LETTER X.
SIR,Carlsbad, October 10, 1729.
When I took leave of the Court of Anspach, I was honour'd with a precious mark of the Margravine's Goodness, viz. a weighty Gold Medal; and now I am again upon my Journey. I was not many hours in travelling from Anspach to Nuremberg, thro' a Country extremely sandy, but very well cultivated, and interspers'd with considerable Villages which in our Country wou'd be reckon'd Towns.
So much has already been said by others of the City of Nuremberg, that I have very little to add to it. I assure you this Town is the most disagreeable Place in Europe to live in. The Patricians are the People of the first Rank there, and lord it like the petty Nobles of Venice. The Government here too has very great Resemblance with the Venetian, and they have a sort of Doge. In short they are very much like the Frog in the Fable that strove to swell it self to the Size of the Ox. Of these Patricians some are very rich, but they are so rude that no body visits them, and they scarce visit one another. Perhaps you will ask me what I mean by the Term Patricians? 'Tis this; they are Gentlemen:
There are Patrician Families old enough to dispute Antiquity with any of the Nobility whatsoever, and who were formerly admitted into all the Chapters. But now the case is otherwise; for the Nobility not only exclude them out of the Chapters, but dispute their being Gentlemen; pretending that they derogate from the Title by their Magistratical Offices. Such is, you know, our Germanic Vanity; the things which are honourable in other Countries, are with us diminutive: The Court, the Sword, and the Church, are the only Professions that a Gentleman can follow: If he has not the Talents proper for one or other of these, or if Fortune frown upon him, he had better be out of the World than take any Offices of the Magistracy upon him, or enter into Trade: He had better beg Alms nobly than marry beneath himself. But I shall not here set up for a Censor of the Germanic Customs. Let us talk of Nuremberg. This City has 6 Gates, 12 Conduits, and 118 Wells. Of the Churches St. Laurence's is the biggest: There's a great many Reliques in it, particularly a part of the Manger in which our Saviour was laid, a piece of his Garment, and three Links of the Chains which bound St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John. As the Lutherans make no great account of those Reliques, they wou'd do well to give them to some poor Catholic Convent, which would thereby soon be enrich'd.
You know that the Government here is altogether Evangelical, i. e. Lutheran. The Catholics have a small Church in the House of the Teutonic Order: The Calvinists go to the Church in the Territory of Anspach; but the Jews are not tolerated because 'tis said they formerly poisoned the Wells. They live in a Place not far from Nuremberg, but come to Town every Morning, paying something for their Entrance, have an old Woman set over
them, who is commonly both their Guard and their Guide, and are permitted to trade and trick wherever they can till Night, when they are obliged to retire.
In the Church of the Hospital is kept Charlemain's Crown, said to weigh fourteen Pounds, the Sceptre and the Globe, in short all the Ornaments of Empire except Charlemain's Sword said to have been brought from Heaven by an Angel, the same very likely that carry'd the holy Vial and the Oriflamb to France. That Sword is kept at Aix la Chapelle.
The Trade of Nuremberg is very much fallen off; for besides that the Toys and Knick-knacks which were formerly made in this City are much out of fashion, especially in Germany, the Manufactures which the Margraves of Bareith and Anspach have settled in their Dominions do considerable Prejudice to Nuremberg.
The Inhabitants of this City may be, (at least I think 'em so) the honestest People in the World, but they are the most horrible Complimenters that I know. I cou'd not set my Foot in a Shop, but the Master, the Mistress, the Children and the Apprentices waited on me into the very Street, than king me for the Honour I had done them. My Landlord too, who saw me go in and out twenty times a day, receiv'd me always with great Ceremony, and ask'd me how I did. And when I went out he pray'd me not to leave his House long in Contempt, without honouring it with my Presence.
Nuremberg is the richest and most potent Imperial City next to Hambourg. The Domain of Nuremberg is even much larger than that of Hambourg, but the latter bears the Bell for Wealth. 'Tis said that Nuremberg has seven other Towns in its Territory, with 480 Villages and Parishes. Yet for
all this 'tis not a rich City; for the Patricians pocket all the Money, and the Citizens are poor.
Next Day after my Arrival at Nuremberg I set out for Christian-Erlangen, a Town in the Margraviate of Brandenbourg-Bareith, which owes its flourishing State to a Colony of French People who fled out of France on account of their Religion.
Forty Years ago Erlangen was but a little Village in the middle of a Forest of Fir-Trees. The Margrave Christian giving shelter to the French who left their Country after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz, assign'd them Erlangen to settle in. When they cut down the Woods they built the Town, to which they gave the Name of Christian-Erlangen, in Memory of Christian their Benefactor. All the Streets are in a strait Line. The French have set up all sorts of Manufactures here, and have made it one of the prettiest Towns of Germany. Madame[83] Elizabeth-Sophia of Brandenbourg, second Daughter of the Elector Frederic-William, and third Wife of the Margrave Christian Founder of Erlangen, caus'd a very handsome Palace to be built in the great Square of this City, to which there are noble Gardens. 'Tis at present occupy'd by Sophia of Saxe-Weissenfels, Widow of the last Margrave of Bareith. This Princess was to have dwelt at Neustadt, which was settled on her for her Dowry; but as 'tis a lonesome, melancholy, scoundrel Place, the Margrave Regent was willing she should live at Erlangen. The Margravine Dowager was one of the most beautiful Princesses in the World, of which she still preserves the fair Remains, and none can have an Air more grand. She lives
at Erlangen with all the Dignity becoming her Rank. Foreigners are very well received at her Court, and particularly by the Princess herself, who for Politeness has few Equals.
From Christian-Erlangen I went in less than a Day to Bamberg, tho' I stay'd two or three Hours at Forcheim a Place in the Bishoprick of Bamberg, whose Buildings appear'd to me to be old and out of repair.
The Bishoprick of Bamberg is the first Bishoprick of the Empire. The Bishop is Suffragan to no Archbishop. He depends only as to Spirituals upon the Holy See, and receives the Pall as an Archbishop. He has moreover this Distinction, that the Electors are his great Officers as they are those of the Empire, and he has the Privilege of summoning them to come and do the Duties of their Offices on the Day of his Installation. I have not heard that any Bishop ever made use of this mighty Prerogative, for the Retinue which those great Officers would bring along with them might be a Charge to him. The great Privileges which this Prelate enjoys are counter-balanc'd by one Mortification; for if the Electors happen to chuse an Emperor who has no Dominions, the Bishop of Bamberg would be oblig'd to yield him his Episcopal City and Palace. 'Tis said that the Emperor has the same Right to Rome, and that if he should chuse that ancient City of the World for his Residence, the Pope wou'd be oblig'd to yield him the Palace of the Vatican and to retire to that of St. John de Lateran. But I really think that the Holy Father and the Bishop of Bamberg will not be so soon turn'd out.
The late Elector of Mentz, Lotharius-Francis de Schonborn, who was also Bishop of Bamberg, embellish'd the City with a new Episcopal Palace, a great and stately Building that stands on an Eminence,
from whence there is an extensive Prospect of various Beauties.
The City of Bamberg is very well built, and has beautiful Churches. Herein is to be seen the Tomb of the Emperor Henry II. and his Wife the Empress Cunegonda. This Princess lies at the right hand of her Husband, because she kept her Virginity to her Death. Was not this abusing the Sacrament of Marriage?
The Bishop who fills the Episcopal See of Bamberg is Frederic-Charles, Count de Schonborn, Vice-Chancellor of the Empire. This Prelate being Minister of State to the Emperor commonly resides at Vienna, and is now there, so that I have nothing to say to you of his Court; but I reckon I shall be able to give you some Account of him after I have paid my Respects to him at Vienna.
The Neighbourhood of Bamberg is very agreeable, but as one comes to it from Nuremberg thro' a certain Forest of Fir-Trees, it strikes a Man with Horror to find an Avenue to it a quarter of a League in length form'd by Wheels and Gibbets. This, at first sight gives a Stranger no very great Idea of the Honesty of the People; but he is of another Opinion when he comes to know that these expos'd Malefactors are for the most part Foreigners. The Bishoprick of Bamberg is contiguous to seven or eight different States, and the Town it self lies in the greatest Road of all Germany, which is the Reason that 'tis so infested by Rogues from all Quarters. In the time of the Elector of Mentz, Bamberg was their Ne plus ultra, for that Prince gave them no Quarter: Being an Enemy to Wickedness, and one of the greatest Justiciaries that we have had in Germany, he sent all to the Gallows that deserv'd Hanging.
About a League out of the Town the Bishop has a charming Pleasure-House; but there is nothing in
all Germany more magnificent than the Castle of Pommersfelden belonging to the Count de Schonborn, which is three Leagues from Bamberg. Francis Lotharius de Schonborn Elector of Mentz caus'd this stately Fabric to be built, the whole of which forms a great Body of Building flank'd by two Pavilions with two advanc'd Wings. The whole is regularly built, and decorated with well-fancy'd Architecture. The Entry is supported by several Colonnades, where the first thing that presents it self is the grand Stair-Case, which is extraordinary magnificent, and perhaps one of the best contrived in Europe. This Entry leads into a Salon which serves as a Passage to the Garden; 'tis in form of a Grotto adorn'd with several Fountains, Columns, and Statues of Marble: The Cieling is painted as well as the Sky-Light of the Stair-Case, and the Arches of the principal Apartments. They are all painted by Hands that the Elector sent for on purpose from Italy. I don't give you the Particulars of the great Salon, nor of the Apartments, because it would take up a Volume. The whole are laid out with Art, and furnish'd with great Choice, Judgment and Splendor.
The Stables answer exactly to the Castle which they front. They are built in form of a Half-Moon with a Pavilion in the middle, which is an oval Salon, from both Sides of which you see all the Horses. The Mangers are of Marble in form of Shells, and the Racks of Iron neatly wrought in form of a Basket or Scuttle.
The Salon in the middle of the two Stables is painted in Fresco, and looks one way to the Court, and the other to the Riding-House, where the Elector us'd to see the Horses manag'd belonging to the Studs of his Bishoprick near Bamberg, one of the best in Germany.
The Gardens of Pommersfelden are very answerable to the Magnificence of the Buildings: In a
word, every Thing belonging to this fine House is worthy of it. The Builder of it had sublime Ideas: He spared no Cost to leave Monuments of his Grandeur and Wealth to Posterity, and has made a House of Pommersfelden which really surpasses some Royal Palaces. But 'tis time to take you out of this fine Place and to carry you back to Bamberg.
There is a good Number of the Nobility settled in this Town. The Chapter consists of Persons of Quality: It has the Right of chusing the Bishop; and 'tis he who governs in the Absence of the Prince. Such a Resort as here is of the Nobility makes the Time pass away agreeably; but they drink as hard here as at Fulde and Wurtzbourg, so that it looks as if Drinking was an inseparable Function of the Ecclesiastical Courts. Having some Relations in this Town I stay'd there three Days, during which I had the Pleasure of Drinking every Day with one of my Cousins out of a great Goblet of solid Gold which weigh'd to the Value of a thousand Ducats. You can't imagine how well the Wine went down out of a Cup of that Value. I heartily wish'd that my Cousin wou'd have dealt by me as Joseph did by Benjamin, and that he had put up his Cup in my Portmanteau, provided he wou'd not have sent to fetch me back again, as the Governour of Egypt did his Brother; but this was what my dear Cousin did not think fit to do. He made me drink my Skin-full of Wine, and only wish'd me my Pockets full of Gold.
From Bamberg I went to Bareith the Residence of the Margrave of Brandenbourg. The elder of the two Branches of that Family settled in Franconia. John George Elector of Brandenbourg divided his Dominions between his three Sons: He left the Electorate with its Appendages to his eldest Son, and gave the Margraviate of Culmbach to Christian his second Son, and that of Anspach to his third Son.
Christian form'd two Branches, that of Bareith and that of Culmbach. The Branch of Bareith became extinct in 1726, by the Death of George-William, whose Widow lives at Erlangen. George-Frederic-Charles Margrave of Culmbach his Cousin, succeeded him. This Prince has five Children, viz. two Princes[84] and three Princesses[85]. He marry'd Dorothy of Holstein-Beck at Berlin in 1709. I had then the Honour to see him: He was a Prince of a noble Aspect, very civil, good-natur'd, and temperate, and a Lover of Books and Men of Learning. He did an Act of Generosity that perhaps is not to be parallel'd, and which I relate to you as the most authentic Testimony that can be of his Good-nature and Integrity.
His Predecessor had left an empty Exchequer and a great many Debts; and the Margrave at his Accession to the Regency was oblig'd to pay the King of Prussia 460000 Florins, upon condition that his Majesty wou'd renounce any Pretensions he might have to the Margraviate, by virtue of the Resignation of all Rights to the Succession which had been made by the Margrave of Culmbach his Father, in favour of Frederic I. King of Prussia. To raise this Sum on People already overburden'd by the common Taxes, was to seek their Ruin. The Margrave in pity of their miserable Condition, chose rather to borrow this Money of the States of the Circle of Franconia at great Interest. When he found himself in peaceable possession of his Dominions by the Payment made to the King of Prussia, he undertook to pay off not only his own, but the Debts of his Predecessor. To enable himself to do
this, he began by turning off his Court, kept but a small Number of Counsellors and Gentlemen, and disbanded 3000 Men of the Troops which the late Margrave kept in pay to no purpose. He reduc'd his Table to the greatest Frugality; his Clothes were plain, and he avoided Magnificence and Gaming. Some time after this, he made another Reform in his House, and kept up but a very small Number of Domestics. He establish'd a Council of Regency, and to save the Expence which his Rank as a Sovereign would have engag'd him in whether he wou'd or not, he left his Dominions, and went to live incognito with the Hereditary Prince his Son at Geneva. I believe that both of them are actually at Montpellier[86]. He is resolv'd not to return to his Dominions till all his Debts are paid off. Mean time his Subjects wish for his Return with Impatience, for he has such a Kindness for them, and governs them with such mildness that they look on him as their Father and Benefactor. This Retirement of the Margrave from the Splendors of Sovereignty is the more to be commended because 'tis absolutely voluntary: He was not at all oblig'd to pay the Debts of his Predecessor; for they were of such a Nature as not to be rank'd among the Debts of the Government. Nevertheless it was his Pleasure to do it, and he chose rather to abridge himself of the Charms of Sovereignty than that People, whose Faith in the Government had made them part with their Money, shou'd lose their Debts. Such a glorious Action as this, is in my Judgment equal to the Laurels of twenty Victories: This was owing to his Virtue, whereas Victory is generally the Consequent of Chance and Fortune.
You will easily imagine that while the Sovereign is absent this City is not very gay. It appear'd
to me the more melancholy because I had seen it in the time of the late Margrave, at whose Court there was continual Feasting and Jollitry.
The City of Bareith is inferior to Erlangen. The Margrave's Palace is a great old Pile, but not very commodious, and meanly furnish'd. This Prince has a very pretty House, a League from Bareith, call'd the Hermitage, which was built by Order of the late Margrave.
It stands in the middle of a thick Wood, in which there are a great many Pavilions built, without any Symmetry indeed, but very ingeniously contriv'd within for the Use to which they serve. When the late Margrave came to the Hermitage, he and his whole Court were in the Dress of Hermits. There were certain Hours in which the Hermit Brothers went to pay a Visit to the Hermit Sisters, who liv'd in the Pavilions. The Brothers and Sisters who gave each other Collations, were subject to certain Rules from which they could not be dispensed but by the Remission of the Superior of either Sex, who were then the Margrave, and his Lady the Margravine. In the Evening they met again in the Hall of the Castle, where they supp'd; and that every thing might be done according to the Rules, at the beginning of the Supper certain Verses were read, or some little Story compos'd by one or other of the Hermit Brothers; then Silence was broke, and every one gave his Opinion upon what had been read, upon which there ensued a general Conversation. The Supper held till pretty late, and was commonly followed with a Ball. No body could be admitted into the Order without the general Consent of the Chapter. And the Superior himself had no Right but to propose such as were Candidates for Admission. To give you all the Statutes of this Society, would be too tedious; besides I should be afraid of adding or diminishing
to them, because I only have them from Tradition.
The Margrave has a Mother still alive, viz. Sophia-Christina Countess of Wolffenstein, who lives at Copenhagen with her Daughter the Princess Royal[87] of Denmark. The King of Denmark grants her the Title of Royal Highness, and causes the same Honours to be paid to her as to the Princesses of his Family.
The Margrave has also three Brothers and two Sisters. The eldest of the Brothers is a Major-General and Colonel of Foot in the Service of the Emperor, and the two others are in the Service of Denmark. The two Princesses are marry'd, one to the Prince Royal of Denmark, the other to George-Albert Prince of East-Friesland. So that the intire Family of Brandenbourg-Culmbach consists of Princes and Princesses to the number of twelve.
The Revenues of this Margrave are pretty near the same as those of the Margrave of Anspach. His Fortress is the Castle of Plassenberg.
From Bareith I came in two Days to Carlsbad, a Place of Fame for its hot Waters, of which there are two Sorts differing from one another both in Strength and Heat. They derive their Source from the middle of a River form'd by Torrents from the neighbouring Mountains, whose Waters are extremely cold; yet they make not the least Alteration in the heat of the Mineral Waters. They are said to be very wholesome for all sorts of Maladies, particularly for the Gravel, and for the Barrenness of Women. M. Hofman, a celebrated Professor of Physic at Hall, has published a Treatise, wherein he examines the nature of those Waters, and prescribes how they ought to be used. The Manner is very disagreeable; you are obliged to be shut up in a Room, and be the Weather ever so
hot, the Stove must be heated, you must be tormented by taking off two or three Pots of Water, which are almost equal to thirty Chocolate Cups; besides walking about very much, and sweating great Drops.
To make amends for the Fatigue of the Morning, there is good Company to be seen here all Day long; for Abundance of Strangers come to Carlsbad, particularly the Nobility of Bohemia and Austria. There are publick Walks and a great Room adjacent, where they play, dance and walk till the Evening. They who love to live by Rule retire without Supper.
Whoever would be well accommodated at Carlsbad must carry three things thither with him, his own Bed, Wine, and Cook; tho' a Foot-boy may serve for the Cook, because one is generally invited by the Bohemian or Austrian Noblemen, who always keep a great Table, and love Company to dine with 'em.
The Inhabitants of Carlsbad are generally Armourers, who work very neat and vastly cheap. At the Season for using the Waters, Merchants flock hither from all Parts, and Carlsbad is superior to many great Towns. I had a great deal of Amusement during the two different Seasons that I pass'd there, and I contracted a World of good Acquaintance, who, I hope, will be of Service to me at Prague, for which Place I propose to set out to-morrow. I am, &c.
