those of Ratisbon and Euhitadt, are about the same value, those of Constance smaller, those of Passau, better, and these again greatly surpassed by the canonries of Saltzburg. The church of St. Maurice belongs to the catholics, and is a fine building.
The monks of St. Ulrich dispose of a dust or powder, called St. Ulrich's earth, recommending it by the name of that holy man, who is said to have banished all the rats out of the city, and neighbourhood into a hole, which is to this day shewn in the church, and dedicated to this saint. The dust is dug up from the place where he was buried. If it were true that no rats were to be found in Augsburg, and that any brought there alive, immediately die, it is a wonder that physicians and naturalists have not examined whether such effect proceeds from the soil, water, air, herbage or other natural cause, as in other places and countries, where some species of animals cannot live. In the islands of Malta and Candia, and in Macedonia, there are no venemous serpents or vipers. The islands of Gorzo, Ivica, and Ireland, are immediately fatal to all venemous creatures. At Einsidel, a hunting seat belonging to the duke of Wirtemburg, not a rat is to be seen; and being brought there by way of experiment, they soon die. That the bones of dead bodies are a real safeguard against some species of vermin, is beyond dispute, and possibly the earth of a church-yard, where a great number of bodies are mouldered away, may be effectual against rats. This, however, I knew, says
Keysler,
that St. Ulrich's earth, though so highly extolled, fails of its power over the rats in other places.
The evangelical college, called
Gymnasium Annaeum,
has a library worth visiting.
In Mr.
Euno's
museum in this city, is to be seen a collection of about twenty sorts of bird's nests; there is a similar collection among the king of Poland's curiosities at Dresden. Here is also a chain so small, that a flea may be fastened to it; likewise, some ivory cups, with a ring round the middle, which are so diminutive, that they must be viewed with microscopes, one hundred of them being contained in a hollowed pepper-corn. Augsburg, like Nuremberg, has always been famous for ingenious artists. An incredible quantity of Turkish, as it is called, and other sorts of gold and silver paper is made here. The finest silver work is imitated in pewter, but if in a hundred weight, there be but so much as half an ounce of lead, the design fails. This incomparable pewter is, at the same time, so solid and hard, that snips of common pewter may be melted in it over the fire.
Among the public buildings, the einleass,
i.e.
admittance, as it is called, is a very ingenious work; it saves the trouble and danger they had formerly of opening the city gates at night for travellers or couriers, and may be made so, that many persons can come into the city at once, either horse or foot. To this end, a bridge goes up and down, and as often as a gate shuts, another opens with a great noise, and nothing can be better contrived for security and convenience.
Another curious thing is the engine, which by means of twenty-eight springs, one of which is brass, the water is raised up to three towers. The city also is not without its fine gardens. In the Gulman gardens are some water-works, and fine shady walks, which render it an agreeable retreat in the summer heats. But in water-works, it is surpassed by the Schaver gardens, which have also a pretty aviary; its owner is famous for his excellent balsam, of which prince Eugene used to order a large quantity against the opening of every campaign.
The Bishop is one of the ecclesiastical princes of the empire, but has no share in the government of the town. His residence is at Dillingen.
Reisbec
remarks, that Augsburg is one of the oldest towns in Germany, and one of the most remarkable, as it is there and at Nuremberg, we meet with the oldest marks of German art and industry. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the commerce of this town was the most extensive of any part of South Germany; and contributed much to the civilization of the country, by the works of art and variety of necessaries to the comfort and convenience of life, which it was the means of introducing. Many things originated in this town, which have had great influence on the happiness of mankind. Not to mention the many important diets of the empire held here. It was in this city, that in 952, a council confirmed the order for the celibacy of priests; in 1530, as we have already mentioned, was the confession of faith of the protestants, laid before the emperor, and other states of Germany; in 1555, the famous treaty of peace was signed, by which religious liberty was secured to Germany.
Many of the houses, according to
Reisbec,
are old and ugly, and are built with so little attention to the rules of modern taste, that
Winkleman
renounced living in Germany, after he had seen them. The houses in Augsburg must not be considered as Roman and Greek temples, but as monuments of the architecture of the times in which they were built. Whoever considers them in that light, and compares them with the houses built at Lubec and Nuremberg, in the same century, will see to how much greater magnificence Augsburg had arrived in those early times. He will see too, a great deal of real beauty of proportion, and correspondence of parts, &c. &c.
The looks of the inhabitants of Augsburg, have something very striking in them. They are a compound of the Suabian and Bavarian features. The protestants are most like the Suabians, and the catholics like the Bavarians. It is an observation, which has been frequently made, and undoubtedly a true one, that we may distinguish a protestant of Augsburg from a catholic, by his looks and manner. Any person who goes into their respective churches, will see striking characteristic differences in their countenance. As the catholics are more rigid at Augsburg than elsewhere, and the followers of the different sects seldom intermarrying, this difference may the more easily be accounted for.
The police of the place continues
Reisbec
is very good, and though the town has no territory, it has no debts. The water-works at Augsburg are more admired than those of Marly, their mechanicism is much more simple, and the utility of them, much more conspicuous.
Augsburg, however, is no longer what it was. It has no longer a
Fugger
and a
Welser
to lend millions to the emperor. In this large and handsome town, though formerly one of the greatest trading towns in Germany, there are no merchants at present, whose capitals exceed 20,000l. The others, most of whom must have their coaches, go creeping on with small capitals of 3 or 4000l. and do the business of bankers and commissioners. Some houses, however, carry on a little banking trade; and the way through Tyrol and Graubundten, occasions some little exchange between this place and Germany.
After these brokers and doers of business by commission, the engravers, statuaries, and painters, are the most respectable of the labouring part of the city. Their productions, like the toys of Nuremberg, go every where. They have always some people of genius amongst them; but the small demand for their labours, affords them so little encouragement, that to prevent starving, they are mostly confined to the small religious works, which are done elsewhere by the capuchin monks. They furnish all Germany with little pictures for prayer-books, and to hang in citizens houses. Indeed, the arts meet with little support in this country. In other provinces of Germany, matters appear to be no better ordered;
Mengs, Winckelman, Gluck, Hasse, Handel, Haydon,
and many others, were obliged to acquire reputation abroad, before their merits were acknowledged at home.
There is an academy of arts instituted here, under the protection of the magistrates. It seems, however, like its patrons, to have no other aim, than to produce good mechanics, and preserve the manufacturers of the city. The senate, for some time past, has been deliberating on similar projects for the encouragement of industry. As I take part in any improvement for social happiness, I was extremely mortified, says
Reisbec,
to see that three good intentions were thwarted by the very governors of the town themselves.
The grounds of this opposition arise chiefly from the form of government. The patricians, who, with a very small addition of the mercantile part, govern the town aristocratically, cannot bear to see the plebiean enabled, by his industry, to carry his head above them. This despicable policy, takes its origin in the general corruption of the country. Nine-tenths of the inhabitants, are the most infamous rascals imaginable; fellows, who, on the least signal, are ready to cut each others' throats, on account of religion; who spend their weekly wages every Sunday in ale-houses, and never reflect on the greatness of their predecessors, but when the liquor is fermenting in their heads. It is impossible to give any idea of all the ridiculous incidents occasioned by religious disputes. Every day produces some occurrence, which makes one both laugh and complain. They never brush a cobweb from a public building without mingling religion in the business. The catholics, who are more zealous than the protestants support a controversial preacher here, as they do in all the towns where the religion is of a mixed kind. This man, at certain times, sets one half of Augsburg a laughing, the other a raving. He who filled this part when
Reisbec
was there, was an Ex-jesuit; who was one of the best comedians of the kind he had seen. The excessive poverty and indolence of the people, makes them regardless of their rights: the aristocracy would not be so powerful, if the people had more attachment to their constitution. But
liberty,
says
Riesbec,
is no dearer to them, than the chastity of their daughters whom their canons, (whose incomes are about 200l. per annum) purchase every year by dozens.
The other tenth of the inhabitants, consist of some patrician families, among whom there are some very polite people, merchants, artists and clergy. The town, which is 9 miles and half round, contains hardly 30,000 people, and their collective capital, scarely exceeds 1,500,000l. so that their yearly decrease becomes more apparent. Should some fortunate circumstances not arise, another century will see them reduced to beggary. M.
Nicolai
makes the number of habitants 34 or 35,000 and says, there are 28,000 houses.
The more modern part of this town is truly beautiful; we are led to believe. that in proportion as the internal resources diminished, the magistracy became more attentive to external decoration; but it is, as with the false bloom on a courtezan's cheek, it may beguile the passing stranger, but whoever sees her at her toilet, will soon be undeceived.
The city has its water for the table from the river Loch, which runs at some distance from the town. The aqueducts conveying it, are much to be admired. As the court of Bavaria has it in its power to cut off this indispensible necessary of life; by threatening the town with so doing, it often lays it under contribution. But having besides this, other means of keeping the high-council in a state of dependance; to secure itself from this oppression, it so seeks the Emperors protection, as to become wholly dependent on him, and is there as it were banded about by both courts. The Emperor's minister to the circle of Suabia, generally resides in this town, which secures to his court a perpetual influence with the magistracy. There are Austrian and Prussian recruiting parties quartered here, and the partiality of the government to the former, is very remarkable. In the war of 1756, the citizens were divided into equal parties for the two courts. The Catholics considered the emperor as their god; and the protestants did the same by the king of Prussia. The flame of religion consequently had very much kindled a civil war amongst them.
Ulm is the most considerable city in Suabia. It lies on an uneven spot of ground, on the Danube, where that river unites with the Iler, and first becomes navigable for vessels of considerable burthen. This city is situated forty miles west of Augsburg, but the road, for the most part, is so sandy, and the second stage so tedious, by means of the sloughs, that it takes up nine hours to perform the journey.
Compared to the neighbouring cities, it is well fortified; they have here a very particular custom, which is not to suffer strangers to go on the ramparts, without paying a guilder. All the burgers are under the same restraint, the privilege of walking free, being allowed only to the patricians and their friends. This does not proceed so much from an apprehension of any clandestine correspondence, as from avarice; for these patricians share the hay and fruit growing on the ramparts among themselves, which makes them cautious against whatever may occasion any diminution of their profit. That which engages the attention of travellers, in this city, is the cathedral, not to be equalled by any in Germany, that of Strasburg excepted. The steeple is four hundred and one steps high; nothing can be finer than the prospects from the top of it, the whole country round it being entirely level. In case of fire, especially from lightning, sixty-three large copper kettles always filled with water are hung up in different parts of the tower, and on the roof of the church, with a machine for drawing up provisions for the watchmen in the tower. There is a very handsome stone-bridge here over the Danube, which greatly favours the trade of the inhabitants in linen, fustians, hardware and wool. It is one of the largest and best built places in Germany, and the town-house is a very handsome edifice. Large quantities of wine are brought here from the Rhine, the Neckar, and from Constance, to be transported down the Danube. The Reformation prevailed here about the year 1529, and the magistrates, as well as the inhabitants are mostly Lutherans. The city of Ulm, says
Keysler,
is however very far from being what it formerly was, when it used to be a common saying,
The lords of Ulm, the merchants of Nuremberg, and the burgers of Augsburg.
And this saying also, was equally current,
The power of Venice, the ingenuity of Nuremberg, and the fire-arms of Strasburg; let the world shew the like.
But this declension is not the peculiar misfortune of Ulm: many other Imperial free-towns, join in the like complaint.
Of all the circles of the Empire, Suabia is the most divided, it contains four ecclesiastic, and thirteen lay-principalities, nineteen independant prelacies and abbies, twenty-six earldoms and lordships, and thirty-one free cities. The prime directors of the circle are the bishop of Constance and the duke of Wirtemberg, which last has the sole direction of all that relates to military concerns.
The mixture of the various forms of government and religious sects; the oppression exercised by the greater over the lesser; the game constantly played by the Emperor, who possesses many pieces of detached country in Suabia, which depend not on the circle, and can in consequence of his privileges as archduke of Austria, extend his possessions in it by various ways, are circumstances which give the cultivation of the country, and the character of the inhabitants, a most extraordinary cast.
In several of the port-towns, the highest degree of cultivation may be seen in the midst of the most savage wildness; a great degree of knowledge and polish of manners, mixed with the grossest ignorance and superstition; traces of liberty, under the deepest oppression; national pride, together with a contempt and neglect of the native country; in short, all the social qualities in striking contrast, and opposition to each other.
Those parts of Suabia which belong to the greater potentates, such as Wirtemberg, Austria and Baden, are certainly the most improved. The whole of Suabia may comprehend about 900 German square miles, and two millions of people. More than half of these are subjects of the three above-mentioned houses, though they do not own, by a great deal, one half of the land.
If the small German lords would keep themselves within due bounds; if they were not desirous to appear greater than they really are; if they were more affectionate to their subjects; if they were not insensible to the softer feelings of humanity; and so hostile to the Muses and the Graces, the very smallness of these states, would essentially contribute to their happiness. For although a small country must necessarily part with some money, to procure what it wants from abroad, yet if the governor does not require many luxuries, a prudent economy and management will keep them within due bounds. Besides, as most of the sovereigns in this part of the world are Catholic, and the rich foundations in the neighbourhood lies open to their younger children, they are not incumbered with the burthen of making any other provision for them. Many of them also belong to the church, and their preferments in that line, might prevent their laying any burthens on their subjects. But the happiness of their people, is never their study, from the want of family ties, they consider themselves as unconnected with the country, and think their only business is, to act like generals in an enemy's land, and plunder where they can. Were this not the case, their exemption from supporting any military establishments, the ease with which a small country may be governed, the distance from the political distractions of greater states, the security that other powers of Germany cannot play the great conqueror over them, and many other circumstances, might be improved into blessings in these small societies.
The courts of Stutgard and Carlsrube are the only ones which seem to have any sense of making the subject happy. The rest appear vain enough to suppose the people created for them, and not they for the people. The treasurers of these petty lords, with some of whom, says
Reisbec,
I was well acquainted, make a very essential difference between the interests of the prince, and those of the people; and though the subject is under no apprehension of gross tyranny; yet he is by no means safe from having his pocket picked by the nicer operations of the finance.
The education of these lords, is so thoroughly neglected, as hardly to admit better hopes. It is almost universally in the hands of priests. Part of these are monks, whose knowledge is in a manner wrapped up in their cowls, and part are young
abbés
just come from school, and who only seek to make their fortune, by the connections of their pupils. The monk teaches that a reverence to saint
Francis, Benedict,
or
Ignatius,
a regular attendance on mass, telling beads, and giving alms to monasteries, are objects which will make amends for many transgressions of another kind.
My excursions, he adds, in the different states of the circle of Suabia, have not produced the rich entertainment I promised myself. I visited a dozen, free Imperial towns, in which, notwithstanding the republican form of government, not a spark of liberty or patriotism was to be seen. The inhabitants have, through the oppression of more powerful neighbours, long since, lost all sense of the value of independence; but though ashamed to mention the name of their native country out of their own walls, within them they mimick the forms of old Rome, and after the manner of those governors of the world, inscribe their public buildings of state with
Senatus, Populusque, Hallensis, Bopsingensis, Nordlingensis,
&c.
In the fifteenth century, the Imperial cities of Suabia, acted a very different part. They were then united in league, not only with each other, but with the cities of Franconia and the Rhine. Even the emperor had cause sometimes to be alarmed at their increasing power, which made
Charles
V. disunite them. From the time of the association of the Hanse-towns, the gold flowed from all the country into the cities. These were the exclusive seats of industry, and their wealth drew into their dependance the neighbouring princes, who, at that time, lived by robberies. If the spirit of trade, which then prevailed, had suffered them to place more value on the possession of landed property, they would to this day have preserved somewhat of their former splendour; as with their power they might have made many conquests, and with their wealth, many purchases.
All hopes are now vanished of their ever again becoming conspicuous. As soon as the prince, discovered the value of industry, and gave it free encouragement in their dominions, it fled into their protection, and abandoned the dark walls of cities, in which a system of monopolies, little policy, and narrowminded envy of the successful, laid it under such manifold restraints. The consequence of which is, the towns are so reduced, as to be obliged to sell the little landed property they are possessed of, to discharge their debts. This has lately been the case with Ulm; the largest town in Suabia next to Augsburg.
The great population which prevails in the circle is wonderful, when the untoward circumstances of the country are considered. By untoward circumstances; is meant the extortion of petty masters, who all keep their mistresses, their stag-hounds, their French-cooks, and English horses; the perpetual quarrels among neighbours, which arise from the various people and governments of the empire; the small profits attendant on industry, within such a confined spot; and lastly, the constant decrease of coin, owing to the sums of money expended by the governors of the country, in search of foreign luxuries.
There is, however, an integrity still adherent to the German character, and a kind of jovial humour about it, that makes the princes of the country shudder at any acts of wanton oppression and cruelty, which, with the same powers, would no doubt be exercised in Spain, Italy, and even in France. Give a German prince, but room for his dogs and horses, (for about the welfare of these, he is uncommonly solicitous) and you have little to fear from him in other respects.
MAP
of the CIRCLE of
WESTPHALIA.
CHAP. IX.
Of the CIRCLE of WESTPHALIA.
THIS circle is surrounded by the United Provinces, the Northern or German sea, the Upper, and the Electoral Rhenish circles, and the circle of Burgundy. Its extent amounts to 1250 square German miles. The air towards the north is cold, and the soil almost one continued morass or barren sand. The horses are large, and the hogs in high esteem, especially the hams, known by the name of Westphalia hams. The southern part has a warmer atmosphere, and a much better soil, which produces pastures and some corn.
The principal rivers are the Weser, the Ems, the Lippe, and the Roer. It contains several sovereignties, as the bishoprics of Osnaburg, Munster, Paderborn and Liege; the abbeys of Corvey, Stablo, &c. the duchy of Cleve, with the county of Mark, the duchies of Juliers and
, Nassau-siegan, and Nassau Dillenburg; the principalities of East Friesland, and Mors, with several counties, seignories, and the Imperial cities of Cologne, Aix-la Chapelle and Dortmund. It has no capital, but Munster is its most considerable town. This circle reaches in length from north to south, about two hundred miles, and nearly the same distance from east to west.
The summoning princes, and directors of the circle, are the bishop of Munster, and with him alternately the electors of Brandenburgh and Palatine, as dukes of Cleve and Juliers, both of whom, in this directory, enjoy together but one voice. The diets of the circle are usually appointed at Cologne, but ever since the year 1718, none have been held. The archives belonging to it, are kept at Dusseldorf.
With respect to religion, this circle is one of the mixed.
The BISHOPRIC of PADERBORN,
Is bounded by the country of Lippe towards the north; by the duchy of Brunswick on the east; by the county of Waldeck on the south, and by the duchy of Westphalia on the west. Its greatest extent from west to east, amounts to eleven, and from north to south, to about nine German miles. It contains twenty castles, sixteen monasteries, and ninety-five parish churches. The Roman-catholic is the established religion. This country is remarkable for the variety of its salt-springs and other fountains. In the Transactions of the Royal Society, December 1665, mention is made of a spring in this country which loses itself twice in twenty-four hours, and returns with a great noise, and force sufficient to turn three mills not far from its source; the inhabitants call it Bolder-born, or the Boistrous spring. And in the Transactions of January following, there is an account of another remarkable fountain in this diocese, called Metborn, which is a treble spring, two springs of which, though not a foot and a half distant from each other, have very different qualities; the one being limpid, blewish, and luke-warm; the other cold as ice, turbid and whitish; of which water, all fowls that drink, die soon after in strong convulsions; but giving them a little common salt, will keep them alive longer, and vinegar will quite recover them. The third spring, which issues about twenty paces from the others, is of a greenish colour, very clear, tastes both sour and sweet, but very pleasant; and from its weight supposed to be a mixture of the other two.
It is probable, that it is the water from this spring, which is served up at the tables of the principal
Auberges
in Paderborn; and perhaps all Germany does not produce a lighter, or more pleasant water to drink. It mostly resembles the Seltzer, but is even lighter and more pleasant to the taste. But to those who drink freely of it, though with ever so small a portion of wine, it is apt to occasion a slight fever on the brain; which however goes off soon, if the quantity of water drank has not been immoderate. This water, like some of the delicate wines in the south of France and in Italy, loses all its fine qualities, and becomes insipid, if transported to any distance. If like the Seltzer water it would bear carriage, the revenue it would produce, must be immense.
The bishopric of Paderborn was founded by
Charlemagne,
and the cathedral church consecrated by Pope
Leo
III. in 796.
Paderborn, the capital city, takes its name from the head of the river Pada, which springs in a torrent near the cathedral of this city, and afterwards runs into the Lippe. At this fountain, according to the Magdeburg chronicle, most of the inhabitants of Saxony and Westphalia were baptized, about the year 780, by order of
Charlemagne,
the natives being heathens before he conquered this country. A great part of the adjacent country is very barren, and has little to boast of besides hogs-flesh, deer, and other venison; in the middle of it, however, are high mountains which contain iron mines.
The town formerly enjoyed the immunities of a city of the empire, and carried on a great trade, but at present its commerce is inconsiderable, and the inhabitants subsist chiefly by agriculture, and breeding of cattle. The emperor
Charlemagne,
and several other emperors and German kings resided and held their diets here formerly.
The BISPHOPRIC of MUNSTER,
Is bounded on the east by the bishopric of Osnaburg and Paderborn; on the south by the county of Mark; on the west by the duchy of Cleve and Zutphen, and on the north by the counties of Bentheim and Steinfurth. It is the largest of all the Westphalian bishoprics, being an hundred miles in length, and eighty in breadth.
This country is generally level. It has, however, some agreeable heights, but no great or lofty mountains. The extensive heaths which are seen in it, serve for breeding of cattle. There are also some fruitful plains, large woods, and turf, together with good quarries of stone, and rivers abounding in fish. No part of Westphalia produces better bacon, which is exported all over Europe, and so much admired, that it produces double the price of any other.
At the time of the reformation, the Lutheran doctrine found many adherents in this part of the world, but it was afterwards suppressed. There are several nobles here who are still of the protestant persuasion, but the established religion of the country is catholic.
The bishop is a prince of the empire, and at the diet ranks with the bishop of Liege, but in such a manner, that the bishop of Osnaburg, always sits between both. In the circle of Westphalia, he is the first summoning prince and director of the circle. The chapter consists of forty members, who are all nobles, and must prove their nobility; and once a year the shield and helm of the youngest canon are carried in procession, with beat of drum through the city, that every one may enquire into his pedigree.
Munster, the capital of the bishopric, lies in a very fruitful and pleasant spot, on the rivulet Aa, or Alpha. The city is large, rich, and populous. It is defended by a strong citadel, built to keep the inhabitants in awe, after the insurrection made by John of Leyden, in 1635, who, pretending divine inspiration, drove the bishop and magistrates out of the city, caused himself to be proclaimed king, and held out a fourteen months siege against them. He made one of his concubines queen, but afterwards cut off her head, because she would not approve of all his mad projects. The bishop having got a reinforcement of troops, at last seized the city by stratagem, and took the anabaptist king prisoner, who having been carried in derision to most of the countries in Germany, was the year following put to death with red-hot pincers, and his bones hung up in an iron-cage, on the top of a steeple.
At Munster, in 1648, was concluded the treaty which established the protestant religion, and put an end to the thirty years war. This treaty has been made the basis of almost every subsequent treaty, especially as to religion. It is sometimes called the treaty of Westphalia, at others, the treaty of Osnaburg, because the protestant princes held their conferrences at Osnaburg, as the catholic princes did theirs at Munster. The Swedes had been engaged eighteen years in this war, and got possession of an hundred strong towns in the empire; and by this treaty they secured the duchies of Bremen and Verden, western Pomerania, the island of Rugen, and the city of Weismer, and might have made still better terms, if they had not adhered to the part of the protestants.
The BISHOPRIC of LIEGE,
Lies in the Netherlands, and is bounded on the north by Brabant and Guelderland: on the east by the duchies of Limburg and Juliers; on the south by Luxemburgh and the Ardennes, and on the west by Brabant and the country of Namur. It is in length from north to south, about twenty German miles, and about half as much in breadth, but the breadth varies, being twice as much in some places as it is in others. Some small districts lie within the jurisdiction of the duchies of Brabant and Luxemburg.
The soil is fertile in corn and pasturage, and yields wine, which resembles the middling wines of Burgundy and Champagne, together with very considerable forests and mines of copper, lead, iron, and stonecoal; as also many good stone-quarries, and among them, likewise some marble. This bishopric is also celebrated for its mineral-waters; namely, those of Spa, and Chaude-fontaine.
The principal rivers by which it is watered, are the Meuse and Sambre, which unite in the county of Namur.
The chief exports of this country, and particularly of the town of Liege, consist of beer, fire-arms, nails, serge, leather and stone-coal; all which are exported from hence in prodigious large quantities, more particularly fire-arms, such as guns, pistols, and swords, with which in time of war they serve almost all Europe. The low prices for which they will sell their guns and swords, is almost incredible. No nation can come in incompetition with them, in point of cheapness for these articles.
In the circle of Westphalia, this Bishop is third in rank. He is one of the most considerable ecclesiastical princes in Germany. His annual revenue is about three hundred thousand ducats. The chapter of Liege consists of sixty major-canons, who are most of them of noble extraction, and have the power of electing their bishop. There are twenty-four other canons, who have no share in this election. It is computed there are in this diocese, or rather principality, fifty-two baronies, eighteen walled towns, and four hundred villages well peopled. The Bishop can lay no taxes on his subjects without the consent of the clergy, nobility, and commons, who are called the three states of the country.
Liege is supposed to derive its name from a little rivulet, which runs through this country, and falls into the Meuse. It is a very large, and a very populous city, of a triangular form. There are several hills and vallies within the walls, and some islands made by the Meuse, which is here divided into three branches, which, after having passed through the streets under several bridges, unite again a little below the town. The town is seated in a vale between two mountains, the highest of which lies to the north, and the other to the east. In the valley between these mountains runs the river Meuse, and it is here very broad.
This town has ten large suburbs, in which are a great number of religious houses and churches; which last, with those in the city, make an hundred in all. In the city and suburbs are likewise several public places or squares, as also, a cathedral church dedicated to St. Lambert, in which there are many reliques. The Bishop's palace and the cathedral, are large and spacious buildings, the latter is built with red stone, and has a quadrangle within. This city is about four miles in circumference, and contains about an hundred and fifty streets. According to the opinion of some travellers, no city in Germany or France, can equal it in fine churches, convents, and other religious foundations. The fortifications of the city are but mean, and being commanded by hills which surround them, are incapable of resisting a large army; but the citadel, which is situated on a very high hill, is a place of some strength; yet it may be a question, whether it is not of more disservice than real service; as it is by no means strong, and from its elevated situation, if the enemy once got possession of it, they could demolish the town in a few hours. The duke of Marlborough took this city in the year 1702.
Liege is stiled an Imperial city, under the protection of its Bishop; but this prelate is sovereign of the city and diocese, and the citizens have suffered more than once very severely for disputing his authority. Most of the streets are very narrow, but there are many of a good breadth. There are also some very spacious and handsome private edifices; but in general, the buildings are mean and shabby. On the banks of the river there are some very pleasant walks, which are much resorted to in summer. The environs are so extremely pleasant, that it has obtained the name of the paradise of ecclesiastics. It is a common saying, likewise, that it is the hell of women, because they are obliged to live a very laborious life, the women doing all the laborious offices both at home and abroad; the purgatory of men, because they are almost all governed by their wives; and the paradise of monks, on account of their rich benefices. The English jesuits have a college here, delightfully situated on the summit of a high hill, with a very fine garden. This college is now appropriated to the education of youth in the catholic persuasion; of which there are in general from sixty to seventy scholars, mostly the sons of our nobility and gentry. It is wonderfully well fitted up for the purpose, and the discipline and care that is taken of the young gentlemen, is equalled in no place. Great pains are taken with their education. There is scarce an art, science, or language, which is not taught in this seminary. The proficiency in classical learning therefore cannot be expected to be very great. In short, the method of study generally pursued in this college, resembles the plans of our most considerable modern academies in the vicinity of the metropolis, which are certainly very different from the mode of education in our great schools, such as Westminster, Eton, Winchester, and one or two more.
At the opposite extremity of the city, is a convent of English nuns, whose chief subsistence is obtained by the education of young ladies, of their own religious persuasion. They have generally the same number of young persons under their tuition, with the college of English jesuits, who are likewise chiefly the daughters of our catholic nobility and gentry. The pension as it is called, or the terms for board and education, are very moderate, about 25l. a year, every thing included, and are kept in sickness and in health, they also profess to teach a multiplicity of things. The nuns, as well as the jesuits, are almost all, either from this country or from Ireland, and many of them related to the most considerable catholic families in one or other of them.
In the convent, there is likewise a pension for such ladies as chuse to come and board there. This pension is kept in a building adjoining to the convent, but not within the inner walls of the convent. It is upon a very frugal plan; the pension is very reasonable, the dinners sumptuous, they all dine in one eating-room, and have separate chambers to retire to, for tea and to sit in. The only inconvenience is, that being within the outer gate of the convent, they are obliged to dismiss their friends, and return home themselves by nine in the evening. In other respects, this is a very agreeable and cheap place for those persons to come to, who wish to live comfortably and agreeably on a slender income. It may not be amiss to remark, that separate dinners are not allowed, except in illness,
In the monastery of St. William, just without the walls, lie the remains of that famous English traveller, Sir
John Mandeville,
who having visited almost all the great cities of Europe, preferred Liege to any of them, and accordingly passed the latter part of his days in this city. The university was so considerable, that
Meibonus
relates, there were twenty-one kings sons resident here in 1131. At present it is in no esteem. There is also a public library in this city, belonging to the council-house, but it is by no means considerable, and is not frequented. The environs of this city are highly picturesque and beautiful, but the internal parts carry a very dingy hue, owing to the clouds of smoke continually issuing from such an immense number of little forges, as are to be found in its precincts.
About three English miles from Liege, at the extremity of a beautiful valley, and on the banks of a very pleasing stream, which descends with considerable rapidity from the mountains, stands the little village of Chau de-fontaine. This village is famous for its baths, the waters of which are of a sulphurous nature, and always hot. The inn where the baths are, is not much frequented. The house is very old fashioned, but the accommodations, as to the wines and diet, are far from bad, and the charges not extravagant. There are many families who make this house their residence for weeks together, tempted to it solely from the retiredness of the situation, the beauty of the scenery, and the occasional luxury of the baths, which are made use of more for pleasure than health. They are of a very agreeable temperature as to heat; and the expences attending the care of them, very inconsiderable.
Near Liege, in the road, however, from Spa to Aix-la-Chapelle, stands the town of Verviers; a place formerly of not near so much import as at present. This town owes all its consequence to its woollen manufactures, which are now carried on to very great extent; and of late years, they have even rivalled us very successfully, in several of the northern parts of Europe, in this branch of commerce.
About seventeen miles south-east of Liege, is the village of Spa, which has been long famous all over Europe for its mineral waters. It is seated in a spacicious valley surrounded by hills, part of which are covered with woods, and on the north-side, more particularly, with very steep and craggy mountains, which immediately overlook the town.
The town of Spa, according to
Thicknesse,
is situated in a stony, mountainous country, on the banks of which, in summer, is a murmuring stream, but which in winter, is sometimes a rapid river; the air is good, and the environs in general are pleasant, though rude and uncultivated, having much the appearance of a part of the globe, which has been broken up by earthquakes, or some violent convulsions of nature; so that all the luxuries of life are brought daily on women's backs from Liege. In the winter, the place is deserted.
The account given by
Pliny
of the waters of this place, is that they tasted of iron, were purgative, and a sovereign cure for tertian agues and the stone. The three principal springs are the Pouhon, the Geronstere, and the Savoniere. The Pouhon is in the middle of the town, or rather village; for Spa, strictly speaking, is no more than a village, though, from the numerous and splendid buildings erected within these few years, for the accommodation of strangers, many of which are of the first distinction; it is more considerable than many towns. It is from this spring that most of the water is supplied, which is sent into foreign countries. Over the spring is a stone building, on which there is an inscription recounting the virtues of these waters; that they remove obstructions, dissolve hard swellings, dry up a superfluity of moisture, and strengthen weak limbs, if drank in proper quantities, and under the direction of the faculty.
Health is now become but a secondary object that attracts such a splendid assembly of both sexes, which now resort to this delightful spot. Numbers resort here for the sake of gaming high, and by their dexterity and address, bid fair to amend or improve their shattered fortunes: a crowd of another sort attend only as parasites, and dependant on such illustrious personages as keep public tables, and make a splendid appearance. Others come there to make the best market they can of the commodities they import. Some aim at procuring new acquaintance and correspondents. Others resort here purely to enjoy themselves and the wholesome air of the climate. Some again have diversion and amusement principally in view, and spend their time here more for the sake of the good and grand company that comes here, than out of any regard to the virtue of the waters. In a word, this most delightful spot is the centre and seat of all joy and pleasure; which contribute towards the countless miracles that are wrought here beyond the power of words to express.
He who takes into his consideration, only the numberless amusements of this delicious spot, the various games, the balls, the plays, the walks, and other entertainments that are carried on here, and succeed each other without intermission, must doubtless imagine, that a life so led in the daily gratification of every scene, is able to remove a variety of little inconveniences, without the least aid or assistance from these salutary springs. Such, for instance, as the yellow jaundice, which is principally owing to some light and trivial obstruction, the hyp or vapours, which are often the result only of an unpolite deportment, from a too peevish and morose husband, and more particularly, that petty disorder called the green-sickness, a maiden-distemper for the immediate cure of which, the young lover is the infallible physician.
There are three different ways of lodging, as well as living, at Spa.
Those persons who come there alone, or in small parties, with a slender retinue, and little baggage, lodge in general at public inns.
In all these there is attendance sufficient, and a more plentiful larder than is reasonably requisite; considering that their tables or ordinaries are principally intended for the reception of such persons as are suppose to frequent these houses, for the recovery of their health.
The second method of living at Spa, is by hiring furnished houses, as in Bath or London. Of this sort there are abundance to be met with, of all sizes and prices Princes, and persons of high rank, who propose keeping a public table there, generally adopt this mode.
The third method is to hire furnished apartments. And this is more calculated for small families, or single persons, who do not like the hurry and bustle of an inn. These persons generally send for their provisions from the adjacent inn, at so much per head. Or if single gentlemen, they will find it much the cheapest method to dine at the public ordinaries, where they will meet with very good company, pick up fresh acquaintance, and indulge themselves in a variety of different conversations.
The custom of paying visits, except among persons of some rank, is now almost wholly laid aside. The established etiquette, however, is that the inferior pays the first visit, whether he arrives first or last, and the return is conducted according to the rank and character they respectively bear. If the disproportion is very great, no return at all is expected. Princes, however, generally testify their regard for any person of distinction by a personal visit. The counter-visits are, in general, little more than bare ceremony; they are reduced to a formal tour in a chariot, or perhaps on foot, to leave a card at some person's house, who never fails to be out of the way, or, at least, denied.
Most people, however, pay no visits at all, but to such persons as are manifestly their superiors: they content themselves with testifying their respects to their bottle-companions, or such others as they are personally acquainted with, who on the other hand frequently circumvent them, by waiting on them first.
Those who delight in tranquility and repose, may reside there in as retired and solitary a manner as they please, and there are rural objects enough to engage their attention.
Amongst the multitude of persons of both sexes, who resort to the Spa, there are a variety of characters, and among them many very amiable ones; and besides the friends usually to be met with there, it is impossible to fail of finding some strangers, whose company and conversation prove exceedingly engaging: these ties of friendship, thus suddenly contracted, and grounded on a sympathy of tempers and conformity of characters, establish an openness of heart, which is the life and soul of society, and renders it inexpressibly delightful.
Time, at the Spa, flies away with an amazing swiftness; though it must be allowed, two parts in three of it, are spent in nothing but amusements; yet the whole body of its visitors is in perpetual motion, all seemingly, at least, as busy as bees; and not a drone to be met with in the whole hive. The amusements follow so close at the heels of each other, in that most agreeable recess, that there are some people who have been there for six weeks successively, and sometimes longer, who have never dreamt of taking any survey of the country, or in short, any of the parts adjacent.
The season for resorting to the Spa, does not properly commence till the end of June, but appears in its utmost beauty and perfection about the latter end of July, and the whole month of August.
Most of the company are at the Pouhon well, by five o'clock in the morning, which gives the town the appearance of a fair at that hour, it being then likewise crowded with a multiplicity of horses and carriages waiting to carry the company to the Geronstere and Savoniere springs. This latter spring is situated on an eminence, at the east side of Spa, and is much about half a league from the town. The road, however, is rugged, and in some measure troublesome and unpleasant, especially in the going there, it being upon an ascent all the way, insomuch that though the distance is so inconsiderable, most of its visitors go there in carriages or on horseback, lest the walk should be apt to throw them into too great a perspiration, or put them out of breath; in either of which cases, as the water is very cold, it might prove of dangerous consequence, as is well known by too fatal experience.
This spring, or well, is contained in a very small bason, round which the drinkers stand, in order to be served; and is covered with a dome or cupola, composed of free-stone, and the whole surrounded with a low wall.
At one of the springs there is a large building, with a fire in it when the mornings are chilly, to which the company retire, after having drank a glass or two of the waters. Here you meet with a mixed concourse of people of all ranks and degrees, citizens, monks, nuns, lords and ladies, and sometimes kings or princes, who divesting themselves of their high dignity, converse there with the same familiarity, as if they were all upon a level.
There are horses and carriages to be let here, either for the morning only, or for the whole day. The price of the horse, to go to either of the distant wells, is about two schellings, each schelling sevenpence English. Those who engage them for the whole day, in order to enjoy the pleasure of an evening's ride, pay about three schellings. In the very height of the season, probably something more. The carriages let out for hire, which are low phaetons, very shabby, old fashioned and clumsy, are cheap in proportion.
With regard to the general expences attending a residence at Spa, they are not, even in the height of the season, more than those of the little watering-place on the western coast of England, according to the stile in which a person lives. The wines and diet, on the other hand, are much more sumptuous than they are to be met with in England on almost any terms. There are likewise several circulating libraries in this place, tolerably well stocked, not only with novels, but with all modern publications, even of works of literature.
This frequently induces strangers to make considerable purchases from these libraries. And French books may be met with here on as reasonable terms, as in any town of Europe, and in as great variety in point of assortment.
As the latter part of the forenoon, in the month of July and August, is frequently too sultry to ride out in the morning, it is generally filled up between these libraries, and the assembly rooms, where the pharo-bank is held, and to which all strangers are admitted gratis. The principal assembly room is seated on an eminence, about half a mile from the town, commanding a most delightful view. It is called the Vauxhall. Here a great number of parties and single gentlemen breakfast on their return from the wells, a band of music playing the whole time. When this repast is over, the pharo-bank opens, and continues dealing for about a couple of hours. The capital stock is about a 1000 louis d'ors. No person is allowed to punt less than a guinea, except the ladies, who are indulged with the liberty of playing for silver. A hazard table is then introduced for about half an hour, or a little more, just before dinner, when the ladies, for the most part retire, and this closes the morning's amusement in the public-rooms. There are card-tables for those who chuse to make parties of whist and piquet. The evening, till dusk, is generally dedicated to excursions on horseback, or in carriages; the square being full of carriages, and horses standing for hire about five o'clock every evening. There are also two or three very fine public walks, where the company meet as the sun gets nearer the horizon, and at which the band of music belonging to the rooms occasionally play. The mountains overhanging Spa, present a number of very agreeable walks, which have been cut through the woods at a great expence, in zig-zag paths, all up the sides of them. The beautiful views that present themselves in climbing up these mountains, the prospects of which vary every instant, amply recompence the toil. No sooner does night close in, but all the company repair instantly to the rooms. Of these there are two, both very elegant and superb. The one in the town, and the other about half a mile distant, called the Vauxhall, as has been already observed. At one or other of these rooms, there are balls, three or four times a week. The intervening nights, there are only card-parties, a promenade, and the pharo-bank. It is this latter which seems to keep every thing alive in these regions of dissipation. The large heaps of gold displayed on the cloth, which covers the pharo-table; the number of people of fashion who are playing at it; the attempts which are made by many of them to break the bank, by doubling the stakes from time to time, is sufficient to interest the attention of a number of spectators unconnected with the play. And it sometimes happens, that a spirited player is successful enough to break it. A singular instance of which, I will relate, from
Thicknesse.
Some years since, a stranger, of plain but decent appearance, took his seat at the pharo-table at Aix-la-chapelle; the bank was at that time rich, and the stranger, after having lost some money, threw down his pocket-book, full of notes to a high amount, and declared he was
at the whole bank.
The stranger won, the banker trembled, and the company stared at the cool dispassionate manner in which the stranger received his good fortune, who ordered a person, that stood near him to take the money, and retired; but not before, a reduced halfpay captain, who had been looking on, exclaimed aloud,
Good God! if I had won but a twentieth-part of that sum, what a happy man it would have made me!
—Would it, said the stranger? then you shall be happy; and in a short time, a servant was sent, who put into the officer's hands a purse, containing the twentieth part of the money won. A few days afterwards, it was known, that the king of Prussia had been
incog.
at Aix-la-chapelle, and that he was the stranger, the gambler, and the generous donor.
The prince Bishop of Liege, is supposed to receive several thousands a year from the bankers belonging to this pharo-bank, for giving them his licence to hold it. At the end of the assembly-room in the town of Spa, is a very neat, little French theatre, where there are plays three times a week. The actors, in general, are tolerable. The parterre of this theatre, by being boarded over on ball-nights, serves as an apartment for the pharo-bank. For persons of rank and fashion, there is a club, where the members dine together every day. It was instituted by the English. Every person must be balloted for, and one black-ball is sufficient to exclude the candidate. Dress and suppers are never thought of at Spa. Every one dresses a l'Angloise, and the heat of the weather, the early rising, and late dinners, make people wholly unsolicitous about eating or retiring from the rooms.
With respect to those who come there only for the waters, there are divers cases where they do not agree with the constitution of those invalids who drink them; and it is certain, there will always be visitors who will never receive the least benefit from them. Some drink them out of caprice, or else follow such instructions as are whimsical and injudicious; some swallow down too large a quantity; and others drink them too sparingly; sometimes without any proper preparation, and sometimes by altering the qualities of the waters, with an intermixture of drugs prescribed by physicians, unacquainted with the practice peculiar to the wells, or incapable of foreseeing in what manner they will operate. In short, there are abundance of errors committed by invalids, either through the non-observance of a proper regimen, or the imprudent choice of a spring unfit for their service, as well as a mistake in the quantity or manner of drinking the waters, on which the cure of their particular disorder in a great measure depends.
It is universally known, the Geronstere spring is most suitable in those cases where there is a weakness of the fibres, or a contraction proceeding from a too lively or quick sensibility: it is fit likewise for weak stomachs, and such as have tender constitutions, whose fibres are too inactive; such as are in a languishing condition, or are afflicted with catarrhs and other pectoral disorders.
The impetuous rains and violent hurricanes that frequently happen in this country, make the ground and stones shrink and give way so, that the roads are almost impassible in winter, except on the new chaussé from Spa to Liege;—however, if the roads are somewhat rough, the mountains through which those passages are cut, afford a very pleasing prospect.
These rough-hewn, unpolished rocks, intermixt with a great variety of stately oaks and humble shrubs, strike the eye of every curious traveller, who has any adequate idea of a beauteous landscape. For my own part, says the author of a tour to Spa, the first time I travelled that road, I ordered my coachman to halt at several places, that I might look about me, and make my observations on the agreeable prospects which the narrow passages cut through the mountains, presented themselves from time to time to my view. I was agreeably surprized, says he, to find that an uncultivated spot of ground, with no other covering than a worthless, pitiful stock of broom, or heath, should so delightfully delude me, as to appear, a-far off, like a charming verdant grass-plat, the enamel of which, and its odd fantastic knots or compartments, were amusing beyond measure; and this variety of charming delusions occur frequently in excursions round Spa.
The other two springs are at a small distance from the town.
The BISPOPRIC of OSNABERG,
Is bounded on the north by Lower Munster, on the south by Upper Munster, on the east by the principality of Minden, and on the west, by Munster and Lingen. It is about ten German miles in length, from north to south; and from east to west, between four and six German miles.
This was the first bishopric founded by
Charlemagne,
who granted extraordinary privileges to this see, exempting it from all manner of service and homage, even to the Emperor himself. At the peace of Osnaberg, in 1648, it was settled, that this bishopric should alternately have a Roman catholic and a Lutheran bishop, and that the chapter might chuse and select the former, either from among themselves or elsewhere; but that the latter should always be a prince of the house of Brunswick, and of that branch of the house of Brunswick from which his present majesty is descended. When they have a popish bishop, he is suffragan to the archbishop of Cologne, but the protestant bishop, who at present is his majesty's second son, his royal highness the duke of York, has no ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the catholics. The Bishop is a prince of the empire, and sits at the diets of the empire in the council of princes, between the bishops of Munster and Liege. Among the several states of the circle of Westphalia, this bishopric is fourth in rank, and his principality produces him yearly 180,000 Rhenish florins, which is 15,500l. a year; this, according to
Reisbec.
But we have reason to believe, it produces twice the sum.
This country is partly Roman-catholic, and partly protestant,; neither the protestant nor the Roman-catholic bishops have the right of reformation; but every thing must remain as it stood in 1624. No Jews are tolerated in this country.
The cathedral is in the hands of the Roman-catholics; the chapter consists of twenty-five canons, not above four of which are protestant, and these have no vote in the election of a popish bishop. Some of the other churches are protestant. There are not above four towns in the whole country, and about 20,000 fire-places or hearths.
About one half of this bishopric consists of heathlands, which yield above ten sorts of turf, as also pasturage. This country, likewise, produces as much rye as supplies the inhabitants, and above five hundred stills. Considerable quantities of corn are imported here from the principality of Minden. The breed of cattle, likewise, is but small, and they are mostly supplied from Frizeland.
The inhabitants are diligent and laborious. The country people seldom sit by stoves, as they do in other parts of Germany, but by fire-hearths, where they perform their principal work, which is spinning. Above six thousand of them go every year to Holland, where they now, till, cut turf, and do other work for hire. The meanest of them, notwithstanding, carry home twenty, and the best workmen full seventy florins; so that the ready money, which they by this means bring into the country, may be reckoned at 200,000 florins.
The greatest and most beneficial occupation of the inhabitants consists in spinning yarn, and manufacturing a coarse kind of linen; which is conveyed by the English, Dutch, and Spaniards, to Guinea and America, and brings annually into the country above a million of rixdollars.
Osnaberg, the capital, is situated in a fine plain, and beautified with several, noble, public buildings. It derives its name from a bridge over the river Haze. The manner of building here is antique, and the number of houses, exclusive of the public and bye-buildings, amounts to 1200. The town is not populous, not above five hundred children being baptized in a year. Its magistracy is Lutheran, and rechosen annually. The Bishop's palace is fortified like a castle. They are said to have the best bread and beer here, which is to be met with in Westphalia, and they carry on a considerable traffic in linen, cloth, and hams. Its principal subsistence depends on its linen trade manufactured in the country, and in the foreign manufacturies, vended here in retail. There are three well-built hospitals here, exclusive of some smaller ones. This city was also formerly, one of the Hanse towns. The episcopal palace belongs to the electoral house of Luneburg, who usually resigns it to the catholic bishop for his residence. This town is possessed of the right of making copper, which it exercised for the first time in 1740. In the hall of the council-house, where the celebrated peace of 1648 was concluded, are seen pictures of the ambassadors who assisted at it.
The duchies of Oldenburg, and Delmenhurtst, which the king of Denmark, at the desire of the Russian court, exchanged for a part of Holstein, with the prince of Gottorp, now make a very good principality, containing 78,000 people, and yielding every year about 40,000l. English. It is from this part of Germany, many, but particularly from Friesland, that they procure the strong fine coach-horses that trot so proudly over the pavement of many Italian cities, and are sometimes, though more seldom, met with in France. The court of Petersburg brought up many of these horses to mount its heavy cavalry, who look very formidable on these terrible cattle. The Dutch cuirassiers are supplied from Holstein, and in fact, the horses of that country are preferable to those of Friesland and Oldenburgh for this service, and with the same strength they connect more alacrity and life.— The Dutch call them
vast-trotters
—they are too heavy to gallop, but will trot at an amazing pace, with a heavy drag behind them, for a whole day together. They are coal-black, seventeen hands high, and very nobly crested. The price of a pair of handsome ones, about fifteen years ago, was 120 pounds English.
THE DUCHY OF CLEVE,
Lies on both sides the Rhine, and is bounded by part of Holland towards the north; by Munster on the east; Juliers on the south, and Brabant towards the west. It is sixteen German miles in length, and between four and five in breadth.
The air is sound, and the weather moderate. This duchy has high lands and low bottoms; the former of these are furnished as well with arable-lands, as with bushes; the latter, particularly towards the Rhine, are, on both sides fenced with stout dams, exclusive of which, there are also summer-dams, which screen the rich meadows and pastures lying near the river against the summer-water, to the heights of between eleven and sixteen feet. This country abounds also in corn, fruits, and all manner of plants. The breed of horned cattle, and horses, is considerable. In general, the country is well cultivated, and contains many delightful spots, particularly near the town of Cleve. All kinds of game are in great plenty here, in particular, on the west side of the Rhine. The river divides the country into the eastern and western parts, and receives in its course, the rivers Roer, Ems, and Lippe. The Meuse also touches on a part of the duchy. All these rivers abound in fish, and the salmon, pike and carp, of the Rhine, are in great request.
In this duchy are twenty-four towns, and three immunities, or
municipia.
The inhabitants are chiefly catholics, but all religions are tolerated in this duchy. The country, in many parts, is mountainous and woody. The commerce of this country is very much facilitated by the navigation on the Rhine, and on the Meuse. The sovereignty belongs to the King of Prussia, as elector of Brandenburgh, whose ancestors laid claim to it, in the beginning of the last century; by virtue of a marriage, with one of the co-heiresses of the last prince of the male line in this duchy. This claim was confirmed by the emperor Leopold, in 1678.
The yearly revenues arising to the King of Prussia, from this duchy, are estimated at 356,000 rix-dollars, and the sum which goes to the war-chest, at 340,000.
Cleves, the capital of the country, in Latin
Clivia,
derives its name from the town and citadel, being built on the declivity of a hill, between the Rhine and the Meuse. It is large and well-built, but surrounded by cliffs and craggy rocks, about twelve miles from Nimeguen. The town is well peopled, but neither the city nor the citadel are of any great strength. A silk manufactory was established here in 1755. The environs are pleasant, and in front of the gates are some very fine walks. From this place there is a canal runs into the Rhine, which is about three English miles distant. On the west-side of the town, lies the park of prince
Maurice
of Nassau, very much admired for its grottos, canals, and fine water-works; and over these on a high hill, called the Sternberg, may be discovered, at the distance of fifty miles, the city of Utrecht, with forty other cities and great towns, twelve of which, are seen through vistos, and at the end of each appears a fine city.
The private houses in Cleves are very shabby, and the only public buildings of any note are the great church, a monastery of Capuchins and another of Franciscans. As the King of Prussia is sovereign of the country, the religion countenanced by government is Calvinism; but most of the churches are in possession of the catholics. In the great hall of the citadel is an inscription by which it appears that
Caius Julius Caesar,
dictator in the year 698 from the building of Rome, having first conquered the adjacent country founded the citadel of Cleve.
The PRINCIPALITY OF EAST FRIEZLAND
Is bounded by the German ocean on the north; by Oldenburg on the east; by Groningen on the west, and by Munster on the south. It is about ten German miles from north to south, and as many from east to west.
This principality is situated in a moist and thick air, but much purified by the sea-breezes. Spring and summer appear here somewhat later than in other parts of Germany; hence also their corn-harvest happens later. The country is throughout level and low; whence also it is secured by expensive dikes against the inroads of sea-floods. Along the sea lies a marsh uncommonly fertile, which has a clay bottom, and is more used for meadow and pasture-land than for agriculture.
The remarkably rich pastures of this country yield an important breed of cattle, producing horned cattle, horses and sheep in great numbers, and also of an extraordinary size. In these parts one cow will yield near twenty-four cans of milk, and from this very rich milk is made most excellent butter and cheese. On the contrary, in the heart of the country, the bottom is for the most part sandy, as also fenny and moorish, but yields turf for burning, which, in the great scarcity of fuel here, is very advantageous and indispensably necessary to the country. The greatest part of the produce of the earth, as also culinary herbs grow to a large size, but are seldom so good as they are in other countries. Fowl and venison are also to be had, and there are geese, whose weight exceeds twenty-four pounds. In harvest, a great number of fieldfares and snipes generally appear. The sea here yields all sorts of fish, as oysters, muscles, sea-crabs, &c.
The principal river is the Ems, which comes from the bishopric of Munster, and runs through the Dollart into the North Sea. The Dollart is a bay between East Friezland and Groningen, which arose out of a considerable tract of country, and was swallowed up by the sea. For, in the year 1277, the water first broke into this tract of land with a violent flood, and no proper opposition being made to to it, the present bay gradually arose, on whose circuit there stood formerly above fifty great and small towns.
Trade and navigation are carried on here very briskly. The produce of the country, and the commodities exported hence are large horses (numbers of which are sent to Rome and sold by the pair, in proportion to their strength and beauty for three or four hundred dollars and more, and used for coach horses) horned cattle, butter, cheese, rape-seed, and fine cloth. On the other hand, every thing the country is in want of, is conveyed hither by shipping.
The land-states consist of the nobility, and the states, as also of the villagers. Between these and the reigning house certain articles of agreement have been gradually entered into, ever since the time of count
Edward
the second, which, with the peculiar imperial ordinances issued at the same time are considered as provincial laws in the government of the country. East Friezland has also many other privileges.
The ancient counts were created princes of the empire in 1554. This princely house became extinct in 1744, upon which
Frederic
II. King of Prussia, in consequence of an expectancy granted to the house of Brandenburg, by the Emperor Leopold in 1604, took possession of East Friezland; a protest to which was made by the house of Brunswic—Luneburg, before the regency of East Friezland and the aulic council of the empire, who claims this principality by virtue of an alliance entered into in 1601 with Prince
Christian Eberhard,
a former-prince of Friezland.
Aurich, the ancient residence of the prince, and which is even to this day the seat of the provincial college, stands almost in the centre of the country. The ancient residentiary castle is surrounded with ramparts and ditches. In the garrison church the Calvinists perform their religious worship. In the town itself we see the Lutheran church, the provincial house, the Latin schools and a public alms-house. So early as the year 1519, Aurich received the Lutheran doctrine.
Emden, the chief city of the principality lies near the river Ems. It is a strong sea-port town, and a place of great trade. The houses are high and well built, and the town-hall is a magnificent structure. This place contains a harbour, an old fort, and a citadel belonging to the prince and lying on the Ems, to which the ships arrive by means of a broad canal drawn from that river, called the Dolf. From this city there is a fine prospect of the German Ocean, and likewise of the adjacent country.
The things principally worthy of notice here are the town-hall and council-house, the library and the great church. Most of the inhabitants are protestants or Calvinists, and there are some Lutherans, catholics and Jews. In 1750, an Asiatic company was established here by the King of Prussia.
Emden, says
Reisbec,
is by no means so fine a city as Bremen. The King of Prussia has taken an everlasting dislike to the inhabitants, who, to say the truth, when taken in the lump, are not the most amiable people. They are very remarkable for their laziness and insensibility. It was a great while before the good endeavours of the King of Prussia, its sovereign, to turn this people to commerce and ship-building were attended with any success. The East-India Company, which he had established at a great expence, was ruined within a few years of its erection, and certain republican prejudices, which the burgers of this city affected, rendered all the King's other efforts for a time ineffectual. At length the activity and wisdom of the government, attended with some fortunate circumstances, got the better of the impediments to that extension of commerce, for which the city is particularly well situated. The herring-fishery, which the King took every step, in his power, to encourage, brings in large sums of money every year. The American war assisted the King's designs very much, and the trade of the place now begins to be very flourishing. Emden exports many Westphalian linens to the south countries, and provides a part of Westphalia with spices and wines. They have also a considerable trade in cheese.
The revenues arising from this principality are very considerable. They, many years ago, greatly exceeded 100,000 rix-dollars, and since it came under the Prussian regency, have been very considerably increased.
The principality consists at this time of three towns and nine prefecturates, which were formerly lordships, but are now in like manner with the towns, hereditary and proper estates of the sovereign prince, as also of lordships which have their own hereditary lords, but are subject to the sovereign, supreme jurisdiction of the prince.
PYRMONT.
This country lies between the bishopric of Paderborn, and the electorate of Hanover. The lower part of it contains an uncommonly beautiful and pleasant vale, which extends four miles in length, and as many in breadth. All around is environed by lofty green mountains. In this vale are the celebrated mineral-springs and steel-waters. This country is now subject to the Prince of Waldeck. His annual revenues, as sovereign of this country, are estimated at near 30,000 rix-dollars, to which the mineral springs contribute a very great proportion.
These waters are often frequented by persons of the highest rank. The king of Prussia has been known to drink them. They are exceedingly palatable, and come nearest to the Seltzer-waters, in their taste and their qualities. Pyrmont is about a day's journey from Hanover; to which place, there is a very fine road, most part of the way with very large and well engraved stones, every quarter of a German mile, mentioning the exact distance from Hanover; a circumstance very unusual on the continent. After Spa, every place of this kind appears insipid. Yet in the season, there is a great deal of very good company from Hanover, and the other large cities in the north of Germany. A very magnificent hotel or inn, for the accommodation of strangers, has been lately built, where the apartments are fitted up in the most modern taste, and the charges not so extravagant as the appearance of the outside of the building is magnificent. This hotel is much superior to any even at Spa. There is, as in most inns of Germany, an exceeding good
table d'hote,
of two or three courses—with variety of good wines for very moderate prices. Were not the approach to this place on the side of Holland and France, so exceedingly disagreeable, owing to the heavy sands of Westphalia, it would be much more frequented than it is at present. They have their public rooms every night, and their assemblies, and their pharo-banks, as in other watering-places, but every thing here is on a small scale, to what it is at Aix-la-chappelle and at Spa. Neither is the country round about it so diversified and picturesque. The country is more open and more level; nor are the mountains so finely wooded. On the contrary, the rooms, where the company meet, lie, as it were, in a hole, near the spring-head; and not only carry with them the appearance of great antiquity, but they are also very gloomy, and seem situated, as it were, in a swamp, surrounded with wood. For those, however, to whom the drinking of the waters is any inducement for repairing hither, there are but few watering-places, where they will meet with such excellent accommodations, more resources of amusement, or a greater variety of good and respectable company.
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE,
Is a free Imperial city, and has its name probably from its warm-baths, which have been celebrated from times of old. It is supposed to have taken its ancient name from
Serenius Granus,
lieutenant general of Gallia Belgica, in the reign of the emperor Adrian, who having discovered the hot-springs here about the year 53, was the first person who erected some beautiful buildings over them, after the manner of the Roman baths, and then built a palace for himself in this city; in the confirmation of which, the inhabitants shew a piece of ancient architecture, which they call
Turris Grani,
and assert, that it is a part of that general's palace. This town is situated in a fruitful valley, encompassed with woods and mountains, and yet the air is esteemed exceeding wholesome.
The emperor
Charlemagne,
was so delighted with the beauty of this place, that he chose it for his residence. He is interred in the church of Notredame, where they keep his sword, his belt, and the four evangelists, written in letters of gold, which are used at the coronation of the emperors. Part of the jewels of the empire are also kept in this city: all which are shewn only once in seven years; except at the request of some great personage, and then they are taken out and put in again, in presence of the chief-magistrates, and such ecclesiastics as are on the foundation. In this city, ought properly to be, the coronation of a Roman king or emperor.
The stadthouse is a stately building, built in 1533, and adorned with the statues of all the emperors since
Charlemagne;
in this hall are several fine pieces of painting, particularly one of the resurrection, and another of
Charlemagne
giving the charter to the city of Aix. In the middle of the market-place, is a noble fountain, admired for the largeness of its dimensions and its curious workmanship. On the top of the fountain, is a large brass statue of
Charlemagne,
in gilt armour, with his face towards Germany. On the edge of the cistern, is an inscription, which mentions, that
Granus,
a Roman prince, was the first person who discovered and built the hot-baths in this city. On the inside of the cathedral, where
Charlemagne
was first interred, hangs a very large crown made of silver and brass, gilt, surrounded with forty-eight statues, a foot high, and thirty-two lesser ones, all of solid silver. The emperor
Frederic,
removed the body of
Charlemagne,
buried part of it in the choir, under the altar, in a silver coffin, and covered it with a tombstone of white marble; with the bust of Proserpine upon it, supposed to have covered
Julius Caesar's
tomb.
The principal reliques which pilgrims resort hither to adore, are 1. The Virgin
Mary's
gown, that she was dressed in at the incarnation, made of wool. 2. The cloth girt about our Saviour, when he was crucified; 3. A piece of the cord, with which he was bound when he was delivered to Pilate; 4. Some of the blood of St.
Stephen
the martyr, enchased in gold and precious stones, on which the emperors are sworn at their inauguration; 5. The picture of the Virgin
Mary
with our Saviour in her arms, said to be done by St.
Luke;
6. A manuscript of the gospels, by the patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople. In the upper part of the church is a throne of white marble, where the emperors used to sit, and which is supposed to be the same which
Charlemagne
placed there nine hundred years ago.
The territory of the city is called the kingdom of Aix-la Chapella, and lies quite round it. In it are to the number of three thousand subjects. This city is governed by a mayor, two burgomasters, fourteen aldermen, and 120 common-council men. The mayor is appointed by the duke of Juliers, the rest of the corporation by the city companies, of which there are fourteen or fifteen.
The hot-baths occasion it to be much resorted to, of which there are three within the walls. One of them is the same in which
Charlemagne
used to bathe, with his nobility and great officers of state. These baths rise so hot, that they let them cool twelve hours before they are used. There is also a fountain of warm-water, which is drank in summer, for many chronical disorders.
Those who have described the virtues of these waters, relate, that they are good against all affections of the nerves; such as convulsions, palsies, numbness, tremblings, gout, sciatica's, contractions, swellings, distempers of the bowels, stomach and spleen, inveterate head-achs, vertigo's, barrenness, abortion, and scabs of all sorts.
The city of Aix professed the protestant religion soon after the Reformation, on which account the people were very much harrassed by the Imperialists during the civil wars of Germany; till at last popery was established again, and is now the only religion publicly professed by the inhabitants; but protestants are permitted to reside here, and go to a church without the walls, under the dominion of the Dutch.
The emperors were usually crowned in this city for five hundred years after
Charlemagne,
and by the golden-bull, made in the reign of
Charles
IV. the emperor was to receive his first crown here; but the custom of crowning him with three crowns, as was formerly the way, hath been long since discontinued; and at every coronation, the magistrates, who have the custody of
Charlemagne
's sword, shoulder-belt, and the gospel in golden letters, which are used in that ceremony, deliver them to the elector of Mentz, and the emperor declares, that his being crowned elsewhere, shall not prejudice the privileges of the city of Aix.
Among other holy relics, the greatest curiosity, which that city has produced, is the Latin Testament, above-mentioned, really found in the sepulchre of
Charlemagne,
and consequently it must be at least nine hundred years old; it is written on fine thin paper, or vellum, something like gold-beaters skin, twenty-times doubled; the characters are in large capitals, well preserved and quite clean, except at the beginning of St. John's gospel; but there it is much soiled, because all the emperors were sworn on this book at their coronation; and there it was, said
T
—. they laid their dirty hands.
The degree of cultivation, and riches of Westphalia, says
Reisbec,
far exceeded all ideas I had formed of them, and quite astonished me. All the cities and villages abound in tradespeople. Muhlheim, Elberfeld, Solingen, Sorst, Ham, Duisburg, Meurs, Wesel, Cleve, and some other cities have capital manufactures in them. They make a great quantity of linen and woollen, and supply almost all the country of the Upper Rhine, Suabia, and Franconia, with white threads; they have besides manufactures of handkerchiefs, silks, and cottons; they prepare steel and iron at Solingen, better than in any other part of Europe, England alone excepted. Their commerce extends all over the Netherlands, part of Franconia, and the whole empire.
This wonderful industry, united to the natural fertility of the country, renders this one of the richest, and most remarkable parts of Germany; a gentle administration, and a security against despotism, derived from the states of the country, contribute not a little to the happiness of this circle. The inhabitants are chearful, hospitable, and well-mannered; they may be quoted, as a new instance to be added to the numberless ones, already given of the little influence which religion has over the civil condition of men, when not attended with other local circumstances. Though the protestants in this circle are far from being so enlightened, or so tolerant, as those of their persuasion in other countries; and though they are much more addicted to sensual enjoyments, than their brethren of other places, they are the most industrious people, and the best subjects that can be found; nor does the bigotry of the Catholics hurt the manufactures and agriculture of the country, their education only direcing it to such objects as have no connection with manners or civil society. Every thing, therefore, depends upon the habits amidst which men grow up.— When once industry is habitual to a people, the most object superstition will have no influence on their temporal felicity; the priests themselves will render their sermons conformable to the manners of the country, nor will the monkish theorists be able to overturn them.
There are as many legends in this country, as in Cologne, nor are the people less fond of procession and pilgrimage, and yet they are infinitely more industrious, more frugal, and more wealthy than at Cologne. It is not therefore the fault of the religion, or superstition, but of the government alone, that the people of Cologne are so debauched, and that the priests of the place openly recommend debauchery, a loose education having made their religion prejudicial to them. The corporation-system, which with more activity and cleverness would have been a blessing to the country, is become the curse of it. In a word, police, government, and executive justice, are subject, under a weak administration, to the same abuses as government; nor is it religion itself, but the abuses of it, which make it prejudicial to the state.
The upper part of Westphalia, which lies at a greater distance from the Rhine, is not so well cultivated, and by nature is much less productive, than the lower part; it is occupied by many heaths and morasses, which, for the most part, produce only turf, and, in the better places, dyer's-wood. Some parts of the country, such as part of the duchy of Minden and marquisate of Tecklenburg, are remarkably well peopled, but this is compensated by the striking depopulation of some others; as for instance, of the bishoprics of Munster, Osnaburg, and Paderborn, the marquisate of Bentheim, and some domains in the electorate of Hanover.
This part of Westphalia, however, is the proper country for hemp and flax, which are some of the richest products of this country. The greatest part of the hemp and flax, manufactured in these parts of Westphalia, about the Rhine, Holland, the Austrian Netherlands, and the French Netherlands, comes from this part of the country. Besides, there is a great part exported raw to England, Spain, Portugal, and America. Though these productions are found, in great plenty, in other parts of Germany, particularly in the electorate of Hanover, the circle of Lower Saxony, Hesse, Waldeck, and Fulde; it is a question, whether all the flax and hemp of the other parts of Germany, taken together, are equivalent to the quantity found here. According to a very accurate estimate, the annual exports of raw and spun flax and hemp, out of the single circle of Westphalia, amounts to five millions sterling, which, with what is exported, worked up, amounts to 200,000l more.
A MAP comprehending the CIRCLE of BURGUNDY
or the AUSTRIAN POSSESSIONS in the NETHERLANDS &c. NB. the Circle of Burgundy is enclosed by a Strong Dotted Line.
The inhabitants likewise, taken in general, are only well dressed beggars; their riches do not belong to them, for they enjoy them not; they are only guardians of their money. When you are invited to dinner by a man of middling rank, the magnificence of the dishes, the cleanliness of the room you dine in, and the expensiveness of the furniture, make you expect a princely meal; but when the dishes are set on, you find no more, than you would have, at the table of a good Westphalian peasant.
CHAP. X. Of the CIRCLE of BURGUNDY.
THIS circle is one of those that are wholly catholic. The greatest part of its territories have been torn from it. France has gradually brought under her dominion the duchy of Lorrain, which was reckoned in the circle of Burgundy, and a part of the duchy of Luxemburg, with a part of the counties of Flanders, Artois, Burgundy, Hennegau and Namur. The provinces of Gelderland, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Friezland, Overyssel, and Groningen, have united and are become independent; nay, they have even reduced under their subjection, a part of the duchies of Brabant and Limburg, and part of the country of Flanders, with the town of Maestricht and its territory.
Thus the circle of Burgundy consists now only of the principal part of the duchies of Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg, part of the counties of Flanders, Hennegau, and Namur, and part of the upper quarter of Gelderland.
These territories now belong to one single lord; the archduke of Austria, who represents the whole circle, and is sole-director, and circle-summoning prince of it.
The people of this country have in them a natural spirit of revolt, like their neighbours the French. They covet to be free, and indeed the unlimited power of their sovereigns, and the oppression they have constantly laboured under, from an arbitrary government, in some measure, justifies their opposition. It was the tyranny of the Duke of
Alva,
their governor in the reign of
Philip
II. of Spain, who was then sovereign of Brabant, that occasioned their revolt in his time; and it was their dislike to the emperor
Joseph
II. their late sovereign, that brought on the last rebellion, quelled by the emperor
Leopold.
Indeed, so powerful were the princes of the empire, in early ages, that they were lords of life and death, and could take away life without trial, merely by their mandate. In the history of Brabant we have the following interesting story.
Sifroi,
Count Palatine, having married a beautiful young woman, but of no great family or connexions, was called to the holy wars soon after his marriage. The spirit of the times led him to this enterprize without much reluctance, except that of leaving his young wife behind him, whom he feared might be induced to dishonour him in his absence. He left her, however, in the care of a friend, one of the principal officers of his establishment, and desired he might be made acquainted, from time to time, with her conduct, and the state of her health. The beauty of this lady attracted the love of her guardian, and in his sovereign's absence, he endeavoured to corrupt her principles, and rob his lord of that fidelity she owed him. Finding her averse to his solicitations, and unconquerable, his love was converted into hatred, and when he next wrote to his sovereign, he traduced her character, and represented her as having defiled his bed, with a menial servant of his houshold, and thus dishonoured his name.
Sifroi,
on the receipt of this intelligence, was thunderstruck, and the more so, as no former letter had given him the least intimation of her attempting to deviate from the line of virtue. The possibility of a false report, and his love for his lady, operated in her favour; but then his pride took the alarm, and, as of two passions in contest, the evil one is generally predominant, so it was here. Without consideration, in the impetuosity of temper, he returned an immediate answer to this false friend, saying, if the proofs were glaring, he desired to be rid of her; but the mode of putting her to death he left to this officer. On the arrival of this mandate, he made a fresh attempt upon her virtue, armed with the power of taking away her life on her non-compliance. Still she was firm and invincible, and the consequence was, that her death was pronounced. Unwilling to bring her to a public execution, lest his treachery should be discovered, he hired an assassin to take her into a neighbouring wood, and there dispatch and bury her.
This being settled, the man left her, cut her name upon a rock, and told his savage employer, that he had executed his commission, and buried her in the forest, near the place where her name was engraved.
The officer, who supposed her dead, being informed of the unexpected return of his sovereign, fearing a discovery of his treachery, and not able to bear the reproaches of his own mind, put an end to his existence; and when
Sifroi
came back, and the whole matter was unravelled, he too soon, for his peace, learned the innocence of his wife, and the treachery and end of him to whom he had entrusted her; and would have given the world not to have sent his cruel mandate, hastily dispatched in a moment of phrenzy; but it was then too late, the deed, as he supposed, was done.
Hunting some time afterwards in this forest, and straying from his party, chance led him to the rock where her name was cut. Startled at the sight, he became motionless upon his horse. In a moment or two his senses returned, but returned with bitterness. Stung with remorse, and overpowered with distress, he could only sigh and weep.
Genevieve,
whose fears were always awake for herself and her little one, dreading a discovery that she was still in being, had been wandering in search of food, and returning to her cave at the time
Sifroi
's eyes were fixed upon the rock; little expecting to meet any thing in so sequestered a part, fled to her abode, and screamed as she fled.
Sifroi,
at the noise turned instantly round, and just obtained the glimpse of her as she entered. Approaching the cave's mouth, he cried out, "What is that voice? Is it a human voice?" "It is," she answered. "Then come forth," he cried. "Throw me your coat," returned she, "and I will, for I am naked." He accordingly did so, and to his great astonishment and joy, discovered both his wife and his child. The inclemency of the weather, and her hard fare, throwing a brown hue over her, had made some alteration in her features, but her beauty had not left her. She became more amiable in his eyes from the calamity she had experienced; though destitute of dress, she was cloathed with innocence, and returned unsullied to his arms.
The AUSTRIAN PART of the DUCHY of BRABANT,
The length of which is rated at twenty-two, and its breadth twenty German miles, was formerly the first in rank of all the seventeen provinces in the Netherlands. The air of this country is good, and its soil very fertile. Its greatest riches consist in flax. Near Brussels a canal has been carried from the river Senna, to the village of Willebroech, where it discharges itself into the river Rapel, which unites itself with the Schelde, so that a person may sail from Brussels to the north sea. This canal was begun in the year 1550, and finished in 1561, at an expence of 800,000 florins.
In the Austrian part of Brabant are reckoned nineteen walled towns, and a considerable number of immunities enjoying the rights of burghers and towns.
The whole country professes the Romish church. In the year 1559, an archbishopric was erected at Mecklin, and to it was assigned the primacy of Belgium. To this see belongs eleven collegiate churches, and 203 cloysters, a number of the last of which are now suppressed within these three years. Subject to the archbishopric are the bishops of Antwerp, Ghent, Boisleduc, Bruges, Ypres, and Ruremond. The number and opulence of the ecclesiastics in this country are very considerable.
For the promotion of learning, here are several schools and
gymnasia,
and likewise the university of Louvain.
The duchy of Brabant belonged formerly to the Frankish monarchy. Afterwards it became part of the Lotharingian kingdom, and a fief of the German empire. In course of time it descended to
Philip
II. of Spain.
The republic of the United Netherlands, in the 17th century, made itself master of the northern part of the duchy of Brabant, which it retained at the peace of Westphalia. The emperor
Charles
VI. in the year 1706, after the battle of Ramilies, took possession of the present Austrian part of this duchy. That part of the duchy of Brabant, which belongs to the house of Austria, contains the cities of Louvain, Brussels, Antwerp, and Mecklin, of each of which we shall speak.
Louvain is a very large and pleasant town, with an old castle, and a celebrated university. The walls of this place are near seven miles in circumference, but within them are a great many gardens and vineyards. The public buildings are magnificent, and the university consists of a great number of colleges. The town was formerly in a flourishing state, owing to the noble manufactures of linen and woollen cloth established here, which in the beginning of the 14th century, maintained upwards of 150,000 workmen, but the cloth-weavers making an insurrection in 1382, and being punished on that account, some of them withdrew to England, and with its manufactures the town likewise decayed. The place at present is chiefly remarkable for its good beer, with which it serves the neighbouring towns. The fortifications are not very strong, and yet it boasts of never having been taken, except by the French, in 1746. It is said, there are no fewer than forty one colleges belonging to this university.
Brussels, is the finest and richest city of the Netherlands, the capital of Brabant, and seat of the governor of the Austrian low countries, where the court is held, and to whom the people pay almost the same honours, as to their sovereign. The ducal palace, where the governor resides, the town-house, and the arsenal, are superb structures. The camblets, lace, and fine tapestry, which are exported from this town, are famous. It was furiously bombarded by the French for forty-six hours, in 1695, by which fourteen churches, and above 4000 houses were reduced to ashes, but in four years all were rebuilt again, far more beautiful. In 1706, the allies made themselves masters of this place, and in 1746, the French. It lies on the Senna, partly in the plain, and partly on an eminence, being large, well built, populous and fortified. The public buildings, the palaces and courts of the several princes, counts, and other persons of condition here, together with the churches and cloysters, are some of them considerable, and some magnificent. The magistracy is elected yearly from seven patrician families.
Brussels, says
Reisbec,
is one of the most beautiful and most brilliant cities in Europe. There is not to be seen any where, a finer place than the large market-place of this city; all the houses in it, are built in a stile, and with a degree of magnificence, that you scarcely see, any where out of Italy. We meet here with excellent company, who, to a stranger, are not difficult of access. There are several clubs after the manner of the English, where we find the greatest freedom and good humour.
Brussels is far more beautiful, for the bombardment it suffered from marshal
Villeroy;
for since that time, the mischief he did, has been entirely made good by many new streets and public buildings, in a much better stile than they were before. Many of the streets are also well paved, some very spacious, and all the new houses large and well built.
Among the churches of Brussels, there are some that well deserve notice. St. Gudula is a very remarkable gothic pile, highly ornamented with monuments, chapels, pictures, &c. The jesuits church has also several objects to attract the attention of strangers. One whole side of the great market square, is taken up with the town-house, which is a most stupendous quadrangular building, with a fine cupola, and a pretty gothic front; the apartment in which the states of Brabant meet, is very magnificent; the history of
Charles
V. is worked in tapestry, with a brilliancy of colouring, that is almost inconceivable, the manufacture of the place, and covers one of the apartments. There are likewise other apartments which contain many original paintings, by the greatest Flemish masters. Another great advantage the market-place enjoys, is being surrounded with the corporation-halls of different trades, the fronts of which being uniform, and adorned, make a fine circumference.
The archduke's palace, though an old irregular building, erected at different times, should not be passed over unnoticed. It is a very large edifice, and the apartments are extremely spacious and well furnished. Behind it, is a large park well stocked with deer. There are also many very pleasant walks in it, and a summer-house built by the emperor
Charles
V.
Among other edifices usually viewed, are the palaces of Orange, De Ligne, Epinoy, Rubengue, Egmont, Aremberg, Arschot, and Bournonville. In the gardens of the latter, you have a fine view of Brussels and the adjacent country. The only objects of much consideration in these palaces are the paintings, among which, particularly in the palace of the duke of Aremberg, are many very capital pieces, not only by Flemish, but also by Italian masters.
As to the diversions of Brussels, there is a very large opera-house and two theatres, in which French comedies are played. The opera-house is very spacious, but ill lighted. Instead of boxes, it has large closets like the Italian theatres, which contain tables, chairs, a fire place, &c. so that parties are formed for cards and conversation during the performance. But the prices are too low to admit of any splendid entertainment; their performers are but very moderate, and bad music, is an entertainment that will not be relished by those who are in the least acquainted with the luxury of an English or an Italian opera.
The court gives an air of liveliness to Brussels, which is not to be met with in the other cities of Flanders. What with the officers about the person of the governor-general; the residence of a considerable military force; the chief courts of justice, with no slight portion of trade and manufacture, this place is the most pleasing and chearful residence in Flanders.
The English resident here, says
Thicknesse,
consist chiefly of persons of small fortune, who come to Brussels, in order to give their children a good education; of young men on travelling excursions, and of the unfortunate and indigent.
Now and then a family of good fortune ventures upon a winter here; but I never heard of one, says he, who did not quit the place with more than common dissatisfaction.
There are few capitals in Europe, in which provisions, and almost all other expences incidental to a family are so reasonable as in this city. It is even said, that a family may live here upon two hundred pounds a year, as well as upon six hundred in England. But this we apprehend is rather exaggerated. There are two articles of expence in this city which exceeds most other places, house-rent and firing. There is no hiring a small decent house under thirty or forty pounds a year; and in the article of firing, which is wood, where there are no stoves, two or three shillings a day in cold weather, may be soon expended without economy on a single fire. Provisions, particularly vegetables, of which there are no finer any where, and all the articles of dress, and likewise carriages, servants, and public diversions, are cheaper here than in most places. The education of children likewise, which
Thicknesse
justly observes, many people believe, to consist in French, dancing, and a tincture of foreign manners, may be obtained upon much more moderate terms in Brussels, than in any part of England.
The number of suspicious characters who resort hither from England, makes the natives, as well as the English of any respectability, remarkably shy towards strangers of our own country. These suspicious characters consist of two sorts, either of such as have had some stigma affixed upon them in England, so that no person, of any character could associate with them, without considering himself, as reflected upon in so doing; or they are composed of persons, who having nothing morally bad about them, yet confiding in their riches, which they blazon forth, assuming a consequence to which neither their manners nor their connections, give them the least pretensions.
These latter characters,
Thicknesse
has drawn in rather too glowing colours. As for the women, says he, there are some of them who attend the winter balls of the Brussels court, that never advanced farther at St. James's, than to see beneath the arm-pit of a beef-eater, the Sunday procession of our royal family to and from the chapel-royal. Some of these poor people are driven almost to
starvation,
in order to furnish the necessary decorations of a court appearance; though for the comfort of their purse, and the consolation of their stomachs, it requires nothing more than the common dress of genteel life. Of this number are instanced two antiquated ladies, whom he stiles late of the pump room at Bath, without a fortune to bear it, or a word of the language to support it, were presented at this court. It was very bleak that day, and as the weather is generally a subject for strangers to begin with, the archduchess observed, it was very cold, and repeated the words
bien froid,
two or three times, lest they might not understand her. At length, one of the ladies believing the archduchess asked them to stay dinner, and that it was a nice fry they were to participate of, curtsied, and replied, that whether it was fried or broiled, so they had the honour of dining at court, it was equal to them. To avoid such things happening in future, it is now the etiquette at the court of Brussels, that no British subject shall be presented there by our minister, who has not previously been presented at St. James's.
We take the liberty here to present to our readers,
Thicknesses
's hints to a person of fashion, who proposes to make Brussels his winter-residence. If a young man of fortune and rank is fond of play, there is no society so respectable in any quarter of the globe, in which there are not some characters who would take advantage of this foible to his utter ruin, and destruction, if he was silly enough to suffer himself to be ensnared. Brussels therefore ought not to be exempt from such characters, at the same time, we believe the noblesse of that capital to be as highly reputable in general, as at any of our own court.
Were you to make this city as you propose, your next winter's abode, you would of course be presented to the little, but elegant court held here, the consequence of which is a round of visits must be made to all the noblesse who attend it, and who form that brilliant assembly. These visits will all be punctually returned; for those strangers who are young and rich, will find a prince, a duke, a count, or a baron, who will intimate to them, that by a little address, they may be admitted into the GRAND SOCIETY. Professions of regard due to strangers, good breeding, artful flattery, fine women, sumptuous tables, are all thrown in the way of a young man of fortune, to cover the real cause of so much attention: see him seated between a duchess and a countess, both possessing the charms of beauty, graced with the most easy and captivating French manners, a noble repast before him, and the most delicious wines at his elbow, thus placed and being a stranger the attention of the whole table appears to be employed to make him happy, and if in such a situation a young man of fashion in a strange country, does not feel himself so, where is happiness to be found, almost every passion of man is gratified, nor does he go to sleep without flattering himself he is in a fair way of being admitted, tête-a-tête, with one or more of the charming women with whom he enjoyed such a happy evening. The next night, he meets the same agreeable society, and finds himself as much at home and at his ease, as if he was at his own manor house. In this situation the stranger who knows he is a very handsome young man, no doubt forms some plan of further happiness, without suspecting that many of the party who are not so rich as he is, would not dislike a draught on his banker or even a mortgage on his estate, and as both sexes constantly play in this country, it may be presumed both understand it very well: My Lord Anglois, of course, is one of the party, and if he wins of a lady, it gives him an opportunity of shewing his good breeding; if of a prince, or a duke, why it is honour enough to have such great personages his debtors; but if he loses, and it is ten to one but he does, he must pay directly; for every body here knows that an Englishman has so much money, that if it were not for continental excursions, they could not tell what to do with it. Now, says
Thicknesse,
lest it should be supposed this is an imaginary picture sketched out without an original to copy from. I will come to a matter of fact. I found here a young gentleman of Ireland, of genteel appearance, of good address, and of easy fortune; a member of this grand society, and living in a degree of intimacy with the first people. On his first arrival he lost, as most first comers do, a considerable sum of money to a native of high birth, and of course paid it. At some distance of time they played again, and the stranger became the winner of a sum even greater than that which he lost a year or two before; but instead of being paid he was informed by his antagonist, that he was not to receive his fortune as a younger brother till he was thirty, and therefore desired to be permitted to pay the debt by installments, and engaged the winner to give his word he would not let his brother know what had passed. The pais-bas peer, however, never made good his engagements; went to Paris, would neither answer letter, nor pay drafts made upon him; and therefore having cancelled all former obligations, the stranger determined to lay the matter open to his brother, but what was the consequence? —"He was asked if they did not know that they were the first people of the country, and was told that his brother wore a sword. But finding that such pais-bas hauteur would not do, and that the young stranger wore a sword too, some mode of moderating matters was to be employed. Another great man related to the former, then steps forward, censures the conduct of the two brothers, opens his doors wider than ever to the stranger, and softens him into more patience. It may now be imagined he is paid, no says
Thicknesse,
nor ever will. Is it not enough to have the honour of dining with a prince, supping with a duke, and dancing with a duchess, without being paid a thousand pounds or two?"
The wine that is generally met with in Brussels is bad. The wine merchants it is said have a method of brewing several sorts of wine, and particularly what they call Burgundy, with pigeons dung, and an artificial sweet wine palatable enough, in which a quantity of brimstone is infused, called Moselle. The wines made from the hills adjacent to the Rhine, with which this country is plentifully supplied, is, perhaps, of all fermented liquors the best; this wine, in my opinion, says
Thicknesse,
and he was a judge, when procured genuine, is superior to all others. It improves both in strength and flavour, in proportion to a certain age. For it is a great mistake to imagine wine cannot be too old. There is a time when wine as well as men arrive at maturity; after which wines, as well as men, lose some part of their original vigour; for though they give travellers wines to taste of an hundred years or more, it must be observed, that as they sell great quantities every year from their large reservoir tons, so they as constantly fill them up annually with new wines. If therefore a person sends to Frankfort for the best Rhenish wine, not for hock, he will in a few years have hock in his cellar at half price. It is inconceivable what a variety of excellent wines this country and Hungary produces, the latter very little known; all of which are superior to French or Spanish wines, except, perhaps, Burgundy and Champagne of the first growth in good wines.
It is a great mistake to imagine that the wines in Germany are apt to create the gout; they may, it is true, be unfit for those who have the gout, or the seeds of that disorder in their constitution; but in sound bodies, it is more likely to prevent than to promote a gouty habit. In Champagne, where the wine of the country is constantly drank, there are few or no gouty people; and real Champagne is a very wholesome wine.
No part of the continent can long continue agreeable to an Englishman, who has been accustomed to live even with that decency which the English of middling fortunes live in their own country. For this reason it is that the English nation alone are the least satisfied with the fare they meet with abroad. The neatness of our houses, the cleanliness of our butchers, bakers, &c. render the houses, shops, and manufacturers of what we eat and drink on the continent highly disgustful. The servants and boys of the bakers in the Low Countries, and in France, are the dirtiest miserable looking people on earth, no part of their persons being clean but their legs and feet, for they are always visible; and though the tables of all orders of people are covered with a variety of dishes, which may catch the eye, or provoke the appetite, an Englishman, whose stomach is not depraved, will soon wish to see a plain wholesome dish or two of meat,
à la mode d'Angleterre
set before him.
Knaves of many nations, says
Thicknesse,
have fled to this city under the idea they were beyond the reach of those they meant to defraud, not knowing that in Brabant and in all the Low Countries a person may be arrested for debts contracted in any other; and that not only men, but women and children are subject to imprisonment for the debts of a fugitive husband or parent; the marquis
de Sanna,
the count
de Ribaderia,
and duke of Brunswick were arrested here by their distant creditors; but a stranger who takes a house, after a year and a days residence in it, is not liable to personal confinement for debt, until a tedious process has been carried on against him.
An English gentleman of fortune having chastised his servant too severely, absconded, but his wife was hurried to the common gaol to be responsible for his town-debts till he returned; and this business is done in so brutal a manner, that our London bailiffs are quite polished, when compared to a pais bas officer of justice.
I visited, says
Thicknesse,
their
Maison de force
or prison. The men and women are separated; each prisoner has his bed and cabin, which must be made and cleaned by an early hour, and a certain quantity of work done before they eat. In this house, says he, I saw five or six hundred of the worst people on earth, living in a cleaner and more orderly manner than the same number can live any where at large. Neither relations nor friends are admitted to see the offenders, no improper conversation is heard; prayers, work, and penitence are the lot of all. Such houses being erected in every county in our kingdom, would do more to prevent house-breaking, than all the county gallows's in England.
It seems to have been a mistaken notion in several courts of Europe, that the house of Austria received so little benefit from these provinces, that they were scarce worth the keeping, the expences running away with all the profit. But admitting that no money is received into the treasury of Vienna, still the advantage of having a considerable body of troops paid and maintained, is of itself very important. The provinces pay the troops in garrison and forces of all kinds that are quartered here, which amount at different times from six to twenty thousand men; besides the opportunity of advancing a number of subjects to posts of honour and profit, is valuable to any court.
These provinces likewise are very populous, and are found highly serviceable in recruiting regiments; and as they possess much trade and numerous thriving manufacturies, they are a body of subjects of undoubted importance. However these advantages are not all, for it is very well known that large remittances are made to Vienna, notwithstanding the expence of keeping a court here.
The upper town, says
Peckham,
in his description of this city, is magnificent, and has lately been much improved by new buildings, and by inclosing a piece of water-ground, planting it and laying it out in walks.
It is well supplied with fountains, some of which are rather whimsical; for instance, the three virgins from whose breasts slow continual streams of water; and to show that the male sex is no less charitably inclined, there is the statue of a boy who spouts out water with the most immodest assurances. It is called in the Flemish tongue
Mannykipis.
Nothing will strike the eye of an observing stranger with more surprize in this city, than to see on a navigable river, more than a hundred miles from the ocean, such a number of large high-masted vessels, of various constructions, lying before the town: the navigable canals and rivers throughout all the Low Countries, are indeed wonderful. Some progress of inland navigation, says
Thicknesse,
has been successfully made in England; but yet the nation at large does not seem to know the astonishing advantages which would arise to the kingdom, if it were more general.
M. de la Landes
treatise
sur le canaux de la navigation,
remarks, that a waggon with six horses and two drivers, carries between two and three thousand pounds weight, whereas a single boat, navigated by two men, will carry two hundred thousand pounds weight. This therefore, is a saving of two hundred men, and six hundred horses, besides the extra number of men and horses, which are required to repair the damages they do to the roads.
The public walks are elegant, the ramparts extremely pleasant, and the country round Brussels is most delightful to the eye, and extremely profitable to the possessors; for the land within ten miles of the city, sells at forty years purchase, and lets in general for three pounds sterling an acre.
In the arsenal is some old armour, of neither curiosity or use; except an iron shirt, which no sword can pierce; and a steel shield, so finely engraved, that the figures seem reflected from the polish, not to be etched in the steel: the nicest touch cannot perceive the least scratch; though the figures appear to be strongly marked when the shield is held obliquely.
Just below the arsenal is the palace of the governor of the Austrian Netherlands. The stair-case is very magnificent, the steps are of marble, and the balustrades of iron, gilt, adorned with compartments of birds and beasts, nicely executed in polished steel, by
Triefle;
the cieling is painted in fresco.
The apartments of the princess are hung with Brussels tapestry. The floors are all inlaid with mahogany and box. The princess's cabinet is much admired, being covered throughout with the finest japan. The late prince was a great mechanic, and had a cabinet of curiosities trifling enough, among which were two boxes, containing all the common trades in miniature.
In the menagerie, there are some fowls, which are the produce of a very unnatural amour, between a rabbit and a hen; they are of various sizes; their breasts and bellies cloathed with white fur, their wings and backs covered with feathers, without the plume, which rise from the skin, and have the appearance of wet feathers; they are all milk-white, as their parents; their shape in every respect the same as other fowls. The rabbit, in an amorous mood, like many other husbands, strips his wife of her cloathing; by biting half the feathers from her back.
Having been at Brussels myself more than once, I can take upon me to say, that the city is by no means the fine place it is in general represented. The streets are narrow, and not well paved, having no footway. The houses are built in the gothic taste, with pediment tops, and the windows are chiefly casements. Was it not from the fountains continually running, the place would be exceedingly dirty, and there is no appearance of shops or trade. Part of the town stands upon the top of a high hill, where there is a small park cut in walks, the resort of genteel people on Sundays; from this park runs several new streets, with elegant houses erected in the modern stile of building, commanding a fine prospect. The palace is small, but very grand and neat, and stands just below the hill. Being the residence of the viceroy, and where the court is held; it is the rendezvous of all the brilliant part of Brabant, and living here is not very expensive. A man may make as genteel an appearance in this country, for his hundred a year, as he can in London for three times the sum.
The roads from city to city are continued pavements in a straight line, for thirty or forty miles together, planted with trees on both sides, and the country every where open and uninclosed, and there is a canal from Brussels to Antwerp, on which a floating-barge, with good accommodation, passes to and from it every day.
OF ANTWERP.
This town and district is called the Margravate of the holy Roman empire. Its origin is somewhat obscure.
Godfrey
of Bouillon, enjoyed it under this title, after which it descended to the dukes of Brabant; but yet it was reckoned one of the Seventeen Provinces. At present it is strictly united with Brabant.
The approach to the city of Antwerp is noble, by a straight paved road, bordered with oaks.
This city is seven miles in circumference, built in the form of a crescent, and surrounded with a good wall, and many bastions, faced with stone. These fortifications, however, are of no other consequence than to defend the town against any sudden incursisions, but they look very beautiful, for the top of the wall is an hundred feet broad, and planted with double rows of trees. Its strength is in a large regular and very strong citadel, in form of a pentagon, which the duke of
Alva
caused to be erected there in 1568. It stands close to the river Scheld, on the south side of the city, and commands all the town and the adjacent country, for some distance. There are five principal bastions to it, which command each other, defended by two very deep ditches. Here stood the statue which the duke of
Alva
had erected, representing himself in a military attitude, and trampling the nobility and people under his feet, which so roused the spirit of the populace, that they broke into the citadel on a holiday, and entirely demolished the statue.
The river at Antwerp is twenty feet deep, and at high-water rises twenty feet more, which makes it an excellent harbour, so that large vessels may come up from the sea, and unload their cargoes at the eight principal canals in the town. These are the advantages which carried their trade to such a height; but the Dutch building Fort Lillo, which commands the approach, and makes all the ships that pass pay toll, was a fatal stroke to their trade, and drove the chief of it to Amsterdam.
Antwerp has many remains of its former magnificence, particularly in the length, breadth, and regularity of the principal streets, and many of the public-buildings and churches. It has twenty-two squares, two hundred and twelve streets, and seventy gates, from each of which runs a street terminating at the cathedral-square. The street called La Mere, is the finest in the city, it is very well paved, and is so wide, that twenty coaches may pass in it a breast, with great ease; it is also very well built, and in general of free stone: many of the other streets also, make a very good appearance, being broad, straight and handsome. The better sort of houses, throughout the city, are in general large, lofty, and contain good apartments. From the decay of trade, several of them are let at very low rates; most of them have court-yards, and gardens, which make them very agreeable to live in, and many are in the ancient stile of building, which does not make so graceful an appearance.
The markets here are numerous, and most of them well supplied; that for fish is near the river, and abounds with great plenty, and that for fruit and garden-stuff, is well supplied by numerous country-carts, in which the peasants bring the produce of their little farms. One square is called the Friday market-place, in which, on a market-day, is to be seen many sales by auction of furniture, and some of pictures, where are to be picked up sometimes valuable pieces by Flemish masters.
Nothing can be more melancholy, than to view the house of the Hanse-towns, built in 1468, (a time in which this city was so flourishing) for the use of the merchants trading to the Baltic. It is a square edifice of 230 feet, and all of stone: the upper floors were ample magazines for all sorts of dry merchandize, with vast cellars for the wet goods, which are now converted into stabling for troopers horses, and the magazines to hay-lofts; a sad spectacle of the building, which once was the residence of wealth and industry, and shews, how miserable a fall any place undergoes, that loses a once established trade.
Antwerp contains now about seventy thousand souls, of which about ten thousand are on the poorlist. The police of the city, with regard to the poor, is as bad as it is singular. There is an ample fund for their maintenance, which is distributed not among those persons, who are really indigent, but among the families of such persons as happened to, be enrolled among the poor many generations back, when it first became an object of general police, to provide for those who were unable to provide for themselves.
Very near the street La Mere, is the exchange, said to be the first building of the kind raised in Europe; and from which Sir
Thomas Gresham
is said to have taken his idea of that in London. This building is now resorted to only by half a dozen bankers, and as many brokers. Four streets meet there, and it has four gates answerable to them; the parades are supported by above forty marble pillars; the length of it is 180 feet, and the breadth 140. Beneath, are vaults and magazines for goods; and over it are the apartments of an academy for painting, sculpture and architecture. The expence of this building is said to have amounted to 300,000 crowns, at a time when money was much dearer, than it is at present.
This city was once the grand emporium of almost all the commerce in Europe, which was owing to three principal causes. First, to the liberty which reigned here; secondly, to the advantages of its situation and port; for above four thousand sail of ships could lay in perfect safety in the canals at a time: and thirdly, to the near neighbourhood of the most flourishing manufactures then in Europe, which were carried on in all the Flemish towns. Bruges possessed the greatest share of trade before Antwerp rose to such a height; but the wars which broke out in Flanders, in the beginning of the 16th century, drove most of the merchants from the former place to the latter. They reckoned the trade of this city at its height about the year 1568, when they computed the inhabitants at 200,000: their harbour at that time, contained very often 2500 ships at a time, and 500 were commonly seen to go out or come in, in a day. The annals of the city inform us, that in the year 1550, the trade amounted to one hundred and thirty-three millions of gold, exclusive of the bank. The Antwerpers, to this day, are fond of telling the story of
John Daen,
their famous merchant, who lent the emperor
Charles
V. a million of gold, and afterwards entertained him most magnificently; made a fire of cinnamon-wood, and in the emperor's presence, threw the bond into it.
But all their prosperity was no security against the tyranny of their sovereign,
Philip
II; and his arbitrary agent the duke of
Alva,
presently drove all trade from Antwerp, so that the fall of the city was much quicker than its rise. After being twice sacked, there was much of it burnt down, in 1576, and brought into sucha condition, as was utterly incompatible with trade; the merchants therefore fled in whole troops, and the Dutch received them. Having formed their infant republic, Amsterdam began to be a place of trade; they removed thither, and carried with them their correspondence and industry.
Upon the loss of their trade, the inhabitants gave their attention principally to banking, jewelling and painting. In the first they have always been proficients, and carried it to a great extent, even in the present times: during the duke of
Marlborough
's war, two brothers, the
De Konnings,
paid, one of them the army of France, and the other, that of the allies. Some of their painters were of note in the Flemish school, before the time of
Rubens;
but that great master laid the principal foundation for their fame; he established their school, and painting flourished here for a long while under the influence of his genius; so that Antwerp has produced more good artists this way, than any other town in the Netherlands. Antwerp has likewise been famous for printing the Plantin editions, being much esteemed in the learned world.
Plantin
's printing-house remains, though imperfect at this time, and is said by the Antwerps, to be the best in Europe, having been supplied with near an hundred different sorts of founts of letters, two of which were Syriac, forty-seven Roman, nine Greek, and ten Hebrew.
But Antwerp, though so much reduced from its ancient splendor, is yet a place of consequence: here is some trade carried on, for which it is yet well situated, and has numerous cities in Flanders, &c. to supply with foreign commodities; they have also several flourishing manufactures, a considerable lacetrade, and a share of the linen fabrics, &c. It is also an agreeable place to reside in, from the number of nobility, and people of large fortune, who live in it. Through their patronage, a theatre has been rebuilt, and also an apartment for the performance of concerts. The first is a very beautiful and well contrived edifice, well furnished with scenery and machinery; it is richly ornamented too with paintings. A company of French comedians exhibit here three times a week in winter. Some good masters have ornamented the concert-room, with their paintings, where a concert is performed once a week in winter.
In the churches there are numerous pictures of most capital merit, by the first painters of the Flemish-school, such as
Rubens, Vandyke,
and others. The great fault of the painters of the Flemish-school, says
Marshall,
is, that they are entirely destitute of a chain of great ideas; an action, complex in its nature, but rendered one by the genius of the artist, is sought for in vain, in their works, good colouring, and a masterly imitation of still-life, are their great excellencies; minute finishing is carried by them to the highest perfection.
The cathedral of Antwerp is a vast building, and full of ornaments of painting, statuary, and rich carving. The taking down from the cross by
Rubens,
is one of the finest pictures of the kind to be met with in the whole world. It is very large, with a number of figures, all executed in the highest stile of this painter, so that it cannot fail of being highly admired by all lovers of painting. They are always kept masked or covered.
The fall of the angles by
Floris,
is supposed to rank, next in merit. On the thigh of one of the fallen angels, is a large hornet, painted by
Quintin Matzys,
the noted blacksmith of Antwerp, who fell in love with the daughter of
Floris,
and demanded her in marriage; the painter refused him, because he was not of his own profession.
Matzys,
therefore changed his hammer for the pallet, and studied under the Italian masters for two years; on his return he painted this hornet, unknown to
Floris,
who by mistake was going to brush it off, thinking it alive; he was so pleased with the execution of it, that he immediately gave him his daughter in marriage;
Matzys
was buried on the outside of the western door of the church, where there is a plain stone with this epitaph:
Conunbialis amor de Mulcibre fecit Apellum.
Love transformed Vulcan into an Apelles.
This building is very nobly ornamented, and its architecture in the Gothic stile, is not inferior to any edifice in the Low Countries. It is five hundred feet long, and two hundred and forty feet broad. It was erected in the 13th century. The first stone of the choir was laid by the emperor
Charles
V. Nothing can well be finer than the view seen from the top of this fine steeple; not only a vast tract of country for many miles round, but of several very considerable cities, such as Malines, Brussels, Ghent, Liege, Louvain, &c. Here is a musical-clock, which chimes every hour, half-hour, quarter, and half-quarter, consisting of near eighty bells. The largest bell was erected in 1440, and weighs sixteen thousand pounds.
The abbey of
St. Michael
is the grandest in the city, the refectory is covered with pictures by
Quellin,
most admirably executed. There is a deception of a stair-case, with a fish lying on one of the steps, which must attract every eye. In the church is a grand piece by
Rubens,
the adoration of the Magi, which he finished in thirteen days. The apartments of the abbot are well worthy of a prince. Such a profusion of capital pictures by the best Flemish and Italian masters, with paintings to imitate basso relievo, executed in a style, so as to deceive an artist.
The Jesuits church is one of the most beautiful edifices to be seen in all Flanders; the facade is enriched with statues and other ornaments of a great master; the architecture has uncommon merit; the workmanship is very masterly, and it is full of fine paintings; the finest marble, intermixed with jasper, porphyry, and gold; nor can any thing be more magnificent than the chapel adjoining.
In the library is seen a portrait of
Rubens,
drawn in pen and ink by himself, and executed in the most inimitable manner; with a minute expression, so mixed with freedom, that it is beyond the power of the graver to equal it.
The chapel of the Virgin is remarkably beautiful; it is composed entirely of white marble, designed and executed by
Scheemaeckers;
and surrounded with bass-reliefs. The altar is all of marble, with various decorations of silver, and a statue of the Virgin in that metal, six feet and an half high. The door of the chapel is likewise very neatly executed, and over it are three bronzes, of very fine workmanship.
In the church of the friars of St.
Augustine,
are a holy family, a very large picture by
Rubens;
one of his finest pieces. St.
Augustine,
in a transport of devotion by
Vandyke.
He is lifting up his eyes to heaven, where he is supposed to see
Jesus Christ.
This their catalogue says, is the very best performance of that great painter; it has certainly a wonderful merit; their is a strength and majesty of expression, with an elegance and freedom of design, that is seldom seen; the colours are chaste and agreeable, &c. in a word, the whole piece is strikingly fine. Here is also a crucifix, by
Vandyke;
this picture is likewise most capitally fine. Upon painting the above mentioned fine picture of St.
Augustine,
he demanded six-hundred florins as his price, but the monks disputing with him, he insisted on his terms, but let them have this crucifix very cheap. It could now be sold for thirteen thousand guineas. Such is the fate of the most ingenious part of mankind! They can scarcely live by the sale of their productions, but when they are dead and buried, the world begins to find out their merit, and value single efforts of their genius, at ten times more than their whole fortune.
In the first church, nothing is more worthy of attention than the monument of the marquis
Del Pico,
one of the governors of the citadel. He is represented as starting out of his sleep, and in amazement at the sight of two skeletons standing before him. Over his head are two cherubs weeping, one of which holds a shield, and the other a helmet. Between them stands Fame, with the arms of the marquis in one hand, and her trumpet in the other; the whole decorated with great number of military insignia. It is the work of
Scheemaeckers,
and one of his best performances. In the year 1746, at the siege, a bomb damaged it conconsiderably, but it is since repaired and very well. The altar, by the same artist, is also a magnificent piece of sculpture.
In the church of St. André, there is also a curious monument erected by two English ladies, to the memory of that unfortunate princess
Mary,
queen of Scots, who fell a sacrifice, says
Thicknesse,
to the jealousy and hatred of our queen
Bess.
This monument is of marble, with a bust of the Queen.
Rubens,
who died in the year 1640, was buried in a little chapel, which still belongs to his family in the great church. His monument is of marble, and well executed; over the altar is a picture by his own hand, representing the infant
Jesus
on the knee of the virgin, which is perhaps the best conceived, the best executed, and the best preserved of all his works. St.
George,
and St.
Jerome
attended by two fine women, are near the Virgin, and these are the portraits of his two beautiful wives. This picture was engraved after his death by
P. Pontius,
and
Rubens's
intimate friend
Gervates
composed his epitaph; which however is too contemptible to copy, nor was it placed over his remains till the year 1755.
At Brussels, says
Thicknesse,
all is French; at Antwerp, all is Dutch. Which of the two is best with respect to the people, says he, I will not pretend to determine, but with respect to the laws, Antwerp bears all the credit and honour due to humanity. That barbarous and tyrannic custom, of secretly trying criminals, destroying their bodies, and confiscating their property, in all the other provinces of the Austrian Netherlands and France, does not prevail in this city. Perhaps this is the reason why Antwerp he adds, has produced more men of genius than any other city in this country. Here they had liberty to think, and it appears a kind of perpetual motion, was first made at Antwerp, and in 1530,
Gemma Fusius,
found out a method of determining the longitude at sea, by means of clocks and watches, and this very soon after gave rise to the invention of clock-work.
When a person is to be tried for any offence in this country, he is brought face to face with his accuser in open court, in the presence of the magistrates, and criminals are even allowed two council to plead for them. If the question be put, the punishment must be in the presence of two
echevins,
or aldermen; and if the prisoner be acquitted, he is instantly discharged: if guilty; he is executed or punished the next day; but only a moiety of his property is forfeited; the other goes to his wife and children, or nearest relations.—The best account I can give you, says
Thicknesse,
of what is meant by the question being put to a prisoner, before it is known whether he be innocent or guilty, is that the supposed offender is fixed on a frame, to which there are certain stretchers applied to his limbs, to draw them gradually beyond their natural extension, and at the same time, drops of water are let to fall on the breast, or some particular part of the body, which by repetition became almost intolerable.
The situation of Antwerp, remarks
Reisbec,
would have been much more advantageous for the advancement of commerce, but the Dutch have locked up the mouth of the Scheld. Their forts not only govern the mouth of the river, as they should do according to treaty; it having been agreed by the peace concluded at Munster, in 1648, between Spain and the United Provinces, that no large ships should sail directly to Antwerp; that they should unload their merchandize in Holland, which should be conveyed thence in smaller vessels; but they have literally stopped up the mouth of it. Sunken ships filled with stones, immense dykes of stone pallisadoes, and other things of the kind, barely leave room enough for small boats to go by. Twenty millions of guilders would not be sufficient in twenty years to remove the impediments which the Dutch have laid in the way of the trade of Antwerp. On the contrary, other writers aver, that the Scheld is navigable now for ships of the largest burthen up to Antwerp; did not two forts on opposite sides of that river, oppose the passage of vessels above a limited burthen, which is very small. A report propagated by the cunning of the Dutch, that there are five large vessels sunk in the Scheld, between their forts, has strangely gained credit, not only in countries at a distance from the river, but in Brabant itself, and even in Antwerp. It is amusing to reflect on the easy credulity of the world. How much people are imposed on by vague reports, and the authority of universally received opinions! We are well assured, by persons of the first rank and character in Brabant, that there is not one vessel sunk in the Scheld, nor any other obstruction, than the treaties and forts already mentioned to the passage of a seventy-four gun ship up to the walls of Antwerp.
There is no want of gold in Brabant and Flanders. Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, and Bruges, are still filled with the treasures which were amassed when these towns were what England and Holland are now. The burgesses of these cities have a share in all the great undertakings and loans of the neighbouring nations. Their commerce of exchange is immense; probably insurance is not so safe among the Dutch themselves as it is here. Antwerp is one of the most famous places in the world for insurance. In the last Bavarian war, the court of Vienna, being determined to raise a loan in these countries, was astonished at the quickness with which the money was raised; but the inhabitants of Ghent and Antwerp gave the regency to understand, that if there was occasion for three or four times as much, it would be as easily procured.
The inhabitants are religious to excess, says
Reisbec.
They are also remarkably gay in their dress and equipage. The women, who are of a small stature, are delicate, neat and beautiful; but, being almost excluded from society, and taught only the internal management of their houses and their children, they are not so social as the ladies of France and England. They are generally of a pale complexion, a circumstance which is perhaps owing to their constant confinement in their houses, for they never walk abroad or take any exercise, except upon Sunday evenings and public days, when they take the air in their carriages upon the grand street called the
Rue la mer,
or in the environs of the city.
Mechlin is a considerable city, very well situated for traffic with Antwerp, Brussels and Louvain, by means of the rivers Dyle and Demer, which join before they arrive at this place, and run through it; there are besides several canals, and a great many bridges thrown over them. It is the capital of a district of the same name, and a See of an Archbishop, whose title is Primate of the low countries. The town is large and well built, and the streets broad, clean and well paved. The market-place is spacious, and the cathedral is a superb structure, with a high steeple, and some very harmonious chimes. Mechlin is famous for the manufacture of the lace that goes by its name. It is chiefly made in the nunnery of the Beguines; a kind of nuns, without those vows, which bend the common ones to a monastic life, being at liberty at any time to quit the confinement and marry; there are generally seven or eight hundred young women in it, employed on lace, which brings a good price all over Europe. They are also famous in this place for foundries of bells and great guns, and, in an inferior for brewing good beer, which they export in considerable quantities. It is an agreeable place to reside at, from the diversions which are continually going on in it, principally owing to the number of nobility who make it their residence. This town was taken by the duke of
Marlborough,
in 1706, and retaken by the French in 1746.
At a village called Aigle, seated at the foot of a mountain, on the Moselle, there is a remarkakle square solid pyramid, 74 feet high, and adorned with many images. It is a heathenish tomb, which appears from the inscription to have been founded by two brothers, named
Secundini,
in honor of their parents. In all probability this mausoleum was created between the times of
Dioclesian
and
Constantine
the Great. Part of the territory of Luxemburg likewise belongs to the French.
AUSTRIAN Part of the County of FLANDERS.
Flanders, a province of the Netherlands, which may be divided into Dutch, Austrian, and French Flanders, is bounded by the German ocean, and the United Provinces on the north; by the province of Brabant on the east; by Hainault and Artois on the south; and by another part of Artois and the German ocean on the west. It is about twenty German miles from north to south, and nearly the same distance from east to west.
This country enjoys a temperate and wholesome air, being partly level and partly mountainous. Its soil is in general fertile and fit for agriculture, and in some parts, particularly towards the sea, its fertility is very great. The land here bears almost all kinds of corn and garden-stuff. Flax is the riches of the country. The pasture grounds in many parts are so excellent, that there are no better in all the Netherlands. For this reason the breeding of cattle is an important article, and it yields also fine butter and cheese. Flanders also produces fruits of various sorts, together with fowl and venison, such as deer, wild-boars and hares; and likewise sea and river fish. In it also are forests and woods. Its chief river is the Scheld. Some useful canals have also been dug here, among which that between Bruges and Ghent is the, principal one.
In the whole country are computed 62 walled and open towns, many hundred villages, and above 250 Seignories. The states here are the prelates, nobles, and four members from the principal towns.
The Flemings may boast the invention of some important arts. They were the first in Europe who began to support themselves by weaving, and learned to dye cloths and stuffs. In this respect the towns of Ypres and Courtray have the oldest and greatest reputation. In the latter was invented the art of weaving all sorts of figures in linen. In the 14th century,
Viervliet,
found out the method of curing herrings.
John Van Eyck,
in the 15th, invented oil colours.
At present the manufactures of Flanders are far from being in the flourishing condition they were formerly; however, we have still from Lisle, brocades, cottons, camlets, lace, and other wares; from Ghent, Menin, and Courtray, linen; from Tournay, tapestries, curtains, bed coverlets, and other worked stuffs; from Bruges, cotton and fine woolen stuffs, linen and laces. The chief towns of Austrian Flanders, besides those described, are, Louvain, Ghent, Bruges, and Ostend.
Louvain is a large and pleasant town, situated on the river Dyle; it is one of the principal cities of the Netherlands, and the capital of one of the four quarters, into which Brabant is usually divided. The country round it is very fertile, and the distance from Brussels not more than twelve miles to the north-east of that city. The air likewise is esteemed exceedingly healthful. Its circumference within the walls is at least ten English miles; but it is a place of no great strength, being of too large an extent to be easily defended. The castle stands on the top of a hill, surrounded with vineyards, and fine gardens, and has an extensive prospect over the neighbouring country.
This city, before the cruel administration of the duke of
Alva,
was very considerable for its manufactures; it being computed there were no less than 4,000 master-weavers in it at one time; and it has still a trade in fine linen, but not comparable to what it was formerly. At present its only glory is its university, which resembles those of England more than any other in Europe. It consists of 43 colleges, and some make the number greater, of which there are not more than four, for the education of youth, where strict discipline is observed; the others are for those of riper years, who come and go when they please. Many of these colleges are handsome buildings, and nobly endowed; but in both these respects they bear no comparison with those of Oxford and Cambridge. The students in divinity constantly wear gowns and caps, but the rest only at public exercises. In every one of the four colleges above-mentioned, philosophy is taught by two professors, each of whom reads two hours in a day, the young students writing after them. The governor of the university is stiled
Rector,
and is chosen every half year by the
Senatus Academicus,
which consists of the superior graduates in the several faculties. He has plenary jurisdiction over the scholars, and is attended by eight beadles, who go before him with silver maces on holidays, and in solemn processions. There is another officer called the
Promoter,
who by the authority of the rector, inflicts punishment on the offenders, and sometimes passes sentence of death, but generally lays a pecuniary mulct on them in proportion to their crime. They have also a chancellor, whose only business it is to confer degrees, and who in all public assemblies takes place next to the rector.
The town-house of Louvain is a magnificent building of great antiquity, adorned on the outside with statues, and very curious sculpture. As to the churches of the city, they are many of them beautiful and stately buildings, especially the cathedral church of St.
Peter,
which is governed by a provost, a dean, a chanter, 18 honorary prebends, and ten canons, who are all professors of the several sciences in the university. The Jesuit's church is also a very handsome edifice, not unworthy of Rome itself; and its pulpit of oak is reckoned the finest piece of carved work in Europe. Their library contains a great number of valuable manuscripts, in which respect it is said to be the best in the Austrian Netherlands.
In this place, says,
Thicknesse,
resided a few years since a man, no less extraordinary in his way, than the famous mountain doctor in Switzerland, named
Bogen,
and called the god of legs. He was an illiterate, under-bred man, who had a nostrum to cure ulcers in the legs, and with so much success that patients came to him from every part of the continent. But that which established his fame and fortune too, beyond contradiction, was the extraordinary cure he performed on the late Prince
Charles
of
Lorraine's
leg, after he had tried all the surgeons of Paris and the low countries, without benefit, and had been for many years a perfect cripple; though he had given in pictures and snuff-boxes to various surgeons to the value of five thousand pounds. Being sent for, and on examining the ulcer, he, in a very rough, unpolished language, said to the Prince,
"Zounds! what is
this
all? why, we will walk to-morrow!"
His rude manner and seeming ignorance had almost determined the prince to have dismissed him instantly; for he thought it impossible that a man, who had not set his foot to the ground for some years, should be able to walk the next day; yet he did walk the next day, and in a very short time after was perfectly cured, and enjoyed eighteen years of life and health afterwards. Mr.
Bogen
is now dead; but his son, whom the prince made his valet-de-chambre, is still living, and is equally qualified to perform the same, cures. Neither father nor son pretend to any chirurgical skill, farther than rolling the bandage, which is done in a most excellent and extraordinary manner. The whole secret, says
Thicknesse,
I have good reason to believe, is nothing more than scraped carrot, or a poultice made from that root, as what he applies is of a reddish colour, and scraped carrot alone will perform wonders in healing ulcers.
Ghent is one of the largest cities in Europe, being near fifteen miles in circumference; some say twenty. It is built on a great number of little islands, formed by four rivers and many canals, over which there are an hundred bridges: but large and pompous as this account is, the reality bears no proportion to the description; more than half the ground within the walls, being occupied by gardens, and there are some fields. The fortifications are contemptible, being little more than lines for an army to encamp within. Some of the streets are large, well paved, and tolerably built. Among the public buildings, there are none worthy of any attention but a few churches, except the house in which
Charles
V. was born, which is still to be seen. This place gave birth to that monarch in the year 1500. He was the son of
Philip
the handsome, archduke of Austria, whose parents were the emperor
Maximilian
and
Mary,
the only child of
Charles
the bold, the last prince of the house of Burgundy. His mother was the daughter of
Ferdinand
and
Isabella,
king and queen of Castile and Arragon.
The abbey of St. Pierre ranks far beyond any others in Ghent: it is situated on a rising ground, at the extremity of the town, and consists of an abbot and thirty-seven benedictine monks. The refectory is superb, and fitter for a palace than a convent; it is paved with black and white marble, and painted throughout in a masterly manner. The library is very magnificent, and the number of books, such as they are, very considerable. From the windows you have a most delightful, as well as an extensive view of the country. In the church is some tapestry held in great estimation, which has been there upwards of two centuries. It contains the histories of Sts.
Peter
and
Paul
in divers compartments, most admirably finished, and was the work of
Croyer,
of Brussels.
The horse, in the conversion of St.
Paul,
is the finest animal it is possible to behold. Our Saviour standing tiptoe on a wave is the true sublime, and is most happily executed.
Elymas
struck with blindness, has much merit; and a marble floor is as nicely imitated in the tapestry, as was ever seen in any picture.
The abbot's house is most sumptuous; the governor of the low countries always resides in it when at Ghent. The apartments are crouded with good pictures, but three by
Rubens
are most excellent: the one is
Joseph,
with the infant
Christ
in his arms; the two others are the heads of old men.
The cathedral is a noble old building, dedicated to St.
Buvon,
of whom there is a good statue over the grand altar, standing on the clouds, which are supported by angels. Against the pillars of the church are some tolerable statues, and where there are vacancies they have painted figures in the imitation of statues so happily, that it is difficult to find out the deception. The pulpit is said to be the grandest of the kind; it is of marble, enriched with statues, and has two angels to support the sounding board. There is a capital picture of St.
Buvon,
by
Rubens,
in which he has introduced himself, his wife and family.
The monument of Bishop
Trieste,
by
Fiamingo,
is most admirably executed; the boys do not yield even to those of Cardinal Richlieu's monument at the Sorbonne.
Fiamingo's
principal excellence was in boys and the delicate. In this respect he was superior to
Michael Angelo,
who attained the antique only in strong muscular figures, not in those of youth nor women, who under his bold hand became amazons.
The Maison-de-Ville has two fronts, the one in the Gothic, the other in the Grecian stile, of three stories, adorned with Attic, Ionic, and Corinthian columns.
There are some few pictures, as the Day of Judgment, by
Rubens,
and the Coronation of
Charles
VI. in which picture are five hundred figures, most of them taken from the life. But the most capital picture is Hercules between Virtue and Pleasure, taken from the fable of Cebes.
Before I came into this country, says
Thicknesse,
I thought the discipline of the British and French troops were tolerably strict; but as every, thing is by comparison, so I was soon convinced that neither the British or French discipline can bear that name, when put in competition with the discipline of the German troops; and yet I am told I should find a still greater difference between these troops and those of the king of Prussia. The soldier here wears his white coat three years, and it must be always perfectly clean; at the expiration of which time he has a new one, and his old one is made into a waistcoat and breeches, and must serve three years more in that capacity; and is then dyed black to make gaiters. The soldier is found in every article he can want for dress, even to his hair-string and powder; but his net pay is only two-pence halfpenny a day! five farthings of which is put into the common mess (eight men in each) and the other five farthings are for the luxuries of life. Sheeps head broth, and horse-beans boiled in grease, are with them great delicacies. It fares better with the officers, for a captain of foot in the Imperial service has an hundred guineas a year, a servant allowed him, and his livery furnished by the Emperor. But when an officer neglects his duty, and repeats it two or three times, after the commandant has hinted to him to be more attentive, he may be dismissed by the same authority. Having asked, says
Thicknesse,
what punishments were used to maintain so strict a discipline, the answer was,
none!
The punishments are so severe that no man risks the experiment.
In the castle of Ghent there are cloathing, arms, accoutrements, &c. for ten thousand horse and foot, all in the most perfect order, and all of it made within the castle walls by the hands of the soldiers. The German troops are in general sturdy, well-looking men, but they are ill-limbed, and certainly have not much more understanding among ten thousand of them, than may be found among a flock of ten thousand sheep led about by a bell-wether.
They have very flourishing linen manufactures throughout all this country; but these are not confined to Ghent, though there are many in that town; but all the villages, and almost every farm, is a flax-manufactory. Flax is a principal crop upon all the sundry parts of this country, and the farmers and labourers do not only grow it, but also dress and weave it, and the women and children spin it. Every little farmer has one or two looms; many of them five or six, and some seven or eight, according to the number of hands in the family. This makes the whole race of country people remarkably active and industrious; the servants and the farmer and his sons will weave linen in the night, and in wet days, when they have not employment in the farm; and in this manner greatly contribute to earning a better maintenance for their families than in other countries, where such time is appropriated to idleness.
The accommodations in the bark on the canal of Austrian Flanders, are infinitely superior to those of the Trackskuits in Holland, being considerably larger, with excellent apartments below, for three several classes of passengers, and a shaded quarter-deck with benches for them to fit on, when they chuse to take the air. There is a good dinner provided for each apartment; and the company may be accommodated with wines of different kinds, tea, coffee, and Flemish beer. The price of travelling, as well as the fare, is remarkably cheap; and the best apartments are always filled with good company. In fine weather nothing can be more delightful than an excursion from Ghent to Bruges by the bark, which passes from place to place in one day, distance about 30 miles, price 2s. 6d. English, dinner included. The variety of fine prospects, the charming verdure every where to be seen; the number of little chatteaus on the banks of the canal; the enlivening company that is generally to be met with, and the still pleasing manner in which die bark keeps moving forward, without any molestation from the sun or dust in a hot sultry day all together conspire to give very pleasing sensations to the mind. They tell you an English gentleman was so delighted with the passage, the entertainment, and the company he met, that he lived on board this bark for seven years, sleeping one night at Ghent, the next at Bruges, and so on; and, that being a facetious man, the better sort of people of these two towns, particularly the young ladies, would frequently, for an excursion, go and dine, as they used to call it, with the English gentleman.
There are a kind of stage-coaches that travel all through Brabant, heavy, lumbering things, that on their paved roads almost shake a man to death. The fare is cheaper than in England, and the accommodations passable; but four persons may hire a coach and pair, which will travel as fast as the stage, and cost no more than the stage price, and are far more easy to travel in. A person may go from London to Spa, and travel 200 miles through all Austrian Brabant, for four guineas, and live well upon the road; the passage in the packet from Dover to Ostend included, which is one guinea of the money. Those who travel in Flanders by the canals, pay as much for the carriage of a trunk as for themselves; the natives of the country take a few necessary things, in a kind of satchel made of carpeting called a
sac du nuit,
which they carry in their hands when they are obliged to change boats, as is often the case, the canals not joining each other; and by this they avoid the impositions of those who attend the boats to remove the luggage. The price of travelling in these boats or barks is not more then one halfpenny English, per mile. They set out at stated hours as stage-coaches do, are drawn by horses at the rate of four or five miles an hour, and will travel thirty or forty miles a-day, stopping at certain places to dine.
For fifteen-pence the treckschuyt, an elegant yatch, conducts the traveller from Ostend to this city, which in the 13th century was the principal mart in Europe, and where the merchants of all parts of the world had houses and commerical connexions; but the frequent revolts of the inhabitants against their sovereigns, the manufacturers against their masters, and the masters against the magistrates, first drove the strangers to Antwerp, and the natives to different parts of the world; the sad effects of which are still felt, and still visible; for Antwerp was raised on the ruins of Bruges, as Amsterdam is at this day on those of Antwerp. But since Ostend has become a free port, Bruges begins to revive in her trade. It is said there are two hundred and fifty streets in Bruges, and 40,000 inhabitants; but more than 10,000 of them are supported by public charity.
The police is good, the magistrates being just, but severe, and there is no part of the continent where strangers or natives can travel more securely. At Bruges an advocate is paid twenty-eight pence an hour for attendance, but the physician has only seven-pence for each visit. When a consultation is held, each physician has twenty-six pence, and the surgeons half that sum.
In one of the churches at Ghent, there is a ring of bells, the largest of which weighs 110 quintals, each quintal, a hundred pounds. There are two or three fine open places in this city, and a good theatre; but the houses, as at Brussels and Bruges, are all old-fashioned and built in the Gothic style.
Bruges is an ancient and extensive city, walled in, the circumference being near five miles. It has near three hundred streets in it, and a vast number of canals and rivers; but notwithstanding all this spaciousness, it is not an agreeable place. The houses are in general very old and extremely ugly, and the whole place shews evident signs of decay, and a loss of that trade and manufacture for which it was once famous. They reckon six squares, seven gates, eight churches, and no less than sixty monasteries; a woeful sort of population, instead of the industrious manufacturers, which once filled the city: among the rest, there is a nunnery of English, which several Roman Catholic families in England have contributed to fill.
The churches of Bruges have not any thing in them remarkable; the best is the Jesuits, which is an elegant edifice. In the church of our Lady, there are two fine monuments of
Charles
the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his daughter and heiress,
Mary
of Burgundy; they are of brass, with much enamelling; the workmanship good. Her dress is likewise shewn, that she wore three hundred years ago, and which is highly enriched with jewels.
What gives this place a very melancholy air, are the vast houses standing empty in every part of the town, which once were the residence of wealth and splendour. Among others they have seventeen palaces, which, in the times of their prosperity, were formerly the residence of consuls from various kingdoms and states in Europe. This town was famous for trade, before Antwerp arose, being then the greatest mart in Europe; England made it the staple for her wool; and its cloth manufactories were much more considerable, than those of any other place or country. Bruges however at present is not without some trade. The Ostend canal admits ships of from 2 to 300 tons burthen, up to the heart of the city, which excites more trade here than in any other town in Flanders.
The merchandize imported by the shipping on this canal, is sent to many places from Bruges, particularly by the Scheld to the city of Ghent, and from thence by other canals to various cities; and that river with the Scarpe and the Lys, reaches to Tournay, Menin, Lisle and Douay: they have likewise a communication with Antwerp, Louvain, Mechlin, and Brussels. It is an episcopal town. In the great square there is a house founded in 1411, where they provide for 130 orphans, and bring them up, some to learning, and others to trades, according to their abilities. This city has often been taken and retaken in the late wars, particularly in 1745, by the French.
Ostend is the only sea-port of Austrian Flanders. It is small, but well built and clean, nor does it exhibit so much decay of ancient greatness as Bruges. It is situated in the midst of a salt-marsh, with ditches into which the sea is let; this situation makes it strong, but the improvements in the modern art of attacking places will not allow it the same of such another siege as that which it stood against the Spaniards, which lasted three years, and in which above 100,000 men on both sides fell. The French, in 1745, took it in eight days. In the furious siege above-mentioned which lasted from 1601 to 1604, and in which the Dutch lost 50,000 men, and the Spaniards 80,000,
Isabella Eugenia,
governante of the Netherlands, made a vow she would not change her linen till Ostend surrendered; but before the town was taken, the colour of it was quite changed. However the ladies of the court, to keep her in countenance, had theirs dyed, so as to be in colour like that of their mistress. By the late Emperor's having made it a free port, the trade of it has been very much increased. The establishment of an East-India Company here, by the Emperor, has also contributed not a little to render it famous. The maritime powers endeavoured to frighten him out of this establishment; and it is somewhat extraordinary how these powers could have had the modesty to push this matter in the manner they did; for why the Emperor should not have the liberty to form what establishments he pleased in a sea-port in his own dominions, is much more than any of the English or Dutch memorials could give a satisfactory reply to.
It is estimated that the English smugglers alone bring to the amount of 600,000 livres monthly into this town; they bring too, ready money, and therefore the Ostenders are content with small profits, for their brandy, tobacco, tea, gauzes, laces, wine, &c.
This town is now inhabited by men of all nations, where as much English is heard as French or Flemish; surrounded with the sea, they have no good water; the harbour however is crouded with shipping, which shews it to be a place of great trade.
THE COUNTY OF NAMUR,
Is nearly surrounded by the Bishopric of Liege and the Duchy of Brabant. Its extent from north to south is about six German miles, and nearly as much from east to west. This country is very mountainous and woody. Its principal riches consists in iron, which is here prepared into steel and worked up in great quantities. In the level country is a great deal of corn land. The Meuse, which runs through the country, and receives into it the Sambre at Namur, tends much to the fertility of the soil, and to the advantage of the country in general from its navigation.
Namur, the capital of the country, is a large and rich town, seated between two mountains, with a strong castle, several forts, and a bishop's see. This city was besieged by King William in 1695, who took it in the sight of an army of 100,000 French, though there was 60,000 men in garrison.
The Flemings, says
Reisbec,
are the most extraordinary compound of slothfulness and industry, stupidity and acuteness, activity and cowardliness, goodness of heart and treachery, that can be well conceived. An Englishman once said of them, "They have the impudence of the French, without their pleasantry; the pride and bigotry of the Spaniards, without their sense of honour; the ferocity and harshness of the Dutch, without their punctuality; the debauchery of the Germans, without their integrity; and as to their bodies, they are blocks, from which the carver attempted to make Englishmen, but could not cut them out." The picture is in general just, as these inhabitants of the Netherlands are an assemblage of all these nations. But what they are most conspicuous for, is want of honour. You must have agreements in writing in all the common transactions of life. You are in danger of first being overcharged, and then carried into a court of justice by every workman of whom you bespeak a piece of work, if you do not put down your agreement in black and white.
With respect to their bodies, they and the Saxons are most like the Germans, described by
Tacitus:
their bodies are of a very unwieldy make, and
ad impetum valida,
what too
Tacitus
says of the old Germans, that they can bear neither hunger nor thirst, nor heat, nor cold, nor yet any long work, is true of them. In the Imperial armies they are accounted good partisans, but are never put to regular service without extreme necessity. They have a great abhorrence of discipline, and look upon it as a severe punishment to be subject to the rules of service. If their robberies and maraudings are not overlooked, they will not last out a campaign. In short, it is only in action that they shew themselves at all as soldiers.
Except Spain, Italy, and Portugal, there is no country so overloaded with monks as the Austrian Netherlands: there are in many towns forty or fifty convents; several prelatures are worth 200,000 guilders, (2000l.) ayear. If you divide the income of the country into four parts, one will be found to belong to the priesthood, one to the nobility, one to the sovereign, and one to the people. The bigotry and intolerance of the inhabitants are beyond all description, and is a marvellous contrast to the corruption of their manners.
Respecting their manufactures, they have not a single one comparable to what they were formerly: that of lace is flourishing, but not near so considerable as formerly; and the same observation is applicable to those of fine linen and tapestry: indeed, the attention given to manufacturers in every country of Europe, cannot but have drawn much from the old fabric long established; no article of manufacture is found in Flanders which is not strongly rivalled by some neighbour or other. This, with the internal mischiefs, resulting from freedoms of corporate towns cramping the workmen, is very prejudicial to all industry in these provinces.
Notwithstanding these impediments, the fabrics of Austrian provinces are by no means inconsiderable; the towns are thick, and all of them have some manufacture or other: their linens, laces, stockings, caps, cloth, druggets, carpets, &c. are all considerable; employing great numbers of hands, and bringing much money into the country.
The dress of the peasants of this country is like that of French Flanders; and what we so often see in the pictures of
Teniers.
The women wear a kind of French night-cap, with a plaited border, gold ear-rings, a gold cross hanging from their neck, a jacket and petticoat, the petticoat short, the jacket laced before, and slippers. Some wear a black bib and short black apron. They never wear a hat, but when abroad throw over their heads about four yards of black stuff like a veil. The better class of women wear camblet hoods abroad, and long cloaks of the same.
The man's dress is better described by the plate—where a young man has conducted his sweetheart to the house of a village-doctor for a remedy, she having complained of being ill. As this man looked into the cause of complaints by the urine of his patients, she took a bottle of her urine with her, little conceived that on examining it he would have discovered that she was with child; and which she would never had her lover, the last man in the world, to have been made acquainted with.
Having now gone through the different circles of Germany, and spoke of every material place as fully as our reader, we trust, will think necessary, we will proceed to a description of the United Provinces, first recapitulating and making some general remarks on the whole of Germany together.
FLEMINGS.
CHAP. XI.
Review of Germany.
THE Germans are in general tall, robust, and well made; of a fair complexion, and regular features. Their women in particular are very handsome, and excel those of most other countries. They never use paint, or foreign ornaments, to embellish their persons. Their apparel is exceedingly modest, but very rich, and they are said to be remarkably fond of jewels; they are more obsequious to their husbands than those of other nations, many of them not even sitting at table with them, and none of them taking the upper hand of them. They are also for the most part well educated, and extremely fond of music; but not very talkative.
The people of Germany have a degree of superstition among them, beyond that of other nations, that will sometimes lead them into the most desperate acts. The following from
Chisul,
is one of the many stories that could be brought to evince this truth. He was at Vienna about forty years since, and had the opportunity of seeing the decollation of a woman, whose head the executioner struck off at one blow, as she sat in a chair, levelled against the back part of her neck with a two-handed stroke and a broad two-edged sword. At these executions there assist, as in Italy, about twenty persons of an order called the Confraternity of the Dead, habited in black with masks, broad hemmed hats and mourning staves. They are a fixed society, composed of citizens of the middle rank, on whom their confession impose it as a piece of penance to assist
incognito
on these occasions. But most remarkable was the fact and behaviour of the criminal, who was about twenty-six years old, and in the absence of her husband, then three years imprisoned at Presburg, had admitted the embraces of a young man whom she passionately loved, but at last discovered was going to be married to another woman. After the most earnest, but fruitless endeavours to dissuade him from his purpose, she invited him to walk with her one morning beyond the
Favorita,
where, in a bye place, she enticed him to kiss her, and at that moment took her opportunity, and shot him in the head. This done she immediately resigned herself to justice, revealed the whole fact, and implored her speedy dispatch, that so she might have his company in the other world, without whom she could not live in this. She walked with a fresh and undaunted countenance to the place of sentence, which, though before designed and notified accordingly, is never formally pronounced till the time of execution. From thence she returned to the place of her death, sat down in the chair, and received the stroke without ever moving her body, changing her countenance, or dreading the blow she was to feel.—At these executions they often catch the blood of the criminal, as good against the falling sickness. It is from similar superstitions, that the people so frequently murder infants at Hamburg, in order to procure a capital punishment, tired of their lives, and dreading the idea of self-murder.
Though the Germans in general are of large stature, yet it has been observed their spirit is not equal to their bulk. They are generally very good-natured, and free from malice and subtlety. The peasants are laborious, sincere, honest, and hospitable; as are likewise the merchants and tradesmen, who are withal very complaisant.
Hospitality is a peculiar characteristic of the Germans; and it is a virtue they derive from their ancestors; for
Julius Caesar
informs us, that in his time their houses were open to all men; that they thought it an injustice to affront a traveller, and even looked upon it as a piece of religion to protect those who came under their roof. A single letter of recommendation is sufficient to procure a person an agreeable reception among them, which can hardly be said of the inhabitants of any other country. Their civility extends so far as to introduce a stranger directly into their societies or assemblies. They are remarkable also for their bravery, and love of military glory, in which they rival, if not surpass, most other nations.
The Germans are frequently represented as dull and heavy; but those who characterize them thus, have seldom any knowledge of them, but what they borrow from the French, who hardly ever allow wit or sense in any other nation than their own. To judge of their intellects by their improvements in mechanic arts, we should never charge a people with heaviness and stupidity to whom we are indebted for so many useful and valuable discoveries. They have not indeed the same vivacity, but they surpass the French in application and judgment. Upon the restoration of learning they distinguished themselves early in the different branches of literature.
Their first reformers,
Luther, Melanchthon, Camerarius,
and others, were most of them men of eminent erudition. Few other nations surpass either their men of letters, or even their mechanics, in application. This made an Italian say, by way of joke, expressive of their assiduity, "That the understanding of a German was not in his brain, but in his back." Printing is encouraged here to a fault, no person being admitted to any degree in their universities, who has not published at least one disputation.
In regard to baths and mineral fountains, it is a question if there are so many in all Europe as in Germany. They reckon above a thousand springs of acid waters alone, some hot, some cold, and others that are both hot and cold at different times.
Germany is likewise famous for that sort of earth called
terra sigillata.
It is a kind of hard earth, with white, yellow, and red veins, and said to be an antidote against all sorts of poisons.
Travelling is cheaper in Germany than in most parts of Europe, but the accommodations on the roads between the great towns, are very indifferent, both with respect to diet and lodging. In the houses we seldom see a fire, except in their kitchens, their rooms being heated by stoves. One thing is very peculiar in their bed-furniture, they use no blankets nor quilts; but lay one featherbed cased in linen like a pillow, and another underneath covered with a sheet, between these two, the Germans sleep. Travelling in many parts of Germany, particularly where the roads are sandy, is very tedious, the postilions not going above three English miles an hour. It is usual for those persons who travel post through Germany, and have no carriage of their own, to purchase one for that purpose, which may generally be met with in any of the frontier towns on very easy terms; as the carriages at the post houses in Germany, and which the post-masters are obliged to furnish, if required, have frequently no covering to them. They are in every respect like an English waggon, built on a small scale to hold about six persons. The covered carriages occasionally to be found at the post-houses, and those purchased by common travellers, are like our old-fashioned phaetons. The ordinary post-waggon, which answers to our stage-coach, travels night and day for days together. It goes between forty and fifty English miles in four-and-twenty hours, and is in appearance like an English narrow-wheeled waggon, only something lighter. Formerly none of them had coverings, at present most of them have, but not all.
Germany, including Silesia, is something larger than France. It contains about twelve thousand square miles. The soil varies very much in different parts. A great part of it however is very highly cultivated. The immense masses of rocks in the southern parts of Austria and Bavaria, and the sands of the north, which take in nearly the whole of Lower Saxony, with Brandenburg, Pomerania, and the north of Westphalia, are not capable of such a high degree of cultivation as the upper parts of Germany; but this would be a great advantage, if the interests and welfare of the whole were common. The mountains in the south contain metals of all kinds in prodigious quantities, and the sands in the northern parts produce hemp, flax, and wool, with excellent timber in abundance for the building of ships.
Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Austria, Bavaria, and the countries about the Rhine, the Austrian Netherlands, and part of Upper Saxony, furnish corn, cattle, wine, and all the prime necessaries of life, in such quantities as are not only sufficient to supply Germany, but even for exportation.—In short, Germany is the only country that is independent of all the world, and supplied with all the necessaries and convenience of life, which a large and flourishing state requires, for its support, or stands in need of for its defence. France, says
Reisbec,
is deficient of wood and cattle, particularly horses, the most necessary metals and linen; and Russia is obliged to import wine, wood, horses, and various other articles; but Germany has every thing which these two very powerful countries produce, and a superfluity besides of what they stand in need.
It is difficult to estimate the population of Germany. Some countries, as for instance Upper Austria, have 2000 souls in every square mile, Magdeburg, Minden, Brunswick, and many others, have 2500. On the contrary, the Hanoverian dominions, Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg, with many others, have not more than 1000 inhabitants on every square mile. Reckoning therefore 1700 inhabitants on an average for every square mile, will give twenty-five millions for the whole country, which is nearly the number they are estimated by the late King of Prussia in his Treatise of German Literature; and which, says
Reisbec,
seems to come nearest the truth. The manifesto which the Empress of Russia presented to the court of Vienna, on account of the last disturbances about Bavaria, contains these remarkable words, "It is the interest of all the powers of Europe to take care that the balance of Germany be not disturbed; for if it should be, its internal strength and situation may enable it to destroy the peace of Europe."
This extensive country has not as yet acquired the degree of cultivation of which it is capable. It is not even so highly cultivated as France. The peace of Hubertsburger is its aera of cultivation. Since that period agriculture and industry have been universal. It at once exerted all its strength to fill up the gaps which had been made by the destructive war of thirty years. The very partition of the country into so many different states, prejudicial as it is to the exertion of power for the purpose of foreign conquests, has been of advantage to its internal cultivation. At present the first princes in Germany contend with each other who shall make the greatest improvements in the administration of justice, in the system of education, and in their general police for the promotion of agriculture and commerce, with as much eagerness as they formerly contended for a rivalship in pomp and external magnificence. In no country is there now so thorough a conviction of a value of men, and of their different occupations, and how to improve them to the utmost advantage, as in Germany.
With respect to legislation, and the true interest of a country, there has been a benevolent light spread in most parts of this empire, which not only points out their deficiencies, but encourages the princes and their servants to fill them up. Without doubt Germany as well as the rest of Europe is much indebted to the king of Prussia, the first practical philosopher in modern times, who has been seen on a throne. It was this prince who began the glorious revolution, which has made such changes in Germany during the last twenty years; he taught his neighbours that the interests of princes and their subjects were the same; he began to take off the veil which was thrown over administration: finally, he subdued the tyrants among the nobility and priests, who fattened on the substance of the citizen and peasant. Military as his government may appear to superficial observers, it is to that alone Germany is so indebted for a peace of five-and-twenty years, which she had not known for many centuries before, and in the course of which she first began to feel what she really was.
The peculiar turn of the Germans seems to be philosophy; they are distinguished from all the nations of Europe for cool and just judgments, united with extreme industry; they were the first who threw a light on mathematics and general physics; they next darted through theology, history, and finally legislation with the same philosophic spirit. The prize of wit they will do well to leave to other nations, for which they will ever contend in vain.
If Germany could make itself one great people; if it was united under one governor, if the present interests of a single prince were not often in opposition to the general welfare of the whole; if all the members of the empire were so well compacted into one body, that the superfluous sap of the one could circulate and invigorate all the rest, how much greater steps towards cultivation might not the country then make! But Germany would then give laws to all Europe. How powerful are the two houses of Austria and Brandenburg, even as things now are? the greatness of whose strength consists in their German possessions, and yet who do not possess half or even the best parts of this country. Though the character of the Germans be not so brilliant as that of other nations, still it is not destitute of its peculiar excellencies. The German is a man of the world. He lives under every sky, and conquers every natural obstacle to his happiness. His industry is inexhaustible. Poland, Hungary, Russia, the English and Dutch colonies, are much indebted to German emigrants. Even the first states in Europe owe great part of their knowledge to Germany. Rectitude is also an almost universal characteristic of the people of this country; neither are the manners of the inhabitants in the lesser cities, by any means so corrupt as those of France and other countries: it is owing to this circumstance, that the country is so well peopled, notwithstanding the great emigrations. In short, frugality on the part of the Protestants and frankness on that of the Catholics, are grand, brilliant and natural characteristics.
THE SEVEN
UNITED PROVINCES.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVEN UNITED PROVINCES OF THE LOW COUNTRIES. From
Le Febure, Marshal, Hanway, Busching, Sherlock, Peckham, Northey, Brown, Reisbec, &c. &c.
CHAP. I.
Of the Country in general.
THE United Netherlands are bounded by the German ocean on the north, by Westphalia on the east, by Austrian Brabant on the south, and by the English channel towards the west. These provinces are seven in number; Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Guelderland, Overyssel, Groningen, and Friezland. The name of the Netherlands, which included the Dutch, Austrian, and French, in all appearance takes its rise from the sittuation of these countries, as considered with respect to Germany, and implies the Nether or Lower Germany. The whole of the Seven United Provinces includes about 625 square geographical miles. The air is moist and unhealthy. The winter sets in about October, and even in the month of May there is often scarce any appearance of spring. In summer the heats are often more excessive than in the south of France, or even in Italy. Sometimes the extremes of heat and cold are even felt in the same day.
Here are all manner of tame fowl, as in England; and of the wild sort, the stork about the bigness of a heron is the most remarkable. This bird builds his nest on the top of their chimnies in most of the towns and villages, and through a national superstition is never destroyed. They take their flight with their young ones, about the middle of August, and as is conjectured retire into Africa, or some other warm country, and return in February. There are prodigious quantities of wild geese, herons, ducks, and other water-fowl, which cover the marshes of the Low Countries every winter; they have likewise plenty of partridges, snipes, quails, pigeons, hares and rabbits, but none of those wild beasts which abound in the German forest, such as bears, wild boars, and wolves; foxes they have in great numbers. Their seas, lakes, canals, and rivers abound in fish of all kinds, except oysters, of which there are very few.
The whole country is full of morasses, which however are not without their advantages, yielding good turf for fuel, and in some parts they are reckoned so secure a defence for the state on the side of Germany, that the draining of them is prohibited by law.
These morasses however joined with the low situation of the country near the sea, occasion fogs and frequent rains, which are more particularly brought on by the westerly winds that prevail in these parts with great violence. The general distempers of the inhabitants are the gout and scurvy. Colds and rheumatisms are also very common; and in the fenny parts near the sea, where the mud during the ebb emits putrid effluvia, continual vomitings are very frequent. It is the dampness of the climate that accustoms the inhabitants to smoaking; for both men and women of a certain age, are seldom seen without their pipes and spitting pots.
The land is for the most part level, and in many places lyes even lower than the sea; for which reason it is not only fenced against its inundations by dykes and dams at a prodigious expence; but likewise for draining the water from the fenny parts, there have been innumerable ditches cut, from which the water so drained is conveyed by windmills into canals, and from thence by means of sluices into the rivers. These dykes and canals give the country a very singular appearance, and being planted with rows of trees, willow and others, interspersed with gardens and pleasant houses, make it very convenient as well as delightful to travellers. The barks which are drawn by horses, set out every day in summer at certain hours, to go from one place to another. As a great part of the country consists of heath and sands, it does not afford a sufficient subsistence for the inhabitants; nor can all the industry of agriculture draw from it as much grain as is necessary for home consumption. But this again is amply compensated by its resources of trade and navigation, which enable the Dutch not only to brew good beer, and distil brandy from the corn they import, but likewise to export great quantities afterwards of both. On the other hand, the rich meadows and pastures make grazing very profitable, by which the inhabitants are supplied with milk, butter and cheese, and the exports of the two latter amount to very large sums; the Texel cheeses being famous all over the world. In Holland, too, the breeding of sheep is very considerable, and admits of further improvements, as under proper regulations a million of sheep might be fed in that province. The wool of these sheep is also reckoned very fine. Several places likewise yield tobacco, and Zealand is famous for its madder. Culinary plants these provinces have in abundance, and in some parts of them there is great plenty of fruit. The principal fuel is turf and pit-coal, the latter of which comes from England. Wood being very scarce and dear, there is but little of it used. Every piece of timber worked up in these countries, whether for building or for exportation, is brought from abroad. In many places they boil salt from the sea water. The country of Zutphen yields iron. In short, nature affords so little that is valuable here, that the inhabitants owe both the necessaries and comforts of life to their extensive commerce with foreign countries.
The principal rivers are the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt. The first of these rises in Germany, and taking its course through the Duchy of Cleves, enters the Netherlands at Fort Schenk; there it divides into two branches; the most considerable of which, after passing by Nimeguen, runs into the Meuse; the other branch, after again subdividing into smaller branches, loses itself in the canals, and in one or two lesser rivers.
The Maese forms the boundary between Geulderland and Brabant. Opposite to Dort this river divides into two branches; one branch runs by Rotterdam, and the other takes a different course; they afterwards meet again; and this river, which is very wide at its mouth, then discharges itself in the ocean at Brill. On this river, which rises in Burgundy, and runs through the principality of Liege, there was formerly a very considerable traffic; but the several sovereigns through whose dominions it takes its course, having laid heavy tolls on all vessels as they passed through their territories, this trade is now very much on the decline.
The fishery in the several streams, rivers and lakes, though very considerable, serves only for home consumption; but that of the North-Sea is very productive; it is divided into the greater and the lesser. By the former is to be understood that carried on along the coasts, especially on the Doggersand or Doggersbank, between England and Jutland, on which there are caught cod, haddock, turbots, whitings, soles, and other sea fish. The cod caught here is either carried fresh and alive to market, or else is salted up at sea, and thus forms a branch both of foreign and domestic commerce. The great fishery is that of herrings, from which the Dutch reap immense profits: for if it may not as formerly be termed the golden mine of Holland, yet it still yields a comfortable subsistence to at least 30,000 families. The season for catching the herrings along the coast of England and Scotland, is from the 24th of June to the 25th of November. The vessels employed in this fishery, are called busses, and carry from twenty-five to thirty lasts, each last is 80 bushels, which one with another sell for about one hundred and twenty guilders. Some years back no less than fifteen hundred such vessels have been known to sail from the ports of Holland; whereas at present the number seldom exceeds two hundred. Though the estimates of the profits arising from the herring-fishery differ, as the profits themselves do in different years, yet it is computed in a good year, that the neat gain to the proprietors of the busses, amounts to two millions of guilders, each guilder 20d. English. The salting and curing of herrings, which the Dutch first learnt about the end of the fourth century from a fisherman of Flanders, and in which no nation has equalled them ever since, has made the Dutch herrings universally preferred before all others. Further, the whale fishery at Greenland, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, &c. employs annually about two hundred and fifty sail of Dutch ships.
The United Netherlands are well cultivated and extremely populous; they contain no less than 113 cities and towns, with 1400 villages, some of which are very considerable, and about two millions of inhabitants. But the most populous and the best cultivated is the province of Holland, which has not its equal in the universe; having six or more large cities within eight or ten miles of each other. The neatness of the houses, and of the canals, which are cut through the streets, and planted with trees, as also the cleanliness of the streets, give the towns of this province a more agreeable appearance than is usually to be met with in other countries; and for pretty villages, no part of the globe can be put in competition with North Holland.
These countries, according to some writers, have been most of them gained from the sea. Others, on the contrary, are of opinion, that a great part of them have been lost by inundations, and both of them are in the right; for their seas and rivers appear in many places to be above the land at high-water, and kept out only by prodigious banks; and there have been inundations even in the memory of man which have laid great tracks of land under water. The tops of steeples or other high buildings have been seen upon their coasts at low water. Sir William Temple remarks, that from the Zuidersee never having been mentioned by any Roman writers, it is reasonable to suppose, that it was formed by some great inundation of the sea breaking in between the Texel and other islands; and this is the more probable, from the great shallowness of that sea, and the flatness of its sands over the whole extent of it. Other changes he supposes to have happened in the face of these countries by the sands which have gathered at the mouths of their great rivers above-mentioned.
These sands are supposed to have been collected from the westerly winds, which generally blow on these shores three parts of the year, and are more violent than the easterly ones, which usually bring calm weather and frosts.
The Zuidersee is about seventy miles in length, and half as much in breadth, but so very shallow as has been observed, that a passage over it is more dangerous than a voyage in the Bay of Biscay. And such is the violence and rage of the sea when the wind blows a storm at north-west, that if it happens to be a spring tide, their strongest dykes sometimes give way. An inundation happened in 1530, by which seventy-two villages were swallowed up, and 20,000 people destroyed. The banks of these rivers are also sometimes broken down by shoals of ice and land-floods. From the shallowness of the water at neap tides at the mouth of this sea, they are obliged to unload their vessels before they come in, and bring in their vessels in cradles.
Reisbec
observes, that there is no solid earth in any part of Holland, and that even on the borders of the Duchy of Cleves, there are evident marks of this country's having been formed like the Egyptian Delta; with this difference, that the soil on the banks of the Nile is more fruitful. Parts of Brabant have likewise been formed by the Scheld, Maese, and other rivers. At a great distance from the coast in Flanders, under the good earth may be seen dry sand, and under this again, large layers of good earth; as if the rivers and sea had by turns deposited their sand and their mud. The whole coast of Germany is of the same kind, as far as the Elbe. Throughout all this district, says Reisbec, there is no solid ground.
The sea forms boundaries to herself which she never passes, but in cases of extreme necessity. Her playful waves have made the downs, which reach from Calais to the Texel, and protect the land which is in some places lower than the surface of the sea; but when a north or north-west wind puts her into a fit of anger, she overthrows in an instant that which with the help of the neighbouring rivers, she has been building for many centuries. They tell you with a degree of confidence, that a ship of 200 tons burthen was blown over the bank at high water, between Calais and Gravelines, on the shore; the bank twenty feet higher than the surface of the water.
The sea of Haerlem grows wider every day, threatens to break the dykes between Leyden and Haerlem, and make a perfect island of North Holland. This sea is sixteen miles long, and nearly eight miles broad. In the last century, the sea demolished a great part of the island in which Dordrecht is situated; and 60,000 people perished by this accident.
Dreadful as the sea is to the main land, she is still a more formidable enemy to the islands which constitute the province of Zealand; but what she executes on the continent, by violent storms, she undertakes here, by craft and cunning. Most of these islands are lower than the surface of the sea; the inhabitants have, in consequence, attempted to secure themselves, by very expensive dykes, or banks.
The sea is perpetually undermining them, and washing away the earth by degrees; in many places they are already quite naked. This compels the inhabitants to build other walls behind their dams, which, expecting the same fate, must in time leave the whole to the mercy of the enemy.
Nor are the inhabitants of the middle of the country in a better situation. The territories about Nimeguen and Arnheim, the most beautiful and most fruitful in all Holland, will in time be subdued by the Rhine. In many districts about Betuve, the sand is already so high, that at every swell the river is driven violently to the opposite shore; this will repeatedly happen, till it has finally broke itself a new bed, and covered with water all that is now ploughed land, or the site of villages and hamlets. The many canals which have been made to receive part of the waters of these rivers, are by no means sufficient to break their force.
These canals, and the continual digging of turf, entirely divest this country of all security. In the direct line between Rotterdam and Amsterdam, there is dyke upon dyke; all these hollows have been occasioned by digging away the turf; most of them are so deep that it is impossible to draw the waters from them into the canals, which are on a level with the surface of the sea. What a ruin must then take place, if once the waters of the neighbouring rivers break in upon them, or endeavour to open a way through them!
In short, no Dutchman can promise his children a durable habitation, except the inhabitants of Guelderland, which is nothing but sand; and those of Overyssel and Drenthe—countries which are almost nothing but morasses and heaths, and the habitations of fevers, colds, and catarrhs.
Though this country is so famous for its trade, and its multitude of shipping, yet there is scarce a good harbour on the coast. The best are, Flushing, Helveotsluys, and Rotterdam. As for Amsterdam, there cannot be, any where, a more incommodious haven; being seated in so shallow a water that very few ships can get into it, except at high tide.
Every one knows that husbandry is not the great national object in Holland, but trade and manufactures. Their territory is small in comparison with their population; so that an application to trade is necessary to the existence of the inhabitants. The quantity of land fit for tillage, was originally under such peculiar circumstances, that the wealth which flowed in from trade and manufactures, could alone render the practice of any husbandry advantageous. The soil is of two sorts, very good or very bad; and so unhappily situated are the Dutch, that the former is only to be preserved by those vast monuments of their industry—the banks, which preserve all the lower and best lands from being overflowed; for the higher tracks of Friezland, Guelderland, &c. contain in general, a very great proportion of waste, and poor, sandy soil. This proportion is greater than is commonly imagined, and was so when the republic was undoubtedly in a more flourishing situation than at present.
Davenant
tells us, that in 1688, they had eight millions of English acres, which let, with houses and tenements, at four millions sterling. Now, this being only ten shillings an acre, in a country very full of cities, must very much reduce that ten shillings per acre, probably to six shillings; which shews that this country of immense wealth and trade, though they secured the soil by banks, yet did but little in raising the value of land. Grass lands, indeed, let here at very high prices.
Whatever receives most encouragement from the state, is sure most to prosper trade being the great object in Holland; manufactures are very much attended to, these have consequently prospered; but as to agriculture, and the landed interest, they make it totally subservient to every other; for the importation of corn, and other provisions, is ruinous to the farmer, but is not regarded here, because it is an object of commerce.
This conduct, however, is suitable to the situation and interests of the republic. Nature, and a fortune almost as ragged, has crammed them into a neglected marsh, which nothing but an industry like theirs, could have made the habitation of an independent nation. In such a state, trade, navigation, fisheries, and manufactures, were their principal support, in their first naval expeditions against the Spaniards; these, therefore, they wisely engaged in, with their utmost ardour: But as to agriculture, of what benefit could it be to a nation, that had not land enough to render themselves independent by it?
Necessity drove the Hollanders to trade; but, had a genius more extensive than that of
Lycurgus,
or of
Montesquieu,
dictated to them a choice, it would have been what necessity compelled. Industry will ever make the greatest figure in those spots that deny every thing to idleness; a numerous people, in such situations, must either be industrious or starve.
A DUTCH MARKET
In the agriculture of Holland, the richness of their pastures is to be noticed, and the great attention they pay to the management of their cattle. They are very fond of the culture of tobacco, and of madder; of madder, in particular, they raise enough not only for their own consumption, which in their linen and cotton manufactures is very great, but also for exportation.
CHAP II.
Of the Province of Holland.
WE will now speak of the several provinces. The province of Holland, the most considerable of the seven provinces, and in many respects equal to the other six, is bounded by the Zuider sea on the north; by Utrecht on the east; by Brabant on the south; and by the British ocean on the west; extending about eighty miles in length; in some places forty in breadth, and in others not above twenty. It contains an area of about 400,000 acres. This province is usually divided into North and South Holland. South Holland contains all that country between Zealand and Brabant, and that arm of the sea, which usually goes by the name of the river Y, And North Holland reaches from this river to the ocean.
It lyes, in general, very low, and, in some parts, even lower than the sea, from which it is secured by dykes, and intersected by innumerable ditches and canals, through which, at the time of the ebb, the water is carried off. On the coasts of the north seas, the sand-hills supply the place of dykes. The air is foggy and unwholesome. The greatest part of the province consists of fine pasture lands. The principal occupation of the country people is making butter and cheese, and they accordingly keep a great number of milch cows. This province stands in need of all the art in the world, to embellish and make it habitable. The air, in winter, is almost one continued fog; nothing is to be heard on the plains but the cries of sea gulls, plovers, swallows, crows, ducks, geese and swans. Those birds, which take refuge in the woods, are seldom known here. Of all the provinces, none is so much exposed to the fury of the ocean; and the inundations which happen from time to time are terrible. The first which history mentions, formed the gulph called the Zuider sea. Before that time, Friezland was separated only by a small lake.
In several parts of the country, the rivers which run through this country, are joined by navigable canals, which open a cheap communication between the several towns and villages of this populous province; as, by means of the trechscuyts, a passenger goes from place to place on these canals, at fixed hours, and at very cheap rates. Goods are likewise sent by the same conveyance, which is an unspeakable convenience to the inland trade.
This province abounds in the noblest improvements, and is populous beyond comparison with any of the other provinces; containing 37 towns, eight boroughs, and 400 villages; and the number of its inhabitants, on a careful estimate, is computed at above a million of inhabitants, which is one half of the population of the whole country. The houses in the towns are mostly built of bricks; and for cleanliness in them, no country in the world comes up to Holland: in North Holland, in particular, neatness and ornament are carried to an astonishing pitch. In that province there are villages in which the rooms and furniture of the houses are clean and bright beyond imagination: the houses themselves, as also the floors, and every wooden utensil, both within and without, even to the very gates near the roads, and the posts in the pastures, against which the cows rub themselves, as also the trunks of the trees, being painted over. The chimnies likewise, with the cow-stalls, both on the floor and on the sides, are kept in the greatest neatness. In these elegant cow-stalls, families themselves reside, in order to spare their dining rooms. The streets, too, are paved with brick, and very carefully washed and strewed with a fine, white sand.
It is in this province, more than in any other, that the diversion of skaiting is followed, from the multiplicity of canals which intersect it. The Dutch, who in other respects are an indolent set of people, are passionately fond of this exercise, and are the best skaiters in Europe. Some of them will skait fifteen miles in an hour. The ladies are drawn along in
traineaux,
a gentleman sitting behind them, and guiding the horse. There is no year, however, in which some accident does not happen from these aquatic amusements.
The Dutch have carried their ingenuity so far as to contrive boats with sails, fixed on skaits or sledges, to glide along on the ice: but these carriages are more for curiosity than real use, as being by no means safe. They move after the rate of fifteen leagues an hour; and, without reckoning up the other inconveniencies to their being put in practice, the resistance of the air alone would be sufficient to take any one's breath away, in travelling with such expedition. It is asserted, that people have gone in this manner from Amsterdam to Sardam in seven minutes—a distance of seven miles.
Plan
of the
CITY
of
AMSTERDAM
A
The S
e House
B
The Post Office
C
The Exchange
D
The Theatre
E
East India House
F
D o W arehouses
G
D o W harf
H
D o D ock
I
West India House
K
Artillery House
L
Amstel Church
M
West Church
N
New Church
O
Old Church
P
North Church
Q
Englis
R
Timber Wharf
The principal cities of the province of Holland are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Leyden, Haerlem, Delft, Dort, and the Hague; of these we shall speak in their turns.
Amsterdam is the capital of this province, and of the United Netherlands. It is situated on the little river Amstel, which runs through the city, and falls into that arm of the sea called the Y, that lies on the north side of the town, and which forms a large harbour. Amsterdam is the greatest trading city of Europe, and though, by reason of the shallowness of the passage which leads up to it, from the Zuider sea, it might be thought but badly situated for a sea-port, as ships of burthen must be lightened to pass through it, and afterwards wait for an easterly or north-west wind to go into the north sea; yet it is advantageous in this respect, that goods can be easily carried backwards and forwards from all the other towns of this province, and with a fair wind it is but a few hours passage to or from all the ports of North-Holland, Friesland, Overyssel and Guelderland.
The ground is naturally marshy, consequently the buildings at Amsterdam are founded on oaken piles, which made the facetious
Erasmus
say, that in his country vast multitudes of people lived on the tops of trees. The middle of the town is intersected by a great number of navigable canals, which, while they conduce to the pleasantness and cleanliness of the place, are at the same time a great convenience to trade; but in hot weather they emit foetid effluviae, which would be still worse, were not the water kept continually in motion by two large water-mills and a horse-mill. In dark evenings, these canals used to cost many people their lives, till these dangers were happily remedied by illuminating the streets and sides of the canals: compared however with the streets of London, they are at present but miserably lighted up. These canals divide the town into a multitude of islands, which are joined with each other by means of stone and wooden bridges. This town itself forms a semicircle on the Y, being fortified on the land-side with ramparts and regular bastions. This side of the town may likewise be laid under water. On this river is a most delightful walk commanding a fine prospect.
Amsterdam, says
Marshall,
appears to no great advantage to a stranger on his first coming to it, except he enters the city through the Heeregraft, or the Keysergraft streets: that of Haerlem is very long, but the sluices in the canal hurt the effect of it; the two former have also canals in the middle of them, and are very noble streets; but like most in Holland are planted with trees. Some of the canals are very broad, and make a fine appearance; but the houses in general are not erected in a grand stile; on the contrary, very many of them disgrace the areas before them. This, though an evil, is an evil to be found in all the cities of Europe, and especially in London. In squares this great city appears to be very deficient; they are few in number, and have nothing in them striking: that called the Dam is the principal, but it is very irregular. The houses, like all those in Flanders, are in the old Gothic stile, with pediment roofs, and being generally out of the perpendicular, are prevented from falling by iron cramps in the form of the capital S. To a passenger in the street, by hanging over on both sides, they seem to threaten his life.
Though Amsterdam cannot boast many fine squares, like several other capital cities, yet it contains some public buildings, that strike the spectator with astonishment at their magnificence.
The building which is incomparably beyond all others, is the stadthouse: the dimensions of the front, as given by several authors, is 282 feet, the depth 232, and the height 116 feet, besides a small cupola. It was begun in 1648. It is built upon wooden piles like masts of ships, rammed down as thick as they can stand. There are no less than 14,000 of them, which are said to have cost 100,000l.; there being a great quantity of iron-work employed in the foundation, to keep the piles together. The superstructure is said to have cost twice as much. The expence of this edifice, however, has been variously computed, with such an amazing difference, as from 300,000l. to 3,000,000l.; the latter must certainly be computed according to the different value of money then and now; but even so, it must very much exceed the truth: the former is, in all probability, much nearer the reality. The front of this building has nothing of taste or elegance; it is a heavy pile, which strikes the spectator with that idea which is raised by the grandeur of its magnitude. The inside is finished in a very noble style, considering the purpose to which it is applied; such as, a prison, a bank, the seat of the courts of justice, the sessions-rooms, guard-rooms, &c. The three statues of brass, representing Justice, Fortitude and Plenty, at the entrance, and the woman in marble,
in relievo,
supporting the city arms, are most exquisite pieces: the tower above, with the clock and its admirable chimes; the Atlas, with the globe on his shoulders, as also all the other beauties and ornaments of sculpture and painting, are scarce to be equalled in Europe. The floors, walls, and pillars are, in general, of marble, and the roofs finely carved, painted, and gilt; and many of the apartments are adorned with very fine paintings, by the best Flemish masters. In the second story is a great magazine of arms; and over that, great reservoirs of water, with tubes to conduct it into every apartment; and another precaution, which has been taken against fire, is, lining the chimnies with copper. The top of the cupola gives a view of the city, and neighbouring country, in great perfection, commanding the whole circumference; which, with the canals, and the immense number of ships continually going in and coming out of the harbour, altogether form a very noble prospect.
The entrance to this building is through seven small doors, but the want of a large door suitable to the grandeur of the building, is a designed omission; the seven doors in number and uniformity, representing the seven United Provinces.
The bank of Amsterdam, which is the lower apartment, is famous all over the world. The great treasure said to be locked up in the vaults of this house, are the sums received in purchase, not of bank stock, but of bank-transfer. This is not like that of London, a bank that circulates notes in return for cash; on the contrary, it is a bank of deposit; whoever pays money here has it entered in the bank-books, but can never again demand it. When he wants to raise money, he offers his bank credit for sale, which is transferred in a moment, and any sums of money may always be raised upon it.
The treasure in the bank in Amsterdam is an intire secret to all but those who have the management of it; the value has been computed, or rather guessed at; and supposed to be from 20 to 40 millions sterling; but to name any particular sum must at the best be but guessing at random. It is however a very astonishing system of accumulation; for it is a well-known fact, that money once paid into the bank-books can never be demanded; and further, that money is perpetualy paid in. Here, therefore, there seems to be a constant ingress, but no egress; consequently a treasure which seems perpetually increasing.
Marshal
says, that though by the regulations of the bank, no money can be paid to any person that demands it, in consequence of his credit on the bank; yet it is certain the bank lends both money and credit to the brokers, who make it their business to buy bank credit, and give cash for it. These people attend every morning between eleven and twelve, before the Stadthouse, either to buy or sell bank-credit, as occasion may offer.
Hanway,
who gives the best account of this bank, does it in the following words: As the bank of Amsterdam receives only the best and purest coin, or bullion, the bank-money bears a commission of 4 or 5 per cent. If a person is desirous to raelise his bank-credit, he disposes of it with greater facility than we sell bank-stock. Here they make payments after the manner of the bank of Venice, viz. by transferring in the books of the bank, from the credit of one to the credit of another: these transfers are made by the personal appearance of the transferror, by his order, for which there are printed forms; or by virtue of his power of attorney. Though no money can be claimed again, when once paid into the bank, yet in cases of deposits, the same identical gold and silver may be reclaimed by him who delivered it in; for which purpose he has a permit renewable every six months, otherwise to become invalid. In which latter case, the cash so delivered, is blended with the common stock, and transferable only in the manner already mentioned. Though this bank pays no interest, yet it receives interest for the same loan, to the East and West-India Companies; the large sums of money lent to the Dutch Government, are entirely independent of this bank; the revenues of each respective province being engaged as a security for such sum.
The great hall is a noble room indeed, adorned on all sides with the finest marble pillars of the Corinthian order; but the floor of marble is the most surprizing of all, which is so laid as to represent without the addition of any other lines than the veins of the marble, both the celestial and the terrestrial globes. Each of these marble maps, as they are styled, being twenty-two feet in diameter.
Below stairs are the prisons both for debtors and criminals, with a guard-chamber, where the keys of the city are locked up every night. The sovereign power of this city is lodged in 36 senators, who continue members for life; and when any of them die, the remaining senators elect others in their room, the people having no share in the nomination or choice: the senate likewise elect the deputies to be sent to the states of Holland, and appoints the chief magistrates of the city, who are said to resemble the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London. The Burgomasters are four in number, three of which are chosen annually.
The police of this city seems worthy of imitation. Notwithstanding its being the first trading city in the world, and a conflux of all sorts of people, it seldom happens that there are above one or two executions here in the course of the year. What is more singular, no person can be put to death without previously signing his own condemnation, acknowledging his guilt and the justice of his sentence, which is done with great form and ceremony, in a room of the Stadthouse, exposed to the open air at two different times. The number of debtors too is very inconsiderable; every creditor here, as in most parts of the continent, is obliged to allow a maintenance to the person he imprisons, proportionate to his station in life.
The exchange is a large building, and well adapted to the purpose, but it is unornamented, and not equal in architecture to that of London; the contrivance of numbering the pillars, in order to find a merchant the more readily, is very convenient. It was very imprudently built on a canal; this circumstance set some wicked persons about sixty or seventy years since, to endeavour to blow it up, while the merchants were assembled; for this purpose they procured a large quantity of powder and other combustibles, which they placed under the bridge that goes over it; a child however blew out the match which prevented the fatal effects that would otherwise have ensued. As an acknowledgement for the preservation of such a number of the inhabitants, all the children in Amsterdam have the privilege of coming and playing in the exchange the first three days of the fair in the afternoon, and of making as much noise as they please.
The admiralty, says
Marshal,
is the next public edifice that demands attention; the size of it, with its environs, is very considerable. It consists of three sides of a square; the front being 220 feet long, and the wings the same; in the midst is the yard for building. The arms and stores belonging to the ships are kept here in very great order. The ground-floor is filled with cannon balls; and the second contains the arms and cordage; the third their sails, public flags, &c. Besides these, here are many other curiosities of the naval kind, which are worth viewing. The dock is 508 feet long; and contiguous to it, are the houses for lodging the carpenters, &c. The order in which every thing is kept cannot fail of striking every one. This building with its contents has been lately destroyed by fire.
The East-India house and Arsenal are great buildings, which much deserve viewing. In the former, the company hold their meetings, and have very considerable magazines of all sorts of India goods. The arsenal is 2,000 feet square every way; it contains docks for building the ships, and warehouses and stores for completely rigging them, all in excellent order. They have magazines of all sorts of naval stores; in one they have many pieces of heavy artillery, and in another more than 600 large anchors ready for use. The two rope-walks are 18,000 feet long.
These are the principal public buildings in this city; but there are others which will attract the attention of travellers; such as, the works going forward in the harbours, the sluices, the bastions, with each a windmill, the bridges, &c. As to hospitals, there are a great number of them, but the architecture of the edifices is nothing; it is however highly worthy of observation, that all the poor of Amsterdam, and indeed of all the provinces, are maintained by charity, there being no poor-tax in any country in Europe, except England; the same fund supports all the hospitals, in which there are above twenty thousand people.
At all the public inns and taverns, and at those houses in which any public business is transacted, there are poor-boxes, into which, it is usual to put contributions from all sales, auctions, &c. Certain persons are also appointed to go and collect alms from time to time, and at all the public festivals, which are applied to the same use: the theatres, and places of amusement of every kind, pay a third or a half of their gains for the like purpose; and if this is not sufficient, government makes good the remainder. Every person entering the gates of Amsterdam, after dark, pays a penny to the poor; but after a certain hour of the night, (eleven or twelve,) none can enter the city till the next morning.
In all the towns of Holland, they take excellent precaution to force the idle to work. They have a house of correction, called a rasp-house, in which they shut up the idle poor and vagrants, that can work and maintain themselves, but will not. The employment they give them is to saw and rasp Brazil wood; in which if they are not expeditious, they are severely beaten; and for those who are lazy, they have an admirable contrivance, which is a cellar with a pump, into which they let water, so proportioned to the strength of the person, that he shall be able, with infinite labour in pumping it out, to save himself from being drowned; which fate those who are put there are, by law, doomed to suffer, if they do not escape it by hard working; and for such as are incorrigibly idle, this labour is admirably adapted. In these prisons they also put young men whose debauchery or extravagance threatens the ruin of their health and fortune; and this is done at any time on the request of their parents or guardians: women are likewise sometimes permitted to confine their husbands in these prisons, on a complaint of their being extravagant. It does not however appear that this is effected by virtue of any written law, but through custom and ancient usage.
It is observed of the hospitals in this country, as well as of those in England, that they resemble the palaces of princes more than the habitations of poor people. There are houses also where a person may have his diet and lodging as long as he lives, on the payment of a small sum of money in advance.
As to churches, the only one worthy of being mentioned is the new one, dedicated to St. Catharine; the ornamental parts of which are finished in a most capital manner. The pulpit is carved in the richest style; the chancel is parted off by a railing of Corinthian brass; the windows are likewise finely painted, and the organ is the best in the low countries, except that at Haerlem; and they say at Amsterdam, the best in the whole world: it has a row of pipes, designed to counterfeit a chorus of voices, which it performs very badly; there are fifty-two whole stops besides the half ones, with two rows of keys for the feet, and three for the hands. Here is to be seen a most magnificent tomb of the brave Admiral
de Ruyter;
his effigy lying at large, with all sorts of trophies in marble, sculpture and relievo, with large inscriptions. In one of the aisles of this church is another sumptuous monument, erected to the memory of
John Van Galen,
another of their admirals, with a very fine inscription.
This church, however, is not yet finished, though it has been begun more than an hundred years ago; the steeple was designed to have been much higher: more than 6,000 piles have already been driven into the ground in an area of one hundred feet square, as a foundation for it; but still they thought the bogginess of the ground not sufficiently remedied for supporting so great a weight, as this steeple would be, if it were finished.
The number of churches, of the established religion in this great city, does not exceed thirteen; but several of them have two galleries one over the other, and contain a prodigious number of people. There are, however, upwards of fourscore Roman-catholic chapels, besides a great number of others, belonging to different sects of the protestants: none of these, however, are permitted to marry, according to their respective rites, without the marriages being first solemnized before a magistrate; nor any persons admitted to offices in the state, but those of the presbyterian or established religion.
It is observed, that the Jews of Amsterdam live in more splendour than in any part of the world. They reside in a peculiar quarter of the city, resembling a little town, and have two synagogues; one not inferior to the best church in London, and the other though not near so sumptuous, exceeds any they have at Rome or Venice; besides which, they have schools in which they educate their youth in their own religion and language. I went once, says some writer, into their synagogue, where were about 2,000 men and boys with white silk hoods over their shoulders, listening to two others, who had but little resemblance to priests, and who were explaining the laws at the lower end of the church: at every period they were repeating their great Ala, or Allalujah, to which the rest did not seem very attentive.
The manufactures carried on in this city, are more numerous and considerable than at any other place in the seven provinces; they weave all sorts of cloths, woollens, stuffs, and silk, gold and silver silks, ribbons, tapestry, linen in large quantities, &c. All sorts of fabrics in leather, with many in ivory and metals, are likewise carried on here: they have also a great variety of mills for sawing, polishing, &c. Their sail-cloth and paper-manufactories are likewise very considerable; and the printing of books should not be forgotten; they print in all languages. Here are great numbers of booksellers, who it is thought employ twice the quantity of presses that work at London: these books are exported to England, and some to the southern parts of Europe; but vast numbers to all parts of Germany, Denmark and the North.
Amsterdam can boast of no great antiquity; it owes its origin to a few fishing villages, and was first walled in about 1482. Its present number of inhabitants is computed by
Marshal
at 300,000.
Busching
makes the number only 200,000. The foreigners resorting hither from time to time likewise form a very considerable number.
The air of this city, says
Marshal,
is so bad and foggy, that I can hardly believe the assertion of those who affirm it to be healthy. It is surrounded entirely by the sea and by marshes; the canals are very numerous, and not always free from noxious exhalations. The cleanliness, indeed, of the inhabitants is carried to as great a height as possible, but this by no means remedies the evil; for that eternal washing must add to the damps, which are otherwise so unwholesome in this country. The best part of their cleanliness, is that exerted in keeping their canals clean; but I must remark, says he, I saw no small neglect of this most essential object.
The most useful of the four elements, water, with which the Dutch are surrounded, is not to be procured here fit for drinking, without great difficulty. What is generally used for this purpose, is that which is had from the clouds; they have likewise water which they procure from a small river, the Vecht, some miles distant; but even this is not very good.
The Dutch were formerly very attentive to have all their carriages placed on sledges, and drawn only by one horse; this was certainly a wise precaution, considering that the whole city is on a foundation purely artificial, on piles; but this regulation is now but little attended to; for there are at present a great number of coaches on wheels: it is true they pay a very considerable tax, which, as the number of carriages increased, has already been raised once or twice, and amounts now to about seven pounds ayear, but still as luxury increases, coaches on wheels increase; and the higher they are taxed, some sensible people are of opinion, the more they would increase.
With respect to the sledges, as it may be easily conceived, if the body of a coach was conveyed through the streets of London on a sledge, that the least irregularity in the surface of the pavement, would render it liable to be overset. It will not appear surprising that the man who guides the horse, should walk by the side of the vehicle, to prevent any such accident: and if, from the pavement not being level, the carriage should incline towards him, he keeps it up with his shoulders; if, on the other hand, it inclines the contrary side, there is a rope fastened to the edge of the top of the coach, which he pulls towards him with all his might, to prevent the carriage from oversetting on the other side. This carriage is drawn with ropes by one horse; the driver has a bucket of water fastened to the sledge, and a mop with which he is continually wetting it; but as,
Marshal
observes, these carriages are getting very much into disuse. They are however, the only public vehicles to be met with in that city, which are to be hired by the hour. It may be supposed the prices of such carriages cannot be very extravagant. There are carriages on wheels to be hired, but their prices are extravagant; and the permission of the burgomasters must be previously obtained.
The government of this city is vested in about ninety persons, who are elected from amongst the burghers. Of these, thirty-six compose the council, who represent the whole body of the people, and are invested with supreme power.
Respecting trade, this is the grand emporium, not only of the United Provinces, but the centre of all the commerce of Europe. For a general correspondence, it much exceeds London; but the gross amount of the trade of London, far exceeds that of Amsterdam. Two thousand sail of ships annually enter this port, which must form a vast commerce; the different branches of which shall be treated of hereafter.
There are some very good collections of natural history, drawings, paintings, and medals, in this city; which those who are
amateurs
generally go to view, and which the possessors are always prepared to shew. There is, in particular, a very fine collection of pictures, by the celebrated Mr.
Hope,
of Amsterdam, which all strangers of any rank never fail of going to see; this gentleman is of Scotch extraction, a descendant of the
Hopeton
family, and supposed to be one of the richest and most extensive merchants in the whole world. The compliment paid to him on the change at Amsterdam, is so great, that it is never supposed to begin till he comes.
The price of living in Amsterdam, for a stranger at a middling
aubérge,
is nearly as follows: a florin or guilder a day, that is 20d. for the chamber; breakfast with tea as in England, costs ten stivers or ten-pence; the dinner, with a pint of wine, thirty stivers or half a crown; supper the same.
The beds consist of four or five mattresses, with a very broad down-bolster, instead of pillow, generally fitted into the side of a room, like the cabin-bed of a ship, with a rope hanging down from the top to catch hold of, in order to lift one's self up, when we wish to rise. Comfort and convenience seem here to be studied; but on account of a number of the mattresses, they are four or five feet high from the floor; and a young couple, on their wedding night, unless their blood is truly Dutch, would run the hazard of breaking their necks; in truth, they are fit only for the most sober sleepers. Some have side-boards to prevent the cloaths falling off, and the sleeper falling out.
Marshal
gives a very different account of the expences incident to a stranger at Amsterdam for his diet and lodging; but then it should be recollected that he was an Englishman, and the writer from whom the above extract was made, a Frenchman. I was very fortunate in my quarters at Amsterdam, says
Marshal,
being recommended to a private family in trade, for lodgings. I dined for some days either at an ordinary, where I paid to the amount of ten shillings for my dinner, or at some merchants houses to whom I was recommended: but afterwards I boarded with the family, who lived much better than I should have supposed any people would do, who let lodgings. Their dinners were excellent, and dressed in the French style: but I paid, says he, twenty florins a-week for my lodgings, and seventeen more for my board, servant included. This would be thought very dear in London, he adds; but owing to the difference of custom in the two cities, board and handsome lodgings is not to be had in Amsterdam for any price.
Coffee-houses are to be met with in this city, the same as in London; but their internal appearance is very shabby. Different foreign papers are to be met with in them, but not upon that extensive scale as in London. In most of them smoaking is permitted, which renders the smell of them at all times rather offensive; they are much frequented by the middling class of Germans, and Frenchmen, who are everlastingly discussing the politics of Europe, with a self-sufficiency and volubility of speech, that is almost incredible.
The spill-houses must not be omitted, which are a very singular establishment of the kind, and not to be met with in any other town in Europe. These are public-houses licensed by the state, for the reception of girls of the town: both the girls who enter these houses, and the persons who are the owners, pay a tax to the state. To these places people of character resort openly, without fear or shame. There is as little scandal in being seen in one of them, as being seen at a play-house, or any other place of amusement; the entertainments of these houses are music and dancing: the nymphs of this place, who are not engaged in dancing with their paramours, are seated round the room; and every stranger goes and talks to them if they are not previously engaged, as long as be thinks proper; and generally offers them wine and other refreshments, as he would to persons he mixed with at an assembly. They dance minuets and mattelots; and every man who takes out a girl to dance, pays sixpence to the music. If any one chuses to retire with them, there are small rooms adjoining, furnished with a bed and other conveniences; and if a man withdraws with his mistress, he returns with her into the room; and no more notice is taken of him, than if he had only gone out to speak to a friend. Though the establishment of these houses was well meant, they are seldom frequented but by sailors and the lower class of men and women; the girls are generally dirty, painted and patched. The States are of opinion, that if they did not indulge the people in this particular, they should never be able to keep their wives and daughters chaste; and therefore of two evils they chuse the least.
The houses in general are old fashioned, and built, as we have observed, with pediment tops; and those streets through which there is no canal, are narrow. One very singular circumstance has been remarked by travellers in these narrow streets, that most of the houses stand out of the perpendicular, and incline forward; and this happens not only with many of the houses, but even with the churches; several of the steeples of which may be observed far from upright. There are people in Holland who will engage under a heavy penalty, on being well compensated, to set the steeples as erect, as when they were first built. The method they take is very simple; it is merely to dig under the foundation of the opposite side of the building, which never fails to restore it to its perpendicular.
PLAN
of the CITY of
ROTTERDAM
Rotterdam next to Amsterdam, is the most considerable town in Holland for largeness, beauty of its buildings, trade, and riches; it is situated at the confluence of the rivers Rotter and Maese. It has its name from the former of these rivers which runs into it on the north-west side, and dam, signifying in Dutch, a fence against the waters. This city, says
Marshal,
is second to Amsterdam alone, and comes nearer to that famous emporium of trade, than any port in England does to London. The Maese here is a very noble river, and canals are cut from it through every part of the city, which are so deep and broad, that ships of above 300 tons, load and unload directly into the quays and warehouses on the banks, as smaller vessels do at Amsterdam. The sides of many of the canals are planted with tall trees, which united with the masts and flags of the shipping, and the houses, form a very pleasing spectacle.
Rotterdam has greatly the advantage of Amsterdam, for convenience of commerce. Ships of large burthen cannot go up to Amsterdam without unloading; but they may here come close to the merchants houses. In winter both the Maese and the Texel are frozen up; but in the Maese the passage is open much sooner, which is a great advantage in trade; insomuch, that 300 sail of British ships have been seen sailing out of this harbour at once, when not a ship in the Texel has been able to move. Add to this, that the country about Rotterdam is far more pleasant, the air more healthy, and the water better; but the other being the seat of government, counterbalances all these advantages, and gives it infinitely a greater trade.
Nine-tenths of the British trade with the United Provinces centre at this place, which is owing to the advantage of its situation; many ship-loads of goods consigned for Amsterdam, are sent hither, and go by canals to that city: several hundred sail of British vessels are sometimes in this harbour at a time. There is also a considerable share of the East-India trade carried on here, with very great magazines of their goods; and a glass manufactory, which works only for the East-India ships. I saw in it, says
Marshal,
a vast quantity of toys done in enamel, bowls, cups, saucers, plates, figures, &c. many of which were in a grotesque style, and well executed: these, they told me, met with a ready sale in the islands depending on the Dutch empire in those regions.
Several of the streets are very spacious and well built; Heeren street is the finest; the houses are built of hewn stones, but the Boompies is more agreeable, lying along the Maese, the length more than half a mile; it seems like a vast quay; on one side is a row of lofty elms, skirted by the river, which is sometimes full of ships, and on the other, the street is bounded by very large and well-built houses. The best company in the city come here to walk in an evening. There are only four churches in this city of the established religion, and none of them worth notice; but there is a large English chapel, where the service of the church of England is performed by an English clergyman, presented to it by the bishop of London. The income about 100l. a-year. The Exchange is a very large and massive building, which gives a good idea of the place.
In the houses belonging to the merchants, both of this city as well as of Amsterdam, all the best apartments are on the second floor; the ground floors are used for offices. On the first-floors the families live; on the second story are the best rooms, and the garrets or upper stories serve for warehouses; and as there are goods perpetually craning up into some or other of the warehouses, it is not a little dangerous to walk along the streets of either of these cities. In general they do not crane their goods up as in England by a wheel fixed in the warehouse; but draw them by a horse, whose harness is fixed to a rope wnich runs through the pulley of the crane; and thus running a considerable length along the street, draws up the goods.
Some of the merchants houses are very magnificent both here and at Amsterdam; for 6000l. sterling is no price for a good house; and they pride themselves in old-fashioned furniture. The rooms are lined with oil-cloth, some painted similar to our paper hangings, and some with ordinary landscapes; a glass lustre generally hangs in their best room, and Turkey carpets cover them, often of such dimensions as to be worth from thirty to a hundred pounds. The rooms dado high, are lined with wainscot, and some with white marble; this with the oil-skin hangings renders them easy to be washed; the maids are cleaning these and the windows of the house every day of the week; the curtains and bed-furniture are always taken down and washed, when the least soiled; and of course though a Dutch house may be damp, it is remarkably clean and well kept.
This city is very famous for having given birth to
Erosmus.
Little as the Dutch affect to admire literature, they one and all shew the house in which he was born, with a kind of ostentation. On the great bridge is a tolerable statue of him in brass; he is represented with a flowing gown, a cap on his head, and a large folio book in his hand, wide open; the pedestal is of marble inclosed with iron rails; the expression, says
Marshal,
is nothing remarkable; and in that particular we perfectly agree with him. Among Dutchmen,
Erasmus
might be a very learned man; but among learned men, we apprehend him to have been, at the best but a second-rate genius. There is nothing elevated or sublime in his writings, and those compositions of his which are in most request, are eminently characteristic of the genius of the country-buffoonery and low humour.
All sorts of provisions are very dear at this place, where fish is far from cheap; the Dutch are amazingly industrious, and the lower class very frugal; was that not the case, it would be impossible for them to live. Were the poor at Rotterdam to squander away as much money in drink, as they do in the great trading towns of England, they would starve: this may be easily conceived, says
Marshal,
when I inform my readers, that during my stay here, bread was never less than twopence half-penny a pound, and that I could not live decently with one servant at the inn, for less than twenty florins a day, which is one pound thirteen shillings and four-pence; this, says he, is certainly as dear as in England. Wine, he adds, is cheaper than in England, but they have a great deal that is very bad. The red wine that is generally met with on the continent out of France, particularly in Flanders, Germany, and Holland is a thick, muddy kind of claret, and considerably stronger; perhaps from a mixture of brandy with it, than genuine claret. This wine is to be had on the continent for about two shillings a bottle, and has a roughness like port. There is only one spill-house in this town.
In the year 1732, the number of taxed houses were estimated at between six and seven thousand, and the inhabitants at between fifty and sixty thousand. The regency is composed of twenty-four counsellors, and a court of justice, consisting of a chief judge, four burgomasters and seven aldermen.
Dort is an inconsiderable town compared with Amsterdam and Rotterdam, yet its deputies rank first in the assembly of deputies, from the different towns in Holland; whereas the Hague being considered only as a village, sends no deputies to the states of Holland. However, the Hague, from its being the residence of the Court, the place where the States-general assemble, and the centre of attraction to all foreigners; we shall proceed to treat of it, after having premised one or two particulars respecting the town of Dort, which is the most ancient in the province of Holland, as well as the first in dignity. This is the only town in the province where they have the privilege of coining money. In the year 1619 a famous synod was held in this city for examining the opinion of the Arminians and Calvinists.
THE ESCAPE OF GROTIUS
This town likewise gave birth to the famous
De Witt.
It carries on a considerable commerce in timber and Rhenish wine, by means of the Rhine, which flows by its walls; though not so much as formally. There are at present in it about 18,000 inhabitants. Its situation is naturally so strong, that though it has no fortifications, it was never yet taken. It is an island which was formed in 1421, by a terrible inundation, which destroyed seventy-two villages, in which, says
Busching,
there perished not less than 100,000 persons. It is curious to see the floating rafters come down the Rhine to this place from Cologne, on which there are upwards of three hundred persons.
Brill is about six miles distant from Helvoet, which is the town where passengers always land, who go over in the packet to Holland from Harwich. In this city may be observed the same neatness as is to be met with in all the other cities of Holland. This town and Helvoet-sluys both stand in an island.
Marshal
calls it a poor fishing place. The fortifications give it the repute of being strong; but the finest object is the river Maese at high water, which is near two miles over, and the fight of which, though beautiful to view, has not proved very pleasing to many an English traveller, who perhaps fondly imagined that when he had once got on
terra firma
in Holland, he should no more be obliged to trust himself on that element which brought him there, except along their canals; till he returned back to his native country.
The houses are in general uniform, built of brick, with sharp roofs and pointed fronts. What renders this city very famous in Holland is, that the Count
de la Marc
seized upon it with his
gueuses
or beggars in 1572, and by his brave example drew the other towns of the Netherlands into a general revolt.
Hague is a most beautiful place, says
Busching,
situated in a very delightful country, without either gates or walls. It is surrounded however by a moat which is passed over at the entrance of the town by draw-bridges.
Its environs are exceedingly pleasant, from being bounded on the east by verdant meadows; on the south by splendid seats; on the west by the sand-hills along the North Sea, on which side there is a straight avenue paved with clinkers, and a two-foot walk for passengers, planted with several rows of trees, leading to the village of Scheveling, about two miles distant; and northward is a delightful wood, in which the Stadtholder has a country seat. This village, the first of its kind in Europe, is the residence of the States-general of the states of Holland, of the courts of justice, and of the foreign ministers. The number of inhabitants are computed at 40,000.
The Hague, says
Marshal,
is a considerable city, though called a village, from the ridiculous reason of its not being walled. It has more of the
rus in urbe,
he adds, than any place he had ever seen. The streets are broad and regular, but few of them without trees; the squares, like ancient Athens, are surrounded with groves; and the numerous gardens, with the surrounding meadows, hardly ever broken in upon by those receptacles of filth, and brick-kilns, which surround London, render it quite rural, and make it delightful to those who admire such views in the midst of a city. Some writers make the number of gardens in this place and its environs to amount to upwards of 4,000, a number one would think scarce credible.
Every city of the United Provinces has a house here for its respective deputies. The old palace of the counts of Holland, at present, belongs to the Stadtholder; and though it was built 500 years ago, the wood work is still sound. In the centre of the area between the buildings of this palace, is the great hall, where the trophies of the republic in their many victories are hung up; but in other respects it has nothing to recommend it. In this palace the states of the United Provinces assemble, and here the foreign ministers have their audience. On the west it opens to a large plain, surrounded with magnificent houses, regularly planted with trees, which have made some travellers draw a comparison between this spot and St. James's park. It is indeed like the Mall in St. James's park, but not a third so long.
The streets of the Hague are extremely well paved with clinkers, that wear an appearance of bricks; the joints are so well closed, that they admit of washing like a house; and the inhabitants seem to vie with each other in this public cleanliness; those of each house keeping that spot clean which is before it, which makes walking in them exceeding pleasant. This spirit of neatness maybe observed at Rotterdam and most other towns in Holland; but the pavements not being so good, the effects are not so very visible as they are here. This great attention in the Dutch however to the keeping of their houses clean, seems rather on the decline: there being many houses in England kept to the full as clean as any in Holland. But this extends only to the better ranks of people. For among the lower class, there is no comparison between the two nations. A Dutch cottage, or the house of an inferior tradesman, is kept as clean as possible, though there be ever so many children in it; but in England such habitations are too often the residence of filth and nastiness. We have a female character, says
Marshal,
amongst us who is called a daudle, but such a being is not known in Holland.
There is one article which is found great fault with by strangers at the Hague, and that is the expence of fuel. A fire of wood will cost as much as seven fires in London; and I saw no coal, says
Marshal;
turf is the only firing. This I do not dislike, he adds; its making no smoak, which from sea-coal is offensive to the smell, and from wood prejudicial to the eyes, an advantage much in its favour; besides the most asthmatic person will find no inconvenience to his breath from turf. But as to stoves so much used in this and other northern countries, they are extremely disagreeable: custom might reconcile them; but an English fire far exceeds all these contrivances.
This place appears very different from any other of the Dutch towns; business and making money is all that is going forward at Rotterdam, but at the Hague there is nothing of the kind: to make amends for which, there is as much good company as in any city of Europe. It is the court of the Prince of Orange, consequently all the foreign ministers make it their place of residence; and the meetings of the States-general are ever held in this place: the number of elegant equipages is great, the expensive dresses, the quantity of servants, and the general air of luxury and pleasure, carry a very different appearance from any thing to be met with elsewhere. But though there, are such a number of idle people here who spend very great incomes, yet still the Hague is very badly off for public diversions. The chief place of public amusement here is a French theatre, and this is chiefly supported by the subscriptions of foreign ministers. Operas are indeed occasionally performed when singers are to be had; but where comedies are badly performed, no very sanguine expectations will be entertained of any great degree of excellence in their operas. Concerts they have very often, but the best are at private houses.
The public buildings at the Hague make no figure; the houses; the form of the streets and squares, are in general infinitely superior; some of these indeed appear very magnificent. The palace, as they call it, has several courts, but it is a very antiquated building. Nor is that which belonged to prince
Maurice
of Nassau, and where the council of war now assemble, in the least remarkable. Notwithstanding this place is so extremely populous, there are but two churches in it. One of them is of a circular figure without pillars, a mode of building which the Dutch seem to admire.
The Voohout is the Dutch Mall, and is about as broad as that of St. James's. It was planted by the Emperor
Charles
V.; there are three alleys for carriages, and the buildings opposite to it make a good appearance; but what is very singular, instead of gravel, they have laid it with cockle-shells, which are very unpleasant to walk upon. This, says
Marshal,
is very strange, as gravel might be had from us at no great expence. Sand is the general substitute in Holland, which takes off very much from the beauty of their gardens and public walks. This Mall is however as much deserted as our Ring.
The Prince Graft is a very noble street, near half a mile long, of a a fine breadth, and as straight as an arrow; a spacious canal, planted on both sides, runs along the middle of it, with several stone bridges having iron ballustrades, over it; the houses, especially those on one side, make a very grand appearance, and the whole in short is very ornamental to the Hague. But this street is a strong proof that planting of trees has not an effect equal to a fine range of buildings unaccompanied by them. A canal cut through a very wide street, and faced with stone, agrees extremely well with the regularity of the houses, and is an additional beauty to them, but trees are no ornament here.
When, we said there was no commerce carried on in this place, we should have excepted one article, and that the most liberal of all other articles of commerce, namely the commerce of books. This is the great mart for literature, particularly French, of all Holland, if not of all Europe. Great quantities of books in quires are exported from hence all over Germany, as well as to England and France. The Dutch editions of French books are in general in more esteem than the French, as being printed better, and on a better paper, and what is more material than all, more carefully revised, and therefore freer from the errors of the press than the same works printed in other countries. What is it that stamps such a value on the
Elzevir
editions at this present time, particularly the editions of the classics, but that they are not only very neatly but also very correctly printed; so that scarce a single error of the press is to be found by the most discerning eye, throughout any of their works?
This town, considerable as it is, never had a voice among the six in the senate, nor among the twelve that have been added since, though Purmerend and Schiedam, two inconsiderable places, have votes, for which no other reason can be assigned than that the Hague was always considered as a village, though the most beautiful and largest in the world.
Tacitus
mentions some groves here in which
Claudius Civilis
assembled the people, and made an harangue to them.
Guicciardini
has likewise taken notice of some ancient sculptures and other things relating to
Adrian, Antoninus, Septimus Severus,
and other Roman emperors. Whilst Holland was under the Spanish jurisdiction, the treasury and other public offices were here kept. The air of this place is said to be very wholesome. Sir
William Temple
attributes longer life to the inhabitants of this village, than to those of any other place in Holland.
Near the Hague are two or three other places which attract the attention of strangers; the first is Scheveling, the road to which through the sand-banks is curious. This is a pleasant little village about two miles from the Hague, on the sea-cost. The road to it is paved, as we have already observed, and shaded with double rows of lime trees and benches at different distances to sit down upon. To this place people go to eat fish, fresh caught, and admire the beauty of the prospect, as people in London occasionally make parties of pleasure to Greenwich and Blackwall to eat while-bait. This coast is likewise very well worth seeing, to remark the attention of the Dutch in keeping up their banks, to prevent the depredations of the sea upon their country.
On this beach, which is very flat and regular, the famous sailing chariot of
Stevinus
was made trial of, furnished both with wheels and sails, which carried eight and twenty persons the astonishing distance of forty-two miles in two hours; and once, by an error of the person who had hold of the rudder, was very near sailing into the sea with a full cargo, which was rather more than they had bargained for.
The great success of this sailing machine has produced many imitators in different parts of Europe; and a hundred schemes for conducting not only carriages but carts and waggons, and even ploughs by the wind have been attempted. Something useful, says
Marshal,
might probably be invented, but mathematicians wanting money for these experiments, none of their visionary schemes have hitherto been carried in practice.
In summer, people come down here to bathe; but what is most singular is, that the daughters of the fishermen take care of their cloaths while they are bathing, and furnish them with cloaths, help to wipe them dry when they come out of the water, without its being thought any scandal on either side; such is the power of custom. Scheveling has already suffered so much from the encroachments of the sea that the church which was once situated in the centre of the village, is now almost by the sea-side.
At the small distance of a pleasant walk from the Hague, is the house in the wood belonging to the Prince of
Orange,
which in Holland is an object of curiosity; but there is nothing in it that will strike an Englishman accustomed to English gardens. In the palace there is a fine saloon with a cupola, and it is richly ornamented with some very capital paintings by
Rubens, Vanderveldt, Varelst,
and
Schuyr.
The family of the
Bentincks
have also some very fine gardens in the Dutch taste near this place, known by the name of the Portland gardens, which they keep open at all times for the accommodation of strangers, and of the public at large; and these are almost the only gardens which are thus publicly open. The eye here is agreeably amused by a diversity of objects to take off from the tediousness of the long alleys in the Dutch gardens, (which are here, as in other places, covered with sand, carried on in a straight line, and intersected every instant by other similar straight walks) for there is a fine orangery, a grotto, a jet d'eau, a grove, terraces, mounts, parterres, a lake, and a menagery.
Ryswich is another village near the Hague, which most strangers visit, not only to view the palace of the Prince of
Orange,
but as remarkable from its being the spot in which a treaty of peace was concluded in 1697 between England, Germany, Holland, France, and Spain. The palace is the only building of free stone in the Seven United Provinces: it is strongly envelloped in wood, which darkens every room; this passion of crouding all their houses with trees and wood is unaccountable in the Dutch. In a hilly bleak country, where wind and plenty of air were evils, one would naturally look for this taste; but in a dead flat, where the air is apt to stagnate, as well as the water, it is preposterous. There is nothing in the palace worthy of observation, but a few good pictures. In the state chamber, is an echo which repeats distinctly at one end of room whatever is said in a whisper at the other, without those who are in the middle being able to comprehend a syllable that is said.
At Honslaerdyck there is another palace belonging to the Prince, about a mile from the sea, in which there is a gallery of fine pictures, by the first masters in the Flemish school, among which are a Charles the first, by
Vandyke,
a Madona by him, with a Venus, by
Rubens.
This house is considered to be superior to some of the famous palaces in Italy. From the back part there is a delightful prospect through a pleasant grove, and some regular plantations of ever-greens, which form a square of half a mile from each angle to the centre: beyond this place is an aviary for exotic birds, and a menagery for wild beasts. The lower rooms of this place have no peculiar ornament, except being neatly paved with marble, after the Dutch fashion; but the room up stairs are magnificent, and the two galleries very curious. The princess's closet is ornamented all round with exquisite japan-work.
To give some idea, before we entirely quit the Hague, of what may be the expences to a man of fashion, during a short stay in this seat of Dutch gaiety and splendor, we shall extract what
Marshal
says on that subject. With respect to an ordinary traveller, they may be brought within a compass nearly similar to what we stated as the usual routine of expences for strangers unincumbered with carriages and servants at Amsterdam.
I was, says he, at the
Parlément d'Angleterre,
which was the hotel that all persons of any rank went to. I found it fully answerable to the character I had received of it; for although I was moderate in my bill of fare, yet I could not come off for less than two regular courses, and several sorts of excellent wines; indeed, it was to little purpose to be explicit in giving orders about my meals, for I was served with a variety whether I chose it or not. The expences upon an average were about two guineas aday; but I entertained, says he, some persons of character to whom I had letters of recommendation. There is no satisfaction, he adds, in travelling expensively, especially in eating and drinking, and such money is better expended in purchasing the rarities or peculiar productions of the country, than in squandering away large sums at inns. These circumstances he mentions as a hint to other travellers, that may consider and lay their plan before-hand: for, by not taking private lodgings, and by making a longer stay than he intended, his expences were very heavy.
Those who make the tour of Holland from the Hague, proceed thither by the way of Delft or Rotterdam, the latter of which cities we have noticed; or else take their route by Leyden, Haerlem, Amsterdam and Utrecht, and so take Rotterdam on their return. These are the principal and most populous cities in Holland, or rather in the Dutch Netherlands;—Utrecht not being in the province of Holland, though all the rest are.
Delft lyes in the road between the Hague and Rotterdam, about six miles from the Hague. This is an agreeable place, pleasantly situated among the meadows; the streets are spacious, and canals running through them planted with trees. It is about half the size of Norwich. The principal object in it is the manufactory of earthen ware, and hence called Delft. Their porcelain employs at present about 4,000 people, men, women and children; the manufacture was once so flourishing as to employ more than 7,000, but the setting up of a fabric of white stone-ware in England was very prejudicial to it; though not near so much as the Staffordshire cream-coloured ware; this has rivalled the Delft manufactory, not only in the British consumption, but even in their own city, to such a degree, as to have induced the principal manufacturers to make application more than once for a prohibition of it: this has not yet been granted; but very high duties have been laid on it; and the use of it still continuing, they are attempting to rival us in the same manufacture, but hitherto without success.
Brewing is also a trade in which the people of Delft are very much engaged, and which succeeds very well: there was formerly a very considerable cloth-manufactory here, but rival manufactories in France establisted in the time of
Louis
XIV. have brought it to a low ebb.
There are but two churches in this city, in one of which is the tomb of
Prince William
I. of Orange, the founder of the republic, who was treacherously shot in his palace here by an assassin in 1584. The place and hole in the wainscot through which the balls passed are still shewn. A most noble mausoleum has been erected here to his memory, at the expence of the states-general. There are two statues of him, one of marble, reposing on his tomb, which is supported by twenty-two pillars of black marble, and another of brass standing near it. On the top is Fame sounding her trumpet, with this motto
Te vindice, tuta libertas.
Under your auspices shall freedom flourish. At his feet lyes his little dog, which is said to have pined away, and died with grief for the loss of his master,
(see the plate.)
—This church is now the burial place of the Princes of Orange. The ashes of the celebrated
Grotius
are likewise reposed here. Surely this man merited a statue of brass in the great square of Rotterdam, much more than
Erasmus.
Possibly his works containing more sound and deep learning, with less buffoonry than those of the other, were above the comprehension of Dutchmen. In the other church is a stately marble monument to the famous admiral
Van Tromp.
This city is likewise said to have given birth to the celebrated
Heinsius.
In the hotel-de-ville, a fine gothic building, is a machine in the form of a clog, which used to be put about the neck of persons convicted of adultery.
The commerce of this place, as has been already remarked, is not so considerable as formerly, and it is now the retreat of wealthy merchants; who have probably been induced to come here from its centrical situation, the salubrity of the air, its vicinity to the sea, the continued verdure with which it is on every side surrounded, and its being a large, clean and quiet town, unaccompanied with noise and bustle.
About as far to the south of the Hague as Delft is to the north, or something more, lyes the city of Leyden, esteemed the largest and finest town in Holland, next to Amsterdam. It is seated in a country full of gardens and meadows, and surrounded with a great number of ditches and canals, near the ancient bed of the Rhine, which now looks like a canal. It is about four miles in circumference, and its ditches are bordered with rows of trees. This town is unquestionably one of the neatest and pleasantest in the Low Countries; and though it may be going too far to say, it is the largest town in Holland next to Amsterdam; yet Rotterdam is the only town besides, that comes in competition with it. The buildings are beautiful and magnificent, the streets spacious and very clean, with canals in the middle of many of them, the sides of which are planted with rows of trees. The Rapenburg street is a very noble one; and, as the inhabitants suppose, the finest in Europe. The great church is a vast building, but most remarkable for being the burial place of the great
Boerhaave.
The inscription on his monument is simple and noble.
Salutifero Boerhaavii genio sacrum.
"Sacred to the health-restoring genius of
Boerhaave."
Had not the family of this illustrious Hollander been rich enough to pay this tribute to his memory, there would be nothing here to shew that this town had the greatest physician that ever lived since
Hippocrates.
If a naval officer distinguishes himself ever so little, he is honoured with a public funeral; but those who contribute to enlighten the human mind by deep researches, go unnoticed. In the church of St. Mary there is a monument of
Joseph Scaliger,
and another of
Elusius
the herbalist.—The stadthouse presents nothing worthy of observation, but a picture by
Luke
of Leyden, of the last judgement. It is said, this is the first painter who had any idea of perspective. He died in 1533.
But what has rendered this city famous all over Europe, is its university. It undoubtedly has produced many great and very able men, But this, like their commerce, appears on the deline. Whoever expects to see magnificent colleges, or pompous heads of houses, will here be miserably disappointed.
They have only two colleges, in the nature of hospitals, for the support of poor scholars, the rest of the students living at their own expence; they wear no gowns or caps, but walk about the streets with their swords on, and appear in the schools and perform their exercises with them on, and their heads uncovered. Those who wish to be members of the university apply to the
Rector Magnificus,
corresponding with our vice-chancellor, who enters their name in the university book; for which half-a-crown or five shillings is paid, which entitles the student to a certain quantity of wine and beer without paying excise.
Besides the public lecture, the professors allot certain hours for reading private ones; these last about three months, for which the scholars pay forty or fifty guilders, though they seldom are much superior to the lectures of our private tutors. They commonly dictate in Latin, which is oftentimes not less obscure than the subject of the lecture.
Degrees are not regulated here either by time or merit; if the student can make a
thesis,
and pay his fees, he may be admitted. His
thesis
he is,
pro formâ,
obliged to maintain in the school against any opponent. The degrees of doctor and masters of arts are the only ones in use among them; that of batchelor being not known here. The graduates give public entertainments, and publish their
theses.
The professors of the several faculties publish their
series lectionum,
containing the times when, and the subjects upon which they are to read in public. Some of them have two hundred, others three hundred per annum.
The schools consist of a large pile of brick buildings, in the uppermost rooms of which the famous
Elzevir
had his printing office. They have a library said to contain some curious manuscripts; but neither their library, their physic-garden, nor their collection of natural history, presents any thing very interesting to the generality of travellers, of all which they seem to make great boast in Holland. It was a remark of the late Doctor
Johnson,
that some judgment might be formed of the state of literature in any town, from the booksellers shops. If this criterion holds good with respect to Leyden, literature will appear at a very low ebb there; the collection of books to be met with in that city being in general but very indifferent, and mostly confined to medical subjects. This university is the oldest in the United Netherlands; and was founded by
William
I. Prince of Orange.
As this city seems to be on the decline in its literature, so it is in its woollen manufactures (the staple commodity of this city,) and which were formerly much more considerable than at present. The workmen consist of several nations, particularly French. Their fabrics employ at present several thousand men, women and children; chiesly making broad and narrow cloths, serges and camlets; but they are inferior, says
Marshal,
to the finest cloths of the same kind in England. Their camlets and rattines, however, are greatly superior to those made at Brussels, which always have been held in high estimation; and there are two colours to which they are supposed to give a superior dye, to any other country whatever—black, and particularly blue. The French are supposed to equal them in their black, but the Leyden blue stands as yet unrivalled every where. Their cloths they export to Spain, Turkey, and the East-Indies; in which countries they have the preference over ours; not from their being better in quality, but from their being cheaper. Among other reasons assigned for their trade being on the decline, one is, that the princes in Germany, who formerly cloathed their armies entirely with Dutch cloth, have lately supplied themselves from manufactures of their own, which they had established.
A great trade is carried on here in garden-stuff, which is in such esteem as to be carried as far as Amsterdam, to supply the markets there. Their gardens are said to produce four or five crops every year; and it is further said, that an acre of garden ground is worth two hundred and fifty pounds, purchase-money; and arable, two hundred pounds, and an acre of meadow land, an hundred and forty pounds.
This city likewise is famous for being the birthplace of
John
of
Leyden,
who in 1534, set up to be a king; his followers were a kind of anabaptists, who committed many outrages; but the following year they were punished for their rashness and rebellion; and
John
himself was broken upon the wheel. This
John
of Leyden was a taylor, and in the hall where the taylors meet, is shewn the board, which he used to cut out his cloth.
Not far from this place, at the village called Cathwich, near the sea, are the ruins of an ancient fortress, known by the name of
Arx Britannica,
which being built by
Cabjala,
and afterwards destroyed by the Normans, was at last overwhelmed by the sea; yet not so much, but that at certain times when the sea is very low, its ruins are plainly to be seen; and some antiquities have been found with this inscription,
Ex. Ger. Inf. Ex Germania Inferiori.
From Lower Germany.
The only remaining city to be noticed in this province, is Haerlem, fifteen miles distant from Leyden, and nine from Amsterdam; with which two cities it enjoys a communication, by means of two spacious canals. The views of the country between Leyden and Haerlem, are by no means unpleasant, though there is a range of vast turf pits, and the lake of Haerlem on one side; but the other is much diversified with meadows, fed principally with black, cattle. The lake is twelve miles long, and three broad, lying between Amsterdam, Leyden, and Haerlem; there is a very considerable commerce on it, so that it is finely spread with sails. This lake yields great quantities of fish. It is surprising that little jealousies between the three great cities near this river, should prevent their agreeing, in a work so very advantageous to the country, as draining and converting this lake into a rich meadow would be. The water is in no places more than eight feet deep, and all of it could be conveyed away at a small expence, and the whole space kept perfectly dry. The Dutch all agree that it is practicable; but three cities above-mentioned, cannot agree together about doing it.
Haerlem, like other Dutch cities, has a show of fortifications, but there are none that could hold out any siege. The streets are wide and straight, but the houses have nothing in them to attract notice. There are many canals here: as to the number of inhabitants, they are reckoned at fifty thousand. The principal church is a very fine structure; it has three organs, one of which is so celebrated, that it is usual for persons of fashion and fond of music, to pay a ducat, the established fee, to hear a few airs played upon it. And they shew in this church some cannon balls, that are now sticking in the walls, which were shot into it by the Spaniards during the time of divine service, in the famous siege of 1572. In the roof are hung up the models of two vessels with saws to their keel, which were sent by the people of Haerlem, to the siege of Damiette, on the confines of Egypt, to cut the chain which stopped the navigation up the Nile; by effecting which they delivered one of their counts of Holland, who was kept prisoner there, under the reign of
Barbarossa.
In memory of this extraordinary action, the young men of this town celebrate the first of January, and carry little boats about, shaped like the ships in the church; they boast that
Barbarossa,
in consideration of the signal services done by the people of Haerlem in the holy war, added the sword to the arms of this city, and the Partriarch of Jerusalem bestowed the cross upon it.
Haerlem likewise boasts the invention of printing by one
Laurence Coster,
who, as
Guicciardini
says, walking one day in one of the groves, of which they have several about this place, cut some letters from the bark he had peeled from the trees, and stamping them, inverted on a piece of paper; he found them to come right; then rubbing them over with ink, it produced something like a letter, though somewhat blotted; however being encouraged by this rough draught, he cut regular letters on better materials, which being dipped into a more glutinous ink, by repeated improvements, he brought it at last to perfection. They say, one of his servants robbed him of all his instruments, and went with them to Mayence, or Mentz, which is the reason that city disputes this invention with Haerlem. His picture with the letter A in his hand, and drawn with a furred gown, is to be seen in the Prince's garden. They likewise shew a piece of
Coster
's first printing, the impressions only on one side, as they used to print their first originals.
The gardens of this city merit much being seen: they are all almost in the Fauxbourgs. It is the hyacinths which are now the prevailing flowers; formerly the preference was given to the tulip. Though the price of the roots is very much diminished, some at present will sell for a hundred florins a root; formerly five hundred pounds have been given for a single root of yellow hyacinth, but this was before they were general, fancy alone constituting the great distinction between them. Next to the hyacinth, they value most the tulip: next, the anemony, then the narcissus, and then the auricula: other choice flowers, which some nations pride themselves in, are here in no esteem. The bulbous flowers are exported all over Europe.
The objects most worthy of notice in this neighbourhood, are the manufactures of the bleach-ground; the principal trade is bleaching linen; large quantities that have been made in other provinces, in Flanders, and in Silesia, are brought to Haerlem, to be bleached: whole ship-loads have even been brought here, from Scotland and Ireland, for the same purpose. It is the quality of the water alone, which bleaches the linen in this place, so much better than in any other. Repeated trials have been made in Scotland and Ireland, where Dutch bleachers have been employed, without their having the same success. Let it be remembered, however, that the whiter any cloth is made, so much the less time it will wear; this extraordinary fine bleaching should therefore be confined to such cloths, as are intended for the use of the rich. The charge of freight to and from Scotland, with the price of bleaching, amounts to about tenpence a yard, which would be a very great addition in the price of any but very fine linens.
Besides this branch of trade, there are several considerable manufactures, particularly of velvet, damasks, satins, silk stuffs of various sorts; thread, tape, &c. In all which a great number of hands are employed; and I was here told, says
Marshal,
that their fabrics had been increasing for some years, but that their bleaching trade was on the decline.
Weavers, upon an average, will earn here, near half-a-guinea a week. From different accounts of the number of hands employed in all the manufactures, it appears there are from thirty, to upwards of forty thousand; but there are many of them employed by some very considerable breweries, which work for exportation.
In all this part of the province of Holland, scarce any arable land is to be seen: their meadow land is very rich, and will let from forty shillings, to six pounds an English acre. This land is principally applied to the feeding of cows, which are of a very large breed; in the management of them, the peasants are remarkably attentive; they keep them clothed all the winter, and as clean as an English gentleman would a stable of hunters. This is not effected by the means of litter, for they use none. A trench of stone or brick, is made in the floor of the cow-room, in such a manner that the dung may fall directly into it, and which being swept away with the dirt of the rest of the house, forms a good compost; and a saving of straw in a part of the country where there is no arable land, is an object of no small importance. They besides, dress and rub down their cows, as we do our horses, which they think will make them give the more milk; they likewise keep their cow-houses as warm as possible, and stop every crevice, till the breath of the beasts makes the whole place perfectly warm. This is a strange custom, and appears contrary to nature; but they carry this notion so far of keeping their cows warm, that they even put cloths over their loins, whilst they are feeding in the fields in summer.
These pastures are likewise fed by large herds of black cattle, which the Dutch drivers purchase in Holstein and Denmark, for forty or fifty shillings ahead, and sell to the farmers here for three or four pounds; and it is observable that their meadows are so rich, that some of the beasts will be fattened in six weeks time. The butchers buy them fat from five to nine pounds a-head: and as an English acre will fatten three, the farmer makes from three to six pounds an acre, for only part of the year.
It is asserted the flesh of their oxen is not so firm, nor their hides so capable of making good leather, as those of English cattle: this is owing to the luxuriance of the food, puffing them up in so short a time, rather than giving them that solid fat, which six or eight months effect in England; it is accordingly observed, that though some of these beasts are as large as the English ones, yet they will not equal them in weight.
As the Dutch eat very little fresh beef, the greatest part is salted for the shipping, or dried and smoaked in a peculiar manner for hung beef, which they send all over Europe.
Land in the neighbourhood of Leyden, sells dearer than in any other part of Europe, when applied to cultivation, and not to building on. Arable land, as has been observed before, will fetch 200l. an acre: and garden ground from 250 to even 300; the products they yield being highly valued by the Gourmands at Amsterdam.
The gardeners are very skilful in cropping their lands continually, on the plan now pursued in the gardens round London; where this art is carried to as high perfection as in any quarter of the globe.
The general fertility the country is owing to the soil, and to its being so well watered; for from the general flatness of the whole country, its vicinity to the sea, and its numerous rivers, this country is evidently a drained marsh or bog; it being all either a fat marly loam, mud, or a turf bog: these are rich soils, and with the advantage of cattle, and having always water to have recourse to, which the Dutch boors esteem a matter of great consequence both to fattening cattle, and making them give large quantities of milk; they produce the wonders that are seen in this country. Much therefore is owing to the number of canals and rivers that intersect the meadows; and probably to their overflowing large tracks of land in winter, and leaving behind advantages, it may be presumed parallel to those which are left by the Nile.
Among the rivers it is very well known, that the Rhine is very inconsiderable. At Leyden an insignificant canal is shewn which is the real Rhine. The glory of other rivers increases proportionably to the length of their course; but this dwindles to nothing, and is utterly lost before it comes to its harbour.
The cause of the Rhine's fate was an earthquake, which shook the Downs in the ninth century, and filling the mouth of this river, forced it to return and seek a new passage. The river Seck was then scarce worth notice; but the waters of the Rhine which were driven back and overflowed the country; swelled and deepened the Leek's channel, and the entrance of the sea has been ever since shut up, against the ancient course of the Rhine.
Thus, this poor river which runs such hazards in the lake of Constance, and throws itself down a precipice near Schaff hausen, loses at length its reputation, and waters, at the village of Caturik.
Before we quit the neighbourhood of the Hague, and Leyden, which are reckoned the politest places in all the provinces, and the most learned; one being the seat of government, and residence of the foreign ministers, and the other an university and the seat of sciences, and literature; we will beg leave to offer some few remarks on the character of the people in this part of the United Netherlands.
Among the lower classes of people, there is a very great national resemblance throughout all the provinces; but among the better sort, who support themselves without trade, and who have travelled, these are all more or less French. They speak that language only, they dress in the French taste, eat in like manner, and give themselves (particularly young men of any fashion in Holland) the same airs, as if they aped French liveliness and vivacity. People of this description are not uncommon at the Hague; this place not being supported by trade, but rather the residence of idleness than industry; and being full of foreigners, it may account for this motley appearance of characters, which we find in the inhabitants of that city. It is likewise worth remarking, that there is something of the character of a Frenchified Dutchman to be observed at Leyden, though not so much as at the Hague, But at Rotterdam there is a visible difference. This plainly shews that the characters and manners of the people are very much formed, by their close adhering to or neglecting business. A Dutch Burgomaster, or principal freeman, dresses in a formal suit of black, and his lady in a hoop every way shaped like a bell, with a laced coif, worth 100l. whilst the daughter shall be tricked out in every French fashion.
At Leyden the University draws a great number of persons who have no views of trade, and who therefore affect the appearance and manners of the inhabitants; but at Rotterdam every individual is deeply engaged in commerce, and therefore exhibits the true Dutch character much more to the life.
An unshaken industry seems to be the strong characteristic features of this city; no application wearies them, no accidents divert them; their whole attention is directed to the raising of wealth; and it is not a little surprising to see the numbers who have attained large fortunes, and yet continue the same anxiety and eagerness after more, without thinking to enjoy what they have already acquired. Their constitutions are cold and phlegmatic to an amazing degree; a sober regular, parsimonious way of life, is habitual to them, and no passion seems to lurk in their bosom that can ruffle them. This, however, cannot be attributed to their love of trade, so much as to their climate.
A Dutchman is as amphibious as a frog, says
Marshal;
half their country is water, and half their time is spent upon it. The vapours which arise from the quantity of water with which they are surrounded, and from a soil which is low, moist, and boggy, must necessarily affect the mind of its inhabitants. What an astonishing contrast between love in Spain or Italy, and love in Holland! Would it not be amazing to tell a Neapolitan
inamorato,
that the height of his fine phrenzy was mere climate; and that if he lived in Holland, he would look upon his mistress with the coldest friendship!
But these characteristics are not general; there are and must be many exceptions. Many of the merchants and manufacturers live genteelly; and though not all in the French style, yet in much ease, plenty, and affluence, while they attend to trade as closely as if no such external marks of riches were to be seen among them. They are fond of indulging in the luxuries of the table, in expensive furniture, and handsome equipages; but as for dress, amusements, and a variety of servants, they are totally indifferent about them.
The true national character, unmixed, must be sought for among the lower class; in them are to be found the same coldness of constitution, with no invigoration than what beer, gin and tobacco give, which they take in great quantities. In them is likewise to be seen a rough boorishness, which is not to be met with in other countries. The very lowest of the people will not pay the least mark of personal respect to the greatest merchant: this is the effect of that equality which flows through a republic, and not mere liberty; for they are governed with three times the severity in this country, that the lower people in England are.
DUTCH LIBERTY.
The lower sort of Dutch have been reproached with being passionate, that they draw their knives on each other, and in their insurrections are very barbarous; but this scarce ever happens but when they are too free in their use of gin.—We will now proceed to North Holland.
CHAP III.
North Holland, or West Friesland.
THIS forms a peninsula; it being almost surrounded by the north and Zuyder seas, and is connected only by an isthmus with South Holland.— They are both under one regency, called the States of Holland and West-Friesland, though the appellation of West-Friesland belongs more properly to the northern part of this country.
There are a great many very high dykes or sandhills in this part of Holland, but the other parts of the country lye very low. It was formerly over-run with washes or marshes, but the persevering inhabitants have drained them, and they are now very fine meadow grounds; though it is necessary to keep up a great number of wind-mills to carry off the waters occasionally, which is attended with considerable expence.
Sardam, the town much visited by strangers, near Amsterdam, though a village, in neatness has not its equal in all Europe, and for the considerable trade that it carries on.
It is the principal place for ship-building in all the provinces; and when the Dutch navy was at the height of its prosperity, was noted for a saying, That if you gave the people six months notice, they could launch a man of war every day in the year.
Here are at present large magazines of timber, masts, yards, cordage, sails, anchors, cannon, and every thing necessary to build, rig and fit out, all sorts of vessels: but this place is not only noted for ship-building; there are a great many manufactures carried on here, particularly of aper; this being the most considerable paper manufactory in all the Netherlands, and employing above six hundred men, besides women and children; the men earn about seven shillings per week, on an average, but some of them get much more. These wages seem to be about equal to those given by the same manufactures in England, but living here is much dearer, which is compensated by the superior frugality and sobriety of the Dutch.
The number of wind-mills at this place is astonishing.
Busching
makes them to be no fewer than twenty-three hundred.
Those for sawing timber to build their ships with, are admirable contrivances; they facilitate the work so much, that it is greatly to be regretted, that they are not imitated in England. Such a saw-mill indeed was erected some years since at Limehouse, but the sawyers who dreaded a loss of employ, arose in a body, and pulled it down.
The Dutch have had them above 140 years, and yet in England they continue using the hand-saw, which is forty times the expence; the reason alledged is, if mills were generally introduced, a great number of sawyers would at once be out of employ; but it is absurd to suppose that such stout and able men as fawyers could remain without work; and the cheapness of the manufactures using mills, would make the consumption so much the greater, that all the hands dependent on them would be increased. This was found to be the case in Holland, and particularly in Sardam; where the erecting saw-mills increased, as appears by authentic registers, the number of ship-wrights, in the proportion of twenty to one.
There are also many mills for grinding wood and colours, such as the dyers use; and likewise a great number of powder-mills, of which there is a large manufactory carried on: all these mills make Sardam a very considerable place, and their structure is so exceedingly curious, that a stranger will find no greater entertainment any where in Holland, or stronger incitements to reflection on the industry of the Dutch, and the great national benefit arising from their frugality, and their ingenious contrivances for lowering the prices of their manufactures, than in this village. This was the place in which the great
Czar Peter
worked as a common ship-wright, and the tools he used to work with, are still shewn. It is about seven miles from Amsterdam.
Near Eidam is a track of country, of more than twenty miles in circumference, called Purmerend, the name of a lake which was here formerly, but which is now entirely drained, and covered with rich meadows. The soil is a rich, black loam, composed, to all appearance, of sand and clay, but more like a slime settled; the grass is admirably rich, but full of weeds, the Dutch having no notion of meadows well-laid out; the luxuriance of the herbage is all that they attend to, in order to have (what is called in England) a great swarth of hay. Yet these meadows let from 40s. to 5l. an acre English.
This fertility shews what is to be expected from drained lakes. There is no instance of this in England; yet the moors in Huntingdon and Cambridgeshire, and the lakes in Scotland, says
Marshal,
would surely admit of this culture. Larger cows and sheep than are to be met with here, are no where to be seen; these cows will give four or five gallons of milk, English measure, in a day; and the cheese and butter made from one of them, amounts to about eight pounds sterling a-year.
This track of land is, on the whole, one of the greatest curosities in the United Provinces. It was drained in the year 1612, and the whole completely finished in four years. The lake contained 10,000 acres, of which 7,000 are now made profitable as meadows, orchards, or gardens; the remaining 3,000 compose villages, roads, dykes, canals, drains, &c. The appearance is as beautiful as that of a dead flat can be; the verdure is fine; the fences perfectly neat, the rows of trees, the orc
ards and the gardens numerous and thriving; in short, a richer spot is hardly to be seen. The rents are very high, but the fertility of the soil merits it; for here are many meadows that will more than feed a large cow, per acre, and support her all the summer with great plenty.
A Dutch boor, with fifty or sixty acres, will contrive to live as well or better than an English farmer with two hundred acres; this is entirely owing to their spirit of frugality and neatness. It is not only visible in their houses and furniture, but in all their farming offices. Their tools and implements are kept in the most exact order; their scythes, spades, shovels and forks appear like household instruments: their waggons are constantly kept as clean as our coaches, and this spirit of cleanliness runs through every thing. Though this certainly takes up time, it answers to them very well in the end; for there is a great difference in the wear and tare of any tools or instruments of husbandry, whether they are kept clean and under cover, or dirty and exposed to the weather: from which I conclude, says
Marshal,
that no time is better spent than that which is employed in keeping all the implements, and every thing relative to husbandry, neat and clean.
This is particularly observable in Holland, not only in their implements of husbandry, but in their cattle, their fences, the banks of their ditches, their dykes, their walls, poles, hedges, &c. whatever the fence is, one is sure to find it in good order; and this is equally conspicuous in all their public works; the canals, bridges, dykes, &c. are all in admirable repair.
So great is the economy of the Dutch, and so much do they live within their income, that they never know the want of money; being thus rich, they will contribute as freely to the erection or repair of a publick building, as to the fences in their own gardens.
Next to Sardam, the village of Broek is one of the most curious in Holland, as well as the most considerable. The extreme neatness which reigns there, is unexampled even in the rest of the provinces. The inhabitants are very rich, and some of them can give their daughters several tons of gold for their portion. The houses here are all built of timber, and seldom exceed one story high. They are so frequently painted, that they always look as if they were just built. The windows are in general sashed and decorated with beautiful curtains. The inside also of their houses is neat, and embellished beyond conception. Those who have ever so small a portion of ground before their house, never fail to convert it into an agreeable garden diversified with gravel walks, shell-work, images, and little hegdes or painted rails. The village itself is watered by a number of canals, the banks of which are kept up with the greatest neatness; and all the streets are paved with bricks, which are kept frequently washed and strewed with white sand; in some places the bricks are dispersed in the form of flowers. That these ornaments may not be defaced, or the streets made dirty, no carriages or horses are permitted to pass through them. There is but one public house at the entrance of the village, and which is the only one that strangers are admitted to see, if they have no acquaintance among the inhabitants. When any strangers come there, they are so jealous at the sight of them, that those who have daughters, who are in general very handsome, make them keep out of sight.
Not only the wooden furniture in the houses are painted to the very broom-sticks, but likewise the gates and rails in the meadows, and even the very posts in the meadows, the latter of which are further ornamented with carved work.
At Alamaar, which is the chief town in North Holland, there is a very singular charity. A considerable estate has been left for the support of old maids and widows, no matter of what religion, provided they will take an oath never to marry. This city is surrounded by a great number of gardens, orchards and rich meadows; and very near it there is a grove, which would make a figure in the best regular garden in England, it is so beautiful. The streets of this city are regular and well built, and the large canals kept so clean, that they give the town an elegant appearance. In 1732 it was found to contain 2,581 houses. Both within and without the town are several pleasant walks, particularly on the ramparts. It was once one of the fortresses of Holland. The country round about it once consisted of lakes, which have been all drained, and now make an excellent appearance, being all cut into rich meadows, and hardly an acre lost. All the canals and dykes are planted with rows of trees; the villages are thick and well peopled, and all of them possessing an air of neatness and regularity, which alone would make travelling in Holland extremely delightful.
The road from this place to Bemster, in summer is very pleasant. At the end of the town begins a straight vista, which continues for three miles. In the middle of this vista there is a wide canal, and on each side a road perfectly level and smooth, with a row of trees, and a ditch running along the outside; both of which are bordered with the finest meadows, interspersed with seats and gardens. Every cottage has a garden which the boors cultivate extremely well. The women and children are principally employed in making nets for the herring fishery, which employs a great number of hands in this country.
It is astonishing that the number of people whom this fishery maintains, should not have made us, on whose coasts they come to fish, more attentive to advantages which nature has laid at our doors. Our poor are starving for want of employment, while our more industrious and meritorious neighbours maintain themselves on our fish, and come 200 leagues to catch that which we might have in our own harbours. Such an instance of supineness is not to be met with in the whole circle of European politics. The infinite advantages which would attend the establishment of a great herring fishery, in some of the western isles of Scotland, ought to engage our government to act with more vigour in this affair. The only possible way of succeeding, would be, to build a town in the western Islands, and make it the seat of the whole undertaking: the company should, above all, be careful to provide an immediate market for all the fish caught, salted, and barrelled, under their inspection. When once the fishermen found a market for their fish, their profession would increase very much; new towns would rise up, and a general alacrity spread itself through all the coasts. This would form new markets for all the productions of the neighbouring estates, which would animate their culture, and greatly increase the value of land; all this is in the power not only of the King and Parliament, but of any nobleman of considerable property in the islands: a private capital of 20,000l. would go further than five times that sum in the hands of a public company.
In Holland, what with pay, allowance, and herrings, the men who go in the busses gain about twelve shillings a-week.
On the coast of this province are several islands, which formerly made part of the continent, and have been separated from it by the violence of the sea. The inhabitants of these islands make excellent mariners, whether considered with respect to their courage, or their skill.
One great occupation among them is breeding of sheep, with which their fields are covered. They accordingly export a great deal of wool; and with the milk of these animals they make a green cheese, which is eagerly bought up under the name of Texel cheese.
The most considerable of these islands is the Texel, which most probably received its name from the multitude of eggs, which the sea-gulls lay on its shores: it is the largest of all the islands in this track.
On the eastern coast there is a commodious road, styled the
Mosco Road,
which is the rendezvous of all the outward bound East-India ships, who lye here under the cannon of a fort, close erected by the Scheld. At this place they are also mustered while they wait for an easterly wind, to carry them out of the Marsdiep, during which time they are usually said to be lying in the Texel.
This is the principal passage for ships that come from Amsterdam, or the Zuydersea into the ocean. It is however a very dangerous one, on account of two sand-banks which lye at the entrance, particularly in bad weather or with a contrary wind.
On the 13th of July 1672, the English fleet under the Duke of York, came off this island, as with an intent to make a descent; but the ebb which used to last only six hours, continuing in a very extraordinary manner for twelve, and being succeeded by a storm, the English were under the necessity of putting out to sea, after losing two of their ships. In 1653, and 1673, there were two naval engagements here, in the first of which the celebrated Dutch Admiral
Van Trump
was killed.
At the entrance of the water, going up to Amsterdam, there are two other sand banks, where it is so very shallow, that the ships are obliged to be carried over them in cradles or camels, which are a kind of large boxes, 160 feet in length, filled with water, and fastened with ropes under the side of the ships; the water is then drawn out of these machines, which as they rise towards the surface, lift the ships up four, five or six feet, according to the more or less water they draw.
END OF THE TENTH VOLUME.
DIRECTIONS for PLACING the PLATES OF VOL. VI. VII. VIII. & IX.
VOL. VI.
A Chinese Villa, to face
PAGE 7
Chinese
PAGE 19
Map of Thibet
PAGE 23
Chinese Sepulchre
PAGE 92
Chinese Captain of the guard, presented to the Emperor
PAGE 141
Chinese army on the march
PAGE 145
Chinese music
PAGE 198
Tonquinese, with the tree whose branches dip into the earth, and spring again
PAGE 222
Inhabitants of Nootka Sound, and a sea otter
PAGE 270
Snug-corner Cove, where Captain Cook anchored
PAGE 299
Swedes in the court dress
PAGE 329
Plan of the city of Stockholm
PAGE 333
View of the city of Upsal, with two Lapland girls, and rein-deer, from the life
PAGE 342
Fin peasants
PAGE 346
VOL. VII.
Map of Denmark
PAGE 45
Plan of the city of Copenhagen
PAGE 72
Hamlet in his mother's chamber
PAGE 81
Danish hunting assizes
PAGE 91
Map of Canada
PAGE 116
View of the city of Quebec, from Point Levy
PAGE 128
Hurons
PAGE 155
A Buffalo pound, or the method of taking them
PAGE 202
A Californian Mariage
PAGE 284
Map of Persia
PAGE 305
VOL. VIII.
Persians, with pyramids of human heads
PAGE 24
Nadar Shah crowning himself
PAGE 87
Map of Poland
PAGE 133
Poles, with the Parus Pendulinus, and its nest
PAGE 149
Katchinzky, and the king of Poland in the wood
PAGE 186*
Frederick
II.
king of Prussia, and Voltaire, from nature
PAGE 185
Map of Hungary and Bohemia
PAGE 223
Bohemians, with the skeleton of a mountain
PAGE 238
Hungarians at Ovid's tomb
PAGE 277
View of Belgrade
PAGE 317
VOL. IX.
A Bohemian Gipsey
PAGE 5
Map of Germany
PAGE 29
Map of the circle of Austria
PAGE 81
Plan of the city of Vienna
PAGE 87
Traineaus at Vienna
PAGE 126
Dissolution of the monasteries
PAGE 131
Joseph
II.
emperor of Germany, from life
PAGE 140
Map of the circle of Upper Saxony
PAGE 149
Map of the country round the Baltic
PAGE 199
A Holstein priest reading his sermons
PAGE 202
Priest and Burgomaster of Hamburgh
PAGE 223
Plan of the city of Hanover
PAGE 240
Map of the circles of the Upper and Lower Rhine
PAGE 260
A vineyard festival
PAGE 304
Burgomaster and peasant of Nuremburg
PAGE 347
ERRATUM respecting the PLATES.
Vol. IX. page 296 line 10. for 296
read
126.
☞ In the account of the plates, at the end of volume V. it was omitted to point out, that the Baskirian bee-hives should be placed, so as to face page
47
in vol.
III.