Numerous were the members of the household, amongst whom there were frequently some original characters. Perhaps, besides the tutor, there might be an old soldier of the great war, addicted to drinking, who knew how to relate many stories about Torstenson, or Jean de Worth; he taught the nobleman's son to fence, and "to play with the Banner."[45] There seldom failed to be a poor relation of the family, who ruled over the kennel by the title of "Master of the Chase;" the preserver of mysterious hunting customs, he knew how to charm the gun, and had greater acquaintance with the infernal night-hunter than the pastor of the place thought right; he was considered as a trusty piece of old household furniture, and would assuredly have sacrificed his life without hesitation for his cousin; but he did not scruple to procure more wood for the peasant, with whom he drank at the inn, than was right; and if the old Junker had his _couteau-de-chasse_ ornamented with silver, the origin of which was doubtful, the landed proprietor was obliged to wink at it.[46] Thus passed the life of a wealthy landowner between 1650 and 1700. It was perhaps not quite so worthy as it might have been, but it may have transmitted to the next generation family feeling and kindliness of heart. Yet it must be observed that it was only a very small minority of the German nobility who were in so favoured a position in the seventeenth century. Those who wished to make their fortunes in foreign lands far from their families, were threatened with other dangers, from which only the most energetic could escape. The wars in Hungary and Poland, the shameful struggle against France, and a long residence in Paris, were not calculated to preserve good morals. The vices of the East, and of the corrupt court of France were brought by them into Germany. The old love of quarrelling was not improved by the new cavalier cartel, the profligate intercourse with peasant women and noble ladies of easy virtue, became worse by the nightly orgies of fashionable cavaliers, at which they represented festive processions with mythological characters, and draped themselves as Dryads, and their ladies as Venuses and nymphs.[47] The old Landsknecht game of dice was not worse than the new game of hazard, which became prevalent at the baths and courts, and which foreign adventurers now added to those of the country. But there are two more classes of nobles of that period who appear to us still more strange and grotesque, both numerous, and both in strong contrast to one another. They were designated as city nobles and country nobles, and expressed their mutual antipathy by the use of the ignominious terms _Pfeffersaecke_ and _Krippenreiter_.[48]