f
Leipzig were now put in requisition, and sent off to the army; and I
shrewdly suspect that no part of them was paid for. These, however, were
but small privations; to relieve the general want required no less a
miracle than that by which 4000 men were fed with five small loaves. The
valuable stores in the city magazine had not yet been discovered. But
where is the door, however strong, through which their eagle eyes would
not at last penetrate? The flour was soon spied out, and forthwith
destined for the hungry stomachs of the French. The barrels were rolled
away with incredible expedition, and conveyed to the bakehouses. Each
baker was supplied with two a day, which he was obliged to make up with
all possible dispatch into bread, and to carry to the Cloth-hall. Here
the loaves were piled up in immense rows, and sent off to the famishing
army. From morning till night nothing was to be seen but waggons loading
and setting out. Not a morsel, however, was given to the soldiers
quartered upon the citizens; their superiors well knew that the patient
landlord had yet a penny left in his pocket to help himself out with.
Thus the fine magazine was stripped; and its valuable contents, which
would have kept twenty years longer without spoiling, and had been
preserved with such care, were dissipated in a moment. You may easily
conceive how severe a misfortune this loss proved to the city, and how
keenly it was felt, when you know that we were in a manner besieged for
several weeks, and that not a handful of flour was to be had even at the
mills themselves.

If you now take into the account the state of the city in a financial
point of view, you may judge how dreadful its condition in general must
have been. In no town is a better provision made for the indigent than
in Leipzig. Here were poor-houses, under most judicious regulations,
where food, fire, and lodging, were afforded. These buildings were
converted into hospitals, their inmates were obliged to turn out, and at
length the necessitous were deprived of their scanty allowance--the
funds were exhausted, and no fresh supplies received. The citizen sunk
under the weight of his burdens; it was impossible to lay any new ones
upon him. Among the different sources of income enjoyed by the city, the
author knows of one which at each of the two principal fairs commonly
produced 4000 dollars; whereas the receipts from it at the late
Michaelmas fair fell short of 100 dollars. All th