260 GERMANY. 



tainous country, fhe Hessians, in many cases, have to sustain a severe struggle for 



existence. 



" WTiere a Hessian can't thrive, 

 None other need strive ! " 



So says a German proverb with reference to the life of labour led by them. 

 It is indeed all work with them, and they are altogether devoid of the gaiety of 

 their neighbours. In many cases, however, their serious and brooding disposition 

 is ascribable to poverty ; for potatoes and bad brandy do not suffice to sustain a 

 man in vigour, and the inhabitants of some districts are visibly degenerating. In 

 the small principality of Waldeck, to the west of Cassel, the number of blind and 

 idiotic is greater than anywhere else in Germany.* The Hessians are said 

 frequently to be carried away by an excess of zeal, and have hence been nicknamed 

 " blind Hessians " by their compatriots. 



Towns. 



The Basin of the Weser. — Cassel (56,745 inhabitants) is the most populous 

 town of the hilly region of Central Germany. Situated upon the Fulda, in the 

 centre of a wide basin, and on a road joining the valley of the Weser to those of 

 the Lahn and Main, Cassel may originally have been a Roman castellnm, but is 

 first heard of in history in the beginning of the tenth century. The old capital of 

 Electoral Hesse and the kingdom of Westphalia is a sumptuous town, many of its 

 palaces having been built wath the money obtained by the sale of Hessian 

 "subjects" to England. There are museums and libraries, open squares, wide 

 streets, and public parks, and in the distance is seen the palace of Wilhelmshohe, 

 on a site far better endowed by nature than are the environs of Versailles. Cassel, 

 moreover, is a place of manufactures, first introduced by Flemish and French 

 refugees, and the railways which radiate from it enable it to carry on a con- 

 siderable commerce. There are foundries and machine shops, pianoforte and 

 carriage manufactories. 



Marburg (9,600 inhabitants), a pretty town on the Lahn, has the oldest 

 university founded without the consent of the Pope; and yet Marburg is one of 

 the " holy towns " of Germany. The oldest church of the whole country rises on 

 the neighbouring Christenberg, on the site of a pagan temple, and the footprints 

 of Bonifacius, its founder, are still objects of veneration to numerous pilgrims. An 

 isolated basaltic rock, to the east of the town, was occupied formerly by the castle 

 of Amoneburg, a famous abbey. Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, a great saint, lies 

 buried in the fine Gothic church of Marburg. 



Fulda (10,749 inhabitants), on the river of the same name, is equally celebrated 

 in the religious annals of Germany. A statue of St. Bonifiicius recalls the con- 

 version of the Germans, and the Abbots of Fulda formerly bore the title of 

 " Primates of all the Abbeys of Gaul and Germany." Fulda is important now 



* Bhnd in Germany, 89 to every 100,000 inhabitants; in Waldeck, loi. Idiots in Germany, 139 

 to every 100,000 inhabitants ; in Waldeck, 217. 



