before an electorate. It consists for the most part of uninteresting and sterile lowlands, excepting a small section in the south, diversified by the Harz mountains and their offsets, abounding in woods, metals, and natural curiosities. The highest point of the range, the Brocken, has an elevation of 3,759 feet, but is immediately without the frontier, in the Prussian dominions. The capital, Hanover, on the Leine, an affluent of the Weser, is an unimportant city of 30,000 inhabitants, the birth-place of Herschel the astronomer. Reigning sovereign, Ernest Augustus -ascended the throne 1837.

Hildesheim, s. by E. of Hanover; Luneburg, in a healthy district, on the Ilmenau, a branch of the Elbe; Osnaburg, on the Hase, a branch of the Ems, noted for its coarse linens called Osnaburgs; Embden, a seaport near the mouth of the Ems; Clansthal, on the Harz, in a rich mining district; and Göttingen, in the south of the kingdom, are the chief towns. The latter is the seat of a celebrated university founded by the Elector George 11. of Great Britain, in 1734, possessing one of the most valuable libraries in Europe.

Hanover is connected by railway with the Elbe, opposite to Hamburg, with Berlin, Hildesheim, Bremen, and Cologne.

The two crowns of Hanover and Great Britain were united from the accession of George I. to the throne of England in 1712, to that of the present Queen, when the succession to the throne of Hanover being limited to the male line, the two countries were separated.

238. Wirtemberg was raised from a duchy to a kingdom, by the influence of Napoleon, in 1805. It lies in the south of Germany, between Bavaria and Baden, and is one of its most fertile countries, intersected by the Danube from west to east, and by the Neckar from south to north. Stuttgard, the capital, situated on the Nesenbach, near its confluence with the Neckar, contains a population of 38,000, and ranks after Leipsic and Berlin in the extent of its book trade. Reigning sovereign, Frederick William— ascended the throne, 1819.

Ulm, an ancient imperial oity on the Danube, with a fine cathedral, is noted in modern history for the capture of the Austrian army of 30,000 men under General Mack, by Napoleon, in 1805.

Tubingen, on the Neckar, is the seat of a distinguished university.

The Wirtemberg railway extends from Heilbron by Stuttgard to Sussen, and is intended to be continued by Ulm to the Lake of Constance, thus intersecting the country from north to south.

239. The kingdom of Saxony is a rich and beautiful territory in the east of Germany, belonging partly to the great northern plain, but diversified on the south by the lower ranges of the Bohemian ore mountains, a district styled from its picturesqueness the Saxon Switzerland. The country is largely occupied with orchards, vineyards,

and pasture-lands, the latter sustaining the flocks of sheep which furnish the fine Saxon wool. It has extensive cotton, linen, and woollen manufactures, with great mineral wealth, and mining operations are conducted with the highest skill. The Elbe intersects the kingdom from south-east to northwest. Dresden, the capital, seated on both banks of the river, contains 80,000 inhabitants, and is renowned for its fine edifices, works of art, and magnificent bridge, 1,424 feet long, completed in 1731. Reigning sovereign, Frederick Augustus-ascended the throne 1836.

Leipsic, on the Pleisse, 72 miles N.w. of Dresden is celebrated for its three annual fairs, each lasting a fortnight, and its literary commerce. The terrible battle, October, 1813, which ended in the defeat of Napoleon, was fought in its environs, and partly in its streets.-Population, 45,000.

Chemnitz, the Saxon Manchester, on a branch of the Mulda, is the principal manufacturing town.

Freiberg, on the Münzbach, flowing into the Mulda, is the seat of a famed mining school, associated with the names of Werner and Humboldt, possessing extensive mineralogical collections.

Herrnhut, the settlement of the Moravian emigrants, founded in 1722, is situated between Lobau and Zittau. The site was then a dreary wilderness, covered with forest-trees and bushes, and not a human habitation near. A stone monument now marks the spot where the first tree was felled, June 17. The principal railways are the Leipsic and Dresden; the Saxon-Silesian, from Dresden to Gorlitz, in Prussian Silesia; and the Saxon-Bavarian, from Leipsic to Hoff, in Bavaria.

240. The electorate of Hesse Cassel borders on Hanover on the north, and extends to the neighbourhood of Frankfort on the south. Cassel, the capital, is a considerable town of upwards of 30,000 inhabitants, on the river Fulda. At Schmalkald, in a detached portion of the electorate, the league of the Protestants, known by that name, was formed in 1531.

241. The Grand Duchy of Baden, the largest and most populous of that class of states, is a long, narrow territory, extending on the right bank of the Rhine from the lake of Constance to Manheim, called the paradise of Germany, owing to its fine climate and lovely scenery, including mountainous woodlands and river-valleys, clothed with vineyards. Carlsruhe (Charles' rest), the capital, about three miles east of the Rhine, is a small elegant city of rather more than 20,000 inhabitants. The grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt consists of two principal districts, separated by the territory of Frankfort and a portion of Hesse-Cassel. Darmstadt, the capital, on the Darm, has a population of 23,000. The Grand Duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Strelitz, on the shores of the Baltic;

Oldenburg on the German ocean; and Saxe-Weimar in central Germany, the remaining states of this rank, have few features of interest, and little political importance.

Mannheim, finely situated at the confluence of the Rhine and Neckar, is the largest city of Baden, with attractive environs, and an immense palace, formerly the residence of the Electors-Palatine of the Rhine. Heidelberg, on the Neckar, the seat of a university of note, is one of the most interesting spots in the duchy, containing magnificent remains of the castle of the Electors-Palatine. Freiburg, in the Briesgau, possesses in the spire of its minster the most remarkable specimen of light Gothic architecture in existence. Constance, an old decayed town on the lake of that name, was the scene of the council which condemned the tenets of Wickliffe, and sentenced Huss and Jerome of Prague to the flames.

Baden-Baden, from which the grand-duchy takes its name, is a fashionable resort for its warm mineral springs, the principal of which rises at a temperature of 153° Fahrenheit.

The Grand-Duchy of Baden railway traverses the state from Mannheim by Heidelberg, Carlsruhe, Freiburg, to the Rhine opposite Basle, in Switzerland. Mayence, or Mentz, on the Rhine, nearly opposite to the influx of the Maine, is the principal city of Hesse-Darmstadt, with very strong fortifications, and garrisoned by the Confederation. A statue of Guttenberg, the inventor of printing, modelled by Thorwalsden, is an interesting object.

Worms, one of the oldest of the Germanic cities, is in the grand-ducal territory, on the left bank of the Rhine; the place where Luther was excommunicated by the diet in 1521, now largely dilapidated.

The Maine and Neckar railway continues the Baden line through the state of Darmstadt, by the capital, to Frankfort.

Rostock, near the outlet of the Warnow in the Baltic, is the only town of consequence in the Mecklenburg duchies, belonging to Schwerin.

Weimar, on the Ilm, the capital of Saxe-Weimar, is distinguished for its literary and scientific institutions; and Jena, as the seat of a celebrated university, and the scene of one of Napoleon's decisive battles.

242. Among the ducal territories, Nassau is the largest, situated on the left bank of the Rhine, between HesseDarmstadt and Rhenish Prussia, remarkable for the number of its mineral springs, amounting to upwards of 100, of which those of Wiesbaden, the chief town, Ems and Selters are in high repute. The Duchy of Brunswick, the next in extent, is composed of several separate districts, between Hanover and Prussia, and has a somewhat important city for its capital, Brunswick, with a population of 36,000. The reigning house is a branch of the royal family of Great Britain. The three Saxon duchies, Meiningen, Coburg-Gotha, and Altenburg, in central Germany; and the three Anhalt duchies, Dessau, Bernberg, and Coethan, on the Elbe, environed by Prussia, are of very inconsiderable size, the largest being about equal in area to the county of Warwick, and the smallest inferior to the county of Huntingdon.

243. Of the eight principalities, the two Lippes are in north Germany, on opposite sides of the Weser, bordering on Hanover. Waldeck, Reuss Elder and Younger, and

the two Schwarzburgs, are in central Germany; and Lichtenstein in southern Germany. They vary in size from about the area of Bedfordshire to one-third that of the county of Rutland; and the Landgraviate of HesseHomburg, near Frankfort, is quite insignificant. Among the free cities, Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, were leading members of the great Hanseatic league during the period of its active existence. Frankfort on the Maine, the capital of the Germanic Confederation, in lat. 50° 10' N. long. 8° 41′ E., a fine ancient city, contains upwards of 55,000 inhabitants. Portraits of all the German emperors, who were formerly crowned here, hang in the Hôtel de Ville.

Hamburg, founded by Charlemagne in the ninth century, occupies the north bank of the Elbe, about 70 miles from its mouth. It is the greatest commercial emporium of Germany, and perhaps of the continent. The terrible fire of 1842, which destroyed 61 streets, and 1749 houses, has subserved its internal improvement.-Population, 137,000, including the suburbs, but excluding the dependent territory.

Bremen, on the Weser, 50 miles from its mouth, yields only to Hamburg as a commercial port. -Population, 42,000.

Lubeck, on the Trave, 12 miles from the Baltic, the former capital of the Hanseatic league, is inconsiderable in comparison with its ancient importance. The Hanseatic league, a confederacy of the great commercial cities of North Germany, arose about the beginning of the thirteenth century. Its title is derived from the Teutonic word hanse, an association; and the cities joining in it were styled the Hanse towns. Its object was to protect commerce from piracy, to procure the restitution of shipwrecked property, and facilitate the safe navigation of the seas. Besides Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, it embraced upwards of eighty towns, at the time of its greatest power, the fourteenth century, ranging from the Scheldt to the Gulf of Dantzic. The common archives and treasury were kept at Lubeck. It fell gradually; the general spread of civilization, and advance of society, rendering its machinery unnecessary, but has still a nominal existence; the treaty of Vienna, in 1815, recognising Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, as free Hanseatic cities.

244. The preceding states were formed into a confederation by an act of the congress of Vienna, its central point and organ being a federative diet sitting at Frankfort, which opened its sessions November 5th, 1816. Its object was the maintenance of internal peace, and external security from a common enemy. But the stormy period of 1848 has for the present superseded the arrangement; and whether it will be revived, or what new constitution be adopted, is perfectly uncertain. Great attention has been paid to popular secular education in several of the states. No part of the world possesses a greater number of men eminent in the various departments of literature and science ; but unhappily learning is largely employed to overthrow the truths essential to the dearest interests of mankind, and

inculcate the soul-destroying delusion, that a Divine revelation is superfluous in matters of religion where the reason is cultivated.-Germany is distinguished by the immense annual produce of its press, especially in Saxony, the Saxon duchies, Hanover, Bavaria, and Wirtemberg. Since the sixteenth century, the book trade has had its great centre at Leipsic, where the Easter book-fair is attended by traders from different parts of Europe, who transact their business in a building erected for their use, called the Booksellers' Exchange. Upwards of 30,000 cwts. of publications are annually forwarded, besides the enormous produce of the city itself, estimated at above forty millions of sheets.-Leipsic, Munich, Wurzburg, Erlangen, Tubingen, Freiburg, Heidelberg, Jena, Giessen, Göttingen, and Rostock, are the seats of universities.-Nominally almost all the population are either Roman Catholics, prevailing in the south, or Lutheran and Calvinistic Protestants, predominating in the centre and north, widely and lamentably apostate from the faith, spirit, and practice of the reformers. There is indeed much in the religious and moral state of the country, as well as in its social and political disturbances, over which to grieve, yet there are indications of future good to the people, even in the revolutionary changes of the period. Both Catholic and Protestant governments have in general, till very recently, rigorously restricted the friends of a pure and unadulterated gospel in their efforts to promote its diffusion, treating attempts at conversion from error, infidelity, and superstition as religious innovations. It is probable that some permanent gain to religious liberty will spring out of present turmoils; that the press, declared free, will wear in future no fetters beyond those which are necessary to prevent its working for demoralizing and anarchical objects; and that the Scriptures, with other vehicles of religious knowledge, will be allowed to circulate without legal impediment, through the length and breadth of the German's father-land.

PRUSSIA.

245. The Prussian dominions are composed of Prussia Proper, stretching around the mouth of the Vistula, and from thence to the Niemen, anciently inhabited by the