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4 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
came into my head, and the fight of the ruined fortifications of Kehl gave my laughter
frefh force, from the recollection that the mighty Louis, whofe great mind had it in con-
templation to annex the fmall dependencies of the Nord and the pais bas, together with
Italy, Spain, &c. to the French monarchy, had built this fort as a key to his conquefts on
the other fide the Rhine. ‘By my troth,’ faid I, as I confidered the barracks and vef-
tiges of the old fortifications, ‘this is pleafant.?—And it is pleafanter ftill, that Beau-
marchais meant to print his Voltaire in thefe barracks. ‘In the name of merriment,’
jaid I, (and my internal laugh then broke out,) ‘is the great France grown too fmall,
fince the days of the mighty Louis, to hold a dozen letter preffes in it ?’
‘The finall contraband trade with Strafburg excepted, France has nothing to fear from
this fame Kehl. The place, which is contemptible in every refpect, belongs, with fome
other villages, to the margraves of Baden, but the ftates of the Holy Roman Empire
claim a right to the ruined fortifications.
The way to Carlfruhe raifed many thoughts in my mind. On fight of the caftle of
Raftadt, where a termination was put to the war between France and Auftria in 1714,
I felt myfelf a Frenchman all over. All the great chiefs and flatefmen, who from the
beginning of the laft century to this period had adorned our annals, and fet us far above
the nations of the earth, feemed to rife before me, and I fat for fome time in a kind of
trance, fighting their battles and inventing their civil improvements over again. In an
unlucky minute, however, I was awakened by the recollection that this was now all at
an end; that in 1714 our greatnefs terminated ; that my country no longer produced
great men; and that the powers whom we had then funk fo low were now rifing, nay,
that {ome of them had already rifen, to fink us. I would then have wifhed to have for-
gotten that I was a Frenchman, and fought for confolation in the thought of being a
citizen of the world, and that much as we had loft, Europe in general had gained {till
more in the time that had elapfed ; but this was impoflible, the traces of defolation which
many of our generals had left in the places I was travelling through, made me lament
my having been fo proud of their exploits before.
I ftayed fome time at Carliruhe, and was lucky enough to get acquainted with a gen-
tleman, who; to the beft of hearts, an excellent underftanding, and unremitting exer-
tions in the fervice of his prince, unites a very fine tafte for German, French, and Eng-
lith literature. The court of Carlfruhe poflefles many fuch perfons, fome of whom I
had been fortunate enough to know at Strafburg. With this gentleman I went’to Spires
to vifit fome of his relations. Our way lay by Bruchfal, the refidence of the bifhop of
Spires. The country we went through had many woods, which, however, were broken
by a few well cultivated vales. Thefe woods, the timber of which is carried to Holland
(where it fells very well) by the Rhine, makes a great part of the revenue of the courts
of Spires and Carlfruhe. The wood through which we travelled afforded a ftriking
inftance of the advantage an hereditary kingdom has over an elective one. The woods
of Baden are kept up with the greateft ceconomy and attention, becaufe the prince
knows they will be fources of wealth to his remote{t defcendants ; whereas at Bruchfal,
where the defcendants of the prince have nothing to hope, every thing gives way to pre-
fent enjoyment.—lIt is needlefs to add that in this refpect the woods are an emblem of
the whole country. :
Bruchfal is a pretty little town, and the bifhop’s palace a handfome building. The
prefent prince bifhop, fome effufions of ill humour only excepted, is no bad governor.
This humour principally fhews itfelf againft the young women. I am aflured that if he
could he would make all the girls nunss He cannot fee one without falling into
a paflion, His revenue is about three hundred thoufand florins, or thirty thoufand
10 pounds
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