e, whilst his
groom showed the prodigy for money to the Leipzigers. As the dress of
that day made people very sensitive to damp, sedan-chairs came into
fashion; they were as frequently used as now the droschky; the bearers
were known by a kind of livery, had their appointed stations, and were
to be found wherever the nobility and the public appeared in numbers:
at great dances, on Sunday at the church doors, and at the theatres.

Strict was the discipline of the house. In the morning, even in those
families that were not Pietists, short prayers were read with the
children and servants, a verse was sung, a prayer or exhortation
followed, and then a hymn. They rose and retired to bed early. The
intercourse at home was formal: extreme respect, with ceremonious
forms, was required of both children and servants; and husbands and
wives among the gentry still continued generally to speak to each other
in the third person plural.

All who appertained to the family, whether friends or distant
acquaintance, in their simple and often needy life, were invested with
great importance. Still were advancement, interest, and favours sought
for and expected, through the friends of the family. To protect and
become a partisan was a duty; therefore it was considered great good
fortune to have noble and influential acquaintances; and in order to
secure this it was necessary to be mindful of congratulations on
birthdays and verses at family festivals. Under such protection people
sought their fortunes in the world. Devotion to the great was immense:
it was still correct to kiss the hand of a patron. When Count Schwerin,
on the 11th of August, 1741, received the oath of allegiance for his
sovereign in the royal _salon_ at Breslau, the Protestant church
inspector, Burg, on shaking hands with him, wished to kiss his hand.
The Breslauers were not astonished at this obsequiousness, but only
that a field-marshal should have embraced and kissed a citizen
theologian.

Sponsorship was, among the citizens, the foundation of a still nearer
relation: the godfather was bound to provide for the advancement of his
godchild; and this parental relation lasted to the end of his life. If
he was wealthy, the parents gladly allowed him a decisive voice as to
the future of their child, but it was also expected that he should show
his goodwill by his last testament.

This life of citizens in humble circumstances developed certain
peculiarities of character an