Chapter II (2)

"A not very trusty friend advised me to settle in a part of the country where certainly the noble estate was at a low price, but of which the income also was small; another friend, it is true, advised me against this, and pointed out to me what vexations and crosses I should be exposed to from the '_Krippenreiters_;' but this did not disturb me, as I knew I was a match for them with the sword, so I dismissed the useful warning from my mind. In short, I bought an estate for 6000 thalers, but soon discovered that I had exposed myself to the lightning, in avoiding the thunder, and that my good friend with his prophecy had shot very near the mark. For when I had scarcely half settled myself, a certain _Junker_, Vogelbach, with a couple of his associates, were the first to victimise me, as they call it. He lived about half a mile off; not that he had any property of his own, for he only rented a peasant's farm worth about 100 Imperial thalers, and spent his life, like others of the same sort, in '_Krippenreiterei_.' How he maintained his wife and child I know not, but only that I frequently saw his wife with a cart and two ragged children on the estate of opulent nobles, collecting corn, bread, cheese, butter, and the like. They generally came once a month to beg all such articles of me. This Vogelbach was, as has been mentioned, the first who, with two of his associates, came to have a 'housewarming.' The first and second time they behaved themselves with some degree of discretion, wherefore I put before them what was best in the house. But this, in their opinion, was abundantly balanced by the honour of the noble brotherhood into which they had admitted me, and at last they could no longer refrain from their shabby tricks. 'It would become you, brother _Kretschmer_,' he began one day that he had filled himself with beer and brandy up to the eyes. But I made him remember these words by an unexpected box on the ear in such a sort that the good fellow was tumbled over into the middle of the room with his stool. My groom, a robust man who had been a soldier, and whom I had taken chiefly as a guardian spirit for the like cases of need, when he saw this, seized the other Junker W. by the collar, so that he could not stir. 'What,' said he, 'you villain, is it not enough for you to come here so constantly, to fill your hungry body and to fatten your meagre carcass? Do you choose to give my master this _Deo gratias_? The devil take me if one of you stir; I will so trim his Junker jacket, that there shall be a blue fringe on his bare back for six weeks.' 'We have nothing to do with these quarrels,' answered the two; 'if brother Vogelbach has begun one, he will know how to carry it out like a true cavalier.' The latter had meanwhile picked himself up, and was about to seize his sword. 'Keep your miserable blood-drawer in its scabbard,' I said, 'or I will assuredly stick the broken leg of this stool into you if you are not satisfied yet.' Thereupon he held his tongue, and went away with a black eye, accompanied by his noble companions. They mounted their horses and rode out of the gate. But as soon as they considered themselves safe, then they began to rail; they nicknamed me a hundred times a trade-fallen ostler. One of them tried to fire his pistol, but could not succeed; doubtless because there was neither cock nor trigger to the lock. At last they perceived that I was coming after them with half-a-dozen peasants; so they, hastened off, and sent me, about a fortnight afterwards, all three at the same time, a challenge, in the belief that I should never have the courage to meet them sword in hand in the open field; but they found themselves much mistaken.

"Being fearful, however, that the whole swarm of surrounding _Krippenreiters_ would fall upon me, and unite in giving me a good drubbing, I took with me two troopers who were then in the country, and in the first pass gave V. such a good cut over the shoulder, that his sword fell from his hand, which he could no longer use. W. therefore lost at once all courage, so that on my second fight he was fain to make peace. No one conducted himself better than Michael von S., whom I had before considered the most faint-hearted. He fought well enough, till at last this threefold duel ended thus: the two companions were reconciled to me, but Vogelbach stipulated to have two more passes on horseback as soon as his arm should be healed, which, nevertheless, he has not carried out up to the present day.

"Thus I obtained rest from the brawls of '_Krippenreiters_,' though there was no diminution of their visits; nevertheless, I soon experienced a much greater and more costly annoyance. My vendor had not only cheated me a good deal in the sale itself, but had concealed from me also an important redeemable interest; besides which, he had not given up all that was set down in the inventory. So I was obliged to bring a complaint against him before the government, and to employ an advocate. It was long beginning I was little disposed to do so; it was my wish to obtain the daughter of some good citizen with a few thousand thalers, and thereby to improve my housekeeping. But the false friend who over-persuaded me to the purchase, advised me to marry no one that was not of the old nobility, and also in the neighbourhood. 'In the first place,' said he, 'it is very uncertain whether the gentleman will meet with a rich party in Breslau, although he has got ennobled. But further, such city ladies as these have so little knowledge of country housekeeping that they do not even know a cow or an ox, nor what cheese or curds are. But the gentleman's household requires a mistress who has been brought up to it from her youth; such a marriage also is the only means of forming his children in time into country nobles.' With this view he proposed a lady of the neighbourhood, and offered himself to be the wooer. 'She is pretty, a good housekeeper, has some fortune, and is of old family; it will be impossible for the gentleman to find all that together in the city.' When I asked him what was the extent of her means, he boasted that it was 2000 thalers. I certainly doubted this, even then, as it was so large a marriage dower for the country, that any baron would have snapped at it; yet I let myself be persuaded at last, as the lady was not ill-educated, and my new nobility had driven all sound sense out of my brain. I soon found that the above pretended 2000 thalers sank to 400; even these were pending in a doubtful lawsuit, which would scarcely leave as much as would amount to the costs incurred, or as would pay for nuptials suitable to my position. Nevertheless, in the beginning I loved her on account of her good looks, and everything was knocked out of my head. As she had brought with her, however, no jewels, clothes, or other female ornaments, I inquired once of my lady mother-in-law where the chains, rings, and two taffeta dresses were, in which I had found my love dressed when I wooed her. But she answered me with a jeering smile, that if I had got her only in her shift I ought to be content, and feel thankful that such a noble family had demeaned itself so far as to give me their child, and they would still have trouble enough to wipe off this disgrace among their friends, who would decidedly not have consented to this marriage. But as concerned the dresses and ornaments, I must know that they had other daughters to think of and provide for. It was, besides, the custom in the country to procure a dress and ornaments which might do for two or three daughters; when one of them was smartly attired, it was the duty of the others to attend to the housekeeping, or if guests arrived, to feign illness, and content themselves with bed, till it was their turn. Therefore I must be satisfied, and if I would not let my wife appear so as to be a disgrace to me, I should, out of my own means, provide her with dress and ornaments befitting a noble lady. Thus all my ready money went, especially as the wedding had cost me much, for almost the whole province, with their wives, children, servants, and horses, fastened themselves upon me for a fortnight, and I could not rid myself of them so long as anything was to be found in the kitchen and cellar. Also what I procured for my wife was never rich and costly enough to please her and her mother; they always found some deficiency, and wished to have everything more perfect.

"Nevertheless, I controlled myself, and would have minded no expense, if I had only gained the smallest thanks for it; but what most pained me, was to feel that neither my wife nor any of her friends held me in the slightest consideration. Moreover my dear mother-in-law was a thoroughly malicious, proud, false woman, and as, according to the root of the tree, so are the leaves, her daughter followed in her footsteps. And as on this account I could no longer be fond of her, my groom often met with more friendly looks than I did. I had no reason to complain of her relatives not visiting me, for they did so oftener than I liked, and they did their best to consume all that they found. They thought that the devil would take them if they called me brother-in-law or uncle; the brotherhood must be considered all allegorical, and my mother-in-law took care, that the word 'son' should not escape her lips, especially if strangers were present. Never were they so comfortably together as when I was absent at Breslau or elsewhere; then they had the best opportunity to make themselves jolly at my expense, and they did so with some wine of which I kept three or four bottles in my cellaret for myself and my wife, and I found it quite empty when I returned home. Yet even that might have passed, if they had only not taken from me the corn from the ground, nay, even the cows and calves without my knowledge, and conveyed them away secretly for their noble relatives. But he who receives four thalers, and has to spend six, has no reason to care for a purse. So that I could easily calculate that in a short time I should become as good a _Krippenreiter_ as my neighbours.

"But it pleased God to deliver me from this danger by the death of my beloved, who died in childbirth. Even under these circumstances I had to undergo a severe storm from my vexatious noble mother-in-law. She filled heaven and earth with her lamentations over the decease of her daughter, and wished to persuade all the world that the good woman had died of grief, that she had not married suitably to her position, and that it had been her (the mother-in-law's) fault I bore with her folly for a time, in hopes that the game would some day come to an end; but at last she broke out still further, and desired to have the ornaments and dresses I had bought for her daughter, and whatever else she had in her keeping, for another daughter. I threw at her feet some rags she had brought with her, and caused the corpse to be placed in a respectable coffin in the family vault, without inviting the mother-in-law or any other relations. I then determined to sell the property at the first good opportunity and betake myself again to the city.

"Sitting one evening thoughtfully at the window, looking at the servant doing his work, I accidentally observed that some one was at the gate defending himself with naked sword against the assault of the dog. I called out to the servant to hold back the dog, whereupon I was accosted by a well-dressed man with many compliments. 'My lord uncle,' he said, 'will not take it amiss if, according to knightly fashion, I do myself the honour of calling on you for a night's lodging in order to have the honour of making your acquaintance.' 'Not in the least,' I replied, 'if the noble gentleman will please to be satisfied.' I invited him in, and as the cavalier was so free with his cousinship, I could easily perceive that he was not of the neighbourhood. He soon let me know that he was a free knight of the Empire, from Alsace, and had been so ruined by the French, that he preferred turning his back upon his burnt property to submitting to their sway; now he was going to the Imperial court to seek military service. I could perceive the emptiness of this braggadocio from his knowing none of the noble families with whom I had made acquaintance in a former residence in Alsace. Therefore I dealt cautiously with the fellow, and the good lord and brother of the Imperial nobility was obliged to be satisfied with a straw mattress and pillow for his head. When I rose the next morning, I found neither Junker nor bedclothes, and missed, besides, my sword and pistols, which I had left in the sitting-room. I forthwith ordered my servants to mount and pursue him with clubs, and if they found the rascal, to knock him down and then let him escape, but bring back my things; for I was convinced that the man was a pickpocket, and that I should gain no advantage by his capture, but an expensive penal process, and have at last to pay for his hanging. The servants found him with his booty in the nearest wood, and executed my orders thoroughly. They brought my things back, but these cost me dear in the end; for, scarcely four days after, my place was burnt over my head in the night, without doubt by this rascal, so that I could hardly save the dwelling-house, but was obliged to look on at the destruction of the barns and stables, which with corn and cattle were burnt to the ground.

"This misfortune disgusted me so with country life, that I only built a couple of stalls for the remaining cattle, and shortly afterwards sold for 4000 thalers the property for which I had given 6000. After that I betook myself to the city."

Such is the narrative of the country householder to the young Dutchman. A few days after, the stranger had an opportunity himself of observing the life of an impoverished Silesian country noble. A young Herr von K., an educated and travelled cavalier, invited him to the property of his parents, and asked him to take a ride with him from thence to a neighbouring property where a christening was to be celebrated. The Herr von K. begged our hero to consent to allow himself to be introduced as a major in the Dutch service, "For I know," he said, "that otherwise these noble peasants will have no scruple in giving you the last place, and will show you no consideration, in spite of your superior education, and although, without impoverishing yourself, you might easily buy the whole of their property put together." What the Dutchman then observed he relates as follows:--

"The entertainment was of such a nature that there was no danger of the table breaking down under the weight of the dishes: a good dish of small fish with onion sauce, calf's head and trimmings, the whole interior of a pig in as many various dishes as there were parts, a couple of geese, and two hares; besides this, such rough watery beer, that one was soon obliged to have recourse to not much better brandy. In spite of this the society, which consisted of some twenty persons, was right merry, and the ladies more lively than the affected mercantile ladies of the city nobility. When the table was removed, a portion of the cavaliers danced about merrily to a couple of fiddles, and the room was filled with the fumes of tobacco. Then Frau von K. began, 'I have taken a fancy for this foreign cavalier, and have hopes that my son, who is also an officer, will be as much loved and esteemed in other places.' Frau Ilse von der B. answered, 'I, dear and honoured sister, am quite of another opinion. I could never exercise such tyranny on those belonging to me as to thrust them among these fierce soldiers, for I hear that they sometimes fare badly enough--have no warm beds for many nights, and besides, have no one to make them a mug of warm beer or bring them a glass of brandy. If I should hear that my son had been devoured by a long-necked Tartar, such as I have lately seen painted at Kretschem, I should be choked with grief. Therefore, I have thought it better to maintain my Junker Hans Christoph as well as I can on our little property at home. I must acknowledge that he has already cost me more than enough; for when I fitted him out as became a noble, my two best cows went, and I have not been able to replace the loss. But what does that matter; I see with pleasure that he knows how to behave himself like a nobleman. Only see, dear honoured sister, does he not dance nimbly, and hasn't he got a capital knack of whirling round with the ladies; he does not refuse to drink a glass of beer or brandy with any one; tobacco is his only pleasure in life; in all societies he makes himself so agreeable, that he sometimes does not come home for three weeks, possibly with a black eye. From that I can quite believe that he lays about him, and defends himself valiantly like a cavalier. Such also shall my Junker Martin Andres become.' The Junker who was standing by her, laid his head on the lap of his dear mother. 'The wild lad knows already that he is a Junker, therefore he does not desire to learn, but prefers riding in the fields with the young horsemen; he has already got into his head that he must wear a sword. This is a new anxiety to me, for I well know that in the end it will cost me a horse, and without special help from God, I shall have to part with a couple more cows. I must, however, buy him an alphabet, for his father always wished him to become a thorough scholar, as he himself was. Yes, if it cost nothing, and it were not necessary to buy so many expensive books for the learned lad, it would delight me. My eyes run with tears when I think how beautifully his honoured father said grace after meals, and did it as well as the pastor; also how he once recited before the prince, for a whole half hour, something, I know not what, in pure Latin. One thing pleases me much in my Martin Andres, that he has such a subtle, reflecting head. He himself suggested to me to help him sometimes to gain money, by allowing him to keep the redemption money for the stray cattle impounded on my fields. He is so intent upon this that he lurks the whole day in the corn to catch a couple of pigs or the like, whereby he has already gained as much as half a thaler. But, nevertheless, if I only knew for certain that my Junker Hans Christoph would prosper in this war business, like your noble sons, honoured sister, I would not let another year pass without endeavouring to persuade him to go. If he would but become for certain an officer or a baron, and obtain a rich wife. She, however, to suit me, must be of true, real, noble blood, for otherwise, I swear she should never be permitted to appear before me, even though she were up to her ears in gold. And who knows, dear honoured sister? I have all my life long heard that in other countries the nobility are not so good as with us, and that in Holland, from whence this officer comes, the women are driven to the market naked as God has created them, just like the cows. For my deceased honoured mother's sister, the dear Frau Grete von T. lived to see her son devil-ridden, and he brought home just such a wild woman. This so grieved her that she did not live much longer, and she could not be persuaded to see this wild woman more than once. But to return to my son. Junker Hans Christoph, if it should so happen that he were not sent among the Tartars, nor obliged to be a sentinel, I would try to persuade my old maid, who altogether reared and waited upon him, to accompany him for a year, and look after him, to wash his shirts and keep his head clean, and I would provide for her by sowing a half peck of flax seed on her account.'

"The Frau von K. would, probably have given a good answer to this nonsense, if she had not been led off to dance by Herr von K. Thus she left the old lady alone, with whom the Junker Vogelbach, who was present, and had a tobacco-pipe of a finger's length in his mouth, held this discourse:--'How are you--how fares it with you, my honoured and dear cousin? I observe that you rejoice to see Junker Hans Christoph enjoy himself. My word for it, he is an honest lad; I could have wished that he had been with me some days ago, when I had a tussle with a 'Peppersack' of Breslau; he would have seen with wonder how I belaboured the fellow; he had to beg for life, and afterwards to give a stately banquet in the best style to me and my seconds, at which we so enjoyed ourselves, that the good wine flowed like a river.' To this the old lady Von der B. replied: 'It is truly to your honour that, for the sake of a drinking bout, you make yourself so common with the citizens; and, above all, you, Junker Martin Heinrich, who are always hankering after wine, if only you can catch a glass, you drink in brotherhood with all sorts of people, be they citizens or nobles. Yes, you, indeed, as I have heard, call these Peppersacks uncle or cousin. If I could be sure of this, I swear that all my life long I will never call you cousin. Tell me, what is that scar you have on your forehead? Without doubt you have got it in another quarrel with them. That would do well enough if you would only not mix with the citizens.'

"'Do you take me for a fool,' said Junker Vogelbach, 'that I should call these fellows uncle or cousin, though the Emperor should have given them ever so grand a patent? Brother is well enough, so long as they give good wine; but we say, henceforth we will let the knaves alone.'

"Meanwhile the guests made themselves merry with tobacco, drinking, and varied converse, during which the Dutchman remarked, that, of the two tolerably well educated daughters of the host, one only was to be seen at a time at the dance, and each was dressed from head to foot the same as the other; from which he concluded that these good maidens were obliged to content themselves with one and the same dress, and that whilst one danced in the room, the other, who had retired, had to wait patiently without till her turn came again. 'Are not those dear children?' said their mother, who had seated herself with the other ladies, to Frau von der B.; 'they do all in so noble and suitable a style, it does my heart good to see how everything becomes them. If the Peppersacks in the city were to hang ever so much finery about them, the citizen would still peep out.' 'You say rightly,' said the other; 'my heart leaps within me when I see these city people swagger about in such fine dresses and ornaments, in their gilded carriages. Think I to myself, be as ostentatious as you will, were you every day, even to drink pearls instead of your best wine, you are still citizens, will remain citizens, and can never become equal to us.'

"Amidst such woman's prattle, laughing, shouting, dancing, and jumping, the night wore away, and as Von K. could well anticipate, that this entertainment would be concluded with the usual brawls and quarrels, he gave our Dutchman a wink, and retired with him to the house of a peasant of his acquaintance, where they passed the night on straw. The groom of the Herr von K. awoke them the following morning, saying, if they desired to witness a three-fold fight, in which Vogelbach would be the most distinguished combatant, they must rise quickly and betake themselves to a spot near the village, on the Polish frontier. Neither of them having any desire to do so, Von K., who felt ashamed that his countrymen were such ragamuffins, made a sign to his groom to be silent; they then mounted, and rode away conversing together pleasantly."

Here we conclude the narrative of Paul Winckler. About the year 1700, the habits of the country nobles became more civilised, their life more comfortable, and the bands of _Krippenreiters_ became rarer. Still, however, individuals were sometimes tempted to defy the weak laws of the country, and repeatedly did the governments exert themselves against the cunning and violence by which unlawful possession was taken of the property of the deceased. Still did the greater part of the country nobles suffer from the burden of mortgages; frequent were the complaints about the rashness with which they were given and sold; and, as it is usually the custom to cheat in drawing up such mortgage-deeds, they far exceeded the value of the estate. Under these circumstances, there were everywhere legal auctions, where they were not prevented by feudal tenure or family regulations; only too frequently were the wax lights again seen burning, which, according to old custom, were burnt on the morning of an auction, and the duration of their flame marked the time during which the bidding of those who were desirous to purchase would be accepted.[52]

In most of the districts of Germany the acquisition of a nobleman's estate depended on the _Ritterrecht_, or laws and usages prevalent among the nobility in that district. Undoubtedly this custom was not in accordance with common law, but almost everywhere the noble proprietors of the district formed a powerful corporation, which excluded those who were not noble from the fall enjoyment of seigneurial rights of _Standschaft_, and from their assemblies. Even where those who were not noble were capable of holding a fief, they were so only under limitations. Sometimes the citizens of certain privileged cities had the right of acquiring the properties of noblemen, but this expired as soon as they ceased to belong to the favoured city. An exception, also, was sometimes made in favour of the city councillors forming part of the government of the country, and members of the universities. But the general rule was that those not noble, could only occupy a property as a mortgage, not with seigneurial rights as a possession. Even those who had been ennobled were not free to acquire a nobleman's estate as a possession; it required the consent of the rulers of the country or of the noble States. In the Imperial hereditary provinces this right could only be obtained by those noblemen who were raised to some rank of the higher nobility; and even then this right had to be purchased in each individual case, and from the sovereign ruler, and secured by a diploma. The Emperor endeavoured to obtain money even from the old families by obliging them to renew this right by the purchase of a general diploma for all their members.

But the Imperial Court imposed other limitations, dividing, up to the most modern times, the last escutcheon of its nobility into _Edle_, nobles, _Herren_, gentlemen, and _Ritter_, knights. Whoever was transferred from the order of citizens to that of nobles or knights, could not be buried with mourning horses and escutcheons if he continued his vocation as a citizen. And so far did Imperial administration reach, that even in 1716 a noble lady was forbidden to marry a Lutheran ecclesiastic, because that would be unbecoming a noble.[53]

But the approach of a new time may be clearly perceived, soon after 1700, in the life of the noble, as well as that of the peasant. It consisted in a better tone of feeling, both as head of a household and as a landed proprietor. A new literature started up suddenly, large and copious compilations, in which were introduced systematically the duties and secrets of agriculture, husbandry, and housekeeping; also of domestic and gentlemanlike education and training; they are respectable folios, handsomely bound and adorned with copper-plates, and it was considered meritorious to educate yourself from them. In 1682, von Hochberg had already dedicated his "Country Life of the Noble" to the landed proprietors of Upper Austria Soon after, the Count Palatine, Franz Philipp, under the name of Florinus, wrote a similar work, "To the Prudent Householder versed in the Law." Already, in Holstein, and soon after in Mecklenburg, the system of double rotation was introduced on the properties of the nobility. At the same time there was in most of the wealthy old families an increasing interest in art and science; it was thought becoming to have some historical and legal knowledge, to be acquainted with family traditions, and well versed in the aids to history, numismatics, and heraldry. The wives of the country nobles were benefitted by the deeper earnestness of the new pietism, and also, after 1700, from the sensible, sober character of the new culture. They were so often told that it was praiseworthy for a lady of rank to concern herself about her household affairs, and to bring up her children as Christian gentlemen in the fear of God, that one may well believe that these views entered into their daily life. About 1750, a travelled nobleman describes with pleasure what the daily work of the housewife ought to be. Indeed, a nobleman, in the middle of the last century, who lived peaceably on his property, and was tolerably wealthy, had a right to consider himself as one of the most fortunate representatives of his time. He lived uprightly, concerned himself about the great world no more than was necessary, lived in familiar family intercourse with the whole nobility of the neighbourhood, was only occasionally tipsy, reared his foals, sold his wool, and disputed with his pastor; by moderate strictness he got on tolerably well with his villeins, and had but rarely a suspicion how detrimental even to himself was the servitude of his labourers. If an old family was in danger of becoming impoverished, they were advised by the aforementioned zealous and well-meaning coadjutor of the noble, to marry with a rich heiress of the respectable citizen class, in case of necessity the family of the lady might be ennobled, and provided with ancestors on both father's and mother's side; the business, it is true, caused a small blot on their escutcheons, but it would be folly to regard that much.

But the old families were saved from sinking again into the people by numerous lucrative privileges. Very large was the number of benefices and prebends, and of sinecures in the cathedral church, in the orders of Malta and St. John, and in the monasteries of the nobles and other ecclesiastical endowments; and there was hardly an old family that had not some connection with them. Very general was the feeling among the nobility, that the Roman Catholic nobles were better off, because they could more easily provide for their sons and daughters; whilst the Protestant princes had seized most of the foundations. With pride, therefore, did the so-called knights of the Empire in Franconia, Swabia, and on the Rhine, look down upon the landed nobility; the Imperial capitulation not only assured them privileges, dignity, and greatness, but they were also closely united with the ecclesiastical princes and the foundations in their territories, and their families lived, with almost heritable right, to numerous ecclesiastical benefices. But, unfortunately, this support had not the effect of ensuring lasting prosperity to their families; nay, it was a chief cause of many becoming impoverished and corrupted in their isolation.

But still more fatal to the lower nobility was a privilege to which, even in the present day, they cling fast as a valuable advantage, and the lowering effect of which is not confined to them,--their right of admittance at court. The principle that any of the old nobility must have free access at court, and that it was not befitting a prince to have social intercourse in any other circle, acquired great importance after the year 1700. At this period the German courts gradually developed the tendencies which they have maintained up to the present day. The Imperial Court, and that of Louis XIV., were the pattern; but, at the same time, old home usages were continued at particular courts. Ever greater became the number of court appointments; needy princes even sold them for money.[54] The lord steward was over the whole court. There was a marshal, called "_Hofmarschall_" who had charge of the royal household; on occasions of ceremony he marched in front, with his gold staff and keys, and at the festive table he stepped behind the chair of his gracious sovereign as soon as the confectionery was served. The lord high-chamberlain really superintended the wardrobe of his royal master; sometimes with the advice of the royal lady, his wife, and distributed the cast-off clothes, not only to the valet, but to poor cavaliers.[55] His office also was important, for the costumes at most of the courts were numerous and various; it was only at the Prussian Court, and those connected with it, that the simple military coat of home-made cloth was the usual dress. Elsewhere, not only the gala dresses, but also the special costumes and fancy dresses for the high festivals, were subjects for great consideration, and it was no trifle for the chamberlain to ascertain accurately how the wardrobe at the different entertainments should be fittingly arranged; as when, for example, at the Turkish garden near Dresden the whole court appeared as Mussulmen, or when an extraordinary coronation dress was to be invented, as for the Elector Friedrich August of Saxony at the coronation at Cracow.[56] Even the stable became noble; it was under the master of the horse, as the hunt was under the grandmaster of the chase. As ceremonial had become the peculiar science of court, it was represented at most of the great courts by a grandmaster of the ceremonies. None watched more jealously than the princes themselves the marks of honour which they were to give and receive at visits; if on a visit sufficient respect was not shown to them, they rode away in anger, and threatened reprisals. Endless, therefore, were the complaints and grievances laid before the Emperor and Aulic Council; and yet this jealous watch over externals was not the result of self-respect, for in dealing with the powerful they were but too deficient in this. Regulations concerning precedence were always being renewed; almost every new ruler had pleasure in thus showing his supremacy, but, in spite of all ordinances, the disputes about rank, offices, and titles were endless--worse than the men, were the ladies. In 1750, at one of the royal courts, all the ladies of the nobility left their places in church because the daughter of one of the newly ennobled officials--a "_wirklichen Geheimerath_"--sought for a place in their choir.

This wide sphere of trifling interests gave great importance to the nobility, calculating from the Imperial Court at Vienna down to the household of the baron of the Empire, who always maintained one or more poor _Junkers_ in his circle; together with the collateral and lateral branches of the greater families, it might be estimated that there were somewhere about 5 or 600 court households in Germany, besides 1500 households of "Knights of the Empire;" so that, undoubtedly, there were more than 5000 court offices and employments. The enormous number of these court places was not advantageous to the manly character of the noble. To be able to endure with smiles the humours and roughness of an unbridled sovereign, to be complaisant as the pliant servant of the despot's licentious desires, and of the mistresses' establishment, was not the worst effect. He was in imminent danger of becoming so base that the coarseness of the poor _Krippenreiter_ appeared comparatively virtuous. It was a period when the noble mother gave her daughter with pleasure into the arms of the profligate prince; and when the courtier gave up his wife to him for money. And it was not only done by poor nobles, but also by the offshoots of royal houses. The nobles in some German provinces took the opportunity of practising similar complaisance, even in our century, towards Napoleon's princes and marshals. But the worst was that the great mass of the court nobility drew also the families of landed proprietors, who were related to them, to their residences. Sensible men were never weary of complaining that the country nobles no longer dwelt on their properties to the great damage of their coffers and morals; but thronged to the neighbourhood of the princes to ruin themselves, their wives and daughters in the pestilential atmosphere of the court. But these were fruitless warnings in the greater part of Germany till the middle of the eighteenth century.

Those who had more manly ambition filled civil or military offices. There was a peculiar aspect, also, about these nobles that bore office. If the son of an old family studied law, he easily gained by his family connection the situation of councillor; and rose from thence, if clever and well informed, to the highest offices, even to be _de facto_ a ruler of states, or political agent and ambassador at foreign courts. Besides divers rogues who were drawn forth in these bad times, there were also some men of education, worth, and capacity, among the German nobility of this class, who already in the time of Leibnitz formed the real aristocracy of the order. It became gradually customary for nobles to occupy the highest official positions and the posts of ambassadors, after they had become an established court institution; also the appointments of officers in the army. Whilst the Imperial armies, to which the young nobles from the greater part of Germany were attracted, retained, even after the reforms of Prince Eugene, somewhat of the aspect of the old Landsknecht army under the Hohenzollerns; the new organization of the Prussian army formed the ground-work of an excellent education for the officers. The Elector Frederic William had perceived that the wild country nobles of his devastated realm could be best turned to account in the army which he created amid the roar of cannon in the Thirty Years' War. He restrained their love of brawls by military discipline; regulated their rude sense of honour by _esprit de corps_ and military laws; and gave them the feeling of being in a privileged position, by raising none but nobles to the rank of officers. Thus was effected one of the most remarkable changes in the civilization of the eighteenth century, especially when King Frederic William I. and Frederic II. had so emphatically declared that every prince of the Hohenzollern house must be both soldier and officer, wear the same coat, be under the same subordination and the same law of honour as the most insignificant _Junker_ from the country.

Thus it happened that the descendants of many families that had lived as drones in the Commonwealth became closely bound up with the fondest recollections of the people. But this political privilege of the nobility became, it is true, even in the State of the Hohenzollerns, a source of new danger to the families of the nobility, and, which was still more important, to the State itself. We shall have occasion to speak of this later.

Thus the nobility, about 1750, were at their highest point--everywhere the ruling class. Thousands of their sons did homage, in both the great and small courts; scarcely a less number established themselves in the stalls of ecclesiastical endowments, occupied prebends and carried Imperial "_panisbriefs_"[57] in their pockets. The softest seats in the senate, the foremost places in the State carriages of diplomats, were taken by them; almost the whole of the State domains were in their hands. But it was just at this period that a great change took place in the minds of the German people; a new culture arose, and new views of the value of the things of this world spread themselves, quietly, gradually, imperceptibly, no one knew how or from whence. The German sentences received a new cadence; German verses became less majestic, and soon even simple. This new seeking after simplicity spread still further. Certain bold enthusiasts ventured to despise powder, and perukes; this was contrary to all etiquette, but new ideas and new feelings came into circulation. Beautiful tender hearts, and the dignity of man were spoken of. Soon, also, distinguished personages among the nobility caught the infection, even Sovereigns; the Duchess of Weimar went with a certain Wieland in a carrier's cart; two _Reichsgrafen_ von Stolborg were not disinclined to bend the knee to one Klopstock, and embraced by moonlight the citizen students.

Among the _bel-esprits_ of the citizens who now gained an influence, none was more adapted to reconcile the nobles to the new times than Gellert. He was not genial: he knew well what was due to every one, and he gave every one his proper place; he had a refined, modest disposition, but was rather a pessimist; he was very respectable, and had a mild and benevolent demeanour towards both ladies and gentlemen. Great was the influence that he exercised over the country nobles of Upper Saxony, Thuringia, and Lower Germany. The culture of the new time soon got a footing in these families. The ladies especially opened their hearts to the new feeling for literature, and many of them became proud of being patronesses of the beautiful art of poetry, whilst the gentlemen still looked distrustfully on the new state of things. As in Germany, poetry had the wonderful effect of bringing the nobility into unprecedented union with the citizen class, so at the same time in Austria, music had for a time a similar effect.

But there were greater results than the mere poetical emotions with which Kalb, Stein, and the loveable Lengfelds received the German poets. Science now began to speak more earnestly and more powerfully. What she commended or condemned became, as if by magic, among hundreds of thousands, the law of life or the object of aversion. Not many years after 1750, in a wide circle of highly cultivated minds, which included the most vigorous of the burgher class, together with the noblest spirits among the nobility, the privileges which gave the nobles a position among the people, were considered as obsolete; and the State ordinances which preserved them were regarded with coldness and contempt.

Again there came a stern period; the noble generals of the Prussian army could not maintain the State edifice of the old Hohenzollerns; they were the first to give up the State of Frederick the Great, and pusillanimously to surrender the Prussian fortresses to a foreign enemy. One of the necessary conditions for the preservation and restoration of Prussia and Germany was, that the nobility must renounce their valued privileges in civil offices, and officers' appointment.

Since the rising of the people in 1813, the life and prosperity of the State has mainly rested on the power and progress of culture in the German citizen. The citizens are no longer, as in the middle ages, a class confronting the other classes; they form the nation. Whoever would place himself in opposition to it by egotistical pretensions, begins a hopeless struggle. All the privileges by which the nobility up to the present day have sought to maintain a separate position among the people, have become a misfortune and fatality to themselves. Many of the best among them have long comprehended this; they are in every domain of intellectual and material interests, in art, science, and State, the representatives of the new life of the nation. Even the country noble, who within the boundary of his village district holds faithfully and lovingly to the recollections of the olden time, has in some degree made friends with the new time, and in some sort yielded unwillingly to its demands. But among the weaker of them there remains even now somewhat of the hearty disposition of the old mounted rovers. The modern _Junker_ is an unfavourable caricature of the nobility; if one observes closely, he is only a pretentious continuation of the old Krippenreiter. Under uniforms and decorations are concealed the same hatred of the culture of the times, the same prejudices, the same arrogance, the same grotesque respect for decaying privileges, and the same rough egotism with regard to the commonwealth. Not a few of these court and country nobles still consider the State like the full store-room of a neighbour, as their ancestors did two centuries ago; against these rise the hatred and contempt of the people.