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CHAPTER III. 



MuHLHEiM lies in the Duchy of Berg, the title of which, 

 after a long consolidation with Prussia, was revived by 

 Napoleon for a principality conferred upon Murat. The 

 former Duchy of Berg, which extended along the Rhine 

 from the Ruhr to the commencement of the territories of 

 the House of Nassau, has ever been famed for its richness 

 in minerals. Iron of the finest quality produced in Eu- 

 rope, lead, copper, zinc, and the precious metals, furnish 

 employment to the industrious inhabitants as miners and 

 founders still. To these pursuits manufactures of textile 

 wares have with considerable success been superadded. 

 The population is therefore more strictly manufacturing 

 than agricultural, and the agriculture of the Duchy of 

 Berg is too much modified by this mixture of occupations 

 to be of much interest to the farmer on a large scale. 

 We shall therefore continue our journey along the high 

 road to Essen, a town once governed by powerful Lady 

 Abbesses, with the double authority delegated imme- 

 diately from the Imperial crown and from the Church. 

 The convent of Essen dates from the ninth century, and, 

 according to tradition, occupies the site of the first Chris- 

 tian church erected in the district. The founder is named 

 Alfred, which indicates a Saxon origin, and an aqueduct 

 that imperfectly supplies the town with water is still 

 called Alfred's " brunnen." The princely Abbess of 

 Essen had a seat and vote in the old Germanic diet, and 



