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