11 mo. 17.—­I was this evening accidentally induced to read over a few of my former memorandums; and it humbled my spirit to retrace the dealings of my merciful Father with me.  I am glad that I have from time to time penned down a few remarks by way of diary, although it has been done interruptedly and very imperfectly.  It proves a means of enabling me to see a wonderful concurrence in the ways of Divine Wisdom which has led me in a way that I knew not, and hitherto preserved me through the mercies of his love:  praise be to his Name now and for ever.  Amen.

After his return from Minden he accompanied John and William Seebohm, who were going on a journey of business to Leipzig.  They went by way of Brunswick and Halberstadt, and returned by Nordhausen and Eimbeck.  In this tour through the heart of Germany, John Yeardley made many observations on the state of agriculture, the cities, and the character of the people.  Of the last they met with several curious traits, some of them sufficiently annoying.

On many great roads, says J.Y., there is a summer and a winter way, running parallel to each other, with a rail across, on which is a notice that the way is forbidden by a fine of 6_d_. or 8_d_, for each horse, that the traveller may know when to take the summer or the winter road.  We stopped on the way [they were not far from Wolfenbuettel] to give our horses a little bread, and our coachman drove to the side of the road to make way for carriages to pass.  But he had inadvertently gone over the setting on of the road; and the roadmaster came to us, and told us we must not feed our horses there, as it was not allowed to drive over the stones on the side, under a penalty of three shillings per horse.  The evening of the same day we fed our horses at an inn, and walked before, leaving the man to follow us.  I and my young friend W.S. sought the cleanest part of the way by walking in the course made for the water, which was green and clean; but so soon as we came by the inspectors, who are mostly employed on the road, one of them told us we must mind for the future and keep the right footpath, or pay 6_d_. each.  This I considered as an infringement of English liberty, and was ready to reason with him on the subject; but I reflected that I was a stranger, and that it is always better and more polite to submit quietly to the regulations of the country in which we live, than bring ourselves into difficulty through incivility or contention.

In returning from Leipzig, J.Y. and his friends committed a more serious offence against the pragmatical regulations of the German States.