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RIESBECK’s TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 171
therans of middling incomes in other places; he knows no pleafurein the whole world,
except that of fitting over his difh of tea in winter to converfe about war or peace, and in
fummer vifiting his garden oncea week ; he is tedious, and in a certain degree torpid about
his bufinefs, and it is to his indefatigable attention to the main chance, but ftill more
to his niggardlinefs, that he is indebted for his riches. ‘This is the charaéter of the
Calvinift every where ; and the fpirit, which is a confequence of this melancholy hu-
mour, allows fome of them frauds in the daily trade and intercourfe of life, which a
Catholic or Lutheran would confider as manifeft cheating. ‘They have a text of ferip-
ture ready for all occafions, but give the preference to this, be ye wife as ferpents.—
‘The Memnonites and Quakers are {till more niggardly than the Calvinifts, and in con-
fequence much richer, but likewife ftill duller; thefe, as far as I can perceive, have
ho genius whatever for the arts.
It was natural enough to expect, that the reformation fhould here and there lead to
abfurdities, and that men would go from one extreme to the other; but as only a part
of the Proteftants have carried thefe tenets to this excefs, they are as profitable to the
who!e ftate, as they are probably pernicious to the happinefs of the individual. Though
the immenfe riches of the Dutch contribute little to render them happier than the
poorer people, they enable them not only to fupport the greateft wars for themfelves,
but to furnifh friends and foes with confiderable fums.
As for the Lutherans, they poflefs part of the humour of their founder, and to a
high degree of induftry and frugality unite a great love of pleafure and jollity, which
makes the enjoyment of fociety. The unnatural hatred to pleafure does not damp
their wit and good humour, and they have nothing of the favage flovenlinefs, the dark
hypocrify, and the ill breeding, which diftinguifhes the majority of other feéts.
By thefe regulations in the manners, we fee how powerful religion is on the hearts of
men. Prior to this miracle, for it really was one, Germany was in a conftant frenzy ;
drinking, dancing, and intriguing, kept priefts and laity in a perpetual dream, and
fenfelefs {pectacles of every kind contributed their fhare to the perverfion of the un–
derftanding ; when lo! in an inftant, the people ran from the ale-houfes and brothels
to church, opened their eyes, believed, and became induftrious, frugal, and active.
To bring about fuch a change as this was, required a degree of refolution, which is
only to be met with among a barbarous people, fuch as the Germans of that time were.
When pleafure has once enervated a nation, nothing of the kind is more to be expette
ed. In the fouthern parts of Germany, particularly in Bavaria, the objeét would be
as difficult to compafs as it is defirable.
LETTER XLVI.
:; ; Berlin.
MY way hither lay through Wittemberg, a good looking town, but which ftill preferves
the marks of the frequent change of mafters it underwent in the laft Silefian war, and
which it has not yet entirely recovered. ° It fhould be properly the capital of the electo-
rate, but mutt yield the firlt place to Leipfick. Indeed, in point of riches and popu-
lation, it is inferior to many other towns in Saxony.
As far as the Elbe, the country is as well cultivated as Upper Saxony, and feems to
have the fame foil; but you are hardly got a poft beyond Wittemberg, before you dif-
cover a great alteration ; inftead of the rich black foil of Saxony, you meet with no-
thing but fand; there is alfo a tedious uniformity in the profpect: there are large mo-
raffles near the rivers, and the number of thick black woods give the whole an un.
Zo pleafing
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