RIESBECIt’s TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY * l0 5

Amongft the former we may reckon the Hungarians , now properly fo called, theCumanians, the Seders and "the Yatfigers. Their manners and appearance plainlyfhew that they are of kin to the Calmucks, and defeendants of the old Scythians . Theirdeep eyes, angular cheek bones, and yellow fkins, diftinguifh them from the Sclavoni-cs, who befides are whiter, more flefhy, and ftouter built. There are feveral parts ofthe country in which both the races are continued pure and unmixed. ft he Sclavoniansconfift of Croats, Bohemians, (who originally are a branch of the Groats, ) Servians,Ruffians, and Wenden Polackers, There are befides German colonifts, but if theychoofe to poifefs lands, they mull buy their nobility for 2000 ducats, which make about .22,coo livres. Befides all thefe, there are Walachians, Bulgarians , Turks, Greeks,Armenians, Jews , and Gypfies, which laid are the richeft of all thefe foreigners.

* All thefe people, a few of the German colonifts only, and the higher nobility, whichis modelled after the fafhion of the court of Vienna , excepted, are (till in a barbarousftate.

Indeed it muff be owned that the court inftead of fucceeding in improving them, asit has done the reft of its fubjefts, has rather done them harm than good, by the at-tempts it has made for the purpofe. Whilft they were left to themfelves, they werewarlike, and like all the children of nature, whom a falfe policy has not fpoiled, open-hearted, hofpitable, frank, and fteady to their promifes. An old officer, who fpent hisyouth among the Croats , has allured me, that they are not to be known fince they havebeen disciplined ; for, inftead of being a trufty, fpirited, and generous foldiery, they arebecome a band of treacherous, tricking, cowardly robbers. “ I had much rather,” faidhe, “ have had to do with them when they were entirely undisciplined, and under, theinfluence only of their own laws and cuftoms. It is true they plundered both friendand foe when we went into the field, and committed every kind of depredation in thetowns where they were quartered; but thefe were the workings of a ftrong fenfual ap-petite, which did not prevent their being of the greateft fervice. They ufed to take themod dangerous out-pofts, in the very teeth of the enemy—never deferted—would fol-low their officers with the utmoft fidelity through any dangers—could faft many dayswithout making any complaints, and provided you. left them what they had ftolen, whichthey did not affedt to conceal, were indefatigable on a day of battle. The alterationwhich discipline has effe£led in them is, that they, indeed, {teal no longer openly, butthey fteal fecretly, and fteal from each other whenever they can; they have learned themethods of concealing their thefts, and are always making cabals againft their officers ;and though become too cowardly to defert when there is any danger attending defer-tion, they are fure to do it whenever they can with fafety. They grumble wheneverthey are kept two days embodied in the field, and never put on their uniform withoutcurling it. They look upon their overfeers as their enemies, and hate them. Formerlyit was an unheard of thing, for a Croat to go over to the Turks, but now they jointhem to the number of twenty and thirty, and plunder their native country. The famething is true with regard to the Sclavonians; and even the reft have been rather hurt;than bettered by regulations not adapted to their circumftances.”

What this gentleman faid from experience is conformable to true philofophy; for itis only by religion that you can ever be fuccefsful in civilizing a barbarian. Any otherattempt, any reftri&ion which tends to cure him of his vices, without fhewing him the

advantage of virtue to himfelf, only makes a motley compofition of the faults of the twoRates.

VOL. VI,

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LETTER.