thought fit to rise. She fell on her Knees to Streithorst; but the hard-hearted Officer was deaf to her Cries, and conducted her to a place of Security where she is closely confin'd, and like to be a Prisoner as long as the Duke lives.
LETTER XVII.
SIR,Carlsrouhe, Feb. 15, 1730.
I Deny that any Man can be happier than I am at this Juncture. You have wrote an excellent long Letter to me; you assure me that you are well, and that you have still an Affection for me; what more is there wanting to compleat my Joy? I am preparing to make you the best amends I can, and instead of a Letter to write you a Volume.
I came in one Day from Ludwigsbourg to Carlsrouhe, which is the Residence of the Margrave of Baden-Dourlach. The Name Carlsrouhe signifies Charles's Rest. The present Margrave Charles of Baden-Dourlach was the very Man that laid both the Plan and Foundation of this City, and its Castle. Nothing is so pretty as the Disposition of the whole: I wish I were able to give you an Idea of it. Imagine the Margrave's House to be at the Entrance of a great Forest, in the Center of a Star form'd by thirty two Walks, the chief of which behind the Palace is three German Leagues in length. Two large Wings advance from the main
Body of the House, which deviating from each other in proportion as they lengthen, the whole together looks like a Theatre. Behind the principal Building there's a very high Octogon Tower which commands all the Walks. The Space between the two Wings forms the Court, and then come the Gardens and Parterres, at the end of which there's a Semi-Circle of Houses of an equal Height, built Arch-wise, and three Stories high including the Ground-Floor. Between these Houses there run five Streets, the middlemost of which fronts the Palace. At the end of the three chief Streets opposite to the Palace are three Churches; one belonging to the Lutherans, another to the Calvinists, and a third to the Roman Catholics; to which three prevailing Religions of the Empire the Margrave gave equal Liberty of Conscience when he founded the new Town.
The chief part of the Town lies behind the Houses that front the Palace. This properly speaking consists but of one Street, which is of a prodigious Length. All these Houses as well as the Margrave's are of Timber, so that you are not to look for fine or substantial Buildings at Carlsrouhe; but the Contrivance and Distribution of the whole taken together is really wonderful. I took the Freedom to tell the Margrave that I was surpriz'd that he had not at least employ'd Brick in the building of his Palace, and of the Houses which form the Half-Moon about his Gardens. 'I was wil'ing, said the Prince, to make myself a Place of Retirement, and to build without putting the Burthen on my Subjects. I chose moreover to have the Comfort of enjoying what I built. If I had us'd Bricks it wou'd have cost me a great deal more Money; and I cou'd not have finish'd my Buildings without laying an extraordinary Impost upon my Country. It wou'd have taken me up
abundance of Time too, and perhaps I shou'd never have had the Satisfaction of seeing an end to my Labours. Another Reason was, that my Country is so scituate as to be liable to be the Theatre of Wars, and I am not in a Condition to make this a strong Place, nor cou'd I encompass it with Walls. Do you think therefore that I shou'd have been justified in laying out a great deal of Money on a Place to see it burnt down before my Face, as I did my House at Dourlach, and my other Houses which the French reduc'd to Ashes. I am but a petty Sovereign; I have built a House according to my Condition, and I had rather it shou'd be said of me that I have but a mean Habitation, and owe no Money, than that I have a stately Palace and am over Head and Ears in Debt.'