Eighteenth-Century Germany..
THIS is an admirable book. It is interesting throughout, and its fine display of learning is never allowed to hinder clarity or liveliness of expression Professor Bruford has given as a book which, more considerable and more profound than Hanotaux' France in 1614, has something of the same balance and finish.
Of late the seventeenth century has received much atten- tion from historians who with one or two notable exceptions have not recently paid the same heed to the eighteenth as have the fashionable designers of book-wrappers and belles- lettres. Thus, this book is all the more welcome, particularly • as the author extends his Social Background !' to include a survey of trade, roads, towns and a variety of aspects of German life.
This was the period of Prussia's rise and the decline of Austria from her position as the Supreme German State. Sorel called it the "Agony of the Holy Roman Empire," and indeed the end of. that remarkable political experiment might have come sooner had the German people been- less individualist, less patient and less long-suffering.
Much of the old spirit of local patriotism survived, especially in the South and in the towns. The latter were very rural, many of them possessing fields within their urban boundaries while cattle wandered often through the streets. Something of this dual aspect of the German citizen's life has recently been noticed by visitors to the Saar, where many miners possess large gardens and even small farms, as do some of the miners in the Forest of Dean. German servants were famous for their versatility ; Professor Bruford instances . the passage from Dichtung und iirahrheit in which Goethe remarks that his father was accustomed to engage servants who had some knowledge of -tailoring. '•'71 - • These German to*1 s were still rich, though perhaps not so wealthy as in the days before the Thirty Years War when they had been the creditors -of France and lost hundreds of • millions of marks through a .Spanish bankruptcy. The-new national States had mbre considerable resources ; the rise of Holland, the development of Prussia- and Sweden's strangle- hold on the Weser mouth were disadvantageous to the German cities, most of which declined. Only two flourished ; Ham- burg, the port of Berlin and for the English trade, which looked out over the North Sea and away from the Baltic with its Hanseatic memories ; and Frankfort, with its tolerant policy towards the Jews and a superb position at the gate into Middle Germany and at an historic cross-road of trade routes.
The book has some interesting facts about German Jewry:
it is evident that, so early as the fourteenth century, Nurena- berg—the domain today of Julius Streicher—was noted for its anti-Israelite tendencies. which were so strong that many of the Jews of Nuremberg migrated to Fiirth. They were indeed commanded to have an old woman as escort when they entered their former city, but seem to have tipped her-and
relieved themselves thus of her services. •' But the main theme is, of course, German Society in the
Eighteenth Century, and of this Professor Bruford has given us an elaborate and delightful study, all the more .:rieli because there was naturally variety in the social life :of a country in which the central government was so weak, and regional foci' so abundant. Goethe has spoken of the :lack of a general culture in the Germany of his time. Fienoli was the language of court and castle ; Metternich and Goethe _himself studied like Talleyrand at-the .I.Tniversity of Strasburg, but the architeet6 at any rate succeeded in imparting.:a German touch to their rriarvels-of7biroque-And iveoeo..:,'_rfro- leasOr Bruford has not mentioned Broelisal 'or• Ottobearen
or Vierzehnheiligen—they are among his very few omissions— but they and whatever remains of the work of Neumann, Fischer and the Brothers Asam cannot fail to provide perhaps the most living picture of Germany in the eighteenth century. Only the peasants are not there.- They formed the powerless majority of the population, a class dependent on them-selves for what they ate or wore and wearing their clothes until these fell to pieces. Of them, Professor Bruford quotes
Von Loen : "They themselves look neglected and ; one would have more pity for them, if their wild and brutish appearance did not seem to justify their hard lot."
This book has some useful appendices, a bibliography, and a map which makes Rothenburg as big as Leipzig or Mainz and does not mention Saarbrficken.
. MAarnv MACLAUGHLIN.
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