Visiting Hanover in 1701, for ‘five or six weeks’, Toland had, as he proudly confessed, ‘all imaginable Opportunitys to make Observations on the Court, and to understand the Character of Persons’. Situated ‘upon the River Leine, which is navigable only by small Boats’ Hanover was, to Toland's eye, ‘regularly fortify'd, and divid'd into new and old Towns which is always a sign of a thriving place’. Of the palace, he thought ‘The apartments … very fine and richly furnish'd’ with a theatre and opera house located within to entertain courtiers and visitors. Of the court itself, he deemed it a model for others in its liberality and manners. Astonished, he praised it for being

Dominating the court were the diverse personalities of the royal family. The Elector was diligent, being ‘a perfect Man of Business, exactly regular in the Oeconomy of his Revenues, reads all the Dispatches himself at first hand, writes most of his own Letters, and spends a very considerable part of his Time about such Occupations in his Closet, and with his Ministers’. The Electress, in contrast, was distinguished by learned accomplishments. Toland gushed about how: