LETTER VIII.
SIR,Wurtzbourg, Sept. 22, 1729.
When I came hither I had the very great Pleasure to find your Letters, and to hear that you enjoy perfect Health. Continue, I beseech you, to write to me; that being the only Means by which you can persuade me what I wish to be convinced of more than any thing in the World, that my Letters are acceptable to you.
I have been in one of the most disagreeable Roads in all Germany; and tho' the Country abounds with Provisions of all sorts, I had like to have been famished in the Public Houses.
From Gotha, I went to Eysenach, thinking to pass a few Days at that Court, but I found the[78] Duke sick, and the Hereditary Prince and Princess[79] absent, so that I had only my Labour for my Pains.
As the Town of Eysenach offers nothing at all to View which is worth a Traveller's Attention, I set out the same Day for Fulde, where I arrived the next. You know, that this City is the Capital of the Principality of Fulde, the Sovereign of which is an Abbot, a Prince of the Empire, and Chancellor to the Empress. The present Sovereign is Adolphus Baron of Bahlberg, who was chose by the Chapter of the Abbey Church in 1726, in the room of Constantine Baron of Buthler, who died suddenly, and not without suspicion of Poison. Fulde is a dirty little Town open on all sides, and has nothing remarkable but the Abbey Church, and the Prince's Palace, which are two Freestone Buildings that make a very grand Appearance. The Apartments of the Palace are very richly furnish'd. The last Abbot being a Man of good Understanding and great Views, caused this Palace to be so adorn'd as to demonstrate the Wealth of the Abbey.