_Manners.—Reflections on formality.—The Library.—Holbens.—Arsenal.—Council-hall.—The clock in the Tower.—A head._ LETTER XXXIX. p. 361. _Marechal Contades.—Theatre.—French troops._ LETTER XL. p. 368. _Gothic architecture.—Cathedral of Strasbourg.—A sermon.—A Jewish plot._ LETTER XLI. p. 377. _Karlsruch.—The Margrave of Baden Durlach._ LETTER XLII. p. 387. _Manheim.—The Elector.—The Court.—A buffoon._ LETTER XLIII. p. 394. _Heidelberg.—The same church for the Protestant and Roman Catholic worship.—Parade devotion._ LETTER XLIV. p. 399. _Reflections on the liberty of the press.—Comparisons of inconveniencies arising from that cause with those felt under despotic restraint._ LETTER XLV. p. 406. _Mentz._ LETTER XLVI. p. 411. _Frankfort.—Lutherans unkind to Calvinists.—Psalmody.—Burials.—Jews._ LETTER XLVII. p. 422. _Manners.—Distinction of ranks.—Theatrical entertainments.—The German language.—Traineaus._ LETTER XLVIII. p. 433. _Nobility and citizens.—The revenge of a Tobacconist.—The field of Bergen._ LETTER XLIX. p. 443. _The Prince of Hesse Darmstadt.—Discipline.—The family of Prince George._ [Illustration] A VIEW OF SOCIETY AND MANNERS IN France, Switzerland, and Germany. [Illustration] LETTER I. Paris. I was greatly disappointed by your not coming to town, as you intended, having been for some time impatient to inform you of what passed between your young friend —— and me; I relied till the moment of our departure on having an opportunity of doing this personally, and I seize the first occasion of communicating the whole to you, in the only manner now in my power. You will remember the uneasiness you once expressed to me on account of that gentleman’s propensity to gaming, and of the inconveniencies to which he had been put by some recent losses; you will also remember the resolutions which, in consequence of your request, he formed against play; but you have yet to learn, that he resumed the dice before the month was ended in which he had determined never to touch them more, and concluded one unfortunate night, by throwing away a sum far exceeding any of his former losses. Ashamed of his weakness, he carefully concealed his misfortune from you, and thereby has been subjected to some distresses of a more mortifying nature than any he had formerly felt.