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"Bonne, 24th March.
"This is about six leagues from Cologne, a pleasant well-built little town, upon the banks of the Rhine, and is the seat of the archbishop. We have bestowed half a day in visiting his palace, which is an extensive magnificent building; and he is certainly the best lodged prince in Europe except the King of France. For, besides this palace, and a sort of Maison de Plaisance near it, (the most elegant thing in the world,) he has also two country houses very magnificent. He is the late emperor's brother; and is, as they say, a very fine gentleman;—a man of pleasure, very gallant and gay; he has always at his court a company of French comedians and Italian singers. And as he always keeps out of wars, being protected by the sacredness of his character, he has nothing to hope and nothing to fear; and seems to be the happiest prince in Europe. However, we could wish he took a little more care of his high-ways, even though his furniture, pictures, and building were a little less elegant. We are got into a country where we have no fires but stoves; and no covering but feather beds; neither of which I like, both of them are too warm and suffocating."
"Coblentz, 26th March.
"We have made the pleasantest journey in the world in two days from Bonne to this town. We travel all along the banks of the Rhine; sometimes in open, beautiful, well-cultivated plains; at another time sunk betwixt high mountains, which are only divided by the [250]Rhine, the finest river in the world. One of these mountains is always covered with wood to the top; the other with vines; and the mountain is so steep that they are obliged to support the earth by walls, which rise one above another like terraces to the length of forty or fifty stories. Every quarter of a mile, (indeed as often as there is any flat bottom for a foundation,) you meet with a handsome village, situated in the most romantic manner in the world. Surely there never was such an assemblage of the wild and cultivated beauties in one scene. There are also several magnificent convents and palaces to embellish the prospects.
"This is a very thriving well-built town, situated at the confluence of the Moselle and the Rhine, and consequently very finely situated. Over the former river there is a handsome stone bridge; over the latter a flying bridge, which is a boat fixed by a chain: this chain is fixed by an anchor to the bottom of the middle of the river far above, and is supported by seven little boats placed at intervals that keep it along the surface of the water. By means of the rudder, they turn the head of the large boat to the opposite bank, and the current of the river carries it over of itself. It goes over in about four minutes, and will carry four or five hundred people. It stays about five or six minutes and then returns. Two men are sufficient to guide it, and it is certainly a very pretty machine. There is the like at Cologne. This town is the common residence of the Archbishop of Treves, who has here a pretty magnificent palace. We have now travelled along a great part of that country, through which the Duke of Marlborough marched up his army, when he led them into Bavaria. 'Tis of this country Mr. Addison speaks when he calls the people—
And he adds that the soldiers were—
"If any foot soldier could have more ridiculous national prejudices than the poet, I should be much surprised. Be assured there is not a finer country in the world; nor are there any signs of poverty among the people. But John Bull's prejudices are ridiculous, as his insolence is intolerable."
"Frankfort, 28th March.
"Our road from Coblentz to this passes through a great many princes' territories; Nassau's, Hesse's, Baden's, Mentz, and this Republic, &c. and there is as great a diversity in the nature of the country. The first part of the road from Coblentz to Weis-Baden is very mountainous and woody, but populous and well-cultivated. In many places the snow is lying very thick. The road is disagreeable for a coach; sometimes you go along the side of a hill with a precipice below you, and have not an inch to spare; and the road hanging all the way towards the precipice, so that one had need to have a good head to look out of the windows. Nassau, the prince of Orange's capital, is but a village, and one of the most indifferent I have seen in Germany. Betwixt Weis-Baden and Frankfort we travel along the banks of the Maine, and see one of the finest plains in the world. I never saw such rich soil nor better cultivated; all in corn and sown grass. For we have not met with any natural grass in Germany.
"Frankfort is a very large town, well-built and of [252]great riches and commerce. Around it there are several little country houses of the citizens, the first of that kind we have seen in Germany; for every body, except the farmers, live in towns, and these dwell all in villages. Whether this be for company or protection, or devotion, I cannot tell. But it has certainly its inconveniences. Princes have also seats in the country, and monks have their convents; but no private gentleman ever dwells there. To-morrow we pass over the field of Dettingen. We saw Heighst [Hchst] to-day, where Lord Stair past the Maine, and was recalled. The post he took seems not so good as we have heard it represented. We saw General Mordaunt at Cologne, who was at the battle of Dettingen, and gave us an exact description of the whole, which we are to-morrow to compare with the field. Frankfort is a Protestant town."
"Wurtzburg, 30th March.
"The first town we come to after leaving Frankfort is Hanau, which belongs to the Landgrave of Hesse, and where there is a palace, that may lodge any king in Europe, though the Landgrave never almost lives there. Hanau is a very beautiful, well-built, but not large town, on the banks of the Maine. All the houses almost in Germany are of plaster, either upon brick or wood, but very neatly done, and many of them painted over, which makes them look very gay. Their peasants' houses are sometimes plaster, sometimes clay upon wood, two stories high, and look very well.
"Next post beyond Hanau is the village of Dettingen, where we walked out and surveyed the field of battle,[252:1] [253]accompanied with the postmaster, who saw the battle from his windows. Good God, what an escape we made there! The Maine is a large river not fordable; this lay on our left hand. On our right, high mountains covered with thick wood, for several leagues. The plain is not half a mile broad. The French were posted by Noailles with their right supported by the river and the village of Dettingen; their left by the mountains; on their front a little rivulet, which formed some marshes and meadows altogether impassable for the cavalry, and passable with difficulty by the infantry. Add to this, that their cannon, played in safety on the other side of the Maine, raked the whole plain before Dettingen, and took our army in flank. Noailles had past the bridge of Aschaffenbourg which was not broke down, and came up upon our rear; and our army was starving for want of provisions.
"Such an arrangement of circumstances, as it were contrived to ruin an army, a king and kingdom, never was before found in the world; and yet there we gained a victory, by the folly of Grammont, who past that rivulet, and met us in the open plain, before Noailles had come up. We were travelling in great security, notwithstanding two repeated informations that the French had past the Maine; the baggage of the army was betwixt the two lines; and when the first cannons were fired, Neuperg and Stair both agreed that it could be nothing but the French signal guns. But when they were certain that the affair was more in earnest, Stair said, 'Go to the king; I take nothing upon me.' Clayton said, 'I will take it upon me, to remove the baggage.' And it was he that made the little disposition that was made that day. The English behaved ill: the French worse, which gave us [254]the victory. But this victory so unexpectedly gained, we pushed not as we ought, by the counsel of Neuperg. What Lord Stair's whim was to advance to Aschaffenbourg, where he was twenty-five miles from Frankfort, the place of all his magazines, 'tis impossible to imagine. Surely he could advance no farther, as he must have been convinced had he reconnoitred the road. It runs over high mountains, and for twenty-five miles through the thickest woods in the world.
"There is a pass three or four miles beyond Aschaffenbourg, where no army could go with cannon and baggage. When we[254:1] came to the foot of it a trumpeter met us, who played a tune for joy of our safe arrival; and the like on our ascending the opposite hill. The woods beyond are the finest I ever saw. Wurtzburg is a very well-built town, situated in a fine valley on the Maine. The banks of the river are very high, and covered with vines. The river runs through the town, and is passed on a very handsome bridge. But what renders this town chiefly remarkable, is a building which surprised us all, because we had never before heard of it, and did not there expect to meet with such a thing. 'Tis a prodigious magnificent palace of the bishop who is the sovereign. 'Tis all of hewn stone and of the richest architecture. I do think the king of France has not such a house. If it be less than Versailles, 'tis more complete and finished. What a surprising thing it is, that these petty princes can build such palaces: but it has been fifty years a rearing; and 'tis the chief expense of ecclesiastics. The bishop of Wurtzburg is chosen from amongst the canons, who have a very good artifice [255]to exclude princes. 'Tis a rule, that every one at entering shall receive a very hearty drubbing from the rest: the brother of the elector of Bavaria offered a million of florins, to be exempted from the ceremony, and could not prevail."
