RIESBECk’s TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.

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keeping them up, is evidently beyond the power of this court, or indeed of the wholecircle of the Upper Rhine united. They are, therefore, alfo to be looked upon asone of the things, which ferve more for magnificence than real ufe.

Whilfl: the greater courts of Germany are endeavouring to Amplify their feveralfyftemsas much as poffible, and to introduce into their feveral adminiftrations, aftrongand efficacious fpirit of oeconomy ; the diffipation, pomp, and love of outfide fhew ofthe leflfer ones, is beyond all bounds, and almoft furpaffes all belief. Thefe courts verymuch refemble the expenfive puppet-ffiow theatre of Prince Efterazi, which I defcribedto you in a former letter ; the orcheftra is fine, the fcenes beautiful, and the poets andmachinery dele&able; but the a&ors are only puppets, deficient in what conftitutestrue greatnefs. Thefe petty princes want to make up for it, by fhining in little things,an affectation which would only deferve ridicule, if it were not for the oppreffion of thefubject. As things are cir'cumftanced, it is much too ferious a matter for a friend ofhuman nature to make merry with. This reproach, however, does not fo much af-fe£t the prefent Archbiffiop, who, as far as circumftances allow him, is perhaps the onlyprelate who endeavours to render his court and (late expences more ufeful than often-tatious, as it dpes the neighbouring palatinate, through which I took a fortnight’s ram-ble.

When I was at Munich , and faw there the ufelefs heap of court attendants, eunuchs,dancers, fingers, gardens, and generals, I placed a great part of them to the account ofthe laft Eledor, and imagined the prefent had been unwilling to make any alterations,not to render himfelf odious, which was the more to be avoided, as the acquifition ofBavaria had made his circumftances very good ; but how furprifed was I, at my ar-rival at Manheim, to find the fame tafte for magnificence, pleafure, and idle expence.Would you believe, brother, that the court of Manheim, the revenue of which is notabove 3,200,000 Rhenilh guilders, lays out 200,000 of them annually on its opera andmufic? Would you believe that the keeping up the Schweffingen gardens, fcarce in-ferior to thofe of Verfailles, is an annual expence of 40,000 ? and that the caftles ofManheim and Schweffingen coft 60,000 guilders a year ? that the hunt cofts 80,000,and the ftables 100,000 guilders? that this court has eleven regiments, with a generalto each, which all together do not make above five thoufand five hundred men ? not-withftanding the boafts of the fervants of the court, who, at the time of the difpute be-tween their mafter, the Counts of Leinengen, and the city of Achin, fpoke of fortythoufand men to be fent againft the Emperor, who threatened them with an execution,and fifteen thoufand more ready to march againft the city of Achin. I have alreadytold you, when fpeaking of Munich , that to make the puppet theatre complete, the twoor three {hips on the Rhine have a lord high admiral to them.

It is true indeed that the good Elector is in a great meafure innocent of their exceffivewafte. His fervants bring him in falfe eftimates of his greatnefs, and flatter his weak-nefs, in order to divide the plunder between themfelves.

The Palatinate is called the paradife of Germany . You will judge of its fruitfulnefs,when I tell you that, exclufive of a great deal of wheat fold in the territories of Mentzand Treves, and exported into Switzerland, it fupplies France every year with threethoufand combs of grain. A comb is a meafure of one hundred and feventy pounds.Befides corn, they abound in wine and tobacco. But what gives the greateft idea ofthe profperity of the country, is a lift of the taxes, which was fhewed me by a collector.I do not believe there is a Angle article, the air only which the people breathe ex-cepted, which is not to be found amongft them. Some contributions, fuch as thofefor the canal of Frankenthorn, dams on the Rhine , &c. -which ought naturally to have

ceafed