EUROPEAN. 177 



Darmstadt, and north of it Hesse Cassel, both north of Baden ; 

 Nassau, west of Hesse Darmstadt; Brunswick, between Hesse 

 Cassel and Hanover ; Oldenburg nearly surrounded by Hanover ; 

 Mecklenburg Schwerin, north-east of Hanover ; and Saxe Weimar, 

 north of Bavaria. The free cities of Germany are Hamburg, Lubec r 

 and Bremen in the north-east ; and Frankfort on the Maine. .____ 



The empire of Austria comprehends the ancient Vindelicia and 

 Rhxtia, in the west ; Noricum, in the centre ; Pannonia and part 

 of Dacia, in the east ; and Illyricum, including Dalmatia, in the 

 south ; besides its possessions in Italy and Germany. Its German 

 possessions, constituting the south-eastern part of Germany, are Bohe- 

 mia, Moravia, and the duchy of Austria, which gave name to the 

 empire. Its other divisions, at the present day, besides Lombardy 

 and Venice, are Tyrol, in the west ; Illyria, and Dalmatia, in the 

 south ; Styria and Carinthia, in the centre ; and the kingdoms of 

 Galicia, and Hungary, in the east ; Hungary, including Transylvania 

 in the extreme east, and Sclavonia and Croatia, in the south. The 

 Danube is its chief river, and it has the Carpathian mountains in the 

 east. Its chief cities are Vienna, the capital, anciently called Vindo- 

 bona; Prague, in Bohemia ; Presburg, Pest and Buda, in Hungary ; 

 Trieste, in Illyria ; and Lemberg, in Galicia. The Austrian empire, 

 comprising so many different states, has a great variety of people, and 

 character. The government is one of the most despotic in Europe ; 

 but there is religious toleration ; though the established religion is the 

 Roman Catholic. 



The kingdom of Prussia consists of the divisions formerly called 

 East and West Prussia, and Pomerania, bordering on the Baltic 

 Sea ; Posen, taken from Poland ; Brandenburg and Silesia, in the 

 eastern part of Germany ; and Westphalia with the Lower Rhine, 

 in the heart of Germany, separated from the preceding divisions by 

 Brunswick and other states. It comprehends, therefore, a part of 

 ancient Germany and a part of Sarmatia. The Rhine, Elbe, Oder 

 and Vistula rivers, flow through Prussia ; and the latter three are 

 connected by canals. The chief cities are Berlin, the capital, with 

 Potsdam, Magdeburg and Halle in Brandenburg ; Breslau in Sile- 

 sia ; Dantzic, in West, and Kdnigsberg, in East Prussia ; Posen, in 

 Posen ; and Cologne, in Cleves, connected with Westphalia. Prussia 

 has been a very warlike nation ; but has recently made great progress 

 in education and refinement. The Protestant religion prevails ; but 

 there is general religious toleration. 



The kingdom of Denmark, comprehends the German duchy of 

 Holstein; and the peninsula of Jutland, which was the ancient 

 Cimbrica Chersonesus, or country of the Cimbri, Jlngli, Saxones, 

 and Teutones. The Faroe or Ferroe Islands, and Iceland belong 

 also to Denmark. The chief cities are Copenhagen, the capital, 

 and Elsinore ; both on the island of Zealand, at the entrance of the 

 Baltic Sea ; with Mtona and Kiel, in Holstein. The Danes are a 

 brave, hardy, and enterprizing people. 



4. Northern Europe, of which we are lastly to speak, has a cold 

 climate, a more barren soil, and a less dense population, than the 

 preceding divisions. The people are hardy, and brave ; but com- 

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