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LETTER LXIV.

TO THE SAME.

THE weekly vifitation of the begging friars, and Sunday affemblies, are amongst the things which fhould be recommended to the notice of those who go into Weftphalia, being both really curious in their kind.

In regard to the firft, it is an invariable rule for one or other of the mendicant brothers to make the tour of the town in, or near which, his convent is fituated. Sanctioned by the custom of his country, he gains admittance into every house, whether public or private, and is "happy to catch you juft at dinner time." He moves round the table with his little box, into which every one puts, or appears to put, fomething, but evidently more as a thing of course than charity. He neither speaks, nor is fpoken to: he glides almoft unheard, and unfeen, behind your chair, and having finished his collections, which are probably scanty enough, he bows off as he bowed on,

The

The fecond circumftance, the Sunday evening card route, is full as fingular, but by no means fo filent. It is compofed of thirty or forty (frequently more) of the most respectable perfons of the town, who, after the devotions of the fabbath, which they perform with great exactnefs, almoft, indeed, to rigour, affemble at the best inn, and pass the evening partly over a pack of cards, and partly over a good fupper. The last time I was at the city of Cleves, where I have now in fancy fet you down, I was an eye-witness to this fupplement to the Sunday duties, there being, at that time, no less than feven tables, well furnished with preparations for the nocturnal affociation. Trayellers of any decent appearance are always welcome. There is never any thing like a debauch, and the company feparate about twelve. The fingularity of all this confifts only in its oppofition to our modes of doing the fame thing in Great Britain; and we may truly say the matter is more elegantly conducted in London. Would it not be thought very odd for the nobility and gentry. of both fexes, and of the first character, to meet at a tavern in that great city, where, the moment a lady made her appearance, a ftove full of hot coals was placed under her petticoats, and, on the en

trance

trance of each man of fashion, an immenfe pipe with a fpitting box?

How often, in the traverfe of different coun-` tries, has a traveller occafion to exclaim, with the poet,

"I fee full plainly custom forms us all!"

And, in truth, it requires the ftrongest power of our habits to reconcile us to fome things that will rife up in our way as we journey along.

Amongst other preparations, with which my zeal has armed you, let me not omit to entreat that you will make up your mind to the dirty doings of Weftphalian Prufiia, and, indeed, in certain cafes, of the whole Germanick empire. I have, in a former letter, invited your obfervation to a comparative view of the countries of Holland and Pruffia, in refpect of the gradual relief which the eye receives from the fatiguing uniformity of the one to the rifing diverfities of the other. But this is not the only matter that awaits your attention, O ye readers of this hiftory, and ye fojourners in this land. Would ye fee placed before you one of the most ftriking contrafts in the world, behold it in the general neatnefs of the Hollander, and almoft univerfal filth of the Pruffian and German.

It is impoffible for an Englishman, whofe eyes are, by no means, unaccustomed to the decencies of life, in his own country, to withhold the tribute of his admiration on the peculiar niceties of the towns, within and without, from his firft landing in Holland to his taking leave of its Seven Provinces. The door-ways, the paffages, the windows, the inner apartments, the kitchen, the very lumber-rooms (where, by the bye, every stick, board, and other unoccupied thing, is laid in a picturesque manner, as if by the hand of fymmetry) the warehouses, where industry is for ever at hard, and very often at dirty work; the very out-houses, which frequently connect with the general fitting-room, and in which, perhaps, twenty cows are ftalled on the one fide, and as many horfes ftabled on the other, and in which all forts of domeftick fowls, nay, where not feldom the very pigs are nourished; each and all of these places are kept in fuch order, difpofed in fuch arrangement, and with fuch uniform cleanlinefs, that, whether it proceeds from the neceffity of the climate, in regard to the influence which its humidity otherwife might have upon the health, or whether from a principle, or only an habit of neatness, it is certainly a charming cuftom,.

"More honour'd in the obfervance than the breach."

But

But the offenfive reverfe is forced upon you, almoft immediately on your quitting the con fines of the Stadtholder. The difgufting contraft will strike you in almost every particular, fo that if you pleafe to re-perufe the lift of the items above ftated, taking their oppofite, that is, reading dirty for clean, as you go on, you will have before you a picture of Dutch nicety and Pruffian naftiness.

And the remark is to be extended to perfons as well as things. Notwithstanding the inceffant toil, which an unremitting attention to neatnefs in a flat, foggy country, muft occafion, there is, in the midft of their labours, an air of propreté. The common fervants, even in their drudgery, are always to be feen with clean ftockings, which are always fhewn to the middle, of the leg, flippers, which, notwithstanding the violent motion of the mop and pail, hang on the foot as if by magic, and head dreffes which are oftener feen without hat or bonnet, be the weather what it may. Whereas, in the neighbouring countries, the houfes are more mal propre than the ftables of Holland, and the Sunday apparel of the common people, females more especially, is worfe got up, and worfe put on, than the Saturday night working-dreffes of the Dutch peafantry.

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