SS ae 
30 -Aecount of Leipzig Eafter-fair. 
Jiesof the Jura, who, if we may draw a 
conclufion from the large aflortments 
browght to the Leipzig-fair, seems not- 
withftanding the late feemingly unfavour- 
able times, to have rather extended than 
contracted the circle of their commercial 
eonneétions. 
The Italians feemed not yet to have re- 
covered from the political convulfions that 
have fhaken their country, and few. of 
them appeared at the fair with their fruits, 
oils, and various delicacies for the table ; 
indeed the Englifh feem to be getting pof. 
feffion of a great part of their former trade. 
But from theSouth-Eaft extremities of Fu- 
rope, the Greek merchants, known at the 
Germanfairs by the name of Macedonians, 
fet out fome months befcre the commence- 
ment of the fair, from Edeffa, Salonica, 
, &c, on their long pilgrimage through the 
Turkifh and Auftrian dominions, and ar- 
rive at their place of deftination about the 
fame time with the waggons loaded with | 
their merchandize,confilting of raw cotton, 
red cotton-thread, muflin, fhawls, fafhes, 
and likewife articles of female drefs and 
cloaks. ‘They have Jarge depdts of their 
goods in Vienna, whence J. Gervafi, G. 
Sirkis, and fome other merchants, came 
to Leipzig with rich affortments, and help- 
ed to fill the row of ware-rooms in Cathe 
rine-ftreet and the Bruhl. — 
About the fame time that South-Eatt 
Europe fends forth ber induftrious fons, 
long trains of Ruffian and Polifh mer- 
chants fet out on their pilgr mage to Leip- 
‘zig in their light carriages and kibikts, 
which bid defiance to the badne(ls of the 
roads and the weather. By degrees they 
join into long caravans of from 60 to 100 
carriages, and when they arzive in Ger- 
many, their appearance and a wintry drefs, 
bear a ftriking contraft to the lovely {pring 
that there awaits them. When they left 
their homes, the Froft had yet thrown his 
bridges over the rapid rivers that flow 
into the Baltic, and the beaten fnow had 
formed a fmco:h furface over the rugged 
roads. Many of the Ruffian buyers come 
from the country beyond Moicow, and 
even from Aftracan; and whole fwarms 
of Jevs from the ci dewaut Poland.’ On 
the greater or fmaller number of thefe Ha 
maxobians, (for frequently they have for 
months no other dwelling but their car- 
riages), depends in a great meaiuie the 
goodnels of the fair. The Jealt confidera- 
ble of them brings with him fome thou- 
fands of ducats to fupport his credit, on 
which he perhaps obtains twice as many 
gocdsas he can pay for. On thefe goods he 
often gains a hundred per cent on his re- 
& 
[Aug 1, 
turn to. his own country. Thus, mer- 
chants of agreat part of Europe, as far as 
the borders of Afia, are, during the latter 
months of winter, in motion, in order to 
airive at a common place of rendezvous 
in a {mall inland city of Germany, fituated 
on the fmall river Pleifs! Truly the 
caduceus of Mercury has not, even in our 
days, when miracles are fo uncommon, 
ceafed to be a wonder-working ftaff. 
And who fhall be able to count the 
fmall caravans, which from every part of 
Germany haften to this emporium. The 
horfe- market in particular, is attended by 
a vat concourfe of breeders and dealers 
from Hollftein, Mecklenburg, Deflau, 
Kovhen, &c. Many wild horfes too from 
the Ukraine and Lithuania are brought 
faltened fingly to the carriages of the 
Polifh merchants, or in whole droves tied 
together. 
It may well be imagined that in the 
city there is not rocm for ali this crowd of 
firangers, collected from fo many various _ 
countries, and bringing with them fo 
many thoufand carriages and draught- 
horfes. Indeed not only Leipzig, but 
almoft-all the circumjacent villages feem 
to be one general inn. In the mean time 
the numerous univerfity is ina ftate of reft ; 
the ftudenis return to their homes, and the 
halls where the lcétures are read, are con- 
verted into depofitories of merchandize, or 
into counting-houfes, or an exchange for 
the bookfellers. The police is regulated 
in an exemplary manner by the magif- 
trates ; with lenity and indulgence, where 
too fevere reftri€tions might tend to render 
the fojournment of the firangers lefs agree- 
able; but with inexorable feverity when 
the public fecurity is endangered. Iwenty 
active police-cfhicers are found fufficient 
to clear the ftreets of nuifances and beg- 
gars. Players at games of hazard, and 
proftitutes are however tolerated as an vn- 
avoidable evil, but firidlly watched. For, 
as they arrive in the week preceeding the 
fair from Drefien, Berlin, and other refi- 
dences, and take up their quarters, the 
former in the inns of the fuburbs, and the 
latter in the adjacent villages; their ndmes 
are all accuia'ely inferted in a regifier. 
Much remains yet to be done for the con- 
veniency of the immenie concourfe of mer- 
chants. .A more roomy edifice for pack= 
ing and weighirg goods fhould be built: 
nor is there a proper central place of meet- 
ing for traniaéting money bufinefs, and 
the like; for though there be a building 
called the exchange, it nowife anfwers 
the purpofe for which its name implies 
that it was intended. The learned, and 
sh , thefe 
