December xxiii.
This morning I take the post waggon for Brunswick, which is seated on the same river as Wolfembutel, in a watry plain, having a large extent, but narrow streets, and houses of the old fashion almost intirely of wood, most of which have a date over the door of three or four hundred years standing. The stadthouse is of the same or greater antiquity, and adorned with a variety of statues on the outside. The town is fortified, but neither with great regularity nor strength. The castle is the residence of the Duke, being an old decayed building. I staid here from nine in the morning till three in the afternoon, where I found the mum, for which this place is so celebrated, not so good, as that they export for sale. It is made only of malt well brewed, and the liquor boiled a second time in an equal quantity of the same. However the art is peculiar to this place, and cannot be imitated at Wolfembutel, tho it is so very near. Nor, on the other hand, can the excellent beer of Wolfembutel be equal’d here. They are likewise famous for a large sort of sausage, which is made of raw meat and spices.
At three a clock I depart for Hanover by the way of Peine, with an intention, as is here the custom, to travel all night. In the way betwixt seven and eight a clock (which at this time of the year had been entirely dark, unless for the benefit of the moon) the post horses tired in an open feild, and refused to stir a step farther; by which means we were detained above an hour, till the postilion procured others from a neighbouring village. I was then in company of an Italian man and a French woman, whose company somewhat relieved the affliction of this accident. By twelve a clock we reach Peine, and after half an hour’s refreshment the Italian and I proceed for Hanover, thro a wide and watry common.