MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



465 



the inhabitants in case of danger. 

 From the tower of the church on 

 the central Parade Place, which 

 serves this purpose, we enjoj'ed 

 a fine panoramic view of Frank- 

 fort. The compact oval city, 

 with its handsome buildings, and 

 white cheerful streets, lay beneath 

 us ; the Maine running along the 

 southern side, and surrounded on 

 all others by the luxuriant shrub- 

 beries and gardens of the mer- 

 chants. The Zeil, a noble wide 

 street, traversing the town, is the 

 only handsome one ; but the old 

 narrow lanes, with their lofty 

 houses, quaint casements, and 

 gable fronts, have an antique 

 respectability, and remind one of 

 the early splendor of the Imperial 

 City. The more modern parts 

 of the town abound with hand- 

 some mansions, some of which 

 deserve the name of palaces. 

 The old ramparts are levelled, 

 the ditches filled in, and their 

 place occupied by rich shrubbery 

 walks, laid out in the irregular 

 English style : embellishments, 

 chiefly the work of the Prince 

 Primate, during his occupation 

 of the city and territory. In a 

 fine day you meet here the sub- 

 stantial bourgeois, and stately 

 belles of the city, walking with a 

 sedate tranquillity and grave de- 

 corum, equally remote from the 

 gay flutter of a Parisian prome- 

 nade, and the gaping curiosity 

 of the Cockney assemblage in 

 Hyde Park. 



Frankfort is one of the four 

 Imperial Cities, which are all that 

 the legislators of Vienna have 

 thought fit to restore to their 

 ancient privileges and republican 

 constitution. A small territory, 

 to the extent of half a league 



Vol. LX. 



each way, is carved out for it 

 round the city. The two Burgo- 

 masters, the Senate, and the 

 Council are again invested with 

 the ensigns of republican sove- 

 reignty. The city is garrisoned 

 by its own civic troop, of about 

 5 or 600 men, besides a militia 

 of about 3,000 ; and the mercan- 

 tile commonwealth is ostensibly 

 established on the same footing, 

 as in its old Imperial days. But 

 the free cities are elements of the 

 old constitution, which are, I fear, 

 little calculated to survive it ia 

 their former flourishing condition. 

 As long as the Empire existed, 

 their dependence on its head 

 procured the defenceless com- 

 monwealth a protection against 

 powerful and despotic neighbours: 

 theirgold cementing their friendly 

 union with the Imperial* House — 

 but who are the worthy burghera 

 of Frankfort to look to now ia 

 times of oppression — more likely 

 to occur since their quiet eccle- 

 siastical neighbours have been 

 wiped away, to make room for 

 keen military sovereigns, ever on 

 the watch for aggrandizement ? 



As far as 1 could learn, the 

 government of the Baron Dal- 

 berg. Prince Primate of the 

 Rhenish Confederation, and 

 Grand Duke of Frankfort, was 

 by no means unpopular in the 

 city. The impositions were nearly 

 the same as at present, and an 

 expensive Court produced a cir- 

 culation of money and a bustle 

 and show which help to content 

 people as much as solid advan- 

 tages. The visits of Napoleon to 

 his crowned minion, were to be 

 sure rather redoubtable to the 

 good merchants. On one occa- 

 sion, the happy event of his 

 2 H arrival 



