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.
272 iS RIESBECK’s TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
gaged in a game of billiards, from words procecde1 to blows, until the:prebend was
laid fairly under the table. When we had with tome difficulty made peace, the clerk
went his way, and now there followed another extraordinary {cene. ‘The canon had a
pretty young man with him, whom he had lodged and boarded for fome time. He
took it fo ill that this toad-eater had not taken his part, that after reproaching him with
the favours he had conterred on him, he renounced his friendfhip before us all. The
part of our abbés is played here by thefe regular canons, the Antonites, and the prietts
of the order of Malta. You fee them about the ladies in all the great houfes. As to
the nuns, there are four of them big with child at prefent, and fix are immured, for
not having under{tood the art of not being with child. In the firft days of my abode
here, the fon of a gentleman, to whom I was recommended, took me with him to a nun-
nery to vifit his filter. We found her with another friend in the fick room, where
they are allowed to receive vifits. In the firft quarter of an hour of the vifit, I dif
covered that my friend was not come to fee his filter, and that her friend’s diforder was
not very dangerous. I found the filter agreeable enough, not to be tired with her,
whilft the brother was entertained by the friend. ‘The next week the filter was ill,
and the friend attended her to the hofpital; fhe gratefully returned the favour the
week after, and I foon found that, let me ftay here as long as I pleafed, we fhould
have vifits to make every week, till the whole circle of difeafes kad been gone through
by the nuns, :
The want of proper government is the caufe of the illimited freedom, which is enjoyed
by the ecclefiaftics of this place. ‘They live in.the greatef anarchy; for though they
are properly fubje€&t to the controul of the Archbifhop of Cologne, the magiftracy of
the place is jealous of the Archbifhop’s power, and will fuffer none of his orders relating
to difcipline to be carried into execution. ‘Thus between the contention of the twe
owers, poor difcipline goes to the ground.
The latt third of the inhabitants confifts of fome patrician families, and of the mer-
chants’and mechanics, on whom the other two parts live. Upon the whole, Cologne is
at leaft a century behind the reft of Germany, Bavaria itfelf not excepted. Bigotry,
ill-manners, clownifhnefs, flothfulnefs, are vifible every where; and the {peech, dreis,
furniture of the houfes, every thing in fhort is fo different from what is teen im the reft of
Germany, that you conceive yourfelf in the middle of a colony of flrangers. I do not
mean to fay there are no exceptions, for I have been in fome houfes, the maiters of
which are diftinguifhed for their tafte and elegant manner of living; but the exceptions
are indeed very few.
It is owing to the government of the country that this city is fo far behind the other
ftatesof Germany. ‘Together with the hatred of innovation common to all republics,
and ufual impatience and weaknefs of the magiltrate, the abfurd corporation fyftem pre-
vails here with more force than in any other of the free imperial cities. I will only give
you one inftance, by which you will fee how impoflible it is for this town ever to go on
improving as the reft of Germany has done. A few years fince there fettled here
2 baker trom-the Palatinate, who, from the circumftance of the other bakers baking
fuch bread as,only an inhabitant of Cologne could eat, foon drove a thriving trade. Jea-
loufy of his good fortune foon brought his brethren of the company to his houfe, and
they pulled down his oven. ‘he affair was carried into a court of juftice. On the
day it was to be determined, not only the company of bakers, but the other compa-
nies of barbers, taylors, fhoemakers, &c. aflembled round the court-houfe, and {wore
they would put an end to the magiltrates and magiltracy together, if, by their licentious
decree, they allowed any man to bake better bread than the other gentlemen of the
corps.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
