LETTER LXXIX.

Dresden.

I believe I neglected to mention in any of my letters from Berlin, that when I visited the manufactory of porcelain, I was so much struck with the beauty of some of it, that I ordered a small box for you. But as I take it to be a matter of indifference, whether you sip your tea out of the china you have already, or this, you may send it as a present to the female you love and esteem most. If by this direction it should not go straight from you to Miss ——, pray let me know to whom you send it. The factor at Hamburgh will give you notice when he ships it off.

I did not imagine that this manufactory had arrived at such a degree of perfection as it has in several places in Germany, particularly at Brunswic and Berlin. The parcel I have ordered for you, is thought equal to the finest made at Dresden.

The day we left Potsdam we dined with good Lord Marechal, who took leave of the D——, with an emotion which at once marked his regard for his G——, and his fears that he should never see him again.

If I were strongly in a humour for description, our journey through the most beautiful and most fertile part of Germany, would afford me a fair opportunity. I not only could ring over the whole chimes of woods, meadows, rivers, and mountains, rich crops of grain, flax, tobacco, and hops; I might animate the landscapes with a copious breed of horses, black cattle, sheep, wild boars, and venison, and vary the description with the marble, precious stones, and mines of lead, copper, iron, and silver, which Saxony contains within its bowels. I might expatiate on the fine china ware, and fine women, that abound in this country, formed of the finest clay in Germany, et très joliment travaillées;—but I am long since tired of description, and therefore beg leave to convey you at once from Potsdam to Dresden.

Having been presented to the Elector and Electress by Mr. Osborn, the British minister here, we had the honour of dining with them the same day. The Electress is young, tall, well-made, and lively.—We were afterwards presented to the Electress Dowager, and to the Princess Elizabeth, the Elector’s aunt, to the Princess, his sister, and to his three brothers, the eldest of whom has lost the use of his legs, and is moved about the room in a chair with wheels.

The court was numerous and splendid. In the evening there was card-playing for about two hours. The D—— of H—— was of the Electress’s party, while I played two rubbers at whist with one of the Princesses, against the Electress Dowager and the Princess Elizabeth.—I have never seen deep gaming at any of the German courts.—What has approached nearest to it, has been at masquerades, or where the Sovereign was not present.

Dresden, though not one of the largest, is certainly one of the most agreeable cities in Germany, whether we consider its situation, the magnificence of its palaces, or the beauty and conveniency of the houses and streets. This city is built on both sides of the Elbe, which is of a considerable breadth here. The magnificent and commodious manner in which the two opposite parts of the town are joined, adds greatly to its beauty.

There is an equestrian statue of King Augustus, in a kind of open place or square, between the old city and the new. The workmanship is but indifferent; however, I was desired by our Cicerone to admire this very much, because—it was made by a common smith. I begged to be excused, telling him that I could not admire it, had it been made by Michael Angelo.

Few Princes in Europe are so magnificently lodged as the Elector of Saxony. The Palace and Museum have been often described.—The last was begun by the Elector Augustus, and still retains the name of the Green Room, though it now consists of several apartments, all painted green, in imitation of the first. I will not enumerate the prodigious number of curiosities, natural and artificial, to be seen there. Some of the last are curious, only because they are invisible to the human eye. Of this number, is a cherry stone, upon which, by the help of a microscope, above a hundred faces may be distinguished. Undoubtedly these little mechanical whims display the labour, perseverance, and minute attention of the workman; but I cannot think they are proofs of the wisdom of those who could employ artists to so little purpose. Let the astonishing minutiæ of nature be admired through microscopes; but surely nothing is a proper work for the hands of man, which cannot be seen by the unaided human eye.

A work of the jeweller Dinglinger, which represents the celebration of the Mogul’s birth-day, is much admired. The Mogul sitting on his throne, his grandees and guards, with a great many elephants, are all exhibited upon a table about an ell square. This work employed Dinglinger, and some assistants, above ten years. Do not you think this was leaving so ingenious an artist a little too long in the Mogul’s service?

A simple list of every thing valuable and curious in this Museum, would exceed the bounds of one of my longest letters; I shall therefore pass them all over in silence, except the story of the prophet Jonah, which it would be impious to omit. The ship, the whale, the prophet, and the sea-shore, are all represented in pearl; but the sea and rocks are in a different kind of stone, though, in my opinion, there was no occasion to vary the materials; for surely there is as great a difference between a prophet and a whale, as between a whale and a rock. So that if the first two could be represented with the same materials, I do not think it was worth while to change the composition for the third.

The gallery of pictures is highly esteemed. To enumerate the particular merits of each, would fill many volumes, and requires a far greater knowledge of painting than I can pretend to. The most valuable pieces are by Corregio and Rubens. There are three or four by the former, and of his most capital works; and a very considerable number by the latter. The strength and expression of this great artist’s pencil, the natural glow of his colouring, and the fertility of his fancy deserve the highest encomiums. Yet one cannot help regretting, that he had so violent a passion for fat women. That kind of nature which he had seen early in life in his own country, had laid such hold of his imagination, that it could not be eradicated by all the elegant models he afterwards studied in Italy. Some of his female figures in this gallery are so much of the Dutch make, and so fat, that it is rather oppressive to look at them in this very hot weather.

In the Museum, within the Palace, there is a most complete collection of prints, from the commencement of the art of engraving till the present time.