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i42 LETTERS FROM A TRAVELLER AT BERLIN; 



pomp and Hxury. For, when thefe perfons come rb 

 be fomewhat farther advanced in age, have got poffef- 

 lion of their whole revenues, and eftablifh a houfe of 

 their own ; they find themfelves encumbered with fuch 

 a weight of debts, that, whether they will or J10, they 

 mult perforce retrench, and live within the bounds of 

 moderation. Indeed it would fcarcely gain belief how 

 far licentiouffiefs is carried here. Without reckoning 

 the multitudes of young women who voluntarily ob- 

 trude themfelves on every paffenger, who either live 

 alone, or two or three together, there are a number of 

 houfes in which an indifcriminate number of perfons 

 affemble ori evenings, and are even tolerated by the 

 police. Thofe of the meaner! fort are entirely on the 

 fame footing with the mulieos, or the fpiiilhuys in 

 Amfterdam ; only that indeed no failors are met with 

 in thefe, and that things are here conducted a little 

 more orderly, and with fomewhat more delicacy. But 

 are likewiie fome of a fuperior clafs ; and in thefe ex- 

 travagance is carried to a furpriling pitch. 



No capital, perhaps, in the world has fo few drama- 

 tic reprefentations as Berlin. Excepting the german 

 theatre, where plays are acled every day in the year 

 without exception, the italian opera is open only during 

 the carnival, which however is upon a quite different 

 eftablifhment than it is in other places. The perfor- 

 mances begin a fortnight before Chrifhnas, and con- 

 tinue every Monday and Friday till the 2 1 ft of January. 

 On the Tuefdays that fall within this period, redouts 

 are given, and in them alone conUfi: all the diverlions 

 of the carnival. Heretofore, while the king was young, 

 the opera was very brilliant ; he took great delight in 



thefe 



