49
RIESBECIc’s TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY .
linking and engaging. Here at once nature prefents the peculiarities of every- feafon,and the moft different climates. As long as the fummer lads, in the bottom of the val-ley the heat of Africa is felt; in the middle of the.mountain you enjoy the moderatetemperature of fpring ; and the top reminds you of Siberia . And how various are theforms, chains and heaps of mountains and hills !
Man reiembles his foil, unlefs education and fociety change him. 1 he peafant ofthis country bears the (lamp of nature upon him. His movements are quick, like theff ream in his wood ; he is boifterous in his pafltons, like the atmofphere; he breathesflrong as the oak which {hades him; and is faithful, firm and true as the rock whichbears his hut. 1 he life and variety of the feenes which nature offers him, render hishead richer in conceptions, and his heart warmer than it would be if he dwelt upon anuniform plain, and gave himfelf up to nature as he does here. His diftance from po-pulous places, and the fcattered fituation of the huts, which give him few opportunitiesfor diftraCtion from his own concerns, preferve his manners pure, difpofe him to reflec-tion, and make him more attentive to his own proper bufinefs. In his make, the ex-preffion of his countenance, his geftures and language, he has greatly the advantage ofthe Bavarian peafant. I regret inceffanrly that my want of fufficient fkiil in the provin-cial dialed! prevents my communing with thefe mountaineers, fo agreeably as I wifh todo. The unfpeakable opennefs of heart which they {hew, their frequent inftances ofgood-will and affedtion, together with the good humour and native pleafantry legible intheir looks, endear them at firft fight to every friend of humanity. Many of them ftillwear long beards, and thofe in the remoter parts thou every body, even their princes.The difeafe of the throat is not uncommon with them, though it be not fo prevalent asfome travellers choofe to report it. In general they are a very handfome fet of people.
The diminution made in the population and agriculture of thefe lands, by the emi-gration of the proteftants about fifty years ago, is not yet recovered. In this mafter-piece of bad government, the weaknefs of a prince, and the felfilh treachery of a minif-ter, were beyond meafure confpicuous. I have read over the papers which give'an ac-count of this wonderful event, to my great edification. Thofe are much deceived whoaferibe the caufe of this extraordinary commotion to religious principles, propagated inthefe mountains at the time of the reformation. From the writings before me, it ap-pears that very few had any diftinCt idea of the Augfburg or Helvetian confefiions offaith. Thefe may poffibly have contributed fomething; but moft of thefe new protef-tants became fo through reflection and difeourfes among themfelves, the caufes of whichwere furniflted by maxims felected from catholic fermons and religious books. Hadthey been allowed unlimited freedom of religion in. the country, they certainly wouldhave founded an intire new feCt, which would have had little refemblance to eitherCalvinifm or Lutheranifm. Moft of thofe who were heard judicially in their own de-fence, anfwered the queftion, “ Whether they would.confefs to the Lutheran or theCatholic church ?” direCtly, “ No, to neither of them. We believe, but not what ourcountrymen believe, but keep ourfelves merely to the feriptures.” Many circumstances,with which the reformers of the fixteenth century had no concern, occafioned a fort©f rebellion of men’s understandings. Peafants and mechanics became preachers intheir own houfes, or under fome tree in a fequeftered place. In fhort, we muft dothefe people the honour to fay, they were almoft entirely their own teachers. It waswhen they were obliged to feek foreign protection from the oppreffton of their ownlords, and enter into treaty with the King of Pruflia, that they declared themfelves of afeCt, which, by the treaty of Weftphalia, was privileged in the empire, and they did itbecaufe no other means could have fecured them from total oppreffion.
VOL. VI. II
The