RIESBECk’s TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
144
the arms of the country on it; you meet with an entirely different agriculture, a differ-ent people, and a different language. I now, for the firft time, heard the commonpeople fpeak intelligible German, for throughout Bavaria, Suabia , and Auftria, theyfpeak a jargon, which a man, who has learned the language of a language-tnafter, hasthe utmoft difficulty to underhand. I am now, for the firft time, really in Germany ;only a very fmall part of the country I have hitherto travelled through, to wit, the fm illdrip of land which is betwixt the Danube and the Rhine in Suabia , made paT of thatold Germany , the inhabitants of which were fo formidable to the Romans; the remain-der is all conquered country, which at that time was called Vindelicia, Rhaetia , and■Pannonia. In the times of Pepin and Charlemagne the limits of Germany were con-fined even on this fide; for as the Sclavonians had before driven the Burgundians, Sua-bians, and other German nations over the Elbe , thefe now poffeffed themfelves of theirhabitations, and drove the inhabitants of Germany , who lived in the diftrifis of Mentzand Rheims , into Gaul. The nations were like a row of balls, the mod eaftern ofwhich was ftruckand drove the others forward in fucceffion. In modern times, that is,-ever fnce Luther, Saxony has been looked on as one of the firft provinces of Germany ,in every fenfe of the word. In regard to- literature particularly, the Saxons were to thered of the Germans , what the Florentines were fome centuries ago to the other people
of-. Biit I am going too fait, you Ihall know all this in due time; I mud
fird tell you how I got here, and what was the face of the country through which Icame.
The part of Bohemia, through which our way from Prague hither lay, feems infi-nitely richer and more beautiful than that betwixt Prague and Audria. The agricul-ture, like the country itfelf, is more varied, the people live clofer together and feetn tobe happier. Kills, woods, plains, and vales, form an agreeable contrad with each other-,and the vine, which is not to be feen elfewhere on this fide Prague , here covers theTides of the hills.
We law the well wooded peak of the Ertzgiberge , the highed fummit of which parts-Saxony and Bohemia . Thefe hills are but of a very moderate height, and if they makea refpeftabld appearance here, it is only becaufe, from hence to the mouth of the Elbe and the eadern lea, there is no other remarkable hill to be feen. The people who comeup here from the low lands, and for the fird time of their lives fee a hill which defervesthe name, make a great fhout, and think that they have feen the pededal of heaven ;jud fo in Bohemia , the Riefengcberge is indebted for its reputation to the finall notionwhich thole who have brought it into repute have of hills; and thus it may formerlyhave been with Atlas, Olympus, Othos, Parnaffus, and the other hills fo noted indiftory.
Moore, who travelled this road before me, afferts that there is a great difference inpoint of natural fertility, betwixt the borders of Saxony and the borders of Bohemia ,-to the advantage of the former ; I have found the direfi contrary. It is certain, thatthe foil of Bohemia is by nature much richer than any part of Saxony , which it fupplies•with great part of its provifions. The circle of Leutmerifler in particular, throughwhich , the common road paffes, is uncommonly productive, nor-is there any part of Sax-ony that can bear a companion with it; but then, cn the other hand, the improveddate of agriculture is vifible, as foon as you let your feet on Saxon ground. One needonly look round to be convinced that the conditution of Saxony'is infinitely more fa-vourable to indudry and agriculture than that of Bohemia . The Saxon fanner fhewsmore underdanding and reflefiion in the management of his land than the Bohemianone does, and every thing about him atteds that he is no Have.
Drefden