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224 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
what is right, than to govern by faction or intrigue. His influence is however hitherto
very limited.
On my return out of Lapland, I came hither by Lubeck. That place, which for-
merly played fo great a part in the league of the Hantz cities, has {carce half the im-
portance of Hamburgh in point either of population, riches, or trade. The Danifh
minifter fets his whole force againft this place, as he has only Hamburgh and it to fear.
At Lubeck, however, his principal operations are confined for the prefent, for though
he makes the poor town feel what he would do by every petty injury in his power, he
dares not hitherto come to open hoftilities, as it is protected by the Emperor and the
ftates of the empire. He is therefore compelled to change his fiege into a kind of
blockade. The bond of union betwixt the German imperial towns operates much more
forcibly with regard to foreign powers, than is commonly imagined ; and the article in
the Emperor’s coronation oath, not to allow of any diminution of the empire, is main-
tained in its full force under Jofeph the Second. It is indeed this article which compels
our court to treat the fmall princes its neighbours who border on Germany with much
more attention and refpeét than it fhews towards the other fovereign {tates in its neighe
bourhood. It would not dare, for inftance, to at towards the imperial {tate of Spires,
as it has lately done towards Geneva, where it is interpofed with fuch great effect, after
having formally renounced the mediation, and having hardly any bond of union with
the city.
LETTER LVIIL .
Hanover,
ALL the country, dear brother, which lays to the north and north-weft of this, and is
swatered by the Elbe and the Embs, is partly fand, and partly mud and morafs. In-
deed the mud which is thrown up by the fea and rivers, 1s looked upon here as a para-
difaical earth, as it affords the inhabitants bread and hay, whilft the higher countries are
nothing but fand. Here, my dear brother, a man perceives, for the firft time, the
bleflings of a mountainous country. Through the whole road, from Hamburg to Emb-
den, and from thence through a great part of Weftphalia to this place, I did not fee a:
fingle hill, a fingle laughing landfcape, fhady foreft, beautiful wood, or, in brief, any of
the things which can give a fillip to life. In Welftphalia I faw large heaths which were
ftill more barren than thofe of Jutland. The whole country has been fubject to revo-
lutions. It is a bottom of fand, which the rivers from the higher parts of Germany
have formed, and to which they are conftantly adding. In fome parts the fea adds a
quantity of mud, and in others entirely demolifhes the barriers oppofed to it, fo that the
inhabitants have conftantly to contend with the water and frogs. The rivers overflow
every year, and lay the country for many miles under water. The inundations of
the Wefer are particularly terrible. When they happen, the cities and villages are as
it were in the mid{t of a fea, and feem to form fo many iflands. ‘The confequences of
this’are agues, colds, and fevers, which would commit vaft ravages amongft the poor
people, were it not that cuftom renders them hardy, and that they are in a habit of
warming their infides well with brandy. To a ftranger, however, the country muft be
extremely unwholefome in winter ard fpring. The inhabitants are all through of the
fnail order, yellow fkinned, foft flefhed, and full of wrinkles. Their fmall round figures
are very ftriking when you compare them to the tall long Germans of the fouthern
parts. You hardly ever fee rofy cheeks among the men of the country, and but very
feldom among the women. ‘They live here as in Denmark, failor-like, upon fhell-fith,
7 (which
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