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2
72 RIESBECK’s TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
them till the country beyond the moon fhall be difcovered) are alfo under the influence of
cuftom, education, and government. _ On the other hand, it mult be obferved, that the
inhabitant of numerous focieties is more eafily polifhed, and when he grows wicked,
more eafily converted than the half favage, who fets his life on his cuftoms and manners.
Even at this time the moft enamoured partifans of the Swifs find only in fome {cattered
parts of Savoy, the reliques of the manners they fo mech admire, and thefe, they mult
confefs, will be done away in the next generation ; whilft, on the other hand, the cor-
ruption to be found among the inhabitants of the Grifons, and fome of the Democratic
Cantons, furpaffes every idea, which a man not acquainted with the place can form of
it, with this additional caufe for defpair, that the evil is here remedilefs ; whereas the
inhabitants of Paris, London, and Vienna may grow better in fome generation.
I found it neceflary to make thefe introduétory remarks, becaufe, though I was not
capable to fay as much good of the people of Vienna at prefent as I could with, I was
willing you fhould be convinced that I am in perfect friendfhip with them, and do not
mean to advife them to feparate and live behind the hedges like gypfies, in order to
make their fituation better, by approaching nearer to the {tate of nature. In every part
of the world I meet men towards whom my heart warms, and have no neceflity to
wander with our knight errants among the vales of Piedmont, Savoy, and Switzerland,
in order to find fellow-creatures to be proud of. Ido not know whether thefe gentle-
men meet with what they are in fearch of, but itis certain that they all come back again
very foon. ;
What diftinguifhes the people of this place from the Parifians isa certain coarfe pride
not to be defcribed, an infurmountable heavinels and ftupidity, and an unaccountable
propenfity to guzzling. The hofpitality of the table, about which you have heard fo
much, is only an effect of pride. During the four weeks I have been here, I have
hardly been able to dine above four times by myfelf. It is the cuftom when a man is
firft introduced into a new houfe, to fix a day in every week for him to be a regular
gueft there. In the firlt houfe I dined, I conceived that the people had a real pleafure
in feeing me; but I had not fat long before I had invitations enough, from the company
prefent only, to laft me a month. But when they afk you, they all doit with fuch faces
which feenr to fay, ‘Is not it true that we are far more hofpitable than your Parifian
gentry’ Sometimes they go ftill farther, and make themfelves very merry (that is, ac-
cording to the Vienna mode of being merry) with our fparing niggardlinefs. It is cer-_
tainly true, that a man eats much better here than he does at Paris, and he certainly alfo
eats a great deal more. At the common tables of the people of a middling rank (fuch as
the lower fervants of the court, merchants, artifts, and the better kinds of mechanics)
you commonly fee fix, eight, or even ten difhes, with two, three, or even four kinds of
wine. ‘They commonly fit two hours at table, and they took it as a very uncivil thing
of me that I refufed to tafte many difhes, though I was compelled to do fo, to fave my-
felf an indigeftion. But, alas! fo foon as the body is fatisfied here, fo foon does the mind
long for the friendly dinss and_foupés of Paris, which you know are more intended for
the feaft of reafon, and the flow of foul, than the dainty purfuit of indigeftions, choleras,
and apoplexy. Here the only entertainment, mingled with the very ferious bufinefs
going forward, are fome very bad low jokes. At the beft tables here, (I mean thofe of
the fecond order) you commonly meet a monk, but more commonly a player, whofe
very refined wit enlivens the whole company. . The monk is commonly feated by the
lady of the houfe, whom he coquets with; the player is feated at the other end, and
laughs at him till the whole route breaks out into fhouts of laughter, far above the ca-
pacity of common lungs or ears either to join inor bear. When the converfation takes
6 a more
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