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264 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
keeping them up, is evidently beyond the power of this court, or indeed of the whole
circle of the Upper Rhine united. They are, therefore, alfo to be looked upon as
one of the things, which ferve more for magnificence than real ufe.
Whilft the greater courts of Germany are endeavouring to fimplify their feveral
fyftems as much as poflible, and to introduce into their feveral adminiftrations, a {trong
and efficacious fpirit of ceconomy ; the diflipation, pomp, and love of outfide fhew of
the leffer ones, is beyond all bounds, and almoft furpafies all belief. Thefe courts very
much refemble the expenfive puppet-fhow theatre of Prince Efterazi, which I defcribed
to youina former letter ; the orcheftra is fine, the fcenes beautiful, and the poets and
machinery delectable ; but the actors are only puppets, deficient in what contftitutes
true greatnefs. Thefe petty princes want to make up for it, by fhining in little things,
an affectation which would only deferve ridicule, if it were not for the oppreflion of the
fubje&t. As things are circum{tanced, it is much too ferious a matter for a friend of
human nature to make merry with. This reproach, however, does not fo much af-
fed the prefent Archbifhop, who, as far as circumftances allow him, is perhaps the only
prelate who endeavours to render his court and ftate expences more ufeful than often-
tatious, as it does the neighbouring palatinate, through which I took a fortnight’s ram-
ble.
When I was at Munich, and faw there the ufelefs heap of court attendants, eunuchs,
dancers, fingers, gardens, and generals, I placed a great part of them to the account of
the laft Elector, and imagined the prefent had been unwilling to make any alterations,
not to render himfelf odious, which was the more to be avoided, as the acquifition of °
Bavaria had made his circumftances very good; but how furprifed was I, at my ar-
rival at Manheim, to find the fame tafte for magnificence, pleafure, and idle expence.
Would you believe, brother, that the court of Manheim, the revenue of which is not
above 3,200,000 Rhenifh guilders, lays out 200,000 of them annually on its opera and
mufic? Would you believe that the keeping up the Schweflingen gardens, {carce in -
ferior to thofe of Verfailles, is an annual expence of 40,000? and that the caftles of
Manheim and Schweffingen coft 60,000 guilders a year? that the hunt cofts 80,000,
and the {tables 100,000 guilders? that this court has eleven regiments, with a general
to each, which all together do not make above five thoufand five hundred men? not-
with{tanding the boafts of the fervants of the court, who, at the time of the difpute be-
tween their mafter, the Counts of Leinengen, and the city of Achin, fpoke of forty
thoufand men to be fent again{ft the Emperor, who threatened them with an execution,
and fifteen thoufand more ready to march again{t the city of Achin. I have already
told you, when fpeaking of Munich, that to make the puppet theatre complete, the two
or three fhips on the Rhine have a lord high admiral to them.
It is true indeed that the good Eletor isin a great meafure innocent of their exceflive
walte. His fervants bring him in falfe eftimates of his greatnefs, and flatter his weak-
nefs, in order to divide the plunder between themfelves.
The Palatinate is called the paradife of Germany. You will judge of its fruitfulnefs,
when I tell you that, exclufive of a great deal of wheat fold in the territories of Mentz
and Treves, and exported into Switzerland, it fupplies France every year with three
thoufand combs of grain. A comb is a meafure of one hundred and feventy pounds.
Befides corn, they abound in wine and tobacco. But what gives the greateft idea of
the profperity of the country, isa lift of the taxes, which was fhewed me by a collector.
I do not believe there is a fingle article, the air only which the people breathe ex-
cepted, which is not to be found among{t them. Some contributions, fuch as thofe
for the canal of Frankenthorn, dams on the Rhine, &c. which ought naturally to sr
ceafe
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