ZURIC. 



in the town conftitute, in conjunAion with feveral magif- 

 trates and other affeflbrs, deputed by tlie civil power, an 

 eccleCaftical and academical council : to this committee the 

 deans recur in all concerns, which feem to exceed their 

 jurifdiaion : it determines lefler affairs, and refers cafes of 

 importance to the Senate. 



During the Frencli revolution, the canton of Zuric, after 

 a feeble refiftance, furrendered to the arms of the invaders ; 

 and the national affembly, which had been convoked, ac- 

 ceded to the new organization of the Helvetic conftitu- 

 tion. 



Zl'RIC, a city of Switzerland, and capital of a canton of 

 the fame name, fituated on a large lake, where the river 

 Limmat is difcharged, which divides it into two parts ; 

 fuppofed to have been built on the fcite of the ancient 

 Tigurum, which was dellroyed by the AUemanni. 



The environs are very delightful ; an amphitheatre of hills 

 gradually doping to the borders of the water, enriched with 

 pafture and vines ; .dotted with innumerable villages, cot- 

 tages, and hamlets ; and backed on the W. by the Utliberg, 

 a bold and gloomy ridge ftretching towards the Albis, and 

 that chain of mountains which rifes gradually to the Alps. 

 Of the two parts into which the town is divided, tlie old 

 part is furrounded with the fame ancient battlements and 

 towers which exifted in the thirteenth century, and 

 the fuburbs are ftrengthened by fortifications in the 

 modern ftyle, but too extenfive. The ditches, inftead of 

 being filled with ftagnant water, are moflly fupplied with 

 running ftreams. The public walk is plcafantly fituated in a 

 lawn, at the jundlion of the Limmat and the Sil, an impetuous 

 and turbid torrent, which defcends from the mountains of 

 Einfidlin : two rows of lime-trees planted by the fide of the 

 Limmat, and following its ferpentine direftion, afford an 

 agreeable ftiade in the heat of fummer. The inhabitants 

 are very induftrious ; and carry on with fuccefs feveral 

 manufaftures : the principal are thofe of linens and cottons, 

 muflins, and filk-handkerchiefs. The manufacturers do not 

 in general dwell within the walls ; but the materials are 

 moftly prepared, and the work is completed in the adjacent 

 diftriits. For this rcafon, Zuric does not exhibit the 

 aftivity and numbers of a great commercial city. The 

 environs, on the contrary, are fo extremely populous, that 

 perhaps few diftrifts in the neighbourhood of a town, whofe 

 population fcarcely exceeds 10,000 inhabitants, contain 

 within fo fmall a compafs fo many fouls. The ftreets are 

 moftly narrow ; the houfes and public buildings accord 

 more with plainnefs and convenience, than with the elegance 

 and fplendour of a capital. In 1780 the town contained 

 10,559 f^ouls ; but the population had decreafed from the 

 difficulty of obtaining the burgherfhip ; whereas luxury and 

 opulence had very confiderably increafed. In general, 

 however, the manners of the inhabitants are fimple. Dinner 

 is ufually ferved at twelve : in the afternoon the gentlemen 

 aflemble in clubs, or fmall focieties, in the town during 

 v.-intsr, and at tlieir refpeftive villas in fummer. They fre- 

 quently fmoke, and partake of wine, fruit, cakes, and other 

 refreffiments. The women, for the moft part employed in 

 their domeftic occupations, or devoted to the improvement 

 of their children, are not fond of vifiting. This referve, 

 however, has much abated, and gives place to a more 

 fociable intercourfe. Such, however, is the prevalence of 

 national habit, that a few families, which form a more agree- 

 able mixture of company, are confidered as differing from 

 the eitabli/hed culloms, and are ftill known by the name of 

 the French Society. Sumptuary laws are well obferved. 

 Amongft thefe, the ufe of a carriage in the town is pro- 

 hibited to all forts of perfons except llrangers j and it is 



almoft inconceivable, that in a place fo commercial and 

 wealthy, luxury Ihould fo little prevail.' 



Zuric was formerly an imperial city, and obtained from 

 the emperor Frederick II. very confiderable privileges ; 

 which were acknowledged and augmented by feveral of his 

 fucceffors. The civil war between the magiftrates and the 

 people in 1335 nearly reduced the city to ruins ; but the 

 former being bani(hed, the citizens, in 1337, eftablifhed 

 a new form of government, which was conlirmed by the 

 emperor Louis of Bavaria. The exiles, after feveral fruit- 

 lefs attempts, were at length re-admitted ; but engaging in 

 a confpiracy againft the citizens, were difcovered and put to 

 death. In confequence of this execution, the nobles in the 

 neighbourhood took up arms ; and Zuric, after having in- 

 cffeftually applied for affiftance to the emperor Charles IV., 

 formed an alliance with Lucerne, Uri, Schweitz, and 

 Underwalden, and was admitted a member of their con- 

 federacy. This event happened in the year 1 351. The 

 four cantons yielded the pre-eminence to Zuric : a privilege 

 it enjoys at prefent ; being the firfl canton in rank, and the 

 moll confiderable in extent, both of territory and power, next 

 to Berne. In the fame year, Zuric was affiftedby the four 

 cantons againft Albert, duke of Auftria, who befieged the 

 town, and was repulfed with great lofs. 



Zuric was the firft town in Switzerland that feparated 

 from the church of Rome, being converted by the argu- 

 ments of Zningle. 



The charitable eftablilhments at Zuric are, the orphan- 

 houfe, which is regulated with extreme attention and care ; 

 an alms-houfe for poor burghers ; an hofpital for incurables, 

 and that for the fick of all nations, which ufually contains 

 between fix or feven hundred patients ; and the Allmofen- 

 Aint, or foundation for the poor : this excellentinftitution 

 puts out children as apprentices ; and diftributcs money, 

 clothes, and books of devotion to poor perfons, as well in 

 the town, as in different parts of the canton, at the recom- 

 mendation of the refpeftive minifters. Here is alfo a chi- 

 rurgical femiiiary, formed by voluntary fubfcriptions, to the 

 fupport of which, Dr. Rhan, an eminent phyfician, was a 

 liberal contributor. 



At Zuric public education is a concern of the ftate, and 

 under the immediate proteftion of government. The office 

 of a profeffor gives rank and ettiniation, and is often held 

 by a member of tlie Senate and of the Great Council., The 

 principal literary eftablifhments for the inftruflion of youtli 

 are, the Caroline college for ftudents in divinity ; Collegium 

 Humanitalis, or the college for polite literature ; and the 

 fchool of arts : the firft has twelve profeffors, the fecond 

 two, and the laft feven. The learned languages, divinity, 

 natural hiftory, mathematics, and in fhort every fpecies of 

 polite learning, as well as abftrafe fcicnce, is taught a*' a 

 fmall expence in thefe refpeftive feminaries. 



In confequence of the peculiar attention paid by govern- 

 ment, fince the reformation, to the education of youth, 

 Zuric has produced many perfons, who have diftingiiiihed 

 themfelves in all departments of literature : among thefe we 

 may reckon Zuingle and Bulhnger, Conrad Gefner, Hot- 

 tinger, Simler, Spon, Scheutzer, Heidegger, Breitinger, 

 Bodmer, Hirtzel, Solomon Gefner, and Lavater. For each 

 of thefe dillinguilhed perfons, fee our biographical articles. 



Dr. Hirtzel was a learned phyfician, and defervedly ftyled 

 the Swifs Plutarch: he dillinyuilhedhimfelf, among various 

 publications, by the Socrate Ruftique, and by the lives of 

 Sultzer and Heidegger. Leonhard Meilter, profeffor of 

 hiftory and morality in the fchool of arts, deferves mention, 

 on account of his numerous and valuable pubhcations, in all 

 which he has difplayed great zeal for the promotion of 

 I hterature. 



