LETTERS PROM A TRAVELLER AT BERLIN. 141 



circumftances in conj unction" render the living and the 

 intercourfe at Berlin far more unreftrained and eafy, 

 than in other great cities, where people of good fami-^ 

 liesj but of fmall incomes, as frequently is the cafe at 

 Paris, muft keep at a diftance from the bettermoft 

 companies; bet&ufe it requires an expence in drefs, 

 and other articles, which they are not able to defray : 

 whereas here you frequent the public places, and vifit 

 the greater!: companies in the plainer!: cloaths you chufe 

 to wear ; and the nobility give as few entertainments as 

 poflible, fo that you are fafe from the neceffity of fre- 

 quenting parties too expenhVe for your circumftances, 

 merely for the fake of keeping up appearances. The 

 fame fpirit of moderation prevails even among the opu- 

 lent people of the middling clafs ; the greater! houfes 

 feldom give dinners above once, or at moft twice a 

 week ; and there are always a number of large compa- 

 nies who dine at taverns, of which they are members, 

 and where they introduce fuch ftrangers as are recom- 

 mended to them, without putting them to much ex- 

 pence. Accordingly, we fee people here, of but 

 flender incomes, moving in a considerable fphere, and 

 playing parts of fome diftinclion ; as likewife young 

 perfons cf condition, of three to four thoufand dollars 

 a year, who keep an equipage, three fervants, a mif- 

 trefs, and enjoy a great variety of pleafures, as they are 

 called, which a man could fcarcely procure himfelf in 

 France, with an income of from forty to fifty thou- 

 fand livres. 



At the fame time what is fpared in outward ftiew, is 

 often fpent especially by young perfons in fecret indul- 

 gences, and here lies a frefti fource of limitation in 



5 P om P 



