B A V 



355 



B A U 



Appear- 

 ance and 

 manners of 

 the inha- 

 bitants. 



vided into four generalities or governments ; viz. the 

 governments of Munich, Straubing, Landshut, and 

 Burghausen. Lach government sends two noblemen, 

 a prelate, and a deputy for the towns to the assembly 

 of the states. In every generality a prelate is charged 

 with the collection of the taxes paid by the clergy, 

 and two noblemen receive those due by the nobility ; 

 the magistrates of towns receive the contribution of 

 individuals. The hereditary officers of the elector 

 are, the governor of the hereditary countries, the 

 steward, marshal, cup-bearer, and huntsman. 



The Bavarians are, in general, robust, corpulent, 

 and muscular ; yet in almost every particular the very- 

 reverse of handsome. 80 grotesque, indeed, is their 

 appearance, if we may believe Baron Reisbach, that 

 many of them resemble caricatures rather than real 

 figures of men. Their head is round and thick, their 

 neck short, their shoulders narrow, their paunch 

 broad and prominent, and their legs short and chubby. 

 Their pace is heavy and slow, and their little eyes 

 peeping through their swoln eye-brows, are sufficient- 

 ly expressive of their inherent knavery. The beauty 

 of the Bavarian women forms a strange and pleasing 

 contrast to the shapeless clumsiness of the men. 

 Their form appears the work of the graces ; their 

 complexion outvies the finest carnations, and baffles 

 the imitation of the ablest'painters ; while the fascina- 

 tion of these charms is completed by the vivacity and 

 grace of their manners. 



The Roman catholic religion is established in Ba- 

 varia in its worst form. Its numerous convents swarm 

 with ecclesiastics of different orders, whose mutual 

 hatred has often distracted the state with civil dissen- 

 sions ; while their influence over the people serves 

 only to spread the contagion of those vices which dis- 

 grace their character. At no very distant period 

 one half of the inhabitants of Bavaria were protes- 

 tants, and several public regulations were made for 

 their security. But, through the intrigues of the 

 Jesuits, they were exposed to every kind of oppres- 

 sion, and the court, swayed by the interested sug- 

 gestions of these ecclesiastics, endeavoured to root 

 them out as pernicious weeds to the state. These 

 persecutions compelled the protestants to abandon 

 their country ; they emigrated to one of the wildest 

 deserts in North America, and a great portion of Ba- 

 varia was left completely desolate. 



The licentiousness of Bavarian morals is almost in- 

 credible ; and seems chiefly to proceed from the in- 

 dolence and bigotry which are characteristic of the 

 nation. Neither order nor good morals can be ex- 

 pected to prevail among a people who prefer mendi- 

 city to the slightest exertion ; who are influenced by 

 no higher principle than a blind submission to priests, 

 infamous and profligate as themselves ; and whose 

 basest crimes are expiated by a very trifling fine. The 

 negligence, the selfishness, and the folly of those in 

 power, tend greatly to increase the evil. In Munich 

 alone there are not fewer than four thousand men 

 maintained in idleness at the expense of the court. 

 These men, in general uneducated and unprincipled, 

 have no relish for any rational employment or re- 

 creation ; their whole time is spent in gaming and 

 debauchery ; the rest of the inhabitants are infected 



by their example ; the contagion spreads throughout 

 the country ; and the licentiousness becomes general 

 and extreme. Such, indeed, is the universal depra- 

 vity of morals in this country, that a Gascon officer 

 remarked, with no less justice than severity, that 

 Bavaria is the largest brothel in the world. 



From this prevailing corruption, religion and vir- 

 tue find no asylum. Even churches and universities, 

 which ought ever to be their inviolable sanctuaries, 

 are not free from the encroachments of profanity and 

 vice. The ecclesiastics are no less licentious and in- 

 decent than the rest of the people ; inns and disorder- 

 ly houses are to be found in the neighbourhood of 

 every church ; and even the sanctuary itself has some- 

 times been made the scene of the most abominable- 

 crimes. Students, too, who repair to the universi- 

 ties with the professed intention of improving in 

 learning and virtue, are in general initiated in the 

 grossest brutality. It is expected, as the indispen- 

 sible qualifications of every student in the univer- 

 sity of Ingolstadt, that he be provided with a thick 

 bludgeon, and wear a helmet ; that he be able to 

 swallow eight or ten quarts of beer at a time ; and 

 be ready, at all times, and on any pretext, to fight 

 with the officers of the garrison. Such shocking irre- 

 gularities have, of necessity, lowered the reputation 

 of the university ; and, in spite of the zeal and ability 

 of the professors, and the annual edicts of govern- 

 ment, prohibiting a Bavarian from studying out of 

 his native country, the number of its students is con- 

 stantly diminishing. 



The peasantry of Bavaria, though perhaps less li- 

 centious than the citizens, are yet more brutal and 

 disgusting. Coarse, slovenly, and dissolute, they are 

 ignorant of all the comforts of civilized life, and are 

 raised but very little above the level of the rudest 

 barbarians. A savage ferocity mingles with their 

 superstition, and often gives rise to scenes of blood. 

 They value a festival, or public entertainment, ac- 

 cording to the fierceness of the quarrels by which it 

 has been distinguished, and the number of the com- 

 batants who have been killed. This ferocity of dis- 

 position is connected with much personal intrepidity. 

 Towards the end of the 17th century, the Bavarians 

 were accounted the best soldiers in Germany. But 

 they are now so impatient of order and discipline, 

 that they deserve not the name of soldiers, and are of 

 no use in an army, except to ravage a hostile coun- 

 try ; yet, irregular and undisciplined as they are, they 

 often exhibit the most amazing efforts of courage, 

 and, rather than recede one inch, will fight to the 

 last extremity. 



The military force of Bavaria, including the pala- 

 tinate, amounts to about 12,600 men. 



See Reisbach's Travels in Germany, letters 8, 9, 

 10, 11, and VI; Encyclopedic Methodique ; Peuchet's 

 Dktionnaire de la Gcographie Commcrcante, Sfc. ; 

 Busching's Geography ; Schmidt's History of the 

 Germans; and Coxe'a House of Austria, (ft) 



BAUHINIA, a genus of plants of the class De- 



candria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (tu) 



BAUMAN Islands, a cluster of islands in the 



South Pacific Ocean, the largest of which is about 



22 miles in circumference. They were discovered in 



Bavari.i 



II 

 Bauiiian. 



