I came in one Day from _Ludwigsbourg_ to CARLSROUHE, which is the Residence of the Margrave of _Baden-Dourlach_. The Name _Carlsrouhe_ signifies _Charles_’s Rest. The present Margrave _Charles_ of _Baden-Dourlach_ was the very Man that laid both the Plan and Foundation of this City, and its Castle. Nothing is so pretty as the Disposition of the whole: I wish I were able to give you an Idea of it. Imagine the Margrave’s House to be at the Entrance of a great Forest, in the Center of a Star form’d by thirty two Walks, the chief of which behind the Palace is three _German_ Leagues in length. Two large Wings advance from the main Body of the House, which deviating from each other in proportion as they lengthen, the whole together looks like a Theatre. Behind the principal Building there’s a very high Octogon Tower which commands all the Walks. The Space between the two Wings forms the Court, and then come the Gardens and Parterres, at the end of which there’s a Semi-Circle of Houses of an equal Height, built Arch-wise, and three Stories high including the Ground-Floor. Between these Houses there run five Streets, the middlemost of which fronts the Palace. At the end of the three chief Streets opposite to the Palace are three Churches; one belonging to the _Lutherans_, another to the _Calvinists_, and a third to the _Roman_ Catholics; to which three prevailing Religions of the Empire the Margrave gave equal Liberty of Conscience when he founded the new Town. The chief part of the Town lies behind the Houses that front the Palace. This properly speaking consists but of one Street, which is of a prodigious Length. All these Houses as well as the Margrave’s are of Timber, so that you are not to look for fine or substantial Buildings at _Carlsrouhe_; but the Contrivance and Distribution of the whole taken together is really wonderful. I took the Freedom to tell the Margrave that I was surpriz’d that he had not at least employ’d Brick in the building of his Palace, and of the Houses which form the Half-Moon about his Gardens. ‘I was wil’ing, _said the Prince_, to make myself a Place of Retirement, and to build without putting the Burthen on my Subjects. I chose moreover to have the Comfort of enjoying what I built. If I had us’d Bricks it wou’d have cost me a great deal more Money; and I cou’d not have finish’d my Buildings without laying an extraordinary Impost upon my Country. It wou’d have taken me up abundance of Time too, and perhaps I shou’d never have had the Satisfaction of seeing an end to my Labours. Another Reason was, that my Country is so scituate as to be liable to be the Theatre of Wars, and I am not in a Condition to make this a strong Place, nor cou’d I encompass it with Walls. Do you think therefore that I shou’d have been justified in laying out a great deal of Money on a Place to see it burnt down before my Face, as I did my House at _Dourlach_, and my other Houses which the _French_ reduc’d to Ashes.