The youth, the agreeable countenance, and obliging manners of the Queen, have conciliated the minds of every one in this country. Though she was in perfect health, and appeared cheerful, yet, convinced that her gaiety was assumed, and the effect of a strong effort, I felt an impression of melancholy, which it was not in my power to overcome all the time we remained at Zell.
From Zell we went to Hanover, and on the evening of our arrival, had the pleasure of hearing Handel’s Messiah performed. Some of the best company of this place were assembled on the occasion, and we were here made acquainted with old Field-Marshal Sporken, and other people of distinction. Hanover is a neat, thriving and agreeable city. It has more the air of an English town than any other I have seen in Germany, and the English manners and customs gain ground every day among the inhabitants. The genial influence of freedom has extended from England to this place. Tyranny is not felt, and ease and satisfaction appear in the countenances of the citizens.
This town is regularly fortified, and all the works are in exceeding good order. The troops are sober and regular, and perform every essential part of duty well, though the discipline is not so rigid as in some other parts of Germany. Marshal Sporken, who is the head of the army, is a man of humanity; and though the soldiers are severely punished for real crimes, by the sentence of a court martial, he does not permit his officers to order them to be caned for trifles. Caprice is too apt to blend itself with this method of punishing, and men of cruel dispositions are prone to indulge this diabolical propensity, under the pretence of zeal for discipline.
The Hanoverian infantry are not so tall as some of the other German troops, owing to this, that nobody is forced into the service, the soldiers are all volunteers; whereas, in other parts of Germany, the Prince picks the stoutest and tallest of the peasants, and obliges them to become soldiers. It is allowed, that in action no troops can behave better than the Hanoverians; and it is certain, that desertion is not so frequent among them as among other German troops, which can only be accounted for by their not being pressed into the service, and their being more gently used when in it.