Hitherto, as I have proceeded on my travels, I have been purposely very particular in my descriptions of the towns through which I passed on my way to India, in order to give your mind a disposition to inquiry, and point out to you an overflowing source of improvement and delight. Having so far shewn you how amply you will be rewarded, even in amusement, by the trouble of searching into books, for the accurate topographical descriptions of towns, cities, building, &c. &c. I think I may spare myself that labour for the future, and confine myself to those points that more immediately apply to the enlargement of the mind——I mean, the government, laws, manners and character of the People of each Country; and only use the former as subservient to the latter purpose, at least until I come to those places where, the ground being but little trodden by British feet, more precise description may become necessary.
But, before I leave the Netherlands, I must make a few remarks upon the Country and People, which it would be unpardonable in me to omit, after having been already so minutely particular in things of inferior merit to the scope of my plan.
Although personal appearance be, in the eye of Moral Philosophy, a very inferior consideration, and mind the proper study of Man; yet, in describing a People, I cannot think it altogether unnecessary to include their personal appearance, as it will be found that there exists a greater analogy between the person and the mind of Man than is generally perceived. Thus the lively hilarity, the restless activity, the levity and fantastic character of the French, are strongly pourtrayed in the national person. In like manner, the lusty, fat, clumsy and misshapen person of the People of the Netherlands, is strongly illustrative of the temper and habit of their mind, intellects and spirits: industrious and heavy; dull of understanding, but not defective in judgment; flow in work——but, persevering in effort, and unerring in the process, they are generally successful in the end: in war, cold and backward at offensive operations, but inflexible and terrible in resistance; like the boar of the forest, they seek not the combat with any, but will not go out of their way to decline it with the most powerful: their appetites and desires cooler than other Nations, but less subject to change or caprice: never violently in love, but rationally attached to their wives; and both men and women faithful to their conjugal vow, as well from natural temperament, as from a principle of virtue.
Thus constituted by Nature, the effects of their industry are wonderful in every thing; but chiefly in their canals and sluices, which serve not only for the support of their commerce, and thefacility of intercourse, but for their defence against enemies: this was in other times; but, alas! the former of these uses, commerce, has so entirely absorbed all their intellect, and possessed their very souls, that they seem almost entirely negligent of the latter; and from being, of all People, the most wise and vigilant in determining and ascertaining their rights, the most zealous asserters and defenders of their independence, the most ardent friends to Liberty, and the most determined enemies to Slavery, they are become a sort of strange, inconsistent, hotch-potch politicians, whom ingenuity itself would find a difficulty in describing. They retain so much of their ancient and noble vigilance as serves to make them suspicious——so much of their independence as disposes them to change——so much of their jealousy as stimulates them to resistance——but not one particle of their former wisdom, to instruct them where they should attach themselves, where resist, or where resolve to act——nor of their courage to carry any resolution they might form into effect.
In the year 1781, the EmperorJosephthe Second came to Brussels, in order to indulge his paternal feelings as a Monarch with the contemplation and view of his Subjects, and also to be inaugurated; and perhaps upon no occasion that has ever occurred in the most volatile Nation, was there greater joy more universally expressed. For some time before his arrival, the whole Country was in motion; and, even with them, domestic industry stopped its usual persevering pace, suspended in the eager, anxiousexpectation of his arrival. Every thing in the birth, education, natural disposition and person of the young Emperor, united to impress his Subjects with the most exalted opinion of his goodness, and to inspire all ranks of people with the most fortunate presages of a wise and beneficent government. Nor did he disappoint them: his conduct, when among them, is handed over to remembrance, by a variety of acts of benevolence and condescension, which shewed that the grandeur of the Monarch had not made him forget the nature of the Man, and that his heart was better fitted for the mild, domestic enjoyments of a Subject, than the stern and unbending hardihood fit for a King: for I am perfectly of opinion with the celebratedJunius, that there are virtues in a private Man which are vices in a King; and that the Monarch of a Country, in order to preserve respect, should avoid familiarity, and keep his person sacred from too general observation.Shakspearehas put into the mouth of hisHenrythe Fourth, a beautiful expression on this subject, well worth the attention of Kings——
Had I so lavish of my presence been,So common hackney’d in the eyes of men,Opinion, that did help me to the Crown,Had still kept loyal to possession,And left me in reputeless banishment,A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.By being seldom seen, I could not stir,But, like a comet, I was wonder’d at:That men would tell their children, This is he.”
Had I so lavish of my presence been,So common hackney’d in the eyes of men,Opinion, that did help me to the Crown,Had still kept loyal to possession,And left me in reputeless banishment,A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.By being seldom seen, I could not stir,But, like a comet, I was wonder’d at:That men would tell their children, This is he.”
Had I so lavish of my presence been,So common hackney’d in the eyes of men,Opinion, that did help me to the Crown,Had still kept loyal to possession,And left me in reputeless banishment,A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.By being seldom seen, I could not stir,But, like a comet, I was wonder’d at:That men would tell their children, This is he.”
Had I so lavish of my presence been,
So common hackney’d in the eyes of men,
Opinion, that did help me to the Crown,
Had still kept loyal to possession,
And left me in reputeless banishment,
A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.
By being seldom seen, I could not stir,
But, like a comet, I was wonder’d at:
That men would tell their children, This is he.”
Of the number I have heard, I will mention one anecdote only, and one remarkable expression ofJoseph’s, which will serve to shew in its true light what his disposition was; and when you consider them as the act and sentiment of a young man nursed in the lap of despotism and pride, you cannot but consider them as marvellous.
In his journey to the Low Countries, he visited Wurtzaurg; and, in his perambulating alone andincog.stopped at a little public-house, where the people were busily employed in entertaining themselves: he went in, and inquired why they were so merry——“Sir,” said one of the country people, “we are celebrating a marriage.” “May I be permitted to join the company?” said the disguised Emperor. The host obtained that permission for him. When he entered the room, the married couple were presented to him, and he received them with great gaiety, sat down, drank their health, and, having informed himself of their situation, took leave of the company: but what was their astonishment, when, on lifting up a bottle of wine, they found a draft for six hundred florins, signedJoseph, and payable for the use of the married couple!
At Luxembourg, when the People called aloud on Heaven to shower down blessings on him for his affability, he made use of this remarkable expression, while his feelings moistened his eyes: “I wish I could make you as happy in my care, as I am in your affection!”
The affability of Monarchs has often been magnified by the foolish, and often blamed by the wise: But, if all the instances of condescension practised by Kings were like that I have recited ofJoseph; if they arose from a sound, unquestionable spirit of philanthropy, not from gaping curiosity, broad folly, or a puerile inquisitive habit; and if, instead of conceiving those they visit paid for their intrusion with the honour of having conversed with Majesty, and leaving them churlishly, they would generously pay them with hard cash, as the good EmperorJosephdid; then, indeed, their affability might defy the exaggeration of fools, and must certainly command the applause of the wise.
On the 13th of July, the ceremony of Inauguration took place at Brussels. Nothing could equal the splendour of the place but the general joy of the People: the crowds were beyond all conception immense, and every thing was carried on with regularity till evening, when, in playing off some fire-works, that noble building the town-house took fire, and was burnt: six unfortunate persons lost their lives, and twenty were dangerously hurted: those who perished were absolutely roasted, and their cries were beyond description piercing. To such a temper asJoseph’s, you will readily conclude that this must be a most afflicting circumstance——it was so; and he left Brussels under the pressure of very different feelings from those with which he entered it, and was followed by the prayers and blessing of all the People.
But now we are to view the reverse of the medal. The sound of their prayers for his welfare, and praises of his goodness, had hardly died away upon their lips, ere their minds turned to revolt and rebellion. I will not say that they were not right in one or other, or which of those two extremes: certainly they could not be right in both; much less can their subsequent conduct be justified, or accounted for, in any principle of human nature, but that of the most abject meanness, dastardly feebleness, and gross folly. They returned to their allegiance, and besought forgiveness: that forgiveness was granted. How they have behaved since, I have already informed you, (See Letter IV.); and I have now to add, that, pillaged by the French, and likely to be left unprotected, they have again held their necks out, soliciting the protection and the yoke of Austria, and have actually offered to raise 100,000 men for the Emperor,ifhe will again drive the French out of their territories——An excellent word thatIF!
How a People, once formed for manly pith and love of Freedom, could bend so low, is unaccountable. It is a question hard to be determined, whether an obstinate adherence even to a bad cause, is not more respectable, than a fickle, alternate dereliction, and adoption of right and wrong, as it suits the caprice or convenience of the moment? Of two things so very contemptible, I think the former the least odious and least unmanly.
At the same time, my observations on the Country led me to conceive, that under the name of Freedom, they groaned underthe yoke of Tyranny; for, though the Country was, as I have described it, charming, its fecundity unsurpassed, its face decorated with the best gifts of Providence——I mean, smiling fields and bleating plains——thoughCeresprofusely repaid the labours of the husbandman, though every field had the appearance of a garden, and though, upon inquiry, I found that land which would bring in England five pounds an acre, rented at eight, nine and ten shillings of our money at most——yet, in spite of all this, the farmers were rather poor in general——not even one of them to be found rich or substantial, like the middle rank of that class of men in England. They wanted the great stimulus to industry——security of their property: they were liable to be turned out by their landlords at pleasure, and to be plundered when it should please some Monarch to make war.
The first of these, however, you will observe, is not the oppression of the Emperor: it is the tyranny of that worst of all constituent parts of a State, an Aristocracy——a vile Aristocracy!——that universal, that every-day despotism, under which all places groan, more or less——which is exercised in all the various gradations of life that chequer society, from the great man who, under the name of Minister, domineers over the Peer, to the country fox-hunting savage, who puts a poor wretch in jail to pine for years, (his family, the while, supported by the parish charity), only for doing that which makes the enjoyment of his own life, killing a partridge or a hare!——that Aristocratic tyranny which is seenscowling on the brows of a swaggering fellow in power, adopted by his secretary with increase, by him handed down to an upstart set of fellows in office, dependent on his smile, and by them displayed in all the nauseous, despicable forms which awkwardness and ignorance, lifted above their station, never fail to assume——the cold reserve, the affected stare, the listless nod, the feigned deafness, blindness, absence, and other fashionable perfections, which serve as vents for upstart arrogance, and indemnify the sycophant for the vile homage and submission which he has before paid some wretch mean and arrogant as himself!——I tell you, my dearFrederick, it is this Aristocratic usurpation of power, where power exists not, nor is necessary——this insulting assumption of superiority, this hidden petty oppression which rears its head in every manor, nay, almost every town and village in the Kingdom, that puts the Nations out of tune, mars the harmony of social arrangement, and renders power in the aggregate obnoxious. Why, our very women have their saucy, Aristocratic, supercilious front, their haughty stare, their contemptuous titter; and barter the winning softness of the sex, the dimples where the loves should dwell, for the haughty toss of the head, the ill-natured sneer, and the insulting Hector’s frown——And thus the spirit of Aristocracy, like a poisonous weed, grows and expands from one to the other with baleful luxuriance, gradually overspreading the whole face of humanity, stopping the wholesome current of the social atmosphere,and choaking up the less rank but more useful plants——Thus it goes round in shameful traffic; and, as the Poet says,
“The wh—re she kicks her cully,Court-waiters are kick’d at call;We are all kick’d, yet bullyWhile int’rest kicks the ball.”
“The wh—re she kicks her cully,Court-waiters are kick’d at call;We are all kick’d, yet bullyWhile int’rest kicks the ball.”
“The wh—re she kicks her cully,Court-waiters are kick’d at call;We are all kick’d, yet bullyWhile int’rest kicks the ball.”
“The wh—re she kicks her cully,
Court-waiters are kick’d at call;
We are all kick’d, yet bully
While int’rest kicks the ball.”
I am persuaded, that if the grievances of the most despotic States were fairly estimated, and assigned to their real authors, the Princes of such States would be found responsible for a very small share indeed, when compared with the Aristocracy: and by Aristocracy, I mean not merely Lords, but all men who convert the wealth which Providence has bestowed upon them to the purposes of Tyranny, Exactions, Imposition, and Oppression——under which four heads we will again find, not only imprisonment for begging alms, imprisonment for shooting a partridge, but often seduction, adultery, and persecution for resisting or resorting to law for punishment of that seduction or adultery. Of all those things, the proofs, I fear, in all Nations, are abundant: I am sure they are so in the best governed State in Europe——I mean, England——-
“Qui capit, ille facit.”
“Qui capit, ille facit.”
“Qui capit, ille facit.”
“Qui capit, ille facit.”
I have thrown up a fool’s cap: how many are there who will privately put it on!
As the time of my departure from Brussels approached, I found the bitter sensations with which I left London, in some measure, returning. My fortunate encounter with GeneralLockharthad afforded me a temporary respite; but now I was once more to face an unknown country alone, without the chance of again meeting a friend to solace my mind, or mitigate my woe, on this side of India.
Having seen as much of Brussels as my time and occasions would at all allow, and, in truth, having rather trespassed on my plan, for the reasons just mentioned, I determined to push forward as fast as it was possible, and took post for Liege, where I arrived, after passing through a beautiful, fertile, well-cultivated country, to the charms of which the renewed agony of my feelings rendered me almost insensible.
As we have now almost the whole length of Germany before us to travel through, it will be proper, before I proceed further, to give you a general idea of the Constitution of this vast Empire——over all which, while one great Monarch nominally presides, thereare spread a number of petty Potentates, who really rule after as distinct forms of Government as almost any two Governments, however remote, in Europe.
Considering the nature of Government abstractedly, one would suppose that it arose from the general will of the society governed, and was formed for their use and benefit alone: but if we view the different systems scattered over the civilized part of the earth, we shall find that they originated from force and fraud; and that, in their first formation, when bodily prowess, not intellectual power, bore sway——when he that could carry the strongest armour, and strike the heaviest blows, was sure to govern——when mere animal strength and ferocity disinherited reason of her rights, and robbed her of that ascendancy to which the invention of gunpowder, aided by the art of Printing, has since in some sort restored her——the basis upon which Governments were raised was, one man, not the whole society; the point then was, how this or that strong ruffian could collect most slaves about him, not how this or that society should choose the best head: if he had strength to carry havoc through the ranks of their enemies, and then to overawe themselves, he was sure of dominion over the people, and left it to his son; but if it so happened that he did not also bequeath to him bodily prowess to preserve it, the next strong ruffian seized the reins, flung him from his seat, and kept it till he, or some one of his heirs, was again served so in his turn by some other usurper. Hence arose the cabals and intrigues of courts, the spirit of party,and intestine commotion; till at length the People, for their own security, and to avoid the horrors of civil war, made choice (from dismal necessity) of some one family to rule them. As society advanced, and opulence held forth temptation, some greater ruffian, followed by a horde of needy, famished barbarians, made incursions on those rulers; and being irresistible, as well from numbers firmly connected, as from the powerful impulse of necessity, under whose banners they generally robbed and ravaged, was submitted to on terms, and became Lord Paramount of a number of petty Sovereigns, who did homage to him, and fleeced the miserable subjects, to keep him in humour; and thus, in a series of time, the power of both took root, and remained immoveable, unless when torn up by some violent tempest that convulsed the State, and shook it to its foundations.
Reading this account, you will very naturally exclaim, “GoodGod! how absurd! how irrational!” Yet so it is; and from this source, muddy though it be, is modern honour, and modern greatness, and modern high blood, derived: from this foul and turbid fountain have most of the Governments of the world issued; from those strong men of yore have most of our modern governors descended: and as it generally happens (so equally has Providence distributed the gifts of Nature) that the strength of the intellectual part is in the inverse ratio of the animal, perhaps that is the reason why Monarchs are formed, in general, of greater bodily vigour than mental endowments, and better fitted for the Field than theCabinet——and for this reason are obliged to take from the puisne ranks of their Subjects some assistant, so far removed from the great standard of antique dignity, as to possess understanding enough to govern.
Upon a retrospective view of the History of Europe, it will be found, that for a long time after the birth ofChrist, Germany was divided among such petty rulers as I have described, who each held his little State in sovereignty, and was calledPrincepsin Latin, or, in plain English,Prince. After the downfall of the Western Empire, a Nation calledFranks, from that part calledFranconia, over-run a great part of Gaul and Germany, and in the fifth century took possession of that part of Gaul which lay North of the river Loire. In the year 800,Charlemagne, the son ofPepin, their King, formed an immense Empire in the West, comprehending a great part of Germany, France, Italy, and a part of Spain. About eighty years afterwards, the petty Princes of Germany shook off the French Carlovinian race, and elected an Emperor of their own from the House of Bavaria.
At lastHenrythe Fourth, having displeased that grand arbiter the Pope, was put under the ban, and in consequence deposed by the States; on which occasion His Holiness had the address to make that great dignity elective, he having uncontrouled power over the electors; since which it has continued so, with some modifications, and under certain regulations, formed byCharlesthe Fourth, at the Diet of Nurunberg. The election,however, has been always so managed, that it has never departed from the regular line of succession but when there was an actual want of heirs.
In a Country over which the Pope had such influence, it might reasonably be supposed that intolerance is carried to a great length; but it is not so, as a review of each particular State shews. The established religion, in general, is Popery.Josephthe Second, that good and wise Monarch, displayed a greater spirit of toleration than any other Catholic Prince sinceHenrythe Fourth of France. He was not murdered by a Friar for it, it is true——those days of pious barbarity are past; but he was visited on the occasion by His Holiness, who, after a variety of remonstrances against the relaxation he gave to religious severity in his own dominions, finding him unmoved by papers, resolved to attack him in person: but, whether it was that the pontifical amulet lost its charm when out of the air of Rome, or that His Holiness was not properly anointed before (likeHecateinMacbeth) he took his flight, or that he forgot some of those relics which were expected to operate onJoseph’smind, so it was, that the good Emperor continued inflexibly attached to his former resolve; and, after kissing His Holiness’ toe, and a thousand other pretty politenesses, sent him back to Rome again with his finger in his mouth; and a story to relate, that would, at one time, have set all Europe in a flame, and sent the good Monarch, likeHenrythe Second of England, to lash himselfnaked over the rotten remains of some vagabond fraudulent Priest.
In the election of Emperor, the laws of the Empire have laid down no qualification but that which ought to be thesine quâ nonof all Princes, namely, that he bejustus, bonus, et utilis——Neither have they made any limitation in regard to religion, nation, state, or age; nevertheless, the majority of electors being Papists, a Roman Catholic Prince is always chosen.
The rank of the Emperor is very great: he is looked upon by all Crowned Heads as the first European Potentate; and, as such, precedence is always given him and his ambassadors: he is the supreme Head of the German Empire; but his power in the administration thereof is very limited indeed. In ancient times, the Emperor had considerable domains and incomes; but warfare and prodigality have dissipated the greatest part of them, and they have been successively alienated or mortgaged, so that his revenues were very inconsiderable lately, and now, since the French war, are almost as nothing.
The present EmperorFrancisfound the Empire, when he was elected, incumbered with difficulties of the most enormous magnitude——a war on which the existence of every Monarchy in Europe seemed to depend, an exhausted treasury, and a disposition to revolt in a part of his dominions, the Netherlands. At this present time, his situation is, beyond that of every other Prince, lamentable:——almost all his resources gone, and an insolent, formidable,triumphant enemy, proceeding and carrying conquest by rapid strides through his Country. He called upon his People to support him. The States of the Netherlands, instead of assisting him to stop the progress of the enemy, invited and opened their gates to them, put them in their bosom, and were stung. Of the other States, some refuse their aid, while some have recourse to feeble expedients; and, to evade the weight, temporise, procrastinate, and shuffle, till at length will come the French Army, and force them to do for their enemy ten times more than (if done timely, and with a good grace) might save the Empire and themselves. TheKingofPrussia, one of those States, on being called upon, says he is busily employed in securing the plunder of Poland, and cannot come——while the tyger is glutting in the blood of the harmless flocks, the huntsmen are coming upon him, to cut him off. As an Englishman, zealous for the welfare of my Country, I wish theKingofPrussiamay not, by his attention to Poland, sacrifice all Germany to the French. As an honest man, I cannot help entertaining a wish, that the scandalous and outrageous wrongs done to Poland, and this treachery to the Allies whom he himself brought into the present difficulties, may be expiated by any calamity, however great, that does not extend to the interest or wellbeing of Europe.
It is a maxim in Courts of Equity, that a man coming to demand redress, should come with clean hands, and, seeking equity, should do equity. This maxim has unfortunately never yet extended todecisions between States: power is their right, and force decides——Yet, in a contest like the present, the very foundation of which is hostility to Kings, and which is carried on in the twofold way of arms, in the open field and private negotiation for insurrection; when, for the interest of the cause they espouse, as well as their own personal safety, Kings should assume at once their best form to appreciate themselves, and discredit their enemies in the eyes of Mankind——in such a state of things, I say, for theKingofPrussiaand theEmpressofRussiato take the part they have done with regard to Poland, is so extravagant, that we can only account for it in the will of theAlmightypredisposing them for some extraordinary crisis. No one would expect them to depart from their accustomed crooked path of policy, if safety did not loudly call upon them to proceed in the direct road. It is monstrous to see beings endowed with common sense, expending themselves in an unjust struggle for aggrandizement, while the sword of extinction is suspended by a hair over their heads.
But to return——In this state is the young Emperor at this moment, deserted by his People in the Low Countries, unaided by his Continental Ally, and supported only by Great Britain. What the issue may be,Godalone can tell: but every one possessing a heart of feeling, or a single sentiment of honour or justice, must wish that young Prince a fortunate delivery from the difficulties which the impolicy and wickedness of others have led him into, and which the treachery of some of them make more formidable, if not utterly insuperable.
The various districts or territories into which Germany is divided, go under a variety of designations, not known among us as independent titles to power——Principalities, Seigniories, Counties, Electorates, Margravates, and Bishoprics lay and spiritual. Of the lay Bishoprics, Osnaburg, the Prince Bishop of which is ourDukeofYork, makes one: and Leige, where we are now arrived, is the territory of a Bishop lay and spiritual, or spiritual and temporal, one of the fairest kind of that class——for he possesses temporalities, and enjoys them; whereas their Lordships merely spiritual, enjoy and have the ingratitude and impudence to renounce them: but no matter for that; the Bishop of Liege possesses a Bishopric, fruitful in corn, wine, wood and pasture, with air extremely pleasant and temperate; and while the latter gives his terrestrial clay health and appetite, the former afford him the means of preserving the one, and indulging the other, with true spiritual comfort, and high ecclesiastical voluptuousness. In cases of repletion, too, the mineral waters of the Bishopric, particularly the well-known one of Spa, offer their aid; and some of the best beerin the world, which is brewed in these territories, diversifies his spiritual Lordship’s cup, and, with its pungent bitter, sends back his palate to his wine with renovated relish.
It is astonishing how inconsistent with themselves, and how discordant in their constituent principles, some very wise institutions are. Thus Episcopacy, and all other branches, posts or ranks, high or low, commissioned or non-commissioned, of the Church, publicly and systematically profess poverty, abstinence, and an utter indifference to temporal concerns, while their livings are enormous, and themselves overfed. Nay, so cautiously has ecclesiastical law provided for that, even in our liberal establishments, that a Bishop, at his instalment, positively declares, in the face ofGod, at the holy altar, that he is averse to being a Bishop——nolo Episcopari. Under such conditions, what must not the charity, the condescension, the mortifying submission of a Divine be, to stoop to a Bishopric, and suffer such a heavy load to be heaped upon his back——against his will! Assuredly, the imposing a Bishopric upon him must be a great act of violence on his inclinations: for I cannot think it possible that a Christian Divine would, in the first place, commit the crime of simony by seeking preferment, and gaining it by prostitution; much less can I believe that he would be guilty, at the holy altar, of a solemn act of perjury, by swearingnolo Episcopari, if he was not actually, andbonâ fidê, averse to a Bishopric.
The Bishop of Liege, however, may be fairly acquitted on the score of his temporal half, for the share of transgressions committed by his spiritual half. And unquestionably, as a Christian Divine, he must groan in spiritual humiliation, when he reflects that his title is emblazoned with the gorgeous vanities of Prince of Liege, Duke of Bouillon, Marquis of Franchemont, Count of Looz, &c. Such a set of proud worldly titles are of themselves sufficient (putting the wine and beer, and repletion, out of the question) to annihilate the spiritual merits of the Bishop, and expunge the grace ofGodfrom his name here, if not from himself hereafter.
Of all kinds of Slavery, that Nation groans beneath the worst, which has the name, without the essence, of a free Constitution; and Germany abounds with such. By the Constitution of this Bishopric, the Government consists of three States: the first is the Chapter of Liege; the second, the Nobility; and the third, the Deputies of the towns and capital. These, however, are very seldom called together, except toraise taxes, or on some suchextraordinaryemergency: but there is a Committee of the States who meet three times a week, and in time of war daily; they are always about the Prince Bishop, to make remonstrances, and demand the redress of grievances——from whence we may reasonably infer, that the People are well protected, or at least well governed; the continual intercourse between the Committee and Bishops, no doubt, tending to promote a very happy influence in favour of the People!
In forming this Constitution, special care has been taken to give the first State a great preponderance. The Chapter is to consist of sixty persons, who must either prove their Nobility for four generations, both by father and mother, or have been Doctors or Licentiates of Divinity for seven years, or of Law for five years, in some famous University, before they can be admitted.
How is it that the profession of the Law should bear such potent sway in almost all Countries——that, even in Liege, a Catholic Country and Ecclesiastical Government, five years study of the Law should be deemed an equal qualification to seven of Divinity? In England, and its dependencies, the ascendancy of the Law is still greater; and even in America, that profession is the first step to State honours. The truth is, that the science of the Law, which, however despicable in practice, is the noblest of human sciences, quickens and invigorates the understanding more than all the other kinds of learning put together; while the study of Divinity (I do not mean real Divinity or Morality, but that whimsical jumble of miracles and incongruities, of fulsome cant and senseless rhapsody, called so by Churchmen) contracts the understanding, and bends it into a kind of crooked cunning. Formerly, the Clergy were the dispensers of the Laws, and they alone studied it——Happy times! happy People! When the united powers of both Lawyers and Priests were lodged in the same person, it is no wonder that they were able to enslave the persons, when they had got possession of the understanding, of the People——that we at this day see so manystupendous monuments remaining of their pride and power, and that the bloated load of Episcopacy still has its votaries and supporters.
The Bishopric of Liege is very populous and extensive, containing many large Towns, many Baronies and Seigniories, seventeen Abbeys for men, who must be all gentlemen, and eleven for ladies, exclusive of swarms of inferior note. In this distribution of the Abbeys, male and female, I do not think that sufficient regard has been had to equality of numbers: I really think the Fathers have been ill used. The ladies, though, I dare say, are well enough contented with the arrangement.
Although, as I have already apprized you, I do not mean to enter into a minute description of towns, so very easily found in many volumes of Geography and History, there occasionally occur certain curiosities in some of those towns, which it would be unpardonable in me to pass over, as they may not perhaps be found in such books of those sciences as fall in your way.
Liege, the capital of the Bishopric, is unquestionably a beautiful city, of immense size: its opulence, its pleasantness, its plenty and salubrity, may be calculated from the name it has long been expressly called by way of eminence——the Paradise of Priests.——Indeed, it must needs be a holy and a happy city; for it is chiefly occupied with Convents, Churches, and other religious foundations.
The Paradise of Priests!——Excellent! Why, if the Genius of Sensuality himself were to torture his invention for centuries, tostrike out an appellation for the grand emporium of luxury, voluptuousness and sensual enjoyment, he could not have hit on one so singularly appropriate asthe Paradise of Priests.
In a grand Cathedral here, are five great silver chests full of reliques, besides several silver statues of Saints; and a SaintGeorgeon horseback, of massy gold; and in SaintWilliam’sConvent, without the city, is the tomb of the famous English traveller, SirJohn Mandeville, from whom all lying travellers have been since proverbially calledMandevilles——an appellation which, I promise you, I will hazard the imputation of dullness rather than incur. I suppose it was for his truly priestlike powers in themarvellousthat he was honoured with a birth among their Reverences. They have thought it necessary, however, to entreat, by an inscription in bad French, all persons who see it, to pray for his soul. In truth, poor SirJohn’smarvellous stories were as harmless as ever were invented, and entertaining to boot. If so much could be said for their Reverences, they might venture to rest their future safety on their own innocence andGod’smercy: but I fear their miracles cut deeper, and will be found to go to a much more important and serious account.
In the Bishopric of Liege, twenty miles from the capital, stands the famous town of Spa, so renowned for its excellent waters, that it has become a vulgar name for almost all mineral waters whatsoever. Those are said to open obstructions, concoct crudities, dry up excessive moisture, and strengthen the nerves and bowels; andsuch is their reputation, that prodigious quantities of them are carried into foreign countries.
Fortunate coincidence, to have such a choice and easy panacea for intemperance attached tothe Paradise of Priests!
Aix-la-chapelle——The imperial city of Aix-la-Chapelle, by the Germans called Achen, lies at the distance of twenty-fix miles, nearly East, of Liege. As it was a moderate stage, the weather fine, and the face of the country around beautiful, I found my journey extremely pleasant, and entered that famous city in as good a disposition to be pleased with it, as circumstances and reflections so melancholy as mine (which, in spite of every effort, would intrude themselves) may be supposed to allow. It is certainly a very fine city, and well deserves the reputation it has in all parts of the world.
Perhaps no city in Germany has a fairer claim to antiquity than Aix-la-Chapelle; for it was famous, even in the time of the ancient Romans, for its waters, and was by them calledAquisgranum, orUrbs Aquensis. It was destroyed by the Huns, who, like the French now, destroyed and trampled under footevery vestige of refinement, wherever they carried their conquests; and it lay in ruins till it was rebuilt byCharlemagne, who made it the seat of his Empire on this side the Alps. By him it was ordained, that the Kings of the Romans should be crowned there: and it has been famous, since that time, for Councils and Treaties, particularly that famous one between France and Spain in 1663, and another lately between France and Great Britain.
Although there are many Protestants, both Lutherans and Calvinists, in this city, they are obliged to go to church two miles off, at a place called Vaels, in the Dutchy of Limburg; so that Popery prevails with some portion of its intolerance. Here, as in all other places subject to its power, it has raised the Gothic gloomy pile, accumulated enormous masses of wealth, and hoarded up treasures, under the gulling pretexts of religious paraphernalia: a golden casket, set with precious stones of inestimable value, is hoarded up, not for the actual value of the moveable, but as the only fit receptacle for a relique it contains——a curious one, too, of even its kind——a bit of earth!——A bit of earth? yes! a bit of earth, common earth!——only with this fortunate circumstance in addition, that a drop of the blood of SaintStephenfell, or is said to have fallen, upon it, as he was stoned to death! think of that, masterFrederick! Why, when those things occur to me, I feel myself agitated by a whimsical tumult of sensations, serious and ludicrous, sorrowful and merry, that it is impossible to describe——something like that state in which the spirits flutterwhen a person whimpers between a laugh and cry. But, to carry the matter farther, when we recollect that some of the wisest and brightest of Mankind, some of the bravest Warriors, sternest Philosophers, and ablest Statesmen, that ever existed, have been the dupes of those shallow artifices, and actually have knelt in devout homage to these bits of earth, bone, sticks and stone, &c. we must allow that it answers a great and noble end, by pointing out to us the infirmity of our nature, and shewing us, to use the words of one of our brightest luminaries, “what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!”
We have already had, and are likely yet to have, such a clumsy load of Cathedrals to attend to, that I should not mention that of Aix-la-Chapelle (a large, gloomy, dreary, old-fashioned, Gothic pile), were it not that it carries along with it some matters worthy of notice. What think you, then, of an Emperor, a Pope, and three hundred and sixty-five Bishops, in one company? Oh! precious assemblage! But where, I hear you ask——where, in the name ofGod, collect the Bishops? a Pope and Emperor are easily had! My dearFrederick, three hundred and sixty-five Bishops might easily be picked up in Christendom, and leave more behind, too, than would serve any useful purpose to the world.——Yes, the EmperorCharlemagne, and three hundred and sixty-five Bishops, were present at the Consecration of this Cathedral by PopeLeothe Third. That Emperor lies now in great state under the altar of the choir: PopeLeorots in Rome; and forthe Bishops, they are gone, perhaps, asHamletsays, “to stop a beer barrel.”——
“Th’ imperialCæsar, dead, and turn’d to clay,Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.”
“Th’ imperialCæsar, dead, and turn’d to clay,Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.”
“Th’ imperialCæsar, dead, and turn’d to clay,Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.”
“Th’ imperialCæsar, dead, and turn’d to clay,
Might stop a hole, to keep the wind away.”
From such a splendid and opulent attendance at the Consecration, one would naturally expect that this Cathedral would have been, at the very outset, enriched with costly and valuable trappings: but no——one image of that of Liege would purchase the whole. It should be recollected, however, that they were all, excepting the Emperor, Churchmen——a class, whose charity, generally speaking, has, like a ring, neither end nor beginning; or at least ends and begins in itself, where nobody can see it; or, according to the old proverb, begins at home.
To compensate, however, for those worldly, worthless vanities, gold, silver and jewels, His Holiness, and their three hundred and sixty-five Graces, presented the Cathedral with some exquisite pieces of relique, of more inestimable value, by their account, than the mines of Potosi or Golconda: the first, an old covering——it would be folly for me to say, whether gown, petticoat or shift——but they, that is to say, the Priests, say, and the Faithful believe them, that it was the shift worn by the VirginMaryat the birth ofChrist——how their Holinesses came by it, is hard to conjecture:——in the next place, a piece of coarse cloth, which, they also say, and are believed when they say, was girt aboutChriston the Cross:——thirdly, a piece of cord, with which they say he was bound:——fourthly, some of the blood of SaintStephen, now eighteen hundred years old:——and, fifthly, a picture of the Virgin and Child, embossed on a jasper, by SaintLuke. With all due deference to their Reverences’ knowledge, I should think a dozen statues in gold of the Apostles would be rather a more valuable gift, and more ornamental, than these rags and cords, which I dare say did not cost altogether six pence. We talk here of our blue ribbons, our red ribbons, and our stars, as great donations; but I think the presents of the Pope and three hundred and sixty-five Bishops to the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, beat them out of the field, whether, we consider the magnificence of the gift, or the generosity of the givers.
But that which, above all things, renders Aix-la-Chapelle worthy of notice, is the salubrity of its waters, which bring from England, and all other European Nations, a vast concourse of valetudinarians, who contribute at once to the gaiety and opulence of the city and adjacent country. Some of those waters are used for drinking, and others for bathing, resembling very much, in their quality, the virtues of those of Bath in Somersetshire, but that some of them are still hotter and stronger: they are unpleasant to the taste till use reconciles the palate to them, and most of them have a very offensive smell; but they are often powerful in effect and give relief in a great variety of maladies; and they are rendered still more palatable by the commodious neatness of the baths, theexcellence of the accommodations, and the great plenty of provisions, which are at once good and reasonable in this city.
I staid so short a time at Aix-la-Chapelle, that I could not, without the aid of some of the miracles wrought by the Saints of the Romish Church, or SirJohn Mandeville, acquire a sufficient knowledge of the People, to attempt a description of them, or their manners——but it and Spa are so well known, that you cannot have much trouble in finding a description of them already written.
As far as my observations enabled me to judge, there was nothing in the German character that had the power either to create interest, or excite great attention.——They are rather to be approved than admired; and, wanting those prominent features that so whimsically chequer other Nations with the extremes of bad and good, majestic and ridiculous, afford little subject to the traveller for the indulgence of sentimental reflection, or to the philosopher for the exercise of moral speculation.