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“eg Ad RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
the arms of the country on it; you meet with an entirely different agriculture, a differs
ent people, and a different language. I now, for the firft time, heard the common
people fpeak intelligible German, for throughout Bavaria, Suabia, and Auftria, they
{peak a jargon, which a man, who has learned the language of a language-mafter, has
the utmoft difficulty to underftand. Iam now, for the firft time, really in Germany:;.
only avery fimall part of the country I have hitherto travelled through, to wit, the fmall
{trip of land which is betwixt the Danube and the Rhine in Suabia, made part of that
old Germany, the inhabitants of which were fo formidable to the Romans; the remain-
der is all conquered country, which at that time was called Vindelicia, Rhaetia, and
Pannonia. In the times of Pepin and Charlemagne the limits of Germany were con-
fined even on this fide; for as the Sclavonians had before driven the Burgundians, Sua-
bians, and other German nations over the Elbe, thefe now poffefled then:felves of their
habitations, and drove the inhabitants of Germany, who lived in the diftricts of Mentz
and Rheims, into Gaul. The nations were like a row of balls, the moft eaftern of
which was {truck and drove the others forward in fucceflion. In modern times, that is,
ever fince Luther, Saxony has been looked on as one of the firft provinces of Germany,
in every fenfe of the word. In regard to literature particularly, the Saxons were to the
re{t of the Germans, what the Florentines were fome centuries ago to the other people
of . But Iam going too faft, you fhall know all this in due ame; I mutt
firft tell you how I got here, and what was the face of the country through which I
came.
The part of Bohemia, through which our way from Prague hither lay, feems infi-
nitely richer and more beautiful than that betwixt Prague and Aultria. ‘he agricul-
ture, like the country itfelf, is more varied, the people live clofer together and feem to
be happier. Hills, woods, plains, and vales, form an agreeable contraft with each other,
~ and the vine, which 1s not to be feen elfewhere on this fide Prague, here covers the
fides of the hills.
We faw the well wooded peak of the Ertzgiberge, the higheft fummit of which parts
Saxony and Bohemia. hele hills are but of a very moderate height, and if they make
a refpectable appearance here, it is only becaufe, from hence to the mouth of the Elbe
and the eaftern fea, there is no other remarkable hill to be feen. The people who come
up here from the low lands, and for the firft time of their lives fee a hill which deferves
the name, make a great fhout, and think that they have feen the pedeftal of heaven ;
juft fo.in Bohemia, the Rie/engeberge is indebted for its reputation to the fmall notion
which thofe who have brought it into repute have of hills; and thus it may formerly
have been with Atlas, Olympus, Othos, Parnaflus, and the other hills fo noted in
hiftory.
Mice who travelled this road before me, afferts that there is a great difference in
point of natural fertility, betwixt the borders of Saxony and the borders of Bohemia,
to the advantage of the former; I have found the direct contrary. It is certain, that
the foil of Bohemia ts by nature much richer than any part of Saxony, which it fupplies
with great part of its provifions. ‘The circle of Leutmeriffer in particular, through
which the common road pafles, is uncommonly productive, nor is there any part of Sax-
ony that can bear a comparifon with it; but then, on the other hand, the improved
ftate of agriculture is vifible, as foon as you fet your feet on Saxon ground. One need
only look round to be convinced that the conftitution of Saxony is infinitely more fa-
vourable to induftry and agriculture than that of Bohemia. The Saxon farmer fhews
more under{tanding and reflection in the management of his land than the Bohemian
one does, and every thing about him attefts that he is no flave.
Drefden
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