GERMANY. 



"Ko country can boaft of more and better inftitutions for 

 tlie acquifition of kr.owlt Jge and fcience than G'Tmany. 

 Notwithftanding the great extent of territory ceded to 

 France, there are ftill 30 univerlities, of which 17 arc Pro- 

 fcftant, 1 1 Catholic, and two mixed, -vi-z. ; Griefswalde, Jena, 

 Leipfick, Wittenberg, Guttingen, Halle, Hclmftadt, Kiel, 

 Roftock, Altdorf, Erlangen, Rinteln, Gicflen, Marhiirg, 

 Stuttgard, Tubingen, I'rankfort on t!ie Oder, are Protel- 

 tant univerfilics ; Bamberg, Wietzburgli, Padorborn, Fulda, 

 DiUingen, Freyburg, Infpruck, Vienna, Ingollladt, Salt/- 

 burgh, and Prague, are Cathnlic univerfitic-o ; and I lie two 

 mixed ones are Erfurt and pleidelberg. The oldeft of 

 tliem is that of Prague, which was founded in 134S, and the 

 mod modern that of Erlangen, founded in I74'5. Mod of 

 thefe learned feminaries, which have furniflied the northern 

 regions ot Europe with able teachers, are provided with 

 extenlive libraries, anatomical theatres, mufcums of natural 

 tiiftory, botanic gardens, and ailronomical obfervalories. 

 The profeflors are animated with the noble ambition of ex 

 tending the fame of the univerhty in which they teach by 

 their writings, and as the iludents pay a liberal fee for their 

 lectures, this opens an honourable and ufcful competition 

 among the teachers. Every iludent is at liberty to feledt 

 what leisures he chufes to liear, and may employ his time as 

 he likes. He has only a levere examination to undergo when 

 he offers himfelf as a candidate for any fitualion in the law, 

 adminillration, or church, or when he wants to take his de- 

 gree as a doctor in medicine, without which degree he cannot 

 be admitted into any college of phyficians. AH the other 

 ufelefs fcholaftic formalities have long fmce been abrogated. 



Befides thefe univerfities there is a great number of public 

 or free grjimmar fchools, lyccums, and other learned fehools 

 in Germany. The methods of teaching have been confider- 

 ably improved within the latter half of the eighteenth century, 

 when Bafedow, profiting by the hints thrown out by J. J. 

 Roufleau, opened the Philantropinum at Delfau, and fet an 

 example of liberal and fcientific education, which was foon imi- 

 tated by men of enlightened views and extenfive information. 

 Campe, Villaume, Saltzmann, Trapp, and latterly Pefla- 

 lozzi, have eminently contributed to introduce better modes 

 of inftruftion. There arc alfo many eftablifliments deftined 

 to train young men for particular employments, fuch as 

 military, mineral, commercial, and even agricultural fchools. 

 Females are inoftly educated at home under the eyes of their 

 mothers, who are particularly anxious to guard their 

 daughters againft the baneful influence of ladies boarding 

 fchcols. 



The nmncrous literary focieties of all kinds, public libra- 

 ri' ", reading clubs, circulating libraries, critical journals, and 

 other means of <li!Teminating and preferving knowledge, afford 

 another proof of the high liate of civilization to which molt 

 counines of Germany are arrived. The mod dillinguilhed 

 ol its learned focieties are the iniperial academy of natural 

 philofopliy at Vienna, the royal academy at Berlin, the aca- 

 demies at Caffel, Erfurt, Gottingen, Manhcim, Miinchen ; 

 tlie agricultural focieties at Heidelberg, Leijiilek and Zelle. 

 The bed public libraries are thofe of Berlin, Drefden, Got- 

 tingen, Gotha, Hanover, Leipfick, Manheim, Stuttgard, 

 WeiiiKU-, Vienna, and Wolfenbuttel. Though Germany 

 may boad of being the cradle of the art of printing, Eikt- 

 land and France bear the palm. The ge; erality of German 

 books are printed without taile, with had types, and on 

 bad paper. A few fplendid editions have, huwever, been 

 attempted at Leipfick, and met with merited fuccefs. The 

 liberty of the prefs, which was never general all over Ger- 

 many, has receited its death-blow from the fway which the 



French government exercifes in every one of its couulici, 

 lincc the peace of Tillit. 



Of the fine arts, mufic is that in which the Germans excel. 

 They vie with the Italiaiii, and the names of Handel, Bach, 

 Haydn, and Mozart are reverenced by their rivals. Ger- 

 many has alfo produced fonie good painters and engravers, 

 but few datuarics and architeas. With refped to dancing, it 

 IS far behind Italy and France. The principal academics f<,r 

 tlie encouragement of the fine arts are at Berlin, Drefden, 

 Leipfick, Manheim, and Vienna. The mod celebrated gal- 

 leries of pittures are at Urefden, Vienna. Sans Souci, near 

 Potfdam, Duffeldorff, Manheim, and Caffel. 



'l"he influence of the arts on the manntrs of a people is 

 no where more Ihiking than in Germany, where concerts and 

 mufical parties, together with dancing, form the chief amufc- 

 meiit ; a.id the manners of the middle orders are polite and 

 affable. 



Before the peace of Luneville in 180 1, the population of 

 Germany was rated at 27 millions of inhabitants; but as it 

 loll 3,700,000 individuals, througii the ceflion of the coun- 

 tries fitiKited on the left fhoreof'the Rhine, its prcfcnt po- 

 puiaiion is very little above 23 millions. 



I'he hidory of Germany in its ancient date, its gradual 

 advancement towards extent of territory and dominion, and 

 ilsrecent decline and fall, prefents to our notice a fubjeft 

 that is in a variety of refpetts peculiarly interedlng. Tiie 

 vvedern monarchy of Rome was fird refidrd, then invaded, 

 and at length overturned by the warlike inhabitants of Ger- 

 many ; and it was from the woods of this country that the 

 niod civilized nations of Europe iffued ; and we may ftill 

 didingiii/h in the rude indituuons of tiicfe barbarians the 

 original principles of our laws and manners. Ancient Ger- 

 many, excluding from its independent limits the provinces 

 wedward of the Rhine which had iubmitted to the Roman 

 yoke, extended itfelf over a third part o£ Europe. Almoft 

 the whole of modern Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, 

 Friefland, Livonia, Pruil'a, a:;d the greater part of Poland, 

 were jieopledby the various tribes of one great nation, whofe 

 complexion, manners, and language denoted a common origin, 

 and preferveda driking rel'.-nMjlance. On the weft, ancient 

 Germany was divided by. the' Rhine from the Gallic, and cii 

 the fouth by the Danube, from the Illyrian provinces of the 

 empiic. A ridge of hills, rifing from the Danube, and 

 called the Carpatliian mountains, covered Germany on the 

 fide of Dacia or Hungary. The cadern frontier was fiintly 

 m.'i-ked by the mutual fears of tlie Germans and the Sarma- 

 tia ., and was often confounded by the mixture of warriors, 

 and confederating tribes of the two nations. Such was 

 alfo liiecafe with refped to the Gauls on the weft, where 

 it is il.ll more dilhcult to fix their boundaries en account of 

 their eimdant fiuftualion. In the remote darknefs of the 

 north, tiie ancients imperfeCfly defcried a froren ocean, that 

 lay beye.nd the Baltic fea, and beyond the pcninfula, or illaiids 

 of Sannitia. But their nearefl northern limit was the Her- 

 cynian loreft, at that time fuppofed to be impenetrable. It 

 appears from authentic documents that tlic climate cf an- 

 cient Germany was much colder than that of the country in 

 its more modern date. For the evidence of the faC^, and 

 the explication of it, we refer to the article Cusiate, where 

 the reader will alfo find fome rcfteftioiis oa the influence 

 wiiich variety of climates is fuppofed to have on the minds 

 and bodies of the diderent inliaijitants of the globe. The 

 keen air of Germany contributed, without doubt, towards 

 forming the large and mafcubne limbs of the natives, who 

 were, in general, of a more lefty flature than the people of 

 tlie fouth, gave them a kind of l^rength better adapted to 

 violent exertions than to patient labour, asd infpired them 



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