"If any foot soldier could have more ridiculous national prejudices than the poet, I should be much surprised. Be assured there is not a finer country in the world; nor are there any signs of poverty among the people. But John Bull's prejudices are ridiculous, as his insolence is intolerable."
"Frankfort, 28th March.
"Our road from Coblentz to this passes through a great many princes' territories; Nassau's, Hesse's, Baden's, Mentz, and this Republic, &c. and there is as great a diversity in the nature of the country. The first part of the road from Coblentz to Weis-Baden is very mountainous and woody, but populous and well-cultivated. In many places the snow is lying very thick. The road is disagreeable for a coach; sometimes you go along the side of a hill with a precipice below you, and have not an inch to spare; and the road hanging all the way towards the precipice, so that one had need to have a good head to look out of the windows. Nassau, the prince of Orange's capital, is but a village, and one of the most indifferent I have seen in Germany. Betwixt Weis-Baden and Frankfort we travel along the banks of the Maine, and see one of the finest plains in the world. I never saw such rich soil nor better cultivated; all in corn and sown grass. For we have not met with any natural grass in Germany.
"Frankfort is a very large town, well-built and of
great riches and commerce. Around it there are several little country houses of the citizens, the first of that kind we have seen in Germany; for every body, except the farmers, live in towns, and these dwell all in villages. Whether this be for company or protection, or devotion, I cannot tell. But it has certainly its inconveniences. Princes have also seats in the country, and monks have their convents; but no private gentleman ever dwells there. To-morrow we pass over the field of Dettingen. We saw Heighst [Höchst] to-day, where Lord Stair past the Maine, and was recalled. The post he took seems not so good as we have heard it represented. We saw General Mordaunt at Cologne, who was at the battle of Dettingen, and gave us an exact description of the whole, which we are to-morrow to compare with the field. Frankfort is a Protestant town."
"Wurtzburg, 30th March.
"The first town we come to after leaving Frankfort is Hanau, which belongs to the Landgrave of Hesse, and where there is a palace, that may lodge any king in Europe, though the Landgrave never almost lives there. Hanau is a very beautiful, well-built, but not large town, on the banks of the Maine. All the houses almost in Germany are of plaster, either upon brick or wood, but very neatly done, and many of them painted over, which makes them look very gay. Their peasants' houses are sometimes plaster, sometimes clay upon wood, two stories high, and look very well.
"Next post beyond Hanau is the village of Dettingen, where we walked out and surveyed the field of battle,[252:1]
accompanied with the postmaster, who saw the battle from his windows. Good God, what an escape we made there! The Maine is a large river not fordable; this lay on our left hand. On our right, high mountains covered with thick wood, for several leagues. The plain is not half a mile broad. The French were posted by Noailles with their right supported by the river and the village of Dettingen; their left by the mountains; on their front a little rivulet, which formed some marshes and meadows altogether impassable for the cavalry, and passable with difficulty by the infantry. Add to this, that their cannon, played in safety on the other side of the Maine, raked the whole plain before Dettingen, and took our army in flank. Noailles had past the bridge of Aschaffenbourg which was not broke down, and came up upon our rear; and our army was starving for want of provisions.
"Such an arrangement of circumstances, as it were contrived to ruin an army, a king and kingdom, never was before found in the world; and yet there we gained a victory, by the folly of Grammont, who past that rivulet, and met us in the open plain, before Noailles had come up. We were travelling in great security, notwithstanding two repeated informations that the French had past the Maine; the baggage of the army was betwixt the two lines; and when the first cannons were fired, Neuperg and Stair both agreed that it could be nothing but the French signal guns. But when they were certain that the affair was more in earnest, Stair said, 'Go to the king; I take nothing upon me.' Clayton said, 'I will take it upon me, to remove the baggage.' And it was he that made the little disposition that was made that day. The English behaved ill: the French worse, which gave us