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"Ratisbon, 2d April.
"We were all very much taken with the town of Nuremberg, where we lay two nights ago; the houses, though old-fashioned, and of a grotesque figure, (having sometimes five or six stories of garrets,) yet are they solid, well built, complete, and cleanly. The people are handsome, well clothed, and well fed; an air of industry and contentment, without splendour, prevails through the whole. 'Tis a Protestant republic on the banks of a river, (whose name I have forgot,[255:1]) that runs into the Maine, and is navigable for boats. The town is of a large extent. On leaving Nuremberg we entered into the elector of Bavaria's country, where the contrast appeared very strong with the inhabitants of the former republic. There was a great air of poverty in every face; the first poverty indeed we had seen in Germany. We travelled also through part of the elector Palatine's country, and then returned to Bavaria; but though the country be good and well cultivated, and populous, the inhabitants are not at their ease. The late miserable wars have no doubt hurt them much. Ratisbon is a catholic republic situated on the banks of the Danube. The houses and buildings, and aspect of the people, are well enough, though not comparable to those of Nuremberg. 'Tis pretended that the difference is always sensible betwixt a Protestant and Catholic country, throughout all Germany; and perhaps there may be [256]something in this observation, though it is not every where sensible.
"We descend the Danube from this to Vienna; we go in a large boat about eighty foot long, where we have three rooms, one for ourselves, a second for the servants, and a third for our kitchen. 'Tis made entirely of fir boards, and is pulled to pieces at Vienna, the wood sold, and the watermen return to Ratisbon a-foot. We lie on shore every night. We are all glad of this variety, being a little tired of our berline."
"The Danube, 7th of April.
"We have really made a very pleasant journey, or rather voyage, with good weather, sitting at our ease, and having a variety of scenes continually presented to us, and immediately shifted, as it were in an opera. The banks of the Danube are very wild and savage, and have a very different beauty from those of the Rhine; being commonly high scraggy precipices, covered all with firs. The water is sometimes so straitened betwixt these mountains, that this immense river is often not sixty foot broad. We have lain in and seen several very good towns in Bavaria and Austria, such as Strauburg, Passau, Lintz; but what is most remarkable is the great magnificence of some convents, particularly Moelk, where a set of lazy rascals of monks live in the most splendid misery of the world; for, generally speaking, their lives are as little to be envied as their persons are to be esteemed.
"We enter Vienna in a few hours, and the country is here extremely agreeable; the fine plains of the Danube began about thirty miles above, and continued down, through Austria, Hungary, &c. till it falls into [257]the Black Sea. The river is very magnificent. Thus we have finished a very agreeable journey of 860 miles (for so far is Vienna from the Hague,) have past through many a prince's territories, and have had more masters than many of these princes have subjects. Germany is undoubtedly a very fine country, full of industrious honest people; and were it united, it would be the greatest power that ever was in the world. The common people are here, almost every where, much better treated, and more at their ease, than in France; and are not very much inferior to the English, notwithstanding all the airs the latter give themselves. There are great advantages in travelling, and nothing serves more to remove prejudices; for I confess I had entertained no such advantageous idea of Germany; and it gives a man of humanity pleasure to see that so considerable a part of mankind as the Germans are in so tolerable a condition."
"Vienna, 15th April.
"The last week was Easter week, and every body was at their devotions, so that we saw not the court nor the emperor and empress, till yesterday, when we were all introduced by Sir Thomas Robinson.[257:1] [258]They are a well-looked couple, the emperor has a great air of goodness, and his royal consort of spirit. Her voice, and manner, and address are the most agreeable that can be, and she made us several compliments on our nation. She is not a beauty; but, being a sovereign, and a woman of sense and spirit, no wonder she has met such extraordinary support from her subjects, as well as from some other nations of Europe. However, the English gallantry towards her is a little relaxed; and the King of Sardinia is their present favourite. She begged of the general not to be so much her enemy as his predecessor, General Wentworth, had been. He replied, that a perfect impartiality was recommended him by the king, his master; and that he was resolved to preserve it, though he confessed that was difficult for a person who had had the honour of having had access to her imperial majesty.
"We were introduced to-day to the archdukes and archduchesses (who are fine children) and to the empress-dowager. She had seen no company for two months; but, hearing that Englishmen desired to be introduced to her, she immediately received us. [259]You must know that you neither bow nor kneel to emperors and empresses, but curtsy; so that, after we had had a little conversation with her imperial majesty, we were to walk backwards through a very long room, curtsying all the way, and there was very great danger of our falling foul of each other, as well as of tumbling topsy-turvy. She saw the difficulty we were in; and immediately called to us: 'Allez, allez, Messieurs, sans crmonie; vous n'tes pas accoutums a ce mouvement, et le plancher est glissant.' We esteemed ourselves very much obliged to her for this attention, especially my companions, who were desperately afraid of my falling on them and crushing them.
"This court is fine, without being gay; and the company is very accessible, without being very sociable. When we were to be introduced to the emperor and empress, Sir Thomas Robinson gathered us all together into a window, that he might be able to carry us to them at once, when the time should be proper. A lady came up to him, and asked him if these were not his chickens he was gathering under his wings, after which she joined conversation with us; and in a little time asked us, if we had any acquaintance of the ladies of the court, and if we should not be glad to know their names. We replied that she could not do us a greater favour. 'Why, then,' says she, 'I shall tell you, beginning with myself; I am the Countess'—she added her name, which I am sorry to have forgot. We have met with several instances of these agreeable liberties. The women here are many of them handsome; if you ever want toasts, please to name, upon my authority, Mademoiselle Staremberg, or the Countess Palf.
"The men are ugly and awkward. We have seen [260]all those fierce heroes, whom we have so often read of in gazettes, the Lichtensteins, the Esterhasis, the Colloredos; most of them have red heels to their shoes, and wear very well-dressed toupees.
"I have heard Maly Johnston say she was told that she was very like the empress-queen. Please tell her it is not so. The empress, though not very well shaped, is better than Maly; but she has not so good a face. She looks also as if she were prouder and worse tempered. Apropos, to our friends of Hutton hall, inform them that they have a very near relation at this court, who is a prodigious fine gentleman, and a great fool. His name is Sir James Caldwell.[260:1] He told me his grandmother was a Hume, and that he expected soon to inherit a very fine estate by her, which he was to share with the Johnstones [261]in Scotland. But he says it is only Wynne that has the half, not the ladies, who have no share; so that you'll please tell Sophy that I am off; and give her her liberty, notwithstanding all vows and promises that may have past betwixt us."
