The Isle of Irance.

Paris, the capital of the whole kingdom, is in the Ifle of France; its fituation is upon the Seine; a fmall, and even a muddy river. It is a large town, but not by a great deal fo big as London.

Champagne.

Rheims is the principal town of Champagne. In that town the kings of France are crowned. This province produces the beft wine in France-Champaign.

Brittany.

Brittany is divided into high and low. In High Brittany is the town of Nantz, where the best brandy is made. Here is alfo St Malo, a very good fea-port. In Lower Brittany they fpeak a kind of language, which has lefs fimilitude to French than it has to Welth.

Orliannois.

Orléannois contains feveral great and fine towns. Orleans, rendered famous by Joan of Arc, commonly called the Maid of Orleans, who drove the English out of France; Blois, the fituation of which is charming, and where the best French is spoken; Tours, that contains a manufactory of thick luteftring, called gros de

Tours.

Burgundy.

Dijon is the capital of this province: the wine, called Burgundy, is one of the beft wines in France..

Lyonnois.

Lyons is the capital; it is a very large fine town, and extremely rich, on account of the manufactures ef tablished here, of filks, and gold and filver ftuffs, with which it fupplies almost all Europe. Your fine filver waiftcoat comes from thence.

Guienne or Gajcony.

There are many confiderable towns in Guienne, as the town of Bourdeaux, which is very large and rich. Moft of the wine drank at London, and called in Englight, comes from thence. It is an excellent place

for good eating you have there ortolans, and red partridge, in great abundance. In this province is the town of Perigueux, where they make delicious pafties of red partridge and trufles : Bayonne, whence come excellent hams. The Gafcons are the moft lively people in France, but rather inclined to lying and boafting, particularly upon the articles of fenfe and courage: fo that it is faid of a man who boafts,and is prefumptuous, he is a Gafcen.

Languedock.

Languedoc is the most fouthern province of France; and confequently the warmeft. It contains a great number of fine towns; among others, Narbonne, fa- ́ ́ mous for its excellent honey; and Nimes, celebrated on account of the ancient Roman amphitheatre, which is ftill to be feen. In this province is alfo fituated the town of Montpellier, the air of which is fo pure, and the climate fo fine, that fick people, even from Enggland, are often fent thither for the recovery of their health.

Dauphiné.

Grenoble is the capital town. The king of France's eldeft fon, who is always called Dauphin, takes his title from this province.

Provence.

Provence is a very fine province, and extremely fertile. It produces the beft oil, with which it fupplies other countries. The fields are full of orange, lemon, and olive trees. The capital is called Aix. In this province is, likewife, the town of Marfeilles, a large and fine city, and celebrated fea-port, fituated upon the Mediterranean: here the king of France's galleys are kept. Galleys are large thips with oars; and thofe who row, are people condemned to it, as a punishment =for fome crime.

LETTER XXXIX.

General defeription of Germany.

GERMANY

JERMANY is a country of vaft extent: the fouthern parts are not unpleafant; the northern exceeding ly bad and defart. It is divided into ten diftricts, which are called the ten circles of the empire. The emperor is head, but not master of the empire; for he can do but little without the consent of the electors, princes, and imperial free towns; which, all together, form what is called the diet of the empire, that affen bles in the town of Ratifbon.

There are nine electors; which are,

Thefe nine elect the emperor; for the empire is not hereditary that is to fay, the fon does not fucceed his father; but, when an Emperor dies, those nine electors affemble, and chufe another. The electors are fovereign princes: thofe of Montz, Treves, and Cologne, are ecclefiaftics, being archbishops. The elector of Bohemia, is king of Bohemia, and his capital town Prague. The elector of Bavaria's capital is Munich. The elector of Saxony is the moft confiderable of all the electors, and his electorate the fineft: Dresden is the capital, and a beautiful town. The elector of Brandenburg is alfo king of Pruffia, and mafter of a great extent of country: the capital town of Brandenburg is Berlin. The two moft confiderable towns belonging to the elector Palatine, are Manheim, and Duffeldorp. The elector of Hanover is alfo king of England; the

capital town of that electorate is Hanover, a miferable capital of a miferable country.t

Befides the electors, there are other fovereign princes, and powerful ones-as the langrave of Heffe Caf fel, the duke of Wirtemberg, &c..

The rest of this geographical defcription of Germany, and the beginning of that of Afia, are unfortunately loft.]

LETTER XXX.

Queen of Hungary...Origin of the late Contests in Ger

DEAR LOY,

many.

I ALWAYS write to you with pleasure, when I can write you with kindnefs; and with pain, when I am obliged to chide. You should, therefore, for my fake as well as your own, apply and behave yourself in such a manner, that I might always receive good accounts The laft I had from Mr. Maittaire was fo good a one, that you and I are at prefent extremely well together; and I depend upon your taking care that we fhall-continue fo.

of

you.

a

I am fure you now hear a great deal of talk about the queen of Hungary, and the wars which fhe is and will be engaged in; it is therefore right that you should know little of that matter. The laft emperor, Charles the Sixth, who was father to this queen of Hungary, was the last male of the house of Auftria; and fearing that, as he had no fons, his dominions might at his death, be divided between his daughters, and confequently weakened, he fettled them all upon his eldest daughter, the queen of Hungary, by a public act, which is called the pragmatic fanétion: fo that at the death of the emperor fhe fucceeded to Auftria, Bohemia, Silefia, Hungary, Tranfilvania, Stiria, Carinthia, and the Tirol, in Germany; to all Flanders; and to Parma, Placentia, Milan, and Mantua, in

His lordship is mistaken with regard to the country of Hanover; which is tolerably good, rather pleasant, and not unfruitful.

Italy, befides Tufcany, which is her husband's. The houfe of Auftria is defcended from Rodolph count of Hapbourg, who, about feven hundred years ago, ace quired the dutchy of Auftria. His defcendents, partly by conqueft, and partly by advantageous marriages, increafed their dominions fo confiderably, that Charles the Fifth, who was emperor about two hundred years ago, was at once in poffeffion of the empire, Spain, the Weft Indies, almoft all Italy, and the Seventeen Provinces, which before that time compofed the dutchy of Burgundy. When he grew old, he grew wea ry of government, retired into a monaftery in Spain, aud divided his dominions between his fon Philip the Second, king of Spain, and his brother Ferdinand, who was elected emperor in his room. To his for Philip he gave Spain and the Weft Indies, Italy, and the Seventeen Provinces. To his brother, all he had in Germany. From that time to this, the Emperors have conftantly been elected out of the Houfe of Auftria, as the beft able to defend and fupport the dignity of the empire. The duke of Tufcany, who, by his wife the queen of Hungary, is now in poffeffion of many of thofe dominions, wants to be chofenempeTor: but France, that was always jealous of the power of the Houfe of Auftria, fupports the Elector of Bavaria, and wants to have him get fome of thofe dominions from the queen of Hungary, and be chofen emperor; for which purpofe they have now fent an army into Bavaria to his afflance. This fhort account may enable you to talk the politics now in fashion; and you have a mind to be more particularly informed about the Houfe of Auftria, look in your Hiftorical Didionary for Rodolphe de Hapfbourg, Autriche, and Charlequint. As Charies the Fifth inherited Spain by his mother, and the Seventeen Provinces by his grandmother, who, being only daughter of the laft duke of Burgundy, brought them in marriage to his grand father, the emperor Maximilian; the following diftich was made upon the good fortune of the House of Au fria in their marriages:

if

F