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RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 49
firiking and engaging. Here at once nature prefents the peculiarities of every feafon,
and the moft different climates. As long as the fummer lafts, in the bottom of the val-
ley the heat of Africa is felt; in the middle of the mountain you enjoy the moderate
temperature of {pring ; and the top reminds you of Siberia. And how various are the
forms, chains and heaps of mountains and hills!
Man refembles his foil, unlefs education and fociety change him. The peafant of
this country bears the {tamp of nature upon him. His movements are quick, like the
{tream in his wood ;_ he is boiiterous in his paifions, like the atmofphere; he breathes
ftrong as the oak which fhades him; and is faithful, firm and true as the rock which
bears his hut.. The life and variety of the fcenes which nature offers him, render his
head richer in conceptions, and his heart warmer than it would be if he dwelt upon an
uniform plain, and gave himfelf up to nature as he does here. His diftance from po-
pulous places, and the fcattered fituation of the huts, which give him few opportunities
for diftration from his own concerns, preferve his manners pure, difpofe him to reflec-
tion, and make him more attentive to his own proper bufinefs. In his make, the ex-
preflion of his countenance, his geftures and language, he has greatly the advantage of
the Bavarian peafant. I regret inceflantly that my want of fuflicient fkill in the provin-
cial diale&t prevents my communing with thefe mountaineers, fo agreeably as I wifh to
do. The unfpeakable opennefs of heart which they fhew, their frequent inftances of
good-will and affection, together with the good humour and native pleafantry legible in
their looks, endear them at firft fight to every friend of humanity. Many of them ftill
wear long beards, and thofe in the remoter parts tow every body, even their princes.
The difeafe of the throat is not uncommon with them, though it be not fo prevalent as
fome travellers choofe to report it. In general they are a very handfome fet of people.
The diminution made in the population and agriculture of thefe lands, by the emi-
gration of the proteftants about fifty years ago, is not yet recovered. In this mafter-
piece of bad government, the weaknels of a prince, and the felfifh treachery of a minif-
ter, were beyond meafure confpicuous. I have read over the papers which give an ac-
count of this wonderful event, to my great edification. Thofe are much deceived who
afcribe the caufe of this extraordinary commotion to religious principles, propagated in
thefe mountains at the time of the reformation. From the writings before me, it ap-
pears that very few had any diftin&t idea of the Augiburg or Helvetian confeffions of
faith. ‘Thefe may poflibly have contributed fomething ; but moft of thefe new protef-
tants became fo through reflection and difcourfes among themfelves, the caufes of which
were furnifhed by maxims felected from catholic fermons and religious books. Had
they been allowed unlimited freedom of religion in the country, they certainly would
have founded an intire new fect, which would have had little refemblance to either
Calvinifm or Lutheranifm. Moft of thofe who were heard judicially in their own de-
fence, anfwered the queftion, “‘ Whether they would confels to the Lutheran or the
Catholic church ?” directly, “* No, to neither of them. We believe, but not what our
countrymen believe, but keep ourfelves merely to the fcriptures.”’ Many circum{tances,
with which the reformers of the fixteenth century had no concern, occafioned a fort
of rebellion of men’s underftandings. Peafants and mechanics became preachers in
their own houles, or under fome tree in a fequeftered place. In fhort, we muft do
thefe people the honour to fay, they were almoft entirely their own teachers. Ht was
when they were obliged to feek foreign protection from the oppreflion of their own
lords, and enter into treaty with the King of Pruffia, that they declared themfelves of a
fect, which, by the treaty of Weltphalia, was privileged in the empire, and they did it
becaufe no other means could have fecured them from ,total oppreffion,
VOL. VI. Hy = The
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