The Thirty Years' War. The Cities (1618 to 1648)--Aspect of the cities in 1618--Effects of the war; luxury; contributions; sieges--Religious persecution--The Ladies of Löwenberg CHAPTER VI. The Thirty Years' War. The Peace (1650)--Festivities of the Ambassadors at Nuremberg--Festive Fair in a Thuringian Village--Condition of the country after the war--Its devastation--Attempted estimation of it--The consequences to the Austrian provinces CHAPTER VII. Rogues and Adventurers--Their increase during the war--Their history--The strollers of the middle ages--Gipsies and their language--Gibberish and beggars--Travelling scholars--Robbers and incendiaries--Foreign jugglers--Description of Strolling Players, by Garzoni--Comedians, and influence of adventurers on literature--Swindlers of distinction--Alchemists CHAPTER VIII. Engagement and Marriage at Court (1661)--Fashion and gallantry, a foreign means of preserving decorum--Courtly Wooing and Marriage at Vienna--The Royal families--The Elector Palatine Carl Ludwig--Letter of the Electress Palatine Charlotte to the Emperor--Judgment upon her and her husband CHAPTER IX. Of the Homes of German Citizens (1675)--Order and decorum in wooing--Narrative of Friedrich Lucä--Change in expression of feelings of the heart--Life at home--Prosperity of Hamburg--Letter of Burgomaster Schulte to his Son in Lisbon--Strong sense of duty in men--Berend Jacob Carpfanger--Sorrowful tidings from Cadiz CHAPTER X. German Life at the Baths (1690)--Distinction of ranks--Forms of society--Bath life--Poggio--Baths in the Fifteenth Century, by Poggio--In the Sixteenth, by Pantaleon--In the Seventeenth, by de Merveilleux--In the Eighteenth, by Hess CHAPTER XI. Jesuits and Jews--Decay of the Church--Protestants and Catholics--The Jesuits also weaker--Position of the Jews since the middle ages--Their lucrative business--The Jews at Prague Story of Simon Abeles--Victory of humanity over religious intolerance CHAPTER XII. The Wasunger War (1747)--Weakness of the German Empire--Division of classes wider--Anthony Ulrich von Meiningen and Philippine Cesar--Quarrels at the Court of Meiningen--Cause of the war--Diary of the Gotha Lieutenant Rauch Conclusion. From Frederick the Great up to the present time--Object of these pictures--The mind of the people PICTURES OF GERMAN LIFE. INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND VOLUME.