Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 231
forget that the people of the fouth were fooner great, and that the arts of cultivation,
and light of all kinds came from them.
You will eafily perceive, from the nature of thefe fpeculations, that they were made
in the poft-waggon. My company confifted of a fwine of an Oldenburgh dealer in
horfes, a clodpole Bremen broker, and a pretty female piece of flefh, mere dead flefh, -
lying before me on the ftraw. ‘There was not a word {poke all the way from Gottin-
gen here; fo that if the dulcis et alta quies had not been now and then interrupted by
coughing, {neezing, belching, and the like, I fhould not have known that I had company
with me.
At Gottingen I vifited feveral profeffors, to whom I cannot refufe my utmoft venera-
tion, but who were all fo convinced of the cultivation of Germany, and {o fore fet again{t
us Southlanders, that | did not know how to reconcile it with their knowledge of man-
kind. All thefe gentlemen {poke to me of the political and literary fituation of their
own country with a veneration which often bordered on the ridiculous. This arifes
partly from national pride, partly from partiality to their own country, and partly from
true rank Charlatanifm. ‘Vhefe gentlemen look upon our government as the quintef-
fence of defpotifm, our academiies as hofpitals for fools, our foldiers as women, and our
writers, to whom however, as appears from their writings, they are fo much indebted,
as petit maitres. Ina word, they confider the fouth as the kingdom of darknefs and
tyranny, and allow more fenfe and knowledge of things, to the Danes, Swedes, and
Ruflians, than to the moft refpectable people in the fouth. It was this abfurdity which
gave rife to my {peculations in the poft waggon, which were however much interrupted
by ftrong jolts. Amongft other perfons I vifited here was Profeflor Schloffer, whom I
found unjuft towards us, out of mere party motives. Poflibly there are few hiftorians
in the world who know fo many hiftorical fa&ts as this gentleman does. _I found a moft
unexpected and extraordinary fund of knowledge of modern hiftory about him. He
polleffes an infinite number of living languages. His humour, which is fomewhat too
tharp and fatyrical, does not always make him amiable as a private man, but often pro-
duces very good effects as a writer. What he is moft diftinguifhed by is his journal.
It is publifhed under the name of Political Letters, and is one of the moft generally
fpread about in Germany, and other neighbouring countries, though Mr. Linguet has
thought proper to call it pew connu.- It is not like the Englifh, Dutch, and French jour-
nals, which confift moltly of declamation, and refleétions, which are commonly founded
on falfe faéts and falfe reafoning. Schlofler’s journal contains for the moft part only re-
cords, to which he fometimes adds fhort notes, always interefting, and fometimes very
fevere, but for the collection of which future hiftorians will be obliged to him, Falfe
facts fometimes flip in, but thefe are generally rectified in the courfe of time; and upon
the whole, there is no work from which a man may gather the prefent {tate of politics,
particularly thofe of one part of Germany, fo well as from this. It contains numerous
lifts of the population and income of many German {tates, and alfo of their agriculture
and induftry. As Mr. Schloffer is particularly bent on hunting down the follies and ful-
tanifm of German princes, together with abfurdities, barbarity, and monkifm, he is not
wanting in interefling anecdotes, which often give occafion to {till more interefting ex-
planations. ‘This journal may indeed be confidered as one of the fureft bars again{t the
tyranny of the leffer princes of Germany: And it is certainly known that it has produced
reat efiects in feveral courts. Perfons of the firft rank, and often princes themfelves,
fendthe author papers. ‘The plan of this journal is as advantageous to the editor as it is
to the public. [t fupports itfelf by the contributions of ftrangers, and is not odious by
any felfith or party remarks of the editors ; all works of knowledge are acceflible to the
I author,
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
