BRANDENBURG. 



107 



industrious, taking refuge in Brandenburg, to the 

 number ol about twenty thousand, helped to i 

 pie deserted town*, and tauglit the natives tin 

 nutacturcs of winch they v. ere yet ignorant. On the 

 !.>u of Frederic \\Mliain to the government, 

 neither hats, nor stockings, nor serges, nor, in short, 

 any woollen stuff whatever, was fabricated in li 

 minions. The industry of the French soon enriched 

 them with these manufactures. They established 

 fabrics of broad cloths, screes, strainers, small stuffs, 

 druggets, crape, bonnets, and stockings woven in the 

 loom ; hats made of the fur of beavers, hares, and 

 rabbits ; and dyes of every kind. Some of these re- 

 fugees became merchants, and sold by retail the pro- 

 ducts of the labour of others. Some of them settled 

 in the capital, as goldsmiths, jewellers, watchmakers, 

 or engravers j and those who took up their resi- 

 dence in the flat part ot the country, cultivated to- 

 bacco, and reared fruits and excellent pulse in the 

 sandy districts, which, through their fostering indus- 

 try, were converted into admirable kitchen gardens. 

 The elector, to encourage so useful a colony, assign- 

 ed it an annual pension of forty thousand crowns, 

 which it still enjoys. 



These beneficial projects were adopted and im 

 proved upon by Frederic II., the son and successor of 

 Frederic William, who reaped the full advantages of 

 his father's labours. The tapestry of Brandenburg 

 now rivalled that of Brussels; its galoon-lace equalled 

 that of France j the mirrors of Neustadt surpassed in 

 their clearness those of Venice ; and the Prussian 

 army was arrayed in cloth of home manufacture. To 

 give new energy to that spirit of industry which the 

 foreign colonies had excited, Frederic prohibited, by a 

 severe edict, the exportation of wool ; he established 

 a public magazine, named the Lagerhaus, from which 

 quantities of wool were advanced to poor manufac- 

 turers, who repaid it by the produce of their labour ; 

 the army, which was newly dressed every year, en- 

 sured a ready sale for their cloths ; they even found 

 their way into foreign markets ; and in the year 

 1733, the manufactures of Brandenburg were in such 

 a flourishing state, that they furnished for exporta- 

 tion forty- four thousand pieces of broad cloth, each 

 twenty-four ells long. With these improvements, a 

 spirit of frugality, scarcely less beneficial, was intro- 

 duced among all orders in the state. During the 

 E receding reign, many of the nobles had sold their 

 inds to be enabled to purchase gold-cloth, and lace ; 

 now that abuse was done away, and the proudest 

 grandees were contented with such articles of dress 

 as the manufactures of their native country could af- 

 ford. This regard to economy was the more neces- 

 sary, as in most of the Prussian states, the right of 

 primogeniture is disclaimed ; and fathers, who have 

 a numerous family, can procure, only by rigid par- 

 simony, a respectable establishment for those, who, 

 after their death, are to divide their family into new 

 branches. 



Amidst these important arrangements, one great 

 deficiency remained yet to be regretted. As if every 

 mind had beeii engrossed by the grand concern of 

 encreasing the opulence and multiplying the com- 

 forts of the community, scarce a thought was be- 

 itowed on those more elegant, but less essential arts, 



which " <-xalt, embellish, and render life delightful." Briulu. 

 While agriculture alu! manufaeturi-s wen.- carried to 

 the highest degree of improvement, literature 

 science, with all the kindred accomplishments which 

 tend at once to refine the taste and to polish ' 

 manners of a people, were left to languish for w 

 of encouragement. Even commerce was checked by 

 the narrow views of a government, more anxious to 

 guard against poverty by repressing extravagance, 

 than to extend the public resources by opening new 

 channels for superfluous commodities, and thus offer- 

 ing new incitements to industry. It was reserved 

 for Frederic II. to introduce a more liberal and en- 

 lightened policy. Aware how much commerce con- 

 tributes to the power of a state, he favoured and 

 prosecuted it by every practicable method ; award- 

 ing premiums to those who were most active or suc- 

 cessful in its various branches, and forming sumc con- 

 siderable commercial establishments. His passion for 

 literature, science, and the fine arts, being caught by 

 many of his subjects, gave new life to the universi- 

 ties, academies, and seminaries, which had been for- 

 merly almost wholly deserted ; and the crowds of 

 learned men and accomplished artists, which his libe- 

 rality attracted frum every country in Europe, tt- 

 fected the happiest change in the taste and manners 

 of the native inhabitants. For a more ample account 

 of the commerce and literary institutions of Bran- 

 denburg, we must refer our readers to the articles 

 PRUSSIA and BERLIN. We may only observe, that 

 the Transactions of the Berlin Academy, of which 

 many volumes have been published, do much credit 

 to Prussian science ; and that the specimens of paint- 

 ing, statuary, and engraving, which are occasionally 

 produced in Potsdam and Berlin, might be acknow- 

 ledged without a buish bv the first artist;, in .Europe. 



There is no country on the continent where the Posting, 

 internal intercourse is more facilitated by excellent 

 roads and regular stages than in Brandenburg. The 

 rates of postage, and even the fare of postilions, are 

 regulated by government ; so that travellers can cal- 

 culate their expenses to the minutest item, without 

 being teazed by incessant importunities, or vexed by 

 arbitrary impositions. 



The posts are likewise managed with much order 

 in Brandenburg, and letters are conveyed with the 

 utmost regularity and expedition. The two grand 

 mails which go from Wesel to Memel in Prussia, 

 and thence throughout Russia, and from Hamburg, 

 by the way of Silesia into Poland and Hungary, 

 meet at Berlin, and are regulated in such a manner, 

 that all these posts arrive and depart at eight o'clock 

 in the evenings of Tuesday and Saturday. 



The internal communication is still farther facili- 

 tated by the two great rivers, Elbe and Oder, which 

 traverse the country in diftereut places. The Elbe 

 enters the Old Mark at Polke, and forms its boun- 

 dary on the west. It receives the stream ot Taiigcr, 

 near Sangermunde, and the Havel, a navigable river, 

 near Werber. Thence it flows between the Old 

 Mark and Priegnitz, till it comes nigh Wittenberg, 

 when it is joined by the Stepcnitz, a river so consi- 

 derable as to be navigated by boats. The Elbe leaves 

 the Old Mark near Waneter, but continues to flow 

 along the side of Priegnitz, from which it receive! 



