reft; for they are pretty much alike. The Front is 32 Foot, of which the Gate, which is in the Middle, is eight, and twelve Foot high, arch'd at Top. To this Gate you go up fix Steps from the Street, and as foon as you enter, you find two Parlours, one on each Side, of 10 Foot broad, 15 deep, and 12 high. Being pafs'd thefe Parlours, you come into the great Hall, the Breadth of the whole House, 60 Foot deep, and 24 high. This Hall ferves as well for a Ware-house, as a Coachhouse. At the End of the Hall, on the left Hand, you go down fix Steps, into a back Yard, 50 Foot deep, and half the Breadth of the Houfe, which leads to back Ware-houses, 20 Foot deep, and under them to the Canal. On the right Hand of the Hall, at the End, you go up two Steps into Rooms, which take up the other half Breadth of the House, the fame Depth of the Yard, and join to the BackWarehouses. Thefe are divided into three Apartments; a Dining-Room of 25, a WithdrawingRoom of 15, and a Cabinet of 10 Foot deep; all 14 Foot high; and under these are Cellars, as are likewife under the whole Houfe. In the Middle of the Hall, on the right Hand, is a very large Chimny, of 10 Foot long, which, with about five Foot on each Side of it, and eight Foot in Depth, is feparated from the Hall by a Wainscotting of fix Foot high, with a Baluftrade of a Foot and a half. high, at the Top of it; but all above that open to the Hall: And this ferves them for a Kitchen, where they make a glaring Shew, with their Pewter, Brafs and Copper, behind the Baluftrade, and over the Chimney: But are oblig'd to burn Candle all the Day. Over four Foot of this Kitchen, runs a Gallery, the whole Length of the Hall, from a Room over the front Parlour, on that Side, to the other End of the Hall, into the Rooms over the Back-Apartments below: And thefe are, like

S3

wife,

wife, divided into three, a Fore-Room, a BedChamber, and a Dreffing-Room. The two little Rooms over the Fore-parlors are join'd by a third over the Entrance into the House, and these are the Compting-houfe, and Rooms for the Bookkeeper and Apprentices. At each End of the Hall, on the Right, is a dark winding Stair-cafe, which leads to the Gallery, and from thence to the upper Stories, fo narrow, that two cannot go conveniently a-breaft, and fo fteep, that a Man cannot with Decency follow a Woman up them. The Story over the Hall is divided into Lodging-Rooms, backwards and forwards, with a Sort of Hall between; and above this are three Stories of Warehouses over the Whole, from the Front towards the Street, to the Canal, 145 Foot deep, 95 Foot of which is 30 Foot broad, and the Reft 15. In this Manner moft of the Merchants Houfes in Hamburg are built: Thofe, which, like this, have a Back-Yard and Back-Apartments, are, excepting the Stairs, convenient enough; but for fuch as are cut off by the Canal, at the End of the Hall, as is the Cafe of many, they are very inconvenient, because they have not a good Room, 'till you come up two Pair of Stairs, to the Story above the Hall. As for the Furniture of these Houses, it is not much better, than what I mentioned of the Houses in Bremen; fo that an Upholsterer is a very poor Trade here: But they delight much in a Sort of large Walnut-tree Cup-boards, finely adorn'd with carved Work, of a monftrous Size, fome of them to the Value of 30 or 40%. Of these you generally fee two or three in their Halls, in which the Women hang their Cloaths; but their Ufe is by no Means adequate, either to their Price or Bulk. Their Stoves, which they have in almost every Room, inftead of Chimnies, are an exceeding good Invention, and furprizingly beautiful here, beyond what I have

feen

seen in other Parts of Germany. They are generally rais'd in one Corner of the Room, upon Legs or Pillars of about a Foot and a half high, and are carried up, about two Foot and a half, or three Foot fquare, to near the Cieling, all of blue and white Tiles, adorn'd with Mouldings, Pillars, and a Sort of Crown at Top, and other Embellishments of the fame. They are pretty coftly; but are a Part of the Houfe, and furnifh'd by the Landlord. They fave a great Deal of Firing, for a fmall Matter of Wood or Turf (which is what they here use) heats them, and they will retain their Heat fix or eight Hours, and diffuse it equally throughout the whole Room. The Firing is put in without the Room, and you fee nothing of it, except in a particular Sort, which they call Wind-Ovens, that open with Brafs Doors, on the Infide; but thefe confume twice the Quantity of Firing, which the others do, and will not retain the Heat fo long. You may heat them to what Degree you pleafe; fo that in Winter, when it is very cold, you may at once, by opening your Chamber-Door, go from under the Line to Nova Zembla: For they often heat them, in other Parts of Germany, where I have been, like Bagnio's, and I fuppofe they do the fame here. As great Lovers as they are of Heat, as fond they are likewife of Light; for thofe Sides of their Rooms, which are expos'd to the Air, are all Windows, with very fmall Piers, or only Pillars, between them; the Glass generally bad, fmall Quarries, and fix'd in Lead. And fo much for their Houfes: In my next, I fhall continue my Account of the Inhabitants of this Place; in the mean Time, I am, &c.

SIR,

I

LETTER XXIX.

HAMBURG. PROPOSE, in this Letter to give you a farther Account of the Inhabitants of Hamburg; and here I must acknowledge myself guilty of a great Mistake, in not having mention'd a powerful Body of Men, who, by their Rank, ought to have been named before the Merchants, I mean those which they call (tho' often very improperly) the Learned, or Graduates in Law or Phyfick; but chiefly the former. These are very numerous here; for hardly a Merchant or Shop-keeper of any Note but what breeds up a Son or two, if he has them, to be Scholars And the particular Honor unreasonably fhewn to these Limbs of the Law, beyond their trading Bretheren, who are their Support, is a Spur to Youth, to direct their Inclinations this Way. There is, likewise, another Cause why so many Lawyers are bred here: Divinity is look'd upon as a Study too unbecoming and defpicable; fo that, if a Youth has no Inclination to Trade, he must of Course be a Lawyer; tho' to his own Misfortune, as well as that of the State, to which he thereby becomes a Worm, that gnaws on the Intrails of it. There are fo many of them, that they may rather be faid to be of the Science than the Profeffion. This is of extream Prejudice to Trade, by taking large Sums of Mony out of it, which is loft to the Public, or employ'd to the Prejudice of it in Ufury; while many brave Merchants Houses, which were a great Support to the State, fink at the

Death

Death of a confiderable Trader, by fo great a Part of the Stock being drawn out, for the Shares of these useless Members of the Community. Ufelefs, I fay, because hardly a tenth Part of them can be employ'd in the Senat or at the Bar; and the Rest muft either spend their Fortunes, inftead of improving them, or, in fome fhape or other, prey upon others.

THERE is, indeed, a Custom here, that I have not met with elsewhere, which is of great Resource to the poorer Sort of thefe Learned Gentlemen, and the richest do not difdain to partake of the Benefit of it: I mean their being paid for attending public Funerals. Thefe Proceffions are in the Afternoon, on Foot, and a folemn Invitation being made to the whole Town, by a fine Scroll of Parchment, beautifully engrofs'd, and hung up two Days before on the Exchange, they are generally very numerous, often confifting of many Hundreds, Men only, and ail in black Cloaks. There is fomething very fingular, and I can hardly forbear faying diverting, at thefe Funerals, tho' on fo folemn and melancholy an Occafion. I fhall, therefore, give you, in a future Letter, a particular Account of one, with all the numerous Preparations for the Solemnization of it; and shall now only observe, that every Senator, Member of the College of Ober Alten, Divine, regular Phyfician and graduate Lawyer, has his Fee for attending thefe Funerals: If I miftake not, that of a Senator is a Crown, and that of a Divine, Phyfician, and Lawyer half the Sum. I have been told, but will not pretend to affert the Truth of it, that this Mony was formerly intended for the Ufe of the Poor of the Parish; and that, in the Time of their ForeFathers, when Charity was more diffufive, and the Churches not fo exceffive rich as they now are, it was customary for every one who attended a Fu