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156 _ RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
who plough with one ox atid one cow. Many of them have only one cow, which fure-
nifhes them with milk, and likewife ferves them to plough with. It is true, indeed, that.
the fine and light foil of this part of the world requires, in general, no uncommon ex-
ertion ; but it isimpoflible that a farmer fhould do well with fo little cattle. You eafily.
difcover in their houfekeeping, that they are obliged to cut very clofe. Great part of
them live upon potatoes, cabbages, and turnips, and you very feldom fee meat at their
tables. . Their attachment to coffee is extremely great; it is the only nourifhment of
fome of them; and the profufe ufe they make of it, is a {trong contra{t with their. pe-
nurioufnefs in other refpeéts. It is made in large pots, but is fo weak as to have hardly:
the colour of the berry. Moft likely they confider it as the cheapeft. and moft {trength-
ening of liquors. ‘Their cleanlinefs in the mid{t of their poverty is remarkable. ‘The
Suabian farmers are lords, in comparifon with thofe of Saxony, and om the whole, the
happieft I have’ yet feen.
‘Vhroughout the whole level country, even the common people fpeak good German,
and fo, excepting in the mountains, do all the farmers. ‘There is no province in France
of a like extent, in which the people throughout fpeak French as well as the Saxons do
German. Some miles from Leipfick I vifited a gentleman, for whom J had letters from
Drefden, on his eftate. I thought myfelf come to a {chool of paftoral felicity, and I
fhall ever look upon the few days I {pent with him as fome of the happieft of my life.
The eftates of thefe gentlemen are fmall, as the Saxon nobility in general are as poor as
they are numerous ; but it is to this very poverty that they owe their happinefs. hey
underftand how to unite the beautiful with the ufeful, tafte with fimplicity, ceconomy
with various amufements, and nature with art, in fuch a manner, as to make that bul-
nefs which other men look upon as a punifhment, a fource of endlefs uninterrupted fe-
licity. They relifh pleafure as epicureans do rich wines, which they keep a long while
on the palate, in order to relifh the flavour. , They underftand how to mix the amufe-
ments and the occupations of the country fo as to make them follow each other in agree-
able fucceflion fo well, that it is worth while to come amongft them to read Virgil’s
Georgics, which I am perfuaded cannot be read any where elfe with fo much pleafure.
Fifhing is a very weighty and moft important bufinefs with them, and the art has been
no where brought to fo great a perfection as it is here. ‘They have feparate ponds in
which the fith are kept, according to their ages and with different intentions. Thefe
ponds are in fallow lands, which are at certain times broke up and ploughed again; fo
that the eftate reaps a double advantage by this method. ‘The management of woods
and of fheep is alfo brought to a great degree of perfection here. ‘They not only
cut down their trees with great judgment, but ftudy the art of planting, and what
trees are fit for each foil with fingular felicity. 1 am perfuaded that we Frenchmen
might learn much of the Saxons on this head, as well as on every other part of rural
gecononry.
The Saxon wool is famous for being the beft in Europe, after the Spanifh and
Englifh: fometimes it is ufed raw, fometimes it is manufactured into clothes, {tock-
ings, and gloves, but moft generally it is coloured and exported as a manufacture. The
inimitable blue wools, which have their name from the country, are brought into
France: -
To thefe various practical and theoretical improvements of their land, the nobility
add {mall walks, vifits to their friends in town and country, collections of nature and
art, attention to improve the fchools of their diftri€ts, poetry, and mufick. The rich,
amongft whom I reckon thofe who have from 8 to 10,000 guilders a year, (moft of
them have only from 3 to 6, and feveral from 8co to 2000 guilders,) come to town for
only
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