CHAP. XXVI.

GERMANY.

309

part are far from being in such affluent cir-cumstances as to allow of any great expenditurein articles of luxury. Whoever has been admittedto their hospitable but homely residences, whetherin the city or at their country castles, must haveremarked the small number and the light weight ofthe silver spoons, forks, or other articles of plate attheir tables, and the paucity of many of thosehousehold or personal ornaments and decorationswhich are to be seen in the dwellings of themiddle classes of society in England. There are,indeed, in Berlin several respectable manufacturersof silver goods and jewellery, and some watch-makers ; there are others at Dresden , Leipsic,Breslau, Munster, Elberfeld, Aix la Chapelle ,and Cologne, and in each of the other cities smallworkmen; but we are disposed to estimate theconsumption of the north of Germany , exclusiveof that of Hamburg , Frankfort, and other tradingcities, to be less, in proportion to the population,than in Austria, Bavaria , Wirtemburg, Baden,and the southern divisions of that country. In theHanse towns a great quantity of plate is manu-factured, and great display made of every articleof luxury which can ornament the persons or thedwellings of the prosperous merchants and others.These, however, bear but a small proportion tothe individuals of the countries surrounding them,from the supply of whose wants, and from the