308 GERMANY. 



CHAP. XXVI. 



siderable in the whole extent of the German and 

 Hungarian dominions of the house of Austria, 

 though much of what is so used may not be of 

 domestic fabrication. The countries adjoining to 

 Austria, Poland and Turkey, are, in general, too 

 poor to indulge much in such expensive luxuries 

 as gold and silver ; and though in Warsaw, 

 Cracow, and most cities of Turkey, there are 

 jewellers, silversmiths, and watchmakers, their 

 trade is greater in sale of the goods from the 

 German fairs, than from similar articles of their 

 own fabrication. In the Russian empire, though 

 the nobility are disposed to any expenditure which 

 may tend to show and magnificence, yet they 

 bear but a small proportion to the whole popu- 

 lation, and many of their estates are encumbered 

 with debts and settlements to an extent which has 

 compelled them to practise unwilling parsimony; 

 and the few who are enabled to indulge in 

 luxuries are more disposed to expend their money 

 on foreign than on domestic plate and jewellery. 

 The chief consumption of the precious metals in 

 the Russian Empire is in the ecclesiastical de- 

 corations of their churches, in the sacred utensils 

 dedicated to their church service, but especially 

 on the dresses of the clergy, which are profusely 

 ornamented with gold. 



In the Prussian dominions generally, and the 

 same observations will apply to the greater part of 

 the north of Germany, the nobility for the most 



