THUEINGIA AND THE HAEZ. 265 



known, has supplied modern Europe with more ruling princes than any other 

 reigning house. 



Sonneherg (7,322 inhabitants), to the north-east of Gotha, is famous as the 

 place where nearly all the wooden toys called after Niirnberg are manufoctured. 

 In the Middle Ages all Western Europe procured its toys from this Thuringian 

 town, which now sends its produce into every part of the world. About 8,000 

 persons are exclusively engaged in the manufacture of toys, but so badly are they 

 paid that their average earnings do not exceed sixpence a day. It is estimated 

 that 3,000 tons of toys are annually dispatched from Sonneberg by rail. 



The Bastn of the Elbe. — The Saale and its tributaries drain the whole of the 

 northern and eastern slopes of the Thuringian Forest into the Elbe. The first 

 town washed by the Saale after it leaves Bavaria is Saalfcld, in Saxe-Meiningen 

 (7,428 inhabitants), an old stronghold which the Germans built as a defence 

 against the Slavs. It then flows past Radolstadt (7,638 inhabitants), the capital of 

 a principality. To the east of it, in a lateral valley, lies the industrial town of 

 Possneck (6,202 inhabitants). Near Rudolstadt, and in one of the most delightful 

 parts of Thuringia, stands the village of Kcilhau, where Erobel (1817) founded his 

 famous college. 



Jena (9,020 inhabitants), in Saxe- Weimar, on the Saale, in the midst of 

 gardens and orchards contrasting pleasantly with the scarps of the arid plateau 

 rising above the valley, is the seat of the Supreme Court of all Thuringia, and of a 

 university founded in the sixteenth century. Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel taught 

 there at the beginning of this century, and after the War of Liberation the students 

 of Jena distinguished themselves by their patriotism. On the arid limestone 

 plateau to the west of Jena was fought the battle (1806) which led to a temporary 

 collapse of Prussia's power. 



Weimar (17,522 inhabitants) is the principal town on the Ilm, a western 

 affluent of the Saale. It is the residence of a court, and as such has its castle, 

 museum, library, park, and gardens, but is famous, above all things, for having 

 been for a time the centre of the intellectual life of Germany. Herder, Wieland, 

 Goethe, and Schiller there composed many of their works, and the town has done 

 itself honour by erecting statues in their memory. 



Ajjoida (12,427 inhabitants), to the north-east of Weimar, also on the Ilm, 

 enjoys the epithet of " Little Manchester," because of its factories. It is a 

 place of some importance, no doubt, but the Prussian town of Erfurt (50,477 

 inhabitants), to the west of it, on the Gera, far surpasses it. Erfurt is mentioned 

 as a stronghold before the introduction of Christianity into Germany. In course 

 of time it became the capital of Thuringia, and the principal commercial town 

 between Niirnberg and the Hanseatic seaports. In the sixteenth century it had 

 60,000 inhabitants, and Luther, who lived there when a monk, said it was " twice 

 as large as Niirnberg." But when Erfurt became a fortress it decayed as a place of 

 commerce, and towards the close of last century its inhabitants had d^vindled down 

 to 15,000 souls. In our days the population once more increases from year to 

 year, but there still remain wide open spaces within the walls not yet built upon. 



