I am, &c.
LETTER VII.
SIR,Gotha, Sept. 9, 1732.
I set out from Weimar at 5 o'clock in the Morning, and by eight was at Erfurt, where I walk'd about an Hour, and came at Noon to Gotha.
'Tis all a flat Country abounding with Corn. In time of Rain the Roads are so bad that sometimes it takes up a whole Day to come from Erfurt to Gotha. Erfurt is a City belonging to the Elector of Mentz, is the Capital of Thuringia, and may be rank'd among those of the second Class in Germany. Its Inhabitants are almost all Lutherans, yet the principal Churches belong to the Catholics. Erfurt is fortified with good Ramparts, and by a Castle on a Hill which absolutely commands the Town. There is always a good Garison in the Place, which consists of the Emperor's Soldiers and those of Mentz; and the Elector has a Governor here with the Title of Stadtholder, who presides in the Regency.
Gotha, which is not near so big as Erfurt, is a City situate in the middle of a fine fruitful Plain, so that which way soever one approaches it, one always perceives the Castle or Palace of the Duke, which stands on an Eminence by itself, and has a Prospect of a vast Extent of Country. This Castle, which is one of the biggest in Germany, was built by Ernest Duke of Gotha, surnamed the Pious; who
caused both that and the Town to be encompassed with Ditches and Ramparts. To the Glory of this Prince, he undertook and finished these Great Works, at a time when Germany was so impoverished by intestine Wars that few of its Princes were able to erect Palaces[73].