GERMANY. 44? 



Franciscan Academy of Fine Arts ; to which we may add the Latin 

 Society at Iena. Of the public libraries the most celebrated are those 

 of Vienna, Berlin, Halle, Wolfenbuttle, Hanover, Goettingen, Weimar, 

 and Leipsic. 



Language. ...The German language is derived from the old Teuto- 

 nic and Gothic. It varies considerably in its dialects as spoken in 

 different parts of the country, and is purest in Saxony and Hanover, 

 and in the southern and eastern provinces most corrupted and un- 

 couth. Latin and French are the most useful languages in Ger- 

 many, when a traveller is ignorant of High Dutch. 



The German Paternoster is as follows : — <Unser Fater, der du bist 

 im himmel, geheiliget tverde dein name. Zukomme dein reich. Dein 

 nville gesche/ie, nvie im himmel also auch auf erden. Unser teglich 

 brodt gib uns heute. Und vergib zms unser e schidden, als ivir verge- 

 ben unsern schuldigern. Und fuehre uns nicht in versuchung. Sondern 

 erlcese uns van dem beesen. Den dein ist das reich, und die krafft, und 

 die herrlic/ikeitf in eivigkeit. Amen. 



Antiquities. ...A few remains of Roman edifices and other antiqui- 

 ties are found in Germany. The vast Gothic palaces, cathedrals, 

 castles, and, above all, town-houses, in Germany, are very curious, 

 and impress the beholder with their rude magnificence : many castles 

 have the same appearance, probably, as they had 400 years ago ; and 

 their fortifications generally consist of a brick wall, trenches filled with 

 water, and bastions or half-moons. 



History. ...The manners of the ancient Germans are well described 

 by the elegant and manly pencil of Tacitus, the Roman historian. 

 They were a brave and independent race of men, and peculiarly dis- 

 tinguished by their love of liberty and arms. They opposed the force 

 of the Roman empire, not in its origin or in its decline, but after it 

 had arrived at maturity, and still continued in its full vigour. The' 

 country was divided into a number of principalities, independent of 

 each other, though occasionally connected by a military union for 

 defending themselves against such enemies as threatened the liber- 

 ties of them all. At length, the Roman power, supported by art and 

 policy, prevailed over a great part of Germany, and it was reduced to 

 the condition of a province. When the Roman empire was shattered 

 by the northern barbarians, Germany was overrun by the Franks, 

 about the year 480, and a considerable part of it long remained in sub- 

 jection to earls and marquises of that nation. In this situation Ger- 

 many continued, notwithstanding the efforts of particular chieftains 

 or princes to reduce the rest into subjection, until the beginning of 

 the ninth century ; then it was that Charlemagne, one of those eccen- 

 tric and superior geniuses who sometimes start up in a barbarous 

 age, first extended his military power, and afterwards his' civil 

 authority, over the whole of this empire. The posterity of Charle- 

 magne inherited the empire of Germany until the death of Lewis III, 

 in the year 9 1 1 ; at which time the different princes, assuming their 

 original independence, rejected the Carlovingian line, and placed 

 Conrade, duke of Franconia, on the throne. Since this time, Ger- 

 many has ever been considered as an elective monarchy. Princes 

 of different families, according to the prevalence of their interest and 

 aims, have mounted the throne. Of these, the most considerable, 

 until the Austrian line acquired the imperial power, were the houses 

 of Saxony, Franconia, and Swabia. The reigns of these emperors 

 contain nothing more remarkable than the contests between them 



