BAVARIA. 



JSavaria. circle has been estimated at one thousand and twenty 

 1 -""~y-"' square leagues. The states which it contains, a- 

 mounting to the number of twenty, are divided into 

 two benches, ecclesiastical and secular. The first of 

 these benches cousists of the archbishopric of Salz- 

 burg, the bishoprics of Ratisbon, Passau, and Frey- 

 singen, the princely provostship of Bercktoldsga- 

 den, and the abbeys of Saint Emeran, Nieder, and 

 Ober-Munster, in the town of Ratisbon. The secu- 

 lar bench is composed of the electorate of Bavaria, 

 the duchies of Neuburg and Salzburg, the landgra- 

 viace of Leuchtenberg, the princely county of Stein- 

 stein, the counties of Haag and of Ortenburg, the 

 lordships of Ehrenfels, Sulzburg, Pyrbaum, Hohen- 

 vvaldeck, and Breiteneck, and the imperial town ot 

 Ratisbon. The Elector of Bavaria and the Arch- 

 bishop of Salzburg possess the joint powef of convo- 

 king the states of this circle j and their assemblies, 

 over which those princes alternately preside, are ge- 

 nerally held at Ratisbon, or at Wy3serburg. This 

 circle furnishes only one assessor to the imperial 

 chamber, though, by the treaty of Westphalia, it 

 ought to send four. 



By far the greater part of this circle belongs to 

 the elector (now king) of Bavaria, who is one of the 

 most powerful of the secondary princes of Germany. 

 Before the late wars between Germany and France, 

 his dominions in this circle consisted, 1st, Of the 

 Duchy of Bavaria ; 2d, Of the Upper Palatinate, or 

 the Palatinate of Bavaria ; 3d, Of the principalities 

 of Newburg and Sulzbach ; 4th, Of the Landgravi- 

 ate, or principality of Leuchtenberg ; 5th, Of the 

 county of Haag ; 6th, of the lordships of Ehrenfels, 

 Salzburg, Pyrbaum, Breiteneck, and Hohenwaldeck. 

 Besides these territories, he was sovereign lord of the 

 greater part of the county of Erbach, in the circle of 

 Franconia ; in the circle of Swabia, he possessed the 

 lordships of Wiesensteig, Meindelheim, and Schwa- 

 bach ; in the circle of the Lower Rhine, the Lower 

 Palatinate, or the Palatinate of the Rhine ; in the 

 circle of the Upper Rhine, the principalities of Sim- 

 mern, Lautern, and Veldenz, with two-thirds of the 

 county of Spenheim, besides the reversion of the prin- 

 cipality of the Deux Ponts, another part of the coun- 

 ty cf Spenheim, and half the bailliage of Hombourg, 

 the other half of which belonged to the house of Nas- 

 sau Saarbruck ; in the circle of Westphalia, the 

 Duchies of Juliers, and of Berg. The connection 

 which recently took place between the families of the 

 Elector and the Emperor of the French, induced Na- 

 poleon to erect the electorate into a kingdom, which, 

 by the ordounance of the 21st June 1808, has been 

 divided into fifteen circles, whose names, extent, and 

 population, are accurately laid down in the following 

 Table : 



Names. 



Extent in S<}. 

 Miles. 



Xames. ***?* '"' ** 



Miles. 



1. The circle of the Mein, 72i . . 



. . 42 . . 



2 of Pegniz, .... 



.'5 of the Nab, . . . 



4 of Retzal, .... 



5 of theAltmuhl,. 



6 of the Upper! 



Danube, J 



7. of the Lech, gl 



of the Regen, ... 121 



180J 



(Hi 



79 



Popu- 

 lation. 



190,650 

 111,900 

 220,835 

 190,077 

 202,107 



258,589 



223,176 

 237,095 



9. The circle of the Lower 7 

 Danube, J 



10 of the Isar, . . 



11. of Sulzbach, . 



12 of the Iller, . . 



13 of the Inn, 176; 



14 of the Eisak, .... 154} 



15 of the Adige, . . . 112J 



118 . 



15S-J 

 103* 

 118 . 



351 



Popu- 

 lation. 



215,661 



302,530 

 190,967 

 237,097 

 202,751 

 191,611 

 226,492 



Bavaria. 



Total 1636 3.231.53S 



The kingdom of Bavaria, which belongs to the 

 confederation of the Rhine, has an annual revenue of 

 20,000,0110 florins, and can bring into the field an 

 army of 65,000 men. 



At present we shall direct the attention of our 

 readers chiefly to the Duchy of Bavakia. It is 

 bounded by Tyrol and the archbishopric of Salz- 

 burg on the south ; by Swabia and Franconia on 

 the west ; on the north by the Upper Palatinate ; 

 and on the east by Bohemia and Austria. Its extent 

 is generally estimated at 576 miles, or 1600 square 

 leagues ; and the number of its inhabitants, according 

 to the most accurate computations, amounts to about 

 900,000. The Duchy of Bavaria holds the fourth 

 rank among the German states ; assigning the first 

 rank to the house of Austria, the second to the house 

 of Brandenburg, and the third to Saxony. Under 

 even tolerable culture, it might very easily maintain 

 more than double of its present population ; and, 

 with the advantage of a better government, might de- 

 velope a power at least four times greater than it can 

 at present boast. It is divided into Upper and Lower 

 Bavaria, the former of which is the extremity of the 

 immense chain of the Alps, which stretches into this 

 country through Salzburg and the county of Tyrol. 

 The Duchy, including the Palatinate, is said to con- 

 tain 34 towns, and 80 burghs, 8000 villages or ham- 

 lets, and thirty-six thousand estates, subject to taxa- 

 tion. It has 30.50 churches, 548 chapels, 908 cures, 

 12 chapters, and 142 convents, 3765 secular clergy, 

 and 3560 religious of botii sexes. Its chief towns 

 are Munich, Straubing, Landshut, Donawert, and 

 Burghausen. 



The southern parts of Bavaria, though very moun- Aspect of 

 tainous, are by no means so unfit for agriculture as the coun- 

 they have been generally represented. Amidst those tr y, soil, 

 rugged and stupendous mountains, which excite ideas * c * - 

 only of grandeur and sterility, the eye is frequently re- 

 lieved by beautiful vallies, the soil of which is so rich 

 as to repay, more than six-fold, even the awkward 

 and unskilful culture of a Bavarian farmer. The 

 tract of country which stretches from Munich along 

 the banks of the Danube and the Inn, is the finest 

 arable land in Bavaria ; and is beautifully diversified 

 with hills, which are clothed to the summits with 

 magnificent forests. The Upper Palatinate, with 

 that part of the Duchy of Bavaria which lies on the 

 farther side of the Danube, is a continued chain of 

 mountains, which ascend gradually from the Danube 

 to Mount Fichtelberg, and the mountains of Bohe- 

 mia ; yet these lands afford excellent pasturage, and 

 are, in many places, susceptible of any kind of culture. 

 Of this country, so highly favoured by nature, a 

 great proportion is allowed to remain altogether un- 



