The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume I / Being the Observations He Made in His Late Travels from Prussia thro' Germany, Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, England, &C. in Letters to His Friend. Discovering Not Only the Present State of the Chief Cities and Towns; but the Characters of the Principal Persons at the Several Courts.

by Freiherr von Karl Ludwig Pöllnitz

I rise at ten o'clock, my Lungs very much inflam'd with the Wine I drank the Night before: I take a large Dose of Tea, dress myself, and then go to make my Compliments to the Bishop. The Baron de Pechtelsheim the Marshal of the Court invites me to dine with the Prince: He promises, nay, and sometimes swears too that I shall not drink. At Noon we sit down to Table. The Bishop does me the honour to drink two or three Healths to me. The Baron de Zobel, Master of the Horse, and the Baron de Pechtelsheim, toast the same number to me, and I am under a necessity of drinking to no less than fourteen Persons at the Table; so that I am drown'd in Liquor before I have din'd. When the Company rises, I wait on the Prince to his Chamber-Door, where he retires, and I think to do the same, but I find an Embargo put upon me in the Antichamber by the Master of the Horse, and the Marshal of the Court, who with great Bumpers in their Hands drink the Prince's Health to me, and Prosperity for ever to the most laudable Chapter of Wurtzbourg. I protest to them that I am the

Bishop's most humble Servant, and that I have a very great Veneration for the most laudable Chapter, but that to drink their Healths wou'd destroy mine, and therefore I beg they wou'd excuse my pledging them; but I may as well talk to the Wind; these two Healths must be drank, or I shall be reckon'd no Friend to the Prince and his Chapter. If this were all my Task I shou'd be well off; but then comes M. de Zobel, one of the most intrepid Carousers of the Age, who squeezes me by the Hand, and with an Air and Tone of perfect Cordiality, says to me, You love our Prince so well that you can't refuse drinking to the Prosperity of the illustrious Family of Houtten. And when he has made this moving Speech, he takes off a great Glass to witness his Zeal for the Life of his Master; after which an officious Heyduke brings me a Glass, and being infected with the Goust that prevails at this Court, assures me that this Wine cannot possibly do me Harm, because 'tis the very same that the Prince drinks. By a Persuasion, founded on so just an Inference, I have the Courage to venture on t'other Glass, which is no sooner drank but I reel, and can drink no more; when in order to finish me M. de Pechtelsheim, one of the honestest Gentlemen living, but the staunchest Wine-bibber that I know, accosts me with a Smile and says, Come, dear Baron, one Glass more to better Acquaintance. I conjure him to give me Quarter, but he embraces me, kisses me, and calls me Herr Bruder, (his dear Brother.) How can a Man withstand such tender Compliments! At last I put myself in a fit Posture to run away; I sneak off, steal down the Steps as well as I can, and squeeze myself into a Sedan which carries me home; where my People drag me out like a dead Corpse, and fling me on a Bed, as if the next thing was to lay me out. I sleep three or four hours, awake in a perfect Maze, put myself

to rights again, and prepare to make Visits, or to receive them; but whichsoever I do, I presently find my self in such a pickle again, that I cannot walk alone. There's no such thing as Conversation here betwixt one Friend and another without the Bottle; so that I am tempted to think the Inhabitants of this City are descended from Silenus, and that the old Sot left them the Faculty of hard drinking for a Legacy, as St. Hubert bequeath'd to his Family the power of curing a Frenzy.

I din'd yesterday with the Reverend the Scots Benedictine Fryars, who gave me a hearty Welcome, and an excellent sort of Liquor call'd Stein Wein, or Stone-Wine, probably because it grows on a Rock; which is the only time that I have departed from the Regimen I keep to here, I mean that I was not drunk. The House of these Benedictines is one of the five Houses which form a sort of a Republic in their Order, and which, without depending on their General, chuse a President out of their number who has the direction of all their Affairs. These five Houses are in five different Towns, viz. at Vienna in Austria, at Ratisbon, Wurtzbourg, at Doway in Flanders, and at Dieulegarde, near Pont-a-Mousson in Lorrain.

These Benedictines put me in mind of the Reverend Fathers the Jesuits, who have a very fine House in this City: These are they who are Directors of the University, and instruct the Youth with a Zeal which cannot but confound their Enemies.

The Prince and Bishop lives in very great Splendor, and is one of the most powerful of our Spiritual Sovereigns. His Dominion includes seventy Bailywics, and his Country is the finest and fruitfullest in Germany. The only thing that is scarce here is Money, and this is owing to their want of Trade, and to the great number of Monks and

Priests who ingross all to themselves. The Bishop has 50000 Crowns a-year for his Privy-Purse. The Chamber is oblig'd to maintain him in every thing. It furnishes his Wardrobe, his Table, and pays his Houshold and his Troops, which actually consist of 3500 Men, who are commanded by General Eib, the Governour of Wurtzbourg. In time of War the Bishop has no less than 10000.

The Court is numerous, and I can assure you that upon Festival-Days 'tis very magnificent. On St. Quilian's Day, who is the Patron of Wurtzbourg and Franconia, the Bishop repairs with a great Train to the Metropolitan Church. Six of the Bishop's Coaches, drawn each by six Horses, begin the March, attended by twenty four Footmen and sixteen Pages; and above fourscore Gentlemen richly dress'd walk before the Bishop's Coach, guarded by two Files of Halbardiers. The Master of the Horse and the Marshal of the Court walk by the sides of the Coach, the latter bearing the Sword of the Duke of Franconia with the Point uppermost; and the Coach is surrounded by Heydukes, and followed by a company of Life-Guards.

The Bishop of Wurtzbourg has one Prerogative which the other Bishops have not; for while he officiates, his Great Marshal bears the Sword of the Duke of Franconia naked and upright till the Consecration of the Elements, and then he puts it up in the Scabbard, and carries it before the Prince with the Point downwards; which is a Distinction I take to be altogether as extraordinary as that of the Abbot and Count de Gemblours, the first Nobleman of the States of Brabant, who has the Privilege of celebrating Mass with his Boots and Spurs on.

The Bishop's ordinary Expence is perfectly suitable to the Dignity of a great Prince; and his