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RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 1OG:
ftate-papers, In the former the writers always endeavour by all means, and often in the
midit of vifible marks that they themfelves know better things, to trumpet forth the
power of Auftria, and leffen that of Pruflia. he latter, on the contrary, even when
they are at war with Aultria, {peak in the higheft terms of its greatnefs; nor is there
an inftance of a Pruffian’s having given himfelf the trouble in a public writing, to make
the greatnefs of his country more thanit is. ‘They ufe plain facts and arguments, with-
out the leaft exaggeration. - A very {trong diftinctive charaGer this of the two coun-
. tries. In the midit of the Bavarian war, whilft Auflrian writers ufed to fet forth that the
King of Pruffia was obliged to enter into fome war to pay his army, whom he could
otherwife neither clothe nor feed; the Pruflian minifters only obferved in their ftate-
papers, how inconceivable it was that fo high and mighty a power as the Houfe of Auf-
tria, a power fo juftly formidable to all the neighbours round, fhould feek to make itfelf
{till greater by the depreffion of an old monarch, from whom it had fo little danger to
apprehend. Ina word, the Pruffian kingdom is governed by rule, and the greateft part
of the reft of the world by opinion.
LEEPER. LY.
Hamburghe
THE body, my deareft brother, feels itfelf as much worfe in all the parts of North
Germany, than it is in the fouthern ones, as the mind feels itfelf better. On this fide
the Erts-mountain, the inns, roads, poft-waggons, and all that relates to travelling, are
the very beft poffible ; on the other the inns are not a jot better than the Spanifh ones.
The roads are like the Hungarian, and inftead of poft-chaifes, they have a kind of large
farmer’s waggon, without cover or window, in which the paflengers lay along the ftraw
like {wine, and are expofed to all the inclemencies of the weather. On the other hand,
here you meet with the beft company every where; there is hardly a village fo {mall
but what has manufactures, collections of the arts, and libraries ; befides which, every
parifh-prieft in the country has more knowledge of mankind, than many a courtier in
the fouth of Germany.
Nature has likewife made a great difference with refpe€t to the phyfical appearance.
of the two parts of Germany. Saxony, which is the beft northern province for natural
fruitfulnefs of country, {till bears no comparifon with Bohemia, Auftria, Bavaria, and
Suabia, and the hills of Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg, are not nearly of
the fame value as thofe of the fame fize in the fouth.
The dutchy of Mecklenburg is as large as the dutchy of Wirtemberg. The latter
has five hundred and fixty thoufand inhabitants, and its prince enjoys a revenue of two
millions of rix dollars; the former hardly two hundred and twenty thoufand men, and
a revenue of not more than four hundred thoufand rix dollars, of which the Schwerin
line enjoys three, and that of Strelitz one part. Notwithftanding this much larger pos
pulation, the duchy of Wirtemberg could nourifh all the inhabitants of Mecklenburg
with its fuperfluity. On a calculation, we fhould find that the dutchy of Wirtemberg
has five or fix times the natural riches of that of Mecklenburg, notwithftanding the
more advantageous fituation of the latter on the fea.
With regard to pidturefque appearance of country, there is much more beauty and
variety in the dutchy of Mecklenburg than in the mark of Brandenburg; though you
meet with no hills properly fo called in either, for the things which they dignify with
the name of hills, throughout this whole country, are no other than mole-hills when
compared to true hills. There are however in Mecklenburg, feveral very pretty land-
VOL. Vi. EE {capes,
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